Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud

Title: Love After Love
Author: Ingrid Persaud
Publisher: Faber and Faber
ISBN: 9780571356195
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 410
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

On the surface, Love after Love by Ingrid Persaud seems so direct a novel. A novel about three people and their lives unravelling, page by page. It is about family and loss, about silences, and worlds that collide and find a balance in a weird manner that sticks and stays. And yet it is so much more. Way much more.

Love after Love is about the shy, reticent man Mr. Chetan who moves into Miss Betty’s house where she resides with her young son Solo. The story is set in Trinidad and is about different kinds of love, maybe that’s why we all can relate to it, at some level or other. There is immense self-reflection, to the point of it perhaps becoming a bit much, but it is needed. We all are human, and these quiet inner monologues are necessary to perhaps move ahead.

Betty Ramdin has suffered for years at the hands of her abusive husband. Till he suddenly dies one fine day. She then takes in a lodger, Mr. Chetan, a profound, decent man, who not only becomes her best friend, but also family, and a father figure to Solo. They get into a routine of living – cooking, gardening, and together raising the child, using this as a way to get rid of their loneliness, and cope with life. Till, an incident takes place that changes their lives forever.

Persaud’s writing is honest and sublime. She plays with language, by not following rules, and I loved that about her writing. There is a sense of comfort in knowing the characters and their lives – as the details are revealed slowly, as the plot follows its own tune, and leaves you wanting more.

This book shows you aspects of the Trinidadian life that are full of gossip, domestic bliss (mostly) or not, community acceptance or rejection basis sexual orientation, worshipping certain gods or not, and more. Food plays such an important role in the book – it is almost a central character in so many ways. The title of the book is taken from one of my favourite poems by Derek Walcott, only to reflect on and show us what love is, what its limitless possibilities are, and how sometimes love is just what it is – uncomplicated, simple, and in so many ways elegant and forgiving.

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

Title: The Death of Vivek Oji
Author: Akwaeke Emezi
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 978-0571350988
Genre: Literary Fiction, Coming of Age Fiction, LGBTQIA Fiction
Pages: 256
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

This is going to be a short note, because this book is under embargo and I cannot post a review as of now. All I can say is that you must read, “The Death of Vivek Oji” by Akwaeke Emezi when it’s out. They have written it with a lot of love and heart.

The story is about Vivek Oji and his death and life – and what led to his death. It is about his homosexuality or even gender fluidity (or so it seems at various points in the book) in a place where LGBT rights are not recognised, and it is a crime to be gay.

The book is set in Owerri, one of the largest cities in Nigeria. It is about the differences that exist – the Nigerwives (as they are called) – who don’t belong to Nigeria but marry men from there, their children, the lives they lead, and above all the patriarchy that doesn’t let you be. The patriarchy of the Nigerian society that is so deep-rooted with all its hypocrisy is mind-numbing to read.

Emezi in their writing brings so much to fore that it compels you to understand and read more of the culture the book is set in. The book then is not just about Vivek Oji and who he was, but all the other characters as well – each trying very hard to find themselves.

A longer review will be up in August when I can talk more about the book. For now, this will do. But please do read it when you get the chance to.

 

March 2020 Wrap-Up

March has been a fantastic month. For me, personally. I have struggled with anxiety and calmed it. I have switched off from the news, and trying very hard to keep away from it on social media as well. I’m just made this way. On the reading front, I read 23 very different books and I am on top of the world. I feel ecstatic. Here’s hoping we all get out of this sane. Much love.
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Here are the titles with the ratings:
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1. Death in her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh (4)
2. Fabulous by Lucy Hughes-Hallett (4)
3. And I do not forgive you: stories and other revenges by Amber Sparks (4)
4. Faces on the tip of my tongue by Emmanuelle Pagano. Translated from the French by Jennifer Higgins and Sophie Lewis (5)
5. The Seep by Chana Porter (5)
6. Fern Road by Angshu Dasgupta (3)
7. Apartment by Teddy Wayne (4)
8. The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar. Translated from the Persian (5)
9. Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara (4)
10. A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes (4)
11. The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta (4)
12. Girl by Edna O’Brien (4)
13. A Burning by Megha Majumdar (3)
14. Amnesty by Aravind Adiga (3)
15. Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann. Translated from the German by Ross Benjamin (2)
16. Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin. Translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell (4)
17. Red Dog by Willem Anker. Translated from the Afrikaans by Michiel Heyns (2)
18. The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld. Translated from the Dutch by Michele Hutchinson (4)
19. The Other Name: Septology I-II by Jon Fosse. Translated from the French by Damion Searls (5)
20. The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa. Translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder (5)
21. Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor. Translated from the Spanish by Sophie Hughes (4)
22. The Adventures of China Iron by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara. Translated from the Spanish by Fiona Mackintosh and Iona Macintyre (5)
23. Mac’s Problem by Enrique Vila-Matas. Translated from the Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa and Sophie Hughes (4).
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That’s it, folks! What was your reading month of March like? Any favourites?.
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Here’s to April 2020. Can’t wait.

