Author: whatcathyreadnext

Book Review: Happiness is a Collage by Gita V. Reddy

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Happiness is a CollageAbout the Book

This collection of fifteen stories leads the reader into a world that is at once Indian and universal. The stories explore love, life, loss, and relationships.

A painter derives inspiration from a long lost love. Every night after going to bed, a woman scours a vast desert for her missing husband. A young woman strides through two worlds. A son experiences the miracle of his father’s immense love. An actor’s wife struggles to keep her husband from slipping into his reel life. And a busy professional tries to factor in pregnancy and motherhood into her hectic life.  Among those traversing this space are a henpecked billionaire, a homeless boy, a middle-aged wife dealing with infidelity, and a seeker finding solace with a lion and a deer.

Format: ebook (153 pp.)    Publisher:
Published: 4th August 2018            Genre: Short Stories

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find Happiness is a Collage on Goodreads

My Review

Having read and enjoyed the author’s previous collection of short stories, A Tapestry of Tears, and her book about Catherine Dickens, wife of Charles Dickens, Outside the Magic Circle, I was thrilled when Gita contacted me about reading her new collection of short stories, published today.

As in the author’s previous collection, in these stories modern day India meets traditional India, sometimes coming into conflict, sometimes depicting an intriguing evolution.   A few common themes emerge in the stories, such as: the ties and obligations of family (often encompassing the extended family of cousins and in-laws); the strains of married life; the tension between career and domestic life; the honour and respect due to elders and others.

It’s invariably the case in a short story collection that some of the stories connect more powerfully with the reader than others, and so it was with this collection.  To quote from the story that gives the collection its title, as the narrator’s grandmother observes, when constructing a collage ‘Contrast the dull with the bright’.

Bright points for me included ‘The Search’, in which a daughter has a persistent dream of being reunited with her father, ‘The Gift’, about the possibility for a second chance of happiness, ‘The Vigil’ in which an expectant mother comes to realise there are some things you can’t manage like a business project and ‘Reflection’, in which a chance meeting gives a woman cause to take stock of her life.

There is much to be enjoyed in this collection.  The stories are varied in subject matter, well-written, imaginative and will appeal to those of Indian heritage as well as readers with an interest in Indian culture.   Finally, in case you needed any more encouragement, there are some mouthwatering descriptions of food in many of the stories!

I received an advance review copy courtesy of the author in return for an honest and unbiased review.  Happiness is a Collage is my first book for ARC August (hashtag #arcaugust), hosted by the ladies at ReadSleepRepeat.

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In three words: Thoughtful, introspective, observational

Try something similar…A Tapestry of Tears by Gita V. Reddy (read my review here)

GitaVReddyAbout the Author

Gita V. Reddy is a writer of fiction for middle graders and adults. She enjoys thinking up tales of different genres. She has written mysteries, adventure, fantasy, science fiction, and even an animal tale for children.  She wrote and illustrated her first picture book for kids in August 2015. She plans to write a few more because the experience was very satisfying.

Ms Reddy was born in India, is a post graduate in Mathematics, worked in a bank for twenty-six years, is married to a physics professor, has a son doing research in neuro-electronics, and loves literature. Yes, her life is as mixed up as the multiple genres she writes.

She enjoys painting and spending time with her family, and LOVES walking in the rain.  She also writes under the name Heera Datta.

Connect with Gita

Website  ǀ  Facebook ǀ  Twitter  ǀ   Goodreads

Throwback Thursday: The Last Train by Michael Pronko

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ThrowbackThursday

Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme originally created by Renee at It’s Book Talk.  It’s designed as an opportunity to share old favourites as well as books that we’ve finally got around to reading that were published over a year ago.

Today I’m revisiting a book I reviewed in December 2017 but which had been on my author review pile for quite a long while before that – The Last Train by Michael Pronko – the first in the author’s Detective Hiroshi series set in Tokyo.  The Last Train was published in May 2017 and you can find purchase links below.  It is also now available as an audiobook.

The Moving BladeAs you will see from my review below, I really enjoyed The Last Train so I was thrilled to learn from the author’s July newsletter that the next book in the series, The Moving Blade, is due out on 10th September 2018.  Find out more about it here.

TheLastTrainAbout the Book

Detective Hiroshi Shimizu investigates white collar crime in Tokyo. He’s lost his girlfriend and still dreams of his time studying in America, but with a stable job, his own office and a half-empty apartment, he’s settled in.   When an American businessman turns up dead, his mentor Takamatsu calls him out to the site of a grisly murder. A glimpse from a security camera video suggests the killer was a woman, but in Japan, that seems unlikely. Hiroshi quickly learns how close homicide and suicide can appear in a city full of high-speed trains just a step – or a push – away. Takamatsu drags Hiroshi out to the hostess clubs and skyscraper offices of Tokyo in search of the killer. To find her, Hiroshi goes deeper and deeper into Tokyo’s intricate, ominous market for buying and selling the most expensive land in the world. Hiroshi’s determined to cut through Japan’s ambiguities – and dangers – to find the murdering ex-hostess before she extracts her final revenge – which just might be him.

