Review: The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy

Anjum leads a rather unconventional life. Born Aftab, the longed-for son of parents blessed with hordes of daughters, Anjum was never truly that. A hybrid being, a Hijra, Anjum decides to be the creator of her own fate, despite the heartache and bliss this authors.

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness is her story, punctuated by the tales of her kin, and those she loves. Spanning several years and as many disasters, her place within India and its vibrant people is firmly etched. Between politics, war, and religion, and amid corpses and forgotten names, Anjum’s life is a journey of any visitors.

The conclusion of our tale is nothing as straightforward or trivial as a happy ending, but comes close through a profound sense of peace and finality. While wrongs can never be righted, nor the dead brought back to life, Anjum and her brethren remind us that there is power in starting over, in forgiveness, and in acceptance.

Deeply poetic and profoundly dark, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness is a daring dance between utter despair and a literary masterpiece, a noteworthy read which stands apart from its contemporaries, unapologetic and confrontational and yet pleasantly so. Here is a narrative which cannot be evaded or avoided – strap on your shoes, for you are about to walk several hundred miles in the ill-fitting shoes of imperfectly beautiful characters.

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness is a weighty tale with heavy conscience, yet its frank descriptions and colourful language add a delightful sharp edge. It is well worth the time to read and digest.

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy is published by Penguin Random House.

Review: Mirror, Shoulder, Signal by Dorthe Nors

Sonja is taking driving lessons, but they’re not going too well. She’s also not overly successful with her relationships. Awkwardly wiggling out of social gatherings, and trying and failing to connect with her sister, it seems that the only constant in her life is the books she translates; their plots dark and haunting. Basically, Sonja is not fairing too well at being an adult, and she’s only now – in her forties – beginning to admit it to herself, and wonder how to rectify this.

In Mirror, Shoulder, Signal, the reader plays the ultimate voyeur. We’re afforded a unique view into Sonja’s mind, through her memories, thoughts and experiences. As Sonja tries to make sense of her inner monologue and embroider its contents into an understandable pattern, she can’t help but notice the imperfections in her life. Her estranged sister is a constant shadow with no apparent source, and her status as a single female makes her question her own loveability.

Mirror, Shoulder, Signal is difficult to define – deeply reflective and brutally honest thoughts mingle with a sly wit and dry sarcasm which basically make Sonja an unlikely hero for any woman with an inner monologue that’s louder than her voice. This book is a wise peek into the mind – a behind the scenes glance of one woman’s seeming mundanity and every day drudgery, and it is a great trip. In addition, the narrative is hopeful and inspirational – Sonja is not a lost cause, nor without promise. Realisation is her knight in shining armour, and she’s about to be her own hero, in life, love and everything else. She is woman, hear her roar.

Mirror, Shoulder, Signal by Dorthe Nors is published by Pushkin Press, and is available in South Africa from Jonathan Ball Publishers.

Review: The Dying Game by Asa Avdic

Anna Francis has been propositioned with an unusual request. Back in her office job after spending time on n aid mission in a war-torn country, the celebrity that once followed her has died down. After months of no sleep, heightened stress, and constant bombing, Anna is struggling to slip back into her old habits and life. Enter the Chairman, with an offer.

The highly trained, and highly secret, RAN group is recruiting, and given Anna’s history of observing people in high-stress situations, the Chairman requests that she oversee the recruitment process, to give a full report on each candidate. The observations will only take a few days, on an island equipped for the purpose. However, it’s not as straight-forward as watching others; Anna is going to be killed.

The Chairman has decided that a faked death, removing Anna from the presence of others, will heighten tensions and allow her to observe unnoticed, gathering valuable information. The only problem is that Anna is not the only one to disappear, and things on the island begin to go awry from the moment Anna sets foot on it.

The Dying Game is nothing short of brilliant. Asa Avdic is a master at creating tension, and sending the reader’s heart rate through the roof. The Dying Game is completely gripping, with a horde of unexpected twists, red herrings, and a host of protagonists with hidden agendas, it is entertaining and unpredictable. As Anna tries to distinguish between reality and pretense, the reader has no choice but to follow her through a maze of lies. This is a brilliant book, and I doubt that anyone will disagree.

The Dying Game by Asa Avdic is published by Windmill Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House. 

Review: Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin

It started with Carla’s story about her son David. Through Carla’s words and shadowed memories, she birthed David into Amanda’s life, his presence threatening and mysterious. In her holiday home in a rural town, Amanda did not expect to befriend someone like Carla; someone beautiful and yet so damaged – haunted by her own son. When Carla’s intensity spills over into her own life, Amanda decides to leave the house early, to return to the sanity and normality of the capital, where her life and husband await.

But she doesn’t get that far. Amanda is in a hospital ward, with David. Sitting at the edge of her bed, listening, urging, waiting, David whispers at her to remember, to pay attention. As Amanda retraces her past, so delicately and fatally interwoven with David’s, she must accept that perhaps Carla was right, and that her stories, although macabre and twisted, were true.

The aptly named Fever Dream is a surreal experience. The line between recollection and reality is as fine as the edge of the pages the story spills across, luring the reader into to Amanda’s disorientation, to this whirlwind of past, present and dreams. Despite the limited space of 151 pages, Samanta Schweblin delivers a powerful experience, rich in chaos and an interrupted narrative that builds and disrupts tension like waves in the ocean. 

Though it be little, it is fierce – you may be able to finish this book in a single sitting, but it will linger in your mind for hours afterwards. Diving between taboo, horror and psychological thriller, Fever Dream is just the shock to the system needed to remind us that great literature is still out there, and that it’s stylish, accessible and sexy.

Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin is published by Oneworld Books, and is available in South Africa from Jonathan Ball Publishers.

Review: The White Road by Sarah Lotz

Simon Newman is basically a shit. Once a decent rock climber, an accident knocked his confidence enough to let him sink to the world of website listicles. His new assignment involves going into (read: breaking into) a cave system to film the bodies of a couple young man who died in the cave. He’s done this by hiring a random caver from the internet, and without admitting his real reason for being there. But karma is a bitch, at the best of times, and things go horribly awry once Simon is in the bowels of the earth. Rescued three days later, and decidedly psychologically scarred, his regret at going to film the bodies is tempered only by how many hits the video receives on his website.

Naturally, bigger is better, so Simon and his business partner Thierry need to one-up themselves, and decide that where they once went low, they need to go high – this time, Simon is tasked with filming the bodies of fallen climbers on Everest. I warned you; he’s a shit.

Of course, amid his deception, things are bound to go wrong. And they do; horribly. But Simon is not alone in this – he’s come across the diary of Julia Michaels, a female climber who has her own horrible experiences on the mountain, and using her as a secret motivation, Simon powers through, or at least, tries to.

Sarah Lotz is a manipulative genius of the best kind – she presents the reader with a truly morally inept protagonist, yet one can’t help but cheer him on, despite his lacking of common humanity. In addition, the vastness of the story from the dark crevasses below the earth to some of its highest peaks is absolutely exhilarating and fresh. The White Road takes horror to a new, sneaky level, and it is brilliant. Lotz has no need for monsters or murderers, because she has utilised one of the scariest things in the world – the human mind. Go on, get your goosebumps on, and join Simon on hellish adventures.

The White Road by Sarah Lotz is published by Hodder & Stoughton, and is available in South Africa from Jonathan Ball Publishers.