edj (edjwastestime) - Portland, OR (36 books)

edj rated a book 5 of 5 stars

Partitions
by Amit Majmudar

read in July, 2011

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I’m sitting at a barbecue with a group of people, and I discover that one grew up in Pakistan. “I’m reading a book right now about the partition of India and Pakistan, and the violence of that time,” I mention.

“Whose side is it written from?” he asks...more I’m sitting at a barbecue with a group of people, and I discover that one grew up in Pakistan. “I’m reading a book right now about the partition of India and Pakistan, and the violence of that time,” I mention.

“Whose side is it written from?” he asks me.

“The author is really presenting both sides, but the narrator is a dead Brahmin Hindu,” I say, and get no further. The entire table wants to talk about the dead narrator.

So I will begin by telling you that the narrator is dead. However, this works out fine in the book. It really doesn’t read much differently than the normal all-seeing 3rd person narrator, except the parts where he wants desperately to get involved and can’t, as pure ephemeral spirit, move anything physical.

It’s 1947. India and Pakistan are being divided and apparently everyone is furious about it. This is what I do not understand. I understand it historically, and I understand the rationale behind it a bit. But I do not understand the violence, from all sides against all sides. Why on earth would people hunt down others who are trying to leave and brutalize them? I do not understand this world.

Partitions follows 4 characters in detail. First of all are Hindu twins Shankar and Keshav, the 6 year old sons of the (dead) narrator. We watch as they are separated from their mother at the train station, and follow them in their wanderings through the city, in search of their mother and someone to watch over them. We also follow Simran Kaur, a Sikh girl who escapes out the window from her father, who is planning to dull her with morphine and then shoot her. He does this to protect her, knowing the mobs of Muslim men outside their house will soon arrive to first rape and then either brutally murder or enslave her, her sisters and her mother. Simran is the only one to escape, and we follow her journey with bated breath, as she must battle overwhelming odds to survive. Last of all is Ibrahim Masud, a Muslim doctor in Punjab. Angry Hindu mobs destroy his clinic and he limps towards Pakistan, himself at risk, stopping to care for every wounded person he meets. When he does at last reach the refugee camp on the Pakistan side of the border, he doesn’t stay to join the British doctors and nurses who are caring for a never-ending stream of arrivals. These are the ones who have survived, he realizes, and goes back out to the dangerous fields to care for those who won’t otherwise make it. In a beautiful and satisfying stream of events, he meets and cares for both the twins and Simran.

In spite of the violence, I really enjoyed this book, which surprised me. I usually hate books where men with swords wait on train platforms for trains to stop, then wade in and kill everyone on board. Perhaps it is because the book did not go into excessively gory detail, so it did not feel gratuitous. Perhaps it is because the book somehow presents hope, that all people are not relentlessly evil, that some resist and see humanity in all regardless of the way one’s turban is tied or whether or not one eats meat. Certainly, it is because Partitions is very well written, with characters that manage to be nuanced even in the middle of extreme circumstances. If you are someone who enjoys novels that relate historic times and events, or if you are interested in India or Pakistan, I highly recommend this book. It’s poetic sweep shows us good and evil alike, like the world that exists around us, a mix of both extremes that still manages to contain beauty.(less)

edj rated a book 5 of 5 stars

Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams

Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time
by Mark Adams

read in August, 2011

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One hundred years ago on July 24, 1911, explorer and Yale lecturer Hiram Bingham excitedly cabled the US from Peru about his discovery of an ancient site, potentially the “lost city of the Incas.” That site was Machu Picchu, or “the old peak” in the...more One hundred years ago on July 24, 1911, explorer and Yale lecturer Hiram Bingham excitedly cabled the US from Peru about his discovery of an ancient site, potentially the “lost city of the Incas.” That site was Machu Picchu, or “the old peak” in the local language of Quechua, a city of architectural grandeur and ancient temples. Now in 2011, his claim is disputed, and he is accused of stealing historical artifacts and trumpeting up a “discovery” of something that was never actually lost. But there’s no question that he turned the world’s attention to South America and Inca history, and that he may have done even more—inspired the Indiana Jones stories.

Mark Adams, working a desk job editing adventure travel stories, decided to find out the truth for himself, at least as much as possible. He set out to the Andes to retrace the famous explorer’s steps and in the process to study Bingham’s life and writings as well as Inca history. The result is Turn Right at Machu Picchu, a fascinating read which combines a history of Inca-Spainard clashes in Peru, Bingham’s adventures in exploring, and a travelogue of Adams’ own adventures in Peru, with an Australian guide right out of Crocodile Dundee and Indiana Jones.

I really, really liked this book.

