The Books of Jacob - Olga Tokarczuk (Blog Tour & Review)

Author: Olga Tokarczuk

Translator: Jennifer Croft

Publisher: Riverhead Books

Publication Date: February 1, 2022

Rating: 3/5

(This review is part of the Wingate Prize blog tour organised by Random Things Tours)

About the book:

The Nobel Prize-winner's richest, most sweeping and most ambitious novel yet follows the comet-like rise and fall of a mysterious, messianic religious leader as he blazes his way across eighteenth-century Europe.

In the mid-eighteenth century, as new ideas -- and new unrest -- begin to sweep the Continent, a young Jew of mysterious origins arrives in a village in Poland. Before long, he has changed not only his name but his persona; visited by what seem to be ecstatic experiences, Jacob Frank casts a charismatic spell that attracts an increasingly fervent following.

In the decade to come, Frank will traverse the Hapsburg and Ottoman empires with throngs of disciples in his thrall as he reinvents himself again and again, converts to Islam and then Catholicism, is pilloried as a heretic and revered as the Messiah, and wreaks havoc on the conventional order, Jewish and Christian alike, with scandalous rumours of his sect's secret rituals and the spread of his increasingly iconoclastic beliefs.

The story of Frank -- a real historical figure around whom mystery and controversy swirl to this day -- is the perfect canvas for the genius and unparalleled reach of Olga Tokarczuk. Narrated through the perspectives of his contemporaries -- those who revere him, those who revile him, the friend who betrays him, the lone woman who sees him for what he is -- The Books of Jacob captures a world on the cusp of precipitous change, searching for certainty and longing for transcendence.

Review:

        After reading more than a dozen pages, I had the strange inkling I am out of my depth here. It was not the length, that didn't daunt me. I am used to devouring thick volumes of historical fiction and this looked like another adventure. But Olga Tokarczuk had other ideas. There is no wonder this is a favourite pick for the award committees. If literary criticism asks us to be active readers questioning the hegemony, then this novel makes sure that we go through the promise.

        The author always keeps us from getting immersed in the story. The moment we get attached to one character's viewpoint, another is introduced and the string is broken. Clearly, this is not a comfort read rather it takes up a large chunk of your brain and energy. The first hundred pages don't even make a mention of Jacob. Pace is restored once his story comes alive through other characters associated with his life.

        It is definitely a strange story, one we would have written off as the idiosyncracies of a creative brain, if not for its historical basis. Jacob Frank succeeds in creating ripples among Jews and Christians alike with his proclamation as Messiah, rejection of the Talmud and licentious rituals. Not a pleasant story and the author's use of magic realism just adds to the strangeness of it. 

        The novel in the end makes us wonder about history. Are we really learning lessons from it or does it only sow the seeds of discord?

Meet the author:

Olga Tokarczuk is one of Poland's most celebrated and beloved authors, a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Man Booker International Prize, as well as her country's highest literary honor, the Nike. She is the author of eight novels and two short story collections, and has been translated into more than thirty languages.

The Tokyo Bicycle Bakery - Su Young Lee (Blog Tour & Review)

 

Date of Reading: 31/10/2020

Author: Su Young Lee

Publication Date: August 20, 2020

Rating: 3/5

(This review is part of the blog tour organised by Rachel's Random Resources)

About the book:

For cake-loving college girl Hana, Japan was the romantic destination of her dreams. With boyfriend Jin, she planned an exciting new life in the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. But when she finally arrives after months of planning, Jin isn't there.

Hana is left broken-hearted on a rainy Tokyo street. Jin left no note. One day he just walked out of classes and disappeared.

Hana begins her new life alone. Searching for Jin but finding no trace. Watching cherry blossoms fall into the Tokyo river. Working hard and delivering her lovely home-baked cakes by orange bicycle. Then she meets handsome young farmer Hikaru and glimpses a new way forward - in an alien place where she doesn't know a soul.

The Tokyo Bicycle Bakery is a sweet and sorrowful love story with a dash of magic realism, a sprinkle of mystery and a whole lot of cakes. 

Review:

    To tell that this book took me by surprise will be an understatement. How does it feel when you can't predict anything about the story? Strange . . . somewhat nice too. More than a sweet love story set in Japan, this is a story of self-discovery emphasising the need to pursue our own dreams.

    I won't advocate all the things referred to here. After all, a protagonist who leaves her home suddenly to live with her boyfriend in another country is not a very mature decision. But Hana is a role model when it comes to her kind-heartedness and caring nature. No wonder help comes to her from every quarter. 

