by Katheriine Boo
This nonfiction book tells of the lives of people living in the Annawadi slum in Mumbai, The stories are based on people the author met when doing research about the slum.
The title refers to a billboard that is adjacent to the slum which offers wealthy Indians a "Beautiful forever" home.... This promise is in stark contrast to the filth and harshness of the lives of the residents of the slums.
This was a very difficult book to read. I know of the poverty and the slums in India, but this author has brought it to life in devastating detail. She tells of the lives of several families, all of whom are trying to survive by harvesting and/or stealing garbage and selling it to recyclers to make money. This job is risky, as there is competition for the garbage and it can be dangerous, even deadly to try to steal material from the airport and other building adjacent to the slums. There is violence, illness, and death. Girls fret about pending arranged marriages... some people can't take it anymore and commit suicide.
People compete with each other, are jealous of each other when some seem to have more wealth than they do. Some cheat each other. Public officials, including police insist on cuts of the profits or bribes when they arrest people. Homeless people get injired and people walk on buy, others are murdered but the police don't bother to investigate.
In one family, a Muslim family that seems to be modestly more succesful than others, the father and son are arrested for driving their neighbour to self-imolation. This is untrue but the man and his son are beaten by police and spend several months in jail. After years they are eventually exonerated but not until theiir business and reputations are in ruins. The book talks about government and business corruption that is rampant
Despite the harshness and seeming hopelessness of their plight, many people do seem to think that a better life might be possible. Some people cheat and steal from others to try to advance. But despite all the tragedy and sadness, some people do worry about and care about each other.
"In the age of globalization -- an ad hoc, temp-job, fiercely competitive age - hope is not a fiction. Extreme poverty is being alleviated gradually, unevenly, nonetheless significantly. But as capital rushes around the planet and the idea of permanent work becaomes anachronistic, the unpredictability of daily life has ba way of grinding down individual promise. Ideally, the government eases some fo the instability. Too often, weak government itensifies it and proves better at nourishing corruption than human capital".
"It is easy, from a safe distancem to overlook the fact that in undercities governed by corruption, where exhausted people vieon scant terrain for very little, it is blisteringly hard to be good. The astonishment is that some people are good, and that many try to be - all those invisible individuals who every day find themselves faces with the dilemma....If the house is crooked and crumbling and the land on which it sits uneven, is it possible to make anything lie straight?
This book was heartbreaking but it will remain in my thoughts for a long time!
Saturday, 23 February 2013
Friday, 15 February 2013
Gallow's View
by Peter Robinson
This is the first book in the series about DCI Banks. I have read a few of the later books in the series and enjoyed them. However, I think that if this was the first book I had read in the series I wouldn't have bothered to read any more.
The story introduces us to Banks who has left London for rural England and is faced with three troubling cases: a Peeping Tom who eventually goes from just peeping to accosting his wife, some thefts that involve damage to the properties and one victim who is raped and the murder of an elderly woman.
Feminist complaints about police inaction on the peeping Tom result in a female psychologist being brought in as an expert to help police develop a profile of the peeper. Banks finds himself strongly attracted to the beautiful woman but resists temptation.
The main reason I didn't like the book was the nature of the young thugs committing the robbery and rape. They had no conscience and got a thrill from the crimes more than from the money they made from the thefts. Criminals may be like this but I found their behaviour very disgusting. I think I like mysteries that are more cereberal and less violent.
Will I read anymore Robinson books, maybe, but I will never read this one again.
This is the first book in the series about DCI Banks. I have read a few of the later books in the series and enjoyed them. However, I think that if this was the first book I had read in the series I wouldn't have bothered to read any more.
The story introduces us to Banks who has left London for rural England and is faced with three troubling cases: a Peeping Tom who eventually goes from just peeping to accosting his wife, some thefts that involve damage to the properties and one victim who is raped and the murder of an elderly woman.
Feminist complaints about police inaction on the peeping Tom result in a female psychologist being brought in as an expert to help police develop a profile of the peeper. Banks finds himself strongly attracted to the beautiful woman but resists temptation.
