Tag: fiction

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101 Princesses

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Imagine what New York-based, British writer Jon Ronson did when he received a series of disquieting texts after his 24-year-old son Joel and his friends had been lured to a mysterious castle in the  rural Connecticut (forests of New England) under false pretences late one evening. Ronson Sr. off on an extraordinary adventure into a world of unmoored men on a desperate search for purpose, whatever the cost. Why did the wealthy scion of a gilded age tycoon Jon’s son to his castle on the pretext of a party, when the reality was something else entirely? Could Jon uncover what was … Continue reading 101 Princesses

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Aimless rituals and shortlived romances

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Éric Rohmer, the French New Wave’s most prolific and beloved filmmaker’s first and only novel Elisabeth featuring witty banter, lust, ennui and an undercurrent of violence underlie a seemingly paradisiacal summer on the eve of World War II. Fifteen years before completing his first feature film- and ten before beginning a transformative editorial stint at Cahiers du cinema that would usher the journal, and French cinema, into a new era – the man who would become known worldwide as Éric Rohmer published a single novel. Released byÉditions Galimard alongside the early works of Claude Simon and Marguérite Duras, Élisabeth was … Continue reading Aimless rituals and shortlived romances

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Real value of life might lie not in beauty but in ugliness

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Acclaimed author of Outline trilogy (an irresistible novel of fame, power, beauty, and truth- Rachel Cusk’s new novel, is about an unnamed but apparently female author undertakes to write a biographical portrait of her friend, a world  famous actress referred to as M. The film star M is one of the most recognizable faces of our time, and her image is everywhere, which has been like that since she was a child. With such fame, her life has the appearance of freedom: people are instantly obliging, spaces are altered to accommodate her, time can be rearranged. M may live in the … Continue reading Real value of life might lie not in beauty but in ugliness

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Hope, Anger and Exhaustion – lack of despair causes despair

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Two friends meet in an art gallery after decades of silence. The idealism that once bound them together fissured and fractured under the weight of collective and personal griefs. Through their memories of youthful certainty, the antagonism of their conversation and the embers of their enduring kinship, they navigate the wreckage of our world today- the hope, the anger the exhaustion.Jamaican-American poet and playwright Claudia Rankine best known for “Citizen” (2014), her prize-winning work of prose poetry about black experience in the US, which explored microaggressions, police violence and Serena William’s treatment by tennis officials and exposed the depth of … Continue reading Hope, Anger and Exhaustion – lack of despair causes despair

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Survival amid ultimate brutality…

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Paul Yoon’s Etna is set in a fictional country in the present day, this is story told through the eyes of an ex-military dog, Etna. Etna after surviving years of a devastating war,  decides one night to leave the men he has fought alongside for years and returns home- to the place where he has taken from when he was young, in the thin but persistent hope that if a home exists for him, it might be there. This exhilarating odyssey told through the eyes of a war dog in his own battle-weary, gritty voice, as he traverses across ruined landscapes … Continue reading Survival amid ultimate brutality…

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Needle in a loop of silent waves, fine-tuning out of Trauma

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Jamaica-born British writer Jacqueline’s new novel “Sky City” set in early 1990s North London, where a young mixed-race woman, Jaycee, lives alone in a sparsely furnished apartment in a block above a shopping centre, with just a DJ on the radio for company. She is isolated, her best friend Ella-G moved to New York, and she never takes time off from her job as a legal secretary because she “craves the order of the workplace”. Music is still crucial, “Walls hummed with overdriven bass lines. Doors bounced in their frames”- but the escape it offers Jaycee is not ecstatic but … Continue reading Needle in a loop of silent waves, fine-tuning out of Trauma

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Jackal and gatekeepers to the world of American literature

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Laura McGrath, assistant professor of English at Temple University and a National Endowment for the Humanities fellow, in Middlemen reveals the critical role in the making of American literature, from the famed three-martini lunch to the Frankfurt Book Fair,  and shows how agents influence what we read and explains why many debut novelists never publish another book, why agents champion short story collections even though they sell poorly, and how agents advocate for writers of colour in a system that values whiteness, and why there are so many New York novels. Middlemen demonstrates that agents-eighty percent of whom are in fact … Continue reading Jackal and gatekeepers to the world of American literature

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Decline of public etiquette

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David Sedaris investigates in The Land and Its People, what it means to be a traveller, a brother, a lifelong friend. Trying on the role of caretaker after his boyfriend Hugh’s hip-replacement surgery. It is a familiar Sedaris set-up: domestic discomfort turned into comic material, with a swipe of competitiveness. “I Know all about kidney stones and gum surgery. I know about broken ribs and urinary tract infections. When it came to hip pain, though, he had me,” he writes. Sedaris approaches with his usual cool composure and flashes of humour. In one essay, he lists the friends he has … Continue reading Decline of public etiquette

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How justice plays out

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UK’s leading forensic anthropologist and pro-vice chancellor of Engagement at Lancaster University, president of St John’s College, Oxford, Professor Dame Sue Black solves the mysteries of harrowing and shocking criminal cases by assessing its triumphs, failures and future. For over forty years, Black has analysed criminal evidence at the highest level. She stood in court as an expert witness, repeatedly putting her research and reputation on the line, all in the name of justice. True crime cases from historic poisonings to modern sexual offences, Sue Black traces the evolution of forensic science from early identification methods to more recent breakthroughs … Continue reading How justice plays out

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Tribulations of gig-going, romantic fumblings…

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Homework is a portrait of a young boy, who keeps passing exams and  if a changing England in the 1960s and 1970s. Geoff Dyer famous for his stylish sentences and diverse subject matters, has written fiction, nonfiction and essays, with an interest in film, art, photography, jazz and takes a keen interest in writers and their writing. Geoff’s novel included Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi, a novel Out of Sheer Rage, about not being able to write a biography of D.H. Lawrence; Yoga for People Who Can’t be Bothered to Do It, (2003), a collection of travel essays is the … Continue reading Tribulations of gig-going, romantic fumblings…