It seemed clear from the outset that although a large part of this book is supposedly set in Saigon, there was never going to be all that much local colour or Vietnamese culture depicted in this novel. It is very...
I only picked up this book despite its unpromising cover and title, because I had previously read Zen Cho’s Black Water Sister, which despite its flaws, had a very authentic Malaysian vibe to its dialogues, which were a lot of...
This is the 7th book in the Comoran Strike series, and the books are getting heftier; this one is nearly 1200 pages long. No complains though, it was a fun read. This is not so much of a review, and...
More than a hundred pages in, I was still struggling to remember who is who, even though there are not that many protagonists or characters. The novel is supposed to be a tale of three generations of female Puerto Ricans,...
In 2010, 17 year old Hira is selected along with about 70 other Pakistani teenagers for a 10 month exchange program which will take her/them to America. Living a comfortable, upper-class life in Rawalpindi with her parents and 12 year...
This is one of the gentlest books I have ever read, and it is a book which is going to break your heart, oh so gently, but it will crack your heart, probably repeatedly. For a debut novel, it is...
A very slim novel, a very quick read. At less than 200 pages, considering so many novels are now the size of bricks, the brevity seems part of Kitamura’s understated style. The novel is definitely cleverly handled, with a lot...
The title contains a bit of a joke given the protagonists are 90 year old Abe Winter and 87 year old Ruth Winter, and the story is set in their twilight years. It is a bit of a love song...
I did not expect to read this book untouched, given it is about a brilliant, gentle, and unconventional man and father, David Sibelius, who is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s when his daughter, Ada, is just twelve. Having majored in mathematics, at...
After her Booker Prize winning The Inheritance of Loss in 2006, the world had to wait almost 20 years for Kiran Desai’s next novel – also shortlisted for the 2025 Booker. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny are about these two...
Over the years, I have followed the development of Tash Aw’s oeuvre, enjoying a lot of his writing but also sometimes persevering with others which I was only lukewarm towards, perhaps because he is a Malaysian writer (living in London)...
This nearly 500 paged book stuffed with information and concepts and history is not going to be easy to review comprehensively. This review will just highlight a few key ideas and topics that rise to the forefront of my mind...
Our protagonist is Zelu, a 2nd generation Nigerian American (Najiamerican) paraplegic woman, who no longer has use of her legs after she fell out of a tree at 12 years old. At the start of the novel, 34 year old Zelu...
A little gem. What else could I call this half length novel? (It’s only about 165 pages) As it says on the tin, the whole story happens within three days in June, the day before the wedding of the protagonist’s...
Parable of a nation
Happy Chinese New Year!
Delicious drawing-room dialogue, but lacking in charm
Mental Illness in the Teenage Mind
Fine dining with an unusual chef
To undrown, to cry until you don’t need to cry no more
To be a woman, more than once
Old-fashioned Expat English Enterprises
Another novel where the ‘locals’ serve as background colour
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