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

Book Review : Me Power

 

Me Power 

LaNysha T.Adams

254 pages, New Defree Press

Genre : Non Fiction

 

Who are you? What is empowerment? Does education make you more self aware? More importantly what is education?  How do you take control of your own learning? These questions and more are asked and answered in LaNysha Adams book, Me Power. She doesn’t just answer but also helps the reader practice it.  This is a powerful guide for most people who in this technological world are bombarded with loads of information but not real knowledge.

Adams was refused admission to a doctoral program stating that it was not for her. However, she didn’t give up.  In addition, she narrates startling stories of remarkable people from Monet – nope I didn’t know he had eye disease to her ninth grade teacher. It is an amazing collection of people including the author herself.

Reading books brings me happiness but this book brought me joy. This is one book that completely made me rethink all my limiting beliefs thanks to popular narratives. LaNysha Adams bowled me over with her book. She has kindly given small exercises at the end of each chapter to help the readers achieve what they think is impossible. Once you are done with book, you will think of empower as Me power. Also, you will know how to deal with the ever changing technological world better than you are doing now.

It is a must read for those who find themselves wondering what they can do in a world that seems almost hopeless - that seems filled with hate and seems to drawn into wars which we feel we can only watch and not do anything to stop.. 

 Do buy it here   AMAZON

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: How We Were Before

 

How We Were Before                                                                                                                                     by Jonathan Kravetz                                                                                                                                  294 pages, Running Wild Press                                                                                                           Genre: Fiction

Do we really know what is going on in the minds of our family members and friends? How important is a local school incident to the rest of the community? Do we really understand the dangerous ends to which small town gossip can lead to? These questions and much more are asked and answered by the author in his book, How We Were Before.

This is a crime novel with a difference. It starts with the crime, the double murder of an elderly couple Pete and Tara when a home invasion is attempted due to rumors, goes wrong and the murderer Billy Lawson who is 18 years old is caught within hours. However, the POV changes as it is narrated by the surviving friend and family of the murdered and the murderer. the local police force, local newspaper and school and how this affects them. Kravetz has used a brilliant technique to narrate what would be a regular murder mystery bringing the small town of Benfield to life including the story of the murdered who fill the gaps to ensure there is smooth transition. Though set across multiple timelines and multiple POV, it brings all the characters to life in the small town of Benfield, Massachusetts.

The writing is good as the pace changes between timelines, and you are learning about the social landscape of Benfield but could be any place in the USA or world and how a crime affects the people of the town directly and indirectly. It has a chaos effect which many may not realize.

This is the feat of the author as this book brings to life full-fledged 3D characters and not just crime and who did it? It makes you wonder. 

It is a must read as it makes you think about your way of thinking about yourself, friends and family and society as a whole. 

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Book review of Serabelle

Serabelle: Where the Wealthy Come to Play
by Tavi Taylor Black
Genre : Historical Fiction
325 pages,  ‎ Black Rose Writing

Set against the backdrop of women's suffrage movement.in New England, USA, does being born to a servant means you have to end up as a servant and have no other future? Did a servant life matter in New England in the 1910s? Should they just serve and die ? What about a young  beautiful maid who dismisses the vulnerability of her position and thinks she has a right to life and right to vote? These are questions that the author asks and answers in her book Serabelle.

Mabel Rae is a young teenager who joins the staff of the house of Serabelle which is owned by the Hunt family.Separated from her mother who works as a maid in another estate, Mabel plans to change her fate.  With no money and few rights, the suffrage movement and Alistair Hunt's love give her hope but for how long?  Her best friends are Willie,  an  African American stable boy  and Rebecca who is a maid, Both her young friends only bolster her hope.

Black has written a novel that moves crisply and has a no-nonsense quality to it. If people who employ servants or helpers worldwide, pause and think about what they are doing, this book would have achieved its aim.

