A Burning by Megha Majumdar

Friday, Feb. 4, 2022--San Antonio

A Burning by Megha Majumdar is set in India is shares some characteristics of other Indian novels and short stories by a number writers such a Jhumpa Lahiri, Arundhati Roy, Salman Rushdie, and Kiran Desai in that it tells the story of the suffering of the poor of India and the corruption within the government there.  This particular story ties the two together by telling the story of 4 main characters--a young student from a very poor family who is intelligent and has great prospects in life, a female politician whose party is trying to win the next election no matter what the costs or consequences, a PE teacher from the young student's school who sees her potential but becomes involved in the corrupt party of the politician, and a hijra (a transgender male-to-female) who has joined with other hijras, as is typical in India, to live as a group and make a living by blessing weddings, births, etc., who is being tutored in English by the young students, and who is taking acting classes with the dream of becoming a movie star.  People get caught up in lies and corruption due to their desires to have a better life.  The book is an easy read.  And I could appreciate the style of the wording used because it matches the patterns that are common by Indians who speak English as a second language (meaning that the organization of the words often fits the pattern that the words are organized in the Indian languages rather than what is the normal organization within formal English).  I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

 Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022--San Antonio

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead is a wonderful novel.  Two stories parallel each other through the book--one that starts in the 1920s about a young girl living in Montana at that time who wants to become a pilot after a barnstorming plane flies near her on its way to an air show in nearby Missoula.  The other takes place in the 2010s about an actress who has made 3 films in a series of a planned 7 films to complete the story and has made some mistakes that have resulted in bad publicity.  But as soon as she gets fired from the series of films, she is offered a role in a film about to be made about the life of the female pilot who is the protagonist in the other part of the novel.  Most of the book is about the pilot rather than the actress and thoroughly held my interest.  The part about the actress became better as the book progressed and was critical to completing both the stories.  Originally, I considered 4 1/2 stars for the book, but I decided to round it to 5 stars out of 5 since it is one of the best stories I have read in quite a while.

Infinite Country by Patricia Engel

January 27, 2022--San Antonio

Infinite Country by Patricia Engel was named as the best novel of the year by both TIME and EW magazine.  It is a short novel about the experience of immigrants who come to the US without residency papers.  It is different from most such stories, because the original couple come from Colombia legally on a tourist visa good for six months with the intent of using the time to work illegally and make money they can take back home with them to resolve some financial difficulties.  (I know Brazilians have come to the US like this and returned to their country.)  However, by the end of their visa, live has not been easy and they have not make the money they thought they would.  Faced with the idea of returning to Colombia and the hard life they left or staying in the US with hopes that the hard life they are living will eventually improve, they decide to overstay the visa.  The story continues with vivid descriptions of life both in Colombia and the US and experiences that mirror those of many immigrants--children who are born in the US and are, therefore, citizens; a first child who was born in Colombia and isn't a citizen; capture and deportation that separates the family, etc.  During the first 60% of the book, I thought I would rate it 3 1/2 stars; it was interesting and well written, but seemed to be lacking whatever others had based their ratings on.  But the final third of the book took a bit of a turn and became more interesting to me.  I would rate the book 4 stars out of 5.

Beautiful Country by Qiun Julie Wang

 Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021--San Antonio

Beautiful County by Quin Julie Wang is a memoir of the life of a young girl whose Chinese family lived illegally in the US after staying beyond the limits of their visas--the father's as a student and the mother and daughter was visitors.  It clearly expresses the difficulties of being here illegally--fear of being found out and deported, degrees and experience in the former country being meaningless here, jobs in sweatshops, low pay, cramped and unsafe living conditions, difficulty of ever getting ahead financially, difficulty finding a footing in schools without prior knowledge of English, teachers suspecting you of cheating if you write too well in English, the high extraneous costs of education, etc.  Most of the book deals with the family's life and, in particular, the daughter's life during the years she goes from the first grade through the 6th.  It's gives a good idea of how difficult life is for immigrants, and especially those without legal residency, in the US.  I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021--San Antonio, TX 

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi is a fascinating story.  It covers several generations of the members of the royal families of two African tribes from the late 1700s to the present with an emphasis on certain descendants of two sisters.  It deals with colonialism, slave trading, tribal wars, arranged marriage, skin coloration, beliefs, desires, etc., following the lines of descendants in both Ghana and America.  There are often parallels that are easy to see between political situations and family life of the times throughout that long period and today here in America.  I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.

Peaces by Helen Oyeyemi

Saturday, Sept. 15, 2021--San Antonio

I quit reading Peaces by Helen Oyeyemi after getting through 20% of it.  I could follow the story, but it just didn't interest me.  It involved magical realism which I have never much appreciated.  The ratings for the book cover the whole range fairly evenly distributed between 1 star and 5 stars.  I rated it 2 stars out of 5 since I could follow the story easily but because I just wasn't interested in continuing it. 

The Promise by Damon Galgut

 Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021--San Antonio

The Promise by Damon Galgut received great reviews by BBC, The Observer, and The Times.  Set in South Africa, it is the story of the members of an Africaans farming family and the members of the family of their Black servan.  It covers approximately a 50-year period of time from when apartheid existed to recently.  It reveals the changes that take place in South Africa related to race relations, economics, religion, and politics.  It is well written and worth reading.  I give it 4 stars out of 5.