Subashini Navaratnam

‘Ants Among Elephants’ Is a Riveting Account of Left-wing Politics and Casteism in India
Books/Culture/Reviews

‘Ants Among Elephants’ Is a Riveting Account of Left-wing Politics and Casteism in India

By
 / 4 December 2017

Sujatha Gidla's memoir is an example of history as told from down below, by the people who were involved in the labour and caste protests and the women who did the reproductive labour for the revolutionaries.

‘Based on a True Story’ Won’t Take Hold of You
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‘Based on a True Story’ Won’t Take Hold of You

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 / 3 October 2017
The whole book is a non-answer, and to take that risk, the author has to give something in return: a fleshed-out plot, more action, or elevated language.
‘Notes of a Crocodile’, The Taiwanese Queer Cult Classic Now in English Translation
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‘Notes of a Crocodile’, The Taiwanese Queer Cult Classic Now in English Translation

By
 / 29 September 2017
Many can relate to the sense of being a monster in a human suit, of being “unnatural”, of the ways in which queer people are constantly reminded that something is amiss about their desire.
Percival Everett’s Latest Is a Muted, Sober Rendering of What Seems to Be a Cliché
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Percival Everett’s Latest Is a Muted, Sober Rendering of What Seems to Be a Cliché

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 / 5 September 2017
So Much Blue is a controlled novel of interwoven timelines about an artist coming to terms with the secrets he's kept from others.
The Dark, Funny, Subversive Chamber of Angela Carter’s Imagination
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The Dark, Funny, Subversive Chamber of Angela Carter’s Imagination

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 / 12 July 2017
In this expansive yet detailed and nuanced biography, Edmund Gordon allows the complex and endlessly fascinating Angela Carter to come alive on the page again
War and the Novel of Integrity in ‘The Story of a Brief Marriage’
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War and the Novel of Integrity in ‘The Story of a Brief Marriage’

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 / 22 June 2017
A brief, brutal, and exquisite novel set over the course of one day in a man's life in the refugee camps of war-torn northern Sri Lanka.
‘A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women’: Siri Hustvedt and the Art of Thinking
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‘A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women’: Siri Hustvedt and the Art of Thinking

By
 / 6 June 2017
Hustvedt reminds us that the making and encountering of art is often embodied, rooted in material and biological and neurological functions.
Fear and Loathing in Post-war Amsterdam
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Fear and Loathing in Post-war Amsterdam

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 / 21 April 2017
A bleakly funny book and a classic of Dutch literature, The Evenings tells the tale of a young man dealing with boredom and self-loathing during the last days of 1946.
La Nausée in the Spanish Empire: Antonio Di Benedetto’s ‘Zama’
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La Nausée in the Spanish Empire: Antonio Di Benedetto’s ‘Zama’

By
 / 24 February 2017
A servant of the Spanish crown finds himself in remote Paraguay, entertaining fantasies and delusions that clash with the actual circumstances of his position. A bleak, comic, and tragic story of alienation.
On Robert Walser’s Idiosyncratic, Whimsical, Sly, and Enchanting Works
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On Robert Walser’s Idiosyncratic, Whimsical, Sly, and Enchanting Works

By
 / 16 February 2017
Walser's attentiveness to the world's capacity for beauty and kindness in a time of brutality is the most interesting aspect of this book.
Juan Gabriel Vásquez’s ‘Reputations’ Explores the Slippery Nature of Memory
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Juan Gabriel Vásquez’s ‘Reputations’ Explores the Slippery Nature of Memory

By
 / 30 January 2017
Vásquez’s work shows how reputation is its own hermetic chamber, sealing the person off from his self.
‘The Subsidiary’ Is a Chilling Experimental and Fragmented Tale About the Evils of Corporate Power
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‘The Subsidiary’ Is a Chilling Experimental and Fragmented Tale About the Evils of Corporate Power

By
 / 5 December 2016
The lights go off in a subsidiary office; the phone lines go down and the exits are closed off. What happens next is told by an employee keeping records via rubber stamps.