Word: readerly
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...wrest Blueboy, the child whore, from the clutches of an American pederast who is spoon-feeding him ice cream at a sidewalk restaurant. Caracera's discomfort in the situation is presented exquisitely, leading him to ask the same questions about his own motives as have been nagging the reader...
...book's main strength is Ong's ability to create allegories that embody emotional truths in a suspenseful narrative. Caracera's attempt to give away his fortune is a straightforward symbol of America's historical efforts to do good?and demand love?throughout the world. Yet the reader believes in him as a complex human being, so the point is conveyed without preaching...
...There are too many such false notes. None of them are egregious enough individually to lose the reader, but collectively they undermine the tale's impact. Another example: although $500,000 is a lot of money for most people, as the biggest legacy of a legendary sugar tycoon?representing the wealthiest class of a nation in which the divide between rich and poor yawns wide?it's a weirdly under-the-top figure...
...when she was an innocent young girl and leads us through the pivotal moments of her life. It's not unlike watching a Formula 1 race: there are lots of sharp twists and turns but it only gets really good when somebody crashes. Luckily (at least for the reader), this story is filled with wrecks. Niuniu's father abandons the family. Her teacher sexually assaults her. A fire kills her lesbian lover. Her boyfriend leaves her. Illness takes her mother. The pain of these tragedies awakens Niuniu to the reality of life in Beijing, where men are "wolves" and women...
...when it comes to getting tens of thousands of fiction-glutted Indians to read something mind broadening. The next announcement by Amitav Ghosh that he has a new novel to present to his countrymen?with multitudes of unexpected data tucked inside, ready to overwhelm even the most information-resistant reader with a sense of the magic of facts?will rank as the most important event in India's literary calendar that year...