What I Read #3: The Great, The Good and The Mediocre
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan
I read non-fiction very rarely. Not because I have anything against the genre, but mostly because I tend to lose interest midway through it. However, this was not the case with The Silk Roads. Frankopan reassesses the story of world history that has been told and taught over the years in this chunky book.
In his first essay, he talks about how the history that he was taught focussed almost entirely on the impact the West has had on the creation of the modern world we inhabit today. This is something that, as an Indian, should not have been my experience at all. But surprisingly, my knowledge of the past has gaping holes that were never filled by the dry manner in which schools teach us the subject.
This is one book I would recommend to people with or without an interest in history because of the comprehensive manner in which it takes us through, point by point, history from the vantage point of the East. Yes, there are places where the book falls short of meeting the goal it sets for itself in the first chapter, and there may be better books out there that delve into the topics explored in the book from a more unbiased position, strictly in an academic sense. But for a beginner in the space of non-fiction historical takes, I thought it was a great starting point.
We think of globalisation as a uniquely modern phenomenon; yet 2,000 years ago too, it was a fact of life, one that presented opportunities, created problems and prompted technological advance.
Peter Frankopan, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World (2015)
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
There is something about this book that I really enjoy, even though I am aware of its flaws. This was my second time reading Reid’s novel, and I enjoyed it just as much as the first time I read it in 2019. Whether it is her writing, which is bereft of any extravagant flourishes despite its glamorous topic, or her ability to create a character as memorable as Evelyn Hugo, the conclusion I drew was that this book will always be one I go back to when I want to see a great example of a character study.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is the tale of Monique Grant, who is unexpectedly invited to interview former Hollywood superstar turned recluse Evelyn Hugo. If an invitation from the now-old actress came as a surprise to the budding journalist, the offer to write the actress’s much sought-after biography stuns her. The book then takes us on a journey through retro Hollywood with its drama, politics and secrets with Evelyn, with her intriguing character and seven husbands, at the centre.
I enjoyed Evelyn’s life story much more than the slightly more predictable story set in the present time, but that may also be because of how dry Monique’s character feels when compared to the enigma that is Evelyn. It feels like a tell-all biography, with all the gossip and masala while being obviously fictional. But don’t be deceived by appearances. This book is not all fluff at all and delves into much deeper topics.
Sometimes reality comes crashing down on you. Other times reality simply waits, patiently, for you to run out of the energy it takes to deny it.
Taylor Jenkins Reid, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (2017)
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
I picked this book up with the expectation that it would make me cry and I was not disappointed. This is the third book by Boyne that I read and really enjoyed this year, and he is slowly becoming one of my all-time favourite authors.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas follows the story of a nine-year-old called Bruno, who comes across a fence and makes a friend on the side deemed wrong by his parents. It is a heartbreaking tale about the Holocaust that is set apart from others because of its narrator’s unique perspective.
What really made this book as impactful and heart-wrenching as it was, was the fact that it was narrated by a young boy with absolutely no understanding of the world that he was living in. His perspective on the actions of his father, his new ‘neighbours’ and the friend he makes paints a picture of innocence that was, in the end, destroyed by the hatred around him. Even as I was reading the last few pages of the fairly short book, knowing that the ending that I was expecting was inevitable, his naive outlook on the world around him further drills in the disgusting actions of those he once thought were on his side.
What exactly was the difference? He wondered to himself. And who decided which people wore the striped pajamas and which people wore the uniforms?
John Boyne, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2006)
Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert
I was never one for the Mills & Boons variety of romance novels with no diversity, often misogynistic representations and toxic relationships. I was introduced to Hibbert’s takes on romance novels when I first read Get a Life, Chloe Brown, about a girl with chronic illness and a boy once bitten twice shy when it came to relationships. What intrigued me about her book was the range of representations and the slow-burn romance that genuinely focuses on the connection between the characters. Yes, there are steamy scenes (very, very steamy ones), but at the centre is a heart-warming story.
