You can’t outrun the past

When New York law professor, Tom Layward’s wife, Amy’s infidelity was revealed, he resolved to leave her as soon as his youngest daughter turned eighteen. Twelve years later, while driving her to Pittsburgh to start university, he remembers his pact. It is a commitment born of spite and pride, unlikely to stand the test of time. As soon as his daughter is settled in her dorm, though, he gets in his car and starts driving. His destination – friends, relatives, exes, the basketball courts beloved of his youth – is anywhere but home. It doesn’t help that Tom’s job in … Continue reading You can’t outrun the past

Lives entwined but divided by love

Zanzibar-born British novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, he said  “ I wouldn’t have picked me”, although his work does not fit the traditional mould of recent Nobel laureates. His novels were out of print in the US when his Nobel Prize was announced, who praised Gurnah’s “uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee”. Gurnah, a refugee fled Tanzania during the 1960s Zanzibar revolution, and settled and lived in England for over fifty years. His latest novel “Theft”, is a captivating story of the intertwined lives of three young … Continue reading Lives entwined but divided by love

Son’s unique blend of financial engineering, power of optimism, daring to dream

Masayoshi Son, as an ethnic Korean in Japan, Son has overcome adversity, born in Korean poverty and forced to pass as Japanese, driven by the need for acceptance in a famously regimented society despite discrimination to become Japan’s best-known businessman and empire-builder, but he remains elusive, intensely private figure. He had chips on his shoulders put chips in pockets. In Gambling Man, we learn what drives Son on, and whether he really is a genius or a madman. Son merely wants to show off his Japanese garden, although there are no rosebud moment, but he enigmatic as ever. SoftBank founder … Continue reading Son’s unique blend of financial engineering, power of optimism, daring to dream