Category: Genre

Categories
2015 Non Fiction

The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg

The Underground Girls Of Kabul: The Hidden Lives of Afghan Girls Disguised as Boys Source: Library

Five words from the blurb: hidden, gender, observations, society, secret

The Underground Girls of Kabul is a fascinating investigation into the lives of Afghani girls who are raised as boys. The practice is secretive, but widespread, and occurs for a variety of reasons. Male babies are prized because they protect the family, bring in the majority of income, and are necessary for inheritance reasons. Women who produce only female offspring are seen as failures, so the idea of pretending your newborn is a boy is an appealing way of being accepted by society. From birth these female babies are presented to the world as male. They are known as ‘bacha posh’, which translates as ‘dressed up like a boy’.

Jenny Nordberg is a journalist who spent time interviewing people in Afghanistan. By gaining their trust she managed to get an incredible insight into this hidden world. Her discoveries on gender differences were especially revealing – showing to what extent nature can be overridden by nurture. Nordberg also managed to find adult bacha posh, some who have revealed their true gender and are now living as women, but others who have decided to remain as men throughout their adult lives.

Who would not walk out of the door in disguise – if the alternative was to live as a prisoner or slave? Who would really care about long hair or short, pants or skirt, feminine or masculine, if renouncing one’s gender gave one access to the world?

The book gives details of what everyday life is like in Afghanistan. I’ve read several books on this subject, but this is the first to really get under the skin of normal people. Gender politics within the country were also explained fully and I now feel I have an understanding of the history behind the rules. It was interesting to see how powerful women are trying to change things, but be able to appreciate the immense difficulties they face in trying to do so.

The writing was excellent, but maintained a journalistic distance from the subjects throughout. I’d have preferred to get to know some of the interviewees in more depth, but the book skipped to the next person before the reader had a chance to bond with anyone. This meant a wide range of different families were introduced, but the same topics were occasionally repeated.

Overall this book was fascinating for many different reasons, but an essential read for anyone interested in gender differences.

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Categories
2015 Novella

Kauthar by Meike Ziervogel

Kauthar  Source: Free review copy received from publisher

Five words from the blurb: Islam, rituals, love, extremism, terrifying

Kauthar follows a young woman as she converts to Islam and then becomes increasingly radicalised. The subject matter is particularly pertinent to our society today and I’m pleased that I am now more informed about the issues involved. Unfortunately it lacked the emotional power of her debut, Magda and I found the amount of religious information overwhelming.

Kauthar is only 144 pages long, but it crams a lot into such a small space. The writing is deceptively simple, but contains many sections that force the reader to stop and think about the issues raised. 

The book was very well researched and contained a wealth of information that was new to me, but I occasionally found that too much was explained and this detracted from the story. It is a very hard line to tread, especially when the author is aware that the majority of readers are not familiar with the details of the subject matter, but much of the book felt like a lecture in religious studies, rather than a compelling novel:

And I ask Rabia,’Isn’t Islam misogynistic?’
‘For Allah there is no difference between the soul of a man and the soul of a woman. We are all from Him and we will all return to Him. O mankind! Be careful of your duty to your Lord Who created you from a single soul and from it created its mate and from the twain hath spread abroad a multitude of men and women. However, there is a physical difference between men and women. And Islam and we Muslims accept and acknowledge this difference in our earthly appearance.

It was interesting to see the young woman become increasingly devoted to her religion, but I never felt I truly understood what was going on in her head. I failed to connect to the characters and always felt as though I was a distant observer, rather than someone immersed in the action.

If you’re interested in learning the basic principles of Islam and would like an insight into the process of radicalisation then I recommend Kauthar, but if you’re after a more powerful book I suggest you try Magda instead.

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Categories
2015 Chunkster Recommended books

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

A Little Life Source: Personal Copy

Five words from the blurb: college, friendship, decades, New York, trauma

A Little Life is one of the most powerful books I’ve ever read. The evolving relationship between four college friends over several decades sounds like nothing special, but Yanagihara manages to get under their skin in a way few writers can. I was totally engrossed in their story, unable to stop thinking about them – even long after I’d turned the final page.

