Truth is stranger than fiction

Book Review Title: The Enlightenment of the Greengage tree Author: Shokoofeh Azar Genre: Fiction/Translation(Persian) The Enlightenment of the Greengage tree immerses you into a world where reading and writing are considered as treason. The mere act of reading could cost one's home, belongings or even their life.  The story explores the trials and tribulations of a family of five who moved from the countryside to Tehran during 1979. The parents Roza and Hushang lose their three children under grim circumstances that involve bloodshed, massacre and resistance. We have relatives of the family who arrive and disappear without a trace. The narrator is thirteen year old Bahar who we learn is a ghost and lingers around the treehouse and her family members. She takes us through the series of events-her brother Sohrab's imprisonment, burning of libraries, cultural artifacts, her sister Beeta turning into a mermaid by the powers of an ancestor and how she is objectified.  The...

  Book review Title: Mexican Gothic Author: Silvia Moreno Garcia Genre: Horror Mexican Gothic is a dark, brilliant and captivating read that transports the readers to the 1950s Mexico  where dark secrets lurk and sends a chill down your spine.  We have our protagonist- Noemi Taboada who heads to High palace, a house in the Mexican countryside, after receiving a disturbing letter from her cousin Catalina. She soon leaves her life of being a glamorous socialite to attend to her cousin’s troubles. Naomi is smart and confident who is not afraid of anyone, including her hostile hosts- her cousin’s wily husband or his patriarchal father. Besides her cousin’s deteriorating health, Noemi discovers bizarre images, dark secrets hidden beneath the walls of High palace, falls prey to sleepwalking and strange dreams. Noemi’s only ally in this dark house is the family’s youngest son. What ensues is an atmospheric and eerie plot turns out into grotesque, deadly and dark adventures....

Book review Title: The Hole Author: Hye-Young Pyun Genre: Psychological Fiction/Translation (Korean) The Hole is one such read that crawls under your skin and takes you into a journey of darkness and isolation.  It tells the story of a man named Oghi who wakes up from coma and finds out he is paralyzed. While he is unable to talk or move, Oghi is able to identify smells and sounds around him. He discovers his wife died in a car accident and he is at the mercy of his only caretaker- his grieving widowed mother in law. Oghi is a prisoner in his own body and dwells on memories of his wife. When Oghi finds his mother in law fervently digging in his wife’s garden, he begins to feel uneasy. While his mother in law responds saying she was completing her daughter’s unfinished project.  The Hole is narrated in close third person from the point of view of Oghi. Through his interiority and stream of consciousness, the author lends voice to Oghi who otherwise is unable to converse with an...

Book review Title We were liars  Author: e. Lockhart Genre: Thriller/Mystery We were liars is an intriguing read about an illustrious family and a group of four friends whose friendship changes after an accident.  We have our narrator- Cadence who spends her summers at a family estate in Martha’s Vineyard. She makes  a group with her two cousins and a friend who call themselves as the liars. They live in a world separate from the adult world. An unexpected accident changes their lives forever. Cadence is found on the beach one night and is unable to remember anything. The narrative goes on to explore what really happened.  The entire book is told in first person from the point of view of Cadence. The chapters read like vignettes, almost like fragments of a memory which reflects the state of mind of Cadence. It gives a glimpse of a typical rich family where children are dependent on their family money. The voice of Cadence is the most powerful aspect in the story. The...

Book review Title: The Archer Author: Shruti Swamy Genre: Fiction The Archer is a coming of age story of a woman who finds solace in an ancient form of dance.  The story focuses on the life of Vidya - a girl who is growing up in Bombay in the 60s. During her childhood,  Vidya’s mother disappears from her life and Vidya is left to look after her father and younger brother. To overcome her grief and loneliness, Vidya finds solace in Kathak and trains under a reputed teacher. Simultaneously we see Vidya facing prejudices against her dark skin that makes her retreat into her shell further. We follow her journey to engineering college, falling in love with another woman, her marriage to a son of an illustrious family and pursuing her artistic dreams. An unexpected occurrence changes the fate of Vidya’s life.  The story is divided into five parts. It seamlessly moves forward in time tracing the different phases in Vidya’s life. The language is soulful, poetic, rhythmic and almo...

