by Malala Yousafzai
This is the autobiography of Malala. The story is as much about her father and her family as about her. She tells the story of her father and how he manages to set up a school in Pakistan. She talks about her love of the countryside where she lives and about Muslim cultural practices. She is a young girl, who enjoys school, watching dvd's, listening to music, gossiping with her friends. She then details the history of Pakistan and how life changed in her lovely valley with the invasion of the Taliban. At one point they fled the country to escape the fighting between the military and Taliban. A lot of the time they felt the governemt wasn't doing enough, she even suggests some people may have been secretly in league with the Taliban
I wasn't aware of it but her father was an advocate for fighting the Taliban and did a lot of media interviews and presentations urging the goverment to take action against the Taliban. Later, Malala became involved in media events promoting education and the rights of girls. As well as political leaders many of their acquaintances are murdered or threatened, including her father. He fears for his own safety but doesn't think she will be targeted.
The latter part of the book chronicles the attack on her and her recovery. She is initially cared for by the Pakistani military but when British doctors realize that her post surgery care is not adequate they urge her parents to let her be taken to Britain for medical care.
It was an interesting read. It will be interesting to see how her life and advocay efforts develop in the future.
Thursday, 19 December 2013
Wednesday, 11 December 2013
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
by Cheryl Strayed
This memoir is about a young woman whose family has fallen apart with the death of her mother and whose marriage collapsed partly as a result of her grief at the death of her mother.
She and her brother and sister were raised by their single mother who left her abusive husband when the children were quite young. Then, in her mid forties, in a relationsihip with a loving man and a man her children like, she discovers she has breast cancer. She dies a few months later.
The author, Cheryl is angry at her father who was abusive and then not in her life. She is angry at her mother for dying when Cheryl is only 22. Her sister and brother can't face the pending death of their mother but Cheryl is a devoted caregiver for her mother along with the mother's boyfriend. After her mother's death the family seems to disintegrate, everyone goes their own way. Cheryl starts having affairs, doing drugs including heroin. She is lost and troubled and her marriage falls apart.
While she is a store she notices a copy of a book about the Pacific Crest Trail in the west coast of the U.S.
She thumbs through it and later goes back to purchase a copy. She and her husband decide to divorce. On the divorce papers she is given the opportunity to give herself a new name. Rather than keep her maiden name, she decides on a new last name "Strayed". She thinks that is an appropriate name for herself.
She decides to hike 1100 miles of the trail which actually runs from the Mexico border to Canada. She has never hiked in her life, she does no preparation in terms of training to condition her body. She does have the good sense to organize boxes with clean clothes, food, and money which a friend mails to her at stops along the way.
She buys basic supplies and loads them into her pack, including books to read. People are amazed at how huge and heavy her pack is, half her weight. One of the hiker's helps her to lighten her load mid-way along the trail. The pack feels so ":light" she wants to jump.
The book is the story of her experiences along the route. She is very weak at first and wants to give up but keeps on. Throughout the trip she is tormented by blistering and sore feet, partly because the boots she got are too small. At one point she accidentally loses one of the boots, in frustation she tosses the other away. She walks for several days with duct taped feet until she gets to a point where a replacement (correct size) pair of boots awaits her.
The trip is tough, exhausting and dangerous but she makes it. She has encounters with wildlife including snakes, bears and deer. She has some terrifying times when she is out of water or out of money. A lot of the time she is very hungery but it seems that people come through for her when she needs help. Some of her fellow trekkers nickname her the Queen of the PCT because so many people offer her assistance along her way.
She is alone most of the time along the hike, and she enjoys that. But she meets and does share some time with groups of hikers. She enjoys her time with them but likes ot get back to her solo path.
As she struggles along the path, she also struggles with her sadness and anger. She completes her planned walk. By the end of the walk she has come to terms with her father's absence and her mother's death.
It was an interesting book, you never knew what would happen. It was told with honesty and great detail in terms of the geography. Fortunately nothing really bad befell her.
This memoir is about a young woman whose family has fallen apart with the death of her mother and whose marriage collapsed partly as a result of her grief at the death of her mother.