A Little Life deals with many difficult subjects – including paedophilia, physical abuse and suicide. Some people will find it too disturbing to read the more graphic scenes, but I thought it was important they were included. The way these events rippled through the lives of everyone, no matter how indirectly they were involved, was skilfully shown and I especially liked the way mental health and the pursuit of happiness was explored:

But these were days of self-fulfilment, where settling for something that was not quite your first choice of a life seemed weak-willed and ignoble. Somewhere, surrendering to what seemed to be your fate had changed from being dignified to being a sign of your own cowardice. There were times when the pressure to achieve happiness felt almost oppressive, as if happiness were something that everyone should and could attain, and that any sort of compromise in its pursuit was somehow your fault.

The length of the book (700+ pages) will be daunting for some, but I loved the detail of this novel. It meant I could picture every aspect of their lives; imagine myself visiting their houses and be able to predict how they’d react to different scenarios. It’s rare to discover a book where a cast of characters are developed to this extent; to witness the strength of friendship and to investigate how it responds to the strains of life.

I have to admit that I wasn’t enthralled by the first 200 pages. The quality of the writing was outstanding, but I disliked the way the book switched between each of the men – it threw me out of the story and I felt as though I was having to start a new book on beginning each chapter. Luckily, about a quarter of the way through the book, everything came together and I remained hooked for the rest of the novel.

I loved Yanagihara’s debut, The People in the Trees, but A Little Life is even better. It has a much simpler plot, but the characters have more depth. It’s still well worth reading both books, but it is wonderful to see a writer develop and create something with the potential to become a classic.

A Little Life is an outstanding novel. It will probably make you cry but, worst of all, it will make all the other books you try for months afterwards feel insignificant.

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Categories
2015 Non Fiction

Educating Ruby by Guy Claxton and Bill Lucas

Educating Ruby: What Our Children Really Need to Learn Source: Personal Copy

Five words from the blurb: schools, progressive, change, children, confidence

I’m currently trying to decide which secondary school to send my children to, so I bought a copy of this book in the hope it might give me an idea of what to look for when I’m visiting them. It proved excellent for this purpose, but was also good at pointing out what parents can do to help their children within the home.

Educating Ruby states that our current education system fails to teach children what they really need to know to thrive in the outside world. It’s current focus on passing exams means that children falter when confronted with the skills needed for employment. The book argues that the education system needs to change radically in order to teach children to work with others, to communicate effectively, and to have the confidence needed to chase their dreams. It also questions the topics that should be taught in schools – suggesting that learning about finance, cookery and sex might be of more use than trigonometry or the Tudors.

Some parts of this book felt like an uncontrolled rant but beneath the surface it contained a lot of interesting points. It made suggestions for how to improve a child’s social skills, both as a parent and as a professional within the school environment, and gave numerous examples of how to make lessons more interesting and engage children in creative thought:

A few years ago we worked with a teacher in a school in Milton Keynes who undertook some research into ways of making reading and writing fun for her Year 1 children in ‘Elephants’ class. The teacher chose Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Seuss as a book to read together (a good choice given its central character is Sam-I-Am who is reluctant to try things out but gradually learns to ‘give it a go’). She equipped the Elephants with paper, pencils and clipboards and asked where they’d like to do their writing. They chose to try in the classroom with the lights off and powered by torches, in the staffroom (achieved after a bit of negotiation!), lying on the floor in the school library, in the school grounds and even in the local park. This simple but imaginative approach worked well. Accompanied by the normal phonics and handwriting practice, the confidence of the Elephant class increased, the teacher told us, as did the fluency and skill of their writing. 

It became increasingly useful as it neared the end – especially because it backed up many of its proposals with scientific research or examples for further reading.  

Educating Ruby makes a compelling case for changing the way children are taught in schools. I hope that the ideas discussed within this book can be introduced into schools and more people come to appreciate that exam success is not the most important thing a child can achieve.

