Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire
Book Review of Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire Following the structure and themes of Antigone, Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire is a wonderful book that is well deserving to have been the 2017 winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction. It is topical yet timeless – an almost impossible combination to execute effectively, (I have explored the relevance of […]
Jeanine Cummins’ American Dirt
Book Review of American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins American Dirt begins by describing a shoot out at a barbeque where a woman’s entire family, other than her son, are murdered by a cartel. Sixteen people are killed. The opening is tense, frightening and focuses on the emotions of a young boy and his mum hiding […]
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
Book Review of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice Set around the time of the Napoleonic Wars, but making little reference to it, Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, as most people know, follows the romance of snooty, unapproachable Darcy and high spirited, generous Elizabeth Bennet. Darcy is proud and Elizabeth is (in my opinion rightly so) prejudiced. Of […]
Delia Owen’s Where the Crawdads Sing
Book Review of Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens Where the Crawdads Sing has received mixed reviews, yet it has sold 4 million copies! Reviewers have criticised it for reading like young adult fiction and lacking sophisticiation. It has been slated because a court room drama cannot sit side-by-side with a rich atmospheric account […]
Deepa Anappara’s Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line
Book Review of Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara The story, Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line, shares the events prior to and following the disappearance of several children who go missing in a slum area of India. It is a powerful story with beautifully drawn characters, revealed to us from the perspective of […]
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Book Review of Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng I bought this book at the airport and it kept me entertained for a good chunk of the flight. I read it pretty much in one setting which has to be an accolade for it. I liked rather than loved it, and thought it a good […]