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Feb. 21st, 2010 02:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
furyofvissarionThe Red Carpet - Lavanya Sankaran. This collection of short stories explores the lives of upper/middle-class Indians mostly living in Bangalore. There were some somber & touching stories--"Two Four Six Eight," about the power a household servant can wield over a child's life, & "Apple Pie, One by Two," about two best friends whose friendship is being tested because one man chooses the US over India--but overall the tone was gently humorous, poking fun at nosy neighbors & naively progressive US-born Indian college students, to name two subjects. An enjoyable read.
Girls of Riyadh - Rajaa Alsanea. The author's note for this book states that she never thought an English translation of her book (originally written in Arabic) would be requested, because the West seems to mostly have an old-fashioned view of women in the Arab world that it likes to keep. I dunno, I feel like this disclaimer might be pretty disingenuous, given that the novel revolves around upper class young women in Riyadh running around having sex (or thinking about it) & being obsessed w/fashion--isn't it just the sort of other half of the Arab woman stereotype people in the West would also eat up? I can't really judge for sure of course, though.
Anyway, the book is framed as a young woman writing anonymous e-mails to a very popular mailing list about the lives of four of her friends, who are trying to navigate between the desire for love, the constraints around women in their country, their religious beliefs, & what they think women should be like. The writing was pretty heinous in parts, but I can't tell how much of that was the translation. Despite being bored w/ the characters' obsessions over designer labels & the like initially, I did find myself drawn into their lives somewhat eventually.
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro. I would've found this admittedly still creepy novel even more creepy had I not figured out pretty much everything right away. I suppose that isn't the point; the point is more how the messed-up things taking place in the book's contemporary version of the UK affect the characters & their relationships. I wanted shocking revelations, I guess. Also, I don't understand why none of the affected people (being vague to avoid spoilers) didn't resist the fates laid out for them. Some of that was their socialization as children, but to me it didn't seem enough to justify their placidity at being dealt a really shitty hand in life. Interesting but ultimately kind of disappointing.
Girls of Riyadh - Rajaa Alsanea. The author's note for this book states that she never thought an English translation of her book (originally written in Arabic) would be requested, because the West seems to mostly have an old-fashioned view of women in the Arab world that it likes to keep. I dunno, I feel like this disclaimer might be pretty disingenuous, given that the novel revolves around upper class young women in Riyadh running around having sex (or thinking about it) & being obsessed w/fashion--isn't it just the sort of other half of the Arab woman stereotype people in the West would also eat up? I can't really judge for sure of course, though.
Anyway, the book is framed as a young woman writing anonymous e-mails to a very popular mailing list about the lives of four of her friends, who are trying to navigate between the desire for love, the constraints around women in their country, their religious beliefs, & what they think women should be like. The writing was pretty heinous in parts, but I can't tell how much of that was the translation. Despite being bored w/ the characters' obsessions over designer labels & the like initially, I did find myself drawn into their lives somewhat eventually.
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro. I would've found this admittedly still creepy novel even more creepy had I not figured out pretty much everything right away. I suppose that isn't the point; the point is more how the messed-up things taking place in the book's contemporary version of the UK affect the characters & their relationships. I wanted shocking revelations, I guess. Also, I don't understand why none of the affected people (being vague to avoid spoilers) didn't resist the fates laid out for them. Some of that was their socialization as children, but to me it didn't seem enough to justify their placidity at being dealt a really shitty hand in life. Interesting but ultimately kind of disappointing.