Flashlight by Susan Choi

Last year I was tempted into buying two new books all because I wanted a little penguin figurine. One of the two books I chose was Flashlight by Susan Choi which was nominated for the Booker Prize. Fast forward a couple of months and I decided to read the book as part of a buddy read, but my buddy ended up finishing a good couple of weeks before I did. And that's where it started to go a little wrong. This book was a bit of a struggle for me and I almost gave up completely. In the end, it was announced as the starting point for February's Six Degrees of Separation and that was what got me over the line to actually finish it

When 10 year old Louisa is found washed up on a beach in rural Japan, it is assumed that her college professor father, Serk, has drowned. Traumatised, Louisa and her mother return to America and try to start over and forget about their life in Japan.

Serk was a man who was born and grew up in Japan but he had Korean parents. Whilst his parents were tempted to return to what we now know as North Korea by promises of a good life, Serk heads to America, finding work in a small town college. He meets Anne and together they begin a life together. Soon, they have their daughter, Louisa, and together they try to build their lives. He is offered the opportunity to return to teach in Japan and the small family travel together for what is supposed to be just one year.

For Louisa, moving to Japan gives her the chance to go to school in a country where she is still obviously mixed race but she doesn't stand out quite so much. She quickly begins to learn the language and the culture. Anne finds living in a foreign country is very difficult, not least because her body is failing her.

As the years pass in America, the relationship between Louisa and Anne disintegrates. They don't know how to communicate with each other at all, and never really have done. Louisa constantly feels frustrated with Anne and does everything she can to get as far away, both physically and mentally, from her mother

It is only in the second part of the book that it becomes clear what actually happened on that night long ago.

The story itself should be fascinating, especially seeing as it based on true stories of people who just disappeared from the coastal areas of Japan and ended up in North Korean re-education programmes. As Serk undergoes the reeducation program which could end up killing him, he wonders what happened to the little girl that he did everything that he could to protect, and yet he still ended up losing her.

Notice I used the word should in that last paragraph. The thing is, I didn't find any of the characters particularly relatable. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Serk, Anna and Louisa were all quite unlikable. They are often really horrible to each other. I am sure that we were supposed to feel sorry for Anne as it became clear that her illness was not just in her head, and for Louisa after the trauma that she had experienced but I just couldn't.

It didn't help that there were big jumps in time without any explanation. The story was told through alternating chapters from each characters point of view, plus at least one other voice. All of a sudden the character's story would jump forward with little to no warning. For example, there was a whole section set in Europe where Louisa met a man we really only knew a bit of a drifter and that he smelt. Suddenly in another chapter, she has two kids and is married to someone else. 

The second half of the book was better than the first so I am glad I persisted, but it is fair to say this won't make my list of favourites for the year. What I can say is that I learned something I didn't know about before. I did know about the treatment of Korean nationals in Japan particularly in before and during WWII after reading White Mulberry last year, but I hadn't ever heard about the abductions. And I do think that I will remember the book, so it will have left it's mark on me, whether I like it or not.

So was it worth it for the penguin? Absolutely. Would I do it again for another penguin? Probably!

I am sharing this review with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here. It also counts for my personal January in Japan event.

Rating 3/5

2008 Man Booker Prize for Fiction longlist

The long list for the Man Booker prize has been announced, and once again I haven't read any of them. I've added them to be TBR list though!

Aravind Adiga The White Tiger
Gaynor Arnold Girl in a Blue Dress
Sebastian Barry The Secret Scripture
John Berger From A to X
Michelle de Kretser The Lost Dog
Amitav Ghosh Sea of Poppies
Linda Grant The Clothes on Their Backs
Mohammed Hanif A Case of Exploding Mangoes
Philip Hensher The Northern Clemency
Joseph O'Neill Netherland
Salman Rushdie The Enchantress of Florence
Tom Rob Smith Child 44
Steve Toltz A Fraction of the Whole

The shortlist is announced on 9 September with the winner announced on 14 October.

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

A short novel of quite remarkable depth, power and poignancy by a writer at the height of his powers.

It is July 1962. Edward and Florence, young innocents married that morning, arrive at a hotel on the Dorset coast. At dinner in their rooms they struggle to suppress their private fears of the wedding night to come....

On Chesil Beach is another masterwork from Ian McEwan - a story of lives transformed by a gesture not made or a word not spoken.

I'm going to give you fair warning - there is going to be a lot of intro to explain what I am doing with this review. I actually wasn't intending to write this review just yet - there are numerous other books that I was going to do first, but then last night I made a small discovery that I thought I might share.

First, a bit of an introduction. The First Tuesday Book Club is a book review show that is shown on the ABC (our public broadcaster - think the BBC without the funding) on the first Tuesday of each month. The regular reviewers are Marieke Hardy (grand daughter of a famous Australian author and actress, screenwriter and blogger in her own right), Jason Steger (book editor of The Age and The Sunday Age) and Jennifer Byrne (journalist and presenter), and they are joined each month by two guest reviewers. The two guest reviewers in this clip were Robyn Butler who is a comedian who just did a comedy series called The Librarians for the ABC, and Geoffrey Robertson (business man as far as I can tell).