Do buy it here on AMAZON

Book Review : The Invisible Hand of Cancer

The Invisible Hand of Cancer
Carola Schmidt
Genre : Non-fiction
142 Pages, Springer International Publishing AG


“The tear that doesn’t go out, goes in.”


Most of know someone who has or had cancer but do you know cancer predates humans? Why do we judge or blame someone for getting cancer?   Did you know there is something called smoking genes? What leads to cell suicide or apoptosis? Is cancer a single disease or numerous diseases which makes it complex? Why is talking about cancer a taboo in most societies? Why do we need to discuss the politics and economics of cancer apart from the taboo and the fear of death ?  How does dance help in cancer prevention?  Why is cancer a costly disease even though it can affect the poor and they cannot afford the treatment.Should we just blame the pharmaceutical industries or is there more to it? How does structural sexism in the heath sector affect treatment ?Did people buy into the false narrative of the cancer pill or phosphoethanolamine?  These questions and more are answered by the authors in the book, "The Invisible Hand of Cancer"

"When we do not talk about the disease, feelings, pain, and problems, they do not disappear. They grow." - This is one of the most sensible and factual statements in the book. It is one thing to think we are sparing the feeling the one with cancer which is a myth in itself, as families and friends if we don't talk about it or as communities, according to the author we fail to provide support to the person afflicted by cancer and whose fear might grow thinking the family and friends are hiding something dreadful from them. Another is the social taboo in some countries against the children of cancer patients who are already suffering or died, treating the children as if they have inherited the cancer from their parents too. So much is the misunderstanding and the taboo about speaking on cancer that this book is essential to talk about it, so a better understanding of what constitutes different forms of cancer will remove the social taboo in society.  

Cancer affects all - kids, women, men and transgender. However, there is a problem when men avoid the doctor. Is it because society teaches boys to be tough and hence men think the same ? The gender stereotype is also a huge problem when treating cancer especially for men it can be deadly as they fail to go to the doctor until it is too late. Schmidt states that even the juice a patient drinks can affect their chemotherapy despite well intention friends and neighbors. So it is always better to run it with the oncologist and pharmacist team who are responsible for the chemotherapy as it changes with each individual and the dosage is extremely important. She shoots down the so called cancer pill and how many people were led astray. Also she clearly mentions how with no data available in the initial stage in Brazil and since cancer was not a priority for politicians or the judges with malaria being the main priority.

Another very important point raised by the authors is the socioeconomic factors - cancer might seem democratic but is highly discriminating towards the poor - as they lack access to good healthcare, proper food, clean water and medicines, postoperative care and not just lack of money. So one has to approach this one with the Human Development Index in mind and not just GDP of a country. Improved living conditions and lesser pollution of water and air and no adulteration of food can make a huge difference.

The writing is simple, crisp and any reader can understand this. Though it is a huge topic,  Schmidt has edited it in such a way that it is easily understandable to the non-medical reader.

This book is a must read if you or someone you know has or had cancer.

Buy it here  on  Amazon.

Review - Vermilion Harvest : Playtime at the Bagh

 

Vermilion Harvest : Playtime at the Bagh
by
Reenita M. Hora

312 pages, Indignor House, Inc.

Genre: Historical Fiction

“Mumma. She said that from the moment you are born,
you start your journey to Bhagavan-ji ka ghar. Such a long
journey can take all your life. So … how are all these people
going to get there without their chappals?” - Gopal


It is the time of the satyagraha ( truth and firmness)  in the Indian subcontinent when people are protesting non-violently against the Rowlatt Act which gave power to the British govt to arrest, torture and kill any person of the Indian subcontinent after declaring them as terrorists or enemies of the Empire.

Aruna Duggal is an Anglo Indian school teacher. Born as a result of rape of her Punjabi mother by her unknown British army father, she and her mother face ostracism from both her mother's Punjabi Hindu community and also the British community in general. However she falls in love with Ayaz, a Muslim law student who is also a Gandhian freedom fighter thanks to their fondness for Jane Austen's novel -Pride and Prejudice. Her best friend is Amrita Singh, a Sikh homemaker and mother of young Gopal. They are all young and hopeful in 1919.

