Category Archives: Reviews

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One Hundred Different Flowers Bloom Inside a Woman

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THE STORY OF LIFE ON THE GOLDEN FIELDS, VOL. 1-3
Kim Dong Hwa (trans. Lauren Na, First Second, 2003) ISBN: 978-1-59643-458-5; 978-1-59643-459-2;  The colour of earth978-1-59643-460-8

Kim Dong Hwa’s The Story of Life on the Golden Fields is a series of three gorgeous manhwa (Korean graphic novels and comic books), telling the story of Ehwa and her widowed mother as they wait for love. Based on the life of Kim Dong Hwa’s mother, it is set in a rural Korean village and has a timeless feel to it. Slow-moving and elegant, the books are part coming-of-age and part love story.

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I Hate Coriander

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THE HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT OF THE WINDOW AND DISAPPEARED Book Cover THE HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT OF THE WINDOW AND DISAPPEARED
Jonas Jonasson, translated by Rod Bradbury
Hesperus Press
First Published 2012

Are you ready for a segue? I love them, you do too, here it comes.

I hate coriander, or perhaps you call it cilantro. Its name is irrelevant to me. It is the demon herb from hell. By all means eat it, enjoy it if you will, but keep its foul smelling, putrid tasting, hideous sorcery away from me. And don’t talk to me about how much you love it – I don’t care. You are, of course, entitled to your own opinion on the matter but I don’t care to hear it. My reasons are: a. I don’t care, b. you’re wrong, c. I don’t care. Continue reading

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I Will Be Called Murderer

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MY NAME IS RED

Orhan Pamuk (Knopf, 1998) ISBN: 0-571-20047-8

My Name is Red is a complex murder mystery set in 16th century Istanbul.  It has taken me 4 attempts to read.  I can’t really point to why.  I suspect it might be a combination of my fundamental disinterest in the murder mystery genre, and a general failure to relate to very many of the characters.  Perhaps, too, it might just be that Orhan Pamuk’s prose, while beautiful, makes it difficult for me to feel the emotional pull of the story.  Since I can’t read Turkish it’s impossible for me to say whether this issue arises from the translation or from the author’s style itself.

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What Would A Wombat Think Of That?

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THE SECRET WORLD OF WOMBATS

Jackie French; Illustrated by Bruce Whatley (ISBN 0 207 20031 9) 2005

For those who have read Diary of a Wombat – and more than a little bit fallen in love with the book – The Secret World of Wombats is likely to be just as much of a treasury of delight, perhaps even more so. Whereas Diary of a Wombat (and other successive titles by the duo of Jackie French and Bruce Whatley) was an illustrated children’s book long on charm and short on words, The Secret World of Wombats is a children’s non-fiction book about the author’s enduring life with and love of the eponymous animal. Continue reading

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The Beautiful People

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AMERICANAH

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Knopf, 2013) ISBN: 9780007356348

Americanah is a sharp and absorbing consideration of the migrant experience, identity and relationships.  It follows Ifemelu and Obinze, who fall in love as students in Nigeria and have two very different experiences upon deciding to migrate to the US.  Though it is the story of both Ifemelu and Obinze, Americanah concentrates foremost on Ifemelu and her quest for identity.

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Seven Centuries Ago…

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Clariel Book Cover Clariel
Garth Nix
Allen & Unwin
October 2014

 

You know those things that you anticipate with the sort of energy that should be expended on something far more important? You know the ones – the next George R R Martin book* or the next gods-bedamned series of Sherlock. Clariel by Garth Nix was not one of those things for me, simply because I had no idea it was happening. If I had known, perhaps I would have fangirled a little more while awaiting its arrival. Instead I heard of its existence mere weeks before its release condensing all the excitement into that short period.

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Who Dunne It

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GONE GIRL

Gillian Flynn (Phoenix Fiction, 2013) ISBN: 978-0-7538-2766-6

I’d apologise for the title, but Gillian Flynn has got to have had that pun in mind as she wrote this much talked-about thriller.  Centred on the disappearance of beautiful Amy Elliott Dunne and the increasing suspicion on her husband Nick, the story truly does beg the question, pun and all.  The alternative title was even worse, so consider yourselves lucky.

Gone Girl is, despite its popularity, not something I would typically be drawn to.  I wrote in my last review of my aversion to Midsomer Murders and I am sorry to report the taint has spread to cover pretty much the entire mystery genre.  I’m not entirely sure why I dislike the genre so much, but I don’t enjoy reading mysteries or watching procedurals.  Still, I’d heard many good things about Gone Girl before my mother, a fan of mystery novels and procedurals, said I should read it.  The film adaptation starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, opened early last month and has achieved not insignificant box office success.

