Book Review #3: A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

The story of A Thousand Splendid Suns is mainly about maternal longing and love to me.

It tells of Mariam, harami (an illegitimate child) and Laila. Mariam was born in a deserted part of town, placed there her father, a man too absorbed by shame to do the right thing and admit his mistake. Week after week, her father, Jalil, visits her. And her world revolves around these weekly visits. She trusts entirely in her father and that he truly wants and loves her, despite her mother's obvious scepticism.

On her fifteenth birthday, Mariam asks her father to take her to visit her 'other family' . Jalil dodges this. The end result was such that Mariam runs away to town to visit her father, but entry was denied to her at the gate.

She is sent home after one night of sleeping at her father's gate and sees her mother hanging by her neck on a tree. She believes that her abandonment of her mother caused her suicide. She is soon married off by her step mothers at 15 to Rasheed, 40ish , a friend of Jalil's.

Laila, however, is much different. She is well educated by her father, a former school teacher. But she soon finds her life destroyed by war and she is left without her parents and love interest, Tariq. Laila is rescued from the bomb that killed her parents by Mariam and this is how their path crosses. Things take a sour turn when Laila ends up marrying Rasheed, Mariam's husband.

But all is not blind happiness for both the women.

This story appeals to me because of the highlight of the rights of women, the suffering and the endurance that abused women have to go through. Reading about the war and the oppression of women by the ruling regime in Kabul and Afghanistan, I sincerely wished that it wasn't so. Education of women was not allowed, no singing, no dancing, no tv, no adequate hospital for women. Much depressing it was that such things exist in a modern world. Is it truly an unfathomable thought that women are intelligent and are able to contribute to society as well?

Nonetheless, what I feel when reading the book... The Kite Runner was written by the same author. Having read The Kite Runner before A Thousand Splendid Suns perhaps did spoil the experience for me some what as I am sure that if it had been the other round, I would have enjoyed A Thousand Splendid Suns so much better. Not that it was a good read, it was. It is just that some how it did not pull me in like The Kite Runner did. The whimsical games that children play in The Kite Runner really connected with me, whereas A Thousand Splendid Suns only managed to grip my heart by that little bit. I did not feel a substantial amount. Which leads me to think:

Are we really so jaded and numbed by the happenings of current society that we are unable to feel empathy for those less unfortunate?

Rating: 3/5

"Mariam was five years old the first time she heard the word harami."

It is.

It is kind
to those too young to understand.
It is cruel
to those who do.
It is merciful
to those who watch.
It is not
to those who feel.
It is devoted
to those who remembered.
It is forgetful
to those who didn't.
It is punctual
to those who were reminded.
It is persistent
to those whose hearts did not need reminding.
It is pretentious
to those who cried for vanity.
It is sincere
to those whom it embraces in the core of one's heart
Grief is.

For the Love of Pigs.

The Chinese have an obsession with pigs.

They buy the piglets,
feed them,
talk to them,
take care of them,
make sure that they are all comfiie,

then KILL them and EAT them.

Of course, pork plays a HUGE part in our diet. (Needless to say, all things with its back facing the sun are not excluded.)

The Chinese eat all kinds of pork:
from the few-week old suckling pig, staple for every Chinese wedding.

source: www.lovelymomentos.com

to the yum barbecue roasted pork, aka char siew,

source: www.jphpk.gov.my

to the succulent siew long pau (translate: small dragon bun)

(Ok now, please stop laughing at us unimaginative Chinese people who can't seem to name things with names that do not include the word dragon or tiger or rabbit or phoenix or laughing buddha or royal china or happiness gardens. Ok whatever.)

source: www.jphpk.gov.my

to what I claim to be the king of all pork dishes.

Behold mortals,

I present

BAK

KUT

TEH.

