Lakis Fourouklas's Blog, page 16

Book Review: Please Look After Mom by Kyung-sook Shin

Please Look After Mom by Kyung-sook Shin is a masterpiece. Honestly I could sum up this review by using just these two words. If there was a book that made me feel lucky to be alive in order to read it, in 2011 was Sebastian Barry’s On Canaan’s Side. And after that came Please Look after Mom by Kyung-sook Shin – I mean chronologically, not quality wise, they are both superb. This is one of those books that are so full of grace that they take the reader’s breath away; not only for their plot, but mostly because of their prose; a prose that’s lyrical, dream-like, poetic, that sounds nostalgic and melancholic at the same time.



It all begins when an elderly woman called Park So-nyo vanishes into thin air while at the Seoul train station. She had just arrived there with her husband and they were supposed to board the Metro to visit one of their children. He made it onto the train, she didn’t, and by the time he realized she wasn’t there and went back to the station to find her, it was already too late, she had disappeared. What happened to her? Why did she do that to him? To them? Did she just get lost or…?



Well, there’s no one who can answer these questions, so the only thing we can do, is follow the story as told by an anonymous narrator. In its epicenter, as one would expect, is the woman and her husband, but two of their five children as well. They all felt guilty for what happened to her, and they were right to do so, since they’ve spent their entire lives taking her for granted, as an unmovable presence in their reality who would remain there forever.



It is through the memories of the two children that we get to know her better. And it is exactly through the same procedure that they, the son and the daughter, come to realize that that ordinary, illiterate woman had given them everything they ever needed, that in essence she sacrificed her life for their future/present happiness. It was for them that she went on living with a drunk, unfaithful and unworthy man, and it was for their sakes that she sold the only thing she ever owned. I have lived in darkness, without a spark of light, my entire life, she says. She was illiterate; that’s what she meant by the word darkness. That was her secret, the most important one, but not the only one.



As the story progresses and we get to know her better she surprises us all the more, since later rather than sooner we come to understand that Ordinary is not exactly the word one would use to describe this woman, unless he added an extra before. She was a strong woman, solid as a rock; a woman full of courage and with a big heart, who once didn’t hesitate to help a poor man who was trying to steal her children’s food. And she did that just because he was poorer than her. She had little but she knew how to count her blessings, and you can’t say that for a lot of people.



But her philanthropy, her humanity was not exhausted in that simple act. She used to feed some of the neighborhood’s kids as well, and use the free time she definitely didn’t have to help out in the everyday chores of an orphanage she helped built, or which rather she created out of thin air herself. No one seemed to have paid her any respect for that; no one; until now, that she’s just like a being who most likely once existed in a dream.



The author doesn’t only offer the reader an amazing story but she also manages to speak directly to his soul. Wake up, she seems to say to him, and take a good look at life and the people that surround you. Recognize who you are and to whom you owe that.



Park So-nyo’s story could be the story of every good mother. However Kyung-sook Shin’s book is unlike any other. It is so deeply humane, it sounds so utterly true, that does not only touch the soul but also helps it open its wings to the world out there and to the people; the real people; the most important ones. There’s some melancholy here but despite the subject matter it’s a sweet one; just like its heroine.



This is one of the best novels that I’ve read during the last decade or so; no wonder that it won the Man Asian Literary Prize. I do wonder though why it didn’t get the attention it deserves from the press in the west. Is it because Shin is not Murakami? Or is it simply because our western arrogance doesn’t allow us to recognize a gem when we see one? Well, at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is the book; this extraordinary work of art, which I would wholeheartedly recommend to everyone.

New Bites: Hereville: How Mirka Met a Meteorite by Barry Deutsch

Hereville: How Mirka Met a Meteorite by Barry Deutsch comes out today.



Welcome to Hereville, home of the first-ever wisecracking,
adventure-loving, sword-wielding Orthodox Jewish heroine. A delightful
mix of fantasy, adventure, cultural traditions, and preteen commotion,
this fun, quirky graphic novel series will captivate middle-school
readers with its exciting visuals and entertaining new heroine.



