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Daisy LaFarge
Positive The Scotsman (UK) Carefully structured and at times an uncomfortable read, the book has shades of Sally Rooney’s hit novels Normal People and Conversations With Friends. Just as it feels that Frances will not be able to escape Paul’s hold on her, Lafarge offers a sliver of hope for the fight against the patriarchy. Despite her vulnerability, it turns out that even Frances has a line that can’t be crossed.
Anbara Salam
Mixed The Scotsman (UK) Anbara Salam has a talent for places, and in this age of lockdown, the half-Scottish author’s ability to transport the reader first to a 1950s Connecticut high school, then on to an Italian convent, is more welcome than ever ... The school scenes and the way in which they are described are at times reminiscent of a historical version of Curtis Sittenfeld’s brilliant Prep, yet somehow I always felt slightly dissatisfied with Belladonna ... Salam’s writing is carefully crafted, however the characterisation somehow lacks the emotional depth required to really draw in the reader. Shocking things happen to Bridget, yet they are passed over with little feeling or passion ... I wonder whether this flatness is intended to give the impression that Bridget – who has struggled with her own sense of belonging as a mixed-race American in a white world – is depressed? Uninterested in her own life? Perhaps. Yet, for all Salam’s talent for place and description, this novel left me feeling flat.
Mieko Kawakami, trans. by Sam Bett and David Boyd
Positive The Scotsman Breasts and Eggs is quirky and, at times, suddenly and unexpectedly dark. It also deals with detailed accounts of things which most novels do not – female urinary tract issues, menstruation and sex ... The first-person narrative and high proportion of dialoguemakes the pace snappy and the story easy to read. The second part has a more mature writing style, which is perhaps not a surprise, given it was written nearly a decade after the first. However, this doesn’t detract from the flow of the novel as a whole. Rather, it highlights the differences between Natsuko and Makiko, and the different problems they face.
Claire Adam
Positive The Scotsman \"Intelligently and subtly written, Adams’s novel tackles themes which will have global appeal, breaking the hearts of parents the world over.\