"When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers."Only Oscar Wilde could have come up with something so bleak and so subversive. And so true, as Nuri el- Alfi, would have added in writer Hisham Matar's poignant bildungsroman Anatomy of a Disappearance.Living in Cairo, young Nuri, finds himself unable to fully comprehend his … Continue reading Arriving into Absence: Hisham Matar’s Anatomy of a Disappearance
Tag: Bildungsroman
The Man who Disappeared: Franz Kafka’s America
My entry into the bewildering world of Franz Kafka was through The Trial. The book with its story of a man persecuted for a crime he has no inkling of whatsoever was terrifying and apt as an analogy for life. For years, I dreaded picking up a Kafka again lest another facet of this impersonal universe where … Continue reading The Man who Disappeared: Franz Kafka’s America
Review: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
I had never heard of the title or the author, but I didn't care. The decision had been taken. I took the book down with great care and leafed through the pages, letting them flutter.What to do when books that are virtually unputdownable finally end on a false note? It happened with Sarah Waters' The … Continue reading Review: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Death of a Detective: Pablo De Santis’ The Paris Enigma
Books always contain secrets. We leave things between their pages and forget about them: lottery tickets, newspaper clippings, a postcard we've just received. But there are also flowers, leaves that attracted us with their shapes, or insects trapped in a paragraph's snare.Renato Craig, the famous detective of Buenos Aires, and one amongst the elite group … Continue reading Death of a Detective: Pablo De Santis’ The Paris Enigma
Growing Up (with books) in Nazi Germany: The Book Thief
The stars set fire to my eyes...Usually I avoid reading books set in Nazi Germany because in the guise of Nazi bashing there is a blanket basterdization of ordinary Germans - people caught on the wrong foot in the march of history.It was with this trepidation that I started The Book Thief. Had heard a lot about … Continue reading Growing Up (with books) in Nazi Germany: The Book Thief