Tag: book

African Experience, book-review, books, literature, read around the world, reading

Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

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by Shehan Karunatilaka

Maali Almedia introduces himself with what should be on his business card:  Photographer, Gambler, Slut. He awakes to find himself in what seems to be a government office. He isn’t sure he if he is dreaming or awake because of the “silly pills” he had taken the night before. He slowly comes to realize that he is dead – murdered. Around him are lines and chaos as people try to figure out where they are and what comes next. He is faced with a dead political activist, who is to help him prepare to go “into the light” after having seven moons (days) to come to grips with this and prepare himself. He is also pursued by a slain member of the JVP (communist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna’s group) that is seeking to gather an army to exact revenge on those that killed them and thousands of innocents.

Through eavesdropping and memory, we learn of Maali’s history, of the country’s history, and the history of people he knew. He roams through the rooms where his friends and his enemies are looking to find him. Along the way he also meets some that he photographed when they were dead.  We learn of the atrocities he witnessed and documented. He decides it is time to show the reality of what he has seen now that he is dead. To do this, Maali makes pacts with The Crow Man, a medium, to give information to Jaki, his best friend, to find his photos. You also meet DD, Jaki’s brother and Maali’s lover, and their father, a minister in the government. Other players are leaders of waring factions across the spectrum: Army, Tamil, LTTE, arms dealers from Israel, CIA and CNTRE from Canada and Europe. Everyone has a hidden agenda, and if you get in someone’s way you end up dead. We follow those sent to get rid of the bodies, too.

In the end, Maali must come to a decision – what did his life stand for and how does he want to move forward. You need to read to the end to see if he goes to the light or not, and to discover what he finds his role is in this life. I can tell you, however, that people end up where they are supposed to be. 

Very well written. I was surprised how much this story captured me. Going back and forth from the in between and life, as well as to memory, worked seamlessly. You felt the confusion, and the despair, and the absurdity, as well as the relief when things are finished, even if they didn’t work out the way it was hoped. There is always time to do better. Not an easy story, but I am glad I read it.  

books, reading

Trust by Hernan Diaz

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This will have spoilers, because that is the only way I can describe this book. I read this after hearing the author on The Bookcase podcast. Charlie Gibson gave away the first part, so I am not sure if I would have understood this as easily. I tried to not spoil it for my mom, but needed to clarify why it was worth finishing the book.

The key to this book is the table of contents. You will see there are four parts:

BONDS

Harold Vanner

MY LIFE

Andrew Bevel

A MEMIOR, REMEMBERED

Ida Partenza

FUTURES

Mildred Bevel

After you turn the page from there, you will see a title page: BONDS, A Novel by Harold Vanner

You will then proceed to read a story of the Rask Family, Benjamin and Helen. A story of how Benjamin was brilliant at money, and how Helen was brilliant in her own right and a supporter of the arts, with an ending that insinuated that Benjamin was the reason for the death of Helen. Even though you have been told it is a novel, you believe this is all the truth. You may have even missed it that this was called a novel.

The second part of the book is called MY LIFE by Andrew Bevel. It is a new story, similar to the first, but with some glaring differences. The way the family money is made, a father’s affair in Cuba, and other “sordid” details are no longer there, or even refuted directly. Somewhat jarringly, there are notes at times to fill in information later. You come to understand this narrative by Andrew Bevel better with information you receive in the next section.

The third part of the book is a memory of Ida Partenza. She is an assistant that had been hired by Andrew Bevel to help write the biography. Here we learn MY LIFE consisted of his notes to write a memoir, but he needed help finishing. Ida was chosen from stiff competition to get this job. Ultimately, a test to type information about themselves gave Ida an edge. Ida’s response was not to answer the questions but to change it to be something close but not quite the same. This is exactly what Andrew wanted. Once hired, and under strict non-disclosure contracts, Ida learned that the memoir was specifically to set the record straight – that BONDS was just a story that resembled the Bevels, not reality, and that Mildred was a saint. To ensure this, in addition to wanting this written, Andrew bought every book published and the publisher to kill the novel. All to keep people from believing that story was based on truth, as he believed the story did.

As Ida tries to diligently capture facts, each time there is a question about what Mildred was and how she felt, Andrew was keen to change the subject. When Ida asked if Mildred had kept journals, Andrew stated they didn’t add anything, simply take his notes and go from there. Mildred’s defense was to remain without her voice. A MEMOIR REMEMBERED is a memory because the book was never finished. Andrew died before the project was completed. Ida was remembering this because she was actually going to the Bevel house as a journalist decades later, when it opened as a museum. Ida is able to come into the house once again, and is actually able to gain access to the journals of Mildred.

