Not to be confused with Kipling's "Jungle Book" story of the same name, this was on a library rack of Australian fiction. As it was written by the samNot to be confused with Kipling's "Jungle Book" story of the same name, this was on a library rack of Australian fiction. As it was written by the same guy who wrote Correlli's Mandolin, I thought this would be an adult novel, or at least as semi-adult as most dog-based fiction is. However, this is seriously in the middle grade range at best, (even though the library hadn't shelved it with YA or juvenile - will have to mention when I return).
That said - a quick, enjoyable read that's as much about the hardy folks of the Australian far west as it is about Red Dog (who reminded me a lot of a more macho "Hachi") himself. A tough dry people in a tough dry place that's so scorchingly hot, fuel tanks will literally explode if left out in the blazing sun. So, y'know, where we're all headed…...more
Wow, this was just really enjoyable. This sorta-prequel to Kōtarō's more famous Bullet Train is a two-day story that bounces back and forth between thWow, this was just really enjoyable. This sorta-prequel to Kōtarō's more famous Bullet Train is a two-day story that bounces back and forth between three main characters (non-spoiler: only two of which are the titular assassins), with a tightly-woven, "blink-and-you'll-miss-it" plot where every detail ultimately matters.
In both books, Kōtarō is an interesting writer, combining violence with oddball humor and left-field obsessions ("Thomas the Tank Engine" in Bullet Train; insects here; children's stickers in both). That said, the insect theme here is more relevant (and less annoying) than the train fixation in Train. Early on, one of Kōtarō's characters notes that humans are in many ways more similar to insects than to other mammals, in that we're the only species that live our lives in super-crowded communities stacked on top of each other. And near the end, another specifically compares us to locusts; existing in a benign state until we overpopulate, at which point we metamorphose into a darker, mindless, more violent horde.
Anyway, just great stuff. I definitely want to reread Bullet Train now, to see where there are remnants or echoes of Assassins; and then will ultimately get to the third book in the semi-series, the apparently back-to-insects The Mantis....more
Had to go back and reread Only Killers and Thieves before diving into this; and I'm glad I did, as it would have made NO sense otherwise. And also becHad to go back and reread Only Killers and Thieves before diving into this; and I'm glad I did, as it would have made NO sense otherwise. And also because second time around, that book was just as good - if dark and bleak - as I remembered; an unsettling study of racial injustice and banal immorality in Australia's "Wild North" equivalent of our Old West.
But this sequel…while not bad, was just so unnecessary. The first book included a nine-years-later epilogue that left the McBride brothers' fates nicely unresolved; the second then went back and both filled in the intervening years (in a style that was more "Dallas" soap opera than "Open Range" shoot-'em-up); then jumped ahead of the first book's epilogue to bring everything to a neat - if, again, unnecessary - conclusion.
Howarth remains an extremely solid writer; and so now that he's got this out of his system I hope he moves on to something totally new and different, like his fellow shaven-headed countryman, Max Barry.
2.5 stars rounded up to three, based on the first book, general generosity, and because you can never overuse a Hawken rifle in Western fiction....more
Definitely flawed, with too much repetitive dialogue and WAY too much Thomas the Tank Engine, and the last 40 pages are particularly dumb. But still, Definitely flawed, with too much repetitive dialogue and WAY too much Thomas the Tank Engine, and the last 40 pages are particularly dumb. But still, good solid stupid fun, summed up best by the Washington Post as "Tarantino meets the Coen Brothers."
I think it helped that I had seen the movie first, so could put faces to characters, who here are largely indistinguishable (at least physically) Japanese gangsters, (although one does wear glasses). Will definitely watch again as soon as it hits Netflix next week, as I think there are some major plot differences - especially with the ending.
3+ for the book itself, but rounding up considerably for its success as source material for the much better movie, (despite the iffy critical reviews)....more
I'm sorry, but this one just left me feeling slimy. I'm no murder prude - I enjoy my Thomas Harris and Jim Thompson - but the first-person narrative bI'm sorry, but this one just left me feeling slimy. I'm no murder prude - I enjoy my Thomas Harris and Jim Thompson - but the first-person narrative by the misogynistic psychopath "Joe the Cleaner" was just a step too far and dark. His flippant attitude towards his multiple, horribly abused victims is in jarring and deeply disturbing contract with what I have to think were Cleave's attempts at "humorous" scenes involving Joe's relationship with his mother and pet fish…I dunno, I guess the world is already screwed past the point where I can actually enjoy reading a book like this anymore.