Format: Audiobook/ebook, paperback (348 pp.) Publisher: Raked Gravel Press
Published: 5th May 2017                                          Genre: Crime, Thriller

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Last Train on Goodreads

My Review

When I interviewed Michael on my blog last year (click here to read the full interview), he described The Last Train as ‘more whydunit than whodunit’ and having now read the book I can certainly understood why he said that.  Much of the excitement of the book comes from following detective Hiroshi Suzuki in his attempts to identify and track down the woman who committed the murderer.  The trail leads him from the flashy malls and smart high-rise buildings to the decidedly seedier world of hostess clubs and bars.  As the author explains, “…in the novel, I wanted to look beneath the surface. The giant skyscrapers and constant construction are amazing, but there’s a lot going on behind the go-go big-city bright-lights, and a lot of it not so good.”

As the investigation progresses, Hiroshi begins to understand the threat he faces from vested interests who may be involved in the shady dealings he starts to uncover.  He also starts to realise just what a clever and ruthless opponent he is up against and to get an inkling into the motivation that drives her.  When the full facts are revealed you may find yourself questioning where true justice lies.

What really set The Last Train apart from other run-of-the-mill crime thrillers for me was its Tokyo setting.  I loved learning all about Japanese culture and customs.  Take this scene in which Hiroshi and his boss, Takamatsu, drink sake together in the traditional manner.

‘The master pulled back a brown curtain over a glass-sided refrigerator filled with sake bottles.  He pulled out two small chilled glasses from the top shelf and set these on the upper counter inside small, square, cedar wood boxes.  The master shuffled the dozen or so bottles inside the fridge until he found the ones he wanted.  Carrying these to the counter, he hoisted the large bottle of cold sake and, cradling it in the crook of his arm, poured out the clear, clean liquid.  The sake flowed gently over the top of the lip of the glass into the box, arousing the aroma of cedar and fresh rice.  He poured out sake from a different bottle for Hiroshi and placed both bottles on the counter so that each displayed the artful calligraphy of their labels.

They bowed down like penitents to take the first sip without spilling.  Then they plucked up the small, thumb-sized glasses for a silent toast before downing the second gulp.  Finally, they poured the spill-over from the cedar box into the glass, took another sip, and set their half-full glasses back inside the wet cedar boxes.’

The book cleverly brings to life the intriguing juxtaposition of ancient and modern that exists in Japan.  So you have the temples and prayer rituals, the elaborate customs for greeting and drinking tea.  But at the same time you have the flashy malls full of shops selling designer goods and the latest technology and the packed subways and sidewalks of Roppongi.

‘People streamed out of subway exits, slid out of taxis, and stepped off bus after bus.  Hordes of office workers in dull gray pants and dark skirts blocked corners, shouting directions into their cell phones to those yet to arrive.  Fashion-conscious hipsters, mini-skirted amateurs, and yakuza wannabes walked to their favourite places to play, eat, drink, or work.’

The work culture with its emphasis on drinking with colleagues after work, to my eyes at least, seems particularly alien and the position of women quite regressive with real antipathy in some quarters towards women whose behaviour is seen as ‘un-Japanese’.

I really enjoyed The Last Train for both its compelling storyline and its use of Tokyo as a location.  Luckily for me – and I suspect, other readers – the author is working on two further books in the series, both of which are due for publication in 2018.

In three words: Atmospheric, compelling, mystery

Try something similar… Wolves in the Dark by Gunnar Staalesen (click here to read my review)

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MichaelPronkoAbout the Author

Michael Pronko is a professor of American Literature and Culture at Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo and writes about Japanese culture, art, jazz, and politics for Newsweek Japan, The Japan Times, Artscape Japan and other publications.  He has appeared on NHK Public TV, Tokyo MXTV and Nippon Television.  His website, Jazz in Japan can be found at www.jazzinjapan.com.  His award-winning collections of essays about life in Tokyo are: Beauty and Chaos: Slices and Morsels of Tokyo Life (2014), Tokyo’s Mystery Deepens: Essays on Tokyo (2014), and Motions and Moments: More Essays on Tokyo (2015). He has also published three essay collections in Japanese.  When not teaching or writing, he wanders Tokyo contemplating its intensity and waiting for the stories to come.

Connect with Michael

Website  ǀ  Facebook ǀ  Twitter  ǀ  Goodreads