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hnpccFour novels about dislocation, a rather unsettling theme. One I wasn't especially expecting either.
6.The Earthquake Bird , by Susanna Jones.
Lucy is an English woman living and working in Tokyo. She is also the chief suspect in a murder. The story unfolds from her perspective, although she is also hiding things from herself. A story of a strange woman hiding from her secrets in an alien place. I enjoyed it, a quiet unfolding of hidden secrets.
7.After the quake, by Haruki Murakami.
A collection of short stories set after the Kobe earthquake. While none of the stories are directly about the earthquake, all of the characters are influenced - either subtly or overtly - by the earthquake and the sense of dislocation hanging over society. The stories vary - some, like a lot of anime, I found incomplete, whereas others, particularly "Landscape with Flatiron" and "Thailand" lingered with me a long time.
8.On Mexican Time, by Tony Cohan.
The author and his wife moved to Mexico in 1985, fleeing the pressures of life in LA. The book is about their adaptation to life in a small Mexican town, and some of the cultural and linguistic adaptations needed. The novel covers over a decade of their lives there, the collapse and later resurgence of the peso and - in what also turned out to be a bit of a theme - the earthquake which devastated Mexico City in the late eighties. I really enjoyed this book, which celebrated Mexican life, even while acknowledging the frustrations and drawbacks to living in the country.
9.Empire of the Sun, by JG Ballard.
A very unsettling book, with insight into how children - and adults, and society in general - is damaged by the onset and aftermath of war. Jim is an English schoolboy living in Shanghai in 1941. Separated from his parents in the turmoil following the Pearl Harbour bombing, he is interned in a Japanese POW camp. How he survives, and the mental processes he develops to do it are scary, and depressing. The anarchy of a society in flux - both during the Japanese occupation and in the immediate post-war grab for power by the communist, nationalist and warlord armies - make for disturbing reading.
6.The Earthquake Bird , by Susanna Jones.
Lucy is an English woman living and working in Tokyo. She is also the chief suspect in a murder. The story unfolds from her perspective, although she is also hiding things from herself. A story of a strange woman hiding from her secrets in an alien place. I enjoyed it, a quiet unfolding of hidden secrets.
7.After the quake, by Haruki Murakami.
A collection of short stories set after the Kobe earthquake. While none of the stories are directly about the earthquake, all of the characters are influenced - either subtly or overtly - by the earthquake and the sense of dislocation hanging over society. The stories vary - some, like a lot of anime, I found incomplete, whereas others, particularly "Landscape with Flatiron" and "Thailand" lingered with me a long time.
8.On Mexican Time, by Tony Cohan.
The author and his wife moved to Mexico in 1985, fleeing the pressures of life in LA. The book is about their adaptation to life in a small Mexican town, and some of the cultural and linguistic adaptations needed. The novel covers over a decade of their lives there, the collapse and later resurgence of the peso and - in what also turned out to be a bit of a theme - the earthquake which devastated Mexico City in the late eighties. I really enjoyed this book, which celebrated Mexican life, even while acknowledging the frustrations and drawbacks to living in the country.
9.Empire of the Sun, by JG Ballard.
A very unsettling book, with insight into how children - and adults, and society in general - is damaged by the onset and aftermath of war. Jim is an English schoolboy living in Shanghai in 1941. Separated from his parents in the turmoil following the Pearl Harbour bombing, he is interned in a Japanese POW camp. How he survives, and the mental processes he develops to do it are scary, and depressing. The anarchy of a society in flux - both during the Japanese occupation and in the immediate post-war grab for power by the communist, nationalist and warlord armies - make for disturbing reading.
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no subject
Date: 2004-02-02 02:05 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2004-02-02 02:07 pm (UTC)And buggered if I can work out what happened to #5, I remember writing it (and reading the book) but I can't find where I put the review anywhere. I think LJ might have eaten it.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-02 10:21 pm (UTC)Hee, hee, hee! Ahahahahah! Hohohohoho! "An unsettling theme..."!!!
/end maniacal laughter mode
In all seriousness, good reviews als - made me want to read the books for myself.
Re:
Date: 2004-02-03 04:52 pm (UTC)