She and her brother and sister were raised by their single mother who left her abusive husband when the children were quite young. Then, in her mid forties, in a relationsihip with a loving man and a man her children like, she discovers she has breast cancer. She dies a few months later.
The author, Cheryl is angry at her father who was abusive and then not in her life. She is angry at her mother for dying when Cheryl is only 22. Her sister and brother can't face the pending death of their mother but Cheryl is a devoted caregiver for her mother along with the mother's boyfriend. After her mother's death the family seems to disintegrate, everyone goes their own way. Cheryl starts having affairs, doing drugs including heroin. She is lost and troubled and her marriage falls apart.
While she is a store she notices a copy of a book about the Pacific Crest Trail in the west coast of the U.S.
She thumbs through it and later goes back to purchase a copy. She and her husband decide to divorce. On the divorce papers she is given the opportunity to give herself a new name. Rather than keep her maiden name, she decides on a new last name "Strayed". She thinks that is an appropriate name for herself.
She decides to hike 1100 miles of the trail which actually runs from the Mexico border to Canada. She has never hiked in her life, she does no preparation in terms of training to condition her body. She does have the good sense to organize boxes with clean clothes, food, and money which a friend mails to her at stops along the way.
She buys basic supplies and loads them into her pack, including books to read. People are amazed at how huge and heavy her pack is, half her weight. One of the hiker's helps her to lighten her load mid-way along the trail. The pack feels so ":light" she wants to jump.
The book is the story of her experiences along the route. She is very weak at first and wants to give up but keeps on. Throughout the trip she is tormented by blistering and sore feet, partly because the boots she got are too small. At one point she accidentally loses one of the boots, in frustation she tosses the other away. She walks for several days with duct taped feet until she gets to a point where a replacement (correct size) pair of boots awaits her.
The trip is tough, exhausting and dangerous but she makes it. She has encounters with wildlife including snakes, bears and deer. She has some terrifying times when she is out of water or out of money. A lot of the time she is very hungery but it seems that people come through for her when she needs help. Some of her fellow trekkers nickname her the Queen of the PCT because so many people offer her assistance along her way.
She is alone most of the time along the hike, and she enjoys that. But she meets and does share some time with groups of hikers. She enjoys her time with them but likes ot get back to her solo path.
As she struggles along the path, she also struggles with her sadness and anger. She completes her planned walk. By the end of the walk she has come to terms with her father's absence and her mother's death.
It was an interesting book, you never knew what would happen. It was told with honesty and great detail in terms of the geography. Fortunately nothing really bad befell her.
Standing in Another Man's Grave
by Ian Rankin
This is, I think, the second book in the Rebus series that I have read. In this book Rebus has retired, but couldn't stay away so he is working on some cold cases. Then, the mother of a girl who was reported missing years ago contacts Rebus and convinces him that a number of girls have disapppeared along the A9 highway in northern Scotland and she thinks her daughter is one of the victims. Rebus is estranged from his daughter, this is probably what interests him about her claims.
Rebus believes her and starts looking at some of the other cases, plus a recent disappearance and gets his superiors to agree that they may be connected. Rebus is then reassigned to a team working on the current murder plus the others,
While Rebus is working on the story he is being "pursued" by Malcolm Fox of the "Complaints" department. Fox doesn't like Rebus's methods nor the company he keeps (a criminal whose life he saved). He is trying to pin something on Rebus and prevent him from reapplying to the force now that the retirement age has been raised. He is concerned that Rebus is a bad influence on young officers and warns one young woman that associating with Rebus could harm her advancement.
Rebus is passionate, even obsessive when he is working on a case. He also has street smarts and good instincts. It is is grunt work and suggestions that eventually leads to the discovery of 5 bodies and it is he who figures out who the serial killer is. However he is hard smoking, hard drinking and doesn't think anything about ignoring police procedures to get crimes solved. He meets with three different criminals and tries to get the assistance of one of them to get a confession out of the murderer. He gets his superiors and his colleagues very upset because of his bravado and behaviour. However, not all of his colleagues can be trusted. Some of them inform on him or leak news to the media when they shouldn't. A good portion of the book is spent on the conflicts between police officers themselves. Rebus never does what he is told, often ignoring direct orders. The superiors are not portrayed in a very positve manner. They are portrayed as more interested in their career advancement than in actual police work.
