Book reviews roundup: A Very Expensive Poison; The Course of Love; The Cultural Revolution: A People’s History

What the critics thought of A Very Expensive Poison by Luke Harding, The Course of Love by Alain de Botton and The Cultural Revolution: A People’s History by Frank Dikötter

A Very Expensive Poison, Luke Harding’s account of the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, was described as “a riveting tale” by Oliver Bullough in the Observer. Regarding Vladimir Putin’s intervention in Syria, he wrote: “For those tempted to approve of his actions, I would recommend reading this book to learn how an honest man was murdered for revealing the corruption at the heart of Putin’s system, and to be more cautious about the Kremlin as a result.” In the Evening Standard, Robert Fox found it “a brilliant account of the killing and its continuing resonance … This extraordinarily pacy book – I downed it in two sessions – by the Guardian’s former Moscow correspondent is one of the best political thrillers I have come across in years.” For Ian Critchley, in the Sunday Times, agreed it had “the pace of a thriller. But it is also an expert examination of the wider role of Putin’s government in world affairs and his fraught relationship with the west … Harding’s book adds fascinating depth and context to an extraordinary story.”

“There is a peculiar type of stress you often find among north London literary sorts,” noted Johanna Thomas-Corr in the Evening Standard. “How do you resolve your conflicted feelings about Alain de Botton?” Those conflicts were much in evidence among reviewers of the philosopher’s second novel, The Course of Love, which aims to provide practical help to readers by dissecting the emotional dynamics of a fictional modern marriage. Thomas-Corr herself “found it rather good … My bet is that if De Botton’s name were taken off this book it would be feted by the sort of people who are in thrall to Milan Kundera and Adam Thirlwell.” Other reviewers begged to differ. For Lidija Haas in the Sunday Telegraph, “what’s strangest about The Course of Love is how little seething desire it contains: neuroses and perversions remain disappointingly well mannered … If this is the worst marriage has to throw at us, we can probably handle it.” In the Sunday Times, Peter Kemp deplored the marriage guidance element in particular, arguing that “describing De Botton as a thinker is like calling someone who just about knows how to turn on a tap a hydraulics engineer”. In the Times, Lionel Shriver occupied the middle ground, calling the book “a laudable project”, but lamenting the fact that it “loses its initially inviting playfulness, instead getting bogged down in heavy, flattening psychotherapeutic jargon”.

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