#11 The Testaments, by Margaret Atwood

 


Booker Prize: Winner 2019

Plot Time and Place: America in the future

Opening sentence: "Only dead people are allowed to have statues, but I have been given one while still alive."

Plot summary: Sequel to "The Handmaid's Tale"

Review:  I thought this would be a disappointing read, as sequels usually are. But of course, The Literary Goddess (Atwood) does not disappoint! This is as brilliant as THT.

Rating:  5/5


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

#1 The Vegetarian, by Han Kang

Image
  Booker Prize:  Winner International Booker 2016 Plot Time and Place : Present day South Korea Opening sentence:   "Before my wife turned vegetarian, I'd always thought of her as completely unremarkable in every way". Plot summary : The story is about a woman who suddenly decides to stop eating meat. This generates a lot of conflicts with her family because, up until this point, she had always been a very passive, subservient person.  Review:  I really enjoyed this. The novel is divided into three parts. The first part is narrated by the protagonist, Yeong-hye's, husband. The second part is told from the point of view of Yeong-hye's brother-in-law. And the third part is told from her sister's point of view. So we almost never actually hear Yeong-hye's voice. In fact, she has no voice. She feels stifled by Korean social norms and everyday sexism. And refusing to eat meat is the way that she finds to take a stand, to fight back. Also the story includes some...
Read more

#39 Western Lane, by Chetna Maroo

Image
  Booker Prize :  Shortlisted 2023 Plot Time and Place : Present-day UK Opening sentence : "I don't know if you have ever stood in the middle of a squash court - on the T - and listened to what is going on next door." Plot summary :  A young girl tries to navigate her grief, and the family's, after her mother's death. Review : I wasn't familiar with the squash stuff, nor with the Indian foods, and other Indian terminology, so that was a bit of a hindrance to my enjoyment of the book. However, I found it touching and I liked the fact that it was a first-person child narrator.  Rating :   3/5
Read more

#47 The White Hotel, by D. M. Thomas

Image
  Booker Prize:   Shortlisted 1981 Plot Time and Place :   Vienna, Kiev, Palestine; 1920's and 1940's Opening sentence :  "Dearest Gisela, I give you a warm bear-hug from the new world!" Plot summary :  This story follows the life of Lisa Erdman, an Austrian opera singer treated by Sigmund Freud for psychosomatic pain. Lisa, who possesses prophetic abilities, shares her erotic hallucinations with Freud, which hint at her future, rather than her past trauma.  Blending fictional narratives with Freud's real case study techniques, the novel delves into Lisa's complex life, and eventual fate. (from supersummary.com) Review : I had never he ard of this book before, and I went into it without knowing anything about it. So at first, I thought it was just a badly wriiten piece of erotic fiction, mixed with a fictionalization of Freud's life. (The erotic parts are not particularly well written). Then I read some reviews on Goodreads and I still couldn't un...
Read more