Afbeelding auteur
10 Werken 49 Leden 7 Besprekingen

Werken van Mark Sampson

Tagged

Algemene kennis

Geslacht
male
Nationaliteit
Canada
Woonplaatsen
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Opleiding
University of Manitoba

Leden

Besprekingen

Annoying.
I really enjoyed Mark Sampson's Sad Peninsular (5 stars), so I leaped at the chance to preview another of his books, The Slip. Unfortunately they couldn't have been more different and this one really infuriated me.

The premise was fine, a well known philosophy professor is invited on to live TV to discuss the collapse of a huge Canadian financial institution, that he had written about in one of his studies. Alongside him on the panel is Cheryl Sneed, his rival of many years. He knows she is going to try to wind him up, but he's had a bad day and loses his rag, making a ridiculous comment about the company they are discussing and then compounding it by insulting Cheryl with a misogynistic remark that the world's feminists immediately pounce upon. Social media goes into full swing and his life is hell for the next several days.

What really annoyed me about this book was that it wasn't really about the nonsense that is social media these days - it was a good 3/4 of the way through the book that Philip actually realised that he'd made anything more than a blunder regarding the company. He had no idea (because he deleted all relevant messages) that the world was upset about the misogynistic comments that he hadn't even realised that he'd made.

I did enjoy the bits about his background, his childhood, how he'd met his wife, his student life and his relationship with an Indian student. These episodes were a breath of fresh air. I also smiled at his hopeless ineptitude with the many remembrance poppies that he lost along the way.
Counterbalancing that were the huge number of unnecessarily intellectual words used by Philip, I don't think my Kindle dictionary has ever worked so hard. Really, he was such an irritating boffin, I could have thrown his own book at him!
… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
DubaiReader | 1 andere bespreking | Sep 5, 2017 |
A warm, amusing look at a disastrous week in the life of self-absorbed philosopher and author Philip Sharpe, who absent-mindedly makes two offensive remarks during a widely-seen interview and can't understand why people are so upset. He thinks they're reacting to the first slip (a philosophical no-no) and doesn't even remember the second, the real gaff: a sexist comment of monumental proportions that is what all the fuss is about. He refuses to read all the ensuing hub-bub so doesn't catch on, and his answers to reporters and others are therefore completely tone-deaf and only fuel the public furor. Narrated in confusion and irritation by the main character, who gives his readers colorful renderings of his background, marriage and career, this tale of the-week-from-hell is really funny. Not guffaw funny, but internal "oh, brother, when will this guy get his act together?" funny. I actually had a hard time putting it down, because I kept waiting for him to figure it out. Recommended.… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
auntmarge64 | 1 andere bespreking | Apr 7, 2017 |
We move too fast at times to take notice of things. We need a device for us to stop and refer to in order to take notice of where things are coming from or going to. That is what a good line of verse makes us do. Take note of something that we may have taken for granted. And that is exactly what Mark Sampson’s book entitled Weathervane does for us. Points things out to us to show us where things come from or are going too.

http://tinyurl.com/j4pnvcb… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
steven.buechler | Apr 7, 2016 |
Hard hitting.

This powerful novel has two fascinating stories to tell. The recent-time narrative relates the experiences of Michael, a teacher of English, who leaves Canada under a cloud, to work in Korea. He encounters a culture where sex is readily available, but at what cost to the young women who are offering themselves?
This is interspersed with the harrowing WWII story of Eun-Young, a Japanese comfort woman who was raped thirty to forty times each day, in order to keep the invading Japanese invading forces 'happy'.

I remember watching a Korean woman talking about her experiences as a comfort woman back in the nineties, when the full horror of this treatment came out into the open. Her unbelievable life-story has stayed with me, yet this is the first time I have come across a novel that has tackled the subject.

The parallel with modern prostitution in Korea makes for some interesting comparisons. I really related to the character of Michael, who didn't just accept that he was entitled to whatever was available. He considered the women themselves and decided he couldn't accept the proposed 'norm'. Michael has a somewhat rocky relationship with Jin, who is understandably suspicious of all Western men.
The two threads of the narrative are linked by Jin's great aunt, who we meet at the end of the book.

Like Michael, Mark Sampson also spent several years teaching English in Korea, so he writes first-hand about the behaviour and views of the ex-pat community in today's Korea.

I would highly recommend this well researched and powerful book.
… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
DubaiReader | 3 andere besprekingen | Jan 11, 2015 |

Statistieken

Werken
10
Leden
49
Populariteit
#320,875
Waardering
4.1
Besprekingen
7
ISBNs
24