Most detectives in mystery novels are renegades but I don't know of anyone that is as undisciplined as Rebus. However, having only read one other in the series perhaps this is only manifest to this extent in this novel. Rebus does a great job of portraying the Scottish pubs and locals in the story. The settings, including the pub scenes add colour to the story. He does a great job of describing the vast open spaces in the north of Scotland.
There is a new Rankin novel out which involves Rebus and Fox working together. I think I will have to read it, to see how that works out.
This is, I think, the second book in the Rebus series that I have read. In this book Rebus has retired, but couldn't stay away so he is working on some cold cases. Then, the mother of a girl who was reported missing years ago contacts Rebus and convinces him that a number of girls have disapppeared along the A9 highway in northern Scotland and she thinks her daughter is one of the victims. Rebus is estranged from his daughter, this is probably what interests him about her claims.
Rebus believes her and starts looking at some of the other cases, plus a recent disappearance and gets his superiors to agree that they may be connected. Rebus is then reassigned to a team working on the current murder plus the others,
While Rebus is working on the story he is being "pursued" by Malcolm Fox of the "Complaints" department. Fox doesn't like Rebus's methods nor the company he keeps (a criminal whose life he saved). He is trying to pin something on Rebus and prevent him from reapplying to the force now that the retirement age has been raised. He is concerned that Rebus is a bad influence on young officers and warns one young woman that associating with Rebus could harm her advancement.
Rebus is passionate, even obsessive when he is working on a case. He also has street smarts and good instincts. It is is grunt work and suggestions that eventually leads to the discovery of 5 bodies and it is he who figures out who the serial killer is. However he is hard smoking, hard drinking and doesn't think anything about ignoring police procedures to get crimes solved. He meets with three different criminals and tries to get the assistance of one of them to get a confession out of the murderer. He gets his superiors and his colleagues very upset because of his bravado and behaviour. However, not all of his colleagues can be trusted. Some of them inform on him or leak news to the media when they shouldn't. A good portion of the book is spent on the conflicts between police officers themselves. Rebus never does what he is told, often ignoring direct orders. The superiors are not portrayed in a very positve manner. They are portrayed as more interested in their career advancement than in actual police work.
Most detectives in mystery novels are renegades but I don't know of anyone that is as undisciplined as Rebus. However, having only read one other in the series perhaps this is only manifest to this extent in this novel. Rebus does a great job of portraying the Scottish pubs and locals in the story. The settings, including the pub scenes add colour to the story. He does a great job of describing the vast open spaces in the north of Scotland.
There is a new Rankin novel out which involves Rebus and Fox working together. I think I will have to read it, to see how that works out.
Friday, 6 December 2013
The Woman Upstairs
by Claire Messud
This book has received very positive reviews. It was an interesting book about a very crazy woman. I didn't know whether to feel sorry for her or want to "shake her" and say get real!
"Nora Eldrdige, an elementary school teacher, long ago compromised her dream to be a successful artist, mother and lover. She has instead become the 'wonan upstairs' a reliable friend and neighbour always on the fringe of others' achievements" (from the dust jacket).
The book opens with a Christmas memory where Norah's mother tells her there won't be any Christmas presents because her husband hasn't given her enough household money to allow for presents. Her mother, a housewife, at times, takes off on strange craft projects etc. She seems a profoundly unhappy person and eventually dies of ALS. Only once does she protest against this fate.
Norah sacrifices her dream of being an artist when her parents urge her to be more practical. She spent a number of years looking after her mother as she dies of ALS. She becomes a teacher and occasionally visits her aged father in a senior's residence. She visits him from obligation not from love. Norah feels that her mother feels that her life was out of her control Norah's father feels that the mother controlled them all. Norah is very dissatisfied with her life. She expected by now to be a successful wife and mother and perhaps artist (princess myth?)
