Literary.

Susan Choi's American Woman (**** Nov/dec 2003), a Pulitzer Prize finalist, fictionalized the abduction of Patty Hearst; here, she successfully tackles terrorism in an alienated America. Praised by the New York Times Book Review as "combining the unhurried pleasures of certain classics with the jittery tensions of more recent fiction," A Person of Interest is more notable for its acute psychological insight and focus on one man's discovery of himself than for its whodunit elements. A few reviewers faulted the flashbacks and ending and thought the novel too ambitious for its central character, but the majority commended Choi's piercing exploration of how terrorism leads both to alienation and self-knowledge.

****

The age of shiva

By Manil Suri

An Indian saga.

In 1955 Delhi, 17-year-old Meera, from a well-to-do Hindu family, falls for Dev, a handsome, aspiring singer. After being discovered in a compromising position, they marry, despite opposition from Meera's progressive and manipulative father, Paji. When Meera enters Dev's household, she starts to accept his family's lower status and religious orthodoxy--as well as her mistake in her choice of husband. Meera and Dev accept Paji's offer to help them move to Bombay (renamed Mumbai in 1995), but happiness remains elusive. Even after the birth their son, the sole bright spot in her life, Meera realizes that in order to obtain true happiness, she must navigate between the traditional and the modern and wrest control of her life.

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Norton. 448 pages. $24.95. ISBN: 0393065693

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram ****

"Amid the current wave of Indian novelists, Suri stands out for his tendency to minimize the exotic aspects of South Asian life. ... In the book's final chapters, Suri reveals that his broader interest is in how family shapes one's obsessions." AMAN BATHEJA

Milwaukee Jrnl Sentinel ****

"Meera's story is filled with examples of the way she and other women are held down, and Suri manages to convey Meera's frustration and anger in a voice that rarely falters. ... That he has constructed another fascinating and frustrating portrait of Indian society, however, is his novel's greater success." VIKAS TURAKHIA

Oregonian ****

"Panoramic yet personal, epic yet intimate, The Age of Shiva is a rich read, full of the sights and sounds of tumultuous political years in India during the country's struggle for independence." HOLLY JOHNSON

NY Times Book Review ****

"The Age of Shiva is painted in broad, colorful strokes that sometimes evoke the melodramatic movies so beloved in India. ... The novel would have been richer if Suri had infused it more deeply with the world-shaping changes that surround his heroine." CARYN JAMES

Seattle Times ****

"Many of Suri's literary trademarks are in evidence here: a wealth of detail, luminosity of prose, vivid portrayals of mundane human interactions. ... At 455 pages, it is overly long and slow to unfold." BHARTI KIRCHNER

Washington Post **

"Not only does the narrative move slowly, sometimes it grinds to a halt. suri will linger far too long over a scene, describing with guide-book precision a sports competition, a Hindu wedding ceremony or religious ritual, an erotic encounter. His descriptions often go beyond local color to dogged, anthropological exactitude." MICHAEL DIRDA

CRITICAL SUMMARY

Manil Suri's debut novel, The Death of Vishnu (PEN/Faulkner Award nominee, 2002), satirized families in a single apartment building in Bombay. The Age of Shiva, about women's subjugation, postindependence Indian politics, and Hindu-Muslim conflicts, offers a more panoramic view of Indian society. A few critics compared it to Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, but The Age of Shiva is a smaller, tighter work, ambitious in scope if not as wholly successful. Written as a letter from Meera to her son, the novel shines with luminous prose, Hindu myths, and mother-child bonds, but bogs down as it chronicles the decades. Most critics agreed, however, that Suri effectively portrays Meera as the embodiment of an India caught between tradition and modernization.

****

Detective Story

By Imre Kertesz, translated from the Hungarian by Tim Wilkinson

The system is the mystery.

