The Book of Unholy Mischief, what a delicious stew. A chef in the Doge’s palace, dodging the Inquisition & a member of secret society protecting Knowledge, takes an orphan under his wing in the kitchen. Surprising mentions of The Present Moment sprinkled throughout. Oh, and lots of writing about food, wonderful food. The Buddha of Suburbia is the best Indian ex-pat in Britain novel that I’ve read. There’s certainly be a lot of them lately. I got to this one late, written in 1990. Fun portrait of actors & artists in the days of class warfare in Britain of the 60s & 70s. Some tough observations about families, love, self-discovery & the high costs of all three. Shift gears: Maynard & Jennica a quirky portrait of quirky NYers in present day, including using the word “like” frequently in speech by a few of the characters (oi vey). The structure of the book is a bit overbearing: one & two page monologues by all the characters are used to advance the story. A fun conceit, but for the entire 300 pages of the novel? OK, I’m being to hard on it, It’s funny at times & touching.
Greg DePrince Arts + Life: Books, film, music, painting, fueled by meditation, chikung, coffee, chocolate, more coffee.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
The Book of Unholy Mischief, what a delicious stew. A chef in the Doge’s palace, dodging the Inquisition & a member of secret society protecting Knowledge, takes an orphan under his wing in the kitchen. Surprising mentions of The Present Moment sprinkled throughout. Oh, and lots of writing about food, wonderful food. The Buddha of Suburbia is the best Indian ex-pat in Britain novel that I’ve read. There’s certainly be a lot of them lately. I got to this one late, written in 1990. Fun portrait of actors & artists in the days of class warfare in Britain of the 60s & 70s. Some tough observations about families, love, self-discovery & the high costs of all three. Shift gears: Maynard & Jennica a quirky portrait of quirky NYers in present day, including using the word “like” frequently in speech by a few of the characters (oi vey). The structure of the book is a bit overbearing: one & two page monologues by all the characters are used to advance the story. A fun conceit, but for the entire 300 pages of the novel? OK, I’m being to hard on it, It’s funny at times & touching.
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