Reading Wednesday
Jul. 23rd, 2014 03:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhWhat did you just finish?
The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri. A novel set in an apartment building in Bombay. Vishnu, a homeless man who sleeps on the staircase in exchange for running errands for the tenants, is ill/dying/already dead – no one is willing to take the time out of their own interpersonal dramas to check. Various petty life crises occur during the two days the book covers - someone's daughter dates an inappropriate boy, a man mourns his long-dead wife, two families argue over the use of shared kitchen, a skeptical man tries to devote himself to religion, someone hosts a party in an attempt at social-climbing, etc. Meanwhile, Vishnu himself is consumed by visions of his early life, interspersed with strange events that might mean he's literally the god Vishnu or might just mean he's a ghost. Eventually everything reaches a crisis, someone has a vision, someone elopes and then changes their mind, and it all coalesces into a Muslim-Hindu riot.
The description sounds pretentious and overly post-modern, but I actually quite liked the book. The many characters are engaging and well-written, and even though most of them are extremely flawed, the writer never seemed to be looking down on them. It's a bit of farce – or maybe ridiculous soap opera is a better phrase – but it was fun and witty and very worth reading.
Prisoner by Lia Silver. THIS WAS SO GREAT. DJ is a marine and a werewolf; when the second part is discovered, he ends up in a secret government lab where the researchers want to study him and make use of him in black ops. He's partnered with Echo, a clone who's been genetically engineered to be the perfect assassin. They both have people they care about being held as hostages to enforce their cooperation – for DJ, it's Roy, his best friend and fellow Marine. For Echo, it's Charlie, her sister and also a clone, the only other one who's still alive (genetic engineering not always working out so well). There are all sorts of fun tropes: werewolf packs! Angsty backstories! Dramatic treks through the desert! Heat stroke! Torture by mad scientists! Super powers! Deathbeds! But what I really loved was how funny it was. I liked this bit in particular:
He threw himself on his bed and flipped through his iPod, cheerily telling her that he’d once gotten hooked on a Norwegian death metal band and only belatedly learned that the members were white supremacists.
“Oops,” DJ said, laughing. “It was embarrassing, I’d been enjoying the neo-Nazis for weeks before someone tipped me off. At least I hadn’t played them in clubs. By the way, if you ever want to hear some incredible stories, look up Norwegian black metal. Murder, suicide, arson, cannibalism, lawsuits over a guy getting hurt when the band flung a decapitated sheep head into the audience, you name it. Anyway, the song I’m going to play is by the group I got into as a substitute. They have a similar sound, but they’re not evil.”
He paused. “I may have phrased that wrong. They’re Satanists. But they’re not Nazis.”
DJ and Echo have fantastic banter with each other, familiar and friendly and funny. It's the sort of thing that conveys attraction and compatibility better than a thousand descriptions of beating hearts or longing glances, and it feels so much more realistic. DJ is an amazing character; he was my favorite part of the book. He's bouncy and restless and lighthearted and a little bit flaky, but still deeply loyal and kind. I love him and would read a thousand books about him. Instead I have to wait for the sequel, alas.
What are you currently reading?
The Suffragette Scandal by Courtney Milan. The brand-new Brothers Sinister book! About Free! YOU GUYS I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS AND IT IS FULL OF LOVELY ANGST AND PINING AND SECRET IDENTITIES AND FEMINISM. There was even a scene about torture not working to get information YES GOOD THANK YOU. Between this and Prisoner, my reading has been full of lovely wonderful happiness.
Shielding Her Modesty by Sita Bhaskar. Short stories, mostly set in Madras or about American immigrants from Madras.
The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri. A novel set in an apartment building in Bombay. Vishnu, a homeless man who sleeps on the staircase in exchange for running errands for the tenants, is ill/dying/already dead – no one is willing to take the time out of their own interpersonal dramas to check. Various petty life crises occur during the two days the book covers - someone's daughter dates an inappropriate boy, a man mourns his long-dead wife, two families argue over the use of shared kitchen, a skeptical man tries to devote himself to religion, someone hosts a party in an attempt at social-climbing, etc. Meanwhile, Vishnu himself is consumed by visions of his early life, interspersed with strange events that might mean he's literally the god Vishnu or might just mean he's a ghost. Eventually everything reaches a crisis, someone has a vision, someone elopes and then changes their mind, and it all coalesces into a Muslim-Hindu riot.
The description sounds pretentious and overly post-modern, but I actually quite liked the book. The many characters are engaging and well-written, and even though most of them are extremely flawed, the writer never seemed to be looking down on them. It's a bit of farce – or maybe ridiculous soap opera is a better phrase – but it was fun and witty and very worth reading.
Prisoner by Lia Silver. THIS WAS SO GREAT. DJ is a marine and a werewolf; when the second part is discovered, he ends up in a secret government lab where the researchers want to study him and make use of him in black ops. He's partnered with Echo, a clone who's been genetically engineered to be the perfect assassin. They both have people they care about being held as hostages to enforce their cooperation – for DJ, it's Roy, his best friend and fellow Marine. For Echo, it's Charlie, her sister and also a clone, the only other one who's still alive (genetic engineering not always working out so well). There are all sorts of fun tropes: werewolf packs! Angsty backstories! Dramatic treks through the desert! Heat stroke! Torture by mad scientists! Super powers! Deathbeds! But what I really loved was how funny it was. I liked this bit in particular:
He threw himself on his bed and flipped through his iPod, cheerily telling her that he’d once gotten hooked on a Norwegian death metal band and only belatedly learned that the members were white supremacists.
“Oops,” DJ said, laughing. “It was embarrassing, I’d been enjoying the neo-Nazis for weeks before someone tipped me off. At least I hadn’t played them in clubs. By the way, if you ever want to hear some incredible stories, look up Norwegian black metal. Murder, suicide, arson, cannibalism, lawsuits over a guy getting hurt when the band flung a decapitated sheep head into the audience, you name it. Anyway, the song I’m going to play is by the group I got into as a substitute. They have a similar sound, but they’re not evil.”
He paused. “I may have phrased that wrong. They’re Satanists. But they’re not Nazis.”
DJ and Echo have fantastic banter with each other, familiar and friendly and funny. It's the sort of thing that conveys attraction and compatibility better than a thousand descriptions of beating hearts or longing glances, and it feels so much more realistic. DJ is an amazing character; he was my favorite part of the book. He's bouncy and restless and lighthearted and a little bit flaky, but still deeply loyal and kind. I love him and would read a thousand books about him. Instead I have to wait for the sequel, alas.
What are you currently reading?
The Suffragette Scandal by Courtney Milan. The brand-new Brothers Sinister book! About Free! YOU GUYS I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS AND IT IS FULL OF LOVELY ANGST AND PINING AND SECRET IDENTITIES AND FEMINISM. There was even a scene about torture not working to get information YES GOOD THANK YOU. Between this and Prisoner, my reading has been full of lovely wonderful happiness.
Shielding Her Modesty by Sita Bhaskar. Short stories, mostly set in Madras or about American immigrants from Madras.
