A Dangerous Place (Maisie Dobbs #11)
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Maisie Dobbs returns in a powerful story of political intrigue and personal tragedy: a brutal murder...
Suswatibasu (1703 KP) rated The Golden House in Books
Jan 1, 2018
Narrated by René, an aspiring filmmaker, this account feels very similar to the likes of The Great Gatsby, in which everything is rather hyperbolic because it is written from the perspective of an outsider. Following the exceedingly wealthy Golden family, René attempts to figure out the mysterious circumstances of their arrival from India, and the subsequent, often cataclysmic events surrounding them, in which the narrator plays a part. The slow emergence of a dark history of corruption and evil is paralleled by Rushdie's perception of the rise of ignorance, untruth, bigotry and hatred, and of "The Joker" (i.e. Trump, although he is never named).
The writing is brilliant. It is discursive, sometimes addresses the reader directly, even sometimes adopts the form of a screenplay and has a wonderful voice of its own. The context surrounding the Mumbai bombings is intriguing as much of it is based on factual information. The truth is, after all, stranger than fiction.
While the style is not flawless, as the postmodern blurring between supposedly objective narrative and things René has "made up" for his screenplay did get a little haphazard, however, this may be Rushdie's attempt to reflect how "post-truths" are disseminated in a similar fashion. Nonetheless, I thought The Golden House was enjoyable. Even after all these years, Rushdie is able to adapt his writing to suit a modern generation.
Mayhawke (97 KP) rated The Strange Disappearance of a Bollywood Star in Books
Feb 13, 2018
One of the great pleasures for crime fiction readers of the last decade has been the influx of new voices as - in the search for something new and different - the British market has been opened up to translations from abroad (Camilleri, Akunin, Vargas) and English-language fiction set in different cultural environments (No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, Aurelio Zen, Dr. Siri Paboun). Khan has proven himself a skillful and delightful contributor to the latter category, lifting the vibrant sounds, colours, smells and characters of India (good and bad) from the page as he weaves remarkably clever and entertaining stories of brutal thefts, murder and abduction for the protagonist, Inspector Chopra (Retd) & and his mystical and cheeky four-legged sidekick, Ganesha, to unravel.
His latest book sees a young and arrogant Bollywood star abducted on the eve of his most important film shoot to date. As the biggest and most expensive film in Bollywood history grinds to a halt money, reputations and lives are on the line and Chopra is employed to quietly find and return the prodigal starlet to his duties. It quickly becomes apparent, though, that the boy has not just had a Bieberesque tantrum, and that the funding for, and personalities behind the movie may be a lot murkier and more complex than they seem.
Already on his third book in two years he promises to be as prolific as he is enjoyable.
Awix (3310 KP) rated War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches in Books
Feb 3, 2020
A bit of a mixed bag, to be honest: some of the stories just restage elements of Wells with a different backdrop, others treat the Martians as a backdrop for more introspective tales, still others indulge in literary pastiche. Unlikely juxtapositions and in-jokes abound - Rudyard Kipling meets Gandhi, Tolstoy meets Stalin, Samuel Clemens (d. 1910) makes reference to John Christopher (b. 1922). The best stories are mostly the ones which recognise the political/satirical subtext powering the Wells novel and attempt to do something similar - so Barbara Hambly's story concerns British imperialism in India, and the effect of the Martians on the situation there, while another looks at the consequences for pre-revolutionary Russia. That said, Connie Willis' Hugo-winning contribution sends the whole conceit of the novel up with a predictable mixture of tongue-in-cheek drollery and sheer absurd silliness, as the unlikely effect of a Martian encounter on the poetry of Emily Dickinson is revealed (especially considering Dickinson died twelve years before the coming of the Martians). The good stories are very good indeed, the less good ones merely a bit tedious. A worthy and worthwhile tribute to the original novel.
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