23 Apr 2014

WORLD BOOK NIGHT 2014: THE BOY WITH THE TOPKNOT.

Unfortunately unlike last year when we were notified in plenty of time what our designated book was this year we weren't notified until fairly late so I'm afraid I wasn't able to read let alone review my given book .......



The story of Sathnam Sanghara who when asked why he did not fictionalise his story instead of laying bare such intimate details of his family's life simply stated he 'absolutely had to write a memoir' #1.This is the tale of a young man of Punjabi descent for whom growing up in Wolverhampton in the eighties is a confusing business until aged twenty four he makes a discovery that changes everything.

Thought of as a beautifully written and important book for Sikhs by one site #2, The Boy With The Topknot (subtitled A Memoir Of Love, Secrets, And Lies In Wolverhampton) is an award winning book regarded by many as a hilarious and heart-rending reinvention of the modern British memoir. #3

Seemingly well received, at the time of writing of the 187 reviews on Amazon.co.uk not one reader rated it less than three stars out of five, many thought of it as a book that despite delving into issues of mental health had the ability to leave them laughing out loud, that though about the life of a British Asian it managed to captivate a much wider audience. #3

On the other hand, felt by others that whilst it was engaging as a memoir the authors own neurosis had the power to irritate #4, that at times it read a little like lad's mag journalism #5. As always its up to the individual to read it and make up their own mind.


#1 THE GUARDIAN
#2 SIKHNET
#3 AMAZON.CO.UK
#4 COLIN MULHERN
#5 PENGUINS READERS GROUP



Copyright: Tracy Terry @ Pen and Paper. All original content on http://pettywitter.blogspot.co.uk/ is created by the website owner, including but not limited to text, design, code, images, photographs and videos are considered to be the Intellectual Property of the website owner, whether copyrighted or not, and are protected by DMCA Protection Services using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Title 17 Chapter 512 (c)(3). Reproduction or re-publication of this content is prohibited without permission. In addition I would also urge that if you are reading this on any other page you contact the original blog owner/reviewer.

19 comments:

Kelly said...

Do you still plan to read and review this?

I read very few memoirs and despite the positive reviews, I'm not sure this is one I'd ever pick up.

Felicity Grace Terry said...

Next on my list Kelly. I will be reading and reviewing it soon.

Alexia561 said...

Strange that they left the notifications so late this year, but I hope you still read & review it as it sounds like an interesting read!

Stephanie@Fairday's Blog said...

I will be curious to read your review. I haven't heard of this one before- but from what you shared it does sound interesting.

Cherie Reich said...

Sounds like an interesting book! And thanks for the reminder that it is World Book Night.

Suko said...

I look forward to reading your thoughts about this book. Have fun on World Book Night!

Rachna Chhabria said...

Thanks for telling me about this book. I had not heard about it. I will add it to my TBR pile.

Literary Feline said...

I look forward to reading your thoughts on this one, Tracy. Enjoy World Book Night!

Melissa (Books and Things) said...

Sorry you didn't get a chance to review this one, but it does sound interesting!

The Bookworm said...

Enjoy this one when you get to it!

Suko said...

Tracy, are you giving away this book tonight? If so, let me know, and I will change my World Book Night 2014 post. Thanks!

So many books, so little time said...

Congrats on being a giver, mine arrived on the Thursday but I couldn't get down to the library til the Friday which of course it was shut for Easter :/

I read mine years ago but will re read.

I do enjoy being a giver

Lainy http://www.alwaysreading.net

Shooting Stars Mag said...

sorry you got your book late, but I'm curious to see what you think!

Melliane said...

It's always so difficult todo what we want to but it sounds like an intenresting book, different from what I usually read.

Brian Joseph said...

I tend not to like when an author has lived a life worth telling, even if the telling is dark, and they fictionalize. I think doing so muddles things. Thus I am glad that this is memoir and not fiction.

Without a doubt serious subjects can leave one laughing.

Barbara said...

What a shame it arrived so late, I will look forward to reading your thoughts about it in due course. Barbara x

Stephanie Faris said...

There is something risky about putting a personal story out there. When someone criticizes a fictional work, it hurts, but it's not the same as criticizing your own story.

Haddock said...

If it is hilarious then I am going to have a look at it. I mean its about time.... the last one I read was by Khushwant Singh :-)

Felicity Grace Terry said...

Thank you all for your comments, I hope you all had a good World Book Night. Unfortunately I didn't get to attend the event we had planned as I was poorly but I've been told it was a huge success with some 70+ students going home with a book.

Suko: Sadly I'm not able to offer the book as a giveaway on my blog. All books were allocated to a WBN event held at the college where my husband works.

Stephanie: I know just what you mean as I have reservations about reading and reviewing such books. I chose to offer this so that we had a range of different genres to offer the students who participated in our WBN event.

Haddock: Nice to have you stop by, its been a while.