Okay so I was really excited because I loved Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown. And in a lot of ways, this book is a continuation of the themes he explored on the show, of mocking the rich and the wanton and seeing the beauty of little known myths and under-appreciated customs. Built around the premise of an ancient Japanese game of nerves, each player takes a turn telling a horrifying story leading to the climatic ending. It’s not the best illustrated comic, nor the most original stories, but it’s entertaining & packs a few good recipes too.

This collection reminds me so much of George Saunders, the dark humor, the absurdist yet realist view on life, and the Black History museum episode of Black Mirror. Racism portrayed through the stories seems so bizarre, so cruel a concept that it can’t be real. The twist comes when you realize that the world today is only a step away from becoming the world in the novel.

Be prepared to cry as you read this heartwrenching memoir, written in honest, simple terms.

To be honest, it’s been a while since I read a Discworld novel and this was definitely not one of the best ones in the series. Sure, there are more twists than M Night Shamalayan movie but ultimately something feels missing? Perhaps it’s the fact that the book relies on you to recall past characters from other books or the fact that the plot is too unpredictable or the fact that the characters are never fully developed...

To me this seemed like the book that almost was, almost a love story, almost an environmentalist rant, almost a cross examination of race and environmental conservation in the Sunderbans, almost so many things but by the same token none of them.

I found this book bizarre if I’m being honest. There are so many plot twists and bizarre love scenes which seem to placed there just for the reason of being there. Moreover, the language was not interesting either.

As always a pleasure to read