A young boy, Reza, arrives in her class from Lebanon via Paris. Norah really likes him and stands up for him when he is bullied by other students. Norah meets the boy's mother, Sirena. She is on the verge of being a world recognized artist. Sirena invites Nora to share a studio space with her. Norah is elated to have the opportunity to pursue her artistic dream again. As the two of them work in the space Norah does a lot to help Sirena's large "Wonderland" installation. In the meantime Norah is working on some miniature rooms of famous women. Sirena, is a big thinker, dramatic, shocking. Norah, who feels invisible, unrecognized, is working on tiny, busywork miniatures of unhappy women. As part of her dioramas her only "creative" or personal part is a tiny gold "joy" she "hides" in the dioramas. These dioramas, the hiding of this unique joy just confirms, I think, her feelings of insignifigance. While Norah is working on these tiny rooms representing the famous but sad women, Sirena is doing a big, boisterous art installation which will include huge fabric screen images of women from youth to old age. Much more vibrant, in your face and bold than anything Norah is doing.
Sirena eventually asks Norah to babysit Reza. This is something a teacher would/should never do but she agrees to do so because she is so enamoured with them. She meets the father and is attracted to him also. He recognizes that she is an "insatiable hungry wolf" and encourages her to free him from his cage. She is truly wacko about these people, daydreaming about them, replaying interactions with them over and over. She assumes she is as important to them as they are to her. She seems to imagine she is the boy's psuedo mother. But she is wrong.
When Sirena is finishing her project she doesn't tell or invite Norah to be part of the film portion. Eventually the family moves back to France and they don't contact her. She occasionally emails them. However, she is always followng their accomplishments via the web. The father visits Boston at one point and doesn't contact her, she is sad about this, but seems to accept it.
"I felt as though in any given instant, anything might happen, all wonder and all possibility... I felt brilliantly alive. And I thought, somehow, still, that she -- that they-- had given that to me. I couldn't be angry, not wholly angry, at someone or something that could fill me with such joy in life. You're bound to love such a gift, and its giver."
The family's and especially Sirena's friendship seemed to help ignite Norah's joy in life and her desire to be an artist. However, her total preoccupation with them is way over the top.
Eventually she takes a year sabbatical and as part of her travel plans visits the family in Paris. They are friendly but not warm. Reza seems little interested in her.
While she is in Paris Norah goes to a gallery to see the film portion of Sirena's Wonderland project. She is shocked to see that Sirena has included a video of her masturbating in the studio at a point where she seemed on the verge of breaking out of her shell. She feels and has been betrayed by this person she thought was her friend. Throughout the book Norah talks about her rage and anger at her life. But she seems to wallow in the role of the "woman upstairs". When Norah sees this video she is "sick" and furious.
"I'm angry enough, at last, to stop being afraid of life, and angry enough-- finally, God willing, with my mother's anger also on my shoulders , a great boil of rage like the sun's fire in me -- before I die to fucking well live.
Just watch me."
She may have been used and abused by the family, she will likely never have her dream of being a mother (she is now over 40) but maybe the anger and shock are what she needs to break her out of her shell and daydreaming. She has to let go of the blame she has towards her parents and take responsibility for her life. There is still time for change/rebirth.
A fascinating story.
This book has received very positive reviews. It was an interesting book about a very crazy woman. I didn't know whether to feel sorry for her or want to "shake her" and say get real!
"Nora Eldrdige, an elementary school teacher, long ago compromised her dream to be a successful artist, mother and lover. She has instead become the 'wonan upstairs' a reliable friend and neighbour always on the fringe of others' achievements" (from the dust jacket).
The book opens with a Christmas memory where Norah's mother tells her there won't be any Christmas presents because her husband hasn't given her enough household money to allow for presents. Her mother, a housewife, at times, takes off on strange craft projects etc. She seems a profoundly unhappy person and eventually dies of ALS. Only once does she protest against this fate.
Norah sacrifices her dream of being an artist when her parents urge her to be more practical. She spent a number of years looking after her mother as she dies of ALS. She becomes a teacher and occasionally visits her aged father in a senior's residence. She visits him from obligation not from love. Norah feels that her mother feels that her life was out of her control Norah's father feels that the mother controlled them all. Norah is very dissatisfied with her life. She expected by now to be a successful wife and mother and perhaps artist (princess myth?)
