The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
In a nutshell : Balram Halwai is from a village in the center of India, where the local elections are rigged, the local landowners are corrupt and thieving and where the water buffalo is more valuable than most people. We follow his life, leaving the village to become a driver for a rich family in Delhi.
The blurb : the book is written as a long letter from Balram to the Prime Minister of China, in which our hero describes the trials and tribulations of his life as an example of Inidan entrepreneurship. The book is clearly written in a cynical tone that suits the narrator's opinions and early on we realise that the character has a very dark -murderous- side to him. All in all this is a story of a modern Indian, squeezed between a modern India of call centers and money, and a traditionnal one of castes and corruption. The character, with characteristic cynicism and philosophising, muses on how one finds his place in this.
IMHO this was extremely disappointing for a MB winner. Not a bad book, but neither (again IMHO) "a masterpiece" and certainly not "blazingly savage". If anything it reminded me of a slightly darker Transmission by Hari Kunzru. One reviewer raved about the contrast between the "Indias", "where call center workers tread the same pavement as beggars" and though this is interesting it is not anywhere like in the same league as Rohinton Mistry. It was quite gripping at first but then seems to bumble along a bit. Nothing is predicatble, but mainly because not a lot happens. Some good descriptions and an interesting central character but somehow disappointing.
lundi 29 décembre 2008
jeudi 11 décembre 2008
So here we are debating climate change
Last Friday, my dear friend Olivia who works for the Mairie (town hall) of the tenth on town planning and sustainable development issues asked me along to a play/debate on climate change. Out of solidarity and a little curiosity I agreed : it seemed original- a play put on by journalism students- and was free.
It was playing by the canal at the espace Jemmapes. A nice room with a fair sized stage, decorated to look like a café and terrace. The play was uneven: at best amateurish, at worst hopelessly incompetent. The plot was pretty good : we are in an undetermined near future, the warming of the planet is significant and the government & scientists have injected the atmosphere with sulphur to cool it down. (FYI: this is a real theory and solution put forward by... the Nobel prize winner for chemistry). However acid rains, respiratory problems and hideous climate change in other regions of the world have appeared as a result, though all this is hushed up by the government.
So various characters wander through the café giving their opinions and showing the various positions that people have on the issue. One girl is conspiracy-theoried up, suspects the government and is depicted as being closest to the truth. Her aunt is a farmer whose crops are suffering. There is a incompetent journalist who doesn't research anything but is spoon fed her story by a stern and corrupt climatologist. The plot gets a bit complicated as the long-forgotten murder of a climatologist is introduced and trails off, which is disappointing as the general idea was pretty good, though perhaps portrayed in a slightly black & white way (EVIL government! NICE hippie!). The acting was very uneven, some good, some forgetting their lines. Little things like empty glasses and crappy props made it difficult to suspend disbelief. That said, the one hour didn't feel too long.
What got me a little worked up however was the debate that followed. There were three experts : a young chick, a funkily dressed man and a quiet older guy. The chick knew nothing and kept turning to funky man for answers, figures and arguments. The funky man I quite liked: he had the guts to say that we were potentially all fucked and that it was possibly to late to do anything about climate change, and was also stern about some of the hypocrisy that underlies the climate change debate (do as I say not as I do, especially rich countries vis a vis poor ones). Then the third chap started to talk. He said that it was't so hard to save the world: we "just" have to cut out CO2 emissions by 4. So : if you have a car, always fill it up: by driving four people around instead of just one, you are cutting emissions by 4. Er... He then said that we had much to learn from the developing world. "Look at Senegal!" he said. Taxis and busses only leave when they are full. So let's do that in Paris! Er... Finally he said that we had a lot to learn from Ethiopian housing, which is biodegradable and moveable as made of mud. Great! It also lacks plumbing and electricity would dissolve in the rain, but who cares! It's all about saving the planet right?!
I left after he suggested this master world-saving solution. I am all for saving the planet and do my utmost to reduce at my own little level my CO2 emissions (public transport, veggie box, no shitty imports, avoid planes, recycle and so on.) but live in a mud hut in Paris? Lol. We could also suggest only having electricity one day in four (at the local hospital e.g) and that would also save energy.... This is the problem : we need feasible solutions that won't actually make the situation worse, so let's forget mud huts, car sharing and sulphur injections... and reopen the nuclear debate...