Mirka is back, and she’s still the only sword-brandishing, monster-fighting Orthodox Jewish girl in town. Or so she thinks.



When
a misguided troll aims a meteor at the witch’s house, the witch grabs
hold of the closest thing possible to transform the flying, flaming
rock—and that would be Mirka’s hair. The meteor is changed, all right:
it’s now Mirka’s identical twin.



Doppelganger Mirka, vowing to be a
better version of the real girl, sets out to charm all of Hereville,
including Mirka’s own family. Our heroine challenges the meteor girl to a
three-part contest . . . and the loser will be banished from Hereville
forever!

New Bites: The Raven’s Seal by Andrei Baltakmens

The Raven’s Seal by Andrei Baltakmens is coming out today.



In the fictional late-18th-century English city of Airenchester,
Thaddeus Grainger, a young man of means but of meaningless pursuits,
challenges his rival, Piers Massingham, to a duel over a young lady from
the slums of The Steps. After suffering what he considers a cowardly
cut at the hands of Massingham, Grainger vows revenge. When Massingham
turns up dead a scant few hours later, Grainger is put on trial for
murder. The young lady, Cassie Redruth, proud but poor, makes a brave
attempt to defend him, but the young gentleman's fate is sealed. Cast
into the notorious Bellstrom Gaol, Grainger must quickly learn to
survive in the filthy, rotting prison, where debtors, gaolers, whores,
thieves, and murderers mix freely and where every privilege comes at a
price. Determined to exonerate their friend, Cassie and the journalist
William Quillby must slowly piece together fragments of the mystery by
infiltrating both the dregs and the gaudy upper classes of the town. To
win Graingers freedom, all three of them will be forced to confront
grave dangers and uncover the ties connecting the quality of
Airenchester with its teeming, violent, criminal underclass and come face
to face with the one who controls it all. The Ravens Seal brings the
urban squalor of 18th-century England vividly to life, while unraveling a
tale of corruption, betrayal, murder, redemption, and love.

New Bites: The Dead of Winter by Lee Collins

The Dead of Winter by Lee Collins is coming out today.



Cora and her husband hunt things – things that shouldn’t exist.



When the marshal of Leadville, Colorado, comes across a pair of
mysterious deaths, he turns to Cora to find the creature responsible.
But if Cora is to overcome the unnatural tide threatening to consume the
small town, she must first confront her own tragic past as well as her
present.




A stunning supernatural novel that will be quickly joined by a very welcome sequel, She Returns From War, in February 2013.

Book Review: Death in the 12th House by Mitchell Scott Lewis

Death in the 12th House: Where Neptune Rules is the second in the Starlight Detective Agency mystery series by Mitchell Scott Lewis (available November 6, 2012).

 



Someone is bumping off rock’s wrinkled royalty. After the death of
the third aging rock star, lead singer Freddie Finger,
astrologer-detective David Lowell takes on the case, scrutinizing
suspects’ charts for any clues in the stars that could point to a
killer.





It seems that this case will not be easy to crack since the victim had
many enemies. Actually, he didn’t seem to have any friends at all. The
only one who seems to care about him in the end is his daughter Vivian
Younger, a multitalented young woman and a real celebrity, who got to
know him a little bit better just before he died. And she needs closure.
So when she realizes that the cops are getting nowhere with the
investigation, she decides to hire Lowell to help with the case.



Continue at Criminal Element

Book Review: Frozen Heat by Richard Castle

Frozen Heat is by far the best novel in the Nikki Heat series. In here we have lots of action, mystery, secrets and lies, and a love affair that comes to full blossom in the streets of Manhattan, Boston and Paris.

While reading this book I have somehow felt that Nikki Heat and Jameson Rook have stepped into Derrick Storm’s shoes; however that’s because the novel at hand reads not only as a classic whodunit but also as a spy story.