The main reason I didn't like the book was the nature of the young thugs committing the robbery and rape. They had no conscience and got a thrill from the crimes more than from the money they made from the thefts. Criminals may be like this but I found their behaviour very disgusting. I think I like mysteries that are more cereberal and less violent.
Will I read anymore Robinson books, maybe, but I will never read this one again.
Monday, 11 February 2013
The Devotion of Suspect X
by Keigo Higashino
In this mystery a Japanese woman and her daughter murder her abusive ex-husband who has once again tracked her down and wants to patch up their relationship. She doesn't want to have anything to do with him and her daughter hits him on the head and he then attacks her and starts to strangle her. The mother then chokes him with an electical code.
They are shocked by what they have done but are even more shocked when their neighbour, a math teacher, offers to help them by disposing of the body and giviing them advice on how to construct an alibi.
It turns out that the man has a crush on the woman and had heard the disturbance.
The police come to interview the woman and ask the neighbour if he has any knowledge of how the husband might have been killed. All parties deny any knowledge.
One of the police detectives has a friend, a physics prof, whom he uses as an adviser on occasion. The physicist tells the police officer that the math teacher is really a math genius and he is surprised to find that the man is only a school teacher. He goes to visit the math teacher, who was a colleague in university.
The math teacher is distraught when he finds out the woman is dating another man. He tries to frighten the man off.
The prof then starts his own investigations into the murder and comes to suspect that his math friend is somewhow involved, but he doesn't want to believe it. It is a battle of wits between the two. When the math teacher realizes that the physics prof suspects the truth, he confesses to the murder. To justify his own confession he had indeed killed someone, as well as disposing of the woman's husband.
This was an unusual mystery. It was an okay story but I think I prefer stories where there is a bit more character development. This one basically told the tale with little character analysis.
In this mystery a Japanese woman and her daughter murder her abusive ex-husband who has once again tracked her down and wants to patch up their relationship. She doesn't want to have anything to do with him and her daughter hits him on the head and he then attacks her and starts to strangle her. The mother then chokes him with an electical code.
They are shocked by what they have done but are even more shocked when their neighbour, a math teacher, offers to help them by disposing of the body and giviing them advice on how to construct an alibi.
It turns out that the man has a crush on the woman and had heard the disturbance.
The police come to interview the woman and ask the neighbour if he has any knowledge of how the husband might have been killed. All parties deny any knowledge.
One of the police detectives has a friend, a physics prof, whom he uses as an adviser on occasion. The physicist tells the police officer that the math teacher is really a math genius and he is surprised to find that the man is only a school teacher. He goes to visit the math teacher, who was a colleague in university.
The math teacher is distraught when he finds out the woman is dating another man. He tries to frighten the man off.
The prof then starts his own investigations into the murder and comes to suspect that his math friend is somewhow involved, but he doesn't want to believe it. It is a battle of wits between the two. When the math teacher realizes that the physics prof suspects the truth, he confesses to the murder. To justify his own confession he had indeed killed someone, as well as disposing of the woman's husband.
This was an unusual mystery. It was an okay story but I think I prefer stories where there is a bit more character development. This one basically told the tale with little character analysis.
Thursday, 7 February 2013
The Chaperone
by Laura Moriarty
This novel is about a woman whose life is changed when she agrees to be the chaperone for a willful fifteen year old girl, Louie Brooks.
Louise has been accepted into the Denishawn dance school in New York for a dance course. She hopes to turn the class into a career with the company,
Cora Carlisle doesn't really think about what she could be getting into being the chaperone for this headstrong girl. She wants to go to New York for her own reasons. We find out that Cora is in an unhappy marriage. She has two twin sons and what appeared to be a loving husband. However, once she had the twins she was told another pregnancy could be fatal for her. Her caring husband agrees to sleep in a separate room. She later finds out that her husband is gay and that she has only been a convenience for him -- allowing him to have a respetable life while carrying on a clandestine affair with his gay lover. If his lifestyle and activites were known he would be ruined, put in jail or even worse.
