Review: Waiting by Ha Jin

[fiction-theory.livejournal.com]

Note: I hope it's okay that I posted a small picture of the cover. I do that for the reviews I do on my own LJ so that it can help people who might want to find the book in a bookstore. I know that sometimes I can't remember the name/title of a book but will remember what the cover art looked like.

Also, the CoC/GLBT/Gender scores are also something I do for all the books I review, because I find that it helps me with intersectionality, and it also lets readers who, for instance, might want to know if a book (however well written) is going to insult them as a queer person or a person of color, or if it's a safe book for them. If that's inappropriate for this community, please let me know and I will edit my review or take it down all together. I expect that my ratings may not be as high or low as some would prefer and I do not mind anyone disagreeing with me! I always love talking about books and debating the finer points of them.

ETA 2: This review contains spoilers for this book.




Title: Waiting
Author: Ha Jin
Genre: Fiction
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Vintage



( Review: Waiting )

Bernardine Evaristo, The Emperor's Babe

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

14. Bernardine Evaristo, The Emperor's Babe

This is a novel in verse (which put me off a bit when I first realized it, but it actually works very well), set in Roman-era London, starring a young Sudanese woman. Most of the novel deals with the main character's tomboy-ish childhood and her friendship with another woman and a drag queen named Venus, but the climax comes when she has a affair with the Emperor. There's a lot of deliberate anachronisms such as brand names, musicians, and slang, stirred in with historically accurate details like Latin phrases or trips to watch gladiators fight, and I really enjoyed the bright, vivid world this mix created. Most of the tone of the novel is funny, optimistic, and confident, and so when the ending comes I found it both surprising and very effective.

Really recommend. I'll be looking up the author's other books.