It was playing by the canal at the espace Jemmapes. A nice room with a fair sized stage, decorated to look like a café and terrace. The play was uneven: at best amateurish, at worst hopelessly incompetent. The plot was pretty good : we are in an undetermined near future, the warming of the planet is significant and the government & scientists have injected the atmosphere with sulphur to cool it down. (FYI: this is a real theory and solution put forward by... the Nobel prize winner for chemistry). However acid rains, respiratory problems and hideous climate change in other regions of the world have appeared as a result, though all this is hushed up by the government.
So various characters wander through the café giving their opinions and showing the various positions that people have on the issue. One girl is conspiracy-theoried up, suspects the government and is depicted as being closest to the truth. Her aunt is a farmer whose crops are suffering. There is a incompetent journalist who doesn't research anything but is spoon fed her story by a stern and corrupt climatologist. The plot gets a bit complicated as the long-forgotten murder of a climatologist is introduced and trails off, which is disappointing as the general idea was pretty good, though perhaps portrayed in a slightly black & white way (EVIL government! NICE hippie!). The acting was very uneven, some good, some forgetting their lines. Little things like empty glasses and crappy props made it difficult to suspend disbelief. That said, the one hour didn't feel too long.
What got me a little worked up however was the debate that followed. There were three experts : a young chick, a funkily dressed man and a quiet older guy. The chick knew nothing and kept turning to funky man for answers, figures and arguments. The funky man I quite liked: he had the guts to say that we were potentially all fucked and that it was possibly to late to do anything about climate change, and was also stern about some of the hypocrisy that underlies the climate change debate (do as I say not as I do, especially rich countries vis a vis poor ones). Then the third chap started to talk. He said that it was't so hard to save the world: we "just" have to cut out CO2 emissions by 4. So : if you have a car, always fill it up: by driving four people around instead of just one, you are cutting emissions by 4. Er... He then said that we had much to learn from the developing world. "Look at Senegal!" he said. Taxis and busses only leave when they are full. So let's do that in Paris! Er... Finally he said that we had a lot to learn from Ethiopian housing, which is biodegradable and moveable as made of mud. Great! It also lacks plumbing and electricity would dissolve in the rain, but who cares! It's all about saving the planet right?!
I left after he suggested this master world-saving solution. I am all for saving the planet and do my utmost to reduce at my own little level my CO2 emissions (public transport, veggie box, no shitty imports, avoid planes, recycle and so on.) but live in a mud hut in Paris? Lol. We could also suggest only having electricity one day in four (at the local hospital e.g) and that would also save energy.... This is the problem : we need feasible solutions that won't actually make the situation worse, so let's forget mud huts, car sharing and sulphur injections... and reopen the nuclear debate...
So here we are: the best of 2008!
Here is a brief & hurried best of 2008, in no particular order.
Kanye West with Olivia
Such a cool cool birthday present! Olivia and I went to see The Roots and Kanye West at Bercy in November. Highlights include the Roots playing "sweet child o' mine" by G 'n R and doing an epic, orgasmic 20 minute long bluesy, electro multi-vocal hysteria song. KW was just sexy and awesome : a massive one man show; especially loved Gold Digger ("but i ain't seen a woman in yeears" - Here I am Kanye!! scream two thousand women), Diamonds from Sierra Leone, Jesus walks and, of course, the Faster, better, stronger at the end when Bercy became a huge nightclub floor. Delighted to have converted Olivia a little bit more ;)
Brussels with Chook
And Lucyna of course. Great weather, a lovely city; the sites, the beer, the royal gardens, the walks and of course Europe Day, where we, Belgian, French, Polish and English drank and got stoned together outside the EU commission.
The drunken walk with the guys at Ampus
Epic standards of drunkeness in the countryside with my buddies. Never too old to be a careless teenager.
The travaux in the building
Our block of flats is now up to 21st century standards : repainted, no lead, with electric wires in the wall rather than swinging around, varnished staircase and repaired windows.
