Lauren Ho's "Last Tang Standing"

                                                          

This book can be found here.

Ho's novel is contemporary romance / chick lit. That's right, I went there and read one of these. 

Anyway, the book is well-written. The language is tight and witty. But that's also not what you are going to focus on in this review ...

So, the story. Andrea Tang is a successful lawyer (hoping to make partner), owns a posh condo and has a strong group of friends who always know the best places in Singapore to go. It sounds like she has everything (or will). But as Andrea is a dutiful Chinese-Malaysian daughter, the weight of familial expectations to marry and bear children is hard to ignore, particularly as she is thirty-three and almost last in the family to be married. 

Andrea is therefore struggling between the tensions of the life she has, the life her family (and possibly she herself) wants, and what Andrea hopes for or really desires. Andrea is realistic and relatable (even with all the drinking and partying that may or may not be relatable to your personal life). The fact that there are parts of Andrea that are contrasting and almost incompatible at times show the depth of humanness to her in the book. The fact that the book deals with very successful and rich characters could challenge easy connections readers make with Ho's book; but the themes of identity, singleness and purpose are universal and will still speak to any reader. 

The characters, too, are strongly written and well-rounded. The characters can be seen as diverse within Malaysia/Singapore, but also highlights some of the ways the dominant cultures and communities view diversity. Ho has explained why the writing is the way it is here, if you find those moments difficult to read or understand. Whether this helps or hinders you reading this book, let me know. 

The pace also may be slower for some. However, given this is contemporary romance / chick lit, I didn't foresee it as action-packed and ever going to be moving at a speedy pace. However, it may be slow even for some readers who live for this genre. 

For her first novel, it was very strong and it should be a full and enjoyable read.

Links for you

Title read-a-likes in the Library: 

Bridget Jones's baby: the diaries

Helen Fielding

(Be aware, this is not the first of Bridget Jones's stories). This novel was chosen because of the familial pressures placed on its characters, the diary fiction-style of writing and the similar snarkiness of its protagonist.

Crazy rich Asians

Kevin Kwan

This novel is chosen for the culturally diverse cast, the same setting and similar wit.

First comes love

Emily Giffin

Author read-a-likes in the Library:

Unmarriageable: Pride and prejudice in Pakistan

Soniah Kamal

This author was chosen as they write in the same genre, the author uses their own voice and a strong sense of place.

Not that kind of guy

Andie J. Christopher

This author writes in the same genre and has characters that are culturally diverse, flawed and likeable. 

Kate Hilton's "Better luck next time"

You can find this book here.

The book is a multiple-perspective comedy based around a large extended family, with multiple people in midlife struggling to keep their lives together. In fact, their lives are falling apart. and to top it off, as this happens, an iconic feminist leader, who is mother to three of these five adults, is trying to push them into making their past choices work for them.

Each character written in Hilton's book are complicated, deep and strong; even with all their flaws. Whilst Nina (who doesn't have much of a voice in the novel) is less heard in this way, as a character you still see her strength and resilience even when others talk about her. In saying that, it would appear each of these characters are too strong or too successful to be relatable. I think that that's not the case. All of these characters look at new lives, in a way, not because of a midlife crisis, but because of choices, because of connections, or because of a lack of communication. These are very real things that can connect a reader to this family. 

It is also a very quick read. it is witty and flows rather well. I felt there was some discontinuity in a couple of places; overall however, it stands strongly as a recommended read. The wit and humour centres mostly around family relationships and family breakdowns in many ways, and possibly at least one character will ring familiar to any reader's personal life or someone they know. 

I enjoyed this read: it went by rather quickly. It is recommended for anyone interested in (possibly) chick lit, though the characters in the book are older and deal more with divorce than most chick lit heroines. Also, if you are interested in a lighter book for your period of life, or someone wanting to take stock of their own lives (as the characters have those kinds of defining moments in the book too).

Links for you

Read-a-likes in the Library:

First comes love
Emily Giffin

Heart of the matter
Emily Giffin

I almost forgot about you
Terry McMillan

P.S. I love you
Cecelia Ahern

All of these authors and titles may have different writing styles and tones; however they share themes: self-fulfilment in and for women, bouncing back into life, female friendship and middle-aged women.

Brian Bilston's "Diary of a somebody"

This book can be found here.

This book is filled with poetry. And you know what? I wasn’t too bothered.

Bilston is known for his poetry; starting there and gaining a huge following on social media. This book was his first novel and it is interspersed with his poetry as well. And as I said, I didn’t mind the fact that I was reading poetry as I was reading this book.

So, let’s talk about the poetry first, and bear in mind I am no expert (on anything probably, and yet here I am). There was a lot of humour in the poetry (some I didn’t get), but most I did. I enjoyed the linguistic jokes and the cultural references and I am sure anyone who enjoys his social media presence (check out his website here) that you would not be disappointed.

