In previous years, I have bemoaned the year just finishing and expressed the hope for better things to come the following year. Not this time. Next year will be worse and you do not need me to tell you why. Did you know that forty countries are having elections next year, including Russia, India, the … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Haji Jabir‘s ة سوداء، (Black Foam). Dawoud, one of four names he uses in this book, is an Eritrean. We follow his life as he flees Eritrea, where he has been imprisoned for abandoning his army training to be with his girlfriend, as he escapes to Ethiopia, cheats … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Tsering Yangzom Lama‘s We Measure The Earth with Our Bodies. This is a (semi-)autobiographical novel about a family and village that flee Tibet when the Chinese take over and what happens to them. The four narrators are Lhamo, a child at the time, her younger sister Tenkyi, Lhamo’s … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Tatiana Țîbuleac:‘s Vara în care mama a avut ochii verzi [The Summer When Mum Had Green Eyes]. The story starts with an outpouring of hate and contempt that the narrator, Aleksy, has for his mother, who is picking him up after his final day at school. His feelings … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Peter Stamm‘s Das Archiv der Gefühle (The Archive of Feelings). Our unnamed narrator was an archivist for a newspaper but a paper archive was no longer needed in the age of the Internet, so he was made redundant. However he was not going to let go and persuades … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Sebastijan Pregelj‘s V Elvisovi sobi (In Elvis’s Room). This is definitely a book of two halves. It starts as a Bildungsroman, telling the story of Jan, initially a young boy in Yugoslavia, living in Ljubljana in the 980s. We follow all the issues of his growing-up but, at … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Thuận‘s Chinatown : tiẻ̂u thuyé̂t (Chinatown). Our unnamed heroine spends the entire book on a Paris metro train which is held up by the investigation of a suspicious duffle bag, with her twelve-year old son asleep on her shoulder. She spends the time ruminating on her life. She … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Sami Tchak‘s Place des Fêtes. The title refers to a stop on the Paris metro where a key scene in the novel takes place. Our unnamed narrator was born in France to parents from over there, i.e Togo, though it is never named. He argues with his father … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Paulina Chiziane‘s Niketche: Uma História de Poligamia (Niketche : A Story of Polygamy; later: Fìrst Wife) . The key theme of this novel is polygamy, apparently still practised in Mozambique. Our heroine is Rami. She is married to Tony, a senior police officer and they have five children. … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Ali al-Muqri’s ‘s رواية (Hurma). It tells the story of how women are repressed in Yemen and their struggles to improve their lot. Our unnamed heroine has an older rebellious brother who soon changes and becomes a conformist when he marries. She also has an older sister who … Read more