The last section is from Mildred’s journals. Yet another version of the truth is then shared. She was the mastermind behind the financial wins in the market. She knew she was dying of cancer. She chose to die in Switzerland. All information that had been put forth before was therefore to be questioned again.

Through this thoughtful structure, the point of the book is not that of Trust in the business sense, but in the human sense. Who do you trust to tell your story? Can you fully trust only one version of a story? What is trust? Why do we get so bogged down in the details of the money, when the real story is of the people – who they are, how they react, how they connect and what they actually know. Who do you trust to tell your story to? And who do you trust to tell it to others? In this lens, the titles of the sections have new meaning.

Bonds are not about the financial market bonds. These are used heavily throughout the first two sections as a way to hide truths. Money is not a connection – Rask has no friends or connections regardless of the money. Helen makes a connection with Benjamin in the same way as his money. Both are there to help open doors, but true bonds of friendship and support are made through her connections to the people she meets and supports through her charity. Similarly, Mildred’s charities provide her with an outlet and connection to the world outside her marriage. They give her a purpose in life and a way to have a separate identity from Andrew – even if he doesn’t want to admit it.

Similarly, the title of the last section FUTURES is again a reference to financial markets. The intention of these market securities is to take bets on what the markets and people will do in the future. This section focuses on Mildred’s story as told through her journals. The future she sees for Andrew after her knowledge pushes Andrew to action in 1929, saving his fortune, but knowing that in the she would not be there to push him to action for much longer.  The knowledge she was to be invisible behind him, and the knowledge that she needed to keep her own voice for her own truth via her journals.  

The author’s use of structure to help build this story is a technique that was used to perfection. It helped to build trust, and at the same time lull you into seeing how each person builds a truth by what they are seeing and what they are telling, and why it is so important to be skeptical. With so much disinformation in the world, especially in the United States news, it is important to remember this, and work to discover what truths are and what they are hiding.

Biography, book-review, memoir, Non-Fiction

Non-fiction in the air – even with a mask on.

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In the strange world we are living in, I am amazed that I am able to concentrate at all on any book.  It has been harder than ever for me, but every few weeks I try to pick up something new.  I tried The Water Dancer, American Dirt and Little Fires Everywhere, but I just couldn’t handle the difficult topics, even if they were so well written.  I will return to them when I feel more grounded.  Instead, I have spent the last few weeks reading books of real people, living real lives. 

This first book, after having sat upon my bookshelf for years, is The Year of Living Biblically, by A.J. Jacobs. It was surprisingly engaging.  As A.J. went through his quest to learn more traditions and live closer to the letters of the biblical law, I saw a man striving to find himself in so many ways.  This was just the method he was currently using.  I saw in myself the understanding I have always tried to have around religious rules, separating those from traditions and determining what these meant and why I would either to continue to observe it or not.  I felt light after reading this.  Somehow closer to myself and the “greater being” I believe in. 

After finishing this book, I found The Library Book by Susan Orleans.  I was expecting a novel, and jumped right in.  This is absolutely not a novel.  I found an intriguing story of how the Los Angeles Central Library was created and grew, only to be devastated by fire in the 1980s.  Hearing the story as we are taken through the halls of the rebuilt library, with a mystery of how the fire was started and how the institution has changed was fascinating for a self-proclaimed library lover.  This simply highlighted the unique and special place libraries, their caretakers, and their contents are. 

I followed this up with The Young Woman and The Sea by Glen Stout.  I was drawn to this after I heard him in a book group for my employer talking about the book.  The way he explained the world of the time, jumping in and out of the space, and the context of swimming within the larger woman’s movement made me seek this out.  Learning about Trudie Edele, the first woman to cross the English Channel, was not all I gleaned from his pages. While this was a bit long with suppositions on things going through Trudie’s mind when swimming, the details on how she was instrumental in breaking so many barriers simply by being herself was refreshing and exciting.  I had never seen her in that light before, and I gained additional admiration for her ability to put sportsmanship first and swam for the joy of it.

Who knows what I will pick up next?  Could be from the library, Amazon Prime or even my own bookshelf.  I will go where the spirit pulls, and do my best to share with you some highlights.