Sue Bond
Sue Bond is a writer and reviewer living in Australia.
The Distance Between Us by Maggie O'Farrell
SUE BOND | 24 April 2004There are many characters and interlocking stories in THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US, but the main one for readers of the Asian Review of Books is probably Jake, who sets out to Scotland from Hong Kong to find some trace of this father he has never known.
Jake has grown up in Hong Kong with his mother, who left for New Zealand when Jake was twenty-one. He is described, as a child, wondering what the opposite of a banana is,... [ more ]
Black Sheep: Journey to Borroloola by Nicholas JoseThe Red Thread
SUE BOND | 09 March 2004Both of NICHOLAS JOSE's BLACK SHEEP: JOURNEY TO BORROLOOLA and THE RED THREAD involve journeys and the threads of connection. In the first, he travels into the Gulf country of northern Australia to trace a possible relative, Roger Jose, and explore the complexities of both the man and the land.
SUE BOND | 03 November 2003...you remember that in Shanghai they used to wrap tomatoes in tissue paper. Like this story. Like the way everything in history is always wrapped in a tissue; of words, of memories, of lies.
To try to distinguish lies from truth, or fact from fiction, in BRIAN CASTRO's new book SHANGHAI DANCING is a waste of time and ruins the experience of reading. The author states that it is a 'fictional autobiography',... [ more ]
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
SUE BOND | 19 July 2003I often ignore -- or cringe -- when I read, the advertising blurbs on books. KHALED HOSSEINI's THE KITE RUNNER came with the words 'breathtaking', 'in the tradition of epic blockbusters', 'love', 'loyalty' and so forth, making me expect something very different to what I ended up reading.
THE KITE RUNNER is an outstanding first novel, devoid of the cliches the blurb might have presaged. The characters have life and... [ more ]