Set against the backdrop of Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar which fell on Baisakhi (Punjabi Harvest Festival) and when people gathered to celebrate the festival while some to protest peacefully against the Rowlatt Act  and the arrest of pro-independence activists Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr.Satyapal  who symbolized unity of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, the book examines what it really means to be human. Hora ponders using the Jallianwala Bagh massacre if all those who fought for freedom from British colonization of the subcontinent, really got what they wanted or what they dreamed of in 1919 - a free subcontinent and instead  of what we did in 1947 - a partition of the subcontinent into three countries with people still struggling with scars even after 75 years.  Those who died in Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar would have never accepted the partition.

Hora's writing style is crisp, fast paced, sensitive and heartbreaking. It is a well researched book that makes you wonder about hyphenated identities of people in the subcontinent. Everyone is a minority here. The narrative is unique as it tells it from an Anglo-Indian perspective which also covers how the unfounded fear from the British administration that led to the massacre thanks to General Dyer who yelled" Fire" without even asking the people to disperse which made it a turning point in the freedom struggle.

I don't know why this book hit me so hard and made me cry. Is it because from July 1, 2024, Indians will face a modified version of Rowlatt Act in India? Or is because I have always felt, that partition was a double insult to the freedom fighters  who dreamed of a unified subcontinent with free people and never of partition and the British cheated us of it? I don't know. All I know is that this book is a must read for all.

It is a unique book. Buy it here - AMAZON

Book Review - Babanango Trilogy - A Rougher Task

Babanango Trilogy - Part 1
A Rougher Task
by DJG Palmer
Cranthorpe Millner Publishers
344 Pages, 2024



What was the main reason for Britons joining the Army during the Victorian Era? Was it just patriotism or poverty? Who is a sapper and who is an officer? Why did the British invade Africa and Asia? DJG Palmer answers this and more in his part 1 of his trilogy, A Rougher Task.

Albert Bond finds himself penniless and friendless as his father dies while doing business and leaves him in debt which he repays by having to sell off everything he has including the golden pocket watch his parents presented him with for his 21st birthday. He plans to marry Clara who is the daughter of a retired Colonel but he doesn't have a respectable income. So he hopes to seek his fortune by joining the Army after due training at the Royal Military Academy just as Clara's father and his maternal Uncle Captain AW McGonagle.

As a gentleman officer, he is required to have a batman/sapper and he is lucky it is Jack Coleman who is a good looking, dutiful chap who has joined the Army because of poverty. However Bond is not too fond of his maternal uncle who has done a tour of India and now lives in Africa as his reputation in the Army is that of a maniac that Bond hides his correspondence with him so as not ruin his own reputation.

Bond and Coleman get on well despite their difference in class and rank. When their company is sent off to South Africa, so that they can fight the Zulus, they all get excited as they leave Chatham in 1878. It made me laugh that the Queen's regulations for a ship traveling to either Africa or India meant - a horse had 125 cubic feet of space while an officer had 175 and they stuck to it loyally. If two officers shared a cabin, then it was 275 cubic ft. while a sapper had only 50 ft. Some stuff like this are crazy and hilarious at the same time.

This book is all over the place as it is the first part introducing too many characters but is mostly about the brewing bromance between Bond and Coleman. There is the battle with Zulus which for the first time though fiction is an honest account, actually shows how scared and disorganised the British were when they fought, how terrified they were of Zulus when they first met them in the battle field which Brits would have lost but for their superior weaponry, etc. The McGonagle monologue might be okay for someone like me in India who knows about the sepoy mutiny but can be confusing for most people. 

For those who are interested in history, colonialism and war strategy - this would be a great read.

Buy it here    AMAZON