Review of In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin

We've seen an explosion of Indian literature over the past few years, but we haven't seen much Pakistani literature. Daniyal Mueenuddin's book of short stories, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, has changed that.

Mueenuddin's linked short stories tackle class issues in Pakistan. We see the viewpoints of the rich, poor, and those who used to be rich and are now poor. We meet an electrician who struggles to support his large family, a servant who uses sex to gain favor, an embittered Lahore judge, a spoiled and wealthy young woman who marries and moves to the countryside, among others. I found myself feeling empathy for all the characters, no small feat when many of them were manipulative and dishonest. Though I have never been to Pakistan, I got a good sense of the country from reading Mueenuddin's stories.

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders was a finalist for the National Book Award last year. This book was one of the best books of short stories I have read in years, and I highly recommend it.

Here is an excerpt from the story "About a Burning Girl": I am a sessions judge in the Lahore High Court. I should tell you at the start, so that you understand my position regarding these events, that despite my profession I don't believe in justice, am no longer consumed by a desire to be what in law school we called "a sword of the Lord"; nor do I pretend to have perfectly clean hands, so am not in a position to view the judicial system with anything except a degree of tolerance. I render decisions based on the relative pressures brought to bear on me.

Just One Pink gives In Other Rooms, Other Wonders a 9.5.

Review of Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

Is that testosterone that I smell? Yes. Yes, it is, and the odor is coming from Anthony Bourdain's book, Kitchen Confidential. Again, I'm behind the curve-- this book about Bourdain's life as a chef throughout the East Coast came out years ago. Most recently, I think, Bourdain was the chef at New York's Les Halles.

Bourdain's book details his life in the restaurant business and all the good, bad and ugly that transpired. He mostly concentrates on the bad and ugly, which, of course, is much more interesting than the good. Bourdain has a bad boy reputation and freely admits to using heroin and cocaine, among a bunch of other drugs. He talks about bouncing from restaurant to restaurant, plucking the best sous-chefs and other kitchen staff along the way. Bourdain descibes what actually goes on inside a kitchen-- this includes a lot of banter, insults, booze, yelling, and hook-ups. He also discusses how he came to be a chef, that the restaurant business seems to attract people who could not function in "regular" jobs. His tales of sex, alcohol and deceit are definitely entertaining, but he does provide the lay reader with practical information about eating out-- a bonus of the book, I thought.

So if you are looking for an entertaining and frolicking (why this word jumps out at me, I don't know) read about a frenzied chef in New York City and the world he orbits, definitely pick up this book.

Just One Pink gives Kitchen Confidential an 8.

Review of Famous Fathers & Other Stories by Pia Z. Ehrhardt

Women are the main characters in all the stories in Pia Z. Ehrhardt's book, Famous Fathers & Other Stories. And all of these women are struggling with issues of fidelity and love, both familial and romantic. The stories take place in and around New Orleans, which serves as a great backdrop-- it is a city that is recovering, as are most of the characters in some way. Ehrhardt's writing is spare and clear, and I liked that. What I didn't like so much was that each female protagonist seemed to be similar to the next-- I started thinking that all the characters were interchangeable. For example, in the first story in the collection, "Running the Room," the narrator thinks about starting an affair at the same time she is housing her mother-- who is actually having an affair. In "Tell Me in Italian," the divorced narrator is having a torrid affair with a married man and finds out a lot of information about her own father's affair with his grad student. All of the women have considered affairs, are having affairs, or are dealing with heartbreak, which is fine, but I would have liked the narrators to be more distinct.

One of the strongest stories in the collection, "Intermediate Goals," tells the story of a woman named Carrie, who is reeling from her recent divorce. She's at loose ends and spends her time hanging out at bars and visiting a local prison. I also thought "Driveway" was very good. A married woman considers having an affair and thinks about the boredom in the daily life of a wife and mother.

Here is an excerpt from "Intermediate Goals": There's something wrong with my train of thought. Pat and I are at Shoney's, drinking coffee and arguing about money, but I switch off and start to admire his eyebrows, his nose, his analog watch, the new orange shirt he's wearing. I watch him like he's someone else's problem, and I start thinking: wouldn't it be nice if he were mine.

Just One Pink gives Famous Fathers & Other Stories a 7.

Review of Everything Asian by Sung J. Woo

Sung J. Woo's book Everything Asian tells the story of a Korean boy who immigrates to New Jersey with his family in the 1980's. His father had arrived in the U.S. years before, leaving Dae Joon, his sister and mother behind in Korea while he established himself. Dae Joon-- soon to be David-- is not only grappling with a foreign culture, but also with a father he barely remembers.

David does his best to navigate the strange surroundings of New Jersey. His parents run East Meets West, a store that sells "everything Asian" and David spends a lot of time there and in Peddlers Town, the strip mall that houses the store. There are a lot of other characters who add flavor to the novel, including the only other Korean shopkeepers at Peddlers Town, the Hongs; the fiery Russian owner of a stereo store; and a detective who sets up a storefront agency.

