Mishra oversimplifies his characters till they remain nothing but poorly illustrated cardboard cutouts. Samar’s character emerges slowly and painfully from the murky undergrowth of the meagre plot. And most of his personality remains obscured by the slime he insists on…
A Review of Louis de Bernieres’ Red Dog
The cute little red book has 15 sweet and poignant stories based on the real life of a well known dog whose bronze statue appears in Karratha, a Western Australia mining town. Aside from the evil wind which Red Dog…
A Review of Nadine Gordimer’s The Pickup
Nadine Gordimer has written over 25 books, and has won the Booker and Nobel Prizes. The Pickup is her 13th novel, and perhaps, at 77 years of age, she no longer feels the need to pander to an audience. The Pickup certainly raises questions…
A Review of E M Forster’s A Room With A View
I found A Room with a View to be, if not in the absolute top rank, nevertheless a very worthwhile piece of literature. Aside from being a sensitive study of a woman who often doesn’t know herself well enough, it is a…
Interview with Tim Winton
Tim Winton talks about his latest novel, Dirt Music, Australian literature, the films of his work, the writing process, and more. Interview by Magdalena Ball Magdalena: How did Dirt Music come about? Tim: Like all books, I guess by accident. I…
A Review of Tim Winton’s Dirt Music
Dirt Music is one of those books that gets under your skin. Comes into your bed with you; changes your dreams; travels with you throughout the mundane details of everyday life. Winton’s descriptive prose works both externally in its depiction…
The Dead: An Outline Commentary
Noted Joycean Bob Williams provides a very thorough overview of one of the most beautiful and complex of short stories from James Joyce’s Dubliners. by Bob Williams Lily begins the story and she begins with a funny solecism: she “was literally…
A review of Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
If you aren’t obsessed by exquisite food, amused by toilet humour and punkish slapstick, and don’t find the lives of the overworked, overpaid, talented, corrupt, and derelict cooks who turn out delicate dishes in New York’s fancy restaurants to be of interest, stop here. If, on the other hand, you have nerves of steel (think Basil in the Fawlty kitchens), a strong stomach for blood, gore, and dripping, and high tolerance of cuss words and adolescent antics (think the BBC’s Bottom, or Men Behaving Badly), along with a love of haute cuisine sans frou frou, you will enjoy Anthony Bourdain’s tell all memoir, Kitchen Confidential.
A review of Salman Rushdie’s Fury
At 55, the Indian born, NY dwelling protagonist of Rushdie’s latest novel Fury, has the kind of rage which causes him to stand with a knife over the sleeping bodies of his wife and son, scream in public, and slip between…
A Review of Robert Dessaix’s Corfu
Corfu: A Novel is an ambitious work, which uses a range of literary techniques such as complex time sequencing, incorporation of other texts, and mise-en-abyme, or a series of stories within a story, to convey its meaning. The narrative moves forward…