Unrelated to the actual plot, but I also found the narration by Paul Andsell kind of annoying. Clearly British, having Andsell voice a New Zealand story and characters was like having Helen Mirren read True Grit. Probably not bad, but just wrong....more
I'll start by saying I'm a big supporter of fiction by writers living outside the traditional "literary bubbles" of the U.S., England, Scandinavia, InI'll start by saying I'm a big supporter of fiction by writers living outside the traditional "literary bubbles" of the U.S., England, Scandinavia, India, etc.; and so it's a joy to see someone like Singapore's Flint start hitting the mainstream. She's been around a while now, and done fairly well with her long-running "Inspector Singh" series of Asia-based, semi-humorous mysteries. But with Beijing Conspiracy, she swings for the big leagues with her first international espionage thriller.
Intentional or not, Beijing owes a HUGE debt to Tom Clancy's Clear and Present Danger, with its crooked White House officials making backroom deals with our so-called enemies, and everything ultimately hinging on the unsanctioned actions of a rogue CIA (or in this case, ex-CIA) man named Jack. Which is fine in itself, except that to paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen, "I've read Tom Clancy and you, Ms. Flint, are no Tom Clancy."
The problems begin with the far-too-many coincidences that drive the plot, but quickly moves on to the writing itself which abounds with awkward similes:
The words claimed the attention of those present like the icy Siberian winds from the north. The Navy chief was apoplectic, his hair standing on end and face as red as a hong bao packet. General Zhang looked as smug as the cat who had ordered a lifetime of cream to be delivered daily and had the family dog arrested.
…and cliché Chinese dialogue:
"Come - let us go back to my place and prepare more flyers for the revolution!" "The twelfth? But that is the day of the election of our new General Secretary of the People's Congress!" "The Russian bear is a toothless creature now. The Chinese dragon remains a beast to be feared!"
Plus, while our former spy/warrior hero might be quick with his fists, he's often just a tad slower in other departments. He can kill three armed bad guys and then slip away without breaking a sweat, but then the next day has a panic attack on a plane just because he might bump into an old flame? And later, after killing still more folks who are out looking for him, his long-lost daughter is kidnapped right in front of him - and he wonders if it might just be a coincidence?
Another truly WTF? moment is when the Director of the CIA - like, Mike Pompeo-level "Director" - flies unaccompanied into Beijing on basically zero notice and starts going all spooky…I just gotta hope it doesn't really work like that, or we are all in big trouble. One final note: Flint wisely makes up all her political characters on both the American and Chinese sides…except for the otherwise-unnamed POTUS (President of the United States), who is CLEARLY the mad-tweeting, golf-loving, Coke-swizzling, nonsense-spouting Donald Trump. I can well imagine the fun she had writing those scenes, where he clearly comes off as the totally off-the-rails sideshow freak he truly was. And while no one enjoys making fun of the Not-So-Great Pumpkin as much as I do…I gotta admit that it bites just a bit to see a foreign writer doing so, especially when I know that writing similarly about the leaders of either country she calls home - Singapore and Malaysia - could well land her in jail. (And to clarify, I've lived over seven years in those two countries, and while I deeply love them both, bastions of liberal democracy they are not.)
So yeah, go ahead and make fun of ol' Girth Vader - he certainly deserves it. But understand that here in the States we're actually allowed to do it too, without fear of repercussion* - as well as vote his corrupt, fat ass out of office.
* Unless, of course, you're a Republican Congressperson like Liz Cheney - in which case you will be drummed out of power by your so-called "colleagues." But stay tuned...that girl is JUST gettin' started......more
Despite (or perhaps because of) being a man in late-middle (i.e., early-old) age, woman continue to baffle me. And despite having previously lived in Despite (or perhaps because of) being a man in late-middle (i.e., early-old) age, woman continue to baffle me. And despite having previously lived in East Asia for over 25 years, Japan also remains a largely inscrutable culture to me. Which taken together may explain why I so often have a problem with Japanese literature, especially when it revolves around female characters.