The beach in Bulgaria
Getting slapped by huge waves on a sandy beach in very hot sun with the Chook, does not get better...
Seeing my parents sing in the South
I should add very, very drunkenly, swaying and laughing wit their old friends. Nice, though cringeingly embarrassing at the time.
Runaway 1&2
The best point and click games around. Funny, tropical and insane. Hoping number 3 will come out in 2009...
Faites rentrer l'accusé
A cult programme for nerds in France. You follow the story of a murderer, serial killer, rapist or other. The programme starts with the crime and follows all the police investigations (and cock ups), the media reports, the interrogations, the arrests and of course the whole legal kaboodle, from trial to verdict. Great stuff and am firmly addicted.
Finding a job I enjoy
Teaching rocks, despite my contract not getting renewed. The rumour has it that I am too "revolutionary" and that my employers feared I might join the Union to complain about salary and other aspects. They're mad. This is probably due to the fact I mentioned it was illegal not to pay us for training and made sure everyone read and understood their contract before signing.
Seeing James and Pak in the summer
I don't see these guys often enough, bit it was great to meet Pak and be able to have a long drunken conversation by the canal in summer with my fave Dude.
Diminishing coffee intake.
Incredible. No longer feel nauseous, depressed, sick. No more diarrhoea and can sleep at night! A revelation.
Barack Obama
Nuff said about that.
My fave books of 2008.
Salmon fishing in the Yemen, A thousand splendid suns, Pillars of the earth, What Einstein told his cook, Waiter rant.
Oysters in Bordeaux
Chook and I are sitting on the banks of the Gironde in Bordeaux, on a terrace by the food market and close to an oyster stall. We slurp oysters and eat brown bread bought at a bread stall, drinking a cold white tavernier wine from the Gers (6 oysters and a glass of plonk is 6 euros). The december sun is blazing and we eat, read and drink in a crisp, warm, drunken stupour.
and the worst: my Samsung phone(why didn't I buy Nokia??), regularly getting up before dawn for work, coming down with flu for the first time in three years, swiss chard in the veggie box, putting on about 4 kilos, getting "fired' for the first time in my life.
Kanye West with Olivia
Such a cool cool birthday present! Olivia and I went to see The Roots and Kanye West at Bercy in November. Highlights include the Roots playing "sweet child o' mine" by G 'n R and doing an epic, orgasmic 20 minute long bluesy, electro multi-vocal hysteria song. KW was just sexy and awesome : a massive one man show; especially loved Gold Digger ("but i ain't seen a woman in yeears" - Here I am Kanye!! scream two thousand women), Diamonds from Sierra Leone, Jesus walks and, of course, the Faster, better, stronger at the end when Bercy became a huge nightclub floor. Delighted to have converted Olivia a little bit more ;)
Brussels with Chook
And Lucyna of course. Great weather, a lovely city; the sites, the beer, the royal gardens, the walks and of course Europe Day, where we, Belgian, French, Polish and English drank and got stoned together outside the EU commission.
The drunken walk with the guys at Ampus
Epic standards of drunkeness in the countryside with my buddies. Never too old to be a careless teenager.
The travaux in the building
Our block of flats is now up to 21st century standards : repainted, no lead, with electric wires in the wall rather than swinging around, varnished staircase and repaired windows.
The beach in Bulgaria
Getting slapped by huge waves on a sandy beach in very hot sun with the Chook, does not get better...
Seeing my parents sing in the South
I should add very, very drunkenly, swaying and laughing wit their old friends. Nice, though cringeingly embarrassing at the time.
Runaway 1&2
The best point and click games around. Funny, tropical and insane. Hoping number 3 will come out in 2009...
Faites rentrer l'accusé
A cult programme for nerds in France. You follow the story of a murderer, serial killer, rapist or other. The programme starts with the crime and follows all the police investigations (and cock ups), the media reports, the interrogations, the arrests and of course the whole legal kaboodle, from trial to verdict. Great stuff and am firmly addicted.
Finding a job I enjoy
Teaching rocks, despite my contract not getting renewed. The rumour has it that I am too "revolutionary" and that my employers feared I might join the Union to complain about salary and other aspects. They're mad. This is probably due to the fact I mentioned it was illegal not to pay us for training and made sure everyone read and understood their contract before signing.
