Annie Kapur
Film and Writing (M.A)
British Born Punjabi Girl.
Focus in Film: Adaptation from Literature, Horror Filmmaking Styles and Auteur Cinema
Twitter: @AnnieApprox
IG: @AnnieApproximately
Book Review: "The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue" by V.E Schwab
V.E Schwab is an amazing writer of fantasy and a brilliant constructer of stories. Whilst I was in university, I would love treating myself to the odd book by V.E Schwab in order to escape my literary studies for a while and honestly, this is possibly the best book she has ever written. “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue” is written with such incredible and detailed precision and attention to order that you feel like you are moving through a series of events that happens so seamlessly in your mind. It does not jolt from one to the other, it does not flash from 2014 all the way back to the 1700s. Instead, it presents you with two simultaneous stories running alternatively together and makes it very, very simple to understand why it moves like it does. Personally, I love this post-modern structure to writing (and if you have read some of my other book reviews then you will know what I am talking about when I say ‘love’). The novel is a masterpiece of the genre and I hope that you too, choose to pick this up.
Annie KapurPublished 27 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Waiting Years" by Fumiko Enchi
When I first read a book by Fumiko Enchi, it was "Masks" and honestly, I thought that it was the peak of her writing until I read this one. Little known to me at the time, this book entitled "The Waiting Years" was actually far more famous than the one I had initially read. Winning multiple awards and translated really well - this novel basically sets the bar for any sort of period drama literature of Japan. Fumiko Enchi's writing style is in no way shy when it comes to talking about female sexuality, especially when the novel is set within a time when it was considered taboo to even look upon the topic let alone talk about it. Enchi is incredibly open with her criticism of the male ego and how women are told to be not only subservient but also willing to do whatever it takes to keep the bond strong even if the marriage itself has already started to break and crumble. Fumiko Enchi's self-awareness in her writing, her way of giving voice to women who would have been without a voiced opinion and her manner of writing style which includes long, overwhelming moments of sadness and contemplation is only part and parcel to this short but wonderful book.
Annie KapurPublished 28 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "House of Glass" by Hadley Freeman
For years, people have been ostracised because of various reasons and now, Hadley Freeman has told the story of ostracisation within a community of the 20th century that hindered all kinds of developments, which covers a family saga of cultural styles from the early 1900s all the way through to the present day and which tells us the story of many people who came to terms with who they were but ultimately had to change.
Annie KapurPublished 29 days ago in Humans
Book Review: "Three" by Ann Quin
Ann Quin is one of the greatest experimental writers of all time, her greatest and most well-known work being "Berg" and yet, "Three" - in my opinion, is just as great. There is something amazing about the way in which she combines speech and movement in this dance of life that makes everything seem to flow from one moment to the next, even the most tense of times can be followed by the most relaxing ones. However, it is the tense times that seem to go along beat by beat, the movements being so extremely described with the intent of making the reader feel each and every part of the tense moment. The overwhelming nature of these movements often cause the reader to believe the character is descending into obsession and this is most definitely true for the woman of our story - Ruth. Her husband - Leon - not expecting what is to come.
Annie KapurPublished 30 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Long Petal of the Sea" by Isabel Allende
Isabel Allende’s writing has always been some source of comfort and emotion to me. I first discovered her when I read her book “Eva Luna” whilst I was in school - I must have been about seventeen at the time and afterwards, I did not think of reading her again until I fell back in love with her writing in university. I was twenty years’ old and I had just finished reading a book called “The House of the Spirits” - which I now believe to be her magnum opus. A heart-wrenching book set in a family saga that begins with the death of a woman called Rosa the Beautiful. Throughout the novel, we see fortune telling and spirituality, war and death, love and conflict that take over almost four generations of a family whilst the brooding Esteban sits back and watches as his life crumbles to the ground. “The Long Petal of the Sea” is not a lot different though it is not as long. Instead, this one is set during the Spanish Civil War and starts off with a doctor who treats the wounded. We get these moments in which we are stopped to contemplate before the reality of the war comes rushing back. When the doctor’s father dies and both he and his brother return to his bedside, he must make his father a promise to take his mother and the pianist away from the war. Unable to say no, but unable to leave his post of being a doctor, this book travels through space and time of the late 1930s and generations ahead as we meet people who would not have existed if it was not for an alternative plan in the mind of our main character.
Annie KapurPublished about a month ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Thing We Lost in the Fire" by Mariana Enriquez
"Things We Lost in the Fire" is the first book I am reading by this author and my gosh, am I excited for what is to come! It's an excellent form of horror in which the psychological implications of the text will disturb your mind with nightmarish images of things that were not meant to be. The writing style is concise and yet terrifying throughout as it goes deep into the graphic descriptions of things with a concentration on the physical happenings plus the psychological implications it puts upon the witnesses. A brilliant book filled with weird frights, it tells of horror stories revolving around women and set in the beautiful city of Buenos Aires. It proves not only that there is more fantastic works to come from this author but it also shows us that troubling, terrifying and strange things can happen, even in one of the world's most beautiful cities.
Annie KapurPublished about a month ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Salt Slow" by Julia Armfield
I originally heard of this book when it was featured on the Belletrist Book Club and if I am going to be honest, because I had so much on my TBR at the time, I did not give it a read. Instead, I waited until now for some reason when I really should have read it before. Why? because it is brilliantly written, dark and twisted with a key element of psychological horror which kind of makes you uncomfortable in the best of ways. Only a few times have I ever found a novel or a set of short stories has made me truly uncomfortable and this one is definitely within that realm.
Annie KapurPublished about a month ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Fall of the House of Byron" by Emily Brand
Lord Byron is one of my favourite authors ever and is actually my favourite poet. I have spent years pouring over Byron's poetry ever since I was thirteen and discovered the "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage". When I was twenty years' old, I got to see a handwritten letter by Lord Byron and famously burst into tears in front of my friends. One of the most beautiful things I have witnessed to date and honestly, I would not trade it for the world. Lord Byron was a miraculous human being, capable of great achievements. He died whilst in Greece, fighting for the country's independence and living out the heroism he had always written about once again. But George Gordon, the 6th Baron Byron, better known as the poet Lord Byron - was the 6th in his lineage, so there were some that came before him. As we look into this well-researched book by Emily Brand, we get to see the extent of the family that is, in my opinion after reading the book, 'mad, bad and dangerous to know...'
Annie KapurPublished about a month ago in Poets
