The Boy Next Door, Irene Sabatini
Sceptre UK, 403 pages, 2009
I grabbed this in Kinokuniya when I was in Tokyo, feeling that I should be reading A) more recent novels (stay up with the current trends and all that), and B) more non-Western and especially African novels. Despite being a lifelong bookworm, the vast majority of the books I've read have been from American or European authors, with a few popular representatives from Latin America (Isabel Allende and Gabriel Garcia Marquez) and Asia (Haruki Murakami). I don't think I've ever read a single African author.
The Boy Next Door wasn't amazing, but it was enjoyable enough. It reminded me of early Isabel Allende: plucky heroine finds love against a backdrop of political unrest. I did find it hard to understand a lot of the Zimbabwean slang and political references (though that may have had something to do with the fact that I read a big chunk of it on the train on the way back from midyear seminar, when I was absolutely bushed).
Something else worth noting: the cover. It's no secret that publishing companies are weird about putting non-white faces on book covers (recent example: Justine Larbalestier's Liar), so in a way this cover is exceptional. Not much else to say there; just wanted to point it out.
Next up: Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
Have you already plan a string of books you are going to read? I'll be keeping at eye on your blog, since I hardly know any oriental critics. What sort of genre of books are you focusing on?
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ReplyDeleteBtw, is that cappuccino or mocha there?
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