June feels so long ago, I can barely remember all the things (and books that happened). So I’ll just lightly discuss the ones I enjoyed.
Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq
This was this year’s Booker Prize winner and I liked this a lot. It’s a collection of stories that to me, speaks to the interiority of the female being in religious (Muslim) South Asian society. I find that religion, particularly Islam in Asia, gives a heavy, suffocating air to the people who within its influence. But since I don’t claim to speak to the validity of religion itself, I think what we see instead are societies that construct themselves around convenient truths. And then they offer the life, autonomy and vitality of women to sustain that manmade order and how does this affect the women so?
Each story is a glimpse into the unique story of at least one woman in this harsh environment. With no allusions to any moral conclusion, the author paints simply the reality of an unconsidered woman’s life.
Beautiful Days by Joyce Carol Oates
I mean I liked it, but it got a little trippy towards the end so that I didn’t entirely know what to make of it. Would I recommend it? I don’t know.
Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh
Stupidly funny. Would recommend for a light-hearted laugh.
Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante
The third in the Neapolitan series. Lenu and Lila are now turning thirty and their paths in life have forked so much that you’re not sure how much these women have in common anymore. I (kind of) feel happy for Lila and I hope things continue to go well with Enzo, though I’m a little afraid for her and Michele. On the other hand, Lenu’s journey from writer, to motherhood, to rediscovering the outlines of herself through the lens of the feminist movements of the 70’s has been a core moment for me. Not just because it is such a wonderful dimension to add into the Neapolitan universe, but it’s such a human or distinctly female revelation that she walks through that it’s even helped me in understanding what defining a woman might feel like, on my own terms.