  Book Review Title: The Cleveland Heights Author: Doug Henderson Genre: Sci fi/Fantasy      The Cleveland Heights is an interesting story within the story.    Every Thursday We have our protagonist twenty-five-year-old Ben-a gamer who lives with his family in a basement. He is your regular guy who is warding off his mother’s pestering questions and nursing a broken heart. He also suffers from a low self-confidence. The only place where Ben feels confident is Readmore-a store of comics and games. Every Thursday night, he and his friends get together to play a game-filled with dungeons and dragons. Things begin to take a sudden turn when the parallels between the real life and fantasy one become stronger.     The Cleveland Heights is a quick read with some interesting characters. They are people you instantly connect with. Ben is openly Gay along with other characters. He is nerdy and enjoys spending time with his cat. He longs for a real rela...

Book review Title: The Mermaid of Black Conch Author: Monique Roffey Genre: Fiction Based on legends, The Mermaid of Black Conch tells the story of a woman named Aycayia who is cursed by jealous women to live as a mermaid. We have David who sings to himself on his boat. Aycayia is drawn to the guitar and his music. Their rendezvous is brought to an end with the appearance of American fisherman who capture this mermaid. When David rescues here, it results in a great amount of transformation. Along with this transformation comes a lot of challenges.  The story is set in the Caribbean islands. The language is lucid and vivid with a great deal of imagery. There are doses of poetry thrown in between. Characterization is one of the strongest aspects in the book. It’s amazing how the author cuts across a wide range of characters- the mermaid, David, David’s landowner, the police chief and the greedy fisherman.  Another interesting aspect of the book is how the mythical element of the...

Book review  Title: Untold night and day Author: Bae Suah Genre: Fiction/Translation (Korean) Untold night and day is not just a book. It’s an experience.  It tells the story of a woman named Ayami that takes place in Seoul over the course of a night and day. Ayami works at the box office at Seoul’s audio theatre and it’s her last day at work. She spends the night roaming around the streets with her boss, looking for a woman named Yeoni and another woman poet. Somewhere in this search, the story shifts to an ambiguous space, oscillating between dreams and reality.  What’s interesting in this book is the shifting timelines and points of view. The story starts as Ayami’s story and then move on to another person’s point of view which links back to Ayomi’s tale. Readers wonder what exactly is Ayomi searching for. The plot unfolds into multiple layers and presents a rather blurry world. Sort of like Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland. Things are not what they appear to be....

Book review Book Review  Title: Goodbye Tsugumi Author: Banana Yoshimoto Genre: Fiction/Translation (Japanese) Goodbye Tsugumi explores the unique and close bond between two cousins. We have our protagonist- Maria who is the daughter of an unmarried woman. Maria’s father is finally in a position to take Maria and her mother to the city. Maria gears up for a different kind of life. Meanwhile Tsugumi, Maria’s cousin is brash, invalid and mean. She invites Maria to spend one last summer with her. A summer which becomes a life changing one for both the cousins. Maria attains maturity and at the same time grapples with the possibility of losing Tsugumi forever.  The story is narrated in first person from the point of view of Maria. The prose is smooth and soothing. It flows in a rhythm, capturing the beautiful setting of the sea side town. Through Maria’s eyes we see her endearing rapport with Tsugumi. We feel her aching moments when she is trying to come to terms with the changes ...

