The Great Hip Hop Hoax, directed by Jeanie Finlay, charts the rise and fall of Scottish rappers Billy Boyd and Gavin Bain who created alternate personalities in an audacious bid to get the attention of the record industry and receive the exposure they felt they deserved. The two met on the Dundee skate scene in Read More
Following the critical acclaim for her last two novels, My Year of Meats (1998) and All Over Creation (2003), it is perhaps no surprise that Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being has been received with equal literary approbation. Ozeki’s current offering is a seamless fusion of semi-autobiographical narrative, ecological perspicacity, and philosophical meditation. Read More
There are at least two ways of contextualising Colm Tóibín’s The Testament of Mary. It is the latest in a succession of recent works on Jesus and his times. English translations of the then pope Joseph Ratzinger’s volumes Jesus of Nazareth (2007), Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week (2011), and Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives Read More
Jhumpa Lahiri’s skill lies in immersing her readers within the environments which she crafts. Shortlisted also for the Man Booker Prize 2013, her latest novel, The Lowland, showcases this ability. The book, set in Calcutta, now Kolkata, is about a family who are profoundly affected by the Naxalite movement in India shortly after political independence Read More
NoViolet Bulawayo’s debut novel, We Need New Names, integrates all the archetypal elements which readers come to expect of a “typical” African novel; poverty, rape, Aids, religious fanaticism, political violence and the struggle for independence. Yet, as a whole, it does not fufill those expectations. Bulawayo tells the story of a devastated nation. This is Read More
Eleanor Catton’s second novel, The Luminaries, opens with the arrival of Scotsman Walter Moody in Hokitika on the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island during the gold rush of 1866. A group of twelve men, the eponymous luminaries, are meeting to unravel a complex story involving stolen gold, a vanished man, a dead recluse, Read More
If you feel like watching Kick Ass 2, make sure you don’t do it for the dialogue. Like the first Kick Ass film directed by Matthew Vaughan, this sequel is ultra-violent and extremely fast paced; however, unlike its predecessor, this movie induces incredulity rather than providing the shock factor which had made the first film Read More
With its placid sea and big sky, the grey and black of the cover of Eunice Buchanan’s book, As Far As I Can See, is both stark and calming. And this is as it should be, for the colour and energy are contained within; contained, yes, but bursting with the life with which Buchanan imbues Read More
Why write poetry? For the weird unemployment. For the painless headaches, that must be tapped to strike down your writing arm at the accumulated moment. (“The Instrument”) This suitably plump volume of Les Murray’s poetry, spanning five decades, came wrapped in both delight and concern. The delight is self-evident. The concern … how would I Read More