A young boy, Reza, arrives in her class from Lebanon via Paris. Norah really likes him and stands up for him when he is bullied by other students. Norah meets the boy's mother, Sirena. She is on the verge of being a world recognized artist. Sirena invites Nora to share a studio space with her. Norah is elated to have the opportunity to pursue her artistic dream again. As the two of them work in the space Norah does a lot to help Sirena's large "Wonderland" installation. In the meantime Norah is working on some miniature rooms of famous women. Sirena, is a big thinker, dramatic, shocking. Norah, who feels invisible, unrecognized, is working on tiny, busywork miniatures of unhappy women. As part of her dioramas her only "creative" or personal part is a tiny gold "joy" she "hides" in the dioramas. These dioramas, the hiding of this unique joy just confirms, I think, her feelings of insignifigance. While Norah is working on these tiny rooms representing the famous but sad women, Sirena is doing a big, boisterous art installation which will include huge fabric screen images of women from youth to old age. Much more vibrant, in your face and bold than anything Norah is doing.
Sirena eventually asks Norah to babysit Reza. This is something a teacher would/should never do but she agrees to do so because she is so enamoured with them. She meets the father and is attracted to him also. He recognizes that she is an "insatiable hungry wolf" and encourages her to free him from his cage. She is truly wacko about these people, daydreaming about them, replaying interactions with them over and over. She assumes she is as important to them as they are to her. She seems to imagine she is the boy's psuedo mother. But she is wrong.
When Sirena is finishing her project she doesn't tell or invite Norah to be part of the film portion. Eventually the family moves back to France and they don't contact her. She occasionally emails them. However, she is always followng their accomplishments via the web. The father visits Boston at one point and doesn't contact her, she is sad about this, but seems to accept it.
"I felt as though in any given instant, anything might happen, all wonder and all possibility... I felt brilliantly alive. And I thought, somehow, still, that she -- that they-- had given that to me. I couldn't be angry, not wholly angry, at someone or something that could fill me with such joy in life. You're bound to love such a gift, and its giver."
The family's and especially Sirena's friendship seemed to help ignite Norah's joy in life and her desire to be an artist. However, her total preoccupation with them is way over the top.
Eventually she takes a year sabbatical and as part of her travel plans visits the family in Paris. They are friendly but not warm. Reza seems little interested in her.
While she is in Paris Norah goes to a gallery to see the film portion of Sirena's Wonderland project. She is shocked to see that Sirena has included a video of her masturbating in the studio at a point where she seemed on the verge of breaking out of her shell. She feels and has been betrayed by this person she thought was her friend. Throughout the book Norah talks about her rage and anger at her life. But she seems to wallow in the role of the "woman upstairs". When Norah sees this video she is "sick" and furious.
"I'm angry enough, at last, to stop being afraid of life, and angry enough-- finally, God willing, with my mother's anger also on my shoulders , a great boil of rage like the sun's fire in me -- before I die to fucking well live.
Just watch me."
She may have been used and abused by the family, she will likely never have her dream of being a mother (she is now over 40) but maybe the anger and shock are what she needs to break her out of her shell and daydreaming. She has to let go of the blame she has towards her parents and take responsibility for her life. There is still time for change/rebirth.
A fascinating story.
Wednesday, 4 December 2013
A Question of Honor
by Charles Todd
Charles Todd is the pseudonym for an American mother and son team of writers. Their WWI mysteries, based in England, are generally about Inspector Ian Rutledge. However, a few years ago they started a series about a young nurse, who serves on the front lines, Bess Crawford. This is the third Bess Crawford book I have read. If I remember correctly I thought the first two were okay, but I prefer the Rutledge books. I have read several of the Rutledge series and enjoyed them all.
I have to say that I enjoyed this book, it was a nice escape from all the heavy stuff I have been reading lately
The story starts in India where Bess's father, a Colonel is told that one of his officers is accused of five murders, three in England, and his parents stationed in India. Before her father can arrest him the young man runs away. They assume he has died in Afghanista.
