hans sandberg

The wonder and pain of southern India

Revisado: 11-24-24

It's a wonderful and painful novel that paints the 20th century history of southern India through the lives of a Kerala family. Through reading it you immerse yourself in its food, culture, society and beliefs. And let's not forget the insights into medicine, education, leprosy, disease and genetics. It's rich and very long...

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The depth, color and perspective Dalrymple brings to a thoroughly fascinating story.

Revisado: 09-22-24

I found the heavy accent of the reader distracting. It took a while to get used to.

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Theory of literature 101

Revisado: 08-03-24

It's not a great novel, but it's a very good discussion of literature and the craft of novel writing.

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An exciting story love story set in Afghanistan

Revisado: 04-11-24

It's a highly readable love story set in Afghanistan right after World War II. As the story unfolds we get to learn a lot about Afghanistan and its long and complicated history, plus a deep dive into nomadic life.

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A tragedy that gives deep insight into China under Mao

Revisado: 01-11-24

It's a terribly sad story about a young woman who was adopted and betrayed by Premiere Zhou Enlai, raped by Chairman Mao and brutally murdered by his wife Jiang Qing. The author Ha Jin paints a grim, but true picture of China from the 1940s to the decade after Mao's death. We also get a deep dive into the Stanislavski method in Moscow and it's introduction in China by the tragic heroine of the book, Sun Weishi. My main question is whether the book is a novel or a docudrama. Reading it as a novel, I found it veering into sentimentality, sometimes sounding like Hallmark movie. Either way, it gives the reader a unique insight into Chinese life and theater during the 20th century.

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A very Western view of post-imperial China

Revisado: 09-25-23

Set in China early in the 20th century, Somerset Maugham's book "On a Chinese Screen" is less about China than Westerners, colonialists, missionaries, and business men. Some of his anecdotes are interesting on a human and psychological level, but it doesn't provide much knowledge or insight in China as it emerges from the Imperial system. Also, it's kind of annoying that the vignettes are vague about what places the author visited.

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More stale than tender

Revisado: 09-19-23

I'm not a big fan of Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby is okay, but not great, IMHO. Tender is the Night feels very old, and doesn't speak to a modern reader. The characters are mostly a bunch of rich "ugly Americans" flapping around the Riviera doing little of consequence and having little to say, when not spewing prejudice against Brits for being snobs and the rest of the world for not being obnoxious Americans. Add to that talk about jazz, and mental clinics in Switzerland and you have the picture. The protagonist Dick Diver dives too deep into the bottle and his rich and "insane" patient/wife Nicole finds a young stud to marry after divorcing Dick.

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Learning with relaxed pleasure

Revisado: 08-07-23

Bill Deresiewicz pointed me to Clive James' charming and intelligent survey of a life of reading, writing and reflection. I learned a lot of things I didn't know, whether Tony Curtis real name or more earth shattering events. It feels random, but behind every piece of his work is a serious mind wrestling with the world of humans.

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An eye opener for lovers of art literature & music

Revisado: 07-14-23

This is an excellent piece of reportage and criticism. telling a troubling story of what exploding technology and inequality has and is doing to our culture.

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Clever and interesting, but it drags on...

Revisado: 06-21-23

I liked it a lot and there are plenty of interesting bits of history, politics, and philosophy in the book, but in the end the love story at the center drags on for too long and you lose interest in the characters and their incapability to move on.

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