The body of a woman, stubbed to death, is discovered in a suitcase and Nikki Heat is called to the scene to investigate. And before too long she’s shocked to discover that the suitcase used to belong to her. It was stolen by the man who murdered her mother.

But why? Why did he use that specific suitcase to dispose of the body? What does he seek to achieve by leaving such an obvious clue behind? Was the dead woman in some way connected with her mother? If yes, how did she know her? And when?

She feels at a loss at first, and as the story unfolds, she doesn’t get to feel any better. In fact, if it wasn’t for Jameson, she’d probably go nuts. Her partner in bed and in crime solving, is always there, for whatever she needs. And since he took a bullet for her, while trying to save her life, he’s become a hero of sorts for the cops. And it’s exactly this newfound popularity that they are going to use in order to solve the crime; but also, oh yes, some of his money.

As we follow Nikki and Jameson from place to place, while they retrace her mother’s footsteps and she’s trying to make peace with her dad, we see this strong and determined woman at her most vulnerable moments. The past seems to haunt her all the way, and until she finds the answers she’s looking for, she’s not going to rest. But will the answers give her the peace of mind that she needs? By the looks of it, no, they won’t.

So, what do you do when you find out that your mother was not at all the person that you remembered her to be? How do you react when her dark secrets come to light? How do you live today and plan for tomorrow when you come to realize that most of yesterday was nothing but a lie?

The reader watches Nikki closely as she takes a deep breath and dives into her mother’s secret past, and in the end he can feel nothing but sympathy for her plight. However, at the same time, one can say that that poor soul is blessed since right there, standing next to her, is Jameson, somebody who would do everything in his power to help and protect her, and, most important of all in times of darkness, make her smile.

Well-written, action-packed, rich in character development and with light touches of humor, Frozen Heat is the complete package. Read and enjoy.




By the same author:



A Brewing Storm

A Raging Storm

A Bloody Storm

New Bites: Eleven Pipers Piping by C.C. Benison

Eleven Pipers Piping by C.C. Benison comes out today.



Father Tom Christmas, the recently widowed vicar adjusting to life in
the English village of Thornford Regis, would do almost anything to
avoid attending the annual Robert Burns Supper at the local hotel. But
as chaplain to a traditional Scottish pipe band, Father Tom must deliver
the grace—and contend with wailing bagpipes, whiskey-laced parishioners
reciting poetry, and the culinary abomination that is haggis.


As snow falls to unprecedented depths, the revelers carry on—briefly
interrupted by an enigmatic stranger seeking shelter. Then Will Moir,
proprietor of the hotel and a dedicated piper, inexplicably goes
missing—only to be found later in the hotel’s dark tower, alone and dead
from what appears to be a heart attack.

Father Tom’s own
heart sinks when he learns the actual cause of Will’s demise. When word
gets out, the flurry of innocent speculation descends into outlandish
gossip. And, for all its tranquil charm, Thornford Regis has plenty to
gossip about—illicit trysts, muted violence, private sorrows, and old,
unresolved tragedies. The question is: Who would benefit most from the
piper’s death? Suspicion swirls around many, including Will’s beautiful
widow, their shadowy son, Will’s obnoxious brother-in-law, and even the
mysterious party crasher, who knows more than she lets on about the
grudges she left behind—but never forgot.

Brimming with wit,
full of genuine surprise, and featuring one of the most memorable (and
unlikely) detectives in mystery fiction, C. C. Benison’s second Father
Christmas mystery will delight readers with a puzzle that truly defies
solution.

Book Review: Swimming Home by Deborah Levy

Swimming Home by Deborah Levy is a work of beauty. Every year I read a novel or two that take my breath away with their prose. Last year those were Please Look after Mom by Kyung-sook Shin and On Canaan’s Side by Sebastian Barry. So far this year, this was the only book I’ve read and thought: wow! I’m sure I’ll squeeze another one in before 2012 expires.

What did I like about this novel? Well, it would be easier to say what I did not like; the fact that I wasn’t the one to write it.

