Reading Wednesday
Jul. 3rd, 2013 04:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhWhat did you just finish?
Six Suspects by Vikas Swarup. This is the author who wrote Q&A, which became the movie Slumdog Millionaire, and is basically the reason I picked up this book, though I haven't read Q&A itself. Yet. I'm pretty sure I have a copy of it somewhere.
Anyway, this is also a mystery told in an unusual manner that is as much about "modern India" as it is the mystery itself. In this case, Vicky Rai, the rich, spoiled son of an influential politician, is murdered days after being found innocent of a murder he obviously committed. There are six suspects (thus the title), including Rai's own father, and the narrative skips back in time about a year, following each of the suspects up to the night of Rai's murder. All six have the motive and opportunity to kill him, and the reveal doesn't occur until the very end. Two of the narratives have distinct storytelling methods: one is told in diary entries, the other solely in phone conversations. I sort of wish all six had had something unique about them.
I particularly liked the storylines involving Mohan Kumar, a corrupt politician possessed by the ghost of Gandhi, and Eketi, a tribal searching for a sacred relic (though he did kind of fall into the 'noble savage' trope).
That's the only book I finished this week! I think I got distracted by the internet.
What are you currently reading?
Breaking the Bow: Speculative Fiction Inspired by the Ramayana, edited by Anil Menon and Vandana Singh. Short stories by a collection of Indian (mostly) authors.
And continuing:
Liberty: The Lives and Times of Six Women in Revolutionary France by Lucy Moore. I'm actually almost done with this; I'm now reading about the period post-Terror. It's all very interesting and well written!
The Shirt on His Back by Barbara Hambly. I didn't read very much of this; I'm still at the very beginning, with Hannibal having panic attacks and other opium-withdraw symptoms. This fandom cries out for so much tropey id-fic!
Six Suspects by Vikas Swarup. This is the author who wrote Q&A, which became the movie Slumdog Millionaire, and is basically the reason I picked up this book, though I haven't read Q&A itself. Yet. I'm pretty sure I have a copy of it somewhere.
Anyway, this is also a mystery told in an unusual manner that is as much about "modern India" as it is the mystery itself. In this case, Vicky Rai, the rich, spoiled son of an influential politician, is murdered days after being found innocent of a murder he obviously committed. There are six suspects (thus the title), including Rai's own father, and the narrative skips back in time about a year, following each of the suspects up to the night of Rai's murder. All six have the motive and opportunity to kill him, and the reveal doesn't occur until the very end. Two of the narratives have distinct storytelling methods: one is told in diary entries, the other solely in phone conversations. I sort of wish all six had had something unique about them.
I particularly liked the storylines involving Mohan Kumar, a corrupt politician possessed by the ghost of Gandhi, and Eketi, a tribal searching for a sacred relic (though he did kind of fall into the 'noble savage' trope).
That's the only book I finished this week! I think I got distracted by the internet.
What are you currently reading?
Breaking the Bow: Speculative Fiction Inspired by the Ramayana, edited by Anil Menon and Vandana Singh. Short stories by a collection of Indian (mostly) authors.
And continuing:
Liberty: The Lives and Times of Six Women in Revolutionary France by Lucy Moore. I'm actually almost done with this; I'm now reading about the period post-Terror. It's all very interesting and well written!
The Shirt on His Back by Barbara Hambly. I didn't read very much of this; I'm still at the very beginning, with Hannibal having panic attacks and other opium-withdraw symptoms. This fandom cries out for so much tropey id-fic!