BUT...I do know autism when I see it, having had a son born on the spectrum (who then made a spectacular recovery - long story, but is now a married aerospace engineer and "community theater" actor). And so I really enjoyed - although that's not quite the right word - this truly original, truly bizarre story about a life-long "Convenience Store Woman" (hence the title), who floats somewhere in the autistic/Aspergian range.
Told in her own voice, Keiko Furukura alternates between being obliviously endearing to frustrating obtuse. But while I found her journey a captivating one, the character I most related to was her sister, ("Will you ever be cured, Keiko? How can we make you normal?"). I know from experience how heartbreaking it is to see someone you love struggle to function in the world in which they ultimately have to live, so I can only imagine how much more difficult that must be in a culture like Japan's, where being "weird" is the most unforgivable sin.
In its own way, the book does have a surprisingly happy ending, which I totally didn't see coming, as the last 20 pages or so were just increasing infuriating. So kudos for that! Also, the whole "convenience store culture" really took me back to my years in Taiwan, and it's unique Chinese/Japanese hybrid culture.* According to Wikipedia, Taiwan has the highest concentration of convenience stores - or mini-marts - in the world, with a national average of one store per 2,500 people and often competing stores on at least three corners of even the smallest intersections - 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, Hi-Life, OK Mart and other national chains that don't have English names.
Oh, and I was also very glad she didn't downright kill anybody, because there were times...
The baby started to cry...What a lot of hassle I thought. I looked at the small knife we'd used to cut the cake still lying there on the table: if it was just a matter of making him quiet, it would be easy enough.
Now, too, I felt reassured by the expression on Mrs. Izumi and Sugawara's faces: Good, I pulled off being a "person."
So maybe not for everybody, but I found this a nice change from my other recent choices...and now I really wish I could walk down the street in my pajamas and buy a carton of papaya milk and a hot dog on a stick with (catsup, of course!).
* Taiwan was a Japanese colony for a half century, from 1895-1945. And so anyone of my father-in-law's generation grew up in a fully Japanese society - language, culture, identity, education, work...I can't even begin to imagine how mind-blowing that must have been to suddenly to told that all that time you'd really been Chinese!...more
Man, this was bleak. Depressing to learn that Australia has an equally unforgivable past in how it treated its indigenous people as we have here in thMan, this was bleak. Depressing to learn that Australia has an equally unforgivable past in how it treated its indigenous people as we have here in the States. This book also includes two of the most purely evil characters I can ever remember reading about; the one almost seductive in his charming devilry, and the other even worse since his own particular evil is so banal and obliviously self-centered. You'd really have to read the book to understand them - although I'm reluctant to actually recommend it to anyone in these complicated times, because again, it is just DARK.
But that said, beautifully written, and with an excellent narration by David Linski, who manages to make each Australian accent still sound unique. So would definitely consider reading whatever Howarth comes up with next - as long as it's even just a little lighter in tone....more
"Enjoyed" isn't the right word for either this book or Martin Scorsese's excellent film adaptation, but I found both of them riveting, if also painful"Enjoyed" isn't the right word for either this book or Martin Scorsese's excellent film adaptation, but I found both of them riveting, if also painful and deeply disturbing. Having seen the film first, I found that reading the book didn't really add a lot, as Scorsese was extremely faithful to his source material and filmed virtually the entire story, episode by episode. The main textual differences were a greater focus on Rodriguez's inner thoughts (always hard to film); his frequent self-comparison to Christ's own final days (as well as his comparisons of Kichijirō to Judas - just in case we missed it); and the recurring references to God's "silence" throughout both Rodriguez's ordeal and the suffering of the Japanese Christians - hence, obviously, the title.
Stylistically, I also found the book interesting. The first third is told through Rodriguez's letters back to the church, so presented from a first-person, generally optimistic perspective. Endō then switches to a traditional third-person narrative right up to the last two chapters (one of which is oddly called an "appendix"), which are presented as diary entries from a Dutch businessman and an unidentified "officer at the Christian Residence."
