A Room With a View by E. M. Forester

    With this review, I'm going back to my Victorian romance roots. Well, technically this is Edwardian, and since that era didn't last particularly long, I just adjoin it with Victorian literature. It wasn't that significant of an era for art to change anyway. Pip might get mad at me for this and start a debate about how this novel may qualify as early modernism, but this is my post.
     I picked up this novel when I was in Venice last year, which was a happy coincidence as that is where the majority of the novel takes place. It was fun reading about all the places that the protagonist, Lucy, and I visited simultaneously. It was the perfect vacation read, honestly, because of how wonderful a writer Forester is! He's so easy to follow and not confusing like novels typical of the era, such as Hemingway or Fitzgerald. The content of the novel, however, is a bit difficult to follow because of Lucy's rather erratic love life. She is in a constant battle between two painfully wealthy and handsome men, and cannot decide which to marry. Don't we all have similar crosses to bear? Sigh.
  The plot is pretty predictable, and it can sort of get boring at times. Action is very minimal. Oftentimes, I skipped several pages and found that I hadn't missed anything. Other times, I would say, "Do something bitch!" Still, it was a cute book and I did recommend it to my patient, inhibited friends because I knew they would relate to Lucy. I wouldn't read it again because I genuinely don't have the patience for it, but it's something good to add to a reader's repertoire.
Happy reading!

Reading Shakespeare: Julius Caesar

But, for my own part, it was Greek to me. (1.2.283)

Well, for my part, it wasn't Greek. It was one of the best texts of literature that I've ever read. One that both the reader and the viewer of the play would enjoy. In other words, Julius Caesar deserves all the praise that it gets and have been getting through the years and decades.

I truly believe that one should first read a Shakespearean play before watching an adaptation of it. Although it's an actual play, but a reader will definitely get more from it than a viewer. There are many characters and literature elements that a reader will find, when reading the entire play, being that a play or an visual adaptation of it will not necessarily include every scene or every line in the play. This aspect of the reading experience is important to give every character its moment and value.

I've had the privilege to both read the play and also watch a good adaptation of it. Having done that, I had a specific picture of every character in the play and a specific sense to them, watching actual actors perfume and give their characters their own flavor and take was something that I did not want. But I will say this, that although I did not like the concept of giving an actual image to a fictional character in a Shakespearean play, one should always watch a visual adaptation of it, as it's in the end, a play.

As for the play itself, Julius Caesar is a story that has it all. It tackles most of the questions that not only did the Romans have at that time, but general questions that everyone has. questions about loyalty and friendship are at the surface of the play, but also there are many more deeper issues explored in the play. Shakespeare wanted to show his own opinion on the concept of revolting against the system. He, as many argue, believes that changing a system does not necessarily have good results. One can also reflect the times that the play writer wrote in, having a queen like Queen Elizabeth, Shakespeare wanted to voice his own opinion of her and the whole monarch system throughout his play.

Another Shakespearean play that one should both read and see.

The Wish Maker by Ali Sethi

In high school, I was always with the Pakistani crowd. They were the coolest people, and they always had the best lunches. My mom made me subs, and I would swap them for chana masala with pickled lemons. God, yes! Naturally, I would be fascinated with my friends' culture and they often recommended good books for me, although none captivated me as much as Ali Sethi's The Wish Maker.

The novel takes place in 1980s Lahore, where the protagonist, Zaki Shirazi, returns home from studying in the United States. He recounts his childhood and compares it to present times, as the novel does the Tarantino thing and does not go in chronological order. There are many characters the novel: aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, mothers, fathers, friends, cousins, neighbours, etc. and it often becomes a bit confusing to keep up with who is saying what. Pakistanis are usually very respectful people, and it's considered impolite to call their older siblings by their first names. Whenever I went to my friends' houses, I had to conform to this custom and call the older sisters Baji and the older brothers Bhai. Sometimes, I would even have to call the younger siblings Bulbul! Get ready for such anonymity in The Wish Maker. Other than the character confusion, be prepared for a gripping and beautiful story about coming of age and Pakistani feminism. Plus, fans of the revered Benazir Bhutto (may she rest in peace) are in for a treat.

If you can keep up with the fragmentation and slight hodgepodge of characters, please do not miss out on this book. I promise you that it will resonate in your mental library.

