1 “Londonstani” by Gautam Malkani
The massive pre-publishing hype this book received was not as astounding as Malkani’s improbable 300,000 British Pound advance. Too bad for Penguin it was a pulpy gangster novel masquerading as a literary text, and a critical catastrophe.
Read my review in the San Francisco Chronicle 7/06
2 “The Slow Moon” by Elizabeth Cox
Two teenage lovers out for a moonlit walk in the woods never bodes well, and this book doesn’t escape the cliché. Cox and the editors at Random House should have done better.
Read my review in the Chicago Tribune 11/06
3 “House of Many Gods” by Kiana Davenport
Earlier in the year as an audience member of a panel discussion about “The Great Hawai`i Novel” at the Honolulu State Capital Building, Davenport said she still has a lot to learn about writing novels. While always ambitious in addressing socio-political concerns, the writing in her books is often lacking, and this one is no exception.
Read my review in the San Francisco Chronicle, 1/06
and in the Honolulu Advertiser 1/06
4 “L’America” by Martha McPhee
Though those intoxicated with foreign travel may have the patience to follow this slowly churning story, the novel’s accordion-like structure doesn’t always play the most compelling tune.
Read my review in the Chicago Tribune 11/06
5 “Theft” by Peter Carey
Carey’s prose can’t be faulted but the premise of this book, its unsettling tone and ultimate success, is questionable.
Read my review in the San Francisco Chronicle 5/06
Literary Lotus 