Books, reviews, and writings

  Liberty Farm: A Family Portrait – Izai Amorim   Izai Amorim’s Liberty Farm is a mirror of family dynamics, historical change, and the socioeconomic (r)evolution which gripped Brazil between 1898 and 1989. It is a grand endeavour, ambitious like the Almeida family fortunes. At the heart of all great events, Amorim seems to tell us, stands passion – selfish, blind, and destructive – disguised as love: Ezra’s love for the dead Nelson, for the farm, for the Sert ã o da Resaca; Esra Duarte’s love for recognition, for money; even Ezra Neto’s love for adventure.   ‘Liberty Farm’ is founded as the Romantic dream of man in nature (by the poor yet educated Juliano), only to quickly succumb to the power of money and commerce (of the rich although illiterate Ezra). A line is drawn that will tear the Almeida family apart from that point forward, between the ones wanting to leave, and those wanting to stay; the ones blinded by the wish to be loved by their...

  Comanche – Brett Riley   If the Wild West genre is dead, then Comanche , by Brett Riley, is a good shot at resurrecting it. The story, not a mystery but a ghost story with outlaws, follows the journey of Raymond Turner, P.I., to redemption. An alcoholic haunted by the loss of his wife, Ray leads his partner LeBlanc, medium McDowell, and professor Frost from New Orleans to Texas in order to solve the murders being committed by the ghost of The Kid. They will all have to outgrow their own fears, their own scepticism, to recruit a motley crew of future victims in order to defeat the phantom and halt its vengeful killing spree.   Despite their failings, the characters all have something for the reader to root for, creating the empathy which promotes investment in the story. Mr Riley builds it well, with enough unexpected outcomes to the plans to avoid simplified heroes. Also, he stages the action to the ineffable showdown all good Western will hav...

  Cultivating a Fuji – Miriam Drori   In Cultivating a Fuji , we witness the life and work of Martin, an extremely awkward computer expert who is forced to visit Japan on a business trip. There, he finds his own courage to break through the walls he has erected from childhood. As we revisit his life, we also find out about a wide range of the people who meet him; we observe and judge them, as they try to navigate the interactions with someone they do not fully understand, someone who makes them uncomfortable. This is a tale on the depths of the old adage, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’, with an added twist: the village does not necessarily know how to raise children, who will in turn grow up and affect others in turn. By presenting this mirror of social behaviours, Miriam Drori invites the readers to reconsider their own behaviours as we encounter people whose circumstances we only glimpse.   Who would enjoy this This is a volume for...