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UnderratedReads is devoted to discovering underrated books and under-represented authors. We highlight hidden gems from around the world–honest reviews only, never pay-to-play.
Category Archives: World Literature
Outside the Lines-Ameera Patel
(reviewed by JD Jung) “She’s pregnant with a domestic worker’s son, who has matric but whose skill is drug peddling. How did she get herself into this?” Her parents want to control the situation, but Farhana doesn’t know what she … Continue reading
Posted in African Literature, Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, World Literature
Tagged contemporary fiction, culture, drug addiction, Johannesburg, south Africa
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It Is Wood, It Is Stone – Gabriella Burnham
(reviewed by JD Jung) “I don’t even think I want to flee anymore. I thought that was what I wanted, but I think more so I wanted to disappear. I wanted to become so unburdened that I would actually become … Continue reading
Posted in Latin American Literature, Modern Literary Fiction
Tagged Brazil, class, romance. women's fiction
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The Man in the Cellar – Palle Rosenkrantz
(Reviewed by Heidi A. Swan) I was captivated by the voice of the author from the very beginning. It is a translation of the best-selling novel by the Danish novelist, Palle Rosenkrantz, and was written over one hundred years ago. … Continue reading
Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, Lost and almost forgotten, Scandinavian Literature, World Literature
Tagged Danish literature, mystery
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Lives on Fire – Rosie Scott
(Reviewed by JD Jung) When I travel to a new city, I love to pop into independent bookstores. So, when I ran across Hard To Find Bookshop, a second-hand bookstore in Auckland, New Zealand, I just had to enter this … Continue reading
Posted in Australian Literature, Lost and almost forgotten
Tagged infidelity, love, marriage, women's fiction
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My Neighbour Osama Bin Laden – Yslar Tatuky
(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned What happens when one puts Osama bin Laden and Salman Rushdie at the same dinner table? Yslar Tatuky is such a person as he has grand, though idealistic, hopes for humanity in his novel, My … Continue reading
Posted in Historical Fiction, Humor & Satire, Philosophical reads, Politics and Social Justice, Slavic Literature, World Issues, World Literature
Tagged Georgia, Marx, Osama bin Laden, philosophy, Salman Rushdie, Soviet Union
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The 6:41 to Paris – Jean-Philippe Blondel, (Translated from the French by Alison Anderson)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “What I feel now is pure hatred. And that surprises me—because I’m not like that, particularly toward someone I haven’t seen in what must be at least twentyfive years…I can’t help but sneak looks at him.” … Continue reading
Posted in French Literature, Modern Literary Fiction, World Literature
Tagged French literature
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Sleepless Night – Margriet de Moor (Translated from the Dutch by David Doherty)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “The love, the hatred, the fascination with everything he had or had not done, fascination that spiraled into fervid curiosity. Into obsession. Into madness.” A teacher combats her insomnia by baking cakes in the middle of … Continue reading
Posted in World Literature
Tagged death, Dutch literature, marriage, short books
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