2024 the best movies 21st century review

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A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice

BOOKER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR: 17 short stories “about belonging, desire, and the boundaries of love” from “one of the 20th century’s great female writers”—with a foreword by Anita Desai (Washington Post).

“Jhabvala has Alice Munro’s gift for making you feel you’re reading a novel in miniature.” —Seattle Times

Nobody has written so powerfully of the relationship between and within India and the Western middle classes than Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. In this selection of stories, chosen by her surviving family, her ability to tenderly and humorously view the situations faced by three (sometimes interacting) cultures—European, post–Independence Indian, and American—is never more acute.

In “A Course of English Studies,” a young woman arrives at Oxford from India and struggles to adapt, not only to the sad, stoic object of her infatuation, but also to a country that seems so resistant to passion and color. In the wrenching “Expiation,” the blind, unconditional love of a cloth shop owner for his wastrel younger brother exposes the tragic beauty and foolishness of human compassion and faith. The wry and triumphant “Pagans” brings us middle–aged sisters Brigitte and Frankie in Los Angeles, who discover a youthful sexuality in the company of the languid and handsome young Indian, Shoki. This collection also includes Jhabvala’s last story, “The Judge’s Will,” which appeared in The New Yorker in 2013 after her death.

The profound inner experience of both men and women is at the center of Jhabvala’s writing: she rivals Jane Austen with her impeccable powers of observation. With an introduction by her friend, the writer Anita Desai, At the End of the Century celebrates a writer’s astonishing lifetime gift for language, and leaves us with no doubt of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s unique place in modern literature.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07DFJ6F5B
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Counterpoint (December 4, 2018)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 4, 2018
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1898 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 375 pages
Reviewer: Mature Shopper
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: One of the most intriguing collections of short stories I've read in a long time.
Review: Jhabvala's restrained, understated writing makes her story telling more powerful as it draws the reader into the richness and diversity of Indian culture. I couldn't help thinking that there had to be autobiographical elements in these stories, particularly with the inevitable conflicts of disparate societies. The universal and the particular are blended in such amazing ways that the reader thinks about them long after each story has been read.

Reviewer: Neera Kapahi
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Beautifully written and insightful
Review: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala was born in Cologne, Germany. Her family later moved to England where she met her future husband, an architect from India.Many of her stories are based in India or have some kind of reference to India. Although the book is beautifully written and has interesting character studies and observations, the stories were a mixed bag. Most stories were compelling and I could not put them down - a few were tedious and tended to drag.

Reviewer: Rosie
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Satisfied
Review: Perfect

Reviewer: bktaylor
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good read
Review: A window into another culture and it's contradictions; stories of love and loss and the compromises necessary to get at least some of what you need.

Reviewer: nelly nancy
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: lovely
Review: an absolute delight. every story was a treasure

Reviewer: Firoza J
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Showcases the writing genius of an exceptional author.
Review: Beautifully written stories. Wonderful introduction by Anita Desai.

Reviewer: Veronica Peel
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Much enjoyed
Review: Short stories at their best.....leaving you with the end unknotted....

Reviewer: MB
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Vivid, varied and vibrant collection of short stories.

Reviewer: robert
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: If u find India fascinating buy

Reviewer: recluse
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: これはruth jhabvala (RPJ)の新作ではありません。悲しいことにRPJ自身は2013年に既にこの世を去っていたようです。これはRPJの作品のanthorogyです。もっとも誰が選んだのかは明記されていないようですが。RPJにはいくつかのanthorogyがありますが、その代表的なものは、「out of india」Out of India: Selected Storiesでしょうか。実は私自身もこの「out of india」で1990年代初めに初めて彼女を知り、彼女の他の作品を渉猟したものでした。今回のanthrorogyは購入を迷ったのですが、抵抗できない価格が一瞬ネット上で提示されていたため、ある程度の重複は覚悟の上で購入しました。購入して、手持ちのRPJの著作と丁寧に比較してみると、前述の「out of inidai」「My nine lives」My Nine Lives: Chapters Of A Possible Past「A Lovesong for Inidia」A Lovesong for India、「East into Upper East」East into Upper East: Plain Tales from New York and New Delhiと相当の重複が見受けられ、全編17のうち私にとって初見ともいうべき作品はわずか4篇という少なさでした。ただ本書にはAnita DesaiのIntroductionがついており、これが素晴らしい。個人的なrecollectionを中心に据えたこのIntroductionは非常にpersonalなもので、RBJとの50年代後半のOld delhiでの出会いに始まり、RBJの長い文筆生活やそこに見られるRPJの思いの変化などが簡潔にまとめられており、またNaipaulやKushwant Singhなどの作家とのRPJのユーモラスな邂逅のエピソードなども収められています。そういえば、RPJがドイツからの英国への亡命者Generation Exodus: The Fate of Young Jewish Refugees from Nazi Germanyだったように、Anita Desai自身が、インド人と中欧出身のユダヤ人の混血Baumgartner's Bombayだったわけです。今回は重複を覚悟の上で、インドを舞台とした1980年以前の作品（全編中やく半分）をじっくりと読んでみました。いうまでもなく人間の記憶は頼りないもので、どれもがあたかも初めて読むような印象を与えてくれました。思い起こしてみると、彼女の作品には明確な起承転結はないのです。たしかに主人公は存在し、そのほとんどはインドの現実の中に放り出されています。でも現実は変わるわけでもなく、主人公自身の運命や立ち位置にも作品中では大きな変化なるものは起きません。そこにあるのはインドの現実の中で日々生起する一瞬のシーンの描写なのです。その主人公はインドの大家族制度の下での女性であったり、インド独立後もインドにstay on することを選んだイギリス女性やいろいろな経緯（結婚やヒッピーでの放浪その他）でインドにたどり着いた非インド人の女性たちなのです。どの女性もいわゆるアメリカ流のpositive thinkingとは別種の女性たちです。彼女たちがインドの歴史や社会（それは魅力的なものでもありおぞましいものでもあるわけで）との折り合いをどうつけていくのか、その繰り返されてきた格闘のプロセスを繊細にperceptiveに描くことに、RPJは自身の精力をかたむけていたというわけです。それこそが彼女が自身のidentityを維持し、インド人にならずに済むただ一つの手段だったというわけです。もっともこの格闘はRPJにとっても過酷なものであり、彼女自身後にNYにその生活の一部を移し、作品もForesterやHenry Jamesの映画作品のscript writing The Films of Merchant Ivoryやインドを離れたものに変化していったというのは、それはまた別の話です。

Reviewer: Dr N C Edul
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: A great collection of stories by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, a very talented writer. Strongly recommended!

Reviewer: Ka
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: charmingly observed tales of cultural struggles to assimilate