Book Review: Flashlight

[Belinda]

Short listed for this year's Booker prize

“Normal life turning strange—did that feel really real? Are there things in your own life that feel that way?”


Unfortunately this is a book I find it a chore to read. It is a book that tries too hard to tackle many issues and convey a lot of messages within the story of one family, which includes real and tragic historical events, social issues with races, and also various political controversies.

None of the main characters I find interesting or even likeable, which makes me not care about their progress throughout the book at all. It also doesn't help that I already figured out the 'mystery' right at the start because that backdrop is widely known here in Asia.

Maybe because it was originally a short story, it feels very 'padded' out and the experiences of the characters seem all over the place.

It is a book I find hard to recommend also because I personally do not like this type of storytelling and the writing I find mostly boring.

2.5 stars rounded up for the writer's effort in bringing this history of a nation to readers attention.