Although I was thankful for the historical parts which gave me background, my favorite parts were the first person travels. I thoroughly enjoyed the story of his travels all over Peru, and the characters with whom he was traveling. First off, there was Australian guide John Leivers, who wears the same clothes every day no matter the weather, always has a machete on hand, and has no permanent address. He just has a different way of looking at the world, due to his experience of it. Then there were the muleteers and cooks, with their coca leaves to combat altitude sickness and bags of sweet snacks and sugary soft drinks, telling crazy tales and responding to events with stoicism and humour. There are the people he meets along the way, both locals and other travelers. I loved the story of the two Quechua kids, asking Adams where he was from. They had not heard of New York or the United States, but they said to him, “Is it true Michael Jackson is dead?” And finally, there is Peru itself; the steep hikes that take the travelers through different climates in the course of a single afternoon, the Inca ruins and the mysteries hidden within them, and the travails of its history. Because, although I have confessed to enjoying the modern bits best, the history is actually fascinating—gory and bloodstained and full of excitement, lots of double-crossing from both sides, fleeing Inca warriors and kings, and pursuing Spainards in search of legendary gold. Adams is a good writer, and he makes his subject matter live, infusing all with a subtle humour and wry turn of phrase.

Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time actually encompasses several trips that Adams takes to Peru, including his account of hiking the famous Inca Trail and even arriving to see the sunrise of the summer solstice and having a mistico in a vest embroidered with astrological signs tell him the morning had been a “major bummer,” with “hundreds of harmonically inclined people assembled…and then nothing.” (p. 285) And it ends as all good adventure yarns should—with Adams back home, talking to John Leivers, and starting to plan and hope and dream of yet another trip.(less)

edj rated a book 5 of 5 stars

The Good Muslim
by Tahmima Anam

read in August, 2011

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The book opens with Maya preparing to return to the home she had fled 9 years previously. She has been working as a doctor in a small traditional village, delivering babies and trying to educate the community. They turn against her after a woman deli...more The book opens with Maya preparing to return to the home she had fled 9 years previously. She has been working as a doctor in a small traditional village, delivering babies and trying to educate the community. They turn against her after a woman delivers a Downs Syndrome child, and her husband assumes his wife has had an affair with a Chinese man. The wife is beaten to the point of requiring 3 months of hospitalization, and Maya, after receiving some very definite threats, decides to return home. Her arrival coincides with the funeral of her sister-in-law.
Maya and her brother fought in Bangladesh’s brutal war of independence from Pakistan, both strong believers in their revolutionary cause and both returning with their idealism shattered. Maya became a doctor; her brother Sohail is unable to make peace with certain war events. He fall sin love with a young woman he rescues from sexual servitude in an army barracks. When she, unable to bear her own burdens, flees, Sohail flounders. His teenage crush from across the street, a rigidly devout Muslim, decides to marry him. Sohail moves further and further into a very extreme form of Islam, one that forbids books and even toothbrushes.
Maya’s return home is painful in many ways as she struggles with her memories and the lack of interest from her once-close brother. She is drawn to Zaid, her 5-year-old nephew, now cast adrift by the loss of his mother, but Sohail doesn’t allow her to truly mother him as she would like and he runs wild, a thieving and lying little charmer. When Zaid is sent to a madressa, where he is abused, Maya has to act to save him, but her actions will have ramifications far beyond what she imagines.
The Good Muslim is beautifully written, with layers and nuances that develop the characters. Although a typical American reader will spend most of the book very angry at Sohail and his cold, detached and even cruel religion, by the end the reader comes to understand at least in part what has motivated him. The story moves back and forth between the time immediately after the war and the “current” time of the early 80s.
It offers a thoughtful look at war and revolution and religion and Islamic fundamentalism in the lives of a few specific people, characters you’ll come to love. I highly recommend this book.(less)

edj rated a book 4 of 5 stars

This Burns My Heart: A Novel
by Samuel Park (Goodreads Author)

read in August, 2011

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This book is mostly a lesson in how not to marry the wrong guy! But it’s also a look at life in South Korea in the years following the Korean War and the division of the country into North and South. The main character, Soo-Ja, is a rich girl who lac...more

edj rated a book 4 of 5 stars

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives
by Lola Shoneyin (Goodreads Author)

read in August, 2011

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This was a fascinating look at a polygamous Nigerian family. Although the main story-line follows the 4th wife, the youngest and best-educated, and her seeming infertility, the novel goes back and forth between different points of view, and we learn...more

edj rated a book 5 of 5 stars

The Art of Forgetting
by Camille Noe Pagán (Goodreads Author)

read in August, 2011

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Julia and Marisa have been best friends since high school. They’ve planned their lives together, and they’re living the dream—moving from their small mid-western town to New York, Marisa working as a fashion editor while Julia works in the world of d...more Julia and Marisa have been best friends since high school. They’ve planned their lives together, and they’re living the dream—moving from their small mid-western town to New York, Marisa working as a fashion editor while Julia works in the world of dance. Since they first knew each other, Julia’s been the one in charge, making decisions, even breaking up Marisa’s first serious relationship because Julia knew it would come between them.

