Sunday, September 29, 2019

Girl, Woman, Other

by Bernardine Evaristo
I did not like the format of this book. It is 12 short stories about black women/trans living mostly in the UK but they all have a link to each other somehow.
This grew on me as the book unfolded and I got caught up in the working out of these lives across different time periods. 7/10

The Handmaid's Tale

by Margaret Atwood
This famous post apocalyptic novel has a sequel 30+ something years later. I wanted to read this before I read the Booker listed sequel. It is fairly grim stuff but totally engaging. What was going to happen to our heroine at the end of the book as she stepped in to the van? Can't wait to find out 9/10

Quichotte

by Salman Rushdie
Magical, funny, topical, this was a really good book as long as you are prepared to suspend reality.
The story revolves around a man in America addicted to TV, who falls in love with a TV talk show host, who like him hails from India.
He takes on the name of Quichotte and invents a son for himself called Sancho who materialises into reality (for a while at least).
However, the story of Quichotte runs alongside the story of the author, one Sam Duchamp who also has a son. Confusing it is at times but you have to marvel at the imagination who can dream up this stuff. 9/10