Book 62, country 68 - Argentina

The Buenos Aires Broken Hearts Club by Jessica Morrison - first published in the UK 2007

This book reminded me why I no longer read much chick lit – it is superficial and predictable.  Cassie Moore loses her job in Seattle and the same day comes home and finds her partner  in bed with his ex-girlfriend.  After drowning her sorrows in alchohol she makes an impulsive decision to live in Buenos Aires for 6 months, despite speaking no Spanish and knowing nothing about Argentina.  On arrival she spends quite a while feeling sorry for herself.  After much cajoling from her lovely landlady she does finally get out and make some friends.  She has 2 short lived relationships with an Argentinian and a man from New York before falling in love with her landlady’s handyman.  It is an easy and undemanding read.  The best thing about it is the title.  It does give a flavour of the country and its culture. 6/10

21st January 2012

Book 61, Country 67 - Chile

Portrait in Sepia by Isabel Allende - translated from Spanish and first published in the UK in 2001

Aurora del Valle is born in San Francisco in 1880 and she narrates the story.  Her mother dies giving birth to her and after the death of her Chinese maternal grandfather when she is 5 years old,  she is raised by her very rich and formidable paternal grandmother Paulina del Valle.  Aurora and her family moved back to their native Chile in 1886.  They survive a revolution, flourish financially for a while and Aurora becomes a photographer.   Aurora marries but leaves her husband when he is unfaithful.  She eventually learns why she has always been haunted by nightmares and cannot remember the first 5 years of her life  The book is inhabited by several unusual and very colourful characters.  It is well written and not too long.  It is a sequel to Daughter of Fortune, which I haven't read.  6/10 

10th January 2012

Book 60, Country 66 - Republic of Kiribati

The Sex Lives of Cannibals - J Maarten Troost - first published 2004

The author and his girlfriend Sylvia, who works for an aid organisation, spend 2 years living on the island of Tarawa, which is part of the Republic of Kirbati (pronounced Kiri-bas), formerly the Gilbert Islands, in the South Pacific.  Far from being a tropical paradise, Tarawa is a small overpopulated, drought-striken island with no formal sewage or rubbish disposal system - it all ends up on the surrounding reef, which smells lovely when the tide goes out.  Maarten Troost tells the story of their life on Tarawa humorously and portrays the I-Kiribati people in an honest but sympathetic way.  However it won't do much for Kirbati's tourism industry!  The only cannibals in the book are the local dogs.  It really is a dog eat dog world!  It is a shame that there are no photos in the book, as I couldn't find many online.  I look forward to reading the author's book Getting Stoned with Savages on my next Around the World in 80 Books tour.  8/10

26th December 2011

Book 59, Country 65 - New Zealand

Tu by Patricia Grace - first published 2004

I thought this novel was going to be set in New Zealand.  However in the opening chapter Tu, youngest of 3 Maori brothers, joins the army and sets off for Italy in 1943.  Half of the book is set in Italy, including the battle to capture Monte Cassino (in gory detail) but the other half is the story of Tu and his brothers Rangi and Pita's childhood, first in an unnamed place and then in Wellington after the death of their father.  The book offers an insight into Maori culture and traditions.  I was unaware that Maoris had fought for the Allies in the Second World War.  The story was a bit laboured in places but overall it was ok.  This was the only book of my journey so far that I haven't been able to borrow from my local library.  6/10

20th December 2011

Book 58, Country 64 - Australia

The Broken Shore by Peter Temple – first published 2005

Detective Joe Cashin is recovering from a recent trauma and has therefore been sent to the quiet small South Australian town where he grew up to recover his confidence.  However a rich local man is attacked in his own home and later dies and Cashin leads the investigation.  Most of the characters in the book, including the police officers seem to spend most of their time swearing, which may be realistic but was a bit off-putting.  The storyline is okay but not exceptional and it wouldn’t make you want to go to South Australia on holiday.  Presumably the story is set in winter, as it always seems to be raining and/or cold - I thought it was only the British who were always talking about the weather! 5/10

24th November 2011

Book 57, Country 63 - Indonesia

Map of the Invisible World by Tash Aw - first published in Britain in 2009

I didn't enjoy this book very much - it is readable but not very exciting.  It is about 2 brothers, who were separated as young children when they were living in an orphanage and were adopted by different people.  Johan, the elder brother was taken to live a life of luxury in Malaysia while Adam stayed in Indonesia and was adopted by a Dutch man called Karl, who led an unconventional life but was very kind to him.  In the 1960s when Adam is 16, Karl is arrested by President Sukarno's soldiers who are trying to rid Indonesia of its colonial past.  Adam sets off to Jakarta to find him and meets up with Margaret, an old friend of Karl's.  However he also unwittingly gets involved in anti-government protests.  He does eventually find Karl but is never re-united with his brother.  There was lots of detail about life in Jakarta in the 1960s but no clear explanation of the background history.  Maybe I should have known this and I know I could have looked it up online but I would have found it useful if there had been a timeline of historic events or a page summarising the 20th century history of Indonesia at the front or back of the book.    3/10

2nd November 2011

Book 56 - Country 62 - The Philippines

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