April

Who They Was by Gabriel Krauze, 2020

An autobiographical novel, Who They Was tells the story of Krauze's violent upbringing growing up near and on South Kilburn estates in London. 

Written in the slang and cadence (mainly, lacking punctation) of a language mashed up with slang from other cultures, Who They Was required me to look up a meaning of a slang every few pages to understand the story.

After learning the slang and getting used to the cadence, I became enthralled with the story. Krauze writes about doing 'eats' - targeting victims for robbery - and the constant violence surrounding South Killy and other estates.

Drugs are rampant. Many smoke marijuana and drink to numb themselves. Others fall into harder drugs.

Grudges are maintained and men murdered almost randomly for their associations. Most have shivs or even guns. Most have spent time in jail.

The stealing of designer watches is a common way to make money. With the city of London so condensed, thugs from the estates venture to wealthier neighborhoods to identify victims. 

Googling real life watch thefts in London amazed me. Not just the value of some of these designer watches, but how ubiquitious the crime is.

Krauze talks about his diamond grill and designer clothing. Thousands are spent on accessories and shoes, not on investing or saving to try to escape the life of the estate. It is an incredibly bleak existance and systemic challenges with few opportunities for people to make a better life from themselves.

Even going against the odds and graduating with a univeristy degree, Krauze becomes a drug dealer to support himself. 

Peppered throughout the story are Krauze's days spent at university (between jail stints at times) discussing Nietzshe and the morality around stealing and killing. 

The well-read and articulate thinker juxtaposed with the violent thug who literally speaks another language with his bredrins is fascinating given that its the same person.

Longlisted for the Booker Prize, Who They Was is a raw look into the bleak and violent lives that so many people are forced into with little hope of escaping.

Rental House by Weike Wang, 2024

I had tried reading Weike Wang's Joan is OK, but could not get into it. I was able to get into Rental House but did so with almost discomfort. The voice is dark.

The protagonist of both novels are Chinese American woman, fluent in Mandarin and their homeland culture. 

In Rental House, Keru is a successful consultant who hails from Minnesota, where her parents settled after moving from China.

The farmland and flatness of Minnesota remind Keru's parents of their own farm and village in China.

Keru meets her husband Nate, who is the first in his family from a small town in the South to go to college, at Yale.

The interactions and reactions of Nate's parents as they attempt to 'understand' Keru are well-intentioned, but belittling. It makes Keru feel even more like an oddity and outsider than she already does.

The story takes place over two sets of Rental Houses that Keru and Nate vacation in. The first is on Cape Cod, where Keru displays aggressive acts while in the tremendously white vacation mecca. They invite their sets of parents to stay with them for a week each, back to back.

The second vacation is five years later when the couple have learned their lesson and vacation by themselves in a cabin in the Catskills. Keru has taken a promotion in Chicago to be closer to her parents, flying home to New York City to be with Nate, who has become a tenured professor.

Nate's work is bleak as his career in academia becomes dealing with things like a leaky ceiling in his lab that no one will come fix. Distance has grown between the couple.

During the trip to the Catskills, Keru sees the run down Chinese restaurant across the street and questions whether she should be eating there, instead of paying four times as much at the current restaurant she is eating at. 

I wonder this every time I see a Chinese restaurant in a small, predominantly white town.

The characters are authentic and there were many moments and thoughts that I could relate to. There is vivid imagery as Keru explodes and acts out against the people around her, including her in-laws.

Reading the book was draining though. The negative undertones throughout is a challenge for my general optimism and positivity.

The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley, 2020

A fun read that satisfies my Anglophile self, The Authenticity Project centers around Monica, a woman in her late 30s who quit her law firm to open her own cafe in Fulham. 

In her cafe, she finds a green notebook (apparently the type of notebook that every kid in England has used; similar to the Blue Book previously used in America) with "The Authenticity Project" written on the front.

The book is a project by Julian Jessop, a famous artist from decades ago. He writes his authentic and vulnerable story of losing his wife Mary and the loneliness he feels now that he is no longer a successful artist.

Monica adds to the notebook, admitting her desire to be married and to have a child, even though she is an independent woman.

The notebook inspires others like addict and asshole Harzard,  Australian Riley and mom-influencer Alice to take a biro and write down their honest truths.

With deeper and more complex characters and unexpected twists, The Authenticity Project was a very enjoyable and light read to counter the tome of Bella Da Costa Greene's biography, which was also enjoyable, just more dense.

Only after reading this book have I realized that I have read another book by Clarey Pooley! The People on Platform 5, which I purchased in Heathrow Airport. That book was also enjoyable with a few twists to keep the story engaging.