SOCIAL DRAMA A JIN
In The Pond (Vintage £6.99) .00
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From the author of the highly acclaimed Waiting comes this story of one man's struggle against corruption and bribery in China. Shao But is a painter and calligrapher whose talent is wasted working as a fitter in the local fertiliser plant.
After losing out on a new apartment to his carrupt bosses. he decides to get revenge by painting cartoons and writing letters to local papers and magazines. But rather than getting justice he only gains more grief from his managers. Determined not to be defeated. Bin carries on plotting their downfall and takes his case further afield.
In The Pond tells the story in a light-hearted and often cheeky style which keeps you fighting for Bin and hoping that his dishonest superiors get their just desserts. Justice does finally come but in a rather abrupt and somewhat unsatisfactory ending. (Jane Hamilton)
SURREAL ODYSSEY
EUGEN EGNER Androids From Milk iDedalus $37.99,) 000
After the presumed death of his milk- uuaffing parents. rock journalist and arrested~~
developer Reuben Hecht runs away. pausing only to check out a gig by The Flesh- Eating Fetish Bitches. The confused lad has soon run into an age- shifting beauty called Edwina. got a job as an official illustrator and been forced to shake off a range of irate pursuers.
The jacket to this novel namecl‘tecks Kafka and Monty Python. and Eugen Egner's world is certainly strange; one puff on a jaint can reverse yOur gender and a garden centre can change into a primordial jungle before you can say ‘magic realism'.
With its all-consuming bureaucracies and rejection of simple truths. one can see Androids From Milk as a postmodern satire. But ultimately it is too confusing to be gripping. and too unsettling to be funny. making it a Curiosity that is interesting but a little uninspiring.
(James Smart)
SCI-Fl MYSTERY STEVE AYLETT Shamanspace (Codex €6.99) 0...
Shamanspace is set in an almost liquid future where people flow like electricity and objects morph and merge almost constantly. The stOry concerns Alix. a hot young assassin taking on his most difficult assignment to date: the murder of God.
The prose feels like a stream of consciousness. mixing the organic. mechanical. emotional and computer speak into a virtually continuous flow. There are no certainties in Steve Aylett's book. it's more of a feeling. an understanding of events. But what could be a pretentious
experiment in sci-ti language fits the mood perfectly.
Adding to a feeling of unease and confusion. exaggerating the sensation that you are exploring a warld that is so far removed from yOur own. you have trouble even comprehending it. As a reader you are forced to decipher meaning from the maelstrom of words and phrases. leading to a far more interactive. and thus far more fulfilling, experience. (Henry Northmore)
GOTHIC DRAMA CARLO DELLONTE The Hollow House (Picador $314.99) 0.
This debut novel from Carlo Dellonte is an oddly camp affair. with more than a dash of histrionics about its plot and characterisations. If The Ho/Iow House was a film. it would be Psycho made by Hammer and set in a backwards Cornish village. Except not nearly as much fun as that sounds.
The narrator, Charles. arrives in a B&B at the top of a tiny fishing village. where he encounters the beautiful and mysterious Amber who subsequently disappears. It becomes gradually apparent that Charles isn't the most stable individual. and the narration drifts between obsessive fantasy and hysterical reality as Charles begins to manipulate the village and play bizarre mind games abOut his relationship with the missing girl.
However, too much of Dellonte's plot relies on unlikely twists and obsCure motivations. leavrng The Hollow House a bit of an empty read. (Deug Johnstonel
Books
EVENTS AT BORDERS
TUESDAY 8TH JANUARY 7PM
IAN RANKIN
At the Glasgow Royafl Concert Hall y
(Tickets cost £2, on rom Borders) To celebrate the publication of his new novel Resurrection Men, Ian Rankin will be in conversation at the Royal Concert Hall.
WEDNESDAY 9TH JANUARY 7PM
SUSIE ORBACH
The author of Fat is a Feminist Issue returns to the subject of eating disorders with her new book On Eating. The acclaimed psychotherapist will be at Borders to discuss the book and how to achieve a healthy relationship with food.
DELIA SMITH
The woman who taught everyone how to cook will be appearing for a very special si ning session of How to Cook Book T ree.
WEDNESDAY 16TH JANUARY 7PM
° MICHAEL DIBDIN
One of crime writing’s most popular names will be reading from And Then You Die, his latest Aurelio Zen mystery.
THURSDAY 17TH JANUARY 7PM
SCOTLAND ON FILM
Panamint Cinema celebrate the home video release of rarely seen films from the Scottish Screen Archive.
TU ESDAY° 22ND JANUARY 7PM
YOGA WITH GERRY KEILTY
The Glasgow based tutor leads a class based on his new CD.
THURSDAY 31 ST JANUARY 7PM
SCOTTISH TRADITIONAL MUSIC
Inspired by the individual tastes and traditions of six single malt whiskies from around Scotland, composer JohnoSaich will be performing a live set based on his CD Experience - The Classic Malfs.
BORDERS“:
98 BUCHANAN STREET, GLASGOW GI 3BA TEL: OIAI 222 7700
www. bordersstores.com/stores/283
OPENING HOURS: 8am to I Ipm, Monday to Saturday, IOam t0'9pm Sunday '
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