    What I didn't like is the writing style which felt too mechanical. The dialogues were stilted and I couldn't find much chemistry between Hana and Hikaru. Jin's character was intriguing, but sadly he didn't get much of a voice. Well, we could always hope for another story featuring him getting to know more of his strange abilities.

Meet the author:

Su Young Lee is a Korean romance author who lived in Tokyo, Japan for 10 years and now lives in London, England with her husband and two lovely cats. 

Su works in academic publishing and loves baking, playing the piano and working on her calligraphy.

Check her blog here. 

https://suyoungleesblog.wordpress.com

Matchmaking for Beginners - Maddie Dawson

Date of Reading: 23/06/2018

Author: Maddie Dawson

Publisher: Lake Union

Place: Seattle

Year: 2018

Rating: 4/5

From: NetGalley

About the book:

Marnie MacGraw wants an ordinary life—a husband, kids, and a minivan in the suburbs. Now that she’s marrying the man of her dreams, she’s sure this is the life she’ll get. Then Marnie meets Blix Holliday, her fiancé’s irascible matchmaking great-aunt who’s dying, and everything changes—just as Blix told her it would.

When her marriage ends after two miserable weeks, Marnie is understandably shocked. She’s even more astonished to find that she’s inherited Blix’s Brooklyn brownstone along with all of Blix’s unfinished “projects”: the heartbroken, oddball friends and neighbours running from happiness. Marnie doesn’t believe she’s anything special, but Blix somehow knew she was the perfect person to follow in her matchmaker footsteps.

And Blix was also right about some things Marnie must learn the hard way: love is hard to recognize, and the ones who push love away often are the ones who need it most.

My Review:

       I added this to my overflowing TBR pile, due to the numerous positive reviews I found on the web. And the novel won't disappoint you a bit. As you must have guessed already, the storyline is unique and the incorporation of magic realism blends well with the plot.

        What interested me most was Marnie, the imperfect heroine. I have seen many complaining of her as she has cheated on her fiance. Well, obviously that is a major issue, but may be that is what makes this novel dear to our hearts. Even with the little magical powers involved, this splashes us with reality, giving a break to perfect Cinderella stories.

         Then there is Blix, who I think have blixed all us readers. One could almost feel her wishes of happiness flowing throughout the book, seeping into our bloodstream and to our heart. Her matchmaking projects are one of a kind and many a time I felt really jealous as to how she marched on with her life.

        All in all, I will recommend this precious book to anyone looking for a different romance read. It will surprise and enthral you till the very end!

Meet the author:

I'm the author of seven novels about love, crazy families, secrets, parenthood, and--yes, they have reasonably happy endings. Kind of like life. My newest, Matchmaking for Beginners, is released on June 1, 2018. My other novels are The Survivor's Guide to Family Happiness, The Opposite of Maybe, The Stuff That Never Happened, Kissing Games of the World and A Piece of Normal. 

My first novel, What Comes After Crazy, was written under the name Sandi Kahn Shelton

The Unity Game - Leonora Meriel (Blog Tour)

Date of Reading: 27/03/2018

Author: Leonora Meriel

Publisher: Granite Cloud

Year: 2017

Format: Ebook

From: the author in exchange for an honest review

About the Book (from the cover):

What if the earth we knew is just the beginning?

A New York banker is descending into madness. 

A being from an advanced civilization is racing to stay alive. 

A dead man must unlock the secrets of an unknown dimension to save his loved ones. 

From the visions of Socrates in ancient Athens, to the birth of free will aboard a spaceship headed to Earth, The Unity Game tells a story of hope and redemption in a universe more ingenious and surprising than you ever thought possible. 

Metaphysical thriller and interstellar mystery, this is a 'complex, ambitious and thought-provoking novel' from an exciting and original new voice in fiction. 

My Review

      The description of this book makes you expect a thrilling sci-fi fantasy but 'The Unity Game' is none of those. It is a sci-fi for sure, but our curiosity is aroused by the unique concept of the universe that the author has managed to incorporate into the story.

      The plot is developed through three narratives, the connection being revealed to the reader only in the last pages.First, there is David, an investment banker who is obsessed with the desire to win, then the next part deals with the story of Noœ-bouk, a being on another planet where instead of talking the life forms there communicate their thoughts to others. The third narrative traces the afterlife of Alisdair, a renowned lawyer who is being revealed into the mysteries of life.

