More Booker books
I couldn't get very far with MOTHER'S MILK, which is yet another book about a boy and his mom (like Carry On Down, Black Swan Green, and--see below--IN THE COUNTRY OF MEN. It started with the kid remembering his birth, what it felt like, etc. Seemed stupid to me.
Now on the other hand, IN THE COUNTRY OF MEN was different. Yeah, boy and mom again, but the boy is growing up in Khadafi's Libya, his father is involved with the democratic opposition, his mother is a closet alcoholic, and the boy himself is spoiled, impulsive and a bit cruel. Gives a very good sense of the constant fear of living in a totalitarian Islamic state (a professor and family friend is hauled off by the security forces and eventually executed on television). This was unusual, and although the writing was nothing special, the story itself was. Wonder who the writer is; must be British, though name--Hisham Matar--sounds Arabic. Sort of the opposite of SECRET RIVER, my other prime contender, which rested more on the writing than the story (the story of Australian settlers was new to me, but probably not to Australians).
Now on the other hand, IN THE COUNTRY OF MEN was different. Yeah, boy and mom again, but the boy is growing up in Khadafi's Libya, his father is involved with the democratic opposition, his mother is a closet alcoholic, and the boy himself is spoiled, impulsive and a bit cruel. Gives a very good sense of the constant fear of living in a totalitarian Islamic state (a professor and family friend is hauled off by the security forces and eventually executed on television). This was unusual, and although the writing was nothing special, the story itself was. Wonder who the writer is; must be British, though name--Hisham Matar--sounds Arabic. Sort of the opposite of SECRET RIVER, my other prime contender, which rested more on the writing than the story (the story of Australian settlers was new to me, but probably not to Australians).
posted by peanutfiend | 6:29 AM
1 Comments:
Since there was a 23-day gap in your blog, I had stopped checking. IMHO, your family readers might be more interested in YOUR LIFE than the Booker nominees. (And I still think e-mail is a better format. We don't have to remember to read it.) Looking forward to Kano.
And Ray was right: his aunt was way too old to wade through all those youthful antics.
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