My small discovery was that you can view all the reviews online, and that there is one there for On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan. So by clicking on the link below you will be taken to the First Tuesday Book Club site, and will be able to watch just under 10 minutes of discussion (warning - lots of spoilers!)


On Chesil Beach discussion


So which of the reviewers did I agree with?

Well, I didn't weep buckets, but I didn't hate it to the point that I would take the risk alienate my spouse (if I had one), so I guess that I am with Jason. There were definitely some good parts of the book, but it did have problems! The set up of the story was excellent, and the ending was moving in a 'my goodness how did these people just let life pass them by' kind of way. The biggest problem for me is that the lack of communication between two people who are seemingly so in love just didn't work for me.


Other Blogger's Thoughts:

So Many Precious Books, So Little Time
Caribou's Mom
The Bluestocking Society
1 More Chapter
An Adventure in Reading
Thoughts of Joy
Leafing Through Life

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

At a cafe table in Lahore, a Pakistani man begins the tale that has led to his fateful meeting with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting....

Changez is living an immigrant's dream of America. Top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by Underwood Samson, an elite firm that specializes in the 'valuation' of companies ripe for acquisition. He thrives on the energy of New York and the intensity of his work, and his infatuation with the elegant, beautiful America promises entry into the Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back home in Lahore.

For a time, it seems as though nothing will stand in the way of Changez's meteoric rise to personal and professional success. But in the wake of September 11, he finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez's own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power and maybe even love.

With echoes of Camus and Fitzgerald, The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a riveting, devastating exploration of our divided yet ultimately indivisible world.

I can not tell you how surprised I am at how much I really loved this book especially given the way that the story itself is told.

The main character Changez offers assistance to an unnamed American tourist one afternoon. After shepherding the tourist to a small cafe, so begins a long afternoon/evening where Changez tells his tale. The interactions with the other characters are only show as they are reflected through Changez's own speech. At no time do we hear from the tourist, or the waiter or any of the other characters of whom we generally only see fleeting glimpses.

The story that Changez tells is one of searching for identity and belonging and love. Changez had spent many years in America studying at Princeton, getting top grades and eventually recruited to one of the most sought after jobs following graduation. Everything is going well for Changez. Not only does he have the job of his dreams, earning loads of cash, travelling first class, but he is also falling in love with the beautiful Erica who introduces him to the creme de la creme of New York society.

Then comes 9/11, and while at first there is little change for Changez gradually he begins to look at the implications of the political decisions that are made, and wonder about his own identity in relation to these events. He also begins to understand that Erica's seemingly confident grace is a barely there shell over a fragmented and tortured psyche.

As he tells the stranger his story and they share a meal and drinks, we get to see small glimpses of clues about what kind of man it is that Changez is dining with and what he might be doing in Lahore, but a lot of the information we are given is implied rather than presented to the reader on a platter.

The fact that all 180 pages of this book are portraying this one meeting, and that there is so little interaction and clarity around the other characters would normally be something that would drive me nuts, but in this authors capable hands, there was no question of impatience on my part. I was prepared to let the details unfurl at precisely the speed that the author was ready to reveal them and to savour the skill involved in telling such a strong story from such a limited perspective.

Quite often books that are nominated for prizes can be a bit inaccessible and can feel like something of a labour to get through, but not this one! Every now and again there is a gem that is profound and yet completely readable, and this is one such case.

Totally loved it!

Other Blogger's Thoughts:

Bold. Blue. Adventure

Booker reading update

When the Booker long list was announced, I somewhat recklessly declared that I was going to read the books on the list. When the shortlist was announced, I still hadn't read any of them.

So, now that the announcement of the winner is imminent, I have finally read one of the long list nominees! Go me! I do have two more out from the library, so I might get to them eventually.

Click on the link and you will end up over at Historical Tapestry where you can read my review of Winnie and Wolf by A N Wilson.

Booker Prize 2007 Shortlist

So, the shortlist has been announced! Despite my best intentions I haven't actually read any of the longlist nominations yet, but I do have The Welsh Girl and On Chesil Beach out from the library at the moment!


# Darkmans by Nicola Barker (Fourth Estate)
# The Gathering by Anne Enright (Jonathan Cape)
# The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid (Hamish Hamilton)
# Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones (John Murray)
# On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan (Jonathan Cape)
# Animal’s People by Indra Sinha (Simon & Schuster

Booker Prize 2007 Longlist

Wow...I must be more out of it than I thought! I've only heard of two of these (On Chesil Beach and Animal's People)...and read none of them! Off to see which of them are available from the library! (Edited to add: The library has 5, so I've requested one, and will see how we go!)



Darkmans by Nicola Barker

Self Help by Edward Docx

The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng

The Gathering by Anne Enright

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones

Gifted by Nikita Lalwani

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

What Was Lost by Catherine O’Flynn

Consolation by Michael Redhill

Animal’s People by Indra Sinha

Winnie & Wolf by A N Wilson