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Categories
2015 Crime

All Involved by Ryan Gattis

All Involved Source: Library

Five words from the blurb: Los Angeles, riot, race, revenge, control

All Involved is a fictionalised story which shows the horror of the 1992 LA riots. It didn’t sound like my sort of book, but when I saw David Mitchell raving about it I added it straight to my wish-list. Yet again David Mitchell has proven to be reliable with his recommendations – All Involved is an impressive book. It explains how numerous factors led to the escalation of the riot (in which a total of 11,000 people were arrested), and how different members of society were affected by the violence.

The writing was shockingly vivid throughout. Many people will find the brutal descriptions too distressing, but I was impressed by the honesty of the account. Explaining everything in unflinching detail led to a greater understanding of the event as a whole and I especially liked the fact that things were shown from the viewpoint of both the rioters and the emergency services.

Every person had a unique voice and the individual dialects appeared realistic. I occasionally found the gang members difficult to understand, but I can’t critcise this as it appeared authentic and added to the atmosphere of the novel.

This book did a fantastic job of enabling the reader to understand the factors which lead people into unthinkable acts of violence.

The people who live around here, they know what it actually feels like. They know how ugly life can get. Everyone else, the people sitting at home, watching this unfold on television, they have no idea. Those are the people shocked by the riots. They can’t comprehend them because they don’t understand the other side. They don’t understand what happens to people with no money who live in a neighbour where crime is actually a viable career path when there are no other opportunities, and I’m not excusing it or condoning it or saying it can’t be avoided, but I’m saying that’s how it is.

It was scary to see how precarious peace can be and how easily a bad situation can be inflamed.

The only problem was that the large number of characters meant the book felt fragmented. Whilst reading the novel I sometimes became frustrated by the way the focus of the story kept changing, but on reaching the end I appreciated the rounded picture the author was trying to achieve.

All Involved feels like a classic. If you like reading true crime, or gaining an insight into the criminal mind, then this is a must read.

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Categories
Books for Children

Boy in the Tower by Polly Ho-Yen

Boy In The Tower Source: Library

Five words from the blurb: strange, plants, menacing, trapped. tower

Boy in the Tower is a modern-day version of Day of the Triffids. It is equally powerful and, although it was originally released as a book for children, it deserves a place on adult reading lists too.

Ade lives on the seventeenth floor of a tower block with his mum. One day the buildings around him start falling down and it becomes obvious that strange plants are eating their foundations. Most people evacuate, but Ade is trapped because his mum is too depressed to leave their flat. The paces quickens as the battle between Man and plants begins…

I picked up a copy of this book with the intention of reading it to my two boys, but stopped reading it to my seven-year-old when I saw a remark about Father Christmas that would have led to too many questions! Undaunted by this initial set-back my 9-year-old and I continued reading and we fell in love with it. It was impossible for either of us to put down and he couldn’t wait all day for the next installment – I caught him reading it 2 hours after his bedtime! I was equally hooked and finished the second half in one sitting.

Boy in the Tower is an example of what is missing from the majority of the book world. The central character lives in a tower block, but isn’t treated as a pariah for doing so. It also sensitively handles depression, cleverly weaving the subject into the story without it dominating or becoming distressing.

The text was simple, but that didn’t prevent it from being vivid and packed with emotion. It was cleverly paced and didn’t dumb things down for children in the way many other books do.

There are a few moments, while we are all eating our food, when, if you were looking at us sitting around the table enjoying our dinner, you would not have been able to tell that we are on the very edge of disatser. That while we are pushing forkfuls of soft rice into our mouths, the Bluchers are creeping around us in a deadly circle, ready to eat the stones and bricks of our home.

 I was slightly concerned that my 9-year-old would find the concept of dangerous plants disturbing, but he loved it. This was the perfect introduction to dystopian fiction for him and an impressive addition to the genre for everyone else. I’d like to see it introduced to the school curriculum (probably for children around the age of 12) and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Day of the Triffids.

(for children aged 10 – 14)

(for adults)

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