TMO Tags: english novel

Should the laws of physics apply? Helen Oyeyemi’s White is for Witching

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

Should the laws of physics apply to a novel? There are readers who,  not without reason, demand that yes, the laws of gravity, and thermodynamics must apply at all times if the work is to be taken seriously. For example, if a character is to cross a room, they should do so – with or [...]

Here is where we meet – Berger, Galloway, Englander and Chabon

Monday, January 12th, 2009

The first story in John Berger’s  Here is Where We Meet,  is set in Lisbon. The narrator, John, by chance meets his mother while walking the streets of the city. There are two peculiar things about this meeting – the first is that his mother has been dead for fifteen years, and the second is that [...]

Film that! Londonstani by Guatam Malkani

Friday, August 8th, 2008

Mr Monkey’s recent post on possible book-film tie-ins made me dig out Guatam Malkani’s novel Londonstani. I approached the novel with a certain amount of scepticism, not particularly grabbed by the plot line of a young geek from Hounslow who seeks to develop his identity through designer clothes, body building, and hanging out with the [...]

Giles Coren’s Winkler

Saturday, August 2nd, 2008

I have only myself to blame. After I read the e-mail rant heard around the world, my curiosity got the better of me when I spotted a copy of Giles Coren’s first novel, Winkler, on the shelves of my local library. When I say “novel”, I should point out that Coren’s book is not really [...]