From brooding, surrealist epics by the crafting hand of Murukami, to dark, noir thrillers between Manila and New York, to political hot potatoes that consider the state of contemporary China, this list of 10 award-winning books by Asian writers in the last 10 years is sure to have something up your alley.
Ilustrado, Miguel Syjuco
Through a lens of half-autobiography and half-cultural criticism, Miguel Syjuco’s award-winning novel makes a genuine attempt to appreciate the diversity and eccentricities of modern Manila and the fabric of the contemporary Philippines. The story itself—with its light shading of New York noir and American thriller—tells the story of a young writer’s apprentice tasked with the self-appointed mission of writing an account of his deceased master’s life. The action that follows takes readers on a journey of meta-criticism, which does well to entertain while asking some serious questions about the state of Filipino literature as a whole.
Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer, Cyrus Mistry
Heavy, hard-hitting and thoughtful at every turn, Cyrus Mistry’s Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer tells the tale of Phiroze Elchidana, the son of a celebrated Parsi priest living in Bombay who falls in love with the downtrodden daughter of a Zoroastrian corpse bearer. The compelling confrontation of societal echelons and social norms that ensues is a captivating consideration of contemporary Indian society, and, indeed, the identities of all minorities currently living on the margins. In 2014, Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer picked up the prestigious DSC Prize for South Asian Literature.
Three Sisters, Bi Feiyu
An intense and invigorating examination of personality and rampant individualism that’s set in the context of high-Communist China in the years of the Cultural Revolution, Three Sisters does well to draw its readers in with a plethora of storylines that touch on vice, sex, Machiavellian power plays and contemporary politics all at the same time. With its focus on female characters and their interactions with male patriarchs in the China all around them, the book continues on in the same vein as Feiyu’s other feminist works, while its general success was galvanized in 2010, when it garnered the prestigious Man Booker Prize for Asian Literature.
The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga
A literal manifestation of the ongoing dialectic between the old and the new India, Aravind Adiga’s debut novel of 2008 chronicles the life and travails of young Balram Halwai, who moves through the strata of the Hindu caste system to become a product of the country’s new capitalist drive. Along the way there are episodes of despair, immorality and desperation to boot, painting a visceral picture of India’s struggling identity as it enters the modern age. Quite rightly, The White Tiger was met with great critical acclaim, was high on the New York Times bestseller list and even touts that much-coveted Man Booker Prize.