Recommend with reservations because of anti-fatness. Otherwise compelling read from the perspective of a Nigerian child bride forced into an arranged marriage who goes from one bad situation to a worse one, when all she wants is to go to school.
Category Archives: Anti-Fat Biased
The Bastard of Istanbul
I came across several used copies of The Bastard of Istanbul (2006) by Elif Shafak in quick succession, and, because her 2010 The Forty Rules of Love was one of my favorites when I read it in 2017, I knew that I had to read it and was really looking forward to the experience. ItContinue reading “The Bastard of Istanbul”
The Old Woman With the Knife
The Old Woman With the Knife (2013, audiobook released 2022) by Gu Byeong-mo, translated by Chi-Young Kim. The author is a popular South Korean writer, but this is the only book she’s written that has been translated into English, that I could find. Hornclaw has spent her career as a “disease control specialist,” the euphemisticContinue reading “The Old Woman With the Knife”
Rebecca
Rebecca (1938) by Daphne du Maurier is considered a classic of modern gothic fiction, and was voted Britain’s favorite book written since 1800, but I hadn’t read it until late 2022, having felt guilty that I had never picked it up. I should not have felt guilty, as I had a near-instant strong dislike ofContinue reading “Rebecca”
The Sweetness of Water
Listening to the critically-acclaimed The Sweetness of Water (2021) by Nathan Harris was like watching a disaster in slow motion. I knew some of the characters were going to be hurt, badly, but the journey was so beautifully written I had to keep listening. George Walker is an old man, a transplanted Northerner in aContinue reading “The Sweetness of Water”
The Book of Form and Emptiness
I was really looking forward to The Book of Form and Emptiness (2021) by Ruth Ozeki because I loved her 2013 A Tale for the Time Being. It both exceeded and fell far short of my expectations in different ways. The great: I was hooked from the very first page. Ozeki has the book tellContinue reading “The Book of Form and Emptiness”
The Other Man
In The Other Man (2021) by Farhad Dadyburjor, Ved, the closeted heir to his father’s Mumbai business empire, gets himself into trouble when he submits to the pressure to get married to a woman. Ved’s work is his life; he lives with his father and avoids his mother because she reminds him at every opportunityContinue reading “The Other Man”
Alice I Have Been
Alice I Have Been (2009) is historical fiction based on the life of Alice Liddell, the girl who inspired the fictional Alice in Wonderland. Full disclosure: I have never read Lewis Carroll’s classic, although I’m aware of the characters and general overview. Alice Liddell was the daughter of an Oxford dean and lived across theContinue reading “Alice I Have Been”
The Elephants in My Backyard
The idea of The Elephants in My Backyard (2016) by Rajiv Surendra was interesting–a young actor is so enthralled with a character in a book and the similarities he shares with the character that he starts an email correspondence with the author and goes on a years-long quest to prepare himself for the role byContinue reading “The Elephants in My Backyard”
The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters
It took two tries for me to stick with The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters (2019) by Balli Kaur Jaswal–I think I needed the audio version to fully get into it. although Jaswal’s third novel–2017’s Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows–was an instant favorite. Unlikely Adventures opens with an ill Punjabi-Sikh mother of adult daughters,Continue reading “The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters”
Reading While Fat 