Truth is stranger than fiction

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.  One of the stren

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 in her li

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 developing their own i

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.  The book addresses nuances

  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 into the lives of charac

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 where Mina is cha