Having read a few less than glowing reviews of this Patchett novel, I admit I approached it with low expectations. Perhaps that was part of the reason I found it unexpectedly enjoyable. (I have mostly enjoyed all Patchett’s other novels,...
Set in what was then the Malayan Peninsula (now Malaysia) at the time of the Japanese occupation (1940s), unusually, the protagonist is a Eurasian, Cecily. Eurasians are a minority community in Malaysia, but in the time of the British occupation,...
Banu Mushtaq’s Heart Lamp: Selected Stories, is the first short story collection to win the International Booker Prize, an award given to the English translation of book written in another language. The prize recognizes “the vital work of translation” –...
Habitations – a place where one lives, the process of living. Vega Gopalan thinks she may be pregnant, but she doesn’t want her suspicion confirmed. Confirmation means the decision will be made and Vega is not sure she wants a...
Hundreds of novels are set in New York, San Francisco, LA and so on, but how many novels are set in Baltimore? It might seem too matter-of-fact a city to inspire literary creations, but in fact one of America’s best...
Coming to America – Part 1 About three months ago I started two books with, published some 40 years apart, with essentially, the same story line. Both focus on young Indians coming to the US, leaving family and the comforts...
This is a hefty book. When I first came across it, I wondered what whodunnit requires almost 500 pages (nearly double a ‘normal’ length novel). But as the novel begins to unfurl, one realises the length of the novel is...
Historical fiction is not easy to write, I should think. It demands extensive research to be convincing, but at the same time the research needs to be painted in gently, filling the background, with the story in the foreground, and...
Having enjoyed Fredenberger’s The Newly Weds, The Dissidents, and Lucky Girls, I was quite sure her latest, The Limits, would also be good reading, and I was not disappointed. The Limits is set in the time of the lockdowns in the...
Sarah Waters’ Gothic Fingersmith is set in Victorian England, and she does not spare the reader from the realities of the period. Beyond the wall lay Mr Ibbs’ sister, who was kept to her bed; she often woke ith the...
The novel opens with a dinner party hosted by Robyn and Cat, for 3 other couples: Robyn’s old friend, Willa, and her somewhat obnoxious boyfriend; Robyn’s beloved and nerdy brother Michael and his fascinating girlfriend, Liv; and Cat’s brother, Nate...
Rowell is known as a children and/or YA writer, and indeed, I had enjoyed some of her books for young adults, such as Landline, Eleanor and Park, and Fangirl. Rowell’s gift for invoking the awkwardness and exploratory, experimental time of teenagehood...
Autofiction — lightly anonymized fiction based on the author’s own life experience — has been very popular lately, with a host of young writers exploring that genre. As a smattering of examples reviewed in this blog, there’s Douglas Stuart’s Shuggie...
The book is well titled, set as it is at the US-Mexico border, depicting the lives of the Lopez family whose circumstances and opportunities are determined by the border to no little extent. We first meet our protagonist, Ramon, as...
The general plot of a thriller involving terrorists is well known: the terrorists have an gruesome scheme in the works while an FBI/CIA/MI5 agent races to uncover the plan and capture the terrorists before their horrific plan is executed. In...
Recent Comments