        The book in a sense embodies the philosophy of life and its unpredictability. A life down in the dumps may soon see the bright days which rings true for this novel too. The first half is rather dull (I would have quit this if I didn't have an obligation to review) but once you pass that fifty percent sign on Kindle, things start perking up. What we find is a refreshing thought about how things work in the universe and what we need to achieve. It gels together the big bang theory and the concept of enlightenment and moksha, if you take it in an Indian perspective.

         Still, it smoothens over some questions that have troubled me always. The author fails to give a convincing explanation for the presence of evil (Duncan's remarks do not sound that logical to me), but we get some reflections through the life of David, a being who is entirely cut off from his life's purpose.

        We don't really know what will happen after death, but the speculations like these are energising. 

About the Author

Leonora Meriel grew up in London and studied literature at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and Queen’s University in Canada. She worked at the United Nations in New York, and then for a multinational law firm.

In 2003 she moved from New York to Kyiv, where she founded and managed Ukraine’s largest Internet company. She studied at Kyiv Mohyla Business School and earned an MBA, which included a study trip around China and Taiwan, and climbing to the top of Hoverla, Ukraine’s highest peak and part of the Carpathian Mountains. She also served as President of the International Women’s Club of Kyiv, a major local charity.

During her years in Ukraine, she learned to speak Ukrainian and Russian, witnessed two revolutions and got to know an extraordinary country at a key period of its development.

In 2008, she decided to return to her dream of being a writer and to dedicate her career to literature. In 2011, she completed The Woman Behind the Waterfall, set in a village in western Ukraine. While her first novel was with a London agent, Leonora completed her second novel The Unity Game, set in New York City and on a distant planet.

Leonora currently lives in Barcelona and London and has two children. 

Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami

Date of Reading: 04/11/ 2007

Author: Haruki Murakami

Translated by: Philip Gabriel

Publisher: Vintage

Place: Great Britain

Year: 2005

        I am not much of a Murakami reader, and I don't like this one. Oh! actually I hated it. Oedipus myth often gives me headaches (I don't expand my imagination there), so its new version in a modern metaphysical world is actually unbearable. Sex scenes with the mother and the slottering of the cats is enough to make one claustrophobic.
         Murakami has once stated that the secret to understand the novel is to read it in multiple times. May be future readers can benefit from his words:

        "Kafka on the Shore contains several riddles, but there aren't any solutions provided. Instead, several of these riddles combine, and through their interaction the possibility of a solution takes shape. And the form this solution takes place will be different for each reader. To put it another way, the riddles function as part of the solution. It's hard to explain, but that's the kind of novel I set out to write".

         The novel follows the fortunes of two remarkable characters -- Kafka Tamura (whose real name is never revealed) and old Nakata. Kafka runs away from home at the age of fifteen, under the shadow of his father's dark prophesy which says that he would kill his father and be with his mother and sister.
         On reaching Shikoku, he takes refuge in the library at Takamatsu. His mother and adopted sister has left him at the age of four and now certain coincidences makes them cross paths again though each blinded to others true identity. His sister Sakura is met on the way and mother, Miss Saeki, is the head librarian. Miss Saeki was in love with a man in Kamura family and when he was killed, her life stopped there. Since then she has had many lovers including Kafka's father, the famous sculptor, Koichi Tamura.
         Nakata, the other man involved in the story is a little odd (but his story is more interesting) as he has the capacity to talk with cats as the result of a childhood accident. Once on his venture to find a missing cat, he meets Kafka's father who asks him to kill him. He has made flutes with the souls of cat by killing them alive, and Nakata has no remorse in doing what he asked. Later he journeys to Takamatsu with the help of a truck driver, Hoshino. He finds an entrance stone and opens another world.

          Meanwhile Kafka goes unconscious at the time of his father's death and on waking finds himself drenched in his father's blood. Miss Saeki finds her former lover in Kafka and they make love. In one of his dreams he seduces his sister and thus the prophesy is fulfilled.


Haruki Murakami

         Miss Saeki has once opened the entrance stone and this killed her lover. After informing Nakata of all this she dies, and the next day Nakata is also dead. Kafka visits the other world; his father's aim is to enter that world and thereby conquer the souls of men. But Hoshino closes the entrance and kills the dirty soul of Tamura. Kafka goes back to Tokyo to complete his education; Oshima, the librarian offers him the job of an assistant.