Written in Black: K.H. Lim

Published by Monsoon Books Pte. Ltd. Jonathan is a 10-year-old boy in Brunei. He lives with his father and brother Aaron and sister Jen. His mother has gone away, ostensibly for health reasons, and his older brother Michael left to join a rock band. When the book starts, Jonathan’s uncle, Ah Peh, calls to tell …

Continue reading Written in Black: K.H. Lim

Warlight: Michael Ondaatje

Review by Usha Raman “The lost sequence in a life, they say, is the thing we always search out.” “We order our lives with barely held stories” Memory is a strange thing; it reveals the ephemeral nature of experience and the power of its reconstruction. It builds stories where none existed. And it imbues monochromatic …

Continue reading Warlight: Michael Ondaatje

Kafka on the Shore: Haruki Murakami

Translated from Japanese by Philip Gabriel A man talks to cats, fish and leeches rain down from the sky, a man dressed like Johnny Walker (of whisky fame) is making a flute from cats’ souls, and a stone opens the door to another world. Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of Haruki Murakami. The …

Continue reading Kafka on the Shore: Haruki Murakami

Frida Folk: Gaby Franger

Review by Sadhana Ramchander Book translated from German by Gita Wolf Frida Folk celebrates, in an unusual manner, the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, and her many ‘avatars’. This is indeed a fascinating book! It documents an unbelievable variety of interpretations of Frida­—the woman and the artist—by crafts-people and artists from all over the world. From …

Continue reading Frida Folk: Gaby Franger