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Thread: Book Reviews - Contemporary Fiction

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    Book Reviews - Contemporary Fiction

    Topic suggested by Gokul on Fri Aug 14 17:21:48 .


    Reviews of contemporary fiction, contemporary being anytime after WWII. .




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    Old responses


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    r.- (@ dhcp*) on: Sat Jul 1 00:08:20 EDT 2000




    THE FLOWER BOY
    by Karen Roberts
    Review,
    "Sunset in Ceylon: A Long Goodbye"
    at
    http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/style/columns/bookreport/A24097-2000Jun30.html





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    JayBee (@ sp-7*) on: Sun Jul 9 07:33:46 EDT 2000




    Has anyone read the latest collection of short stories by Jeffry Archer?

    How is it?





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    JayBee (@ sp-7*) on: Sun Jul 9 07:35:30 EDT 2000




    >>>>>From: bb (@ inehou-pxy05.compaq.com) on: Tue Jul 6 18:49:28

    mario puzo passed away. <<<<<<

    The Last Don was not as good as his earlier books. It was rather disappointing.





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    bookworm (@ 164.*) on: Sat Jul 29 12:37:21 EDT 2000




    Udaya, The review of Love @ the time of Cholera was extremely interesting. I am reading through the novel just now. BTW anybody can post a review on Marquez's 'One Hundred Years of Solitude'?





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    aruLaracan (@ psip*) on: Tue Aug 8 16:46:18 EDT 2000




    gunther grass: the call of the toad. if you have a taste for irony, outrageous plots and loads of i-am-not-going-to-write-this-because-this-is-going-to-make-me-sappy kind of sensibility, this is a great book to read. my suggestion: take it slow, one note at a time

    (oh! this is a real good book!)





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    Udhaya (@ ) on: Wed Jun 20 13:34:52




    Review of "Sophie's World : A Novel About the History of Philosophy" -- by Jostein Gaarder

    This novel is a slick sales job of a philosophy text disguised as a novel. Out of the blue a 14-year old girl receives a letter that spurs her curiosity about the world and philosophy. From hereon goes the outlandish story about the secret letters with each revealing a chapter of philosophical thought in Western philosophy covering everyone from Socrates to Sartre.

    I don’t want to give away the parallel structure that the reader becomes aware of midway through the novel as it’s one of the few literary surprises in the novel. Gaarder’s strength is philosophy and it shows through with the philosophical discussions being the best part of the novel. The segue from philosopher to philosopher, along with the historical background of each and their times is done effortlessly. The rest of the novel though, its plot, dialogues and characterizations belong in a book found in the Young Adult section of a library.

    For what it's worth, Gaarder does deserve credit for pulling off this philosophy-novel hybrid. I can easily recommend this for anyone who wants a primer in Western philosophy.





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    vj (@ chme*) on: Wed Jun 20 23:55:35




    Udhaya,
    I read your review of Rushdie's Midnight's Children and I agree with all you say. But I dont know why you brought in Naipaul in the category of holier-than-thou expatriate writers. I have read 2 of Naipual's India travelogues. "An Area of darkness" and "India:A million..". In the first, Naipaul visits India for the first time and is confused more than anything else, by his experiences. He struggles to understand the country and his attempts for the most part take him only as far as the British rule. I didnt see much snickering in this, though you can argue that he did narrate the events, especially about some Indians he met and lived with, in a rather "snickery" fashion. In any case, I didnt see any malice or presumptousness. His second book was different. More mature, more insighful, more content.. and best of all, he found a lot to celebrate about the people he met and the country in large.

    Vijay





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    shard (@ lan-*) on: Thu Jun 21 00:57:21




    I agree with Udhaya on his views about Naipaul. True, his earlier books on India tend to give you the impression that he puts himself up on a pedastel and judges us. As udhaya said, It was probably a result of his exposure to the complexities of the Indian existence. Quite a few preconceptions he came with would have been torn to shreds (diasporic Indians tned to recreate a homogenous simpler version of India in their adopted countries...which tend to be far removed from real India). You grow up with one idea of India and come here to find something vastly different...something like the foreigner who comes looking for snake charmers in every street corner.





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