This week, our First Impressions readers weigh in on The Immortal King Rao, Vauhini Vara's dystopian debut novel about an Indian man at the helm of a tech corporation that controls the world.
Our Editor's Choice review this week is for The Colony by Audrey Magee (which publishes next Tuesday), a novel set on an island off the coast of Ireland in 1979 that weaves together the sectarian violence of "the Troubles" with the personal relationships of the island's inhabitants.
Plus, we have a new Wordplay, the lineup for current and upcoming Book Club discussions and more.
With best wishes,
Davina Morgan-Witts
BookBrowse Publisher
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Each month we give away books to BookBrowse members who live in the U.S. to read and review. Members who choose to participate receive a free book about every 3-4 months. Here are their opinions on one recently released title. |
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The Immortal King Rao
by Vauhini Vara
"I'm not usually drawn to dystopian settings, but this book is so much more than that. It's a brilliant story about Indian family culture and the rise of a young Dalit child to world renown in the computer age. The author cleverly reveals past and present in her storytelling as she draws the reader deeper into the success and fall of King Rao. She uses the ubiquitous computer and imagines a world turned upside down with political upheaval, challenging the reader to think about the world around them. I loved it." - Barbara O. (Red Bank, NJ)
"This is a thought-provoking story with timely treatments of climate change, economic systems, wealth disparity, resistance and the influence of technology. Vara writes of a new government in which people of the world become 'shareholders' and build up social capital in corporations that replace the government. The new government derives from a computer company founded by a man who was born a Dalit in India and immigrated to the United States for graduate school. His early life in India is interspersed throughout. I found this story to be both fascinating and disturbing." - Patricia W. (Desoto, TX)
"The Immortal King Rao by Vauhini Vara incorporates at least half a dozen popular fiction topics and issues, including post-colonialism India, fraught family relationships, immigration, income disparity, politically divided society and technology overreach, into a powerful and engaging story. This is no small feat for an experienced writer, but is extraordinary to discover in a debut novel. Vara's characters come alive on the page, and I found myself unable to put this book down at times. I'm already looking forward to this author's next endeavor." - Triciat50
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For Members: Available to Request Now |
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Members! This month's First Impressions and Book Club books are now available. Request at bookbrowse.com/arc before end of Saturday, May 14.
Books are provided to U.S. resident members free of charge with the understanding that they'll do their best to either write a short review or take part in an online discussion forum (depending on whether the book is assigned for First Impressions or the Book Club).
Join BookBrowse, or renew a lapsed membership by the end of this Saturday (the 14th), and you'll have the opportunity to request the book of your choice from these four titles!
Books are only available to BookBrowse members resident in the U.S. This is in part due to the cost and logistics of shipping, but also because the U.S. publishers who provide books for these offers usually do not hold rights to markets outside the U.S. and thus are prohibited from actively marketing to other regions, which includes providing books for review.
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The Colony
by Audrey Magee
Reviewed by Amanda Ellison
Publishing next Tuesday, May 17
The Colony opens with Mr Lloyd, a London artist, being transported to a Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) island in a hand-rowed currach, eschewing the more convenient passenger ferry. This attempt at immersing himself in the local customs results in the regurgitation of his breakfast. A rather innocuous episode, it could nevertheless be read as symbolic of much larger issues that erupt when one culture gate-crashes another: exploitation, dilution of indigenous identity, conflict - all of which are examined by Magee in this discomfiting narrative.
Lloyd is traveling to the nameless island in search of solitude and inspiration; the painter's imagination is freighted with clichés of "raw, rugged, violent beauty," conveying all the innocence - ignorance? - of the outsider. The island's undesignated status in the novel may itself be significant: It implies stolen identity as a result of foreign dilution, or perhaps signifies that it is representative of all colonized habitats... continued
Visit BookBrowse for more, including our full review and related Beyond the Book article, "Colonization and the Irish Language," which is one of hundreds of articles in our "Places, Cultures & Identities" category. More about this below.
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Category Focus: Places, Cultures & Identities |
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You can explore more historic and present-day Beyond the Book articles in our Places, Cultures & Identities category. BookBrowse members have full access to every article in the category, but many are available for non-members as well, including:
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The Women of ISIS (relates to The Spymaster of Baghdad)
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The Legacy of Ireland's Curses (relates to The Butchers' Blessing)
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A History of the Appalachian Region (relates to In the Valley)
...and many more!
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Book Club: Current and Upcoming Discussions |
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BookBrowse's forums-based discussions are open to all, so please join us!
Click the button or image to see past, current and upcoming discussions. You can also sign up to receive a one-time notification when a particular discussion opens.
Among others, we're currently discussing Shadows of Berlin by David R. Gillham and Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge. Our discussion of The Book Woman's Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson will open May 14, followed by the discussion of Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout on May 21.
We'll be discussing Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell beginning June 18, and copies are available for free to U.S. resident members who request before May 14. |
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Solve our Wordplay puzzle to reveal a well-known expression, and be entered to win the book of your choice or a 6-month membership to BookBrowse!
"I A J's W D, It's W D W"
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The answer to last Week's Wordplay: T Black S O T F
"The black sheep of the family"
Many sources say that the origin of the expression black sheep of the family comes from Genesis (the first book of the Jewish Torah and Christian Old Testament), and specifically from the story of Jacob agreeing with his uncle that he would be allowed to keep any speckled or dark-colored lambs and goats for his own as payment for tending his uncle's sheep.
But, others say this thinking is flawed, firstly because the reference to black sheep is probably an early mistranslation that was then copied into later editions; and secondly, and more fundamentally, even if black sheep were referenced in early versions of the story, the context does not explain the modern use of the term meaning a disreputable member of the family.
According to the Phrase Finder, the first known record of "black sheep"' in a derogatory sense is from the writings of the aptly named Thomas Shepard, a Puritan who emigrated from England to America in 1635... continued
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With so many new books published every month, it's difficult to find the standouts, the ones which are really worth your time. This is why hundreds of thousands of readers rely on BookBrowse to do the hard work of sifting though the multitude of titles to find the most promising new books, with a focus on books that entertain, engage and enlighten. |
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BookBrowse Highlights is one of our four free newsletters. We also offer Publishing This Week every Sunday, and Book Club News and Librarian News monthly.
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