Wow, I am so glad I came across this Tanuj Solanki's today's newsletter. Also, glad to see such high praise for Kawakami's book. I reviewed it for Strange Horizon. When people picked up the book after my review, they mostly disagreed with it. It didn't work out for them as much as it did for me. So, definitely glad to see similar opinions expressed here. Thank you for writing this, an insightful one!
"This is a volume that doesn’t draw you in as much as guilt you into finishing it" -- you couldn't have put it better, Deepanjana.
I felt exactly the same about 'Heart Lamp' but, in my case, I must admit to an additional -- less gratituous -- motive. Having read an excerpt when it was longlisted, and not exactly enthused, I didn't bother to buy the book. But when 'Heart Lamp' won the prize, there is 'seeing things in a new light' that such coveted recognition brings. Call it the Booker Bandwagon, how any trophy, especially a Western one, holds me (probably most of us) in its thrall.
However, all said and done, and as Deepanjana emphasises, the prestigious win for Heart Lamp is a great win for marginalised voices, for the vernacular and for "lived experience" of the subalterns.
And, of course, there is "Deep" Bhasthi -- well, there might not be much in a name but can you say that about a typo? Certainly not in this case, where it amounts to a Freudian slip.
Finally, for whatever it's worth, here's The Genie in the Room (https://substack.com/chat/1595135?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android) a 'review' of Heart Lamp that I wrote on an (vaguely proprietorial) impulse, which I then forgot to send to some mainstream publications that were going gaga over yet another Indian making international headlines. And then, as an aferthought, I posted it on my fledgling, perpetually-procrastinating, identity crisis-ridden Substack!
Wow, I am so glad I came across this Tanuj Solanki's today's newsletter. Also, glad to see such high praise for Kawakami's book. I reviewed it for Strange Horizon. When people picked up the book after my review, they mostly disagreed with it. It didn't work out for them as much as it did for me. So, definitely glad to see similar opinions expressed here. Thank you for writing this, an insightful one!
Really enjoyed reading this. some recs for kawakami from my end are strange weather in tokyo, ten loves of mr nishino and the nakano thrift shop.
thank you for writing, Deepanjana!
Enjoyed that. Thank you!
Stumbled on this via Tanuj Solanki's post.
"This is a volume that doesn’t draw you in as much as guilt you into finishing it" -- you couldn't have put it better, Deepanjana.
I felt exactly the same about 'Heart Lamp' but, in my case, I must admit to an additional -- less gratituous -- motive. Having read an excerpt when it was longlisted, and not exactly enthused, I didn't bother to buy the book. But when 'Heart Lamp' won the prize, there is 'seeing things in a new light' that such coveted recognition brings. Call it the Booker Bandwagon, how any trophy, especially a Western one, holds me (probably most of us) in its thrall.
However, all said and done, and as Deepanjana emphasises, the prestigious win for Heart Lamp is a great win for marginalised voices, for the vernacular and for "lived experience" of the subalterns.
And, of course, there is "Deep" Bhasthi -- well, there might not be much in a name but can you say that about a typo? Certainly not in this case, where it amounts to a Freudian slip.
Finally, for whatever it's worth, here's The Genie in the Room (https://substack.com/chat/1595135?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android) a 'review' of Heart Lamp that I wrote on an (vaguely proprietorial) impulse, which I then forgot to send to some mainstream publications that were going gaga over yet another Indian making international headlines. And then, as an aferthought, I posted it on my fledgling, perpetually-procrastinating, identity crisis-ridden Substack!