Book Review   Title: A House is a Body Author: Shruti Swamy Genre: Fiction/Short story collection   'A House is a body' is a collection of twelve short stories centered around characters living in India and abroad.    In the first story 'Blindness', we have a woman who is newly married and her husband is unable to understand her depression. In the second story 'Mourners', we have the protagonist who has lost his wife and his baby is cared for by his wife's sister.In the 'Wedding Season', we have two women who are in love with one another. One of the women is Indian and her values do not comply with traditional norms. In 'The laughter artist' we have a woman trying to make an art of laughter. In 'A house is a body,' we have a mother with an ailing daughter who is trying to escape the raging forest fires.    The language is more poetry than prose. Her usage of imagery lends authenticity to the setting and also to some of the recurring t...

Book review Title: The Yellow wallpaper Author: Charlotte Perkins Gilman  Genre: Fiction/Novella The yellow wallpaper is an intense portrayal of post partum depression and an overbearing husband.  We have our protagonist- an unnamed narrator who tells the stories through a series of journal entries. She and her husband John have rented a summer mansion. Incidentally she is confined to a nursery room that has yellow wall paper. During the course of this story, we understand the treatment meted out to the woman. She feels stifled and claustrophobic. Over time she begins to imagine seeing a woman hidden between the wall power.  Written in first person, the story makes use of an unreliable narrator. One of the strongest points in the story is the setting. The author manages to capture the smells and nuances of this little room. Some of the descriptions are a metaphorical representation of how women were treated in those days. We learn they were barred from writing or developi...

Book Review  Title: Moshi Moshi  Author: Banana Yoshimoto Genre: Fiction/Horror/translation( Japanese) Moshi Moshi tells the story of a girl named Yocchan who has lost her father in an accident. She later realizes it was a suicide pact he had with a woman he was having an affair with. Yocchan tries to move places to seek comfort and start afresh. Later she comes across a few people who seem to offer their views of the ugly truth. And she senses the presence of her father’s ghost trying to tell her something. This makes Yocchan restless and compels her to seek answers.  Written in first person from the point of view of , the story takes us through her journey and interiority. Through the story, we are privy to her thoughts,tumultuous  emotions, grief, denial and her turbulent relationship with her mother.  As the narrator is experiencing grief, she reflects on a lot of things about life, death, afterlife, termination, moving on and how nothing lasts forever....

  Book review   Title: The night she disappeared  Author: Lisa Jewell Genre: Thriller The night she disappeared is a compelling and emotional thriller. It traces the life is a missing daughter who leaves behind a distraught mother and her new born baby.  When Tallulah and Zach disappear after a date night, Tallulah’s mother Kim calls her friends. They tell her the couple were last seen heading towards a house in the woods called the dark place. Two years later, an author named Sophie sees a note saying Dig here, it results in skeletons tumbling out of the closet. The case is once again reopened, secrets are revealed and missing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle are found.  The story is set in the countryside of London. It is told from multiple points of view and moves across timelines. Lisa does a good job of bringing twists at the right moments. She manages to hook the reader with the elements of suspense, action and palpable tension in several scenes. She digs deep ...

Title: The wrong end of the telescope Author: Rabih Alameddine Genre: Fiction The wrong end of the telescope traces the journey of an American Arab trans women and her experiences among Syrian refugees.  We have our protagonist Mina Sampson- a doctor who  is summoned for help by her friend who runs an NGO for Syrian refugees on Lesbos Island, Greece. Mina is estranged from her family with the exception of her brother-Mazen. They cross paths with a Lebanese writer. Mina talks about her own life, childhood experiences and other characters. Particularly a woman named Sumaiya who is suffering from Liver Cancer. And then we have Mina directly addressing the author whom she is deeply impacted by. We understand that it is none other than Rabih himself.  The book alternates between differ points of view. The first person narrative is told through Mina’s perspective as she recounts the horrors that take place on the lives of these refugees. The Second person voice is the place whe...

