By Jonas Jonasson

The Short Take:

A charming, eccentric, and thoroughly implausible tale of an illiterate latrine cleaner in 1960s Soweto whose innate brilliance leads her on an incredible journey. It’s simply loaded with highly enjoyable silliness. You can’t quit turning the pages to see what outrageous turn of events Jonasson will spring on you next.

Why?

What kind of mind builds a book around a poverty stricken child of Soweto, the making of South Africa’s atomic bombs, and a lifelong desire to overthrow the Swedish monarchy? Jonasson. He won me over with The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, and is a master of making the utterly outrageous positively delightful. He points out the ridiculousness of serious topics like racism by making you laugh out loud at its absurdities.

That said, if you read his previous novel, you’ll find this one similar in many ways: creating atom bombs, weaving in genuine historical events and people, and introducing an impossible mix of quirky characters. Depending on your point of view, that’s either the good news or the opposite.

Jonasson is the perfect counterweight to the popular dark novels coming out of Scandinavia. As long as he keeps writing like this, I’ll keep right on reading.

 A Little Plot:

Nombeko might be illiterate and orphaned, but she is exceptionally smart and driven. She manages to become a latrine manager at 14. However, being run over on a sidewalk by a drunk driver is all her fault and makes her an indentured servant to an atomic engineer.

Of course, much happens after that. She’ll befriend three Chinese sisters with a talent for making Han forgeries, a pair of Swedish identical twins with the same name but completely different dreams, and the future president of China, among others.

Just relax and read it. It’s good to be happy.

By Thomas Christopher Greene

The Short Take:

This well-written book leads you down misleading paths yet ultimately delivers a very well structured and satisfying read.

Why?

This story of love and family is told from different perspectives — thankfully, not mixed together like so many books these days. It’s hard to say much about this novel without ruining the reading experience, so my comments will be exceptionally short.

The story line might upset you at some point. Just trust the author. It’s a beautifully crafted book, inspired by the author’s loss of his own infant daughter, though no infants die in this story. It tells of two lives, how they intertwine and how they unravel.

A Little Plot:

Very, very little in this case: the headmaster of a prestigious prep school becomes obsessed with a student. That’s all you’re getting from me. The author’s website is more forthcoming. Click here to visit. Or just read the book. It’s short. It’s excellent.