(chinese stewed pork with herbs)

Just in case, you weren't put in awe by the mere mention of its name,

I present

its

PICTURE.

source:forum.lowyat.net/topic/1078396/+20

Perfect for breakfast, branch, lunch, tea, dinner and supper, this dish is the undefeated king of all pork dishes. Stewed to perfection with its special blend of spices, it is best savored with steamed white rice in a deep set bowl to capture the awesomeness in its juices.

As you can see,
there is much reverence paid to the great almighty pig.

Now, the strange thing is the ancient Chinese also punished adultery by trapping the horrible offenders in pig traps and drowning them in rivers, aka the act called cham chu long (translate: soaking in pig cages). Serious, no joke.

source: www.stockphotopro.com/photo-thumbs-2/B02B3J.jpg

Hmmmm..........
Oh well, I'm sure they tried really really hard to think of a better name.

You Had Me at Elasticity....

This spotted on the cardboard cover of a makeup brush.
The mandarin bit at the top:

"The brush is produced using top quality hair. It is thick and stiff and at the same time soft. It will be able to put forth the actual colour of your make up, allowing you to present yourself at your most beautiful."

I'm totally digging the translation.

Book Review #2: The Interpretation of Murder

The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld

Set in Manhattan in year 1909, this book is about the solving of murder mysteries using psychoanalysis with the help of Dr Sigmund Freud.

The story is told in the view of Dr Stratham Younger, a follower of Freud in America. Younger, he himself a brilliant doctor, is joined by Freud, Ferenzi and Carl Jung, the latter both of whom are avid followers of Freud's psychoanalysis theories in Europe.

A woman, Miss Riverford, is killed by strangulation and soon after, the young and beautiful Nora Acton of a reputable family is attacked. She shows similar wounds to that of the woman killed and there are theories abound that Miss Acton's attacker is the same person who killed the rich Miss Riverford. The arrest of the killer is complicated by the fact that Miss Acton is unable to remember her attack, claiming amnesia. She loses her voice due to the trauma but soon regains it. However, she is unable to provide any information to aid the arrest and investigation. Hence, Younger the psychiatrist , with the help of Dr Freud, sets forth to solve the mystery and help cure Miss Acton.

The front cover of the novel has claims for the Guardian, calling it 'Spectacular... fiendishly clever'

Fiendish? Maybe.
Clever? Not so.

In my personal opinion, the novel reeks of ..well.. psychoanalysis. To the point of being some what burdensome. Breaking it down into sections, one would notice equal amounts of story telling followed by psychoanalysis. This repeats itself throughout the book, where little happens and then a large amount of psychoanalysis (getting a tad annoying to be typing this word again and again even.)

The story felt a bit slow and does not compare to other crime novels that I have read. The numerous reference to the Oedipus Complex (try 30 times) starts to get a bit annoying. Perhaps this novel would be more suitable for someone with a background in medicine or psychiatry.
However, I would think it commendable, considering that this is the author's debut novel. I can only wish to be able to strive for such flair someday.

The fact that the author clarifies the discrepancies that his novel has with the real live 1909 Manhattan in the author's note at the end is also admirable. He had clearly has put a lot of effort into his research.There are also a number of expressions and ideas in the book that are extremely witty and had me in stitches. (more of this in later posts maybe)
Nonetheless, the story line was perhaps, just blehh...
I hope Rubenfeld's other works might intrigued me more in the future.
This, not a Reread.

Rating:2/5

Wouldn't Mind Some Bad Romance

Been obsessing over Lady Gaga's Bad Romance lately. She's so weird that its great. But somehow the video kind of reminds me of Pan's Labyrinth.

say hi

Especially the bit where she pops out of the capsule with a latex crown thing on her head and the bit where her bony spine was showing. Anyone else thinks so?

On another note, was just wondering how many "wardrobe malfunctions" occurred in the scene where she is dancing rather vigorously with not much on but bands of red tape-like material on her......
The makeup also kind of reminds me of Kat Von D.. hmmm..

Best News I've Heard in Yearsss.....

I've found this recently on the BBC website.