Take a Hint, Dani Brown is the second book in Hibbert’s series about the three Brown sisters. It follows Dani, a proudly bisexual PhD student who does not have time for a committed relationship and Zafir, an ex-wrestler working as a security guard who struggles with anxiety. When a photo of the two of them goes viral on Twitter, Zaf requests Dani to pretend to be in a relationship with him because of the attention it is bringing to his charity.
The novel takes the fake-dating trope and gives us a genuine story of two characters first finding friendship and then love with each other. Hibbert does not resort to the tools of easily resolved miscommunication to bring conflict into the story; that is what I enjoyed about the novel. This is definitely not literature that will change your life, but every now and then, a feel-good book like this is needed.
If something keeps you human when pressure makes you feel like a volcano, hold onto that thing by whatever means necessary.
Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown (2020)
A Girl Like Her by Talia Hibbert
Having enjoyed two books by Hibbert, I decided to pick up another one hoping to enjoy it as much as them. However, right from the beginning, it was evident that her skills had improved over time. A Girl Like Her is very evidently one of the first books written by her, and so the same hold on the plot was not visible in this one.
Yet, the book did have Hibbert’s characteristic diverse characters given that this is also about an inter-racial relationship between an autistic woman who creates comics and a man who is new to the town in which she is infamous for something from her past.
Her growth as a writer was also evident in the melodrama of this book which is missing in her later works. But it was still better than most romances I have come across in terms of characters and plots.
Glares were her most common expression of thanks.
Talia Hibbert, A Girl Like Her (2018)
American Housewife by Helen Ellis
Okay, this is one of those books that left me wondering how I felt about it. The resounding conclusion I reached was that I was pleasantly confused by it. Ellis gives us a collection of short stories ranging from one-page ideas that instigated thought to several-page stories that always came with a surprise ending. The common thread that holds all of them together is the idea of the perfect American housewife, in her comfortable domesticity and pleasant expectedness, with a surprisingly dark twist.
Like with most collections, I enjoyed some stories more than others. But as a whole, this book surprised me with its ability to make me laugh out loud. Ellis writes about murderous neighbours, a thrift/treasure hunt reality show and strange book club rituals, among many other equally wacky concepts.
The themes of this book and the dark humour in the writing style of Ellis reminded me of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires and I wasn’t unhappy about this resemblance. The one thing that I didn’t enjoy about that book by Grady Hendrix was the execution of the supernatural angle; as this was missing in Ellis’s book, it helped me really enjoy the eccentric characters.
I cry because I don’t have the upper-arm strength to flatiron my hair.
Helen Ellis, American Housewife (2016)
Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson
There is something very lyrical about Woodson’s writing; she is economical with her words, putting in only those that create the maximum impact. Her books are short ones, but they span so many years, explore so many themes and express so many emotions that the end result is a masterpiece that leaves you stunned. My first experience with her stunning writing was while reading Red at the Bone, which was nominated for the Women’s Prize and my personal favourite on the list. While that was definitely the book I preferred, I enjoyed Another Brooklyn thoroughly.
When August runs across a childhood friend while on her way back from her father’s funeral, it sets off a series of memories of her first few years in Brooklyn when she moved with her father and younger brother without her mother. She remembers the friends that had once seemed like her entire world and then not been a part of her life at all. Set in the 1970s, Another Brooklyn is the story of friendship and Brooklyn. It is also about what it means to be a young girl coming to terms with sexuality and the way society looks at them. It is also about August’s family trying to come to terms with a mother who had seemingly been left behind and a father who finds solace in religion.
The two themes described the best in this book according to me, are death and hope. August’s relationship with death begins with the disappearance of her mother from her life. We know that as an adult, she deals exclusively with the death rites that exist around the world, and the common thread that holds together the memories and the characters is their experiences with death. While the group of young girls go through a lot of tough experiences, we know that August survives, and that is what brings forth hope in this story.
Who hasn't walked through a life of small tragedies?
