Book Box: Woven by women
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PHOTOS: FOURTH ESTATE, BLOOMSBURY CIRCUS, SCEPTRE
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In this week’s Book Box, The Sunday Times looks at fiction written by women.
Blue Sisters author Coco Mellors: What makes love unconditional is that it must be tested
Coco Mellors’ Blue Sisters is an exploration of the British author's own struggle with sobriety.
PHOTOS: COCO MELLORS/INSTAGRAM, FOURTH ESTATE
Four sisters, each struggling with addiction in her own way. New York-based British author Coco Mellors’ Blue Sisters is an exploration of her own struggle with sobriety, transplanted to a sisterhood coping with the loss of one of their own.
Over Zoom, the interview immediately delves into the heavy-hitting stuff. There are not many other places to go – Mellors’ best-selling debut novel, Cleopatra And Frankenstein (2022), likewise follows a tumultuous romance plagued by roiling alcoholism.
Mellors is frank about her attraction to the topic. She says: “I’ve been sober for 8½ years now. I’ve always been very open about it. Many people in my family have dealt with addiction and, because of that, I feel I have a perspective on it.”
The difference this time is a steering away from romance and friendship to family. In fact, the Wes Anderson-ian opening chapter takes on an omniscient voice to foil expectations.
Book review: Xochitl Gonzalez’s second novel a caustic story of how white men stole art history
American writer Xochitl Gonzalez's second novel is an examination of forgotten art histories through the story of Cuban American artist Anita de Monte.
PHOTOS: MAYRA CASTILLO, BLOOMSBURY CIRCUS
A decade after Anita de Monte falls out the window of a New York City apartment to her death, the Cuban-American artist is a mere footnote in art history. A minor artist, a witch, a sensational story in the newspapers – few remember the name of this once Guggenheim fellow, her rising fortunes cut short.
That is, until undergraduate Raquel Toro begins to write her thesis on Anita’s former husband, the celebrated master of minimalist art, Jack Martin. Raquel, a Puerto Rican art history student at Brown University, is eager to prove she is not an “affirmative action admit”. She despises Martin’s work, but wants to win the trust of her adviser, Professor John Temple, the pre-eminent Martin scholar who can connect her to a career in the white-dominated art world of the 1990s.
American writer Xochitl Gonzalez’s sophomore novel is a caustic critique on how the art world, supposedly the vanguard of progressive ideas, never changes. Even after a decade of rising consciousness around race and gender from the 1980s to the 1990s, the art world continues to worship white male scholars, artists and gallerists, as Raquel learns while playing the prestige game.
Anita’s story is based on the story of Cuban-American artist Ana Mendieta – whose husband Carl Andre, a minimalist sculptor, was acquitted of a second-degree murder charge in 1988. Gonzalez’s novel has caused some concern from Mendieta’s estate, who wants to have control over how her story is told.
Book review: Abi Dare’s sophomore book And So I Roar bites off more than it can chew
And So I Roar is the sequel to The Girl With The Louding Voice by Nigerian author Abi Dare.
PHOTOS: SCEPTRE, ELLIE SMITH
And So I Roar is the sequel to The Girl With The Louding Voice (2020), the second novel by Essex-based Nigerian author Abi Dare.
Dare’s debut was a nominee for the Desmond Elliott Prize for debut novels published in Britain, so her sophomore book, to be released on Aug 6, is highly anticipated.
Picking up days after the end of the first book, it follows 14-year-old Adunni after she leaves her abusive former employers and prepares for her first day at school in Lagos, Nigeria, in the hope of becoming a teacher.
Her bright future is marred when a chief from her village Ikati, and Mr Kola, who sold Adunni into slavery, arrive to take her home for a ritual. They blame her for the death of a young woman after which Ikati suffers a drought, and they believe that sacrificing Adunni will appease the spirits and bring rain back.
Book review: A weekend of debauchery and difficult self-reflection in Little Rot
Little Rot by Nigerian author Akwaeke Emezi takes place over a single weekend in the elite underbelly of Lagos, Nigeria.
PHOTOS: AKWAEKE EMEZI, FABER AND FABER
Little Rot is the sixth novel by Nigerian author Akwaeke Emezi, who broke into the literary scene in 2018 with Freshwater, a debut that gained critical acclaim and was nominated for the Women’s Fiction Prize.
Taking place over a weekend in New Lagos, Nigeria, it shows the darker side of the luxurious world of the wealthy elite, highlighting social issues such as male infidelity and the abuses of privilege and power.
In this novel’s patriarchial world, men sleep around and cheat on their partners without remorse. Events kick off when Aima breaks up with Kalu after nearly five years together as there is no marriage proposal: “She had thought she was blessed then, to have a boyfriend like him. He was generous, he adored her, and she was absolutely sure he’d never been unfaithful, which barely any other woman in the city could claim of their own partners.”
Unbeknown to her, Kalu has been unfaithful for two years since the duo moved to Lagos, going to sex parties hosted by his best friend Ahmed. He has little remorse, maintains his hook-ups and fantasises about sleeping with Aima’s best friend Ijendu.
The Straits Times’ Weekly Bestsellers July 6
PHOTOS: FOURTH ESTATE, PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE, SCHOLASTIC
Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors hits No. 1 on the fiction bestsellers list.
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