I Want to Get Married by Ghada Abel Al

I read Ghada Abdel Al's translated book with the intention that it was going to be absolute poo and a giant cheesefest. By the end of it, however, I realized that I had accidentally genuinely enjoyed the novel, and re-read it immediately because of how much I liked it!

This novel used to be an Arabic blog by the Egyptian Abdel Al, but its popularity grew so quickly that publishers immediately picked it up as a novel. Abdel Al writes about the trials and tribulations that come with finding Mr. Right in modern day Egypt. She is a 28-year-old pharmacist, and by Arab standards, a spinster. She gets more and more desperate and ends up having completely off-putting fools showing up and asking for her hand. One is a giant, intimidating security guard with hilariously feminine traits, another is a robber, and a third is in pursuit of a fourth wife. 

It's more than just the complaints of a modern-day educated Hijabi, it's about what society dictates is acceptable for women and how breaking from tradition is taboo in certain Egyptian families. Let us not forget that these are some of the same people who practice female circumcision despite the centurial advancements of medicine. Still, Ghada's story is natural, funny, and relatable to not just Arab women, but women seeking to settle down in general. 

I know the cover makes it look as silly as a Sophie Kinsella novel, but I promise, it's chock-full of societal debates and renunciation of tradition. Yay!

Reading Without Colour

I first came across The Giver in the sixth grade, when I was first exposed to novels with covers that don't have every colour in the spectrum. I read the book and didn't think much about it, because it didn't strike a chord with me. I didn't realize how important the novel was until I leafed through it recently in my senior year of university! 

Lois Lowry created a world that was half-idealistic and half-apocalyptic. The inhabitants of her little town are unaware of the outside world, and no one has dared to venture out of it. It is a town that Marx would be proud of, because everything is regulated to the point of people's sexual habits. Whenever youths begin to show signs of sexual stimulation or arousal, they are administered pills that control their "stirrings," thus preventing things such as physical desire and romance. The town (which doesn't have a name, to the best of my recollection) also controls its inhabitants to what they see: that its; no one can see colour, thus eliminating differentiation between people and races. The equality people receive in the fictional town is truly admirable, but definitely creepy at the same time. The protagonist of the novel, a child by the name of Jonas, learns that he is to be the town's "Giver", the one who is allowed to keep the memories of the time before black-and-white and strict austerity of lifestyle in case a need for the them would arise. Honestly, the story is really fascinating and although it is marketed as a kids' book, I believe that adults would be even more interested than children in reading it.

The Giver wasn't that fascinating to an eleven-year-old Emma as much as it was to a nineteen-year-old me. Even now, I realize that the book's ability to draw in the reader to the point where I got excited at the first time Jonas saw the colour red really makes me want to look more into Lowry's work. One major disappointment, however, was that there is no sequel to the book. It really lacks completion, and when I once taught the book to an eighth grade class three years ago, I had them write up an alternative ending to the novel. There was one in particular that stood out to me, and although it wasn't really the happily-ever-after everyone goes for, it was strong. That's what The Giver lacks: a strong close. Still, read it, but you will probably be frustrated at the end.

Tina Fey: A Disappointment

I love Tina Fey as much as the next bored housewife. She definitely resonates as a stronger writer than actress to me, and that's why I think that she and Amy Poehler make the feminist comedy dream team. Fey's pretty funny, but I must admit my disappointment with her 2012 novel, Bossypants.
Although the novel made many notable lists, such as the New York Times bestsellers, I personally didn't find the book to be as fabulous as it was hyped up to be. It's a heavily personal book and we learned so much about Fey, such as her dysfunctional childhood and the original story of the scar on her face. I finished the book within five hours, and I didn't really leave with anything I wasn't expecting to find. It's funny in a cheesy, SNL sort of way, and it's pretty predictable. Because Fey uses autobiographical elements in most of her works and sketches, a lot of the information was redundant. I did, however, recommend the book to my mom (who doesn't like reading, so it technically doesn't count) for one reason: the chapter on motherhood. The mother's prayer to her daughter was really cute and I have to share it:

