The New York Times' 5 Best Books of 2008 (Fiction)

I just recently read this. While it can be difficult to get into, it's well worth it. The story is tragic, the writing beautiful, and the characters heart-wrenching. Finally, it's very different, and the colonial backdrop is unusual — not the typical picture one has of the colonial lifestyle.

This book — so well written and full of unease and questioning about where one lives or belongs — made it to the long list of the Booker Prize. Despite the title, the story is mainly set in New York and England, although there is a wonderful evocation of the main character skating along the empty canals, as I have done, away from school. There's a question throughout about what and who we are, when we so dislocate ourselves. The title is a clever play on The Netherlands and at the same time evokes the underworld, unknown existences that people lead when dislocated. The setting is New York, cricket, immigrant communities, and a failing marriage. It’s a great book.

This behemoth of a novel is a fictional telling of the murders of women in Juarez, Mexico. But it is so much more. Cop drama, academic treatise on art, love story — it’s all there. This is a book for those that love high literature but also love a good quick read. Both are represented in parts of this book.

These eight stories are like art photographs; snapshots with a back story but still leaving you wanting more. She writes well and it is a peek into a world that seems sometimes closed off to outsiders. Reminds me of an Indian Amy Tan.