Book Review : Oliver's Travels by Clifford Garstang

 

Oliver's Travels
by Clifford Garstang
302 pages, Regal House Publishing.
Genre : Fiction


"To find what you’re looking for, you have to know what you’re looking for" - Oliver Travels.


What is memory? If we forget someone or something, where does the memory of the person or incident go? What is the watchmaker argument? Why is belief not knowledge and where is truth in all of this? Is charity a myth? Can you be certain of something? How? These questions and more are asked by the author and answered in his book, Oliver Travels.

Oliver Tucker graduates college and decides to not stay with his father, elder brother who is an army vet from Afghanistan, sister Sally Ann who is married and who all live in Indiana. Instead he moves in with his mother who lives in Virginia. He decides to go in for an interview at the local university, he doesn't expect to get the teaching job but he does. Since his job starts only in the next semester, he has a couple of months and decides to write while doing odd jobs. At a coffee shop, he spots Mary who also teaches English and they end up getting married. But an old photo in which he cannot recognize his father's brother - Uncle Scotty who is supposed to have traveled the globe bothers him. Oliver writes a story of his alter ego. As he writes Oliver Travels - a fantasy travel in his head it leads to him really travel. But what is looking for? As he writes, the stories of both Oliver the author and Oliver the character begin to merge as fiction is nothing but truth mixed with a few lies. But will he find the truth?

Garstang's book is metaphysical in nature. His writing is crisp and makes you pause and wonder. Will we go to the lengths to find the truth as Oliver does? Or would it blame it on someone else? At times, it is humourous like the Great God Google which most of us use to get information instead of heading to a library. It is now like the Oracle of Delphi which spits truths to our generation and the next. Humane, witty and insightful, this book is a must read.

It deals with a lot of stuff that is going on in today's world which most people do not connect and think of as separate and different occurrences. But it is not as they are all tied in. Do read Oliver's Travels to find out how.


Buy the book here  on Amazon.

Book review of The Hangman's Master

 

The Hangman's Master
by Elyse Hoffman
Genre : Historical Fantasy

216 Pages, Project 613 Publishing  


"All revolutions devour their own children" - Ernst Rohm, during the purge of the Brownshirts.

Why didn't God use his power to change Hitler into a nice guy instead of a blood thirsty fascist who led Germans to commit the holocaust ? Is Satan really a fallen angel ? What is the meaning of holocaust? How did Hitler become Chancellor in 1933 as he lost the election in 1932 and couldn't become President of Germany? What happened during the "Night of Long Knives" which led to the purge and murder of brownshirts or the paramilitary SA by the Nazi party masterminded by Reinhard Heydrich and Himmler to consolidate Hitler's power over the German Army. Heydrich was not just head of SS and Gestapo but the architect of the Final Solution and author of the death camp system.He is better known as the Butcher of Prague and the Hangman, who she introduced in her book "The Vengeance of Samuel Val" So who is the Hangman's Master? These questions and more are answered by the author in her book, The Hangman's Master.

Stefan Harkel, 16, gets beaten up by his father, an SS man for being a homosexual and is thrown out by his parents. Homeless, he wanders around till he sees a recruitment poster for the paramilitary wing of the Nazi party and signs up just so he could have a warm meal and a decent bed. He grows up not liking communism and communists and so fascism makes sense to Stefan as he doesn't want people to have power. A loner, he falls in love with Axel Lahner, a fellow Brownshirt in his group who is well off and loves him back. Hitler's lust for power was more than those who were loyal to him.So on the Night of Long Knives which didn't take place over just one night , SS ends up in killing a large number of Brownshirt were murdered all over Germany by SS though they were neither Jews nor Communists, but loyal to the cause and were the Nazi Party's own paramilitary wing. Both Stefan and Axel survive the purge but only for Axel to join the SS. So they breakup. While Stefan joins the Black Foxes, the underground network which helps rescue and protect Jews from the Nazis, Axel continues to save him from Dachau even though Axel is married and has children through a lavender marriage. 

Hoffman writes about how "The Night of Long Knives" orchestrated by Reinhard Heydrich was the major turning point for the Nazis as they killed fellow Germans and  those with disabilities to create the so called perfect Aryan race, especially women and children that turned the tide against Hitler eventually. Also in Nazi Germany, homosexuals, especially male homosexuals were marked with a pink triangle and sent to concentration camps to die. This is something most historians gloss over in how Hitler came to power. She also addresses the Nazi propaganda about Jews which is resurfacing again in the western world and global south, especially among white supremacist gangs.

