Nathan Ripley

At the turn of the 20th century, Louise Wilks is caring for her husband, Dr. Edward Wilks, who is ailing from a mysterious wasting disease. And I do mean wasting, as his body is gruesomely melting and falling away. Not always a faithful husband, it is assumed that he has contracted a syphillis-like disease, but that couldn't be further from the truth.

There's a lot of atmosphere in this slim volume, all very Gothic and dripping in body horror. I'm not going to pretend to understand everything that takes place here, and that's ok. Really takes the idea of a marriage and the term, "till death do us part", to a whole new level.… (meer)

This book has an interesting concept and makes some very valid points regarding the South Asian diaspora (points which, incidentally, apply in varying degrees to all diasporas). However, I was more interested in what Ruthnum had to say about curry and how it changed than the state of diaspora media six years ago. I enjoyed the first section—"eating"—more than the following two—"reading" and "race." Perhaps part of that is because I am part of the Asian diaspora myself, and so I already have internalized a lot of what he discusses in the "race" section? Or perhaps because we as a bookish community are trying already to normalize the wider diversity in fiction that he dreams about in the "reading" section. We may not have reached the ideal state of diverse media yet, but we have made big improvements in the past few years that were not evident in 2017 when this was written.

I do recommend reading this, especially for white readers who want to better understand what members of brown communities experience when it comes to storytelling and representation. However, do keep in mind that it reads very much like an essay. I don't mind that in my non-fiction, but it's something to be aware of.… (meer)