The book is set in the 1640s, just around 40 years after James Clavell's masterpiece Shogun. I've spent considerable time in Japan and enjoyed every minute, but taking these two books together (and having spent considerable time in Taiwan with people who lived through Japanese-controlled China exactly 300 years later), I have to conclude that there was certainly more than one historical period when Japan was ruled by a bunch of racist, xenophobic dicks - which is pretty damned scary, seeing as how my own government is heading in that direction....more
A Man Called Ove is Backman's first book, and as such lacks a little of the subtlety and depth of his subsequent books, (bearing in mind that both "suA Man Called Ove is Backman's first book, and as such lacks a little of the subtlety and depth of his subsequent books, (bearing in mind that both "subtlety" and "depth" are relative terms when it comes to Backman's sentimentality-driven stories). But that's not a slam on either Oveor his later books. I've greatly enjoyed every Backman story I've read - but he is the opposite of Forrest Gump's box of chocolates; in his case you always know exactly what you're going to get.
And that's why I can't read his books back-to-back; that would be like eating nothing but desserts for a week. But when you're in the right mood and after you've been following a more nutritious diet for a while, absolutely nothing tastes better than a nice sugary treat.
UPDATE: Just watched the movie with my wife, and it was equally delightful. Obviously, things are always lost in the transition from book to film, so do NOT watch the movie instead of reading the book. But it was really made for a pleasant evening - kind of dessert on top of dessert....more
Couldn't get into this a couple of years ago, but my best friend - an Italian guy who reads in at least four languages - swore by it, so I promised I'Couldn't get into this a couple of years ago, but my best friend - an Italian guy who reads in at least four languages - swore by it, so I promised I'd try it again. And well…I got through it this time, but you owe me, Osvaldo.
General problems - way too long, and way too much talking; but fine, a lot of books are that way. I just had way more problems with the story itself, most of which (unfortunately) involve spoilers.
Basic concept: (view spoiler)[ I had a hard time accepting that anyone - much less a whole group of people - would so completely give up on humanity that they would welcome any advanced alien civilization - of which they knew absolutely NOTHING - to invade and take over Earth, assuming that they'd not only do a better job running the place, but not immediately wipe us out. (hide spoiler)] Coincidences: (view spoiler)[ And what then are the odds that one of those people would happen to be in THE ONE PLACE in the world where they could manage to communicate with such a civilization? And then later run into THE ONE PERSON on the planet who was rich enough to fund a totally independent and secret project to reach out to those aliens? (hide spoiler)] The aliens themselves: (view spoiler)[ While the "three-star" concept and its inherent problems was interesting, once we actually get to the aliens living on Trisolaris they were just totally lame in that they were just way too human-like. While never physically described, they nonetheless are constantly referred to as "people" who do things like run their hands across their itchy faces, have space defense forces armed with nuclear warheads, and a recognizable autocratic form of government with ministers for this and that. (hide spoiler)] The goofy science: (view spoiler)[ And while the aliens themselves are boring in their familiarity, their science then just gets way too goofy. They do things like "unfold" protons into infinite one-dimensional lines, or complex five-dimensional shapes that morph into giant space eyeballs…the whole end of the story gets wrapped up in a lot of multi-dimensional physics (eleven at last count, I think), before just…I'm not sure; had lost interest by then. I do know they sent two protons - just two, but HUGE now because they had been unfolded - to Earth to basically "kill" science… (hide spoiler)]
Considering the first few chapters on China's Red Guards and the Cultural Revolution, I have to take the whole book as a metaphor for that period, where insane belief in a nutball philosophy made people do some pretty screwy things.
A few themes here were reminiscent of other - and earlier/better - stories. The multiple suns and subsequent unpredictable periods of light and dark reminded me of Asimov's Nightfall, while the initially weird aliens themselves (before they started sounded too human) made me think of The Gods Themselves (Asimov again). And of course, Earth defending itself from a planet-hungry alien invasion was very "Independence Day" - except the invasion itself doesn't even reach Earth until well into the second or possibly even third book of this trilogy…don't know, don't care and so will probably never find out.
Apparently, Netflix has just sunk big bucks into filming this, so let's see if they manage to turn it into something more palatable. I'm still on the fence over Apple TV+'s take on "Foundation" (Asimov yet again), but will certainly give it a look when it comes out next year. Probably.
ORIGINAL REVIEW: I am fully a third of the way through this book, and I still have absolutely no idea what it's about. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing; but it hasn't grabbed my interest enough to hold my attention when there are so many other and potentially better books whispering to me from my nightstand....more
Ugh...literature. Worse yet, Japanese literature. Depressed 60's college students who are either busy offing themselves, boinking, or reading F. ScottUgh...literature. Worse yet, Japanese literature. Depressed 60's college students who are either busy offing themselves, boinking, or reading F. Scott Fitzgerald. Or as Wikipedia more diplomatically puts it, "a nostalgic story of loss and burgeoning sexuality."