Cora, an orphan who was adopted by a loving couple, wants to go to New York to find out about her birth parents. Louise's Mom, who doesn't seem to be a very effective parent, is only too glad to be rid of her daughter.
She finds that Louise is very feisty, even wild. One night Louisse sneaks off with a young man she has met and gets drunk. After Cora berates her for her bad behaviour and what consequences would be Louise reveals that she is not a virgin, she was "deflourerd" when she was nine and as a teen had an affair with the loccal Sunday School Teacher
While Louise is at dance class Cora has gone to the orphange to get information but has been turned down-- they don't divulge parental information to their orphans. Louise is befriended by a handyman who works at the orphanage and he lets her sneak intothe files where she finds an address of a woman who had written the orphanage asking about her welfare. Louse writes the woman and later meets her briefly. The woman is her mother and while she is glad Cora has had a good life she doesn't want to have anything more to do with her. Louise is sad and bitter at the women's reaction and at the fact that she has a half brother and sister she will never meet.
Cora has a romantic encounter with the handyman which the nun's somehow find out about. They toss him and his daughter out. . She is sad at the fact she has cost him her job and decides to invite him and his daughter to come live with her and her husband back in Kansas, She pretends that the man is her brother and his daughter her niece. Her husband isn't fooled but has to give in to her ruse an he has his own dirtly little secret. The man and his daughter are welcomed into the community and Cora and the man continue thier love affair even after her husband dies.
As the years go by news of Louise Brooks, who got kicked out of the dance company, but who has become famous as a movie star, is watched with interest by Cora and the other people in Kansas who knew her when... They also learn about her scandalous behaviour, divorces, decline of her popularily and eventual poverty -- they seem to gloat when she returns home to live with her parents. However, Cora feels sorry for her and goes to her to tell her she feels she can rebound. Louise leaves for New York but later they hear that she is just a rude drunk. Howver many years later/ Cora learns that Louise is famous again and being praised for the memoir she has written and she is glad that she has again made a comeback.
This was a very well written story. The author did a great job of portraying the lives and personalities of the characters, especially the women, and the attitudes of the times. She does a great job of portraying the disappointments in marriage faced by Cora and Louise's mother. Cora is faced with new things and has to deal with them, accept changes, change her opinions and ultimately take a risk for happiness. This was an intriguing part of the story.
This novel is about a woman whose life is changed when she agrees to be the chaperone for a willful fifteen year old girl, Louie Brooks.
Louise has been accepted into the Denishawn dance school in New York for a dance course. She hopes to turn the class into a career with the company,
Cora Carlisle doesn't really think about what she could be getting into being the chaperone for this headstrong girl. She wants to go to New York for her own reasons. We find out that Cora is in an unhappy marriage. She has two twin sons and what appeared to be a loving husband. However, once she had the twins she was told another pregnancy could be fatal for her. Her caring husband agrees to sleep in a separate room. She later finds out that her husband is gay and that she has only been a convenience for him -- allowing him to have a respetable life while carrying on a clandestine affair with his gay lover. If his lifestyle and activites were known he would be ruined, put in jail or even worse.
Cora, an orphan who was adopted by a loving couple, wants to go to New York to find out about her birth parents. Louise's Mom, who doesn't seem to be a very effective parent, is only too glad to be rid of her daughter.
She finds that Louise is very feisty, even wild. One night Louisse sneaks off with a young man she has met and gets drunk. After Cora berates her for her bad behaviour and what consequences would be Louise reveals that she is not a virgin, she was "deflourerd" when she was nine and as a teen had an affair with the loccal Sunday School Teacher
While Louise is at dance class Cora has gone to the orphange to get information but has been turned down-- they don't divulge parental information to their orphans. Louise is befriended by a handyman who works at the orphanage and he lets her sneak intothe files where she finds an address of a woman who had written the orphanage asking about her welfare. Louse writes the woman and later meets her briefly. The woman is her mother and while she is glad Cora has had a good life she doesn't want to have anything more to do with her. Louise is sad and bitter at the women's reaction and at the fact that she has a half brother and sister she will never meet.
