Our Sticky
Notes Thematic Book Club read “Chillers and Thrillers” for October. I read two.
One, long and involved, the other short and sweet.
Ghostwritten : A Novel by David Mitchell
I absolutely
adore David Mitchell’s writing. He weaves stories that cross times and
distances with a virtuosity that I can only aspire to. And yet he does this by
focusing on one scene at a time, picking out minute details to emphasize
certain aspects of the image he wants the reader to focus on. With this book,
he crosses the globe, hopping from one character to the next, with an
imperceptible connection at first. It’s only as the story goes on that the
connections become clear. There’s definite science fiction, and some
supernatural elements, involved, but not at first. His writing reminds me a
little of Haruki Murakami – lyric prose and tenuous connections.
Okinawa – 32
pages: A young male terrorist who has taken the name “Quasar” becomes embroiled
with cult that orders him to plant a bomb on a subway train. He’s very
denigrating of the “unclean” people around him as he describes his work. He
escapes to an island and though he hears news about how his group has been
discovered and how they are being broken up, he never once doubts the leader.
Tokyo – 30
pages: This section is a tad less depressing and more about love, both young
and long term. 18-year-old Satoru works in a jazz album store, he’s the son of
a prostitute who has been deported and an unknown, assumed to be wealthy,
18-year-old man. A young woman comes in with her annoying friends but she seems
different. She comes back a week later and they connect. A businessman named
Mr. Fujimoto frequents the shop and says “Since the gas attacks on the
subway…I’ve been trying to understand . . . . Why do things happen at all?” He
posits the only answer might be love. Sakuro says, “I’d rather be too young to
have that kind of wisdom.”
Hong Kong –
44 pages: Neal is a foreigner working in Hong Kong who thinks he has a ghost in
his apartment, and who takes up with the aggressive cleaning lady after his
wife goes home to London. He has also given in to a scheme to make a lot of
money which is very, very illegal.
“Unless
you’ve lived with a ghost, you can’t know the truth of it. … It’s more like
living with a very particular cat… For the last few months I’ve been living
with three women. One was a ghost, who is now a woman. One was a woman, who is
now a ghost. One is a ghost, and always will be.” Soon he may be joining the latter.
Holy
Mountain – 40 pages: A young girl who works in a tea shack on the side of Holy
Mountain with her father is raped by a warlord’s son. She bears a child which
is sent to live with family in order to spare them the shame. She believes a
tree talks to her as the years unfold, revolutions coming and going. It’s a
hard life and riveting though sad.
Mongolia –
50 pages: Here we are introduced to a hitch-hiking presence in the body of a
young man backpacking through Mongolia. “So many times in a lifetime do my
hosts feel the beginnings of friendship. All I can do is watch.” The spirit
transmigrates from person to person, seeking a story that marks the beginning
of their memory. The presence transmigrates into a Mongolian named Gunga who
realizes it is there and goes to a Shaman. They strike a pact.
Petersburg –
58 pages: In Petersburg, we hear a sordid tale from the perspective of a woman who
has survived by debasing herself to men – or is she taking advantage of them? She
has a man she loves named Rudi and they have been squirreling away money by
stealing famous paintings and replacing them then selling the originals on the
black market. They only have so much access to the museum because she is screwing
the head curator. Then it all goes wrong when a Mongolian criminal comes into
the picture.
London – 56
pages: Marco is boozing it up and sleeping around as he deals with the news
that Poppy is pregnant. He reflexively saves an Irish woman from getting run
over by a cab. Marco goes on to his job, as a ghost writer, then ends up on a
wild ride of a night.
Clear Island
– 62 pages: An Irish scientist who was saved from getting run down by a cab
goes home to her family, as she waits for the American government to find her
and insist she join them with the AI algorithms she has created. She could run,
but she would have to keep running because they will stop at nothing to get her
black book.
Night Train
– 48 pages: My favorite chapter. Bat Segundo on Night Train FM has an odd
caller, (though they’re all odd,) called “Zookeeper.”
Underground
– Back to Quasar and his escape from the train he left the device on. Or did
he?
Arsenic and Adobo: A Tita Rosie’s
Kitchen Mystery by
Mia P. Manansala
Lila
Macapagal, a young Filipino-American woman, moves back to her hometown from
Chicago in order to help her aunt and grandmother with the family restaurant.
She gets caught up in the middle of a murder when her ex-boyfriend Derek, who
had become a rather mean-spirited food critic, dies right in their restaurant. Complications?
He was poisoned, a bag of arsenic laced rice is found in their kitchen, and a
bag of money and drugs is found in Lila’s locker. Plus, the local cop seems
intent on Lila as his main suspect. This was a delightful story, and the audio
was a joy to listen to, allowing me to hear the correct pronunciation of names
and words that I wouldn’t have otherwise known. Truly, the perfect cozy
mystery, complete with recipes.
