The Chaos Code by Justin Richards - first published in the UK in 2007
The story is like a children's version of Indiana Jones. 15 year old Matt arrives at his archaeologist father's house in the Cotswold's to find his father has gone missing. Matt teams up with his father's friend Julius Venture and his daughter Robin and millionaire Atticus Harper to track down the whereabouts of his father and the Lost Treasure of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem. They travel to the Peruvian jungle where Harper has his business headquarters inside an ancient step pyramid. There are lots of twists and turns in the plot, including a trip to a Danish island and a brief return to the UK before a return to the South American jungle where it is a race against time to stop one man from cracking the ancient code needed to control the whole world. The story moves rapidly along almost from the first page. You need to suspend your disbelief and let the story carry you along but all in all it was a very enjoyable read and would make a good film. It doesn't however tell you much about Peru. 8/10
5th February 2012
Monday 6 February 2012
Book 64, Country 70 - Bolivia
The Prison Runner by Deborah Ellis - first published in the UK in 2006
This is a short novel written for teenagers about the reality of life in parts of present day Bolivia. 12 year old Diego lives in a Bolivian women's prison with his mother and younger sister. His parents were wrongly convicted of supplying cocaine and his father lives in a nearby men's prison. Diego is free to leave the prison during the day to go to school in Cochabamba and to run errands for other prisoners to earn money to help his mother with their living expenses. One day his sister goes missing when he is supposed to be looking after her and although she is found safe and well, Diego is stopped from running errands and therefore earning money. His friend Mando suggests that they take up a job offer from some businessmen for a couple of weeks, which will earn them very good money. They do this and are taken off to the jungle where the job turns out to be helping with the production of cocaine in a makeshift temporary 'factory'. Diego has to find a way to escape. The book is a quick and easy read but after a slow start it becomes quite gripping. 7/10
2nd February 2012
This is a short novel written for teenagers about the reality of life in parts of present day Bolivia. 12 year old Diego lives in a Bolivian women's prison with his mother and younger sister. His parents were wrongly convicted of supplying cocaine and his father lives in a nearby men's prison. Diego is free to leave the prison during the day to go to school in Cochabamba and to run errands for other prisoners to earn money to help his mother with their living expenses. One day his sister goes missing when he is supposed to be looking after her and although she is found safe and well, Diego is stopped from running errands and therefore earning money. His friend Mando suggests that they take up a job offer from some businessmen for a couple of weeks, which will earn them very good money. They do this and are taken off to the jungle where the job turns out to be helping with the production of cocaine in a makeshift temporary 'factory'. Diego has to find a way to escape. The book is a quick and easy read but after a slow start it becomes quite gripping. 7/10
2nd February 2012
Book 63, Country 69 - Paraguay
The Pleasure of Eliza Lynch by Anne Enright - first published in the UK in 2002
Books set in Paraguay are thin on the ground and I had already read The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck, which is also a fictionalised account of the life of Eliza Lynch, and is in my opinion a much more intelligible story.
The real Eliza Lynch was born in Ireland in 1835 and emigrated to Paris with her parents when she was 10. She met Francisco Solano Lopez, who was the son of the President of Paraguay in Paris in 1854. She became his mistress and returned to Paraguay with him and they had 6 children together. Lopez became President in 1862 after the death of his father and in 1864 the War of the Triple Alliance broke out - Paraguay versus Argentina, Brazil and Uruaguay. It lasted until 1870 when Lopez was killed.
The books is not presented in chronological order and none of the history of Paraguay before or during the war is explained at all. Lopez only appears as a minor character in the story. The result of this was that I was very disorientated by the book and didn't quite manage to grasp what was going on. 2/10
31st January 2012
Books set in Paraguay are thin on the ground and I had already read The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck, which is also a fictionalised account of the life of Eliza Lynch, and is in my opinion a much more intelligible story.
The real Eliza Lynch was born in Ireland in 1835 and emigrated to Paris with her parents when she was 10. She met Francisco Solano Lopez, who was the son of the President of Paraguay in Paris in 1854. She became his mistress and returned to Paraguay with him and they had 6 children together. Lopez became President in 1862 after the death of his father and in 1864 the War of the Triple Alliance broke out - Paraguay versus Argentina, Brazil and Uruaguay. It lasted until 1870 when Lopez was killed.
The books is not presented in chronological order and none of the history of Paraguay before or during the war is explained at all. Lopez only appears as a minor character in the story. The result of this was that I was very disorientated by the book and didn't quite manage to grasp what was going on. 2/10
31st January 2012
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