Today I finished reading, and listening to the Love Wife, by Gish Jen. A good story about an American Asian family, and its joys, challenges, and cultural influences. These dynamics are enhanced by the fact that this is not exactly a normal biological nuclear family; yet it seems this author wants to communicate that this is the new normal--families that grow or are created in a wide range of permutations and connections. Strong, likable characters and good plot. The audio book was especially good!
Another cultural success in the realm of audio books is Shantaram, a comprehensive saga of an Australian scholar adventurer in Mumbai, India. David Gregory Roberts leads a magnificent, eloquent (fictionalized autobiographical)tour among the layered cultures of this city's life and power structure, read in different voices which beautifully portary the Kiwis, Africans, Pakistanis and Indians of various castes and regions. Though somewhat patriarchal, the book educated me on the irrepressible vitality even of the slums, and the negotiations between the underworld, Bollywood, gun runners, police anthorities, drug dealers and canny expats.
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