Fat shaming. It's so rooted in society and family that it often goes unnoticed. Sometimes, it wears the garb of concern - oh, you've put on so much weight; is everything okay? At other times, it's downright cruel. Ananya, the protagonist of Mirror, Mirror, faces the second kind. The words she hears echo through her head, making her recoil with disgust when she looks at herself in the mirror. Miss Piggy. Fat cow. How did she never notice how fat and ugly she was? How could she have thought it was okay? Mirror Mirror was pacy from start to end. That is something I love about Andaleeb Wajid's writing: her books make you keep turning the pages, not noticing when one chapter ends and another begins. I found that with When She Went Away, which I read three years ago, and then again with Mirror, Mirror. While fat-shaming forms the centre of the story, the narrative steers away from … [Read more...]
Queen of Fire
When I started reading Queen of Fire, I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy it. I expected to read something new and captivating, even though I knew that the protagonist was the rani of Jhansi. But all the opening scenes were familiar to me. We've studied the history of the independence movement in India in such excruciating detail that there is no way I can forget about the revolt of 1857, the story of Mangal Pandey, the Doctrine of Lapse, or the tale of the cartridges greased with the fat of cows and pigs. This made Queen of Fire completely different from the other two books in this series. I knew nothing about Didda before reading Queen of Ice, and I had not heard of Queen Prithvimahadevi until I read Queen of Earth. Would Queen of Fire be completely familiar? The answer was no. If anything, I think Queen of Fire is the most powerful of the three books. Once I got sucked into … [Read more...]
Bena’s Summer
Poetic. That's the first word that comes to mind when I think of Bena's Summer. It's a slow, almost languorous read, evoking the in which summer in a small town stretches before us. And this summer, we see through eight-year-old Bena's eyes. Bena, who is a precious, precocious child, a mix of childlike innocence and equally childlike wisdom. Bena is short for Benazir. She is innocent, generous, and, in the way children sometimes are, cruel. What makes her special, though, is her courage. Her moral compass points true, and she knows when she must stand up for those who are not as strong as she is. She also knows when she is in the wrong and with all the generosity of her spirit, she reaches out to beg for forgiveness. With Bena, the reader experiences love that almost hurts. We see life through her eyes; we see her courage, her indomitable spirit, and the complexity of her family. … [Read more...]
Nomad’s Land
Last evening, I spoke to the friend who gave me Nomad's Land for my birthday."Are you okay?" she asked. "You sound like you have a cold."I promised her I was fine. "But I just sobbed over Nomad's Land." How does one review a book as beautiful as Nomad's Land? It's one of those books that you just have to put aside once in a while to take the time out to feel, even though you're itching to know what happens next. It's poetic and lyrical, and silly and sweet. It made me cry. It made me smile and roll my eyes because teens and pre-teens will be teens and pre-teens. The book begins with a confession, where author Paro Anand tells the reader that she has deliberately tampered with the historical timeline to set the story in the 2000s and make it more relevant to youngsters today. The exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits took place in the late 80s and early 90s, but the story pushes these … [Read more...]
Welcome to Nowhere
When I read books like Welcome to Nowhere, part of me reads with a sinking heart for I realise that I don't have the courage to tell stories like this. Yes, I do know that every story matters and each one has a role to play, but powerful books like this are in a class of their own. Elizabeth Laird's books are exceptional. Look at Oranges in No Man's Land, set in Lebanon, or The Witching Hour, a wonderful work of historical fiction. Then there's the wonderful YA book Red Sky in the Morning and the very different Paradise End. Welcome to Nowhere is set in war-torn Syria and told from the point of view of twelve-year-old Omar, an enterprising youngster with dreams of becoming a big businessman. He's smart, friendly and confident, so the stage is set for him to achieve his dreams. Except that civil war breaks out. Omar has always been advised not to talk about politics, but it … [Read more...]
Queen of Earth
In the author's note at the end of Queen of Earth, author Devika Rangachari talks of Queen Prithvimahadevi's story having been ignored by gendered historiography. That gave me pause. I've barely thought about that. I've barely thought about all the women who, most certainly, made significant changes to the course of history, but have been ignored by a patriarchal telling of the course of events. And that's why historical fiction of this kind is important. It brings alive untold stories that inspire wonder. Just like Queen of Ice, which I read three years ago, Queen of Earth is the story of a powerful queen. Daughter of a powerful Somavamshi king, Prithvimahadevi (later Tribhuvanadevi II) rises above being the "daughter of" a king and becomes a queen herself, one with a keen understanding of what it takes to be accepted by the people she is to rule, the Bhaumakaras. Though her father … [Read more...]
Moonrise
I've been so busy working with my online creative writing programme that I simply haven't had the time to write about all the books I've been reading. Two of them stand out, and one of those is Sarah Crossan's Moonrise. This is the fourth book that I'm reading by this wonderful writer, and it seems as if I can't get enough of her work. I began with the one I enjoyed most of all - One. I went on to Apple and Rain, which I loved for completely different reasons. Apple's poetry teacher, Mr Gaydon, is one of my favourite fictional teachers of all time! Toffee, somehow, was a little too sordid for me, so I didn't review it on my blog. Yet, it left its mark. I can't forget it. And now, Moonrise. With every beautiful verse novel I read, I realise how much I love this genre. The words are simple and sparse and for me, they create maximum impact because of this. A book like Moonrise … [Read more...]
When Morning Comes
I haven't read or studied much about South Africa, though I do remember studying about apartheid and Nelson Mandela in school. Yet, when we're children, it's easy to think of things as 'long ago'. Even a year is a long time in a child's life. Reading When Morning Comes, I realised with quite a shock that 1976, the year when the book is set, was not so long ago. The Immorality Act astounded me, for I read about it with a clear understanding of how recently it was a reality. It made me think of posts I've seen on social media recently talking about pamphlets discouraging inter-racial marriage. It made me realise, again, how long the journey ahead is. I remember learning about Mandela being the first president of South Africa, and about him fighting apartheid. I was much older when I realised that what I studied was not history--he was the first president of South Africa as I was … [Read more...]
The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling
I met author Wai Chim at the Asian Festival of Children's Content in 2017. I didn't just meet her, we were part of the same panel, called Writing About Us. She came for my book launch, a poorly attended event because I knew very few people there in Singapore, and the launch was tucked away in the basement. Don't get me wrong. The basement was beautiful. It was the children's library and the most stunning one I've seen. The problem was there was no way of getting people's attention and having random passers-by attend. Wai Chim came for the event, though, I remember, and I was touched. That year, another book of hers was available at the festival bookstore, Closetful of Books - Freedom Swimmer. I was struck by the idea of the story, but somehow, though it's been on my list of books to read for a while, I never got around to reading it. A couple of weeks ago, I finally bought The … [Read more...]
Top Ten: Young Adult Books
Being a young adult is to inhabit a complex and confusing world. When books address this phase of life beautifully, they can be breathtaking. Here are my top ten YA books of 2019. Stargirl Writer: Jerry SpinelliPublisher: Laurel Leaf Thinking about Stargirl makes me smile, for the character of Stargirl is impossibly sweet, impossibly wonderful. Leo loves her, but unlike her, he is bound by this world. He seeks the approval and acceptance of people around him and he wants Stargirl to be normal, even though he assures her that he loves how not-normal she is.For a while, Stargirl tries, for she loves Leo too. But that is not who she is. How can Stargirl be normal? In a different context, I could ask, how do you keep a wave upon the sand? Read my review of StargirlBuy Stargirl Wolf Cry Writer: Julia GoldingPublisher: Frost Wolf From an author I love comes … [Read more...]