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The Hole Review
The Hole discribes the story of Oghi, a man that suffers a car accident, loses his wife and ends up in the care of his mother-in-law. Throughout the story we get to see Oghi reflect on his past and present circumstances as he faces the difficulties of recovery. What starts out as a sympathetic character, slowly unravels into flaws and mistakes that make you wonder if his suffering is well deserved.
We are simotaniasly shown how his mother-in-law slowly and siglehandedly unravels his life and health. The question in the story being, how and why? As she digs up her daughter's garden you can see that she is slowly losing her mind and plotting, but you never have a firm grasp on why she's doing it. From neglect to humiliation she throrougly makes Oghi's life a living hell.
The book tackles a lot of interesting topics such as death, ableism, classism and infidelity. You can say Oghi was a man with qestionable morals as you go along with the story.
He starts of as a doting husband with a loving wife. Speaking of his deceased wife as if she was a dreamer and idealist that balanced his life of blandness. Then turns into a bitter husband succumbing to his spoiled and privilaged wife. Explaining how she couldn't hold on to anything for too long before giving it up and turning to something else completely while neglecting him. And ending as an unfaithful man who is only sorry that he was caught.
I found that what made this book so interesting is the fact that this can happen to and be anyone's life. Sometimes you just need time to realize how unhappy and miserable you really are underneath the rose colored glasses.
As a reader, the book starts off a bit slow and boring, but as it progresses I found myself wondering what would happen next. Oghi is a wonderfully complex character that shows how small things can seem until it's too late.
Cultural Dark Academia
After my last post about the lack of representation in academia, I felt it neccessary to provide some examples of what I’m talking about. Obviously there are more countries in the world than I can list and provide books for, so for a quick list this is what I got. !! Keep researching !! If you have any more books by POC please reply them !! If a country isn’t listed, that doesn’t mean it’s not important, this is just what I could get together real quick. If I made any mistakes, please let me know, we’re all learning. We need to help each other end eurocentrism in academia, so value representation and educate yourselves 💓💓💓
Chinese:
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
The Dream of the Red Chamber
The Water Margin
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
The Journey to the West
The Scholars
The Peony Pavilion
Border Town by Congwen Shen
Half of Man is Woman by Zhang Xianliang
To Live by Yu Hua
Ten Years of Madness by agent Jicai
The Field of Life and Death & Tales of Hulan River by Xiao Hong
Japanese:
A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oë
Pakistani:
Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid
Ghulam Bagh by Mirza Athar Baig
Masterpieces of Urdu Nazm by K. C. Kanda
Irani/Persian:
Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji
Savushun by Simin Daneshvar
Anything by Rumi
The Book of Kings by Ferdowsi
The Rubiyat by Omar Khayyam
Shahnameh (translation by Dick Davis)
Afghan:
Earth and Ashes by Atiq Rahimi
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Indian:
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Aithihyamala, Garland of Legends by Kottarathil Sankunni
The Gameworld Trilogy by Samir Basu
Filipino:
Twice Blessed by Ninotchka Rosca
The Last Time I Saw Mother by Arlene J. Chai
Brazilian:
Night at the Tavern by Álvares de Azevedo
The Seven by André Vianco
Don Casmurro by Machado de Assis
Colombian:
Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Delirio by Laura Restrepo
¡Que viva la música! by Andrés Caicedo
The Sound of Things Falling by Jim Gabriel Vásquez
Mexican:
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolf Anaya
Adonis Garcia/El Vampiro de la Colonia Roma by Luis Zapata
El Complot Mongol by Rafael Bernal
Egyptian:
The Cairo Trilogy by Nahuib Mahfouz
The Book of the Dead
Nigerian:
Rosewater by Tade Thompson
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Malian:
The Epic of Sundiata
Senegalese:
Poetry of Senghor
Native American:
The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King
Starlight by Richard Wagamese
Almanac of the Dead by L. Silko
Fools Crow by James Welch
Australian Aborigine:
Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe
First Footprints by Scott Cane
My Place by Sally Morgan
American//Modern:
Real Life by Brandon Taylor
Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Internment by Samir’s Ahmed
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurtson
Rivers of London Series by Ben Aaronovitch