Bottled Goods … a review

Sophie van Llewyn’s Bottled Goods is written in a serious of flash fiction. This is the perfect plae to start if you are unfamiliar with this style of prose. But basically, it is a series of short sharp chapters that loosely weave a common theme together. They form a novella, a short read. It is the 1970s in Communist Romania, a young woman Alina is in a loveless marriage with her husband Liviu. And when her broth-in-law defects, they both find themselves under the intense scrutiny by the Secret Service.

Llewyn’s style is fluid and reminiscent of Anne Enright’s prose, I though. The book relies on magic realism to present Alina’s escape from the drudgery of her humdrum life. And as she plans it, she must make peace with her mother. She relies on her Aunt’s help, but it isn’t the kind you might be expecting. This book, although a work of fiction, creates a believable world.

And as it build into a climax, it is impossible to put it down. By then, I am too invested in Alina’s fate, I am rooting for her, and I am rooting for her identity. As a young woman’s tale of love, loss, betrayal and magic takes shape, a great candidate for this year’s Man Booker longlist is born.

Quote: Alina stares into her nearly empty cup. The coffee grounds have arranged themselves in a pattern like angel wings, but dark. If she had been as skilled in reading the signs as her aunt, perhaps she would have been able to divine her fall.

Americosis vol 4 … a review

Last year, I wrote about Americosis, and then again followed it up with vol 2 and vol 3. I nearly missed Vol 4, as I was away on holiday and although I knew it was going to come out around the time of the POTUS elections, it slipped my mind. Just as well, because I ended up reading it just as the new President got sworn in.

The characters in this book sort of pick up where they left off. As one would expect, this book goes heavier on the plot of Sanchez’s visions and the elections with him and Archer vying for votes. As this sub-plot takes centre stage, the mirroring of reality and fiction becomes clearer. The tension level is high, the drama is much more tightly knit. The Erica part of the plot is also getting less fluffy and more meaty, as she drifts between solving past mysteries only to come up against new ones. All in all, great writing.

What did jump put at me though, is that the language in this edition was a little too foul for my taste. Not that that is any different from reality and all the names that were thrown at Clinton and Trump, it made reading some of the chapter a little hard. Another very short read delivered by Wilks, and if you haven’t gotten into it yet, the four books back-to-back will take you only a couple of days to get through. I might do that, as I wait for vol 5!

Americosis vol 3 … a review

Lat year, I wrote about Americosis, and then again followed it up with vol 2. Vol 3 took a wee while to turn up and it had been on my mind. So when author Haydn Wilkes got in touch, I said yes to reviewing the latest instalment of the series. I had to skim through the last few pages of the previous book to tune my head in again.

The characters in this book sort of pick up where they left off. Now what is crazy is that watching some of the snippets of the Presidential election drama in the US, it is almost easy to believe that this book is based on true events. I mean, are candidates not seeing visions and almost needing psychatrists? I think so! The story of the savior, the presidential candidate, and the human virus carrier are intertwined again, but this book was more election than the other two subplots, which I liked, because it meant that there was less ‘jumping about’ between chapters.

It does end on a cliffhanger, and unlike my prediction, we still don’t know who the people are going to vote for. Again, writing this up with the Season Finale of Amrica all over my newsfeed, it seems surreal. The human virus storyline does not progress very much at all, which is a wee bit disappointing because that was really hooking me in. But I guess that’ll keep me waiting eagerly for the next part/

A very short read, this is a good series to get into. If you wait until it finishes, the whole series read back-to-back on travel time will be a full length book sized read! Enjoy.

Trigger Warnings … a review

I got this book as a Christmas present from a faraway friend who has the most eclectic reading taste.She asked me if I had read any Gaiman and when I said no, she proceeded to post me this. I can safely say that this is unline anything I have read in a long time.

This book is primarily fantasy fiction, with elements of magic realism, surrealism, and general strangeness that run in a common vein throughout. Made up of many short stories and poems of varying lengths, this has a  nice dip-in-and-out quality to it. And that is exactly what I needed as I have been travelling over the holidays to various people. I like to read short stories which then don’t weigh on my mind when I’m doing other stuff and make me in any way anti-social.

