Raw Fatherland

How simple and complex it is at the same time. How nice and harsh the weather and the people can be. how dry and cold or hot and snowy .. just a nation of contradictions.

Mislaid by Nell Zink .. A Review

This is a 3.5 rating for this novel.

I feel the author is ambitious and I would give her credits for trying and she’s got some effort into this novel.

The main characters Lee Fleming the flamboyant poet in residence at an all girl college at Stillwater and Peggy ‘ Megan’ villiancourt a lesbian student who became his wife and then a mother and then a runaway.

Ten chapters from the 1960s till 1980s. Their children are separated and two narratives appear. The male and the female.  yet both are confused in their own ways and each one is built on lie , love , deception and devotion.

It starts as a campus novel which I wished it stayed a campus novel with booze, affair, drugs etc but it breaks into a separate narrative that didn’t allow the female to.grow she was still stuck in her sexuality. . she couldn’t express herself for fear of being exposed.

The last two chapters felt sort of boiled and not done properly. Maybe sugar coated .. too many coincidence

Though the language is beautiful and brilliant, I feel the author would a winner as a poet if she decides to go that way.

Go Set A Watchman – Review #HarperLee

One of the most anticipated novels of 2015. More like an early draft of To Kill a Mockingbird. The book is not coherent enough, it’s more like snippets and vignettes that would have lead to something concrete and understandable. 

I didn’t enjoy it as much as I enjoyed To Kill a Mockingbird. It lacked that climax event that was in the Mockingbird.

Though it was nice to visit Maycomb and see what happened in two decades.

An Event in Autumn- Review

This book sees Wallander living with his daughter Linda in Ystad. He is looking for a country house. The events of the book take place in the autumn as show in the title.

Viewing a potential new house, he stumbles across human hand in the garden. It’s the clue to a decades-old mystery which Wallander is keen to get his teeth into; and no, he doesn’t buy the house.

He is a man with no dog, no life and no woman.

It was a smooth read with a nice twist and a couple of red herrings. It transports you to the winter barren scape of a Swedish town.

 

The Strange Library – A Review

A very short fable by Haruki Murakami. I think this fable is addressed to Young Adults. The main character steps into the public library to look for answers. To read. To research a topic ( taxation in Ottoman Turkey) a random topic which is so Murakami.

He is then sent away into the depth of the library to face an interesting destiny.

The cast of secondary characters include a sheep man. A mysterious girl with no vocal cords. and the old man.

I think this could be a warning tale to children not to approach public libraries before closing time and get locked in it. or just a fantasy when you read a book and just get lost in it and escape into another world. another dimension. 

The narrative is crisp and fresh. yet it’s lacking the complexity of a regular Murakami.