BOOK MARKS
SO, HERE is a book that will have you either staying awake at night or tossing it aside in sheer horror.
Chris Ryan is an author known for writing about the tough stuff of war and terror. In fact, he is qualified to write the types of novels he writes; he was a member of the UK’s elite SAS unit.
The thing about books like Hellfire is that they are filled with blood and gore, but Ryan manages to bring some perspective to what is going on. Bioterror, it would appear, is about to be unleashed on the world.
This is not an inflammatory anti-Muslim book. It keeps a balance between the difference between behaviour and belief. It’s also I suspect remarkably on the ball. I can’t say that I found it a restful read, but I did find it a good read.
– Jennifer Crocker THE LONGEST FIGHT
Emily Bullock Loot.co.za (R208)
Myriad
BOXING novels are rarely about just boxing. On One of the best of the genre, Leonard Gardner’s Fat City, US author Joyce Carol Oates wrote: “It is less about boxing than the strategies of self-deception; a handbook of sorts in failure.”
That might also apply to this wonderful first novel by Emily Bullock. Jack Munday, a former boxer-turned-manager, is on the lookout for a prospect and finds Frank, a fighter with a mop of red hair and a lightning left hook.
Like Fat City, The Longest Fight is really about the fragility of masculinity – Jack associates his failure as a boxer with his inability to stand up to his abusive father. But Bullock’s moving, punchily written novel also gives attention to the wives, sisters and daughters affected by boxing’s masculine codes.
– The Independent LAND WHERE I FLEE Prajwal Parajuly Loot.co.za (R182)
Quercus
PRAJWAL Parajuly’s first novel ventures into the diverse culture of Nepali communities in the Himalayas and beyond.
Delivering on the immense promise in his debut story collection, The Gurkha’s Daughter, this is a delightful comedy of manners set in northern India.
It’s Chitralekha Nepauney’s 84th birthday and her grandchildren have returned from abroad to engage in celebrations: Agastaya is a medical doctor; Manasa, a corporate high-flyer-turned housewife; Bhagwati, ostracised for her elopement with a man of “inferior” caste; and novelist Ruthwa.
Not all are welcome and Parajuly’s clever, caustic work savours the community’s language and customs even as he joyfully pricks its taboos.
– The Independent ROBERTS’ debut collection of short stories is often charmingly, yet also brutally concise when observing the pitfalls and absurdities of contemporary relationships and lifestyles.
His characters hold jobs directed by management speak and express their feelings via Facebook – nothing so new there, perhaps, but taken as a whole, they highlight a dissatisfaction with contemporary life that can only be expressed in ironic laughter that is self-deluding and selfdefeating.
Laughter becomes the last option because words have become so inadequate, devoid of meaning. There’s enough here for us to recognise and laugh about, but Roberts is spiky enough never to let us feel too comfortable.
– The Independent