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Showing posts with label contemporary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label contemporary. Show all posts
5 October 2015
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Title
| After You |
Author
| James Farmer |
Publisher
| CreateSpace |
Publication Date
|
August 2013
|
Pages
| 201 |
Genre
| Fiction, Romance, Contemporary |
Description (from Amazon)
‘The day we met. Our first kiss. Our first dance. The night we first made love. The first time your text didn’t end with an X. The day you said it was over.’
It was supposed to last forever...
Is it ever possible to pick up the pieces and start again after losing The One?
An honest and evocative tale detailing the aftermath of the break-up that was never meant to happen.
It was supposed to last forever...
Is it ever possible to pick up the pieces and start again after losing The One?
An honest and evocative tale detailing the aftermath of the break-up that was never meant to happen.
At only just over 200 pages, this little book can be read almost in one/two sittings, and only 99p at the moment (I've picked it up as a Freebie from Amazon a while ago).
The story of a break-up, as simple as that. No hidden agenda and no big twists and turns in the middle nor a huge revelation at the end. I could almost physically feel the pain of the protagonist. And even though the author says at the end that it is not based on personal experience, it certainly feels that way. The way the raw emotions are described, it feels like you can only write about it in that way if you 'have been there'. It starts out depressing - and that's the point of it I think, as the author wants to show how incredibly hard it was. And that's it's not a one-way street but have throw-backs. How your friends think they are helping you but actually just seem to make at worst. At least at the beginning.
But there is a positive message at the end. I don't think it is too raw to read if you are just going through a difficult break-up, as it shows that others have been there, and there is hope. (I know it's fiction but even fiction taken from real life here for sure.)
8 January 2014
Title
|
The Autograph Man
|
Author
| Zadie Smith |
Publisher
|
Hamish Hamilton
|
Publication Date
| |
Pages
|
432
|
Genre
|
Contemporary Novel
|
The protagonist of this story is Alex-Li Tandem, a Chinese-Jewish young man living in current day London. His job and obsession are autographs which he sells. He hunts celebrities and the ultimate autograph of reclusive American actress Kitty Alexander.
Many reviewers say that this book was a let-down after her very well received debut White Teeth. I actually never read White Teeth, so I'm looking at this with fresh eyes. I did like the story around Alex trying to find his identity as a Chinese Jew, the relationship with his father. I never knew there is such a big world of autograph hunters out there! Many of the points the book probably tries to make I just didn't get though. For example, there were references to Kabballah, Zen etc. But I did find the portrayal of the Rabbi and the synagogue attendances quite sweetly funny in a way (I don't mean to cause offence of course, just that it raised a smile with me, and, so I thought, they are not so different from the religious authorities of other faiths.) I finished the book thinking 'hmmm, and?' But this shouldn't discourage you from reading this fresh novel, if only to experience a different kind of book.
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