bookshelf Peter Hoeg The Elephant Keeper’s Children Other Press
Set on a fictionalised Danish island, The Elephant Keeper’s Children is a piece of Scandinavian surrealism. At the heart of Peter Hoeg’s novel is a 14-year-old narrator who bears the author’s own name. When Peter’s nonconformist parents disappear while on holiday, he and his sister hide from a police force suspicious of their whereabouts. Entertaining and philosophical, the narrative mixes Peter’s precocious musings on life with a hilarious retelling of the siblings’ capers and the bizarre characters they encounter.
George Saunders Tenth of December Random House
For those who like reading to be thought provoking yet succinct, George Saunders’ work can be considered a bonanza. The Tenth of December is the post-modern writer’s fourth collection of short stories and is rich with imagination, satire and subversion. Saunders creates strong, sympathetic characters, ranging from a suicidal cancer patient in the collection’s title story to a traumatised soldier in ‘Home’ to a young boy faced with a tough dilemma in ‘Victory Lap’. Often compared to Kurt Vonnegut, Saunders knows how to flirt with the absurd and incorporate some more fantastical elements in his writing.
Jared Diamond The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn From Traditional Societies? Viking
From the author of Guns, Germs, and Steel comes another intriguing work of nonfiction. In The World Until Yesterday, Jared Diamond looks at what tribal societies can offer our navigation of modern life. Taking an anthropological approach, Diamond explores the practices and beliefs of communities such as the Nuer of Sudan, the Dani of New Guinea. Child rearing, religion and conflict resolution are some of the universal issues broached. Diamond’s sweeping generalities may be problematic, but the book remains an interesting examination of cultural differences.
Louise Gluck Poems 1962-2012 Farrar, Strauss & Giroux
Pulitzer Prize winner Louise Gluck is considered one of America’s leading poets, with many accolades to her name. Poems 1962-2012 is a collection of Gluck’s work over the past four decades that charts her impressive career. Written in abstract, simplistic verse, these poems create atmosphere more than tell stories. Yet Gluck’s poetry has an edge, with a bite that makes her work memorable. Greek mythology is heavily referenced in this collection, with titles such as ‘Eurydice’, ‘Persephone the Wander’ and ‘The Triumph of Achilles’, but the basis of her work is grounded in the struggles of everyday life.
asialife HCMC 79