Some of the stories have stayed with me. Especially, a modern day retelling of Cinderella, which is my favourite Disney move since I was three! Gaiman is a natural poet and his writing has a haunting, wistful quality about it that is very engaging. In some ways, this book was a reminder of feelings of reading Murakami’s The Elephant Vanishes. And as far as I am concerned, being reminded of his writing is never a bad thing.

If you fancy a different kind of read, shorter fiction, fairy-tales for adults, or just want to add some surreal to the January fog, this is your book. Enjoy!

Air … a review

I had enjoyed the tales of Pearl Swinton and her struggles with ‘visions’ as a young girl in Caroline Allen’s first book of the Elemental Journey series. But I definitely enjoyed this book far more. Maybe it was just an adult Pearl and her adventures that were interesting. But I also think Allen is also getting better at her craft. This book had more of a quality of believeable about it.

Pearl is now older and Air follows her life through to Japan. Now this was epic. The Japanese subcultures have truly been brought to life. While she meets many people and tries very hard, Pearl can never quite fit in. She still struggles with strange visions which bring about a magical quality to the writing. She is able to manage them better as an adult though. In true immigrant fashion, when she comes back to Mississippi at one point, she finds that she can’t quite fit in here either – a classic case of ‘reverse culture shock’.

Having moved countries with vastly different cultures myself, I completely agreed with a lot of her emotions. Of feeling uprooted from home country and not quite settled in, in new is something all immigrants face at one point of time or another. The concept of ‘home’ is dealt with poignantly, as home is different things to different people and takes on a whole new meaning as we travel more and move more for study, work, or other reasons. Allen’s style is disarming and simple. The book is easily read and enjoyed in a couple of long sittings by the winter fire.

The Girl in the Spider’s Web … a review

I enjoyed the Millenium series immensely. I read them in the summer of 2011 and all I remember of that summer is the entirety of those books and reading them at various places battling the Delhi heat. So when I heard that there was going to be a fourth book, I was surprised that it had almost next to none publicity. I mean, when Mockingbird‘s sequel released in July, the world practically drove themselves into a frenzy!

Anyway, the original author is dead, so this is controversially written by David Lagercrantz,who has continued on from where Larsson left off. I will not tell you about the controversy here because you can Google it. What I will tell you is that the way he has done it is impressive. The book is very well written and reads seamlessly like the previous ones (although I am mindful that I have read them all in translation).

Lizbeth, one of the most striking and unforgettable characters in modern fiction is portrayed with class and finesse, something that readers have admired bout her. Our journalist Blomkvist and his business partner Berger are just the same, like old friends to the reader. And the plot too, is well thought out and well researched. As usual, Nordic noir is set in the backdrop of a cold frigid winter and that always heightens the excitement. But the action spans across various locations and the inclusion of a child with special needs just ties up everything brilliantly.

What I will say is though that the pace seemed a little slow as compared to the previous books. Those ones were thicker and more complex plot-wise. But I suppose that is where the difference of the actual author comes out. For what it’s worth, Lagercrantz has done a fine job and I really hope that he continues to rite more novels with the same beloved characters. Especially if Craig and Mara are around to act in the movies!

Americosis vol 2 … a review

A few months ago I wrote about Americosis, which I liked a lot. Now volume 2 is out and I was surprised that it came out so quick. I believe the author may have lined it up earlier? Anyway, as with all such books (and TV series!) I tend to go back to the former and skim through a few pages before I start reading the next part. It sort of tunes me in.

The characters in this book sort of pick up where they left off. The story of the savior, the presidential candidate, and the human virus carrier and mix and supplement each other. But to me, the book was a little lopsided. I’d said in my previous review that the Savior story appealed to me the least. But it seemed to have the most footage in this book. I may have to swallow that complaint later on as I have a feeling that this story will be centre-stage.

But like I predicted, the presidential candidate seems to be losing it, calling another man Antichristian in one of his speeches no less! I really like the character of Erica, the psychiatrist and will be looking forward to reading more of her in the next parts. The human virus bit also kept me entertained, even if I felt that I would have to wait for the next instalment to see how it really slots in.

All in all, at a very short length, this is a nice thriller series to pick up. I have a feeling the author won’t disappoint and I like the simplistic lucid style of writing – perfect for a travel read!

Americosis … a review

There’s a new author to watch out for! Haydn Wilks, whose Americosis is a sort of prelude to a longer series, was a really good read. Here’s the blurb:

 “A naked man arrives in New Mexico claiming to have traveled through time.

