NEED, by Nik Cohn

Nick Cohn is the well known pop-culture critic and writer, best known for having written the journalistic piece on which the blockbuster 70's disco movie "Saturday Night Fever" was based. Reading his1994 novel Need is an interesting experience -  something like having an extended  hallucination. The overall the effect is vivid and intense, fascinating and mostly pleasurable. Set in the midst of a heat wave in New York City, it is the story of the unravelling of 4 characters with odd and disfunctional pasts that keep intruding on the main narrative, and an apocalyptic "event" that shakes everyone's world.

Click here for an overview of Cohn's creative life, from NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/magazine/nik-cohn-fever-dream.html?pagewanted=all

LEAVING TANGIER, by Tahar Ben Jelloun

Leaving Tangier is a novel about exile, longing, disappointment and identity. The lives of several characters are traced through their dream of escaping Morocco to the "paradise" of Europe (Spain), the difficulties they encounter, and their eventual "escape" back. The narrative remains quite conventional, focusing on one character at a time by chapters, until the final chapter, which becomes a bit surreal and allegorical, with some postmodern reflection on the fictional quality of the book/life. The novel won a literary prize for writers from the Maghreb. The novel mostly works, and the main characters, Azzel, his sister Kenza and their "benefactor" Miguel are portrayed well, although sometimes with stereotypical characteristics. It's a heart-felt book that does get a bit heavy on "message" at times.

Click here for a review of the book from The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/apr/04/leaving-tangier-tahar-ben-jelloun

I AM A JAPANESE WRITER, by Dany Laferrier

I Am a Japanese Writer, by Hatian-Canadian author Dany Laferrier, has an interesting premise - it is a book about writing a book - or more correctly, about not writing a book. The protagonist, a black Canadian writer with Caribbean roots, declares that he will write a book proclaiming his status as a Japanese writer. His "book" creates a cultural sensation in Japan and opens up a huge cultural debate abot identity and authorship. The book, in fact, does (or does not) get written based on events in the novel we read. The word events is used loosely, as the book is largely plotless, consisting of 67 loosely connected meditations on writing, culture (Japanese, American, Canadian, Caribbean), the Japanese poet Basho, and other various and assorted topics. There is a philosophical feel to the whole novel, albeit couched in the kind of postmodern metalanguage we have all learned to work through. The book is interesting and the protagonist strangely attractive despite his gruff and opinionated personality.

For a review of the book from The Globe and Mail, click here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/i-am-a-japanese-writer-by-dany-laferrire/article1777818/

PANORAMA, by H. G. Adler

 Panorama is an unconventional piece of Holocaust literature in that H. G. Adler has fictionalized his experience,telling it in a unique narrative centered on the metaphor of a "panorama", a kind of pre-cinematic slide show format. First drafted in 1948, the book was not published until 1968 and has only been published in English in 2011.  The work consists of 10 vignettes in roughly chronological order describing different times in the life of the protagonist, Josef Kramer, a Jewish Czech living through the late WWI through post-WWII period. The vignettes have no explicit links and represent various stages in the growth and maturity of Joseph. The work is in some ways based on similar autobiographical events experienced by Adler, but he claims it is not an autobiographical work. There are similarities of tone and style running through the vignettes, but they highlight various aspects of Josef's personality. Many parts are dark, but some are benign and even comical. There is also a strongly philosophical thread throughout the book, which comes to a climax in the final, post-liberation section. The book recreates the lost world of German-speaking pre-WWII "middle Europe" and chronicles its destruction through the life of one fictional individual. It's a harrowing, powerful and worthwhile read.

Click here for a review of the book from NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/books/review/Shulevitz-t.html?pagewanted=all

  

DAMNED, by Chuck Palahniuk

People react variously to Chuck Palahniuk's novels. The author who became well-known for his novel Fight Club that was later made into a popular movie, is known for milking the shock value of a concept. The results are often disgusting and sometimes exciting (but sometimes not). Damned is a creative and very funny piece of social criticism and adventure told from the perspective of 13-year-old Madison, the child of Hollywood heavyweights immersed in the pop culture we all love to hate. Madison finds herself dead and damned to Hell, which she finds strangely "homey" and to which she adapts quite readily. There's lots of hilarious antics and adventures, if you can relate to the black/gallows humor that Palahniuk pulls off so well.

Click here for a review of the book by NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/books/damned-by-chuck-palahniuk-review.html

WHITE NOISE, by Don DeLillo

Fans of DeLillo enjoy his biting wit and clean style, with Postmodern elements that never interfere with readability. His mid-80's novel White Noise, winner of the National Book Award, has the added benefit of being very funny, despite its dark theme. The book is a snapshot (or maybe I should say a sound bite) of late 20th Century America, with all its innanities, oddities, fears, ironies, etc. The book is roughly split into two  parts - before and after an environmental catastrophe (airborne toxic event) that affects the lives of the people living in the small midwestern university town, in particular, the family of J.A.K Gladney, Professor of Hitler Studies at College-on-the-Hill. In my opinion, it will make a DeLillo fan of you if you have not yet discovered this great contemporary voice.

Click here for a review of the book from the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/1985/01/13/books/delillo-noise.html?pagewanted=all

THE YEAR OF THE DEATH OF RICARDO REIS, by Jose Saramago

Portuguese author Jose Saramago was discovered by many outside of his native land when one of his novels, Blindness, was made into a Hollywood film a couple of years ago. He actually has had a long and illustrious career, having also won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998. The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis is a strange, quiet book that is almost plotless. It traces the return of Ricardo, a doctor, from years of "exile" in Brazil to Lisbon as he wanders the streets and has a random set of actions and thoughts. He muses on the realities of homeland, patriotism, the Spanish Civil War, and has immaginary conversations with the spirit of the dead great Portuguese Modernist poet Fernando Pessoa. The book ends, expectedly, with the death of Ricardo Reis. For readers who can enjoy the intropective and sometimes surreal style that Saramago does so well, it is a readable and interesting book.

Click here for a review of the book from The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/book-review--death-in-lisbon-a-poet-disintegrates-the-year-of-the-death-of-ricardo-reis--jose-saramago-tr-giovanni-pontiero-harvill-799-pounds-1538909.html