This was the last of four read-and-toss books I brought on my current trip to Taiwan, the other three being pretty decent (if slightly pulpy) thrillers/spy stories. So this didn't really fit my current mood - although I can't really imagine any circumstance in which I would have liked this any better. I frankly would have never even considered this book, except that for some ungodly reason it was in a box of my son's books from college, (although he had no idea why it was there - probably required for a class he skipped). Anyway, I'd heard of Murakami's more loopy-doopy books like Wind-Up Bird and 1Q84, and since this wasn't that long, I thought I'd give it a chance before heaving it. However, couldn't get past the first 100 pages, and even though I now have nothing to read on the flight home, I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy United's safety instructions more than going any further with this one.
TWO MINOR COOLS THINGS, HOWEVER: My previous book was a spy story called Quiller, whose very last sentence (which I can't remember exactly) was something like: "No," said the sailor. "Norwegian." And since neither book really has any connection to Norway, I thought this was a nice bit of synchronicity.
ALSO: Interestingly (to me at least), one of the last real "high-brow" books I read was Cloud Atlas, which - while having nothing to do with Japan - I actually bought at a bookstore in Fukuoka, because I'd already burned through all my books for that trip, and this looked like the least terrible book available from their very limited selection, (although it turned out to be amazing). So anyway, as a result I seem to have a fairly complicated relationship with Japan and literary fiction - it's okay if I buy it there; I just don't want it set there, (although I did enjoy Yōko Ogawa's The Housekeeper and the Professor - most definitely not to be confused with 70's sitcom "Nanny and the Professor")....more
If And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer was Fredrik Backman's The Five People You Meet in Heaven, then this book is his For One MoreIf And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer was Fredrik Backman's The Five People You Meet in Heaven, then this book is his For One More Day. Backman is in full-on Mitch Albom mode here; not necessarily a bad thing, but certainly something that can only be taken in small doses. And so the 60+ pages (about a quarter of which are drawings) is just about the right length for this minor work, certainly more short story than novella (as the cover says).
I just finished Britt-Marie Was Here a few days ago, and so had sworn off Backman for awhile, since a novel-length dose of his particular brand of charm can go a long way. But this was on my "hold" list at the library and had just come it, so I figured I'd pick it up while it was available. So maybe the timing was bad, but I just couldn't give it more than three stars right now - lightweight, feel-good fluff that will definitely make you sigh, but also something you'll probably forget a half hour after the half hour it took you to read in the first place....more
Another delightful book from Backman (with an equally delightful reading by Joan Walker) - although simply by comparison I have to rate it half a starAnother delightful book from Backman (with an equally delightful reading by Joan Walker) - although simply by comparison I have to rate it half a star lower than his even more wonderful My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, which I'm very glad I read first. Backman took an interesting risk here, choosing for his protagonist a person who was basically the villain in Grandmother, (or at least right up to the end, when Backman finally started showing the real person inside Britt-Marie).
Bit of an inconclusive ending, which I'm not sure yet if I liked or not. And already enough story here centered on "football" that I'm disinclined to read his two Beartown books, which are even more overtly sports-focused. However, I'm still really interested in reading A Man Called Ove - although not right away, as Backman's books are so charming that they sometimes veer awfully close to whimsy, and so I think I need a descent rest period in between in order to keep my blood sugar in check....more
Excellent launch of another great foreign crime-solver in the vein of John Burdett's "Sonchai Jitpleecheep," James Church's "Inspector O" and Martin CExcellent launch of another great foreign crime-solver in the vein of John Burdett's "Sonchai Jitpleecheep," James Church's "Inspector O" and Martin Cruz Smith's "Arkady Renko" - just be nice if some of these were actually also written by foreigners!
My sister recommended Cotterill's Don't Eat Me!, which is already the 13th book in the series (!), but I thought I'd start at the beginning - and I'm glad I did, as I'm sure some of the characters introduced here will be back in future stories. Dr. Siri himself is a delightful character (maybe because he's only a handful of years older than me?), and much less dark than O or Renko - surprising, in that the story takes place in 1978 Laos, just three years after the Communist victory and only five years after the end of "the Secret War," during which the U.S. dropped over two million tons of bombs on the country.
