Not only did Bulawayo’s debut novel make it on to the longlist for the Booker, it got to the shortlist. It’s won some other awards too. It seems if you have a child as your narrator, people are willing to overlook AN AWFUL LOT when it comes to the book itself. I found it a patience testing bore and can’t really see why people are loving it so much. The full review is on my blog here and my Booker Longlist challenge continues with my […]
They Should Have Jumped Off the Roof
Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews
Somehow I made it to the ripe old age of (age redacted) without knowing the details of this book. Written in 1979, this story of a family and it’s slow, painful, deconstruction has titillated audiences and will be return to the small screen soon via a Lifetime movie (of course). I was intrigued both because of that, and because they were reviewing it on my favorite Podcast, Literary Disco: their episode description is perfection. “It’s time to take on the book that you all read, […]
Every Day When All is Changed
People disappeared. Not everyone, not even a majority, but enough around the world that it was noticed. Some believe it’s the Rapture, others simply calling it a rapture-like event but not actually THE Rapture; no matter what you believe happened, there was no way to deny that it did indeed happen. To continue reading this review, head over to my blog!
Kim – Review #3 for AamilTheCamel
This is a book that I have wanted to read since 2006. When I was in Nagpur in 2008, I purchased it from a road side second-hand book stall and the book stayed on my ‘to-read’ list for more than 5 years! I finally got down to reading it thanks to the
A superbly evocative and suspenseful debut that looks at old age, loneliness and dementia.
The Night Guest is hard to categorise – it’s both a taut thriller and an altogether close-to-home examination of dementia and loneliness, written with a wonderful sense of pacing and language. Although the main plot deals with an elderly lady accepting a stranger into her home and life, the most resonant parts for me come from a beautifully muddled blending of memories and reality. Like last year’s Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller, The Night Guest offers a compelling glimpse into the slow grip […]
The Falcon Cannot Hear the Falconer
Okay, wow. Wasn’t a good idea to finish this while sitting in a cafe. People think I’m barking. I’m not going to go in depth on this one for two reasons: a) If I were to do that I would spoil the hell out of anyone reading this, and b) the emotions are a little too raw for me to even want to. This book affected me. To sum it up (very) briefly, Tell the Wolves I’m Home is about June Elbus, a fourteen year-old […]