Minor Detail is agonisingly tense. The novel is divided in two, following two very different characters and their experiences of a single event: the rape and murder of a young Bedouin woman, at the hands of Israeli soldiers. The first half of the story follows an army officer who, having set up camp in the… Continue reading ‘Minor Detail’ by Adania Shibli
‘Little Scratch’ by Rebecca Watson
One of the most intriguing moments in Little Scratch is when the protagonist reaches into a bathroom bin to retrieve a piece of lined paper with some writing on it. She is baffled by what she reads—“who the fuck wrote it?”—and by the fact that the author of these scribbled notes doesn’t seem at all… Continue reading ‘Little Scratch’ by Rebecca Watson
‘Weather’ by Jenny Offill
Reading Jenny Offill’s The Dept of Speculation and then Weather, I spent a lot of time flicking back to check I hadn’t missed some crucial detail. I never had—the narrative is just elusive like that. Flicking back and forth through pages can feel a bit shameful or naughty—like you’ve not been paying attention—but in this… Continue reading ‘Weather’ by Jenny Offill
‘Disgrace’ by J. M. Coetzee
There is so much I want to say about this book. I first read Disgrace a few years ago and was struck by how much I was drawn in by Coetzee’s often-repugnant protagonist, David Lurie. Reading it again this week, I am again impressed by how Coetzee endears him to us, ensuring that we can’t… Continue reading ‘Disgrace’ by J. M. Coetzee
‘Paris Metro’ by Wendell Steavenson
Paris Metro is full of bookish vocabulary, so I spent a lot of time on google. Sclerotic, recuse, calumny were new, peripatetic more familiar—Steavenson uses it to describe the nomadic lifestyle of foreign correspondents. Kit, the protagonist, uses it to describe her father. Google says it means “travelling from place to place, in particular working… Continue reading ‘Paris Metro’ by Wendell Steavenson
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