Popular Asian Magical Realism Books
Find magical realism books written by authors from Asia for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (72)
21.
Hamra and the Jungle of Memories by Hanna Alkaf EN
MalaysiaDescription:
A Malaysian spin on Little Red Riding Hood from the critically acclaimed author of The Girl and the Ghost, Hanna Alkaf.
Courage is the strongest magic there is.
On Hamra's thirteenth birthday, she receives nothing but endless nagging and yet another errand to run in the Langkawi jungle that looms behind her home.
No one has remembered her special day.
And so, stifled and angry, Hamra ignores something she shouldn't: the rules of the jungle.
Always ask permission before you enter. Hamra walks boldly in.
Never take what isn't yours. Hamra finds the most perfect j... continue
22.
I Stared at the Night of the City by Bakhtiyar Ali EN
IraqDescription:
Iraqi Kurdistan at the turn of the twenty-first century is a territory ruled by strongmen, revolutionaries, fixers, bureaucrats and the "Barons," who control everything from livestock and land to Kurdish cultural life. Defying the absolute power wielded by the Barons, a band of friends led by a poet embarks on an odyssey to find the bodies of two lovers killed unjustly by the authorities. The Barons respond by attempting to crush these would-be avengers, though their real war is waged against the imagination itself - despite the fact that imagination in its myriad forms is a prized, elusive co... continue
23.
In a Far Country by K. S. Maniam EN
Description:
In A Far Country is a remarkable novel for its experiment. It moves beyond early Malayan writing in English which sought to establish a local literary imagination in opposition to an imposed colonial one. In A Far Country seeks to free itself from this literary ghetto by addressing national issues and departing from realism to do so.
24.
Kafka am Strand by Haruki Murakami DE
JapanDescription:
Der Held in diesem Entwicklungs- und Liebesroman heisst Kafka Tamura und ist fünfzehn Jahre alt. Er läuft von zu Hause fort, um der stärkste 15-Jährige der Welt zu werden. Eine kafkaeske Reise voller Mythen und Mysterien beginnt.
25.
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami EN
Description:
A teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom.
26.
Khwabnama by Akhteruzzaman Elias EN
Country: Asia / 
Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Description:
In this magnum opus, which documents the Tebhaga movement, wherein peasants demanded two-thirds of the harvest they produced on the land owned by zamindars, Akhtaruzzaman Elias has created an extraordinary tale of magical realism, blending memory with reality, legend with history and the struggle of marginalized people with the stories of their ancestors.
27.
Killing Commendatore : A novel by Haruki Murakami EN
Description:
A tour de force of love and loneliness, war and art, Killing Commendatore is a stunning work of imagination from one of our greatest writers. When a thirty-something portrait painter is abandoned by his wife, he secludes himself in the mountain home of a world famous artist. One day, the young painter hears a noise from the attic, and upon investigation, he discovers a previously unseen painting. By unearthing this hidden work of art, he unintentionally opens a circle of mysterious circumstances; and to close it, he must undertake a perilous journey into a netherworld that only Haruki Murakami... continue
28.
La belleza es una herida by Eka Kurniawan ES
IndonesiaDescription:
Dewi Ayu, una bella prostituta dada por muerta veinte años antes, aparece en medio del paisaje bélico y de tumultuosa inestabilidad política de la Indonesia del siglo XX. Esta inesperada reaparición es el punto de partida para la narración de su vida.
Dewi siempre supo cómo tratar a los hombres, y su fama de buena amante y de mujer hermosa la obligaron a tomar decisiones drásticas que cambiarían la vida de sus cuatro hijas.
29.
Armenia30.
Las Siete Lunas de Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka ES
Sri LankaDescription:
Colombo, 1990. Maali Almeida -war photographer, gambler, and closet queen- has woken up dead in what seems like a celestial visa office. His dismembered body is sinking in the serene Beira Lake and he has no idea who killed him. In a country where scores are settled by death squads, suicide bombers, and hired goons, the list of suspects is depressingly long, as the ghouls and ghosts with grudges who cluster round can attest. But even in the afterlife, time is running out for Maali. He has seven moons to contact the man and woman he loves most and lead them to the photos that will rock Sri Lank... continue