02.Aug.2009 Sunday Salon: Generational Saga Novels
If you dropped by here in the past few weeks and noticed the books I’m reading on my sidebar, you’d see that I have Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie.
They are both saga novels, span across three generations. They both have political and cultural histories wedged in between the main story. They are both multicultural and multinational in characters and geographic locations.
The impact they made on me, however, couldn’t be more different.
I do like one more than the other. One is intimate while the other one distant. I care about the characters in one and I never had interest in the characters of the other one (in fact I’ve abandoned it for a while now since I didn’t really care much about the ill-fate of the hero — whether any of them die or live). I will finish it just because I probably have less than a quarter away, though I don’t really want to.
And now I feel bad because I got that book I don’t like as an advanced copy and the publicist asked me to share my review when I get the chance to write it. There wasn’t pressure or anything. But not only have I taken time way pass the publication date to read it, I also didn’t like it and have to force myself to finish it. It just seems like a bad deal to me now to feel bad just because of a free book. I probably shouldn’t accept request another advanced copy to save myself from the same predicament.
Yes I know you would tell me not to feel bad and just be honest in “professional” way. But I still feel bad, because I feel pressurized to be polite and to at least finish the book. Do you know what I mean?
On the other hand, I’m a bit behind for my challenges. It’s already passed the half year mark and I’m not halfway for a few of them! In particular, I would like to read more for the Lost in Translation challenge. Can you recommend a translated book I cannot miss? (preferably non-Japanese since I’ve read many Japanese translated books)
And back to generational saga novels, can you recommend another good one? I know One Hundred Years of Solitude is one I should try to read. But what else?
mee