In an unnamed Latin American country, a repressive military junta has given way to a new regime. Antonio Rojas Martens, a member of the secret police and torturer for the old government, will soon face trial for multiple murders, but first he must confess his violent crimes and the methodology that guided him. That confession forms this short novel, which follows Martens's unrelenting pursuit--and arrest, torture, and assassination--of a wealthy father and son, who find themselves forced to cover up crimes they never committed. Though divorced from any particular time or place, Martens's story reveals a "logic" of totalitarianism that is relevant to readers anywhere. Knopf. 128 pages. $21. ISBN: 03077266443

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Los Angeles Times ****

"The story is constructed with a delicate, scientific objectivity, working like a trap. ... This short, spare book, a fable about what governments do and the guilt a man tries to stop feeling, can be read in a couple of hours; its bleak, despairing effect will haunt for much longer." RICHARD RAYNER

Seattle Times ****

"Kertesz underlines the absurd tone by consistently finding humor in the mundane. ... Critics have compared Kertesz to Kafka and Beckett, as well as novelist-memoirist Primo Levi. Perhaps this novel could have been written only by a survivor of Buchenwald." JOHN HARTL

NY Times Book Review ***

"Martens's real subject of investigation is what he calls 'the logic,' a term used to describe the elusive forces that govern an authoritarian state. ... Unfortunately, in order to get to Kertesz's nuanced exploration of his theme one must overlook a surprising array of tonal miscues and awkward formulations, for which the translator, tim Wilkinson, surely does not deserve all the blame." NATHANIEL RICH

CRITICAL SUMMARY

Imre Kertesz, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2002, is best known for his novels about the Holocaust and the attempt by survivors to reconstruct a life in the aftermath. Since he lived both through concentration camps in Poland (Auschwitz) and in Germany (Buchenwald) and through Communist rule in Hungary, critics were eager to read his further insights into totalitarianism. Though the book was written three decades ago, critics found this new English translation to be relevant not only because of its literary quality but for its bearing on ongoing debates over torture and terrorism. At the same time, no reviewer compared this short novel to Kertesz's better-known books, including Fatelessness (1975), about a child deported to Auschwitz (filmed in 2005 as Fateless). The New York Times Book Review, in particular, cited stylistic distractions that undermined the author's "difficult, haunting truth." Detective Story, while compelling in its exploration of totalitarianism, might not be the best starting place for readers wishing to explore this laureate's oeuvre.

****

Dogface

By Jeff Garigliano

A not so Young adult novel.

When Loren, a 14-year-old boy obsessed with the military, tries to burn a Navy SEAL symbol into the golf course where his mother's latest boyfriend works, he is carted off to a rehabilitation "camp" for delinquent teens. It's not long before he realizes that Camp Ascend!--a polluted and abandoned music camp run by the "Colonel," a scheming ex-con, his dim-witted wife, and her sadistic brother--is a fraud, despite the slick promises printed in its glossy brochure. Using his imagined martial skills, Loren pretends that he is a POW behind enemy lines. He's soon recruiting his fellow captives in a desperate bid for revenge and, ultimately, freedom. MacAdam Cage. 325 pages. $23. ISBN: 1596922583

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Dallas Morning News ****

"With its bizarre characters, frank dialogue and violence, it belongs somewhere between Louis sachar's Holes and a carl Hiaasen comic thriller. ... despite the cliches, the novel never loses its freshness." ANNE MORRIS

Denver Post ****

"Dogface is a kids vs. adults tale where the teens, despite what they were up to before camp, have right on their side. ... Garigliano shows a nice sense of black humor in his debut novel that makes Dogface a book that will make the reader laugh and cringe at the same time." JANNA FISCHER

Entertainment Weekly ****

"Finding an unexpected niche between Ya fiction, military fantasy, and chick lit for dudes, Dogface succeeds via a combination of snappy action and strong characterizations." WHITNEY PASTOREK

Cleveland Plain Dealer ***

"The book sags in the middle--too much time at camp--but the author has an ear for the thoughts and speech of adolescents. ... Though good, the novel lacks the manic edge and black cynicism of [carl] Hiaasen's best stuff." JAMES F. SWEENEY

CRITICAL SUMMARY