Klicka på en bild för att gå till Google Book Search.
Laddar... Corner Shopav Roopa Farooki
Ingen/inga Laddar...
Gå med i LibraryThing för att få reda på om du skulle tycka om den här boken. Det finns inga diskussioner på LibraryThing om den här boken. Farooki's book is hard to define: part chick-lit, part coming-of-age story, mixing football, teenage romance and complicated adult relationships... Although the main characters have Bangladeshi roots, the Asian influence plays almost no role in the novel. A pinch of exotism is brought by France instead, where the author apparently lives, with all the usual annoying clichés and failed affectation (useless, misspelled French words). I liked the way the story is organized in the first part of the book, with appropriately timed flashbacks that progressively reveal relevant elements of the characters past to bring perspective to the current events. Sadly, the second part is much less interestingly constructed and even ends up quite abruptly. Despite these shortcomings, "Corner Shop" is a nice and original story, with generally likable characters. I really really enjoyed this novel. It took me a while to get into it, but I was glad I persevered. It was a complex novel, with many layers. However, the main characters: Zaki Kahlil, his son Jinan, his wife (and ex-girlfriend of Zaki) Delphine, son Lucky - whose goal is to play soccer-wove a lovely web about family, obligations, who were are, where we are from, deception, committment, and finally, getting what you want. Oscar Wilde once wrote, “In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.” Roopa Farooki builds her second novel Corner Shop around this concept as she chronicles several decades in the life of the Khalil family in this multigenerational story. Corner Shop had great potential but ultimately did not meet my hopes or expectations. Farooki seizes on important concepts but fails to flesh them out satisfactorily. There is a quiet sense of sadness and a palpable disappointment dwelling in each of Farooki’s characters, and she does succeed in examining the consequences of reaching for our dreams (or not reaching for them) and either getting them or failing. Unfortunately, none of the characters was sympathetic enough to draw me into the story, so I felt rather detached from their world as I was reading. The family’s multicultural make-up offers the opportunity to look at other important themes, but Farooki does not invoke it in any meaningful way, and I really wanted her to add depth by doing so. This is an okay read but nothing to get excited about. Read my full review at The Book Lady's Blog. I really enjoyed Roopa Farooki’s first novel, Bitter Sweets. Her prose was lively, her characters unique, and the overall story was intriguing. Reading Corner Shop, however, made me wonder, “what happened?” The story centers around the Khalil family: Zaki, who runs a corner shop in a run-down part of London; his son, Jinan, who’s a lawyer; Jinan’s wife, Delphine, a French transplant; and their son, Lucky, destined to have a great career as a soccer player. The story follows the characters over a long period of time, from the moment that Zaki and Delphine meet until the present. The first part of this book started off strongly and promisingly enough. But then, it deteriorated for me towards the middle (I’ll be spoiling the story if I say any more). The Asian influence, which was such a big part of the story in Bitter Sweets, is only incidental here; in fact, these characters could have been British Caucasians. There’s very little warmth and vitality here, either in the story or the characters. Of the four main characters, Farooki’s depiction of Lucky is easily the best, with Zaki’s being the weakest (and I didn’t like how she suddenly turned the narrative to first-person halfway though the book). With regards to the story itself, Farooki also had this annoying habit of picking up ideas for plot twists and then abandoning them immediately. About half of the novel has that “chick lit” feel, as the reader is introduced to Delphine’s friends and their problems. Too, the book didn’t seem to have much of an ending, only a tacked-on “25 years later” kind of thing that left me disappointed. And whatever happened to Zaki? Farooki is a strong writer, and I’m hoping that this is only a “sophomore slump” from her. I look forward to reading more of what she writes. inga recensioner | lägg till en recension
Delphine Khanum fantasizes about rekindling her relationship with her father-in-law Zaki, whom she loved long before she met and married his son. But as she discovers in this richly layered, multi-generational tale, the closer one's dreams become, the more risk there is of losing sight of what really matters. Inga biblioteksbeskrivningar kunde hittas. |
Pågående diskussionerIngen/ingaPopulära omslag
Google Books — Laddar... GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.92Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 2000-Klassifikation enligt LCBetygMedelbetyg:
Är det här du? |
The story moves back and forth between the two relationships. Delphine is no longer happy with Jinan and her eyes drift towards her previous lover, her father-in-law. Meanwhile Lucky pursues his dream of playing football for England.
I struggled to like these characters and their behaviour towards each other. Not as engaging as I thought it would be. ( )