for thinking people
March 28, 2018
I haven’t read much Chinese literature, so finding a library copy of A Yi’s A Perfect Crime seemed like a good choice for some casual afternoon reading. I discovered that A Yi worked as a police officer for a few years before becoming a writer, so a crime novel by a former police officer came off as promising. The description left little to imagination: a Chinese teenager decides to kill someone, and he murders a schoolmate of his. Subsequently, he leaves town.
February 28, 2018
As a reader, a writer, and a former academic, I have encountered countless reviews, from various perspectives. I have written reviews for other authors, I have received reviews for my own books, and I have also read many reviews in general. And let me tell you this: most people don’t know how to review a book.
That is, they don’t know how to review a book fairly.
A fair review is useful to the author and other readers alike. Conversely, an unfair review isn’t useful to anyone – and it shouldn’t affect an author (though realistically it often does). In today’s post we’ll take a closer look at what it means to review a novel fairly, and how one can learn to do it. Sneak preview: Leave your personal preferences out of it.
February 22, 2018
The Yellow Bar, by John Falch, is a novel of historical fiction describing the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, during WW2. The reader follows the story mostly from the perspective of Pepot, the youngest son of a rural family who has to deal with the repercussions of the military occupation. Obviously enough, some events and personal stories are fictionalized, but the general context is accurate.
The plot starts a few years before the invasion, describing how Pepot’s family managed to escape poverty by selling food and drinks to people passing by their house. Then it proceeds to show how their “rural middle class” (in lieu of a better word) dream shattered. The invaders occupied not only their country but also their house, forcing them to become servants. It’s a story of surviving, waiting, and hoping.