Girl by Edna O’Brien

Title: Girl
Author: Edna O’Brien
Publisher: Faber and Faber Books
ISBN: 978-0571341177
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 240
Source: Personal Copy
Rating: 4/5

The award season for books is upon us. The Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020 Longlist was announced on the 3^rd of March 2020 and one of the books that caught my fancy was Girl by Edna O’Brien. I have read O’Brien’s books in the past – maybe two to three, but this one sounded so unlike what she would write and further piqued my interest.

Girl is a book based on a factual record. When I got to know of that, my skin crawled a little. I didn’t know what to make of the world we live in – the one that I thought of as being empathetic and kind to a large extent. Now, I don’t know. Girl is based on the abduction of hundreds of convent girls who were group-raped by the Boko Haram in Northern Nigeria. The novel focuses on one girl who tells us the story of their journey into the forest, and what happens thereafter.

Girl isn’t an easy book to read. The code of violence the men are governed by, and in turn the abuse faced by mere girls is not easy to digest for all. At the same time, O’Brien talks about love and forgiveness in the harsh landscape – of what follows and how brutal it must be, there is perhaps light at the end of the tunnel.

The book is all about the human condition – about its frailties, evils, and also maybe the idea that all can be forgiven. But can it? Would you? Could I? I don’t know but these questions did come to mind as I was reading this book and did stay with me long after.

Girl is a tough read. It isn’t pleasant. It demands attention and your emotions as well. It is sensitively written but doesn’t shy away from telling what must have happened and how. I am rooting for it to be a part of the shortlist. I wish more people read this book.

Lanny by Max Porter

Title: Lanny
Author: Max Porter
Publisher: Faber and Faber
ISBN: 978-0571340286
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 224
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5 stars

I remember reading Grief is the Thing with Feathers a couple of years ago and being blown away by the writing, and of course with good enough and more reasons. At that time, it took me a reread to sink into the novel a little more, and rightly so. The layers of grief and loss and to add to that a crow made perfect sense.

The prose of Max Porter is unique, the plot is all over the place (as it is in Lanny as well), but once you succumb to the world he creates, nothing else matters. His latest offering and Booker Prize 2019 long-listed nomination Lanny is all of the above and more.

I picked Lanny with great trepidation. I was afraid it wouldn’t live up to my expectation. More than anything else in my experience, Booker Longlist titles have more often than not proven to be disappointing. This wasn’t the case with Lanny.

Lanny literally drips with lyrical language, almost poetic, and some great writing. This is then backed with a plot that is steeped in reality and yet magical, combined with writing that takes you out of your comfort zone. It is the story of a missing boy on the surface of it – a boy from a rural space lost on the commuter belt to London. But there is so much more to Lanny than just this.

Lanny lives with his parents – mum, a retired actress now author and dad, a city worker. They live in the village that is riddled with mystery, superstition, and folklore. This then is added with everyone’s supposition and assumption of what happened to Lanny. At the same time, there are two very central characters to the book – Mad Pete and Dead Papa Toothwort, who not only add to the strangeness but also most certainly move the plot forward. You need to understand and know these characters for yourself.

This book isn’t easy to get into. It will take some time but persist is what I have to say. Give it that time and to the writing prowess of Porter. Read it at leisure. Deliberate and go back and forth the way you are supposed to. Argue with it. Read it for the beautiful empathetic prose and what it means to be a child and an adult in our world.

Porter’s creativity is at its peak and this is only his second book. I for one cannot wait to see what he has in store next for all of us. Fingers crossed; I am rooting for this to make it to the shortlist.