Book Review: The Search

Title: The Search

Author: Sajita Nair

Publisher: Juggernaut

Format: Kindle edition

 

The Search is the story of an eighteen-year old girl Laya who is portrayed as a regular vivacious girl of her age. Her doting parents, loving friends, a boyfriend and a fun-filled college life complete the picture of her life. A certain event in her life pushes her to take up the quest for her roots more seriously and urgently. As the story progresses, she comes across as a strong-willed person who decides to stand alone than to cave under societal pressures or norms. As she continues to walk on her chosen path, her loved ones join her and provide her the much needed support. While riding the emotional waves at various levels, she realises how going ahead with one decision brings her the wisdom to make peace with the situation of her biological parents.

 

The narrative is quite fast paced. The first significant turning point comes a little too soon but then the readers get hooked to that momentum. Story is engaging and as one keeps turning pages, one is actually hoping for the same happy ending where the author leads the readers to. Plot is not complicated and it is handled with ease as well. This story is about a young adult and for young adults. I like how author has attempted to highlight the significance of learning to take responsibility for the choices made. The new age young adults feel free and empowered to make choices and take their own decisions, but wisdom is in always remembering that some choices have life changing consequences. 

 

I remember reviewing Sajita's first book - She's a Jolly Good Fellow, more than a decade back. Not wasting anytime on frivolous characters and events in storytelling has been her forte which I really appreciate. Having said that, personally I was expecting a little more in terms of substance in whatever comes out of Sajita's pen. I will look forward to her next writing attempts for that. 

Book Review : The Bronze Bow

Title : The Bronze Bow

Author : Elizabeth George Speare

Publisher : HMCo

Age : Young Adult

In the times when incidents inspired by hate outnumber the ones driven by love and affection, when compassion seems to be running low in our hearts, when patience is looked down upon as a tool of meek and weak and when display of aggression seems to be the new and modern flavor, it is extremely essential to go back to the priceless teachings of the enlightened souls who graced the Earth with their divine presence. And what better time than around Christmas - the festival of light, which symbolizes happiness and merriment.

Daniel bar Jamin happens to witness the crucifixion of his father by Roman soldiers. Taking revenge by driving the Roman dominion out of the land of Israel becomes his only motto in life. Harboring deep hatred in his heart, he joins the band of an outlaw who resides in the hills outside the city limits. Forced by circumstances post his grandmother's death, he finds himself to be the only one who now needs to take care of his sister. But while living in the village he establishes a group of like minded guerrillas with sole mission of taking revenge. Fired by hatred, he fails to see and acknowledge tender feelings of his sister Leah, his friend Joel and Joel's sister Malthace.

There is one thing which empowers him and provides solace to his agitated nerves always and that is the Song of David

"God is my safe refuge,

And has made my way safe.

He made my feet like hind's feet,

And set me secure on the heights.

He trains my hands for war,

So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze."

and Malthace beautifully interprets the meaning as - When God strengthens us, we can do anything that seems impossible.

While he nurtured the hatred towards Romans passionately in his heart, teachings of Jesus of Nazareth had some other message to convey. Calm demeanor of Jesus always attracted Daniel but his words 'It is the hate that is the enemy, not men. Hate does not die with killing. It only springs up a hundredfold. The only thing stronger than hate is love', made Daniel's whole fabric of being shake. He always found hatred and feeling of vengeance so much closer to him that imagining his self devoid of these two was almost impossible for him. But after having experienced the pain of losing two of his dear ones with his own sword of hatred and after having pushed his sister to life threatening isolation again, he could finally understand the true meaning of David's words - 'He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze' - that perhaps only love could bend the bow of bronze.

"The only chains that matter are fear and hate because they chain our souls. If we do not hate anyone and do not fear anyone then we are free."

The scene here is set in Jerusalem at the time of Christ. Author beautifully conveys Jesus's message of peace amidst chaos, hatred, violence, pain and distress through the story of Daniel. It is indeed a moving and sensitive tale to emphasize that no matter how big and dear revenge and hatred appear to be, forgiveness and love pave the way for actual deliverance.