At first the story seems quite simple. A couple, Joe and Isabel, a poet and his war correspondent wife, arrive for a holiday in the hills above Nice, France, accompanied by their young daughter and a friendly couple. So far so good, one would say. The thing is though, that there’s more to this group of people that at first meets the eye. To start with the poet he is an egocentric man who’s in love with his own voice and a womanizer. His wife doesn’t really like him anymore, and seems to be looking for a way to break up the marriage. The other couple hides a big secret, and as for the daughter, well, to put it in a Chinese proverb way: she was cursed to be born in interesting times, and under unusual circumstances.

Things get even more complicated when Kitty Finch, a young and almost ethereal woman, shows up all of a sudden in their holiday villa. She claims that there was a mix-up in the reservation dates and now she has no place to stay.

Well, normally, given the setting and the circumstances, one would offer her a cup of tea and sent her on her way. Isabel though things differently, so she invites her to stay with them, knowing all too well that, sooner rather than later, Joe will go after her.

The daughter, 14 year old Nina, can’t really understand her mother’s decision, but she can’t really question it, so she keeps quiet. Besides, she likes Kitty, with her green fingernails and her wide knowledge about flowers and plants, and the, to put it mildly, strange way she behaves.

Little by little the tension starts to mount in that holiday villa, but it’s not so much the agony that the reader comes to enjoy the most but the author’s masterful turns of phrase, the seemingly simple way she writes.

“Couples were always keen to return to the task of trying to destroy their lifelong partners while pretending to have their best interests at heart. A single guest was a mere distraction from this task.”

Well, that says it all. But if you are wondering whether there’s nothing more but beautiful language in this novel, I’d say, wait until you reach the last pages of it before you pass on a verdict. Even though the prose was good enough for me to proclaim Swimming Home as one of the best books of the year, the end did take me by surprise and made me think: That’s how you write a story; a very good story.

Highly recommended.

New Bites: Under the Eye of God by Jerome Charyn

 

Under the Eye of God by Jerome Charyn comes out on Tuesday, October 30, 2012.




Isaac
Sidel is too popular to be America’s vice president. Once the New York
Police Department commissioner, he became the most beloved mayor in the
city’s history—famous for his refusal to surrender his Glock, and for
his habit of disappearing for months at a time to fight crime at street
level. So when baseball czar J. Michael Storm asks Sidel to join him on
the election’s Democratic ticket, the two wild men romp to an
unprecedented landslide. But as the president-elect’s mandate goes off
the rails—threatened by corruption, sex, and God knows what else—he
tires of being overshadowed by Sidel, and dispatches him to a place from
which tough politicians seldom return: Texas.

 

In
the Lone Star state, Sidel confronts rogue astrologers, accusations of
pedophilia, and a dimwitted assassin who doesn’t know when to take an
easy shot. If this Bronx bomber doesn’t watch his step, he risks making
vice-presidential history by getting killed on the job.

New Bites: The Tale of the Heike by Royall Tyler (translator)

A masterpiece of world literature; the samurai saga of pride, romance, and warfare of medieval Japan.

With a reflection on the fleeting nature of power and glory begins The Tale of the Heike , an epic from twelfth-century Japan. Comparable in stature to The Tale of Genji , The Tale of the Heike
narrates with wit, energy, and compassion the stories of such
unforgettable characters as the ruthless warlord Kiyomori, who dies
still burning with such rage that water poured on him boils; Hotoke, the
beautiful young dancer who renounces wealth and fame to follow her
conscience; Shigemori, the tyrant’s righteous son, who struggles against
all odds to uphold fairness and justice; and Yoshitsune, the daring
commander who defeats the enemy in battle after battle, only to be
condemned by his jealous, powerful brother.

The Tale of the Heike
is a foundation stone of Japanese culture and a major masterpiece of
world literature. Lavishly illustrated and accompanied by maps,
character guides, and genealogies, this book is a volume to treasure.