That said, the audiobook was a disappointment. The narrator was so low-key I had to constantly rewind because my mind kept drifting, (he also had a slight lisp, which didn't particularly help). Also, seeing all the Lao names in print (Siri, Civilai, Kham, Khen Nahlee, Ketkaew, Kumsing, etc.) would probably have made them easier to follow and differentiate than just hearing them.
But overall, great book and I look forward to reading some more, (although maybe not all 13, and definitely in print!)....more
Okay, this one is kind of on me. This Chinese best seller has been on my to-read list forever, ever since it was recommended by...I dunno, somebody. AOkay, this one is kind of on me. This Chinese best seller has been on my to-read list forever, ever since it was recommended by...I dunno, somebody. And yes, the author's back-flap bio and various reviews mention this being part of a trilogy, but I didn't realize it was just the first part of a continuing story - i.e., a cliffhanger, which I HATE. So points off for that, as I continue to assert that if you can't tell a good story in 300-400 pages, then you just can't tell a good story.
That said, pretty good plotting, but nothing that Jo Nesbo or plenty of others hasn't done as well or better. And while Zac Haluza is apparently a good enough translator, he is no writer - and so the whole book lacks an interesting style or voice - it reads like someone describing a TV mystery (which apparently this successfully became back in China).
I also note that it is a totally apolitical book, which is probably to be expected of something written and published in today's China. But when you're used to such iconic foreign dicks as Arkady Renko (honest but disillusioned Russian cop working in a corrupt Soviet system), Inspector O (honest but disillusioned Pyongyang cop working in a corrupt North Korean system), or Sonchai Jitpleecheep (honest but disillusioned Bangkok cop working in a corrupt Thai system), it came as a surprise that except for everyone eating a lot of noddles, this book lacked any sort of Chinese flavor (pun intended) or perspective - frankly could have been set anywhere.
Anyhow...another one I can move from "to-read" to "read." But I definitely won't be following the other books* to see how the story ends, (although wouldn't mind someone who's actually read them telling me!).
* Okay...so just where the hell is book three in this trilogy anyway? I see 2014's Fate listed as #2, but then...nothing. Someone still working on the English translation somewhere??...more
Not really sure why, but this took me a bit to get into. I listened to the first CD and for some reason was kind of "meh," so put it away for awhile. Not really sure why, but this took me a bit to get into. I listened to the first CD and for some reason was kind of "meh," so put it away for awhile. But when I did go back to it, I was just captivated - it was absolutely wonderful! So to anyone having similar difficulties - stick with it; give it a chance. I know other Goodreaders have similarly said they have problems particularly in the beginning with the whole fairy tale aspect of "The Land-of-Almost-Awake," but it really does pay off and totally brings everything together in the second half.
And yes, Elsa might be slightly unbelievable - or at least incredibly precocious - for a 7-year-old, but no more so than Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird and she's just two years younger than Melanie in The Girl With All the Gifts. So I personally loved her as a character. In fact, I liked all the characters, who by the end were all fully developed, unique and ultimately sympathetic personalities, (it's telling that the sequel to this book is based on the follow-on adventures of Grandmother's least sympathetic character).
My one possible complaint is that the setup happens pretty quickly, so that a lot of characters are introduced very early on with the result that it can take a while to truly understand who's who, and how old everybody is, (e.g., for most of the book, I thought Britte-Marie was the same age as Elsa's mother, but apparently she was more close to her grandmother's age...I think).
But that's a VERY minor point in a story that was overall delightful. Backman is a wonderful writer, so that even while I enjoyed Joan Walker's excellent audiobook narration, I switched to the physicacl book about 2/3s through so that I could savor and re-read phrases, paragraphs and whole pages that I particularly enjoyed.
NOTE: Late last year I read the wonderful And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer, but never realized this was also written by Backman (despite the near-identical covers) until another Goodreader commented on it - duhhr....more
GOOD ADVICE: Skip the book completely and go straight to the film version, and then fast forward over anything with Kate Hudson, where Riz Khan doesn'GOOD ADVICE: Skip the book completely and go straight to the film version, and then fast forward over anything with Kate Hudson, where Riz Khan doesn't have a beard, or that looks like it was set anyplace other than in Pakistan.
