Short reviews

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The final three linked stories could be read as a novella. I thought these were the strongest of the bunch.

Ultimately I found these stories a bit 'samey' after a while, and now that I flip back through them quickly, I see nothing very memorable.

Lahiri is an excellent writer and there are some glimpses of brilliance and despair laced through the stories. I enjoyed reading these but now, after some time has passed, I can't quite remember why.

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It was cute, but it didn't pack much of a punch.

I found the characters a bit flat and there was never really any clear motivation for any of them to act the way they did. They just seemed thrown together and told to act a part. They seemed like inexperienced actors trying out a new script.

I expected it to be more of a laugh. Instead it was only vaguely entertaining and mostly annoying. I think it would have been better with more tractors.

Foreshadowing led me to believe that SOMETHING HORRIBLE would transpire and even that turned out to be only vaguely threatening.

It was one of those books I had to force myself to finish. Luckily this wasn't too difficult.

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book made me want to run long distances barefoot in the desert. And make chia shakes.

At first glance I thought this book would be pretty cheesy -- sappy while attempting to be inspirational. Far from it. It is well written, hilarious, gripping, full of wacky characters and bizarre situations, and frankly awe-inspiring.

My only quibble is that the Tarahumara never got to 'speak' or represent themselves. Everything we see of them is through white eyes. However, there are clearly reasons for that and for not exposing the tribe too much to outsiders.

All the stuff about early humans evolving to be long distance runners was completely fascinating. I need to read more nonfiction.


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