Synopsis: The setting is a comedy club in a small Israeli town. An audience that has come expecting an evening of amusement instead sees a comedian coming apart on stage, an act of disintegration, a man crumbling, as a matter of choice, before their eyes. They could get up and leave, or boo and whistle … Continue reading Review: A Horse Walks Into A Bar, by David Grossman
Tag: Prize Winner
Review: If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things
Synopsis: On a street in a town in the North of England, ordinary people are going through the motions of their everyday existence. A young man is in love with a neighbour who does not even know his name. An old couple make their way up to the nearby bus stop. But then a terrible … Continue reading Review: If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things
Review: Wild Swans – The Daughters of China, by Jung Chang
Synopsis: Through the story of three generations of women - grandmother, mother and daughter - Wild Swans tells nothing less than the whole tumultuous history of China's tragic twentieth century, from sword-bearing warlords to Chairman Mao, from the Manchu Empire to the Cultural Revolution. At times terrifying, at times astonishing, always deeply moving, Wild Swans … Continue reading Review: Wild Swans – The Daughters of China, by Jung Chang
Review: Stoner – by John Williams
Synopsis: William Stoner enters the University of Missouri at nineteen to study agriculture. A seminar on English literature changes his life, and he never returns to work on his father's farm. Stoner becomes a teacher. He marries the wrong woman. His life is quiet, and after his death his colleagues remember him rarely. Title: Stoner … Continue reading Review: Stoner – by John Williams
Review: The Color Purple – by Alice Walker
Synopsis: Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life, beginning at age 14 when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting to protect her sister from the same fate, and continuing over the course of her marriage to “Mister,” a brutal man … Continue reading Review: The Color Purple – by Alice Walker
Review: Fahrenheit 451 – by Ray Bradbury
Synopsis: Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, … Continue reading Review: Fahrenheit 451 – by Ray Bradbury
Looking for Alaska – by John Green
Synopsis: BEFORE. Miles Halter’s whole life has been one big non-event until he starts at anything-but-boring Culver Creek Boarding School and meets Alaska Young. Gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, screwed up and utterly fascinating she pulls Miles into her world, launches him into a new life, and steals his heart. But when tragedy strikes, and Miles … Continue reading Looking for Alaska – by John Green
Sense of an Ending – by Julian Barnes
Synopsis: Tony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at school. Sex-hungry and book-hungry, they would navigate the girl-less sixth form together, trading in affectations, in-jokes, rumour and wit. Maybe Adrian was a little more serious than the others, certainly more intelligent, but they all swore to stay friends for life. Now Tony is … Continue reading Sense of an Ending – by Julian Barnes