Namesake, Maps, Possession

I read Possession and I loved it.It was properly brewed and lavished with details unlike the Namesake which By the second half I was only trying to finish because I hate the idea of books half read which seems more of an insult to the characters than to the author. Namesake was derivative and yawned on and on about South Asian diaspora in amreeka and please at least put in a plot rather than just describing how two generations lived. Maybe I wasn't psuedo intelligent enough to get it but the link between Gogol and his namesake Nikolai Gogol the Russian author was also quite THE half baked. Kher. Am now lapping up Maps for Lost Lovers, had seemed contrived in the beginning. The hallmark of a great writer is supposed to be his/her ability to construct metaphors and Nadeem Aslam seems to have taken that to heart, peppering the book with metaphors that don't flow really.But am not in the middle of the book and I think I've got used to his style so that it is actually flowing.Adnan keeps insisting that Aslam, so far, describes the best the way migrants actually live and while I do understand that,I feel completely uncomfortable with Aslam's constant forceful thumb tacking of some rituals/events/incidents as "it had to be done/it was that way because that is the way of Allah and there is no other way".Islam is made the causal point liberally.I feel almost apologetic for being uncomfortable because he's not off the mark, people do think that and do believe that and live their lives according to that but it is not Islam per se.

Am back for mid blog break spent baking with Majid and Munch sprawled gecko like in the sun on the brick red ledge of LUMS where we spoke about the books we are reading and the books we read too soon and spoilt it for ourselves(I read most of Marquez when I was 12, Munch read her Russian authors by then and Majid as well).So it is confirmed, this nauseu with South Asian writers trying to sell themselves to a white audience with all the boring descriptions that have been done to death. Fine write about it because it is important but for God's sake at least insert a story.You know what it reminds me of? Those A level students applying abroad for undergraduate studies, who made up stories of being lesbian and suppressed to sell themselves to Ivy league colleges and then laughed about it.If you feel a certain sort of suppression then articulate that instead of making up something because it would appeal to an audience.It's smart marketing but not smart humanity.

I guess I'm just tired of it because I have to STUDY this stuff and I don't want to read it in my free time as well.