Cora has a romantic encounter with the handyman which the nun's somehow find out about. They toss him and his daughter out. . She is sad at the fact she has cost him her job and decides to invite him and his daughter to come live with her and her husband back in Kansas, She pretends that the man is her brother and his daughter her niece. Her husband isn't fooled but has to give in to her ruse an he has his own dirtly little secret. The man and his daughter are welcomed into the community and Cora and the man continue thier love affair even after her husband dies.
As the years go by news of Louise Brooks, who got kicked out of the dance company, but who has become famous as a movie star, is watched with interest by Cora and the other people in Kansas who knew her when... They also learn about her scandalous behaviour, divorces, decline of her popularily and eventual poverty -- they seem to gloat when she returns home to live with her parents. However, Cora feels sorry for her and goes to her to tell her she feels she can rebound. Louise leaves for New York but later they hear that she is just a rude drunk. Howver many years later/ Cora learns that Louise is famous again and being praised for the memoir she has written and she is glad that she has again made a comeback.
This was a very well written story. The author did a great job of portraying the lives and personalities of the characters, especially the women, and the attitudes of the times. She does a great job of portraying the disappointments in marriage faced by Cora and Louise's mother. Cora is faced with new things and has to deal with them, accept changes, change her opinions and ultimately take a risk for happiness. This was an intriguing part of the story.
Wednesday, 6 February 2013
The Keeper of Lost Causes
by Jussi Adler-Olsen
This mystery takes place in Denmark. It was a very interesting but unusual story.
As with many mysteries the main character, the detective, is a flawed character. Carl Morck is trying to recover from an ambush which killed one of his colleagues and made a quadraplegic of his other colleague.
He is hard to get along with, even despite the recent incident. His bosses decide to put him in charge of a one man division investigating cold cases.
He finds out that his department will get a lot more money than his salary for this new division and manages to get an assistant, a Muslim fellow who cleans, does admin. duties and also seems to have some good investigative and deductive skills.
The get a pile of files to review and decide to work on a five year old file about an elected official who disappeared off a ferry boat while enroute for a vacation with her handicapped brother.
While they are reviewing the file and ferreting out additional details that the original investigation failed to uncover, we learn that the women had not committed suicide as it was assumed, but was kidnapped and is being confined in a chamber by persons unknown.
While Carl is working on the case he is also trying to deal with his paralyzed colleague who wants him to kill him to put him out of his misery.
Carl and his Muslim assistant manage to track down the women but she and they are almost killed in the process.
This was a well written mystery and kept you wanting to read to find out what happens. I am looking forward to reading other books in the series.
This mystery takes place in Denmark. It was a very interesting but unusual story.
As with many mysteries the main character, the detective, is a flawed character. Carl Morck is trying to recover from an ambush which killed one of his colleagues and made a quadraplegic of his other colleague.
He is hard to get along with, even despite the recent incident. His bosses decide to put him in charge of a one man division investigating cold cases.
He finds out that his department will get a lot more money than his salary for this new division and manages to get an assistant, a Muslim fellow who cleans, does admin. duties and also seems to have some good investigative and deductive skills.
The get a pile of files to review and decide to work on a five year old file about an elected official who disappeared off a ferry boat while enroute for a vacation with her handicapped brother.
While they are reviewing the file and ferreting out additional details that the original investigation failed to uncover, we learn that the women had not committed suicide as it was assumed, but was kidnapped and is being confined in a chamber by persons unknown.
While Carl is working on the case he is also trying to deal with his paralyzed colleague who wants him to kill him to put him out of his misery.
Carl and his Muslim assistant manage to track down the women but she and they are almost killed in the process.
This was a well written mystery and kept you wanting to read to find out what happens. I am looking forward to reading other books in the series.
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