Association of Small Bombs - Karan Mahajan

I enjoyed the writing in this book.  It tells the aftermath of a terrorist bombing in a market in India from the viewpoint of the terrorists, the parents of children lost in the attack, a survivor and the activist involved.  It's sad and enlightening, with all of the characters fleshed out.  I would recommend it.

Published: 2016   Read: June 2019  Genre: Fiction

Shelter - Jun Yun

This was a painful, depressing book to read and I didn't like it because of that.  One of my reading group's chose it for this month's read.  It is the story of a family; a young husband and wife and 4 year old son and the husband's parents.  The son and his parents are distant because of the father's violence and the mother's acquiesence.  A violent crime forces them together.  Their lives go from awful to miserable to unbearable.  There is no redemption in this book, just the harsh reality of lives destroyed and continuing to damage the next generation.  Ugh.

Published:  2016  Read: October 2016  Genre: Fiction

Chronicler of the Winds - Henning Mankell

translated by Tiina Nunnally

This was another find at a book exchange in a campground on our travels this summer.  The author is well-known (but not by me) for his Kurt Wallander mysteries however this story is a departure from his usual writing.

Nelio is a nine or ten year old boy in Africa, living on the streets after his village was attacked by bandits and he escaped their insane violence.  The narrator, Jose, finds him shot on a theatre stage behind the bakery where Jose works.  He carries him to the rooftop where over the course of nine days, Nelio tells him the story of his life before dying from his wounds.  Jose chronicles the story carried by Nelio’s last breaths. 

It’s a short tale that seeks to reveal how humanity can survive evil and violence if we would pay attention to even the least of ourselves. 

The translator is the same woman who translated Smila’s Sense of Snow, another Norweign book that I enjoyed much more than this one. 

Published:  1995 (translated 2006)  Read: June 2016  Genre: Fiction, philosophy