Lionel Asbo: State of England by Martin Amis
This is one strange book that includes a kid that has an incestuous affair with his 34 year-old gran (who had his mother when she was 12) and lives with his uncle who wins lotto shares his name with Tony Blair's Anti Social Behaviour Orders.
I liked the quickie characters more than the
actual plot which was more Laugh-Out-Loud than believable but that was the
whole point. I mean, who feeds their dogs Vindaloo and Tabasco
Sauce???
This book is cited to be a satirical look at
British culture which would make it a really sad country if this book wasn’t so
laugh-out-loud funny. STARS ****
Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi
This book has so
much to offer and covers so much. It opens with the final moments of the life
of a cardiologist but really it is minor aspect of the story.
The story cleverly and seamlessly flips backwards and forwards to key moments in his life and the effect that it has on his family.
As the story progresses it becomes less about him and more about his family and the legacy that he leaves behind.
Ghana Must Go covers everything - the complexity of family life, the struggles of immigrants in their new country and so much more! STARS ****
Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser
There are two
types of travellers: a Tourist and an Asylum Seeker. This is a story of both.
Question Travel follows the lives of two characters as they face the different challenges that life throws up and as time goes on the story we see how their lives intertwine until the tragic events on 26th Dec 2004.
It is beautifully
written with contrasting characters. Laura the Artsy Gen Xer who likes to
travel and Ravi the Sri Lankan who flees to Australia after seeing his wife
murdered as a result of her political activism. They both end up working for
Lonely Planet but their understanding of travel are different.
