by Jhumpa Lahiri
This is the story of two brothers from Calcutta. The major "event" of the book occurs very near the beginning and is based in historical facts about a political movement in India known as the Naxalbari.The rest of the book tells the story of how this effected the characters through the rest of their lives. Lives that are very ordinary and yet by weaving backwards and forwards through time and place I became tied up with their lives and cried at the end. At times I felt the characters were so thinly drawn that I did not know then but then I reached the end of the book and found I would miss them. A good read 8/10
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Postwar-A history of Europe since 1945
by Tony Judt
Published in 2005 I read this book as an audiobook but thankfully had the book copy to read as well. As an audiobook it is quite dry at times, especially those parts where Judt is listing reams of statistics.
However, this became easier with the paperback copy to refer to afterwards.
The book covers a vast canvas and is a fascinating take on how Europe has developed as a response to two world wars fought on its territory. You might not always agree with what he says or his interpretation of events but I found it raising all sorts of questions that I have discussed with myself and others over the past few months. It was a great read 9/10
Published in 2005 I read this book as an audiobook but thankfully had the book copy to read as well. As an audiobook it is quite dry at times, especially those parts where Judt is listing reams of statistics.
However, this became easier with the paperback copy to refer to afterwards.
The book covers a vast canvas and is a fascinating take on how Europe has developed as a response to two world wars fought on its territory. You might not always agree with what he says or his interpretation of events but I found it raising all sorts of questions that I have discussed with myself and others over the past few months. It was a great read 9/10
We need new names
by NoViolet Bulawayo
I read a review of this book that complained about the way each chapter seemed to deal with a seperate topic and I would rather agree with that. This caused it to lose its narrative flow and by the end it seemed to have lost its way completely. 4/10
I read a review of this book that complained about the way each chapter seemed to deal with a seperate topic and I would rather agree with that. This caused it to lose its narrative flow and by the end it seemed to have lost its way completely. 4/10
Unexploded
by Alison Macleod
This book is set in Brighton during the second world war and tells the tale of a small family falling apart as the husband takes on additional responsibilities for the war and his wife first distrusts him and then falls for a german artist who is held in a detention camp at the foot of the downs. Her husband is the senior civilian at the camp.
She makes it clear that this is fiction and that she has didtorted the truth to fit her fictional narrative. This did not stop Adam Mars Jones slaughtering the book for its factual innaccuracies in LRB recently. I do not understand this response. It reminds me of people getting upset with the Da Vinci Code for making things up. Hello, the clue is in the genre-this is fiction. I don't read novels for historical facts but for the escape into a good yarn. This book was not great but it was a good story. I would give it a thums up 6/10
This book is set in Brighton during the second world war and tells the tale of a small family falling apart as the husband takes on additional responsibilities for the war and his wife first distrusts him and then falls for a german artist who is held in a detention camp at the foot of the downs. Her husband is the senior civilian at the camp.
She makes it clear that this is fiction and that she has didtorted the truth to fit her fictional narrative. This did not stop Adam Mars Jones slaughtering the book for its factual innaccuracies in LRB recently. I do not understand this response. It reminds me of people getting upset with the Da Vinci Code for making things up. Hello, the clue is in the genre-this is fiction. I don't read novels for historical facts but for the escape into a good yarn. This book was not great but it was a good story. I would give it a thums up 6/10
Harvest
by Jim Crace
I enjoyed this book. It is set in an unnamed village in England at a time when life was transitioning from open common land to enclosures. It deals with how we have always dealt with strangers-especially in uncertain times. It has a beautiful language that evokes the rural landscape. From the very first page I felt I could smell the woodsmoke and the loss felt by the village folk as their masters barn burned. It ended in a way that I was not expecting but which made perfect sense when I thought about it. This book is shortlisted for this years booker and would be among my favourites to win. 8/10
I enjoyed this book. It is set in an unnamed village in England at a time when life was transitioning from open common land to enclosures. It deals with how we have always dealt with strangers-especially in uncertain times. It has a beautiful language that evokes the rural landscape. From the very first page I felt I could smell the woodsmoke and the loss felt by the village folk as their masters barn burned. It ended in a way that I was not expecting but which made perfect sense when I thought about it. This book is shortlisted for this years booker and would be among my favourites to win. 8/10
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