The latest paperbacks reviewed.
The Far Side of Revenge: Making Peace in Northern Ireland. By Deaglán de Bréadún, Collins Press, €18.99
As head of the Belfast bureau of The Irish Times, Deaglán de Bréadún covered the multi-party talks which produced the 1998 Belfast Agreement. In this updated edition of his valuable 2001 account of the process, he adds two new chapters, bringing the story up to the present. So we hear the full account of ceasefires and talks, and of the roles played by Hume, Trimble, Blair, Ahern, Major, Reynolds, Adams, Reid, Clinton, Mansergh and many others. There are the protracted negotiations, the deal of April 1998, the referendums of the following month, and the jagged journey of the Provos towards eventual peace. It is often a tale of mutual mistrust. But despite episodes such as the 2004 Northern Bank robbery, de Bréadún's compelling narrative brings us crisply through the formal end of the IRA's campaign in 2005, and to the smiles of Paisley and McGuinness in May 2007. An important and very readable book. Richard English
The Bible: The Biography By Karen Armstrong. Atlantic Books, £8.99
Hillel, a Pharisee and sage of the first century AD, was asked to summarise the entire Torah (the Jewish law of God as contained in the first five books of the Bible) while standing on one leg. He obliged, replying: "What is hateful to yourself, do not do to others. That is the whole of the Torah". Armstrong concludes her fascinating "biography" of the Bible with a daring reversion to Hillel's "Golden Rule". She calls for the three monotheistic faiths (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) to work together toward a common "exegesis" (interpretation) of their holy books, based on charity. Armstrong relates the contrasting interpretations of the Bible by ancient Hebrews, early Christians and medieval scholastics down to modern Christian and Zionist fundamentalists. Her vast knowledge of Jewish and Christian scriptural history is distilled into this densely written but accessible book. She concludes that the Bible, if read in a spirit of exegesis, is a subversive book, constantly challenging prevailing orthodoxies. Tom Moriarty
The Death of Vishnu. By Manil Suri, Bloomsbury, £7.99
For 11 years, Mrs Asrani has been grudgingly bringing Vishnu, the shambling alcoholic odd-job man who works in her Bombay apartment building, a daily cup of tea. This morning, he lies dying on the staircase landing, while all around him life in the busy apartment block carries on. Mrs Asrani battles with her neighbour Mrs Pathak for supremacy over their shared kitchen; Muslim teenager Salim Jamal has fallen for his Hindu neighbour, Kavita Asrani. And Mr Jamal has lost his faith in Allah and is starting to wonder whether he is meant to find another God - perhaps the deity Vishnu. Meanwhile, out on the landing, the dying Vishnu looks back over his life, including his love for the beautiful prostitute Padmini. An exquisitely written tragicomedy, Suri's debut novel mixes Hindu mythology and social satire to wonderful effect. Anna Carey
Ten Days in The Hills. By Jane Smiley, Faber, £8.99
This schematic novel is difficult to like but may be admired. In the 1350s Boccaccio wrote The Decameron - a set of tales devised and recited by a group of people sequestered in a villa while the Black Death rages in Florence. Time is shortened by telling stories. Jane Smiley positions her characters in a canyon home in the similarly warm climate of Los Angeles in the wake of the American invasion of Iraq - March 24th, 2003. While the Italian writer has the 10 characters tell the stories in somewhat courtly fashion, Smiley's house guests tell theirs lounging by the pool, over 10 long days, in a stylised rotation of narrative viewpoints. Discussions about and descriptions of sex are numerous and exhaustive but the prevailing mood is grumpy - perhaps, because actual performances are rarely fulfilling? In spite of the luxurious setting and patio-pool appointments, a worried unease underpins the house party and the novel - caused, no doubt, by a compelling awareness of the terrorist threat of today. Kate Bateman
The Reluctant Fundamentalist, By Mohsin Hamid, Penguin, £7.99
Deservedly shortlisted for last year's Man Booker, this is a timely, post-9/11 polemical narrative that draws heavily on the candid, vaguely inquisitorial tone of Camus's classic La Chute. Hamid has borrowed well and also places his narrative in the context of today's new plague, international terrorism, and its attendant fear and suspicion. Changez, the narrator, Pakistani by birth, Princeton by education, is now back in Lahore, after several years living in the US. As did Jean-Baptiste Clamence in La Chute, Changez approaches a stranger, in this case an American, introducing himself as "a lover of America". He goes on to explain how he was recruited by an all-conquering, all-powerful and globally greedy company, and found himself with a highly paid job. The monologue ebbs and flows, and though it falters courtesy of an unconvincing love affair, Hamid makes his point when his narrator recalls the transition from acceptance as a New Yorker, to accusations of being an Arab. Eileen Battersby