Кун-Суук Шин4.3 Пак Соньо - преданная жена и любящая мать четверых детей. Всю жизнь она посвятила семье. Как умела, любила и жалела мужа, который вечно искал для себя какой-то другой жизни, пока она стирала, готовила, шила, вязала, выращивала фрукты и овощи, борясь с нищетой, бралась за любую работу, чтобы собрать еще хоть немного денег для своих детей. Ее главной мечтой было дать детям то, чего не было у нее - образование, знания, возможность увидеть целый мир, посвятить себя любимому делу. Ради этого она трудилась не жалея сил. Всем своим детям Пак Соньо помогла встать на ноги, но они, так же как их отец, поняли, как она им дорога, только когда старая женщина внезапно исчезла, просто потерялась в толпе железнодорожного вокзала большого города...
Банана Ёсимото3.8 Роман "Озеро" - новая книга известной японской писательницы Бананы Есимото, чьи произведения представляют собой одно из самых необычных литературных явлений современности. Философские притчи, аллегоричные, умиротворенные размышления, нетривиальные сюжеты, герои, скрывающие в себе загадки прошлого. Плюс уникальная неторопливость буддийского коана - все это делает медитативную прозу Есимото желанной и прекрасной.
Главные персонажи романа "Озеро" - девушка-художница и юноша-ученый - в поисках ответа на вопросы, связанные с детством, отправляются на туманные берега таинственного озера...
Amitav Ghosh4.2 In September 1838 a storm blows up on the Indian Ocean and the Ibis, a ship carrying a consignment of convicts and indentured laborers from Calcutta to Mauritius, is caught up in the whirlwind. When the seas settle, five men have disappeared - two lascars, two convicts and one of the passengers. Did the same storm upend the fortunes of those aboard the Anahita, an opium carrier heading towards Canton? And what fate befell those aboard the Redruth, a sturdy two-masted brig heading East out of Cornwall? Was it the storm that altered their course or were the destinies of these passengers at the mercy of even more powerful forces?
On the grand scale of an historical epic, River of Smoke follows its storm-tossed characters to the crowded harbors of China. There, despite efforts of the emperor to stop them, ships from Europe and India exchange their cargoes of opium for boxes tea, silk, porcelain and silver. Among them are Bahram Modi, a wealthy Parsi opium merchant out of Bombay, his estranged half-Chinese son Ah Fatt, the orphaned Paulette and a motley collection of others whose pursuit of romance, riches and a legendary rare flower have thrown together. All struggle to cope with their losses – and for some, unimaginable freedoms – in the alleys and crowded waterways of 19th century Canton. As transporting and mesmerizing as an opiate induced dream, River of Smoke will soon be heralded as a masterpiece of twenty-first century literature.
Джамиль Ахмад0.0 The boy known as Tor Baz - the black falcon - wanders the tribal landscape of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. He meets men who fight under different flags, and women who risk everything if they break their society's code of honour. Where has he come from, and where will fate take him?
"Remarkable. Written in a style that has about it the reverberant clarity of fables, but their intention is realist, uncovering a largely neglected world, and their cumulative effect is deeply moving".
Sunday limes "Shocking. Its setting alone, in the cruel and punishing highlands, deserts and rocky altitudes where the borders of Pakistan. Afghanistan and Iran meet, is worth the price of admission. Here is a book, to my knowledge the first in fiction, that gives an insiders account of the hard-bitten lives of the scores of tribes, collectively known as the Pawindas, or foot-people. The result is mesmerizing".
The limes "Striking. One of the finest collections of short stories to come out of south Asia in decades. Rarely has a writer shown greater empathy for its people, or brought such wisdom and know ledge to writing about a terrain largely inaccessible. I he power and beauty of these stories are unparalleled in most fiction to come out of south".
Asia Guardian
Джахнави Баруа0.0 Rebirth is the only book on the [Man Asian Literary Prize] shortlist for which overseas rights are yet to be granted. For that reason, if you manage to track down this book outside India, you’re a better literary detective than I. All of which is a shame, because reviews on the sub-continent suggest it is a delicate, deeply affecting novel deserving of wider readership. Set in modern-day Bangalore, Kaberi is pregnant with a longed-for child nobody else knows about: neither her estranged, unfaithful husband, nor her parents or friends. Rebirth takes the form of a monologue from mother to baby in which she expresses her doubts about her marriage and her life, and ultimately seeks, and finds, some form of redemption. In time, it’s likely its shortlisting will open it up to a bigger readership.
Рахул Бхаттачария0.0 In flight from the tame familiarity of home in Bombay, a twenty-six-year-old cricket journalist chucks his job and arrives in Guyana, a forgotten colonial society of raw, mesmerizing beauty. Amid beautiful, decaying wooden houses in Georgetown, on coastal sugarcane plantations, and in the dark rainforest interior scavenged by diamond hunters, he grows absorbed with the fantastic possibilities of this new place where descendants of the enslaved and indentured have made a new world. Ultimately, to fulfill his purpose, he prepares to mount an adventure of his own. His journey takes him beyond Guyanese borders, and his companion will be the feisty, wild-haired Jan.
In this dazzling novel, propelled by a singularly forceful voice, Rahul Bhattacharya captures the heady adventures of travel, the overheated restlessness of youth, and the paradoxes of searching for life’s meaning in the escape from home.
Yan Lianke4.0
Told through the eyes of Xiao Qiang, a young boy killed by his family's neighbours, this seminal novel tells the tragic and shocking story of the blood-contamination scandal in China's Henan province. Villagers, coerced into selling vast quantities of blood for money, are infected with the AIDS virus when they're injected with plasma to prevent the onset of anaemia. Whole villages are wiped out as the sickness spreads, but no one takes responsibility for the epidemic and nothing is done to care for those left behind. As Xiao tells of the fate of his village, his family is torn apart by suspicion and retribution. This searing novel relates the tragedy of one village among many and the absurdity of a situation caused and perpetuated by the Chinese government. With black humour and biting satire, Yan Lianke's novel is a powerful allegory of the moral vacuum at the heart of Communist China, tracing the relentless destruction of a community. 'I come from the bottom of society. All my relatives live in Henan, one of the poorest areas of China. When I think of people's situation there, it is impossible not to feel angry and emotional. Anger and passion are the soul of my work.' Yan Lianke