"Rethink for calorie eating levels

The calorie counts used as the foundation for diet plans and healthy-eating guidance for the past 18 years may be wrong, a report suggests.

The recommended daily intake of calories could be increased by up to 16%, a draft report by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition said. A 16% increase would mean that adults could safely consume an extra 400 calories a day, equivalent to an average sized cheeseburger."

courtesy of bbcgoo food.com

Or a piece of chocolate cake
Hmmm.........Come to Ma-Mahhh.....

Gender : The Great Divide

Males and Females view things differently.
Sometimes very very differently.

Allow one to elaborate, taking disasters as an example.


Male:
Disaster is when your favorite football/soccer/cricket/racing club/rugby team loses a game/race/season.


Female:
Disaster is when the hairstylist who understands every single strand of hair on your head,
the one that you has been going to since the dawn of civilization,
decides to move to another country.

Something tells me that we'll be coming back to this time and time again in the future. ;)

Book Review #1: Five Quarters of the Orange

At the risk of sounding like a completely psychotic stalker,

I like you Joanne Harris.
I really do.
You me? We think in terms of food.
We connect.

Five Quarters of the Orange is the story of the pure innocence of youth, of young love, of loneliness, but most of all, of deep dark secrets.

It tells the story of Framboise Dartigen, a sixty-five old woman as she moves back to her home town, the village of Les Laveuses, on the Loire. She has hidden her true identity in order to return to her village and wishes nothing more but to live there peacefully for the rest of her life. She has done well for herself, setting up at successful creperie, serving food made from recipes passed down to her in a old feathered book from her mother, punctuated by snippets of the queer workings of her mother's mind. This, something she has never understood til now.

Alas, the peaceful living is not to be. Her existence in her beloved village is threatened by the possibility of exposure. the exposure of a secret she longs to keep hidden.

Framboise narrates the origins of this secret in her former self, that of a nine year old child.
The imagery is so good that one is propelled into her world to see it through her very eyes. One starts to envision the simple house where she stays with her mother,brother, Cassis and elder sister, Reine-Claude. She tells of playing with her siblings, days spent fishing in the river, setting up traps and preparing baits and her obsession with trying to catch Old Mother, a tough old pike that has eluded her all these while.

The books jumps between the nine year old Framboise, her innocent and carefree days and her sadness as she is slowly left out by her siblings as they grow older, and the sixty five year old Framboise as she struggles to "defend" herself against her enemies who continue to create mischief to break her down.

This book is an excellent read. Its not really the kind that keeps you at the edge of your seat, flying through the pages to the point of not really taking in the words due to one wanting to find out what happens next so much (like the excellent Bourne series). Its more of the sort that makes you take your time to read each word and picture the quaint little village fields and red nosed laughing men in straw hats in your mind.

Must say that it does have a certain amount of French-ness to it. Maybe its due to the fact that the author, Joanne Harris is half French. Or maybe its the peppering of French cuisine in the book. Not surprising, as Harris is also the author of Chocolat. I never did read that book, although the French-ness of it all is forever imprinted in my mind by all that chocolated-finger lickings.

This is where I fall in love the book. As a self-declared food snob, I totally adored the way the author went about describing things in foodie terms, like how she describe the pallor of a frightened face to be as "white as curd" or the way she named the main character Framboise, which is a luxurious raspberry liqueur. Yummmm.....

The whole story is finally tied together by the two main male characters of the book,Tomas Leibniz and Paul. Both are very contrasting features in the book, Tomas being the character who connects Framboise with her siblings back again and even her mother too and Paul, the unassuming boy with a stutter that silently watches every move and unknowingly, to all, becomes the answer to their troubles, both the nine year old and the sixty five year old Framboise. Go read it to find out how.
Definitely high recommended.

I stumbled upon a review of this book here at the Joanne Harris website and think its really good too.
Maybe that's what they pay reviewers well for ? :)

Rating: 5/5