The Last Hundred Days by Patrick McGuinness
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1kidzdoc
This thread is for discussion of The Last Hundred Days by Patrick McGuinness, which was selected for the 2011 Booker Prize longlist.
2kiwidoc
Started to read this one today.
So far so good - into the first 50 pages. A similar premise to Snowdrops - that of an Englishman visiting a 'police-state', in this case Romania in the 1980s. Based on the author's personal experience.
So far so good - into the first 50 pages. A similar premise to Snowdrops - that of an Englishman visiting a 'police-state', in this case Romania in the 1980s. Based on the author's personal experience.
3kidzdoc
Oh good, Karen; I started it today as well, after I put Half Blood Blues aside for the time being. I just finished chapter four, so I'm right where you are.
4vancouverdeb
Well, so far there is one review of The Last Hundred Days and it isn't positive. I hope you enjoy it! I'll be very interested in your comments!
5kidzdoc
I just finished The Last Hundred Days, and thought it was very good. I think it has a good chance to make tomorrow's shortlist, but I'd be very surprised if it was selected as the winner. I'll write a review of it in the next day or two.
6kiwidoc
I also really enjoyed The Last Hundred Days - what a great writer.
My only negative comment would be that there is a parallel journalist aspect to his writing - almost like he started out writing a biography of his time in Romania and then switched to a fictional approach.
My only negative comment would be that there is a parallel journalist aspect to his writing - almost like he started out writing a biography of his time in Romania and then switched to a fictional approach.
7kidzdoc
Here's my review of The Last Hundred Days:
Bucharest, 1989. A young British student flies to the Romanian capital to accept a university position that he was not interviewed for, and he does not understand what is expected of him. He is met at the airport by Leo O'Helix a foreign 'professor' who becomes his mentor and closest confidant, although Leo's teaching responsibilities are a cover for illegal activities that make him a wealthy and respected man. Romania is in a state of increasing crisis, as freedom movements are taking place throughout the communist world, while Nicolae Ceaușescu, one of the last Eastern European dictators, seeks to hold onto power by fear and violent suppression.
The narrator is introduced to several young underground activists by Leo, and he meets the beautiful Westernized daughter of a powerful minister, with whom he falls in love. He also befriends a retired government official, and helps him to write a secret memoir that is highly critical of the Ceaușescu regime.
As the year progresses, the Ceaușescus' hold on power weakens, which leads to increased crackdowns on dissidents and repression of ordinary Romanians. The narrator finds himself in increasing danger, despite his ties to the British embassy and his friends, as the Securitate is aware of his friends and activities that support the removal of Ceaușescu from poewr.
The Last Hundred Days was an unusual selection for this year's Booker Prize longlist, but it is a thriller that deserved to be there, and it should have been selected for the shortlist, as well. McGuinness, who lived in Romania during the end of the Ceaușescu regime, paints a compelling and convincing portrait of communist Romania, a country where ordinary citizens queue for hours in line without knowing what, if anything, awaits them, whose citizens routinely die of starvation, and where historic churches and other buildings are torn down and replaced with concrete, poorly built monstrosities. This was an impressive debut novel, and I look forward to reading more from its talented author.
Bucharest, 1989. A young British student flies to the Romanian capital to accept a university position that he was not interviewed for, and he does not understand what is expected of him. He is met at the airport by Leo O'Helix a foreign 'professor' who becomes his mentor and closest confidant, although Leo's teaching responsibilities are a cover for illegal activities that make him a wealthy and respected man. Romania is in a state of increasing crisis, as freedom movements are taking place throughout the communist world, while Nicolae Ceaușescu, one of the last Eastern European dictators, seeks to hold onto power by fear and violent suppression.
The narrator is introduced to several young underground activists by Leo, and he meets the beautiful Westernized daughter of a powerful minister, with whom he falls in love. He also befriends a retired government official, and helps him to write a secret memoir that is highly critical of the Ceaușescu regime.
As the year progresses, the Ceaușescus' hold on power weakens, which leads to increased crackdowns on dissidents and repression of ordinary Romanians. The narrator finds himself in increasing danger, despite his ties to the British embassy and his friends, as the Securitate is aware of his friends and activities that support the removal of Ceaușescu from poewr.
The Last Hundred Days was an unusual selection for this year's Booker Prize longlist, but it is a thriller that deserved to be there, and it should have been selected for the shortlist, as well. McGuinness, who lived in Romania during the end of the Ceaușescu regime, paints a compelling and convincing portrait of communist Romania, a country where ordinary citizens queue for hours in line without knowing what, if anything, awaits them, whose citizens routinely die of starvation, and where historic churches and other buildings are torn down and replaced with concrete, poorly built monstrosities. This was an impressive debut novel, and I look forward to reading more from its talented author.
