The Anthropologists by Aysegül Savas

 

From all the books of contemporary lives, focused on the moment and its full existential dimension, The Anthropologists by French-based Turkish author Aysegül Savas resonated the most with how I see some isolated fragments of life. 

Asya - the storyteller, whose name is shared only far into the story - and her partner, Manu, are a young couple started to look for a house of their own. They are both far from their unnamed countries, each from a different country, living in an unnamed city in an unnamed country. She just got a generous grant for documenting daily life, which allows her to contribute to the first house installment. 

Their lives, as presented in the book, do not go through any tremendous drama. They are not from there, but growing native to the place in their own ways. She may regularly have video calls with her ailing grandmother. They have friends, few, not necessarily native.

They are just getting taken by the flow, do have ephemerous daily conversations, and we are allowed to see just a sequence of it. The book can continue for ever, or as long as the protagonists are alive, but we are just cut short from their existential flow. It´s no expectation on the reader´s behalf, just eventually to be there. It´s like you are wathing a movie or some pictures in the exhibition.

I had access to the book in the audiobook format, read by Kathryn Aboya.

The Anthropologists will definitely make into a movie, short- or medium-long, for the diversity of views - like in landscapes - it has. Also, would love to have some time to come back to this author, as she authored others contemporary books before.

Rating: 4 stars

Westend by Annemarie Weber

If I would not be able to read and understand German, as a passionate reader, I would have missed the trove of literature written in German. Although after so many years I feel sometimes that this language is always a work in progress, growing in complexity by the day, I feel so blessed to be able to have access to fantastic resources that go beyond literary significance.

Especially for the post-war years, shortly after or few decades after the WWII, without a good knowledge of the language, there will not be too many sources of information besides A Woman in Berlin which was my first book - read in English at the time - I ever read about life during the Soviet occupation.

Hence, my interest in Westend, a novel by nonconformist West German author Annemarie Weber, published in 1966. Set in the immediate post-war years, it features Elsa Lewinsky, a 27 years old German woman. Her fiancé, to whom she writes diary-like entries, even after the most traumatic experiences of being confronted with the Soviet soldiers, is most likely prisoner of war in France. After her part of Berlin, Westend, near the current area of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, is assigned to the British dominion, 

Weber herself used to work for the British occupation as translator and there may be other biographical details of the author´s matching Elsa´s. 

If one may expect extensive emotional reports about hardship life during various post-war occupations, but in fact we can watch through Elsa´s eyes a matter-of-factly account of a succession of facts built around survival at any price. There is not too much resentment, but also not too much self-reflection. The attempts she does at a larger picture is only through the letters to her fiancé. You can feel the emptiness of the post-war, spaces being filled only by the move towards survival.

The writing is clear, enfolding by itself, with dialogues completed by random reflections creating an intellectual frame for the story. 

I´ve read the book in the original German language but I wish there is an English translation available as well, for anyone interested in post-war German women authors.

Rating: 4 stars

Rental Person Who Does Nothing by Shoji Morimoto

The career of Shoji Morimoto as a ´Rental person who does nothing´ started via messages via Twitter/now-X: people asking him to remind them to cut their nails preparing for sex later in the day, a company during a meal, someone to listen to them. Featured in the Japanese and international media, his experience matches the longing for human vicinity I personally often experience during my travels and year of work spent in Japan.

The book accounting for his interactions is too pretentious to be called ´a memoir´ as it is rather a collection of extended experiences based on his interactions during his various and diverse assignments. Not a basically paid service, but happily accepting payments, Morimoto is driven by curiosity but also by the very human inclination to share company and empathy.

As a chameleon, he adapts to the most direct or unheard of requests, but there is an existential layer to his ´business´: he is filling the immediate reality, he is here and there, one he is needed, without exceeding his mandate - which is to be present. He is not giving opinions, not judging, just taking the tasks and live in the moment.

A person without features, Shoji Morimoto showed in Rental Person Who Does Nothing some ways to reverse loneliness, as well as how important human contact will always remain. A recommended book to anyone trying to better fathom the Japanese mentality but also the human needs in general.

Rating: 3 stars

Greta&Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly

From all the novels with a strong multicultural, diverse and not necessarily topic-oriented books I´ve read this year, Greta&Valdin by New Zealand Maori author Rebecca K. Reilly was by far the most fascinating read. 

An alternate exchange of stories between two queer brothers, it is as intense as a Tower of Babel in the informational sense could be. You may need an overactive brain to go through the billions of references that are as diverse as mentions about Moldavian ice hockey and sea fungus. There is no need to check ChatGPT, there is a flow of information that surrounds and adorns every single word in this book. 

Somehow, Reilly has the inspiration to balance the waterfall of ideas and words with a story that although not necessarily impressive, at least builds up pathways through the maze. That´s what helps you to not completely feel overwhelmed and mentally blocked by too much information. 