However, 10 years later a wounded India soldier tells her that Lt. Wade is still alive. She is skeptical at first but then sees a soldier she thinks is Wade while retrieving a wounded man from the trenches. She doesn't want to tell her father about this in case she is incorrect. She enlists a young man, who works with her father, to help her to investigate the murders and the murdered family in England. They are not welcomed warmly in the village. They do find out that the family that was murdered had been fostering "war children", children whose parents were in India, and they hear rumours that the children were not treated well. Could that be a clue as to why they were murdered?
She eventually encounters Wade, who is now using another name, in an army hospital. He recognizes her and fears she will turn him in so he tries to run away, but he is too injured to get far. She tells him she will keep his secret. However, while she doesn't think he committed the murders she can't be certain. She and her friend find a picture of children who were staying at the houe and visit a photographer to see if he can remember the names of the children in the picture. He doesn't know much more than they do. The man and his daughter are killed when their studio is set on fire, shortly after Bess's visit. Wade was not in England at the time so he could not have done it.
They eventually do find out who the guilty party is.
The story is interesting for both the plot and for the authenticity of the story. The descriptions provided about life in England and for the soldiers in WWII are very detailed and provides a lot of interesting background for the story. There is an element of "class" structure in the story, but it isn't boring and doesn't overwhelm like the Elizabeth George stories.
Charles Todd is the pseudonym for an American mother and son team of writers. Their WWI mysteries, based in England, are generally about Inspector Ian Rutledge. However, a few years ago they started a series about a young nurse, who serves on the front lines, Bess Crawford. This is the third Bess Crawford book I have read. If I remember correctly I thought the first two were okay, but I prefer the Rutledge books. I have read several of the Rutledge series and enjoyed them all.
I have to say that I enjoyed this book, it was a nice escape from all the heavy stuff I have been reading lately
The story starts in India where Bess's father, a Colonel is told that one of his officers is accused of five murders, three in England, and his parents stationed in India. Before her father can arrest him the young man runs away. They assume he has died in Afghanista.
However, 10 years later a wounded India soldier tells her that Lt. Wade is still alive. She is skeptical at first but then sees a soldier she thinks is Wade while retrieving a wounded man from the trenches. She doesn't want to tell her father about this in case she is incorrect. She enlists a young man, who works with her father, to help her to investigate the murders and the murdered family in England. They are not welcomed warmly in the village. They do find out that the family that was murdered had been fostering "war children", children whose parents were in India, and they hear rumours that the children were not treated well. Could that be a clue as to why they were murdered?
She eventually encounters Wade, who is now using another name, in an army hospital. He recognizes her and fears she will turn him in so he tries to run away, but he is too injured to get far. She tells him she will keep his secret. However, while she doesn't think he committed the murders she can't be certain. She and her friend find a picture of children who were staying at the houe and visit a photographer to see if he can remember the names of the children in the picture. He doesn't know much more than they do. The man and his daughter are killed when their studio is set on fire, shortly after Bess's visit. Wade was not in England at the time so he could not have done it.
They eventually do find out who the guilty party is.
The story is interesting for both the plot and for the authenticity of the story. The descriptions provided about life in England and for the soldiers in WWII are very detailed and provides a lot of interesting background for the story. There is an element of "class" structure in the story, but it isn't boring and doesn't overwhelm like the Elizabeth George stories.
Tuesday, 26 November 2013
The Selector of Souls
by Shauna Singh Baldwin
I had read a previous book by this author, the Tiger Claw, about an Indian woman who is a spy during WWII. I enjoyed that book so I thought I would enjoy this book.
Selector of Souls is about two women living in the Himalyan region of India. One of the women, Anu, is from a wealthy family. She is abused by her husband and wants to leave him and become a Catholic Nun. She was born Hindu but a priest saved her life and her father had her baptized Catholic. The other woman Damini, is poor. Her husband died when she was very young and she has been forced to work as a servant to survive.
Anu leaves her husband, but, before he leaves him she ships her young daughter off to her cousin in Canada so that her husband won't have custody of her.
Both women end up in the same village. Anu has trained to become a nurse and is working in a hospital. Damini has become a midwife. Damini is haunted by the fact that she killed a granddaughter of hers, a newborn baby, because neither the child's mother or father wanted her because she was a girl. Damini is taking women for ultrasounds and urging them to abort girls.