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It’s a Sair Fecht

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OUTLANDER

Diana Gabaldon (Delacorte Books, 1991) ISBN: 0385302304

***WARNING: the following review contains SPOILERS and discussion of sexual violence, torture, and sexual identity.***

When I first heard of Outlander, a time-traveller’s love story set against the Jacobite uprising in 18th century Scotland and written by an American, I cringed.  This is admittedly because I am a recovering literary snob.  I’m aware it a massive generalisation, but I am cautious of books written about Britain by Americans.  I have been put off by the Midsomer Murders series, which according to my mother (I haven’t done any research) is written by an American and features all of the most cringeworthy, twee stereotypes of Middle England you can think of.   As a descendant of highland Scots* myself, I feared Diana Gabaldon might have given the 18th century highlands a similar treatment.  Reading her inspiration and reasons for commencing the novel did not help my confidence.  In my imagination the series was a horrific combination of corset-ripper Mills & Boone and Lord Tennyson’s The Highwayman.

Nonetheless, when recommended the television series based on the books by a person whose opinion on such things I trust, I decided to give it a chance.  I’m glad I did.  The series is great.  It even managed to cast actual Scottish people for the most part, which is a sadly rare feat.  They even mostly use the Inverness accent and speak actual, real Gaelic.  Very exciting stuff for someone who has become used to Hollywood’s tendency to both confuse Irish and Scottish accents, and hire people who can’t pull of either accent well.

Then the show went on mid-season hiatus until April.  April.  It left me on a cliff-hanger until April.

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A Shadow Language Of English

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the_wakeTHE WAKE

Paul Kingsnorth (Unbound) ISBN: 9781908717863

The first time I heard about The Wake, I promptly forgot about it. It sparked an interest that was quickly supplanted by the next thing on my to-do list that day. The next time I heard about it, it was on the Man Booker Prize long list – an unlikely crowd-source funded contender that exceeded all expectations. Continue reading

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Everyone’s dead, Dave

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A FINE BALANCE

Rohinton Mistry (McClelland and Stewart, 1995) ISBN: 0-679-44608

Rohinton Mistry’s Giller Prize-winning novel A Fine Balance is one of those books I am able to appreciate only on an aesthetic level. It is very well-written, intricately plotted, and full of excellently-drawn, memorable characters. I liked it well enough to start with. The final third of the novel, though, is (spoiler alert) an intentional and miserable spiral downwards. Fair warning: this review will give away the ending of the novel.

A Fine Balance is the story of five people who together struggle to make a living in the changing economic climate of 1970s and 1980s India. There are two tailors, Ishvar and his nephew Om, who have been driven from their village through a combination of caste-violence and economic necessity to Mumbai. There is the Parsi widow Dina, who employs the tailors when her own eyesight has failed to the extent that she can no longer support herself with her own sewing. Then there is the student Maneck who boards with Dina while studying in Mumbai.

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The Context of Lost Memory

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elizabeth_is_missingELIZABETH IN MISSING

Emma Healey ISBN: 9780062309662 / ISBN 10: 0062309668

Some months ago, some friends of mine wished to visit a bookstore before going out for dinner. I was attempting to be financially responsible at the time, and promised myself that I wouldn’t buy anything; browsing only for me. I wandered through the new release section, taking random books off shelves, reading the blurbs and putting them back. After 15 minutes however, I realised that I had been wandering around with a book in my arms, as if I were subconsciously planning to take it up to the counter. The concept had intrigued me, but being good I put it back on the shelf. Continue reading

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Another World Waits Under the Stairs

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THE KINGDOM OF GODS

N K Jemisin (2011) ISBN: 9781841498195

The last of N K Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy, The Kingdom of Gods follows trickster god Sieh as he forms a complicated relationship with the descendants of his former slavemasters, the last Arameri heirs.

Set some hundred years after the events of The Broken Kingdoms, this novel features a world teetering on the edge of political and social collapse.  The Arameri dynasty has, without its god-slaves, fallen into decline and struggles to retain power and influence through other means.  In this respect, The Kingdom of Gods is very interesting. Medieval Stasis is one of my least favourite tropes, and the feverish efforts of the remaining Arameri to hold onto the dregs of their empire strike a realistic chord. Unfortunately, in most other respects I found this book the least enjoyable of the series.     Continue reading

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