'The Bronze Bow' is the winner of the 1962 Newbery Medal

Book Review : Faces In The Water

Title : Faces In The Water

Author : Ranjit Lal

Publisher : Puffin

ISBN : 978-0-143-33106-3

I came to know about this book when it was among the shortlisted books in the Children's section, for the Vodafone Crossword Book Awards 2010 and then this book was adjudged the best in that category. The other competitors in the same category being :

Mr. Oliver's Diary by Ruskin Bond (reviewed here)

At Least A Fish by Anushka Ravishankar (reviewed here)

The Fang of Summoning by Giti Chandra

Koni - The Story of a Champion by Moti Nandy (reviewed here)

Sahyadri Adventure : Anirudh Dream by Deepak Dalal

Sahyadri Adventure : Koleshwar's Secret by Deepak Dalal

Needless to say, I really wanted to read it and the excerpts were very promising too.

The book addresses one of the shameful ills that is crippling our Indian society - the preference for male child and the fanaticism carried forward to extremely inhumane acts like female infanticide.

The very prosperous and affluent Diwanchand family is proud of having only sons in their lineage and they owe this special honour to the magical water from the well which is located near their ancestral house. The 15-year old son of this family Gurmeet once gets to spend a few days in the that house and wants to explore the area on his own especially the very famous well. But what does he see in the well water, his own reflection, no. There are three faces staring back at him from the well water - and those three faces belong to three girls. Then begins the journey of unraveling the mystery behind those faces and what do they have to do with the water being magical which blesses the family with only sons progeny. Are Gurmi and the girls together able to reach the depth of the mystery and do they get to influence the attitude of their male child obsessed parents?

Overall a fast paced, fun filled book which manages to address a serious topic in a lighter tone. Though an adult topic, it is handled in a manner which makes it appropriate for young adults too and actually this is a good strategy because the young adults of today are potential responsible citizens of tomorrow. So by educating them now, there is high probability that such diseases could eventually be eradicated from our society for good. The author has tried to spice the story up by including sufficient funny incidents and moments in the narrative and the magic of cyber world and connectivity are used as aids to bring home the point to the new tech savy generation. There is novelty in the way the inexistent world becomes alive with just connecting a few wires but slowly the same becomes repetitive and loses its charm. I found myself skipping those portions on a couple of occasions because they were hardly moving the story forward, rather they were mere diversions on the otherwise smoothly flowing narrative. These are the portions where the book tends to lose its objective. But otherwise a well written piece, with right amount of sensitivity and emotions that such a topic deserves.

I just hope the attempts of such books start showing some results so that we get to live in a free society which has no shameful acts to hide and no guilt to overcome.

Interview with Leela Gour Broome

Leela Gour Broome completely impressed me with her very first book - Flute In The Forest (reviewed here) and it was a dream come true when she contacted me after having read the review of the book here.

She gladly accepted the offer to be interviewed so that the readers get to know more about her and her experience of being an author.

1. Is the story of 'Flute in the Forest' purely fictional or is it inspired by some real life characters, incidents or experiences?

Flute in the Forest is purely fictional. It has however been inspired by my years living on the tea estates, and several trips through the forests of South India with my own family as well as with friends, over the past 35 years.

2. What all research did you do to write a story which has detailed account of forest, animals, lifestyles and customs of some tribes inhabiting that area?




With years of experience in forest areas I had little need to do any further research about the forest I wrote about, its flora and fauna. The lifestyles and customs of tribes in most Indian forest areas will be similar, give and take their eating/ living habits, as a lot depends on the vegetation there.




3. How has been your journey of being an author so far? What has been the most satisfying part of the experience of writing?




The 'journey' as an author has been wonderful. Firstly, a lifelong dream has been achieved, it was my ambition to write since I was barely 15 years old, time and family constraints made the delay, but it was always at the back of my mind. The most satisfying part of the experience has been seeing my first book finally in print. Of course, learning about the entire publishing business has been an eye opener as well.




4. You mentioned that you live on a farm. How significantly that environment inspires you in giving words to your thoughts?




Living on our farm , and running our nature and environment camps for 16 years nurtured my understanding of YA 12+ generation, their way of thought, and I pretty soon realized there was an enormous dearth of books relevant to this age group.




