fiction review

Book Review: Fiction / Despair and death in ‘Truth or Dare’

Bangladeshi literature in English has had a considerably late start compared to its South Asian counterparts in India and Pakistan. A few exceptions aside, a consistency came to be seen only by the early 2010s.

Book Review: Fiction / In search of lost eden

From the beginning we see Benjamin Honey, the patriarch of the island, longing to return to his past, in a garden, the Eden of his childhood where he reminisces about being with a woman who might or might not have been her mother.

TRIBUTE / The complete works of Mahmudul Haque: The chorus of a unique sun

Mahmudul Haque was a writer who championed the modern and independent stream of Bangla literature.

BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / A masterful portrait of normalised misogyny and sexism

Award winning Irish writer Claire Keegan is a master of short fiction. Her previous novel, Small Things Like

BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / Love, lies and loneliness

The very first time I came across a description of this book, previously published under the title The Nigerwife (Atria Books, 2023),

BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / The Runaway Boy: A promise not delivered

The Runway Boy (Eka, 2020), written by Manoranjan Byapari and translated from Bangla by V Ramaswamy, delivers an accurate portrayal of postcolonial Bengal,

BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / In search of American freedoms

Increasingly over the years, American literary fiction has centered upon rage—a rage brought on by family, one’s own identity or, through the very cruelty of economic catastrophe.

Book review: Fiction / Emily Wilson’s ‘The Iliad’ is a triumph in translation

Wilson hasn’t written a retelling from the perspectives of the subjugated but has rather been true to the original, although she doesn’t shy away from acknowledging the sheer misogyny of the Homeric period.

Book review: Fiction / An underwhelming kidnapping

Perhaps the book's biggest fault is that it ends up being (unintentionally or not) a response to Nabokov’s Lolita.

November 23, 2023
November 23, 2023

In search of lost eden

From the beginning we see Benjamin Honey, the patriarch of the island, longing to return to his past, in a garden, the Eden of his childhood where he reminisces about being with a woman who might or might not have been her mother.

November 23, 2023
November 23, 2023

Despair and death in ‘Truth or Dare’

Bangladeshi literature in English has had a considerably late start compared to its South Asian counterparts in India and Pakistan. A few exceptions aside, a consistency came to be seen only by the early 2010s.

November 16, 2023
November 16, 2023

A masterful portrait of normalised misogyny and sexism

Award winning Irish writer Claire Keegan is a master of short fiction. Her previous novel, Small Things Like

November 16, 2023
November 16, 2023

The complete works of Mahmudul Haque: The chorus of a unique sun

Mahmudul Haque was a writer who championed the modern and independent stream of Bangla literature.

November 2, 2023
November 2, 2023

Love, lies and loneliness

The very first time I came across a description of this book, previously published under the title The Nigerwife (Atria Books, 2023),

October 19, 2023
October 19, 2023

In search of American freedoms

Increasingly over the years, American literary fiction has centered upon rage—a rage brought on by family, one’s own identity or, through the very cruelty of economic catastrophe.

October 19, 2023
October 19, 2023

The Runaway Boy: A promise not delivered

The Runway Boy (Eka, 2020), written by Manoranjan Byapari and translated from Bangla by V Ramaswamy, delivers an accurate portrayal of postcolonial Bengal,

October 17, 2023
October 17, 2023

Emily Wilson’s ‘The Iliad’ is a triumph in translation

Wilson hasn’t written a retelling from the perspectives of the subjugated but has rather been true to the original, although she doesn’t shy away from acknowledging the sheer misogyny of the Homeric period.

October 13, 2023
October 13, 2023

An underwhelming kidnapping

Perhaps the book's biggest fault is that it ends up being (unintentionally or not) a response to Nabokov’s Lolita.

October 12, 2023
October 12, 2023

Making a killing out of a killing

A visit to any bookshop today will attest to the reading public’s fascination with crime (and criminals).

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