“The Last Brother” by Nathacha Appanah
One of the first contenders in last month’s Morning News Tournament of Books, Nathacha Appanah’s The Last Brother was also one of the shortest waits at the library. It went down in the first match to Murakami’s IQ84. My reading schedule got so crowded I didn’t get to it before the match, but since both Amy of New Century Reading and Pat of O Canada, Y’all, liked it, I figured I’d give it a try.
I wasn’t surprised it lost to Murakami, as it’s a short work by a younger author versus a sprawling-idea-filled work by one of the greats. It tells the story in flashback of Raj, a boy during WWII on the island of Mauritius, which housed a secret prison camp for an exiled ship. The history is fascinating, Raj’s bond with his mother, his friendship with a prisoner, and his story of poverty and abuse are all touching, yet something about the book distanced me, in spite of its first-person narration. Perhaps my heart is two sizes too small, but this didn’t impress me as it did many others.
April 11th, 2012 at 9:52 am
No, you have a great sized heart. Thanks for your comment. It helps at times like this to know I am not alone