When Julia is hit by a cab, she survives with minimal injuries, it seems. But it soon becomes apparent that she has suffered a major brain trauma that changes her personality. Marisa finds herself floundering in this new reality, as Julia is, for example, suddenly obsessed with the colour purple and has a kitten, instead of hating cats and loving only neutrals. Additionally, the front lobal damage has made her devastatingly honest—to the point of hurting Marisa’s feelings time and time again.

The Art of Forgetting is a story of adult friendship, and it’s very well crafted, moving back and forth between the women in college and present day. Marisa and Julia are both flawed characters, and their friendship is far from perfect, and yet they are realistic. I’ll admit there were moments when I was angry with one or both of the characters, and there was a chunk of the book where I was very mistrustful, afraid that Marisa was going to choose the rom-com cliché ending that usually has me screaming at the movie screen. (This might be a spoiler although I have tried to be subtle.) However, the characters grow and change, as Marisa gains new confidence in herself and as Julia slowly but steadily regains more and more of her brain function.

Ultimately, Marisa recognizes that she needs to leave the past in the past and embrace both the new Julia and forgive her for her occasional heavy-handedness. She takes a volunteer position with an after-school program, training young girls to run a 5K, and gains her own confidence as a result, to the point where she leaves a job she’s not enjoying to embrace something completely new.

The book’s title plays with words a bit, as Marisa realizes that sometimes forgetting, and forgiving, is the way to make a long-term friendship survive. It’s an art all right, but it’s one that’s worth learning how to practice.

The Art of Forgetting is a reflection on how a true friendship can weather all sorts of storms, emerging even stronger. It made me think of my own long-term friendships, of some of the things my friends and I have survived together, and especially of a friend who suffered brain trauma but who mercifully kept her same personality. It’s worth reading. I thoroughly enjoyed it.(less)

edj rated a book 3 of 5 stars

Telling Lies
by Cathi Stoler (Goodreads Author)

read in September, 2011

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Telling Lies opens with magazine editor Laurel Imperiole, on vacation in Italy, bumping into a man as she’s leaving the Botticelli gallery. It takes a few minutes, but she recognizes him as Jeffrey Sargasso, a man she thought had died 10 years earlie...more Telling Lies opens with magazine editor Laurel Imperiole, on vacation in Italy, bumping into a man as she’s leaving the Botticelli gallery. It takes a few minutes, but she recognizes him as Jeffrey Sargasso, a man she thought had died 10 years earlier in the Twin Towers on 9-11, the husband of a good friend. Soon, she’s convinced others, although that takes some doing. When he disappeared, Sargasso had been brokering a deal between two billionaires for a priceless piece of art—and as such, had the codes to access $15 million. The money was only 10% of the actual price for the painting, which had been missing since WWII. Sargasso’s body was never identified.

Laurel, her P-I friend Helen McCorkendale, and her boyfriend Aaron Gerrard (head of the NYPD identity-theft department) begin a desperate hunt to figure out what is going on. Unbeknownst to them, the family of one of the billionaires Sargasso was working with, not to mention a couple of undercover Mossad agents, are already involved in a twisted plot that stretches back to Nazi art theft, medieval Italian societies, schemes to get rich and disappear, and plots to catch a thief.

The action moves back and forth between Italy and New York, as it twists itself into ever tighter mazes. The shady side of the world of art collecting is in full view, as Laurel, Helen and Aaron search for Jeff, the painting, and the money.

Laurel is impulsive and stubborn, and gets herself into some situations that a more level-headed person would have seen coming. She harms her developing relationship with Aaron unnecessarily, accusing him of over-protectiveness when he really is only asking her for a little common sense. There is an underlying theme of untruth, small ones like between Laurel and Aaron, and the big ones surrounding Jeff and his new life, and the painting itself.

My only gripe with the book is the hinge on which the entire plot rests. If I saw someone who reminded me strongly of a friend who had died 10 years earlier but whom I was sure was dead, I would be saddened, but I would not go to the police and involve everyone I knew to chase him down, especially if his hair and eyes were a different colour and he was dressed in a different style. Lots of people remind me of lots of other people, and even a certain mannerism (brushing hair out of eyes) would not convince me. Regardless, this did not spoil the book for me. I had a willing suspension of disbelief, and plunged into the twists and turns with enjoyment.(less)

edj added

Finding Aster--our Ethiopian adoption story
by Dina McQueen

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I was a little disappointed with this book. Although it purports to be a memoir about Ethiopian adoption, and it is, it is also very much a personal memoir, about the author’s sex life and abortion and hysterectomy and all. Also, I cringed a bit at h...more

edj rated a book 4 of 5 stars

The Kitchen Counter Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn

The Kitchen Counter Cooking School: How a Few Simple Lessons Transformed Nine Culinary Novices into Fearless Home Cooks
by Kathleen Flinn (Goodreads Author)

