Reviews: The Earlies Part 15

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Wonderful, wonderful book. Highly recommended.

The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Probably one of my favorite Hawthorne novels. I think I like it even better than The Scarlet Letter.

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

Beautiful ‘writing back to empire’ book. Rushdie is pretty amazing.

Geography Club by Brent Hartinger

Simple. Kinda boring.

Jack Maggs by Peter Carey

This is another ‘colony strikes back at imperialism’ boko – like Wide Sargasso Sea. Jack Maggs takes on the story of the character Magwitch from Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. Beautiful and intelligent telling of the characters – cunningly writes a Dickens-esque character into the book.

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

This is a brilliant prequel to Bronte’s Jane Eyre. If you read Jane Eyre and liked it – read this book! Actually, read it anyway. I read it before reading Jane Eyre and still loved it.. but it’s definitely better to get the back-story first – makes you appreciate the symbolism and storyline even more. A wonderful ‘colonial’ book.