While reading, I felt like being part of an experiment, as all those references were instantly exciting my brain, who wanted more of it. More information, more diversity, more constructions. The premises are not fully realistic and not everyone exhibits such a diverse background in all the possible respects, but it sounded normal to be exposed to all of it.

Greta&Valdin is entertaining, thoughtful, mindblowing and joyful, all at the same time. The author played the card of global diversity in an unheard way. In many respects, it sums up perfectly both my interests and my concerns, and would definitely think about this book for many days to come.

Rating: 3 stars

Book Tour: The Legendary Mo Seto by A.Y.Chan

 

The 12-yo Mo Seto is learning about her own limits and the world´s in this funny yet meaningful coming-of-age debut novel by A.Y.Chan. Although I am not obvious the target of this book, at least I can resonate with the importance of practising martial arts - our brave girl is a Taekwondo expert - for increasing self esteem and discipline, two life saving super powers. I´ve started my own martial arts adventure - pushed by my parents - at almost the same age and I am grateful for the lifelong insights and experiences I gathered at the time.

The Legendary Mo Seto has all the qualities aimed at inspiring young girls starting to cope with the incertainties of the age. It has a well paced action, a charismatic main character, dynamic dialogues and some lessons learned exposed in the smartest possible way - through example and choices. She will learn to believe in herself first by breaking the rules that other people set for her. It´s a hard bet but sometimes it´s exactly what we need to experience a healthy growth as humans.

What I also particularly loved in the case of this book is the smooth ways in which Mo Seto is experiencing her identity. As Chinese-American, her heritage is part of her way of being, without the need to display any of it ostensibly. It´s how she is and she loves herself being like that, with no further ado.

Since publishing The Legendary Mo Seto, there is another book from the series published and I cannot wait to check her adventures. Indeed, I am well past her age but there is so much to learn from characters like her, especially our sons.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them by Elif Batuman

 

The advantage of a relatively slow down of daily working chores is that I can spend more quality time reading on topics that are currently relatively out of my area of interest, but used to be once. Also, to keep discovering authors whose works were an occasion for pleasant intellectual delights. Like Elif Batuman, whose The Idiot was a very unexpected rendition of the homonymous novel by Dostoevsky. 

The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People who Read Them is, as the title suggests, a book about Russian books, with a reference to another book by the same Russian author. Autobiographical stanzas aiming to add some layers of literary criticism to personal encounters, especially during her PhD time at Stanford, the articles included bring humorous takes on serious literary considerations. Also - one of my favorite parts - share very original and interesting insights about Uzbek language and literature, based on the author´s experience learning and practising the language in Samarkand.

The takes are very original, mostly based on personal human encounters projected into complex literary analysis, but although the projection of personal experiences into a theoretical, professional realm may bring life and reality into the theory, a too fast back and forth from a register to another and all the way back may be confusing. Also, some ideas seem to be lost on the way to putting together different arguments. But the unique humour may actually save and excuse some of the partial achievements. And, again, I haven´t ever read until now about Uzbek literature and someone who actually learned the language with dedication and interest.

If you are looking for some good humour while wandering through the maze inspired by Russian literature and those who are possessed-like to read it - although I promise you it is more to it than Dostoevsky and Tolstoy and Pushkin, but it´s a matter of taste after all - this is a good book for the end of the year/month. 

Rating: 3 stars 

Rachel´s Random Resources: The Lotus House by Ann Bennett

Although the horrors of WWII are still alive in our daily historical memories, mostly the focus is on the European realm. In fiction or historical reports, the temptation is to rather cover geographical areas relatively familiar instead of exploring unknown territories.

I´ve read in the last years various accounts about the war fought and the horrors commited by the Japanese Army during WWII in the territories occupied in Asia, but there are not too many books of historical fiction covering the Philippines. Thus, my interestfor The Lotus House by British author of historical fiction Ann Bennett. 

With a timeline going back and forth from the 1960s to the 1940s - the moment of the attack on Pearl Harbor - the story is built around the figure of Nancy, an American nurse who shortly after he fiancé was killed in the Pacific, decided to relocate to the Philippines to help the local war efforts. 

A story of love and betrayal, it outlines the deep human connections that can be built during moments of deep human crisis, and the women´s solidarity that may come with it. The alternance between dialogues and the story structure creates a story that´s hard to leave until the very end. I also loved how the nature descriptions in various moments of the narrative resonate with the characters and the turns of the story. 

The Lotus House is an insightful novel, recommended to any lover of contemporary historical fiction. A plus if you are interested in untold stories of the WWII. Personally, I am very much interested to read more by Ann Bennett, as I loved her writing style and the approach to very sensitive unique historical facts.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own