“First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches.
May she be Beautiful but not Damaged, for it’s the Damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the Beauty.
When the Crystal Meth is offered, may she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half And stick with Beer.
Guide her, protect her when crossing the street, stepping onto boats, swimming in the ocean, swimming in pools, walking near pools, standing on the subway platform, crossing 86th Street, stepping off of boats, using mall restrooms, getting on and off escalators, driving on country roads while arguing, leaning on large windows, walking in parking lots, riding Ferris wheels, roller-coasters, log flumes, or anything called “Hell Drop,” “Tower of Torture,” or “The Death Spiral Rock ‘N Zero G Roll featuring Aerosmith,” and standing on any kind of balcony ever, anywhere, at any age.
Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes And not have to wear high heels. What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking You, because if I knew, I’d be doing it, Youdammit.
May she play the Drums to the fiery rhythm of her Own Heart with the sinewy strength of her Own Arms, so she need Not Lie With Drummers.
Grant her a Rough Patch from twelve to seventeen.Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long, For childhood is short – a Tiger Flower blooming Magenta for one day – And adulthood is long and dry-humping in cars will wait.
O Lord, break the Internet forever, that she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers And the online marketing campaign for Rape Hostel V: Girls Just Wanna Get Stabbed.
And when she one day turns on me and calls me a Bitch in front of Hollister, Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, For I will not have that Shit. I will not have it.
And should she choose to be a Mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 A.M., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back. “My mother did this for me once,” she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. “My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a Mental Note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know, because I peeped it with Your God eyes.
Amen.”
-Tina Fey

Anyway, that was the only part of the book that I actually cared to remember. Read this poolside or whenever you find yourself in a shallow state of mind. This is not intended for heavy-duty intellectual adventures.

Stephen King's 11/22/63

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First of all, let’s begin this review with an important statement. Stephen King is not a commercial writer, never was, and never will be. There you go. Now let’s review this amazing novel.

There are many elements that can pull readers to a story. The characters and how strong they are written, the plot and how the story goes, and most importantly in my opinion, is the writer’s style and his way of structuring his own writing. Stephen King has them all, all the elements that will not only pull a reader to his stories, but will build an emotional connection between readers and his characters. 11/22/63 is a perfect example of that.

Yes, it’s a time travel story (you can get that from the title and JFK’s picture on the cover) but that should not prevent you from picking up this book and reading it. Because readers who actually read this book will have a hard time explaining it or even considering it as a time-travel story. My personal explanation will be something like this: the core element of the story and the book itself is the concept of time travel and how people react to this idea, but it’s a one concept that King includes and not the main one. Readers will eventually shift their focus from the time travel element of the story and onto King’s characters. As the story’s protagonist, Jake Epping had me emotionally invested in his journey. King wrote Epping’s journey as the center layer of the story and then added a time travel element to it and that’s what made love this story. It caters to everyone, both the science fiction fans and also the causal readers that tend to focus on reality-grounded stories. Plus, Epping is a high school English teacher, so we English majors should always take care of one of our own.

I don’t want to go into details and spoil the story for you guys, but we can get a lot from just the cover and the name of the novel. It’s a story about a man who will go back in time and try to save JFK from getting assassinated. At first, the concept of the story did not interest me; another take on time travelling that will have many unexplained loopholes. I was wrong! King actually tries to explain many of the time travelling questions and give his own take on them, which was what I found very interesting. In addition to that, King’s novel has two main stories in them, a general one involving the JFK angle, and another one that will be more grounded and more enjoyable. King successfully gives his readers a reason to love both stories and even believe the link between them. Readers will want Epping to stay in the future, but they will understand why he must stay in the past and be with the women he loves. (I’ve said too much, gonna end my review here). Actually, there is one scene involving Epping’s lover that I really loved. It involves dancing, and that line went straight to my heart. Damn you Stephen King for making me cry over a fictional character!!

Simply read this book, you will love it.

Side note: I never knew that the F in JFK stands for Fitzgerald, one of my favorite American writers. That was an interesting and a pleasant surprise.

Pip

Dystopic Love

I have to be completely honest. If it wasn't for Keira Knightley, I never would have come across this novel. I'm such a Knightley junkie, and I happened across Never Let Me Go on her IMDB page. Due to my read-a-holic nature, I refuse to watch the movie before reading the book. It was easily the greatest decision I have ever made (almost as good as Pip's decision to start this blog).