Stefan is contracted by Satan to be a master of Zone N-74 where he can torture Nazis responsible for mass murder. A dying girl signs the contract over to Stefan  to become the master of Zone N-1 which has just one soul - Reinhard Heydrich, known as the Hangman who was architect of the Holocaust which means "burnt offering" in Greek.  He becomes the Master of the Hangman's soul. What does he do to Heydrich's soul ? He meets Axel again and discovers Axel has multiple contracts as he has stolen them by murdering people after making them sign. Axel kills children because they don't look like the perfect Aryan. What does Stefan Harkel do to Axel Lahner?

Switching easily between different timelines, Hoffman's writing is engaging as usual. Finally the Black Fox series is tied up together from Samuel Val to Stefan Harkel. Though this book is stand alone, Harkel makes someone else the God of Zone N-1.  Who is it? What happens to Harkel?  What happens to the soul of Reinhard Heydrich?

Read the book to find out.
Click to buy it here ⤇  Amazon

Book Review : Bald is Beautiful: A letter for a fabulous girl

 

 

Bald is Beautiful: A letter for a fabulous girl
by Dr. Carola Schmidt

When a loved one - be it a family or friend especially a child gets cancer and undergoes chemotherapy, many lose hair. Most people get clammy and awkward around the person especially if the loved one is a female. Despite support from friends and family and personally being strong and knowing the hair will grow back, the tiptoeing around the person who is undergoing the treatment, doesn't help anyone.

So if you find yourself in a situation where you do not know what to do, buy this booklet and gift it.  Most people need to be reminded of how beautiful they are and how much they are loved though they are strong during the treatment. The illustrations by Dian Ovieta is colourful and heart warming. You can it give to anyone from a child who is trying to understand what is happening to her to a elderly woman who is trying to come to terms with the treatment.

Dr. Carola Schmidt is the author of "The Invisible hand of Cancer." where she deals with the various types of cancer which I have already reviewed on this blog but this booklet is not about disease and recovery but about love, support and friendship.  The writing is crisp and simple. A good gift to give if you cannot find the words to express it yourself.


Buy it here on Amazon 

 

Book Review : Perks, Politics and Pandemonium : Tales of Modern Society - 18 ‘storeys’ high

          

     

                                       

Perks, Politics and Pandemonium : Tales of Modern Society - 18 ‘storeys’ high
by Uma Sarangan
81 pages, Notion Press


In Pompous Moonyside Society ( PMS) , a gated community, Urmila and her husband are suddenly

put in a strange situation when her husband is accused of harassment by two women employees. 

But is it true? What is the real reason behind the accusation and how does it affect the family of

Urmila? Uma Sarangan asks and answers these and more in her novella, Perks, Politics and 

Pandemonium.

Examining the politic and power play between the various cliques, the gossip and WhatsApp Wars,

the "connected but out of touch" relationships between neighbours, families and friends, the power 

wielded by the management committee in a gated community in a well nuanced way, Sarangan's 

naming cliques and its members - Religious Rebels, Randy Racoon, Ritz,Snape, etc.makes the 

reader grin.

The writing is witty, crisp and relationships which is very true in today's India where more people 

know each other through social media than in person.

It makes one wonder when you last had a heart to heart with your neighbour who is not 

in your clique or with your real friend whose house you have actually visited. Everything is now 

done online from chatting to conversation through either WhatsApp or Instagram. 

Sarangan's book is a timely reminder to how living online or through phones can lead to dangerous 

situations thanks to spreading fake news on social media and destruction of relationships leading 

to trauma.

Do buy the book here - Amazon

Book review : Mona Lisa's daughter

 

Mona Lisa’s Daughter
by Belle Ami
417 pages, Tema N Merback Publishing
Genre : Historical Fiction


"Life is a brief dream, and love is the only thing that makes it worthwhile".

Why is the smile of Mona Lisa so mysterious in the painting? Valentina is put in a convent by her mother when she is pregnant after she is raped. She works helping the librarian and discovers letters over 400 years old - correspondence between Da Vinci and Mona Lisa. As the librarian wants her to make copies of it in ink and print, she sets about doing it.Once Valentina has the baby, she is convinced by the nuns to give up her baby daughter for adoption and a young Jewish couple adopt her baby. She is forced to return and her mother decides to marry her to her rapist and Valentina leaves her home and becomes a nun in Florence.. But what has Da Vinci's correspondence 400 years ago with Lisa got to do with Valentina and the second world war? The author answers this and much more in her book, 'Mona Lisa's daughter'.

