Sneha Jaiswal's Blog, page 268

The New Kid Review – Relatable & Fun

Finished reading book no. 14 for the year – The New Kid by Jerry Craft, a breezy graphic novel about surviving middle-school. The comic panels are bright and super fun.

Jordan Banks the protagonist is a kid who loves to draw & finds himself in a fancy new school with loaded students. While his mother is excited about her son going to a great school, the father’s only worry is if there would be enough diversity in his class.

I loved the subtle ways in which Jerry Craft shows how the most well-meaning people can be unwittingly racist. Reminded me slightly of “Such a Fun Age” by Kiley Reid, which was long-listed for the 2020 Booker Prize. While the two books are vastly different from each other, what they have in common is the witty ways in which the authors take digs at the “white pursuit of wokeness” (in double quotes because I read the phrase somewhere). There’s also class difference brought in, while the rich kids in Jordan’s school jet off to Alaska to go skiing, kids on ‘financial aid’ like him can only go as far as their neighborhood park.

Jerry Craft weaves a fun story, with interesting characters and for a change – there is no romantic sub-plot. New Kid is all about friends, family and finding your own voice. It is fun, relatable and unputdownable!

Please do check out our new Podcast show by the same name.

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Pachinko Book Review

It’s hard to write down what you feel about some novels. While most readers like to refer to books as ‘friends’, some can feel like a new crush, somebody you are fascinated with, somebody you want to learn all about and don’t want to part with, until you’ve had too much and lose all interest. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee felt a little like that. I could stop turning the pages for the first 75 per cent, I read every word, excited to know how things would turn, and then came a point where I lost interest, when some paragraphs were skipped, when I didn’t mind putting the book down and sleeping away in peace.

I didn’t want to start by giving a negative impression of the book, 75% is a LOT, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the first 300 pages of this historical fiction that starts off in Korea in 1910 and then moves on to Japan in the 1930s. Pachinko follows the story of a modest Korean family that lives in a fishing village by the sea. 16-year-old Sunja helps her mother run a boarding house and falls in love with a man she hopes to marry. Her dreams are shattered when she finds out he is married, a little detail he forgets to reveal until she is pregnant with his child. Sunja is given a shot at redemption when a Christian minister offers to marry her and give her a new life in Japan.

Author Min Jin Lee captures the difficult lives of Korean immigrants in a nation where they are treated like scum – forced to take jobs the Japanese don’t want & finding rentals only in ghettos that resemble pigsties. The book follows four generations of Sunja’s family. It starts of with the life of her simple parents in Korea, then moves to a tumultuous World War II era, where things get harder for the family, with food always short and death around the corner. Then it moves to a post-war era, focusing on the growth of her two sons, each very different from the other. While the older one Noa is a scholar, the younger one hates studying and is constantly engaged in school-fights.

The language is simple, engaging and peppered with a lot of Korean and Japanese phrases, which doesn’t disrupt the flow of story-telling at all. The author employs her characters into describing political situations and scenarios, instead of writing mundane-long third person descriptions. It makes the long book easier to read. The title ‘Pachinko’ is a Japanese word for a pinball like game played in the country, it’s like gambling in an arcade. In the book, the readers are informed that there are establishments that only have Pachinko devices for people to gamble away their money and the trade is looked down upon. But it’s a Pachinko business that changes the eventual destiny of Sunja’s impoverished family.

For those not too familiar with Japan-Korea’s history, Pachinko offers an intriguing study of racial discrimination, cultural disparities and the constant identity struggle one faces in a nation that considers them ‘foreign’. Min Jin Lee tries hard to strike a balance and not crucify one race as more evil than the other, and those efforts are constantly seen in charged dialogues between the characters in the book. There is a moving chapter where Sunja’s son Noa desperately wishes that people could just see him as a human being and not constantly put him under a racial category.

Since the novel unfolds over four generations, there are multiple romantic relationships that are woven into the narrative and themes like loyalty, infidelity, homosexuality, prostitution are explored. The author briefly touches upon the subject of ‘comfort women’, but never really dwells upon it, which was a bit of a shame. For the uninitiated, ‘comfort women’ were women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army during the War and suffered severe brutalities. In fact, that’s a little problem that I had with ‘Pachinko’, despite being almost 500 pages long, the author doesn’t dwell upon some themes too deeply. A theme is introduced, you hope for more story, but either nothing happens or the sub-plot ends too abruptly.

Some of the characters that you grow to like do not get enough space in the book. Some of them are just forgotten. Sunja herself becomes a fading persona, from being the protagonist in the first half of the novel, she retreats in the background as she gets older; which was quite fine, but the other protagonists who are pushed to the forefront of the story are not memorable enough. Sunja’s sister-in-law is perhaps one of the strongest characters, not only because she endures a lot of strife, but she is supportive and loyal to a fault.

