Granta 156: Interior view
A mixed bag of fiction and non-fiction but enough to entertain and ask questions.
Category Books
Book reviews
Tracking the ideological shift in equality
This book is an analytical examination of the trans debate from acritical point of view. This is an intellectual anlaysis rather than a manifesto. As the subtitle alludes the book attempts to take the ideology of trans identity and apply it to what is happening in reality for people who change identity, children and puberty and the societal impact of men identifying as women i.e. sex and biology versus gender and identity.
President goes under cover: The president’s daughter by Bill Clinton and James Patterson
I read this novel after enjoying their first joint effort: “The President is missing” in which the American president, is challenged by the very topical real world threat of a deadly cyberterrorist attack. However, it lost its way towards the end when the problem is solved by the president making a solo trip to a baseball stadium.
The Martian befriends a Crab: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
I have read Artemis, which I enjoyed more than Weir purists, but not the Martian so I was looking forward to another interesting science fiction novel based on the near future. Notwithstanding that, many The Martian fans found Artemis a dreadful follow up.
Free speech and why it matters by Andrew Doyle – Checking our thinking
Early on Andrew Doyle sets out how the definition of social justice has changed due to a new identity-based conceptualisation bringing with it a mistrust of unfettered speech. He goes on to point out how this has given us the confusing and rare phenomenon: the well-intentioned authoritarian. With authoritarianism comes censorship – or as it has now been termed – cancellation
Granta 155: The Best of Young Spanish Language Novelists 2: An Indigenous Take
There were high hopes with this Spanish literature issue. Having read latin American novels before I've enjoyed the creativity especially Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Radar 3 May 2021: Granta, Interstellar, European Super League
Trying to impose an American model of financing football in Britain is a broken one
Intrusion by Ken MacLeod: dystopian rules
Intrusion is a meditation on a near future where life is regulated with a high level of morality and ethics. Extrapolated ideas on what that may look like a quite restrained with the occasional AI toy and truck. The main…
Granta 154: I’ve been away for a while – Remembering our mortality
With reportage and memoir for the industrial revolution, cholera, and coronavirus pandemic and fiction about a wandering father this was an inconsistent edition but with enough to justify it.
Klara and the sun by Kazuo Ishiguro: A human’s best friend
We are only at the beginning of AI in real life, but fiction is much further down the road of debate. This novel was an opportunity from an esteemed writer, Kazuo Ishiguro, attempts to bring to life the soul of an AI. In this case, Klara, an Artificial Friend with exceptional observational qualities. Can one be both artificial and a friend?