What We’re Reading

Tilda reviews Saha: Saha is a wave of vignettes, of people layered one over the other, sketching out the inequality and tragedy of the world they live in. The titular Saha estate houses people who don’t fit into the carefully controlled and refined Town. They’ve built a community on the outskirts, one whose existence both confirms and defies Town’s power. Their strength lies in the small acts of courage and compassion that hold their community together. Over the course of the novel, the mysteries of this world unfold to reveal the bitter past, and the smallest glimpse of a future beyond Saha. Melancholy and atmospheric.

Nick reviews The Historian: Elizabeth Kostova’s debut novel first appeared in 2005 and has gone on to become a much-loved fantasy/historical lit classic. Kostova cleverly blends the history of Vlad The Impaler and the folklore of vampires and Count Dracula. The result is an utterly engaging and thrilling ride, traversing the centuries as well as the continent of Europe.

Jonathon reviews Suspicion: So good. Suspicion is an example of a prominent socialist writer reflecting on the holocaust only 6 years after 1945. Dürrenmatt was a prominent playwright but also wrote four crime novels. He pioneered a philosophical approach to the form, often challenging its conventions, and particularly the figure of the master detective, but retained the perennial agonised protagonist. This one is an absolutely gripping thriller that dips into some truly horrific suspense and drops you right off a certain 20th century nihilist cliff. (It also comes just years before Stalin’s death, Krushchev’s speech and the invasion of Hungary nixed another hope). Perhaps his best — and The Pledge is absolutely stunning!

Zac reviews Sight Lines: Though parallel lines touch in the infinite, the infinite is here— In Sight Lines, Sze brings seemingly unconnected images face to face. They touch, yet remain distinct. Collapsing space and time, memory and perception, his collection offers a moving exploration of life’s ephemerality as well as its multiplicity. It testifies to the ways in which history, memory, and experience become inscribed on our ways of being and perceiving, so unconsciously that we become, in effect, strangers to ourselves. Marked by the terse beauty of American modernist poetry and a deep, Taoist attentiveness to paradox and enigma, this is a startling work of endlessly deceptive simplicity, one which offers a pure apprehension of the mystery of which we are a part.

Jonathon reviews Scattered All Over the Earth: How do meanings slip across languages and geographies? How can a made-up language work across all of Scandinavia? This is a truly wonderful, playful novel that puts place and identity front and centre. Tawada’s strange sense of a future where countries are disappearing contains so many hilarious and weird moments… just such strange non sequiturs that work at such a funny level. It’s a joy to read this unique voice!