5. I read that you have written three books and 'Flute in the Forest' is one of them. When are you planning to get the other two books published? What are those books based on?




I have written 3 books, but the Flute story was the first to be edited by me over and over again, till I was happy I could not do any more to the story, and certain it would find itself a publisher! (It did!) The second book I have completed two months ago, and its in the process of being read through by editors of a publishing house. And the third needs a lot of changes made to it, as I'm not satisfied with it at the present moment.....

There are other stories I plan to write but would like to stay with the YA 12+ generation.




6. What kind of story would you want to write next and for which age group?




All my stories will deal with life and times in India, as I'm most familiar with this country, having lived here my entire life. We have such diversity here, nothing on earth can give an author such a massive choice of subjects, lifestyles, communities, religions, events, thought processes!




7. Who is your favourite among the Indian authors writing children's literature?




I used to read Manjula Padmanabhan, but of late prefer American and writers from the UK, of whom there are many. I do NOT much care for science fiction, or books on magic, magicians, etc.




8. Could you please share your experience of the process of getting the written work published? How easy/difficult is this process. Which kind of books do you find missing in the children's category in India?




My experience with getting my book published was long, and quite painful. Many many rejections, much editing, many more rejections, not enough email addresses to choose from, and many Publishers not finding YA lucrative enough to make one story go far!! Today's writers haven't much clue about either the market or the target they're writing for, and the usual money spinner seems to be illustrated books for the very young, so this age group is I feel totally neglected. We certainly need a larger number of YA authors here.

Thanks Leela !

Book Review : A Beautiful Lie

Title : A Beautiful Lie

Author : Irfan Master

Publisher : Bloomsbury

ISBN : 978-1-4088-0575-6

When I read the review of this book on SaffronTree, I knew I have to read this book very soon. Being born in a family where the bedtime stories ranged from mythology, highlighting the glorious past of India, the freedom struggle, to the first hand experience of the turmoil of partition, it was inevitable to harbour a deep desire to know more about that time and the incidents which led to the unfortunate time of division of a great nation. And to satisfy that craving, what better way than books. So whenever I got a chance, I read many books (fiction or non fiction) on freedom struggle and partition of India written by stalwarts of literature like Khushwant Singh, Amrita Pritam, Gulzar, Gurchanran Das and likes of these. This summer, while having some relaxed time in my native place, I overheard my mother narrating her personal experience of the partition to my children on their request. It was hard for them to comprehend the country as a colony of Britain, the hardships that freedom fighters underwent but most of all how one day some people were told to leave their homes all of a sudden by just drawing a line on the land where there was none.

'A Beautiful Lie' is a story set against the backdrop of extremely volatile situation of the months leading to the eventful midnight when India attained freedom which came with an exorbitant price of partition. The readers are introduced to deep friendship of five boys in their teens - Bilal, the protagonist, Manjeet, Chota and Saleem, all of them in their most cherubic selves enjoying their carefree school days.

What impressed me most about the story is that this is one of the few ones which bring out the special loving bond between a father and his son. Bilal's world completely revolves around his dying father and he is determined to go to any lengths in order to shield/isolate him from the stark reality of that time if it could buy just a few more days for his father or reduce his father's distress of seeing the country bleeding. To live this lie, Bilal finds himself in many sticky situations but his courage and grit to make even the impossible possible sees him through, even if it means involving many other people in the lie or publishing a customized newspaper for a certain pair of eyes, he does all.

The way Bilal's character is etched, anyone will fall in love with him, a character sure to stay with readers for a long time. The parts where Bilal's tryst with truth/lie are brought to the fore are admirable and will surely encourage the readers to introspect a little. As the story progresses, there are many strong characters along the way, who win the admiration of the readers - Bilal's wise father - a voracious reader, the teacher Mr. Mukherjee, the Doctorji and all of Bilal's friends.

The story is very well narrated till almost the three quarters of it but fails to carry it to the same scale till the end. The crispness that the tension of the final hour deserved is mired by the confusion created by many small incidents towards the end. But for me, the best part was a letter in the Epilogue of the story.

