 |
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
Book Summary InformationAuthor: Kiran Desai Edition: Paperback Audio: English (Published) Format: Bargain Price Published: 2006-08-29 ISBN: N/A Number of pages: 384 Publisher: Grove Press
Book Reviews of The Inheritance of LossBook Review: Prizes are just politics Summary: 1 Stars
Heartbreaking. What's gone wrong? Winner, amomg others, of the Man Booker prize and the National Book Critics Circle award. What are these boys and girls reading? What criteria do they use to award prizes? Oh, I'm sorry. The authos is woman, young, and Indian (and cute), so she MUST be good. and her book is about the evils of colonialism and the sufferings of migrants, so it is good by decree. Sorry, I know I'm going to get lots of negative votes, but literary prizes nowadays are only politics. Aesthetic merit, in this case literary, is totally absent from judges' decisions. It is not how the book is written, it is who the author is and his or her politics or background. This lazy piece of politics is about a young Indian orphan who lives with her mean grandfather and the cook, right at the feet of the Himalayas. The other plot is about the experiences as illegal migrant to the US of the cook's son. According to the back cover, the sordid and commonplace adventures of this guy "Illuminate on the consequences of Colonialism". Really. Miss Novelist writes as if she were about to send a telegram, because she has little talent. The characters are shallow as shallow can be, and extremely unlikable and uninteresting. Ms. Desai is obsessed with phaeces, vomit, and other bodily fluids. I confess I couldn't finish it. I have no time for politically correct garbage when there are so mnay works of genius out there.
Summary of The Inheritance of LossPublished to extraordinary acclaim, The Inheritance of Loss heralds Kiran Desai as one of our most insightful novelists. She illuminates the pain of exile and the ambiguities of postcolonialism with a tapestry of colorful characters: an embittered old judge; Sai, his sixteen-year-old orphaned granddaughter; a chatty cook; and the cook?s son, Biju, who is hopscotching from one miserable New York restaurant to another, trying to stay a step ahead of the INS. When a Nepalese insurgency in the mountains threatens Sai?s new-sprung romance with her handsome tutor, their lives descend into chaos. The cook witnesses India?s hierarchy being overturned and discarded. The judge revisits his past and his role in Sai and Biju?s intertwining lives. A story of depth and emotion, hilarity and imagination, The Inheritance of Loss tells a story of love, family, and loss.
United States Books
|
 |
Mirth of a Nation: The Best Contemporary Humorby Michael J. Rosen Harper Paperbacks; Published: 2000-02-02; Paperback; BookBest price: $0.01Price in other shops: $15.95
The Gifts of the Bodyby Rebecca Brown Harper Perennial; Published: 1995-08-04; Paperback; BookBest price: $3.96Price in other shops: $12.00
Love and Liesby Kimberla Lawson Roby William Morrow; Published: 2007-01-30; Hardcover; BookBest price: $4.96Price in other shops: $23.95
Blues Dancing: A Novelby Diane Mckinney-Whetstone HarperTorch; Published: 2005-03-29; Mass Market Paperback; BookBest price: $8.00
Red, White & Liberal: How Left Is Right & Right Is Wrongby Alan Colmes William Morrow Paperbacks; Published: 2004-10-12; Paperback; BookBest price: $0.01Price in other shops: $14.95
Hunger Point: A Novelby Jillian Medoff Harpercollins; Published: 1997-02; Hardcover; BookBest price: $2.00Price in other shops: $24.00
The Price of Bloodby Chuck Logan Harpercollins; Published: 1997-01; Hardcover; BookBest price: $25.99
Blue Hour: Poemsby Carolyn Forche Harper Perennial; Published: 2004-03; Paperback; BookBest price: $7.93Price in other shops: $13.99
Blue Suburbia: Almost a Memoirby Laurie Albanese Harper Perennial; Published: 2004-03-16; Paperback; BookBest price: $0.01Price in other shops: $12.99
The Kindness of Strangers: A Novelby Katrina Kittle William Morrow; Published: 2006-01-31; Hardcover; BookBest price: $3.59Price in other shops: $24.95
|
Disgrace: A Novelby J. M. Coetzee Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2008-08-27; Paperback; BookBest price: $8.43Price in other shops: $15.00
Brick Lane: A Novelby Monica Ali Scribner; Published: 2004-05-25; Paperback; BookBest price: $4.89Price in other shops: $16.00
Interpreter of Maladiesby Jhumpa Lahiri Mariner Books; Published: 1999-06-01; Paperback; BookBest price: $4.99Price in other shops: $14.95
Purple Hibiscus: A Novelby Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Anchor; Published: 2004-09-14; Paperback; BookBest price: $7.82Price in other shops: $14.95
True History of the Kelly Gang: A Novelby Peter Carey Vintage; Published: 2001-12-04; Paperback; BookBest price: $4.50Price in other shops: $15.95
The God of Small Things: A Novelby Arundhati Roy Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2008-12-16; Paperback; BookBest price: $5.90Price in other shops: $16.00
History of How the Spaniards Arrived in Peru (Relasýýion de como los Espaýýoles Entraron en el Peru), Dual-Language Editionby Diego De Castro Titu Cusi Yupangui, Diego De Castro Titu Cusi Yupanqui Hackett Pub Co; Published: 2006-09-30; Paperback; BookBest price: $17.15Price in other shops: $17.95
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: A History of the World: From 1000 CE to the Present (Third Edition) (Vol. 2)by Robert Tignor, Jeremy Adelman, Stephen Aron, Stephen Kotkin, Suzanne Marchand, Gyan Prakash, Michael Tsin W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2010-12-06; Paperback; BookBest price: $78.80
The Killing Zone: The United States Wages Cold War in Latin Americaby Stephen G. Rabe Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2011-04-04; Paperback; BookBest price: $15.75Price in other shops: $19.95
1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Createdby Charles C. Mann Knopf; Published: 2011-08-09; Hardcover; BookBest price: $13.97Price in other shops: $30.50
|