2009 books

11) Elizabeth Bear, The Chains That You Refuse, 2006
matociquala covered quite a dazzling range with her first short story collection, but unless you see yourself as her Ideal Reader (which I'm probably not), maybe a few too many of the stories here may leave you either baffled or cold. Highlights for me were at the distinctly science fictional end of her wide spectrum (the Jenny Casey story 'Gone To Flowers', the Christopher Marlowe tale 'This Tragic Glass', the well-crafted interpretation of William Blake's famous poem that is 'Tiger! Tiger!', the deal-with-the-Devil/Damnation Alley hybrid 'And the Deep Blue Sea'), or when her conceptual cleverness doesn't become to convoluted (the cleverly realised afterlife of 'L’esprit d’escalier', and the second person future-perfect prose of 'The Chains That You Refuse'). Best story overall is the short first contact tale 'When You Visit the Magoebaskloof Hotel, Be Certain Not to Miss the Samango Monkeys': it's concise and combines several of Bear's best approaches to her writing in equal measure. Actually, I could bracket most of those above-named stories as ones where I cared what was happening to the characters, but in a collection of twenty stories and one poem that's an unfortunately low hit rate. Bear is certainly very creative and profficient when using either adopted and improvised stylistic techniques (and a collection that appeals to the head more than the heart is also no bad thing), it's just that I felt this needed a little less dazzle and quite a bit more actual story.

2009 books

12) Chart Korbjitti, No Way Out, 1980
A short novel that describes the almost systematic dismantling of a Bangkok family, as a result of the poverty trap they find themselves in when the father tries to take them out of rented accommodation and into a corrugated metal-and-wood shack of their own. Korbjitti is spare with the details, though through the multiple viewpoints of the family he provides more than enough information to give a clear picture of their circumstances while at the same time leaving it to the reader to decide where the blame may lie. He's won two SEA Write Awards with his explorations of Thai social issues that few Westerners get to see (let alone experience), and there are now several of his novels available recently translated into English. A sad but very true book for many.