The Naked Island

Rating:
Summary: intriguing and beautiful
Review: perhaps the best thing about this novel is the wonderful and beautiful writing style of the author. of course the plot is quite spectacular as well. it's starts with a young woman, betrayed by her lover and her sister, who decides to travel. maybe she thinks travel will cure her lovesickness but the farther she goes from home the more lost she becomes -- through europe, into india and nepal and to singapore where she meets the malay porter. then a forbidden love affair between a jew and a muslim and the introduction of spirits and gurus and death plans. It's intriguing and so beautifully written that you will stay up late to finish the story. enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: poetic, strange, kaballistic & beautiful
Review: This book fascinated me. It takes the reader from a farm in Ontario, Canada to India, Nepal, Singapore and Australia, but the real voyage here is within the world of heart and soul. The writing is distilled and poetic, and the author's voice is strong and original. Wasserman has managed to write about spirits in a way that is believable and not at all hokey -- a major achievement. I believe she is drawing on Kaballah at times, and the story's heart is the love story between Jewish Canadian Rachel Gold and Muslim Malay Kifli Talib. These two are connected by two spirits but also by their physical connection, made at exotic Raffles Hotel in Singapore. The romance of these hotel scenes is perfect -- sensual, passionate, with the edge of fear that is always present when two people lose themselves in one another. And beneath all of that, the menace of the demon who possesses Kifli and threatens Rachel. You won't be able to put down this book.