Honour

This is my second foray into Elif Shafak's world. I enjoyed this book and finished it quite quickly. In some ways it was very similar to 'The Bastard of Istanbul' in that it follows the story of a family, across several generations. Elif Shafak seems to draw on myths and legends of Turkey and mixes it with the stories of the Turkish migrant society who have settled in the UK (in this case). The book explains the possible clash of cultures between a migrant and local community, and the role of women and mothers in the Turkish society. I think that I found the contrast between gender roles and expectations well documented and tackled in an interesting and not too patronising way.

Neuromancer

This was a book that I read in Singapore. Given that cyber space was new, and the internet was a new invention (hard to believe!) this is quite a remarkable book. It is difficult to understand how new and ground breaking this book must have been. I actually found it a little hard to follow at times, although I did get gripped to the adventure story that went along.

The Icarus Girl

This is a book that my sister passed to me. It is the story of Jessamy (ironic as that is a combination of our names) who returns to Nigeria. She is the eight year old daughter of a Nigerian mother and white British father. Whilst in Nigeria she meets a mysterious girl who slowly lets her in to a family secret.

This is Helen Oyeyemi's first novel, and she wrote this when she was still doing her A-levels. Impressive and I would be interested to see if she is able to produce another good quality book in the future. There are some really interesting ideas, although I did see a few of them coming.