Tag: fiction

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Self-immolation in the realms of imagination, work and play

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Thirty-three-old Singapore-born Jemimah Wei’s debut novel The Original Daughter, is a gripping tale of two sisters- one adopted- long separated by acts of cruelty and the inability to forgive. Set in Singapore and New Zealand, Wei’s story reflects the practice, probably old but discussed with less stigma these days, of going no-contact when close relationships feel too painful, too broken to fix.  Wei illuminates both the need for, and the cost of estrangement. As a character says after suffering a loss, “How various our excuses, as we flail about in our attempts to avoid facing the shame of wanting love”. Singapore, … Continue reading Self-immolation in the realms of imagination, work and play

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Dreaming of a fragile future and misfortunes of a teen Naples bandit

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So People Know It’s Me, set in the winter of 1991, is a unforgettable novel which unleashes Zeno’s luminous, unguarded and defiant voice- dreaming of a fragile future, set in the juvenile prison island of Nisida. Zeno is fifteen years old, a minor by law, but he grew up long ago in the dusty heat of Naples.  The novel follows one man’s self-realisation in a foreboding juvenile prison. Winding down cobbled streets on his motorbike, he delivers baggies and picks pockets, doing whatever it takes to put food on the table and steal a few precious moments of freedom with his … Continue reading Dreaming of a fragile future and misfortunes of a teen Naples bandit

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Dark Desires, a smell of leather, the flash of harness, the snap of a latex gloves

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Welcome to the radical, vibrant world of sexual fetishists. In 21st century commodity culture, we are all intimately involved with objects we covet a Birkin bag; we keep trainers box-fresh. We are, in a sense, all fetishists. Occasionally this desire spills into something more subversive. Second Skin offers a tour through the materials, objects and power dynamics commonly fetishized, unpacking their histories, their expressive potential, and the communities they give rise to. Drawing from her encounters with fellow fetishists and kinksters, it is alos the story of ex-fashion critic, Anastasiia Fedorova’s own journey of what it means to come to terms … Continue reading Dark Desires, a smell of leather, the flash of harness, the snap of a latex gloves

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Portraits of survival and resilience wins the Booker Prize

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Indian writer, Banu Mushtaq’s fiction Heart Lamp won the International Booker Prize this week. The 77-year-old writer  said “ I never dreamt it could happen. I don’t know how to express my emotions, except to say it is the greatest experience of my life”. Her translator Deepa Bhasthi 41, said “the honour lies in becoming the first translator of colour to win the annual award which goes to the best work of fiction translated into English. splits the £50,000 prize money equally between author and translator. Heart Lamp is a collection of 12 stories Mushtaq  exquisitely captures everyday lives of women and … Continue reading Portraits of survival and resilience wins the Booker Prize

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Hope and despair

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The emotional story of an intense friendship between the narrator and his close childhood friend, Fanny, who suffers from profound psychological disorders. A Leopard-Skin Hat may be the French writer Anne Serre’s most moving novel. Anne Serre is a Prix Goncourt winner who has published 17 novels in French, as postmodern sensuous fairy tale. A feminist fantasy, where women satisfy their sexual needs free from society’s ignominy. The first to be translated into English by Mark Hutchinson, 1992’s The Governesses. Hailed in Le Point as a ‘masterpiece of simplicity, emotion and elegance, with a series of short scenes painting the … Continue reading Hope and despair

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Strange and Dangerous

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Piranesi is a spectacular novel by Susanna Clarke, winner of the Women’s Prize 2021, set in parallel universe made up of hundreds of halls and vestibules lined with statues each on different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid: He understands the tides as he understands the pattern of labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house. The vestibules which triggers gradual memory loss and identity in newcomers. The upper level of the house is filled with clouds lower … Continue reading Strange and Dangerous

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The act of Atonement

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Master storyteller, and author of more than 60 bestsellers, Stephen King’s rumours of retirement due to literary exhaustion, is unfounded as his shift of genre from horror to crime after recharging his creative batteries. Never Flinch is about a killer on a diabolical revenge mission, and another about a vigilante targeting a feminist celebrity speaker – featuring the beloved Holly Gibney. When the Buckeye City Police Department receives a disturbing letter from a person threatening to “kill thirteen innocents and one guilty” in act of atonement of the needless death of an innocent man”. Detective Izzy Jaynes has no idea … Continue reading The act of Atonement

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Love in the Therapeutic age

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Tanja and Jerome are navigating a long-distance relationship in a world of constant communication and emotional hyper-reflection. Whether they are texting one another trip updates from midday raves or debating the best trainers in the own-brand aisle of Decathlon, every gesture is controlled and self-aware. This is love in the therapeutic age. Both conform to the archetype: Tanja is a Berlin-based writer whose first book sits somewhere at the intersection of virtual reality and gay romance. “People who didn’t like it came across as cringingly proud of their dislike of a book that meant something to others, “ writes Randt, … Continue reading Love in the Therapeutic age

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Mother who raised and inspired two superstars

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Tina Knowles, the mother of icons Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Solange Knowles and bonus daughter Kelly Rowland, is known the world over as a Matriarch with a capital M: the woman who raised and inspired some of the great artists of our time. A life of grief and tragedy, love and heartbreak, the nurturing of her superstar daughters, and the perseverance and audacity it takes for a girl from Galveston, Texas to change the world. Why half of Destiny’s Child Beyoncé’s original four piece, left the group in 2000 in a flurry of bad-mouthing and lawsuits: we’re just old that “Beyoncé saw … Continue reading Mother who raised and inspired two superstars

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Eternal City, that bring its people to life

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Rome for centuries was an essential stop on the Grand Tour, part of the education of well-born visitors such as the great chronicler of Gilded Age, Edith Wharton.  A collection of short stories, set in Italy, France and America, with powerful portraits of women who live in “the world of propriety” at the turn of century, displaying emotions women feel in love, in jealousy, when they long for children or seek independence – and when their passions lead them to overstep the bounds laid down by exacting conventions. We see too what happens to those strong enough to break the … Continue reading Eternal City, that bring its people to life