The Tesseract by Alex Garland - first published 1998
This book is quite a gripping read but I wouldn't say that I enjoyed it, as it includes several sudden violent deaths. There are 3 seemingly unrelated stories, which come together in a violent conclusion. The main action takes place over a few hours one evening in Manila. The first part is about an Englishman called Sean, who is waiting in a run-down hotel for a gangster boss and his henchmen to arrive and kill him. Why you would hang around if you knew someone was coming to shoot you, I have no idea. The second part is about a lady called Rosa and her family, who live in a more prosperous part of the city and the third part is about 2 homeless teenage boys, who are friends. The author explains at the back that a tesseract is a hypercube unravelled. That meant nothing to me, so I looked it up and the definitions I found say it is a 4 dimensional cube. That doesn't mean anything to me either! and I don't really see the relevance to the book. 5/10
October 9th 2011
Monday 10 October 2011
Wednesday 5 October 2011
Book 55 - Country 61 - Singapore
Inspector Singh Investigates: A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder by Shamini Flint - first published in Great Britain in 2009
I suppose the title should have made me aware that not all this book was set in Singapore! In fact only the very beginning and ending are set there. The rest of the story takes place around Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Middle aged and overweight sikh police inspector Singh is sent to Malaysia to investigate the murder of businessman Alan Lee because the chief suspect - Mr Lee's wife Chelsea Liew - is a Singapore citizen. The book is an easy read but the story is engaging with several twists and it does touch on the important environmental issue of illegal logging of forests in Borneo and sharia law regarding the custody of children following divorce. It also gives an insight into everyday life and the culture of Malaysia and how it contrasts to its more prosperous but constrained neighbour, Singapore. 7/10
1st October 2011
I suppose the title should have made me aware that not all this book was set in Singapore! In fact only the very beginning and ending are set there. The rest of the story takes place around Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Middle aged and overweight sikh police inspector Singh is sent to Malaysia to investigate the murder of businessman Alan Lee because the chief suspect - Mr Lee's wife Chelsea Liew - is a Singapore citizen. The book is an easy read but the story is engaging with several twists and it does touch on the important environmental issue of illegal logging of forests in Borneo and sharia law regarding the custody of children following divorce. It also gives an insight into everyday life and the culture of Malaysia and how it contrasts to its more prosperous but constrained neighbour, Singapore. 7/10
1st October 2011
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