As if adjusting to life in the U.S. weren't enough, David is also contending with parents who aren't so happy in general or with each other in particular, and a moody older sister.

Everything Asian is a coming of age novel and an immigrant novel.

Here is an excerpt: My sister had chosen this day, my twelfth birthday, to try to kill herself. Looking back on that day now, I can see it was merely a stunt to gain attention, and even then I think I knew she was bluffing, but still, I couldn't ignore the blue dish and the paring knife sitting on top of the toilet seat, its tip pointing toward the bathtub like a compass needle. On the dish, a pile of white pills sat like an offering. I put the dish and the knife on the floor and flipped the seat up. As I peed into the bowl, I stared down at the silver edge of the blade, wondering how close it had come to my sister's wrists.

Just One Pink gives Everything Asian an 8.

Review of Amsterdam by Ian McEwan

Amsterdam is a disturbing and well-written book. Ostensibly about the death of Molly Lane, a woman in her 40s who dies of a degenerative disease, Amsterdam revolves around the lives of several of her former lovers: Vernon, a newspaper editor; Clive, a composer; and Julian, a politician. Also in the mix is George, Molly's much older husband, who is also connected in some way to these men.

The book opens with Vernon and Clive meeting outside Molly's funeral on a dreary February day in London. Vernon and Clive are good friends, and much of the book focuses on their friendship, which one day can be combative and the next heartfelt. These two men also have connections to George and Julian.

How all of these characters' lives and decisions-- both personal and professional-- intertwine is the thrust of this book. Major moral issues come in to play and Ian McEwan weaves them all together in a tightly-knit way.

I wouldn't say Amsterdam is my favorite of the books I have read by McEwan, but I will say that it is one of the most intricately plotted.

Just One Pink gives Amsterdam a 7.5.

Review of Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Eat, Pray, Love. Don't. Read. It.

Elizabeth Gilbert's book was one of the most self-indulgent memoirs I have ever read. We learn that she has gone through a divorce, but don't get much back story on what happened. And because we don't get this information, I had a hard time mustering up any empathy for her. She came across as whiny, entitled, and annoying-- not the makings of a narrator I can get on board with. I was more curious to hear her husband's side of the story about their failed marriage than I was to hear about Gilbert traipsing all over the world to re-discover herself. (Note: Her ex apparently has his own memoir coming out one of these days).

In theory, this was a great idea for a book-- a newly divorced woman takes off on her own to experience life in its grandest forms. If this woman had been likeable, fun, and not so completely self-centered, I probably would have enjoyed her book.

Yes, some of the writing about her travels in Italy, India, and Indonesia was interesting. But I could not get past the whininess that seemed to permeate the book.

Rarely do I keep reading a book that I so dislike. I guess I kept hoping that Gilbert would somehow redeem herself at the end. She didn't.

Memoirs by nature can be self-indulgent, and it can be hard to stike a balance in them. We want to understand the narrator, get to know her and her life. We need to feel like we are on their side.

For a well-crafted memoir, where we actually get to know the narrator, like her, and root for her, pick up The Glass Castle by Jeannette Wells or Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres.

Just One Pink gives Eat, Pray, Love a 4.

Review of American Pastoral by Philip Roth

Who am I to review Philip Roth, one of the greatest writers in the world? I had never read Roth before, and American Pastoral had been recommended to me by several people. So I took the plunge, bought the book, and started reading.

After reading the first 50 or so pages, I kept wondering what the big deal was. The beginning of American Pastoral was tedious-- it seemed to be a long-winded account of some old Jewish guy named Zuckerman who was recounting his childhood days in Newark, New Jersey. I almost stopped reading, unsure of what was so great about this book. But I was told to hang in there, that the book picks up.

So I hung in there, and the book did indeed pick up. And it turned out to be one of the best books I have read in a long, long time.

American Pastoral tells the story of Seymour "Swede" Levov, a man who seems to be blessed in every way-- with looks, money, athleticism, a beautiful wife, a lovely daughter, a booming business. It's the 1960s in New Jersey, and the Swede lives with his wife, a former Miss New Jersey, and their daughter in a bucolic town in New Jersey. He runs a successful glove business started by his father. But his charmed existence comes crashing down when his teenage daughter, Merry, begins to protest the Vietnam War, commits a heinous crime and goes into hiding. And this changes the life of the Swede forever.

The characterizations in this book were among the best I have ever read. Roth described each of the characters so well and with such precision that I could almost see them. I could picture so many of the scenes. And I could sympathize with most of the characters. I finished the book and was in awe at the picture Roth had drawn. I get what the big deal is.

Just One Pink gives American Pastoral a 9.5-- I could have done without the very beginning of the book.