EVEN BETTER ADVICE: What the hell - skip the movie too, and just enjoy this awesome soundtrack cover of "Dhol Bajay Ga" by Meesha Shafi, which you can listen to here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz4El...
But an okay movie and a great song aside, I DO NOT THINK I COULD HAVE DISLIKED THIS BOOK MORE.
I'll give it a very slight benefit of the doubt, because maybe it reads better than it listens - since in addition to the story itself, I really had a problem with the smarmy narration. But even on the page, I would imagine that Changez and Erica ("Changes" and "(Am)Erica" - get it?) come off as the same shallow and completely unsympathetic characters. I think the title misled me into expecting some le Carré-type terrorism-related story (i.e., what the film tried to provide), and indeed the World Trade Center bombing is oh-so-briefly mentioned about midway through - but what should be a focal point of ANY story with 9/11 as a backdrop is immediately pushed aside by these two ostensible New Yorkers who without missing a beat return to their self-absorbed preoccupations: his high-paying finance career, her unpublished novel, his creepy/stalkery obsession, her dead boyfriend...pretty much anything and everything except what the entire rest of the world was trying to deal with at that time in one way or another.
As to the "clever narrative device" of having the entire story told as a monologue over the course of a night market-style meal in Lahore between Changez and an unidentified (at least by disc 3) American - again; maybe this reads well on paper but in the audio version it comes off as a particularly bad radio series from the 1940's, where every action has to be spelled out to the listener since television hasn't been invented yet:
"But I observe, sir, that you are watching me with a rather peculiar expression. Possibly you find me crass for revealing such intimacies to you, a stranger? No? I will interpret that movement of your head as a response in the negative..."
I just cannot describe how annoying that is to listen to over and over and over again.
Obviously, I am neither young nor Pakistani nor Muslim, so may lack a certain empathy here - but it's also a little hard to feel too much sympathy towards a country that we now know harbored Osama bin Laden with at least some level of complicity for close to nine years before he was finally caught, (although be aware that this book was published in 2007, when bin Laden's reabouts were still unknown)....more
Well-written, cleverly plotted and paced...and DEEPLY DISTURBING, The Good Son reminded me of nothing so much as Jim Thompson's super-creepy The KilleWell-written, cleverly plotted and paced...and DEEPLY DISTURBING, The Good Son reminded me of nothing so much as Jim Thompson's super-creepy The Killer Inside Me, (which I understand was made into a movie a few years ago starring the super-creepy Casey Affleck). And with both books, a lot of the creep factor comes from the stories' first-person narration, so that we not only see the facts and action from the nut-job's POV, but also get to/have to experience his thoughts and feelings as well...yuck.
I really enjoy foreign mysteries, both for the unique settings and different cultural spin, but quite honestly I probably would have passed this one by if I had known it was this dark. And while on balance I'm glad I read it, I really need to read something way lighter next......more
It's official - high-brow British literature just ain't for me. And I'll take full responsibility for this, since I seem to be one of the few dissentiIt's official - high-brow British literature just ain't for me. And I'll take full responsibility for this, since I seem to be one of the few dissenting voices speaking against a pair of what are demonstrably prize-winning classics.
First, I grossly underappreciated Kazuo Ishiguro's Remains of the Day and his pathetically clueless Mr. Stephens, and now here I am back again being bored to tears by Julian Barnes' endlessly-droning Tony Webster, who whines on and on like a tedious acquaintance who simply WON'T LEAVE, providing way TMI about his public school days and his first girlfriend, who as an old man he grows embarrassingly reattached to...rraaaAAGGHH!!!
And yes, there is a twist at the end, although that largely hinges on Webster's sudden and convenient final act remembrance of a whole slew of 40-year-old memories, so I'm calling BS on this as a plot device.
Maybe the whole thing came off better on the printed page, or even in the Jim Broadbent/Charlotte Rampling film version - but in the monotone audiobook reading by Richard Morant I just felt trapped.
So why did I finish it? Well, it was short (although at times it seemed interminable), and so the pain was fleeting. But anyway, it's done now and I've got a few good replacement audiobooks to wash the taste out of me ears - Ray Bradbury's vintage Martian Chronicles, and Karen Cleveland's new CIA thriller, Need to Know; either one of which can't help but be a more pleasant experience for my callow character and plebeian standards....more
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