A Google search will inform curious readers that the word ‘’bardo’’ references an old Tibetan legend: souls making the transition from death to Nirvana, or, if they are less fortunate, to begin again in a new body, must first pass through the bardo. Think of it as a stopping station between different states of existence Read More
How far would you go to belong? So runs the tagline to Emily Fridlund’s Booker shortlisted debut novel History of Wolves. It is suggestive of the latest pseudo-psychological thriller, but this does the book a disservice, belying a much subtler, somber work. The book is about a quiet desperation: yes, to belong; but also to Read More
Twice short-listed for the Man Booker Prize, Mohsin Hamid is an author who never disappoints. Born in Lahore, a place that has suffered bombings and terror attacks, Hamid has taken inspiration from one of his own personal crises and created his fourth short novel Exit West, where we join hopeful couple Saeed and Nadia on Read More
I feel the need to start this review by making a confession. Since its publication in 2016, Colson Whitehead’s latest novel, The Underground Railroad, has been crowned with some of the most prestigious literary awards: National Book Award for Fiction 2016, The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2017, even, oddly enough, the Arthur C. Clarke Award Read More
Of rain and rushing water, dense with coils of razor wire masquerading as weeds. The fish were machine guns with fins and barrels that ruddered through the swift current like mermaids’ tails, so you could not tell who they were really pointed at, and who would die when they were fired. Perhaps the quotation above Read More
In a political climate where homophobia is a symptom of the backlash against tolerance, aided and abetted by populist and right-wing movements across the globe, the publication of The Red Beach Hut raises important questions about society’s misinterpretations of homosexuality. But Michell’s lightness of touch and her ability to get under the skin of her Read More
“Sometimes the thoughts I could conjure up when my eyes were closed would frighten even me.” The word “fallow” refers to an area of uncultivated land: unseeded, empty, dormant. This proves a fitting title for Shand’s engrossing thriller. The novel reads likes a perverse retelling of stories like John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, or Read More
“The smell would have been there on the way back, too. It is the one constant. It connects the two things in Ann’s mind that she can’t manage to connect otherwise – the drive up the mountain and the drive back down.” Just like the eponymous state, Emily Ruskovich’s debut novel presents a false etymology: Read More
Sema Kaygusuz is critically acclaimed, award-winning, and described as one of Turkey”s leading female writers. She has written novels and screenplays, and The Well of Trapped Words is her most recent collection of short stories. The first story of the collection, “Zilşan’s Feet” sets the tone for the remaining pages. Kaygusuz delivers a description of Read More
The Outside Lands is an evocative and sensitive exploration of the quiet turmoil of self-discovery in 1960s America; it is beautiful and painful. Death intrudes on the lives of Jeannie and Kip when their mother is killed the same week JFK is assassinated. As the nation grieves for its President, Jeannie and Kip grieve for Read More