David Nicholls’ "Us" follows the story of Douglas Petersen, a middle-aged biochemist whose comfortable, if somewhat dull, life is thrown into crisis when his wife, Connie, announces that she is considering leaving him after their only son departs for university. In a desperate attempt to save both his marriage and his relationship with his teenage son, Douglas organizes a “Grand Tour” of Europe for the three of them. What begins as a cultural family trip quickly turns into an emotional journe...
Our Evenings follows Dave Win, a mixed-race boy from a modest family who earns a scholarship to a prestigious public school, where he first crosses paths with Edward, a charming young man from a wealthy, aristocratic background. Their lives become intertwined from adolescence onward. Though Dave later fails to complete his degree at Oxford, he eventually finds fame as an actor, celebrated on stage and screen. His ethnic background subtly shapes his sense of being an outsider, even within Lond...
"The Vegetarian" by Han Kang: Between Flesh and Spirit
As every year, the Swedish Academy pronounced its much-awaited verdict: eagerly anticipated by bookworms across the globe. This time, the jury awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature to Han Kang, shining a spotlight on a writer not necessarily familiar to the broader public. Like many readers, I rushed to the bookshops, browsed through the available titles by this newly crowned laureate, and faced a major dilemma: which of Kang’s novels should I read first? Unable to decide, I bought three of h...