Seeing James and Pak in the summer
I don't see these guys often enough, bit it was great to meet Pak and be able to have a long drunken conversation by the canal in summer with my fave Dude.
Diminishing coffee intake.
Incredible. No longer feel nauseous, depressed, sick. No more diarrhoea and can sleep at night! A revelation.
Barack Obama
Nuff said about that.
My fave books of 2008.
Salmon fishing in the Yemen, A thousand splendid suns, Pillars of the earth, What Einstein told his cook, Waiter rant.
Oysters in Bordeaux
Chook and I are sitting on the banks of the Gironde in Bordeaux, on a terrace by the food market and close to an oyster stall. We slurp oysters and eat brown bread bought at a bread stall, drinking a cold white tavernier wine from the Gers (6 oysters and a glass of plonk is 6 euros). The december sun is blazing and we eat, read and drink in a crisp, warm, drunken stupour.
and the worst: my Samsung phone(why didn't I buy Nokia??), regularly getting up before dawn for work, coming down with flu for the first time in three years, swiss chard in the veggie box, putting on about 4 kilos, getting "fired' for the first time in my life.
dimanche 7 décembre 2008
So here we are in the dead heart of Oz
The Dead Heart by Douglas Kennedy
In a nutshell : an American journalist in need of adventure flies to Darwin, Australia and decides to drive across the "Dead Heart" of the country. En route he meets Angie, and it all starts to go wrong.
The blurb: this is Kennedy's first book, and very different from his latest (The Woman in the fifth, see review here). This is basically a two part book : the first part is a road trip with witty and usually rude descriptions of the Australians in the Bush and the ghastly "roo steak, whores and beer" life they live. Part two I shall not say much about (don't want to give the plot away now, do we) but it is an even ruder description of Australian village life in the middle of nowhere. It is also incredibly funny as our hero realises that life in the Australian outback does not suit him, at all and tries to get away. Rude, adrenaline-charged and very, very funny.
IMHO this short book is a great read. A little too short maybe - I read it in a day- but nicely paced as you are cunningly transferred from the "road trip" part of the book to the "god, help, get me out of here" part. Despite its shortness there is a great build up and it is quite difficult to let go. An entertaining way to spend a Sunday afternoon when it is cold outside.
In a nutshell : an American journalist in need of adventure flies to Darwin, Australia and decides to drive across the "Dead Heart" of the country. En route he meets Angie, and it all starts to go wrong.
The blurb: this is Kennedy's first book, and very different from his latest (The Woman in the fifth, see review here). This is basically a two part book : the first part is a road trip with witty and usually rude descriptions of the Australians in the Bush and the ghastly "roo steak, whores and beer" life they live. Part two I shall not say much about (don't want to give the plot away now, do we) but it is an even ruder description of Australian village life in the middle of nowhere. It is also incredibly funny as our hero realises that life in the Australian outback does not suit him, at all and tries to get away. Rude, adrenaline-charged and very, very funny.
IMHO this short book is a great read. A little too short maybe - I read it in a day- but nicely paced as you are cunningly transferred from the "road trip" part of the book to the "god, help, get me out of here" part. Despite its shortness there is a great build up and it is quite difficult to let go. An entertaining way to spend a Sunday afternoon when it is cold outside.
samedi 6 décembre 2008
So here we are with the december veggies
As we approach winter, the vegetables are becoming increasingly, er, well, boring.
Saturday December 6th
Half a celeriac root
500g carrots
A leafy bunch of chard
500g of lovely red Roseval potatoes
4 of the lovely apples
250 g of onions
250g beetroot
250g spinach (left it- too wet, slimy, earth and impossible to sort the fresh young leaves from the tough old dark ones)
Saturday December 6th
Half a celeriac root
500g carrots
A leafy bunch of chard
500g of lovely red Roseval potatoes
4 of the lovely apples
250 g of onions
250g beetroot
250g spinach (left it- too wet, slimy, earth and impossible to sort the fresh young leaves from the tough old dark ones)
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