Kazuo Ishigiro published this novel in 2005, when it made Time's Book of the Year and subsequently its Top 100 Books from 1923-2005 list. The novel in itself is a beautiful tale full of human suffering and beauty. It is about three students- Tommy, Ruth, and Katy- who attend a "special" school in England, where they learn that they are mere clones who must keep themselves healthy. When they reach the age of 19, they will begin a process called "donation". This is when they are forced to give up their vital organs for "normal" humans, and effectively dying. Death, to them, is known as "completion": they have completed their purpose in life and are no longer useful. The headmistress of their school, Hailsham, is very interested in art and constantly collects the artwork of her students where she inspects them and stores them. During their school years, the three friends develop a close relationship. Ruth and Tommy develop a sexual relationship, and they soon discover that students are given a reprieve of three years before they must begin donation. However, only people who can prove that they are truly in love through their portrayal of emotion through art.

Because I'm the coolest reviewer ever, I won't spoil the rest of the story. Instead, let's talk about how the book functions as social commentary. In reading the entirety of the novel, I couldn't help but marvel at how Ishigiro is using puppy love to draw the sympathies of the readers in regards to human trafficking. Bluntly put, this is a criticism of human slavery and people placed in servitude, and the dehumanization that stems from such statures in life. Children being raised for the sole purpose of donating their organs to other people, whom they will never even meet, is a more dramatic method of conveying the author's repulsion at today's human treatment, but surely its importance cannot be denied. The novel also toys with the concept of Ruth as the anti-heroine, but I won't reveal too much of how and why. You'll have to read for that!

All in all, this novel is on my re-read list simply because of how beautifully written it is. Ishigiro has such a graceful way of writing and although the concepts of his novel as certainly difficult to grasp, the smooth, transitional narration makes it seem as though I was cutting through butter with a warm knife. Definitely pick up this book, and I vehemently recommend you watch the film adaptation, because director Mark Romanek (director of music videos featuring Madonna, Michael Jackson, Lenny Kravitz,  Jay Z, and Johnny Cash) did such an applaudable job of translating Ishigiro's words into pictures that such a transition it itself ought to be considered art.

Venturing Behind the Veil

     

Jean Sasson is pretty renowned for her "biographies" of Arab women, most particularly the Princess Sultana trilogy. The word biographies raises some skepticism because, on some level, her books are rather exaggerated and dramatized. Princess Sultana, a member of the Saudi Arabian royal family (Al-Saud), relates the woes of her childhood and the trials she, a modern Arab woman, must face in heavily misogynistic and patriarchal Saudi Arabia. Princess Sultana (which is not her real name, for the sake of privacy) grows up in a home with 9 sisters and one brother, and she learns from a very young age that she, despite the fact that she is of royal blood, is expendable and she must worship her brother. Sultana grows up to become a powerful feminist voice, and constantly brings mayhem and chaos into her life but only because she possesses a kind heart.
I will not divulge much of the plot. You have to go read it! The book really strikes chords in the hearts of its readers. I even shed a tear at one point in the novel, because of its truly emotional nature. Yet, there are certain exaggerations in the novel. Sasson evidently utilized exaggeration as a means of rhetoric for the purpose of drawing reader sympathy. She certainly achieved this with me, and as I closed the final instalment of the trilogy earlier today, it was with a heavy heart. Reading about the sufferings of women in Saudi Arabia does not only concern Saudi women. It hits feminists, humanitarians, and any decent human being with the tiniest fraction of compassion. The tales recounted in the novel of teenagers drowned in the family pool for speaking to strange men, Pakistani girls bought purchased for the sole purpose of serving men in sexual bondage, and even the suffering of a Saudi woman who is told by her husband that he has decided to take another wife resonates within the consciousness of every reader.
I therefore recommend this novel to everyone who is slightly interested in the hushed-up affairs of the Saudi Arabian royal family. Although the novel is an expose and very gossipy in its nature, it nevertheless resonates as a cry for help from women who are not able to help themselves. Sasson's books are not purely melancholy in nature, however. On more than one occasion I have uttered a giggle or learned something about religion, politics, and society that proved to be beneficial.

[Poem Review] William Wordsworth's We are Seven

                        A SIMPLE Child,
          That lightly draws its breath,
          And feels its life in every limb,
          What should it know of death?