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Author and cook Kathleen Flinn was intrigued, one day in a supermarket, as she watched a woman fill her cart entirely with processed food—frozen meals, dinners in a box, etc. She started talking to her and realized the woman was completely intimidate...more

edj rated a book 4 of 5 stars

In the Land of Invisible Women by Qanta A. Ahmed

In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom
by Qanta A. Ahmed (Goodreads Author)

read in September, 2011

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This book was absolutely fascinating. Go get it and read it. I’ve read lots of books written by Westerners going to live in Muslim countries, and of course I have been a Westerner living in a Muslim country. I have read books by Muslims about living...more

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edj rated a book 5 of 5 stars Partitions by Amit Majmudar read in July, 2011	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I’m sitting at a barbecue with a group of people, and I discover that one grew up in Pakistan. “I’m reading a book right now about the partition of India and Pakistan, and the violence of that time,” I mention. “Whose side is it written from?” he asks...more
Oct 01, 2011 02:27pm · see review
edj rated a book 5 of 5 stars Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time by Mark Adams read in August, 2011	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
One hundred years ago on July 24, 1911, explorer and Yale lecturer Hiram Bingham excitedly cabled the US from Peru about his discovery of an ancient site, potentially the “lost city of the Incas.” That site was Machu Picchu, or “the old peak” in the...more
Oct 01, 2011 02:25pm · see review
edj rated a book 5 of 5 stars The Good Muslim by Tahmima Anam read in August, 2011	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The book opens with Maya preparing to return to the home she had fled 9 years previously. She has been working as a doctor in a small traditional village, delivering babies and trying to educate the community. They turn against her after a woman deli...more
Oct 01, 2011 02:24pm · see review
edj rated a book 4 of 5 stars This Burns My Heart: A Novel by Samuel Park (Goodreads Author) read in August, 2011	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This book is mostly a lesson in how not to marry the wrong guy! But it’s also a look at life in South Korea in the years following the Korean War and the division of the country into North and South. The main character, Soo-Ja, is a rich girl who lac...more
Oct 01, 2011 02:22pm · see review
edj rated a book 4 of 5 stars The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin (Goodreads Author) read in August, 2011	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This was a fascinating look at a polygamous Nigerian family. Although the main story-line follows the 4th wife, the youngest and best-educated, and her seeming infertility, the novel goes back and forth between different points of view, and we learn...more
Oct 01, 2011 02:21pm · see review
edj rated a book 5 of 5 stars The Art of Forgetting by Camille Noe Pagán (Goodreads Author) read in August, 2011	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Julia and Marisa have been best friends since high school. They’ve planned their lives together, and they’re living the dream—moving from their small mid-western town to New York, Marisa working as a fashion editor while Julia works in the world of d...more
Oct 01, 2011 02:20pm · see review
edj rated a book 3 of 5 stars Telling Lies by Cathi Stoler (Goodreads Author) read in September, 2011	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Telling Lies opens with magazine editor Laurel Imperiole, on vacation in Italy, bumping into a man as she’s leaving the Botticelli gallery. It takes a few minutes, but she recognizes him as Jeffrey Sargasso, a man she thought had died 10 years earlie...more
Oct 01, 2011 02:19pm · see review
edj added Finding Aster--our Ethiopian adoption story by Dina McQueen	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I was a little disappointed with this book. Although it purports to be a memoir about Ethiopian adoption, and it is, it is also very much a personal memoir, about the author’s sex life and abortion and hysterectomy and all. Also, I cringed a bit at h...more
Oct 01, 2011 02:18pm · see review
edj rated a book 4 of 5 stars The Kitchen Counter Cooking School: How a Few Simple Lessons Transformed Nine Culinary Novices into Fearless Home Cooks by Kathleen Flinn (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Author and cook Kathleen Flinn was intrigued, one day in a supermarket, as she watched a woman fill her cart entirely with processed food—frozen meals, dinners in a box, etc. She started talking to her and realized the woman was completely intimidate...more
Oct 01, 2011 02:17pm · see review
edj rated a book 4 of 5 stars In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom by Qanta A. Ahmed (Goodreads Author) read in September, 2011	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This book was absolutely fascinating. Go get it and read it. I’ve read lots of books written by Westerners going to live in Muslim countries, and of course I have been a Westerner living in a Muslim country. I have read books by Muslims about living...more
Oct 01, 2011 02:16pm · see review

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