Book Review : Flute In The Forest

Title : Flute in the Forest

Author : Leela Gour Broome

Publisher : Puffin

Age Group : 12+

There are some rare books which stir some chords deep inside the heart and after reading such books, I just sigh and wish I could also write something so beautiful, something so pristine and something so soul stirring. Oh well, atleast I am writing about one here.

'Flute in the Forest' is one of the most sensitively written stories of a thirteen-year-old girl - Atiya Sardare, the only child of her estranged parents. Her mother, a famous dancer succumbed to the lure of exciting stage, left the family behind when her hopes of seeing Atiya as a world renowned dancer got shattered following the polio attack that left Atiya physically handicapped. Now Atiya lives with her father - the forest officer in a jungle in Southern region of India.

But her handicap or her loneliness does not hamper her adventurous spirit in any way rather this spirit of hers often encourages her to explore the paths inside the sanctuary many times even without the knowledge of her father. She feels most comfortable in the natural surroundings amidst lush green silent trees and the world of big and small animals. She is well conversant with the ways of jungle and its innumerable creatures.

While on one such secret trips, she gets to hear the most mellifluous music of a flute being played in a distance which enthralls her so much that she resolves to learn to play flute herself. But she knows her father detests any kind of music in the house in the fear of losing another loved one to the temptation of the stage.

Atiya soon finds out that the player of that sweet melodious flute was none other than a very bad tempered mean old man whom she likes to call as 'Ogre Uncle'. As the fate would have it, she starts learning to play flute from the same Ogre Uncle and surprisingly these teaching sessions lend a blissfully calming influence on the dreaded rogue elephant - Rangappa and Ogre Uncle himself - the physicallt dissimilar yet very similar duo. Atiya finds a loving patient friend in Ogre Uncle's daughter - Mishora. Atiya's flute-playing adroitness brings an unprecedented inner peace to herself and manages to transform the opinion of her father too. It feels as if the magic of the musical notes originating from Atiya's flute weaves a blanket of calm, peace and love everywhere and everyone seems to find the answers to many personal unanswered queries.

Despite having dealt with a few sensitive subjects in the narrative such as - a physically handicapped girl as the protagonist, the mention of her mother leaving the family to follow her passion to dance, a terminally ill Ogre Uncle and finally a death - the book is very positive. The story is the true celebration of 'The Happy Spirit'. I was reading the last chapter on my way back from a very satisfying trip to Rishikesh and I still can feel

the same goose bumpy feeling that I experienced then while reading it. This is what a perfectly well-written moving stories do to the readers.

I am sure this charming story will touch the same inner chords of young readers as it did mine.

Book Review : Heroes of the Holocaust - True Stories of Rescues by Teens

Title : Heroes of the Holocaust : True Stories of Rescues by Teens

Author : Allan Zullo and Mara Bovsun

Publisher : Scholastic

Age group : 10+ years

'Heroes of the Holocaust' is the book celebrating the spirit, fortitude, grit and determination of five teenagers who defied all rules laid by the Nazis and put their sincerest efforts in helping the Jews during WWII period. Despite the situations, the stories are not depressing or sad rather these are captivating and inspiring accounts of young adults who never feared for their own lives, instead they displayed unmatched sensibilities and compassion and had no qualms following their own hearts.

The book starts with a brief introduction of the history marking the dates of - rise of the Hitler's empire, the gradual invasions and occupations by Hitler's armies in neighboring countries, Hitler's 'final solution' creating the conditions for Second World War and finally the fall of Nazis. The simplified map of Eurpoe in the beginning helps in understanding how the Nazis were advancing and some of the neutral countries which provided the safer grounds to many Jews during that time. Also, the terminologies used, such as SS, Gestapo, resistance groups, labor and concentration camps are briefly explained in the prologue part of the book making it easier for the young readers to understand.

Poland based Maria Andzelm helped in hiding two Jewish men underneath the floor of a barn for two years when her many other Jewish neighbors and friends were deported to camps for inhumanly treatment. All through that time, she firmly believed in her father's faith 'If you do something good, something good will happen to you'.