Anu meets up with Anu and is shocked at what Damini is doing.
While these two are working in the village there are a number of side stories taking place:
- Anu's cousin has been unable to have a child, despite invitro fertilization and other measures,
- A couple, children of a woman who was Damini's employer, have come to the village and have helped build a church and the hospital where Anu works, but they also want to build subdivisions for rich and tourist Indians. They want to have a son.
- Anu's husband who has been trying to find her, gets Damini's son involved in a religious movement and these zealots destroy the church and the priest is accidentally killed.
- Damini's son should be supporting her but he doesn't have enough money to do so, he rapes a local low caste woman. The daughter-in-law of Damini's former employer has a baby girl but she is so desparate for a boy that she tries to steal the boy. Damini has to arrange for this child to be given up for adoption as the mother cannot afford another child and her husband won't accept him because he is the product of rape.
After the death of the priest, for which Anu feels responsible, she leaves the convent and gets a job as a nurse in a hospital. The book ends with Anu nursing her ex-husband who had been injured in an accident. She has found out that he is beating his second wife. She decides to kill him.
This was a very difficult book to read. I was so sad and angry about the way people rejected girls and the harshness of the lives of the women. It was also difficult to see how the caste structure functions, e.g. only low caste people cut the cord on a newborn, or scrub the toilets. The Hindu's believe in reincarnation. It makes you wonder what kind of life these women will be reborn into. Anu realizes that if she kills her husband she will likely have to face him in her next life.
This is the second book I have read about the tyrannical treatment of women, I have had enough of this for now. I have to read something fun or light.
I had read a previous book by this author, the Tiger Claw, about an Indian woman who is a spy during WWII. I enjoyed that book so I thought I would enjoy this book.
Selector of Souls is about two women living in the Himalyan region of India. One of the women, Anu, is from a wealthy family. She is abused by her husband and wants to leave him and become a Catholic Nun. She was born Hindu but a priest saved her life and her father had her baptized Catholic. The other woman Damini, is poor. Her husband died when she was very young and she has been forced to work as a servant to survive.
Anu leaves her husband, but, before he leaves him she ships her young daughter off to her cousin in Canada so that her husband won't have custody of her.
Both women end up in the same village. Anu has trained to become a nurse and is working in a hospital. Damini has become a midwife. Damini is haunted by the fact that she killed a granddaughter of hers, a newborn baby, because neither the child's mother or father wanted her because she was a girl. Damini is taking women for ultrasounds and urging them to abort girls.
Anu meets up with Anu and is shocked at what Damini is doing.
While these two are working in the village there are a number of side stories taking place:
- Anu's cousin has been unable to have a child, despite invitro fertilization and other measures,
- A couple, children of a woman who was Damini's employer, have come to the village and have helped build a church and the hospital where Anu works, but they also want to build subdivisions for rich and tourist Indians. They want to have a son.
- Anu's husband who has been trying to find her, gets Damini's son involved in a religious movement and these zealots destroy the church and the priest is accidentally killed.
- Damini's son should be supporting her but he doesn't have enough money to do so, he rapes a local low caste woman. The daughter-in-law of Damini's former employer has a baby girl but she is so desparate for a boy that she tries to steal the boy. Damini has to arrange for this child to be given up for adoption as the mother cannot afford another child and her husband won't accept him because he is the product of rape.
After the death of the priest, for which Anu feels responsible, she leaves the convent and gets a job as a nurse in a hospital. The book ends with Anu nursing her ex-husband who had been injured in an accident. She has found out that he is beating his second wife. She decides to kill him.
This was a very difficult book to read. I was so sad and angry about the way people rejected girls and the harshness of the lives of the women. It was also difficult to see how the caste structure functions, e.g. only low caste people cut the cord on a newborn, or scrub the toilets. The Hindu's believe in reincarnation. It makes you wonder what kind of life these women will be reborn into. Anu realizes that if she kills her husband she will likely have to face him in her next life.
This is the second book I have read about the tyrannical treatment of women, I have had enough of this for now. I have to read something fun or light.
