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The Olive Readers | 
 enlarge | Author: Christine Aziz
Publisher: Pan Books
Category: Book
List Price: £6.99
Buy New: £0.01
You Save: £6.98 (100%)
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Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 314678
Media: Paperback
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 1
ISBN: 0330439634
EAN: 9780330439633
ASIN: 0330439634
Publication Date: May 5, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 An amazing first novel January 10, 2008
Mr. Matthew John (Bournemouth, Dorset, UK)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
It is unbelievable that this is Aziz's first novel. I found this story to be totally absorbing.It is such and original idea. The imagery transported me to another time and place and the fast- paced ending was really exciting.
I'm really looking forward to reading more from this fabulous writer.
Excellent, the most gripping book I've read in a while! June 7, 2007
L. Felthouse (Derbyshire, UK)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book was winner of the Richard & Judy 'How To Get Published' competition. And yes, I'll admit, that's why I bought it. If I recall rightly (it was some time ago), Richard and Judy had both read the book and raved about it. It sounded pretty different to the usual kind of thing I read, so I thought I'd give it a try.
I'm very glad I did. It is, most definitely, different to anything else I've read. It's very difficult to place in a genre I feel, it's kind of sci-fi, as it's set in the future, but it's also intermingled with romance and family relationships, so I suppose it's cross-genre. I found it incredibly easy to get into, as it was very mysterious to begin with, and I found myself asking in my head 'Who, what, why?' etc, so I was racing through trying to find answers to all of these questions.
The Olive Readers is set in the future, but one without a past. The people who live in this future world, know nothing of their past, everything has been erased and taken from them; books banned, older generations forbidden to speak of times past. The world they live in has been almost destroyed by climate change, and the Companies have taken over, making everyone a slave to them. They must work and everything goes to the particular Company they work for, and is distributed amongst other Companies.
Jephzat comes from the Olive Country. She loves her home and family. When war strikes, Jephzat dispairs as her sister is caught sleeping with the soldiers which have come to live in their home. She and the villagers view this to be treacherous, as the soldiers are those of the ultimate enemy. They come from the neighbouring Water Country - the main controllers of the world, as they hold the key to life - they are the only ones who know how to produce potable water.
After her sister's disappearance, Jephzat's parents are taken away by the Company, leaving her alone in the house, except for their faithful servant, Manos. The villagers blame Jephzat and her family for the disruption to their lives, and hate them for harbouring the soldiers in their home. She is nearly set upon, but Homer, another of the villagers, defends her. For once, a long time ago, she and her sister found a room in their vast house which was full of olives that had been hidden for illegal sale. Hephzibah is all for telling their father, but Jephzat denies all knowledge of this room, stalls their father, and by the time they are compelled by Hephzibah to go and have a look, the room is empty. It appears Homer has never forgotten this favour.
The villagers start to warm to her, but none more than Homer, who has taken up almost permanent residence in her home, and eventually, her heart. They become lovers, and Homer starts to reveal secrets to her that are more exciting and forbidden that she could have ever imagined. She is offered the opportunity to become an Olive Reader - a group of people intent on overthrowing the Company and restoring normal lives, and giving the population their histories back - Jephzat is reluctant at first, but when she realises the importance, and the threat that hangs over the Olive Country, she is spurred into action, and into the heart of a secret and incredibly dangerous plan.
Will Jephzat succeed in helping the Readers restore order to the world? I couldn't stop reading until I found out, and neither will you.
 Showed great promise, but deteriorated into drivel! November 28, 2006
H. Ashford (Sheffield, UK)
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
The early chapters of this book showed great promise, but unfortunately it deteriorated in the second half.
The basic plot idea is good, and (as other reviewers have said) it could have developed into a classic of science fiction. I also loved the use of language in the early chapters, and (again like other reviewers) was reminded of Margaret Atwood.
However, the second half of the book deteriorated horribly (she says it was written in a rush - and it shows!). There are all sorts of "continuity errors" that better editing should have captured; the charactersiations are shallow, and the plot clearly wasn't thought through at all, so that it deteriorates into a sort of teenage "James Bond" drivel at the end - surely only children think that the moment you capture the holy grail (sorry, "sphinx") everything wrong in the world is magically and instantly put right!
I do hope this author gets her act together and writes another novel that is properly planned and executed - I will be watching with interest.
 Disappointing November 24, 2006
kehs (Hertfordshire, England)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
I bought this novel thinking it was going to be a book about books - which it was - but the book spirals downwards into the most ridiculous ending I have ever come across. The 'sphinx' device left me extremely confused. I have no idea what the author was thinking but it seems to me that she wrote it in a rush. Some of the early parts reminded me of Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake. Also, like 1984, it gives us a warning of what we are doing to the world and of what we stand to lose.
Magical and disturbing October 6, 2006
LeGuin (Hackbridge, Surrey)
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
I loved this book and I definitely place it in my top ten of this years reads. I recommend it to anyone who appreciates originaility and good writing. It has a seductive dreamlike quality to the writing and had me gripped from ebginning to end. All the characters were compelling, but why did lovely Homer have to come to such a bad end? It makes you think about what this world would be like if we did not have books to read or music to listen and what it must be like to lose identity, culture and sense of place. But in Christine Aziz' story it is a compassionate revolution inspired by books that saves the day. The author says she began writing this book about 20 years ago, and it is uncanny how she was picking up on issues which were not as high on the political agenda as they are now, such as the environment, corporate power and a growing distrust of American expansion. Thank you Richard and Judy for finding such a talent and I look forward to her next book - a sequel hopefully.
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