ON JAVA ROAD by #LawrenceOsborne is hyped as a tense, atmospheric mystery set amid Hong Kong's political tensions, which it is. But for me it's more powerful as a meditation on the fragility of friendship.
"friendship..something light as a spiderweb, complex, but easily broken.."
With a string of intricate but ultimately too delicate & now broken entanglements behind me, this description rings true. Or at least it hasn't stopped ringing in my head since I finished the book.
I don’t really remember where I heard about The Ballad of a Small Player by Lawrence Osborne or when I bought the book, but when I was looking for something to read in my tsundoku pile, it sounded interesting enough.
It’s a weird little book. It is written very well, I enjoyed Osborne’s use of the English language. The setting – the sleazy casinos of Macau – is intriguing enough and not one I’ve seen in many books before. The main character, a middle-aged English con-man and gambler, fits right into the sleaziness, and the final twist, while predictable around halfway into the book, is at least somewhat amusing.
At times I found it hard to get back into the book after a break, especially since “Lord Doyle” isn’t the most likable of people, but the dense and well-crafted atmosphere always managed to keep me reading.
https://lostfocus.de/2023/10/19/the-ballad-of-a-small-player/
I don’t really remember where I heard about The Ballad of a Small Player by Lawrence Osborne or when I bought the book, but when I was looking for something to read in my tsundoku pile, it sounded interesting enough. It’s a weird little book. It is written very well, I enjoyed Osborne’s use of …
Paul Filev
Dominik
Evelyn C. Leeper