                               It was one of those days when life threw a curve ball at me. I panicked. Tears stung my eyes. Probably more than the sea water. The tears that ran down my face were saltier than the ocean water. My heart rate shot up more than it would have if I was doing my interval training.    I followed the usual routine. As I usually do before the start of every triathlon race. A small sea prayer. A warm up swim to acclimatize myself with the cold temperature. The waves were huge. Almost felt like I was swimming up a hill. I swam a few yards, turned and swam back to the shore. It was during my second time I felt this smack. Whoa! That powerful slap of the wave. I choked and spluttered. The wave retreated. My vision was unobstructed. To my dismay I realized the goggles were snatched by that wave. Goggles which I had tucked behind my ear. Goggles that felt like another pair of eyes...

Book review Title: Mapping the interior Author: Stephen Graham Jones Genre: Fiction/Horror Mapping the interior is one of those kind of stories which explores the relationship between memory, trauma and loss of a loved one.  We have our narrator named Junior who is on the brink of adolescence. Junior is yearning to connect with his dad who drowned under mysterious circumstances. Junior was barely four and the memories of his father are blurred. The story begins with Junior sighing his father’s ghost in his trailer home where he lives with his cognitively impaired brother Dino and his mother. At first Junior thinks the ghost has come to save his family. Later he is filled with apprehension and fear. Junior is forced to confront the ghosts of the past and delve deeper into the realms between the two worlds.  The entire story is narrated in first person from the point of view of Junior. The prose is raw mending authenticity to the character’s voice. The setting is inside the prot...

Book review Title: The Nakano Thrift Shop Author: Hiromi Kawakami Genre: Fiction/ Translation (Japanese) The Nakano Thrift shop is an endearing story about lives of offbeat characters working in a little shop that sells a wide variety of objects. The shop is set in suburban Tokyo. While the shop has curious things to sell, the people working on the shop are quirky and fascinating in their own way.  We have our characters- Nakano who is the owner of the thrift store. He is on his third marriage and enjoys spending time with his mistress whom his colleagues nickname as ‘the bank’. There is  Nakano’s sister Masayo who thinks she has found the love of her life.  Our narrator Hitomi is in love with her colleague Takeo and in unsure about how to win his life. The book explores their bond and their loyalty to the thrift store.  The entire story is narrated in first person from the point of view of Hitomi. She is at times naive, confused and has a tainted view of the world. ...

Book review Title: Mrs Caliban Author: Rachel Ingalls Genre: Fiction/Fantasy Mrs Calliban is an intriguing portrait of a woman who is confined to her domesticity until she meets the monster man.  Our protagonist is Dorothy whose marriage is on the rocks. After suffering from miscarriage and death of her son, her husband Fred begins to distance himself from her. Citing late nights and long hours at work, he is suspected of having an affair. Dorothy is stressed and begins to hear strange messages in the radio.  One fine day she hears a bizarre news of an Aquarius monster man who has escaped from its keepers. Things take a different turn when this monster man lands up at her place. A bond develops between Dorothy and the monster man who prefers to be called Larry. We also see other characters like Dorothy and Fred’s friends who are battling some kind of complexities as well.  The story is written in close third person from the point of view of Dorothy. We are privy to her mu...

Book review Title: The Ten loves of Nishino Author: Hiromi Kawakami Genre: Fiction/Translation (Japanese)  The Ten Loves of Nishino is a unique book  where each chapter is narrated from the point of view of different women about the central character- Nishino You have Minami- daughter of Nishino’s first love, his colleague Manami, Reiko who values her freedom, Eriko who prefers her cat over him, Sayuri who is older than him. Through the eyes of these women we understand Nishino is a womanzier, commitment phobic and confused. We learn briefly about Nishino’s  growing up years, his school days, his work life and even his death.  The form is an interesting aspect to contemplate- is it a novel or could it be a compilation of ten short stories where the characters lives at times cross with one another?  The language is delicate and melancholic. The tone is conversational, making you feel as though you are chatting with the narrators over coffee.  All these women...