Reviews and Comments

Oh, my dear, old, problematic Graham. So good, and yet so bad. This time, in a dramatic shift from his usual, troubled reflections on humanity and colonialism, he tells the unlike adventures of Aunt Augusta, with an insatiable appetite for men and a wacky moral compass, and Mr Pulling, her nephew, a retired banker with a passion for dahlias. These two characters, and Graham's witty writing, saved the book. Mostly.

Run-down estates, sinister twins, mad mothers, incestuous loves, rainy nights, lost manuscripts - The Thirteenth Tale packs and packages the Gothic Novel must-haves into a slightly updated format. Sometimes it's all a bit too much (especially twins - enough with twins), but other times it works, especially when the book gives in into self-irony, turning into an affectionate homage to the genre.

It is a bit of a trope to start a review but saying 'this is a book that everyone should read', but here we go: this is a book that everyone should read. Not just because is well-reported, addresses such an important topic, and does so from an interesting perspective, although these are all good reasons. It also manages to conveys the scale of migration, violence and deaths in the Mediterranean, without losing sight of the fact that every unit in the statistic is a person. They have lives, and they are not perfect, but they are human and it is appaling that they are not treated as such. And not just migrant people, but also policemen, social workers, layers, journalists, us: all implicated. Most of the time not evil, but also not innocent. End of preach.

It may not be high literature, but this is a fantastic book! It's funny, clever and oh so sexy. It's also a sensitive (at least to my outsider's eyes), affectionate portrayal of the Punjabi diaspora in and around London, in all its internal diversity - but I promise that does not real like an anthropology book or a national geographic article - it reads like romance/mystery/erotic novel.

Perhaps the handling of the end of the story (when perpetrators are found and love prevails) is predictable, but then again, one could see that as an homage to the genre. Be prepared to see aubergines and ghee in a whole new light.

An (allegedly inaccurate) memoir about the author's broken childhood.The advantage of reading hyped-up books 15 years after they come out is that the hype is gone - usually turned into nasty (envy-fed?) criticism. I was warned that the author seems to have made up a lot of things. It didn't bother me particularly: I am not charmed by 'look-how-messed-up-I-am' narratives, but what brought the book to life where the disturbing details, and the well-rounded, oh-so-disturbing characters. If he made either of those up, hats off to him.

In a dystopian not-so-far future, a young woman tries to build a community and a religion amidst the violence, poverty and desperation. It is speculative fiction in its most unsubtle form, exploring our own society through an adventure-driven plot (and, be warned, LOADS of violence). It's social commentary is a bit on-the-nose. Compared to other works by Butler I read, I didn't think it was as skillful (Bloodchild) or original (Kindred). But if you take the book for what it is, you can immerse yourself in the story, appreciate the fact that for once the default identity of characters is not white and male, and feel even more pessimistic about the turn our world is taking.

Like all good science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness is not really about other planets  (like Winter, a frozen world dominated by a bureaucratic and a pre-modern kingdom), other eras (when people, ideas and goods can travel between worlds) or other beings (genderless humans). It's about us, the political structures and social relations we live in. Le Guin excels at this. The story is a solid adventure. I am less of a fan of the slightly hippie ying and yang duality philosophical musings, and the aphorism-like writing, which are not my vibe.

Creepy fairy tales and myths. By which I mean, even creepier than usual. It was high and lows. My favourites: The Daughter Cells, The Six Boy-Coffins and The Rabbit. It is certainly a clever book, and a well-written one, too. I found some of the stories too cerebral, or too concerned with not being obvious, to the point that they become hard to enjoy. Admittedly, I am not at all sure the enjoyment was necessarily in the author's plans.

A flowing monologue about literature, intellectualism, centrism, political apathy, Chile. Maybe I read another book compared to the person who wrote the back-cover description: I read the narrator as much more ambiguous that they make it sound. I picked it to get to know more about Chile, but I mainly feel like I know more about the crisis of consciousness of a dying soul.