He says that he’s America’s savior.

A bizarre sexually-transmitted infection in New York takes control of people’s bodies and burns them out in an incessant drive to infect others.

And a Presidential candidate is conversing with angels.

His aides think he’s crazy.

The electorate might not agree with them.

It could all be madness. It might be the apocalypse.

Americosis.

An epic genre-bending mash-up of sci-fi, horror, thriller & dark comedy.”

That was enough to get me quite interested. It is a novella, 200 odd pages long, and did not take a great deal of time to finish. But what it did was really build the curiosity up to read the actual series for when that’s out.

This book has three parallel storylines. The one with the naked man was the least humorous, as it involved some scary monstrous animals and little children. Quite dark and strangely comical, it also reminded me of The 100-year-old Man, which I enjoyed greatly.

The other two plotlines are connected – one of the carriers of the disease and the Presidential candidate’s psychiatrist are married to each other. The interesting thing to note is that I could somehow predict what was going to happen, but not quite. It is definite that the sexually transmitted virus story will involve a lot of couplings between humans and not-quite-humans. And moving forward, that will make for an interesting story. And I always love a good psy thriller, so I’m hoping the Presidential candidate loses it and then my favourite character can figure out how to fix him without his electorate finding out.

This book has made for a brilliant teaser; I recommend it highly. You can also read an interview with the author about his previous book, here.

#writing201 #fingers #prosepoem #assonance

A Week In-sanity

day 01
The webbed fingers of lotus leaf veins, move outwards, and quiver along the surface of water. When the breeze makes them gently sway, they send ripples out, like a thought stream that has just entered my mind.

day 02
The bile yellow light of the bulb spills out of the windows and onto the fingers of the roof thatch. A cricket sings, a flog croaks, and hot summer sweat runs down the back of the woman in the kitchen, making rotis.

day 03
When she sang out loud, all he wanted to do was run his fingers down her neck, the back of it, her spine, and the small of her back. He thought he was in love, until he met her… now he is obsessed with her voice.

day 04
On a cold, blue morning, as the sun tried to come up the horizon and push out through the clouds like the birthing of a child, dull gold sunlight crept in through the blinds in slanted fingers of honey.

day 05
Cycling down the steep slope, no brakes, pedals freewheeling… the wind cuts through her hair and makes it blow past her ears in dark black fingers of freedom… she comes to a slow halt as the slopes die down.

day 06
In a glade within a dark, deep forest, a lone flower grows, with finger-like scarlet petals. A sudden stillness is disturbed by a sensational flurry of butterflies, as they twine up in turrets and go higher, higher.

day 07
On his palette, an explosion of colours. I asked him, ‘What are you going to draw for me?’ ‘Your hands,’ he said. ‘All those colours, friend?’ ‘So I can trace the outline of every finger as I see it in my head – different.’

#writing201 #heroine #ballad #anaphora

Song for Sweet Isabel

Sweet Isabel by the North Sea,
Had naught to love.
Maybe she said, it was not to be,
On land nor heaven above.

Her days were spent in darkened thought,
Her nights on a cold hard bed,
Her mind with black stories fraught,
Of being stone cold dead.

With heavenly beauty was she born,
But only wished to die.
Her hair, the colour of ripened corn,
Her eyes, the colour of the sky.

Sweet Isabel by the North Sea,
Had naught to love.
Maybe she said, it was not to be,
On land nor heaven above.

One day she met a bonnie lad,
And gave her heart to him,
With him she could never be sad,
He seemed come from her whim.

He took her out on moonlit nights,
And on the days they swam out to sea.
He said he understood her plight,
And was her love to be.

Sweet Isabel by the North Sea,
Had naught to love.
Maybe she said, it was not to be,
On land nor heaven above.

Decades passed and moons went by…
And on a grey damp morn,
The foam was low, the waves were high
Sweet Isabel’s heart was shorn!

For the lad was but a selkie man,
Whose heart belonged to none.
He swam away, bid back to his clan,
With nary a backward song.

Sweet isabel back in her shell,
Vowed never to give her heart.
From heaven she had come to hell,
And now she couldn’t tell them apart.

Sweet Isabel by the North Sea,
Had naught to love.
Maybe she said, it was not to be,
On land nor heaven above.