          I met a little cottage Girl:
          She was eight years old, she said;
          Her hair was thick with many a curl
          That clustered round her head.

          She had a rustic, woodland air,
          And she was wildly clad:                                    10
          Her eyes were fair, and very fair;
          --Her beauty made me glad.

          "Sisters and brothers, little Maid,
          How many may you be?"
          "How many? Seven in all," she said
          And wondering looked at me.

          "And where are they? I pray you tell."
          She answered, "Seven are we;
          And two of us at Conway dwell,
          And two are gone to sea.                                    20

          "Two of us in the church-yard lie,
          My sister and my brother;
          And, in the church-yard cottage, I
          Dwell near them with my mother."

          "You say that two at Conway dwell,
          And two are gone to sea,
          Yet ye are seven!--I pray you tell,
          Sweet Maid, how this may be."

          Then did the little Maid reply,
          "Seven boys and girls are we;                               30
          Two of us in the church-yard lie,
          Beneath the church-yard tree."

          "You run about, my little Maid,
          Your limbs they are alive;
          If two are in the church-yard laid,
          Then ye are only five."

          "Their graves are green, they may be seen,"
          The little Maid replied,
          "Twelve steps or more from my mother's door,
          And they are side by side.                                  40

          "My stockings there I often knit,
          My kerchief there I hem;
          And there upon the ground I sit,
          And sing a song to them.

          "And often after sunset, Sir,
          When it is light and fair,
          I take my little porringer,
          And eat my supper there.

          "The first that died was sister Jane;
          In bed she moaning lay,                                     50
          Till God released her of her pain;
          And then she went away.

          "So in the church-yard she was laid;
          And, when the grass was dry,
          Together round her grave we played,
          My brother John and I.

          "And when the ground was white with snow,
          And I could run and slide,
          My brother John was forced to go,
          And he lies by her side."                                   60

          "How many are you, then," said I,
          "If they two are in heaven?"
          Quick was the little Maid's reply,
          "O Master! we are seven."

          "But they are dead; those two are dead!
          Their spirits are in heaven!"
          'Twas throwing words away; for still
          The little Maid would have her will,
          And said, "Nay, we are seven!"
                                                              (Lines: 1-69)

One of the best Romantic poems I've ever read is William Wordsworth's We are Seven, A poem that reflects many of the period’s ideas and point of views. Wordsworth, here at his best, writes this poem that is more of an argument than an actual poem. Many consider this poem to be a flagship poem for all Romantic writers and thinkers, and it sure looks like it to me.

In Wordsworth’s poem, he shows the argument that thinkers and philosophers at that time had, an argument between using one’s imagination or one’s using reason instead. As this argument went on in the poem itself and in real-life conversations at that time, one can see which of these sides won this argument from the way that thinkers at that time thought. The period itself, The Romantic period, was famously known by its alternative name, the age of imagination, as many of its writers choose to use their imagination in their writing instead of reason. Wordsworth here is clearly showing this side of the argument, the side of imagination.

Although we know which side is Wordsworth on, for he is a well known writer of the Romantic period, he starts his poem by stating the two sides of the argument. These two sides are represented by the little girl, which represents the element of imagination, and the old male character, which clearly represents reason in the poem. These two characters face of in the poem as both of them want to showcase their point of view regarding their opinion towards both reason and imagination. The girl tries to show the male character that she has six siblings, although many of them are dead, but she tries to prove to him that death can’t separate siblings and that they will always be there in her heart. The male character, that represents reason, will not understand this idea and will try to explain to the little girl that she is wrong and that REASON can prove her wrong. As this argument goes on, the reader will fell sympathy towards the little girl and will understand her pain, and eventually her answers. This is exactly what Wordsworth wants us to feel when he wrote this poem, he wanted us to use our imagination and feel what the little girl is feeling, although our reason will not accept it at first, but we always have our imagination to guide us through.

I’ve wrote many research papers on this Wordsworth’s poem, simply because it’s an amazing poem. I’ve not only enjoyed reading it, but also writing about it. It shows exactly how the Romantic writers thought at that time. And although the Romantic period is not my favorite literary period, as I’m a Victorian reader, this poem is my favorite poem of all the period combined. I thought I should share this poem with you, read it and use your own imagination to understand it and then to interoperate it the way you want.