Set in Florence the story entwines the story of Leonardo Da Vinci and Valentina in alternating chapters as they live four centuries apart. The story tells of the history of Florence during the wars during Da Vinci's  time  and Valentina's time. It also talks about the friendship and love between the elderly and gay Leonardo Da Vinci and  young Signora Lisa del Giocondo aka Mona Lisa who was married and had 5 children and whose husband commissioned the portrait. 

It flits all over Italy - Rome, Milan, Pisa and  Florence. By using two timelines and weaving them together, the author amuses the reader with the rivalry between Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti  with Raphael Sanzio and Sandro Botticelli making an appearance apart from Machiavelli and explorer Amerigo Vespucci after whom America is named. In Valentina's time line who else but Benito Mussolini or Il Duce, who had a Jewish mistress and Valentina's rapist Dante whose family are proud fascists. Most WW2 timelines  in fiction pay more attention to Hitler and the Third Reich  but very little to Mussolini, the original fascist who was arrested in 1943 by Italians who then joined with the Allies after which the Germans invaded Italy and took away the Jews to concentration camps in other parts of Europe though many escaped thanks to their fellow Italians.

The writing flows easy, doesn't stow down its pace but reminds one how history might repeat itself if we don't learn from it. The pace is good and makes you wonder who Mona Lisa's daughter is until she makes her appearance and you learn how she ended up.  

One has to applaud the author as she has managed to tell an engaging story based on historical facts. It is tough since it covers so many well known historical icons.

This is one book you have to read this year. Buy it here on Amazon

 

Book review : When Banana Stains Fade

 

When Banana Stains Fade
by Frances-Marie Coke
Genre : Historical  Fiction
Black Rose Writing


"Slavery finish but we fight and cuss one another same way over who have better hair and color.”


I chose this book for the title. All of us know banana stains cannot be removed but can only fade with time.  With this sort of title, I was tempted to wonder what were the banana stains in the story was but the author surprised me.

How does skin color or skin tone of a woman change society's perception of class, beauty or even education? Do many women opt for single parenting or they forced into it?  How has priorities changed over the years for Jamaican women? What is a banana stain curse? These are some of the few questions answered by the author in the book, "When Banana Stains Fade"

It is the story of four generations of a family of Jamaican women, that is heart wrenching and hopeful as with each generation, women have become more conscious of what they wish to be rather than becoming role models of what a patriarchal society tells them to be.  When a woman is raped or sexually assaulted, how does the family handle it , so as to bring closure and normalcy.

Zapping from rural Jamaica to Kingston city to New York to rural Jamaica, the author moves seamlessly between the past and present. The writing is  sensitive and sensible and doesn't shy away from hard facts  especially sexism and sexual harassment- something which is glossed over in fiction as it is hard to write but Coke does it anyway with a sensibility that most authors don't..

It is surprising how living in a totally different continent.  I could understand the stories of those colonized  even after independence remain the similar especially those of women as colonization has not been just physical draining of resources but also of the mind. .


It is a fantastic read in a world that seems to be at war with itself and with its past. Maybe this book will knock some sense into all of us.


Do buy it here on Amazon

Book Review - The Last Bird of Paradise

 

The Last Bird of Paradise
by Clifford Garstang
340 Pages, Black Rose Writing
Genre: Historical Fiction



Aislinn Givvens and Elizabeth Pennington are separated by a century but Singapore is what they have in common. One is a artist and the other is art lover who loves the other woman's paintings. Both have almost similar lives and views after they experience personal losses. Givvens lives in New York and in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks agrees to move with her husband Liam to Singapore leaving behind her career and identity just like Elizabeth almost a century before her who is packed off by her aunt just before the first world war from Britain to Singapore to live with her Uncle Cyril. Both are independent women but find themselves leaving for an unknown country and despite themselves fall in love with the multicultural East.

Zigzagging across New York, Britain, Singapore and Australia and across timelines that seem so different and yet so same, Garstang gives a quick lesson on Singapore history while making us wonder, when does a woman feel emancipation? It also examines the power politics in relationships between couples and between nations which was refreshing.

The writing is crisp with colourful multi-dimensional characters as he alternates between  the story of both women with ease. It was nice reading about the late Mr. Selvadurai even if it is fiction.

Apart from enjoying the book, I learnt a lot about Singapore history and was stunned there was a sepoy mutiny there too during World War 1 as the only Sepoy mutiny I knew of was Indian sepoy mutiny of 1857.

This book is highly recommended as not many write about the city-state of Singapore or the wonderful people and almost too disciplined government that borders on fascism there.

Do buy it and read it here  ====  AMAZON