Chronicle of a Blood Merchant is the second book I have read by Yu Hua, and though perhaps not as moving as To Live, Chronicle shows, unequivocally, why Mr. Yu belongs to the upper echelon of China’s most celebrated contemporary writers. The story of Xu Sanguan and […]
Read MoreCOVID-19: Stay at home, they say. But what about the homeless? Published in Medium – 25 March 2020. The Coronavirus outbreak is rewriting the rules of social living across the world. Amid sharp increases in the number of infections and deaths, whole countries have enacted draconian rules […]
Read MoreStranger Things 3: flawed, overstretched and yet unmissable Fun, touching, sweet, and just plainly entertaining as all fans hoped for. [Note: the following review contains only mild spoilers of Season 3 of Stranger Things]. Published in Medium – 9 July 2019. Eleven, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Steve, […]
Read MoreThe Vegetarian by Han Kang From the book description: Before the nightmare, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary life. But when splintering, blood-soaked images start haunting her thoughts, Yeong-hye decides to purge her mind and renounce eating meat. In a country where societal mores are […]
Read MoreShōgun by James Clavell My rating: 5 of 5 stars Last spring, I decided to re-read Shogun by James Clavell. I was curious to see what I would think of it, as adult. As a teenager I had loved it. To my surprise, 30 years later, […]
Read MoreNight Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko My rating: 2 of 5 stars Mildly amusing, a mix of Harry Potter meets Sam Spade meets Lord of the Ring, but it reads mostly as a very banal story both in form and substance to leave any lasting memory. Originally […]
Read MoreAfter Brexit, Keep a Close Watch on Italy and Its Five Star Movement Published in The Wind Of Anti-Establishment – Reform, Revolt Or Revolution, Politika Annual Journal, 2016, Politics and Public Administration Association SSS HKUSU. pp: 35-40 If the flipbook does not show, download the […]
Read MoreThe Band Rehearsal – Austimmer, NSW Australia
Read More(Originally published in Blogcritics.com) Seveneves would have certainly worked better as two stand-alone novels. Stephenson should have paid more attention not only to the structure, but also to the style. His writing needed to be more focused on the story and characters, than interesting facts. And yet, its many […]
Read MoreShould we love Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk? No! The film original aim might have been to be a subtle, understated epic about national brotherhood. It meant to show us the indomitable spirit of the people who later withstood the German bomb blitz, fought on the beaches and never […]
Read MoreL’Amant Double (AKA The Double Lover) is a flawed, yet at times intriguing, playful and mildly disturbing psychological thriller, with e a high degree of sexual energy. Francois Ozon is one of France’s most interesting filmmakers. For almost two decades now, he has tried his hand […]
Read MoreAtomic Blonde, with its beautiful Berlin set, and especially thanks to the performances of Charlize Theron and James McAvoy, is pretty entertaining and worth the price of admission. Take Jason Bourne, James Bond, La Femme Nikita, Agent Salt and more than a few extracts from the […]
Read MoreSomething went wrong with the twitter.