Book Review: Western Lane

Chetna Maroo's Western Lane is a relatively short, quiet coming-of-age novel.

Set in 1980s London, it follows a family in turmoil after the death of their mother. Gopi emerges as a particularly talented squash player, and trains under the watchful eye of her hollowed-out father. As her on-court skills become apparent, she devotes more time to the sport, and begins to distance herself from her two sisters.

Image via Indianapolis Public Library

This is a "quiet" book with lean prose that seldom hits the reader over the head. As I'm not well versed in the sport of squash or the '80s squash scene (that Jahangir Khan, referenced many times in the book, was quite the player!), some of the references required context clues and the occasional Google search for me to understand.

The dynamics of grief and coping, however, require no Google searches. This is where the book excels, with Gopi, who narrates from a first-person perspective, doing all the heavy lifting. While a short read, there is a heaviness to this book, the pervasive sense that things aren't right and may never be right again.

As she navigates grief and loss, she also diligently practices on the court. Her squash abilities, practiced with precision at Western Lane, the local sports complex, grow and it's clear she's the best among her three sisters. Her father oversees her constant training, and the two watch old tapes of professional matches to sharpen her skills and understanding.

She also meets Ged, another talented squash player whose mother works at Western Lane. The two train together and Gopi clearly develops an affection for him. As this is a coming-of-age tale, she's not entirely sure how to proceed, nor does she completely understand the breadth of her feelings.

The book culminates in an out-of-town squash tournament. Gopi makes it to the final. Will a victory signal her triumph over grief or leave her unsatisfied?

The book explores themes of grief, coping, family pressure, adolescence, and heartbreak. I give it a recommendation for its unique cultural perspective (a Pakistani family living in '80s London) and restrained, often beautiful writing.

Book Review: Home Is Where the Bodies Are

This one had nothing to do with comp titles or finding something similar to my work in progress, making it (like Batman Revolution) a pure pleasure read.

Jeneva Rose's Home Is Where the Bodies Are is page-turning thriller with a simple enough setup. The family matriarch is dead, and three estranged siblings gather in their Wisconsin hometown to take care of funeral arrangements and sift through her belongings.

Their father disappeared years ago, splitting the family apart. We experience the story through the differing perspectives of the three siblings. Beth, the oldest, never left home and cared for their mother; Nicole, the middle child, struggled with addiction throughout her adult life; and Michael, the youngest, left home and went on to have a lucrative career in the tech space.

Image via Indianapolis Public Library

They don't get along at all, and old hurts quickly go from a simmer to a boil. They fight about their pasts, opportunities unfilled, their strained relationship with their parents and each other, money, and all the other things families tend to bicker about over the course of their lives.

While going through their mother's belongings, they come across a videotape that appears to implicate their parents in the case of a little girl whose death became a high-profile blight on the town. In the video, their father is covered in blood and their mother agrees to help him hide the body.

Is their father a killer? Is that why he disappeared years ago and was later presumed dead? What possible justification could their parents have for trying to cover up a little girl's death?

Slowly but surely, the siblings follow the clues and tease out new bits of information. Expect shocking revelations and some twists that may require the slightest suspension of disbelief in order to swallow. 

I'm sure frequent mystery readers will have it figured out less than midway through, but I found it to be a generally absorbing read.

Book Review: The Immortal King Rao

If a shifting, nonlinear narrative that plays out over the course of decades sounds like your idea of a good time, then The Immortal King Rao by Vauhini Vara should be a blast.

This is another book that came up as a suggestion for a quiet apocalypse with the bonus element of being flashback-driven like my current work in progress. I think it's too risky as a comp title.

Still, I found a lot to admire here. I can't even imagine trying to cram the plot into a brief summary, let alone the standard one- or two-page synopsis required during the book submission process. King Rao, born on a coconut farm in India, eventually moves to America and becomes the most influential tech titan of the twentieth and twenty first centuries.

Image via Indianapolis Public Library

His daughter, Athena, is currently imprisoned, having been accused in his death. Oh, and King Rao has implanted his memories in her mind, using a digital mind-link to do so. The frame story is from Athena's perspective as readers learn about King Rao's modest origins, his move to the United States, his fascination with computers, and his first meeting with the love of his life.

It all leads to his creation of an Apple-like company ("Coconut") so thoroughly dominant in the technological sphere that it essentially becomes a world government. This tech hegemony aims to "free" people but ends up oppressing them instead, leading to the formation of a radical group determined to unshackle themselves from technology altogether. Athena joins this group, and is accused of murdering King Rao. She awaits judgment from an algorithm.

In the background, the Earth is undergoing an environmental crisis from climate change. With King Rao dead, it's clear no one has the willpower to stop it.

Needless to say, Vara packs a lot into this novel thematically. It's a sweeping family saga, a cautionary tale about oligarchs and corporatocracy, a warning about global warming and collective indifference, an examination of the role of technology in culture, and an exploration of the true meaning of freedom.

It is a fascinating read and not something I would normally expect to pull off the shelf. The narrative is a little overstuffed and some readers will experience whiplash from various time jumps and intercutting. Still, I think it's worth reading for the clever prose and excellent worldbuilding.