In another story, 16 years old Henri formed a Jewish student group in Belgium and helped his fellow Jews in hiding and providing the basic supplies to live for as long as possible. They truly exemplified the quality that during the most horrible times of their lives, they were looking out for others.

Then there is the story of Anne's (Diary of Anne Frank) sister's friend - Hilde. Hilde was a nurse in Holland, who helped many Jewish little children about to be deported to the camps with their parents, find Christian homes to avoid the inevitable.

All these stories are true accounts with original names of persons and places which makes it all the more authentic. After each story, the curiosity of the readers to know about these heroes is satisfied by briefly providing the details of how their lives changed after the World War II. Some of these people were later honored as 'Righteous Among Nations' and their names entered the pages of history in golden words.

Those times though very sad, brought the best in many people which gives hope for many generations to come that there can never be dearth of goodness in human race and that one Hitler can never win against innumerable such beings. I think such books are perfect way to remember those compassionate souls and follow their ideals. As the author mentions in the introductory passage : 'The Holocaust will remain a sacred and painful memory of the millions who perished. Yet in the darkest hours of the human race, the lights of compassion and courage still glowed, thanks to the heroes of the Holocaust'.

Reviews of other books on WWII:

Number the Stars

Hitler's Canary

I Shall Survive

Book Review : The Giver

Title : The Giver

Author : Lois Lowry

Publisher : Harper Collins

ISBN : 978-0-00-726351-6

This is a story of a young lad Jonas, who is eleven now and is quite apprehensive about the upcoming ceremony where all Twelves of the community will be assigned an occupation, a job, a position in the community. Jonas is a member of a 'perfect' community where everything is same, in order, under control, as per the rules in the great rule book - the only book accessible to people of the community. The houses are exactly the same, the dresses of people are alike, each family unit comprises of a mother and a father and they can apply for one male and one female child. The community is unaware of any kind of emotions or feelings - happiness, sadness, sorrow, love, affection, suffering. They have not even heard of things like hills, mountains, snow, sunshine and even colors. This is because long back, the people of this community had chosen 'sameness' for themselves.

Even the terminology in the community is fixed and cannot be changed - children younger than one are called 'newchildren', same age children are 'groupmates', and weak, elderly, diseased or people who break rules three times are being 'released'. There is a set pattern to everything. The children at eight begin their volunteer hours where they are observed by the elders who later assign the children their roles in the community at Twelve. On the crucial day of assignments, Jonas is selected as a new 'Receiver of Memories'. He gets this unique responsibility owing to his intelligence, integrity, courage, wisdom and capacity to see beyond. The elder Receiver becomes the Giver now and needs to pass on the memories of the past, of all the feelings, emotions and truth to Jonas.

While on the journey to receiving memories from the Giver, Jonas as an intelligent student realizes that their 'perfect' world is not so perfect in reality. People have no freedom of any kind - what to wear, what to eat, which profession to chose or even selection of a partner - everything is decided or assigned as part of the community rule.

Through his training as Receiver of Memories, he experiences how there is so much more to the world and to the life which has been completely eradicated from their worlds. After having experienced the best of memories of being loved in a family setup to the painful memories of war and sufferings, Jonas decides that he must do something to bring in the change for himself and for his people. He sets on a journey to the 'elsewhere' land with whatever little reserve of memories he had received from the Giver over one year.

I really liked the subtle way how Lois Lowry described the perfect world yet bringing the feeling of uneasiness about the whole setup. The narrative had a wonderful flow to it but found one thing lacking in it - the Giver never mentions why exactly people chose the 'sameness' for themselves and how it happened. The end is a little mysterious leaving the readers wanting for more. A wonderful and completely out-of-the-box plot and executed with excellence.

Many controversial topics are being touched in the story - infanticide, suicide, euthanasia, sexual arousals (stirrings), concept of surrogating (separate group of females assigned the work of mothering). These issues have made this book a little controversial and I understand that in some US states, this book was banned for some years but now it is part of sixth grade curriculum in some schools. I feel there is a lot of scope of discussion about these issues through this story and good way to understand how young adults feel about the differentness, uniqueness and sameness.