Monday, 11 November 2013
Ghost Bride
by Yangsze Choo
I think I had expected an unusual romance story. However, this book was much more unusual than that.
Li Lan is a young Chinese girl who is living in Malaya with her opium addicted father. He had been a successful businessman but seems to have gone to "pot" after his wife died. His money has all been wasted and they are living in poverty.
Li Lan receives an unusual request, to become the Ghost Bride for her cousin who recently died. This means she would be wed to a ghost, which would mean living in his family home, in comfort but with no prospect for love or children.
She turns down the request but is then haunted by dreams from the ghostly bridegroom. She and her nurse go to see a sorcerer who gives her medicine to take a bedtime to avoid the dreams. In the meantime she seem to be falling for the cousin of the dead man, heir to the family fortune. However she fears he may be responsible for his cousins death, Somehow she takes too much and finds herself separated from her body. She likes the freedom of being able to slink around, go through walls. She then meets an unusual man who asks her to go into the Land of the Dead to find some information for her. She decides to do it but also wants to go to find her mother. People gain goods and power in this world based on the offerings their family members make for them in the real world. No offerings, no goods, no power. She offers to be a servant in the dead man's family home, some kind of replica of the real world, in the purgatory land of the dead and is caught out. While there she meets her mothers ghost, she also is working as a servant to the household. She escapes from the house and the nether world with the help of a wandering spirit, but then realizes that the spirit has tricked her and taken over her body.
She is eventually able to get her body back and is proposed to both by the strange otherwordly creature/dragon and by the cousin of the dead man. She eventually finds out who killed the young man, it is not her prospective fiancee. One of his uncle comes to offer to send her to England for an education --- he doesn't want the marriage to take place. Her potential "mother-in-law" tries to kill her and one of the other wives of the family. She realizes if she marries the young man she will hav lots of interpersonal conflict to deal with in that family and she doesn't really love the young man, she wants him to have a chance at love. She decides she would rather have a life with her otherworldy lover than the cousin of the dead man.
This was an interesting story, you weren't sure what to expect or what direction things would go in.
It was different, but kept you engaged.
I think I had expected an unusual romance story. However, this book was much more unusual than that.
Li Lan is a young Chinese girl who is living in Malaya with her opium addicted father. He had been a successful businessman but seems to have gone to "pot" after his wife died. His money has all been wasted and they are living in poverty.
Li Lan receives an unusual request, to become the Ghost Bride for her cousin who recently died. This means she would be wed to a ghost, which would mean living in his family home, in comfort but with no prospect for love or children.
She turns down the request but is then haunted by dreams from the ghostly bridegroom. She and her nurse go to see a sorcerer who gives her medicine to take a bedtime to avoid the dreams. In the meantime she seem to be falling for the cousin of the dead man, heir to the family fortune. However she fears he may be responsible for his cousins death, Somehow she takes too much and finds herself separated from her body. She likes the freedom of being able to slink around, go through walls. She then meets an unusual man who asks her to go into the Land of the Dead to find some information for her. She decides to do it but also wants to go to find her mother. People gain goods and power in this world based on the offerings their family members make for them in the real world. No offerings, no goods, no power. She offers to be a servant in the dead man's family home, some kind of replica of the real world, in the purgatory land of the dead and is caught out. While there she meets her mothers ghost, she also is working as a servant to the household. She escapes from the house and the nether world with the help of a wandering spirit, but then realizes that the spirit has tricked her and taken over her body.
She is eventually able to get her body back and is proposed to both by the strange otherwordly creature/dragon and by the cousin of the dead man. She eventually finds out who killed the young man, it is not her prospective fiancee. One of his uncle comes to offer to send her to England for an education --- he doesn't want the marriage to take place. Her potential "mother-in-law" tries to kill her and one of the other wives of the family. She realizes if she marries the young man she will hav lots of interpersonal conflict to deal with in that family and she doesn't really love the young man, she wants him to have a chance at love. She decides she would rather have a life with her otherworldy lover than the cousin of the dead man.
This was an interesting story, you weren't sure what to expect or what direction things would go in.
It was different, but kept you engaged.
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