Jacqueline Woodson, Another Brooklyn (2016)
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
If you read the first edition of What I Read, you know that based on the Up! Vibes of the book I expected to really enjoy Backman’s novel. (I know I am very late to this party. Next week I’ll watch Titanic.) From the first few chapters, I was a little doubtful about this. But then, as I progressed, I started understanding why people love this book so much. Not only is it super easy to read, one of the reasons why it is often recommended to beginners, but it is also part heartwarming and part funny. Ove, as a character, can be grumpy and rigid, but his way of working through that grumpiness to help those around him and form relationships with others is what I really enjoyed about the book. This is definitely one of those books that go into the comfort reread pile.
We always think there's enough time to do things with other people. Time to say things to them. And then something happens and then we stand there holding on to words like 'if'.
Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove (2014)
What if it’s us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
I read Red, White and Royal Blue while the world was still in the depths of pandemic-induced darkness. While things around the world have only minutely improved, I decided to read a book recommended by several online resources as something with a similar vibe. To those, my only response would be that it is not even close.
Okay, maybe that is too harsh of me. I did not have much of a problem with this collaboration by popular writers of YA contemporary, Albertalli and Silvera, except that it was predictable and it brought nothing new to the table. The book is a love story between Arthur, who is in New York for the summer doing an internship at his mother’s law firm, and Ben, who is stuck in summer school with his ex-boyfriend and his ex-best friend. The two meet in a chance encounter at a post office, and there starts Arthur’s quest to find the cute stranger once again. I think the only thing I really liked about this book was its representation of a great male friendship where the boys really spoke to each other instead of the chest-beating, ‘Boys will be boys’ variety of friendships that we see in the YA genre.
YA, contemporary romance is not really my go-to genre. One of the major reasons for that is very often; these books are just romances without any other sub-plots. The character traits of the protagonists revolve solely around their responses to their romantic interests; beyond that, neither do they have lives nor personalities. The only saving grace in such novels is often either the cute quotient or the chemistry between the characters that at least gives you the same feeling as SRK films from the 90s. While What if it’s Us did have a few cute moments, the complete lack of chemistry made for a dry read.
I don’t know if we’re in a love story or a story about love.
Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera, What if it’s us (2018)
Dear Ijeawele: A Feminist Manisfesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This book is Adichie’s response to a request made by a friend of hers asking for advice on how to raise her newborn girl as a feminist. In this short book, the author of Half of a Yellow Sun, one of my favourite books of this year, gives a list of fifteen suggestions in order to raise feminist children. I think this is a book every parent should read because Adichie flawlessly puts forth arguments and points that seem like such small things when you read them but are difficult to put into practice, even in the 21st century.
Teach her that if you criticise X in women but do not criticise X in men, then you do not have a problem with X, you have a problem with women.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Dear Ijeawele: A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions (2017)
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
I reread this book ever so often just to remind me how difficult it is to be eloquent and articulate while talking about feminism and yet how important it is. This is a short book adapted from her much-viewed and much-talked-about Ted Talk by the same name, and she talks about what it means to be a feminist and why the movement is so important. Adichie’s feminist ideologies are very evident in the fiction she writes, and this peek at her skills in exploring the same themes in a more personal essay-esque manner, and I hope we get to see more of it sometime soon.
Culture does not make people. People make culture. If it is true that the full humanity of women is not our culture, then we can and must make it our culture.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, We Should All Be Feminists (2014)
White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht
I spoke a great deal about this book in the currently reading section of the second edition of What I Read. And while I did end up really enjoying the topics explored by Bracht in this novel, I found the end to be very rushed and hence, slightly disappointing. When an author takes you on a journey that spans several years, you expect the end to be slightly more fleshed out and satisfying. I actually would not have been as disappointed even if Bracht had left the matter of the reunion to an ambiguous end, but the way things were wrapped up made me feel like I was robbed of the details.
On Hana’s island, diving is women’s work. Their bodies suit the cold depths of the ocean better than men’s. They can hold their breath longer, swim deeper, and keep their body temperature warmer, so for centuries, Jeju women have enjoyed a rare independence.
Mary Lynn Bracht, White Chrysanthemum (2018)
That’s all for the month of October. Another Brooklyn was by far the best book I read this month. Let’s see what November brings for me, reading-wise. See you on the other side. And till then, happy reading!