Since that’s all I know about poetry, let’s get down to the novel. The book is about a life; a “somebody” if you will. The character, Brian (possibly written because it reflects his own life? Hard for me to say, but it is interesting they share the same name), is a regular human. Maybe even less than regular as there is a typical dejection that follows him (or is created by him). The character; therefore, may be unlikeable to a lot of readers because of this naturalness of the character. Brian is unable to enjoy life, unable to see the good side, and often blames anything else but himself for his situation. What I found with the character however; is this didn’t bring me closer to Brian, it distanced me. However, there is a lot of humour and development of the story (not necessarily the character); that kind of ties it together. There’s almost a “Gumpness” to the character – but in a less positive way.

The remaining characters in the novel also do not seem to develop much, and as the story is told in the first person, you cannot fully understand what happens behind the minds of any of the other characters. 

In terms of story; it is rather slow. It basically follows the year in the life of Brian. There is not a lot of conflict or heart-racing moments; just like real life. The story itself is crowned by the poetry (this being its centrepiece and the story flowing around it). It may take some time to get into the story (for example the days about garbage); but every day is not full and exciting, and so it at least reflects life the way it should be. Or is.

I do think the novel is fun. It’s a short, quick read; even when there is no real pace. I will say that the poetry was great. Brian was interesting because he was so average, and it is nice to have a break from Adonises and Herculeses (if these can be the plurals?). If you don’t want an almost anti-heroic protagonist who is too human, don’t read the novel. But, you should definitely read it for the wordplay and poetry. If you must, skip the story … though I suggest you give it a shot anyway.

Links for you:

Title read-a-likes in the Library:

Less

Andrew Sean Greer

Author read-a-likes in the Library:

Uncommon type: some stories

Tom Hanks

This author was chosen for their use of dialogue and tone.

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's "Good omens"

This book can be found here.

If you haven’t seen the show on Amazon Prime by now, you might have already read this one. It’s a classic (so the people say). Even the introduction from the authors mentions the dog-eared copies that fell in the bath so often from all the re-readings people do. So, this review could be irreverent, given the hype and popularity of this book. Though there might be a single individual out there not yet experienced either with the writings of Pratchett and/or Gaiman … maybe.

This book has multiple characters and their perspectives: so, there is no one main character, though you could argue both Aziraphale and Crowley could be those (and given the focus of them on the title for the television series … Michael Sheen and David Tennant … of course!). These two characters (one a demon, one an angel) have been on Earth so long that they enjoy it too much to give up being there, even for the Apocalypse. And these two characters are a lot of fun. Particularly Aziraphale (to a librarian anyway):

“Aziraphale collected books. If he were totally honest with himself, he would have to have admitted that his bookshop was simply somewhere to store them. He was not unusual in this. In order to maintain his cover as a typical second-hand book seller, he used every means short of actual physical violence to prevent customers from making a purchase. Unpleasant damp smells, glowering looks, erratic opening hours - he was incredibly good at it.”

I really don’t want to delve too much into the quirkiness of every character, because it is so much fun to read that I want you to discover it all for yourself (for the first time or again). Though the two characters I have mentioned predominantly are the most three-dimensional of the lot, so these may be the ones you will connect with the most.

The setting is urban London, but not as modern as say yesterday is, so younger audiences may not understand or get every reference. But there is enough notable pop culture to either smile or laugh out loud at. Do be aware that the book’s beginning is fast-paced, but really slows down near the end. Whilst it is important for this to happen for the progress of the story, this may bother some readers as it feels less like a proper and complete ending.

I should mention the writing style also. This is two authors coming together in their early days of writing to create something fun with each other, and not expecting it to become as large as it did. They both have slightly different styles that they have tried to entwine into one book. I could tell parts that were more Gaiman and Pratchett, having read other works of theirs; but if you haven’t read some of these, I don’t expect you to notice. Some may suggest that you cannot notice the difference, in fact the authors in an interview at the back of the novel suggested that they even thought some lines were written by the other it became such a complete tale on its own. I can see parts where this occurs, which continues the fluidity of the writing.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I can see why fans reread it so many times. There are a lot of jewels as you read, and obviously you reread to find them all over again or new ones you missed the last time. Whilst you may not consider it as good as later individual works by the same authors, if you like comedic discussion on social and religious aspects: “It has been said that civilization is twenty-four hours and two meals away from barbarism”  (think 'HitchHiker’s Guide to the Galaxy' if you would like a similar book), then this book should be on your list.

Links for you:

Pratchett in the Library:

A slip of the keyboard : collected non-fiction

Anything from the Discworld series

Gaiman in the Library:

Graveyard book

Norse mythology

Neil Gaiman’s midnight days

As a note, Gaiman started in graphic novels, which is why I have put this last one up.

Gaiman in cloudLibrary:

Sleeper and the spindle

Title read-a-likes in the Library:

Gravity’s rainbow

Thomas Pynchon

Whilst this is darker, the themes resonate between the two works.