Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
I laughed, I raged at the world, I marveled at Trevor's adaptability, and I began to believe in something a little bit mystical in this world. I could hear so much of his voice, and I felt like I was getting to know a new side of Trevor. This was so well-written that I felt like we were two friends just chatting, and he was telling stories as we sat somewhere cozy.
Won in a Goodreads Giveaway!
The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Jaur Kaswal
I received an ARE of this from a Goodreads Giveaway - thanks!
Would I recommend this: yes!!!
For fans of travel, learning new cultures, exploring family dynamics, and wonderfully written and developed characters. Left me fist pumping and cheering along with them!
OHMYGOD, I loved this! I was so excited to read it, and it was one of those books where within 20 pages you know you were right and you WILL love this book. I love learning about places and cultures through reading, even novels, and this was a new one for me: Sikhism and India. I enjoyed learning about the little bits they mentioned in the book, but as a story it was so strong as well!
The characters are the absolute best. It can be hard to develop strong characters when you have several all taking turns narrating, but they each provided insight into themselves as well as each other when they took their turn in the story. Even the mother, who is dead basically the whole time, feels like a familiar friend by the middle of it. One whose quirks and flaws and passions I know and love.
One great aspect of this novel is the lack of a romance line. It's very firmly based on the sisters and them learning about themselves as individuals as well as a group. The secrets that each sister has throughout their pilgrimage through India are hinted at and built upon, but not in that way where it feels so blunt and tactless; none of those single sentences at the end of chapter just saying "She thought she would be ok... until she remembered what he had said before she left." or some rubbish like that. My god, that gets annoying, right? These were gracefully and naturally woven in, which is key in any story for me.
Is it predictable? In some ways, yes. I had a feeling they would all find their happy endings, reconcile, and all that. But the method of each resolution was hazy enough to keep an air of mystery for me, and I loved it for that. I knew the what, but not the how, and isn't the journey all the fun of it anyway?
Seoul Man by Frank Ahrens
Recommended for: those interested in the automotive world/Hyundai specifically, those interested in life as an expat who can tolerate reading a ton about the automotive industry
This took me forEVER to finally get around to reading, and then to finish once I was consistently reading it. It's really heavy about the details of Hyundai and the automotive world, which could get to be a bit much for me at times. However, it's balanced enough with stories about his personal experiences both in and out of the office that I was able to enjoy getting through this all.
Having lived in Korea, there were a lot of things that I related to very easily, thinking about times when I had also learned one of those cultural differences thanks to an awkward moment, and some were new to me since he was there longer than I was, and resolved some mysteries I still had.
Overall, it's a good book to read on the side with some lighter things interspersed during it. Read a few chapters about the politics and planning of automotive shows, then a few chapters of whatever fiction you want.
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