Sunday, December 30, 2007

books 63 and 64

Bitter Sweets, Roopa Farooki
rating:


This debut novel has been compared to Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake, and I have to say that, beyond the obvious cultural connection, I didn't really see it. This book is so soaked in deceit that I had a hard time relating to many of the characters, and some of the major issues raised are dealt with so neatly that it was difficult to believe. Still, I found Farooki's writing to be smooth and her voice to be very readable.

Last Rituals, Yrsa Sigurdardottir
rating:


The subtitle of this novel is: "An Icelandic Novel of Secret Symbols, Medieval Witchcraft, and Modern Murder." Yep, that pretty much says it all. Lawyer Thora is contacted by the family of a murdered German graduate student studying in Iceland. They're unhappy with the outcome of the police investigation and want her to find out more. I'm a fan of Scandinavian crime novels, generally, though this one was a little different b/c the victim was a German national. I figured out who the murderer was pretty early on, but the rest of the novel was still pretty interesting. Witches, torture, creepy stuff, etc.

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