REVIEWS pick of the week
fiction ACTS of desperation
by Megan Nolan, Jonathan Cape, £14.99, ebook £9.99
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Acts Of Desperation is not an easy read, but it is worth it.
It is the intense and painful tale of a 20-something woman living in Dublin, embroiled in a deeply toxic relationship.
The chapters are short, but powerful.
Megan Nolan’s writing is gorgeously nuanced, there are paragraphs you will want to swim in.
The nameless narrator speaks frankly of sex, self-disgust, messy nights out and unrequited love, as she details her time with the beautiful but cold Ciaran.
A mesmerising debut that is a masterpiece from the opening sentence to the bitter end, and everything in between.
klara And THE sun
by Kazuo Ishiguro, Faber & Faber, £20, ebook £8.32
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Klara And The Sun is Kazuo Ishiguro’s first work since being awarded the Nobel Prize in literature, and tells the story of an Artificial Friend called Klara.
She watches the behaviour of those on the street outside her store, waiting for a customer to choose her as a companion.
When 14-year-old Josie and her mother enter, the manager warns Klara not to put too much faith in
Transcendent kingdom
by Yaa Gyasi, Viking, £14.99, ebook £9.49
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Yaa Gyasi’s stunning debut Homegoing was a sweeping look at a multi-generational family; her new book Transcendent Kingdom, zeroes in on two siblings and their mother. humans.
The unfolding story is a slow burn, but still thrilling. Fans of Never Let Me Go will be delighted by Ishiguro’s hotly anticipated new offering, which feels like it is set in much the same world. He looks again at cloning and robots, and through the eyes of an outsider, explores to what extent they are human, and what it means to love.
Beautifully written, Ishiguro proves himself a master of storytelling.
Neuroscientist Gifty is a Ghanaian first generation immigrant looking back on her childhood in Alabama, and the opioid addiction that claimed her older brother’s life as a teenager.
Now an adult in California, her mother – who became depressed in the years following her brother’s death – has come to visit, and spends her days in silence, lying in bed.
This isn’t a plot-driven novel, but is an opportunity to reflect on weighty topics like religion, love and addiction.
Beautifully written, it’s a raw look at the personal destruction caused by the opioid crisis. Transcendent Kingdom starts with devastation and continues, and would perhaps benefit from the odd moment of contrast.
Non-fiction How To Avoid A Climate disaster: THE solutions we Have And THE Breakthroughs we need
by Bill Gates, Allen Lane, £20, ebook £9.99 HHHHI
A manifesto for action, Bill Gates’ book breaks down the monumental issue of climate change, and lays out a vision for reaching zero carbon emissions globally.
Gates acknowledges his immense wealth and privilege, while expressing that any advances in global warming need to help lift the world’s poorest.
The book is a refreshingly straightforward read – with not only the world’s environment in mind, but its people first and foremost.