3 Stars. Hmmm. It’s hard to write reviews of memoirs that don’t exactly work for you, isn’t it? I don’t want to discount someone else’s life experiences. But I personally felt there were some serious issues with the writing. Enjeela and her family experienced a terrifying journey when they left Afghanistan [...]
4 Stars. I try hard not to get political in my reviews, though if you look back through the books I read, you’ll get at least a sense of my political leanings. It’s impossible to review this book without discussing politics though, so bear with me. I wish all the politicians who love to speak so loudly and [...]
5 Stars. Fatima is totally relatable. She feels overshadowed by her smart older sister and she doesn't always feel like she fits in at school. She's a little nervous about sleeping in a tent, especially when she and her sister spy a "monster" outside the tent in the night. They laugh the next morning when they see what it was [....]
4.5 Stars. This book was so heartbreaking so much of the time. I adored Kimberly. She's such a good daughter, friend, and student. She's trying so hard to be everything to everyone. Her life is always hard, but it's hardest when she first arrives, with no comprehension of American culture and little comprehension of the language [...]
Fereiba lived a lonely childhood in Afghanistan. Her mother died in childbirth and her stepmother never treated her like a real member of the family. Her stepmother does eventually arrange a marriage for her and it becomes a love match. Three children later, the Taliban are in power, Fereiba has had to give up the teaching job she loves, and their lives are shattered when the authorities knock on the door late one night, taking her husband Mahmood with them. Suddenly Fereiba finds herself alone with her children, fleeing Afghanistan and trying to reach family in England. I like books like this. They always make me more thankful for the things I take for granted every day. It's easy to forget that not everyone is as fortunate as I am. I'm free to wear what I want, worship as please, marry whomever I want, work at any job I'm qualified for, and get an education. I have access to healthcare, a nice home, clean water, electricity, indoor plumbing...the list goes on. Not everyone has even the most basic of these. I particularly enjoyed that the book starts before the Taliban were in power. Fereiba is a teacher, wearing stylish clothes and meeting her friends in public. The change to the Taliban regime is pretty abrupt in the book, I guess in the interest of time, but suddenly she can't teach and she can barely leave the house. When she does she has to wear a burqa and be accompanied by her husband. I've read widely enough to know that these changes have happened within my lifetime but it's good to remind those of us who are aware of it and to open the eyes of those who don't. I felt so bad for the family as they traveled. They fought…
Chronicling the lives of Japanese brides coming to America, Buddha in the Attic is deceptively slim. Almost every sentence begins a new story that is only hinted at, yet I saw at least the broad strokes of an entire life in just those few words. There is no main character and the book is told collectively. (NOT a direct quote) "We came from Japan. We left our remote farms. We left our lives in Tokyo. We left our fishing villages. We cried as we left our families. We left happily, vowing to never look back." Listening to this on audio, the style bothered me a bit at first. It's so freaking repetitive! I do not do well with anything repetitive. Once I did settle into the narrative, I saw the beauty of it. In about four hours, I was a part of the lives of what felt like hundreds of Japanese women, each with her own story. The book starts with the young women on the boat, uncertain of their futures and their husbands. They've never even met the men they're traveling halfway around the world to marry. Then there's early married life, children, life as an immigrant, and, in the early years of WWII, life as a "traitor." It was sometimes heart-breaking but always thought-provoking. Samantha Quan narrates beautifully. I've not been a big fan of Carrington MacDuffie's straightforward narration in the past but it worked very well for her small part in this book. I might have rated this higher in print, despite the excellent narration, simply because I could have skimmed over the seemingly endless, "We came from"s and "We gave birth in"s. In whatever format you choose, this is an excellent little book and I do recommend it. Read or listen to an excerpt. Find author…
Yunior has cheated one too many times. The smartass Dominican narrator of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is just not in a good place. In a series of short stories set around different events in his life, he reflects on how he has arrived at this point. This is so hard for me to rate! I was not happy through most of these stories. I really, really, really liked Yunior in Oscar Wao. Would I ever date him? Absolutely not. Did I like him? Yes. He was a screw-up at best but he seemed to have his life together by the end of that book. At least from what I remember. But this shows us that he doesn't. He can't seem to change his ways. He relates affairs, his relationships with his brother and his father, his friends' affairs.... This is not a happy romcom by any stretch of the imagination. I still loved Yunior's voice, I just wanted to smack him around until he became the person I knew he could be. And then. And then I read the last page and a half. Yes. That close to the freaking end of a book that was at best three stars, Junot Díaz rocked my world. I understood where Yunior was coming from and what he was trying to do. I understood what he was saying. And I loved it. I had goosebumps, it was so perfect. I am not lying. I started seeing what was going on and I got more and more excited and then I read the last sentence and I was in love. It was perfection. Seriously. I immediately wanted to flip to the front and start over and see how my perspective shifted now that I got it. But the library book is…
