Damian Kelleher - Literary reviews and essays

The latest addition to the website is my review of Hungarian author Antal Szerb's novel, The Queen's Necklace.

The Queen's Necklace is one of those very rare works that are utterly original and fascinating because of it. It is a history, detailing a scandal concerning Queen Marie-Antoinette in the years before the French Revolution. Szerb is anything but dry, however - he is a playful and witty author and is immensely well-read without ever becoming tiresome. Absolutely worth reading for history buffs of that period, but also as an introduction to an exceptional literary talent.

You can read the review here.

The latest addition to the website is my review of Polish Nobel Laureate Henryk Sienkiewicz's novel, Sielanka.

Sielanka is a very minor work by Sienkiewicz, one that seems put together largely for Christian readers. That is not meant as a slight - the two stories surely work well as religious pieces - but as a showcase for Sienkiewicz's talent they fall short. A curious, and very short, collection, but not really all that worthwhile.

Works by Henryk Sienkiewicz under review include:
---So Runs the World
---Stories by Foreign Authors: Polish, Greek, Belgian, Hungarian

You can read the review here.

The latest addition to the website is my review of Egyptian author Nawal El Saadawi's novel, She Has No Place in Paradise.

She Has No Place in Paradise is a sad and sobering collection of stories concerning the plight, and sometimes fortunes, of women in Egypt. Though it deals with sexuality, oppression, and the limited opportunities available to women, this collection is anything but bleak. Instead, Saadawi has created a series of fascinating women who look inside themselves for inspiration and stimulation instead of the outside world, which offers only pain, humiliation, and shame.

You can read the review here.

The latest addition to the website is my review of Icelandic author and Nobel Laureate Halldór Laxness' novel, The Atom Station.

The Atom Station is set during the politically charged time when Iceland was considering (and eventually accepted) the United State's offer to set up a military base in their country. Laxness blends political satire with the story of Ugla, a wonderful young girl who travels to Reykjavík to learn more about the world than what the stories and sagas of Iceland's history have told her. This is a fine novel, and an excellent starting point for Laxness' body of work.

You can read the review here.

The latest addition to the website is my review of American author Richard Powers' novel, The Gold Bug Variations.

The Gold Bug Variations is a novel so wrapped up in the author's extensive research and willingness to show it, that he has forgotten to include meaningful characters and a plot of any kind. Turgid, slow, prone to falling off the tracks and in love with its own vocabulary, this is Powers at his very worse. His later novels are better, but steer clear of this one unless you have a fondness for DNA sequencing and genetics. Even then, you should probably read a non-fiction work instead.

You can read the review here.

Other works by Richard Powers under review include:
---The Echo Maker
---The Time of Our Singing

The latest addition to the website is my review of Algerian author Yasmina Khadra's novel, Dead Man's Share.

Dead Man's Share is an interesting murder mystery novel. On one hand, it is a complicated, plot-heavy thriller with bodies, violence and intrigue galore. On the other, it's a scathing indictment of the political situation in Algeria after Independence in the 1950s, and before the horrible civil war that began in the late 1980s. Yasmina Khadra, the feminine pseudonym of self-exiled Algerian Army officer Mohammed Moulessehoul, has unpeeled the bandage placed upon the festering sore of Algeria's immediate history, and shown it to the world in all its stink and terror. Well recommended, though I wish it were written better.

You can read the review here.