I've been doing ThrowbackThursdays for a while but I noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews in a short time when I first started. So, I post more than one Throwback every week. These are my reviews from July 2015.
Azevedo, Francisco "Once Upon a Time in Rio" (Portuguese: O Arroz de Palma) - 2008
A beautiful story of an immigrating family, a Portuguese couple that settles in Brazil, has their children and their work. Their son tells the story over a whole century. How his aunt collected the rice thrown at his parents' wedding and passed it on as a lucky charm.
Dickens, Charles "Little Dorrit" - 1857
Dickens' father spent some years in the Marshalsea prison which he used as the main setting for this novel. I think this fact and that he was forced to work for the family at a very young age, has made a huge impact on the author.
Eliade, Mircea "Marriage in Heaven" (Romanian: Nuntă în cer) - 1938
An interesting novel. Quite philosophical. Two men reminisce about their lives and their encounter with a special woman, both have different kind of fantasies, different kind of attitudes but both are unlucky in love and pour out their hearts to each other.
The author was a Romanian historian of religion, philosopher, and fiction writer. His background certainly had an influence on his writing.
Lahiri, Jhumpa "Interpreter of Maladies" - 1999
This is a lovely collection of short stories, some of them even interlink, so it doesn't seem like there are a hundred small stories that you forget right away. Jhumpa Lahiri has created some wonderful characters that you won't forget that easily.
Oates, Joyce Carol "The Sacrifice" - 2015
A meticulous rendering of a crime, almost reads like a non-fiction account, you have to remember the whole time that this is fiction. Mind you, I was sure events like this have happened and then I read that this is a retelling of a story that has happened in 1987 to a 14 year old girl called Tawana Brawley. A book about racism and prejudice, terror and violence, poverty and exploitation, the role of religion and state.
This novel is so much more than a crime story, it gives an insight into today's China of which we still know far too little. The author reports about the grief of a man who has lost his son. And he talks about the slow healing after a heavy blow. The book is both philosophic and informative.
Haven't read any of these. But it's always fun to see some of your past reads. :D
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