Anya falls into an abandoned well one day and finds herself alone with a skeleton. Needless to say, she is terrified. Especially after the ghost of a girl about her own age shows up. Anya is rescued fairly quickly and tries to put the whole experience behind her. But she's brought something back out into the daylight with her--the ghost. And Emily has no intention of going back into the darkness. I was okay in high school. I really was. I had a group of awesome friends and we had a good time just doing our band geek thing. Still. I wouldn't want to be a teenager again. So books that bring those years so painfully to life just don't do much for me. And Anya's teenage years are painful to see. She's a second-generation Russian (I'm 99% sure) immigrant. She's so ashamed of it. She hates being around her family and seeing the ways that they're different from other families. She hates being around a boy her age who has only recently left Russia and so has a heavy accent. She's ashamed of the food they eat and the clothes she wears and even her sturdy Russian body. She's got issues. But Emily helps her to see exactly how ridiculous those feelings are. And not at all in the way that I expected. Emily just got freakier and freakier until she was downright scary by the end! She shows Anya exactly where her attitude could lead her and it is a dark, lonely, and psychotic place. I truly liked the artwork and I wish I had liked the story more than I did. It's just that teen angst thing. If you are more forgiving of it than I am, pick this up. It is a creepy little book that…
A man leaves his wife and daughter behind to go establish a new life for them in another place. He must learn the ways his of strange new home. I'm so glad Aths recommended this book. I would never have found it on my own. Without writing one word, Shaun Tan tells a detailed story about the fears and hopes of going in search of a better life. He has the mood perfectly set within two pages. His decision to illustrate the new city with unbelievable buildings, conveyances, and creatures helps the reader understand how overwhelmed The Arrival must be feeling. He shows scenes of confusion and despair, then kindness and hope. I felt that I knew what it was to be an immigrant, if only for a moment. I really like that he shows immigration to be a sort of cycle. There's the initial confusion, the kindness of strangers, the fitting-in, and then showing kindness to the next new person. This was shelved in the juvenile section at my local library. I don't know about that. There's nothing graphic or scary, I'm just not sure that a not-teen would understand what was being conveyed. If nothing else, though, it would lead to great discussions between parents and children. The illustrations are just gorgeous. Sepia-tinted like old photographs, they lend a note of authenticity to the story. It starts to look like something that really happened, despite the fantasy animals. I love the endpapers, with all the beautiful, multi-cultural faces. I highly recommend this lovely book. "Read" an excerpt. Find author/illustrator Shaun Tan on his website. Buy The Arrival at Malaprop’s | Better World Books I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop's, my local independent bookstore located in downtown Asheville, NC; and Better World Books. I will receive a small…
Jack Rosenblum and his young family were some of the fortunate Jews who escaped Berlin before WWII started. When they disembarked in Great Britain, they were given a pamphlet entitled While you are in England: Helpful Information and Friendly Guidance for every Refugee. Mr. Rosenblum becomes obsessed with the idea of living his life according to these rules and becoming a perfect English gentleman. As time goes by, he realizes that the list is incomplete. He begins to add to it and to cross items off the list. The original list states that only English should be spoken. Mr. Rosenblum thinks that every English gentleman owns a suit that was tailored for him on Savile Row. He crosses both items off his list. Things proceed swimmingly for a few years, then Jack hits a snag. Every English gentleman must belong to a golf club. Mr. Rosenblum tries and tries and tries again to join one. No golf clubs are admitting Jews. Jack, being an eternal optimist, decides to buy a place in the country and build his own. It shouldn't be too hard. I'll admit that I was a little nervous about this book as I got a good start on it. I was really liking optimistic Jack and there seemed to be so much room for heartbreak in his story. I don't generally like heart-breaking books. There are heart-breaking moments, but the overall tone is one of hope. Much more my style. I just couldn't help but like and root for Mr. Rosenblum. I wished that he could be comfortable in his own skin and with his own identity, but I understood where he was coming from. He felt that he could only be safe if he became a proper English gentleman. He came from such a hard time…