What works best for ‘Pachinko’ is its historical nostalgia, it stirs up images of an era that a lot of readers have only heard of. It offers a cultural hotpot, with ingredients that are similar to most countries – national pride, xenophobia, misogyny, extremism and class warfare. The highlight of the novel is however the tightly knit family at the center of the story, how despite their differences, Sunja and her clan stick together and fight the worst of circumstances.

One just wishes that Jin Min Lee should have either fleshed the story out in more books or avoided dragging it towards the end, because the author is unable to do justice to some of the characters that are introduced later. Overall, it makes for a great read and it’s honestly a little confusing to rate it. I will go with a 4 on 5.

Please do check out our new Podcast show by the same name.

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What Helped Me Write 3 Books In A Year

So I wrote three books between December 2019 & December 2020 and I discuss some things that made the whole writing process a lot easier in the new episode of Abstract AF – The Podcast.

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To My Star Review – Soppy & Sweet

It looks like South-Korean creatives are trying to give Thailand, Taiwan & Phillipines a run for their money when it comes to LGBT friendly content. Since Korea is viewed as a traditional, conservative society, it’s pleasantly surprising that we are getting to see actors take up challenging roles. ‘To My Star’ is the latest South-Korean mini-series to join the list & follows the story of a popular actor falling in love with a newbie chef.

Directed by Hwang Da Seul, ‘To My Star’ has a small cast, with limited characters and things unfold at lightning speed. Actor Kang Seo Joon (played by Son Woo Hyun) finds himself in the midst of a controversy and his talent management firm makes him move to another place to keep away from the media. Enter chef named Kang Min (played by Han Ji Woo) who is his new flatmate. The two become close as they live together, but with the media always at his back and a public persona to boot, can things get serious between the two?

With 9 quick episodes, the viewer feels like the characters aren’t able to see too much growth. The change from strangers to lovers between the two lead characters within a week is not convincing enough. Although, since they are two very attractive looking people, maybe it shouldn’t be too hard to digest; but in that case, the story should’ve shown more spark and passion between the leads, instead they are seriously in love, the kinds that usually takes time to build-up. There’s the classic trope of opposites attract – Kang Seo Joon is friendly, open and speaks his mind; while Kang Min is broody, introverted, uptight & overtly serious.

There are a lot of things to like in this series though, first off – the cast is very convincing in their roles. Director Hwang De Seul avoids over the top melodramatic tropes. It’s refreshing to see Kang Seo Joon being straight-forward about his feeling and intentions. There was one scene where he kisses Kang Min for the first time, but he first asks for his consent, then counts to 10 (almost) out loud, before going ahead with it. Can’t remember the last time somebody sought consent before a kiss in a series, although there are some films and series that have done it, just can’t think of one right now. But it’s good to see shows these days inculcating the idea of consent into the plot.

The makers give an interesting glimpse into the life of a Korean star, we see how Kang Seo Joon is hounded by the media, to the extent that he has to leave his own house to lay low. The cinematography was simple, most of the scenes take place in three primary locations and the series has a very homely, relaxing vibe to it.

While I felt like the show was a little soppy and finishes too quickly, but is great for a one-time watch. It’s a 7.5/10 from me.

Please do check out our new Podcast show by the same name.

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Why The Walking Dead Show Pales Out Versus The Comics

10 + Seasons of ‘The Walking Dead’ series and the show is still not ever, and while it’s a pretty good Zombie show, the live-action adaptation just doesn’t match up to the brilliance of the original comic series.

So in the latest episode of Abstract AF’s brand new podcast on YouTube, we discuss seven reasons why the comics were more kick-ass. Listen in, please subscribe and maybe leave your thoughts in the comments.

Underwater Welder – A Poignant Graphic Novel

Finished reading book number 12 for the year – A poignant graphic novel called ‘Underwater Welder’ by Jeff Lemire. Lemire has both written and illustrated this haunting book that deals with loss and a man’s reluctance to part with his deceased father’s memories.

Like the title suggests, the protagonist Jack is an underwater welder, who lives in a sleepy port town with a pregnant wife. Jack was just 10 when his was lost to the sea when and some parts of him hopelessly continue to look for their childhood hero during their deep dives into the bottom of the sea. Lemire captures the mundane life in the town with his grim inks, which feel very personal and raw, like detailed drafts from a personal graphic diary.

I like how the graphic novel explores the ties between fathers and sons, of how boys tend to hero-worship their dads, oblivious to how flawed their idols are. Lemire shows us in a grim yet dreamlike manner how boys metamorphose into their fathers as they grow older. Will Jack too turn into a drunk selfish man his mother claims his father was? Why did his father not keep his last promise to the ten-year-old Jack, a promise that plagues him even at 33. I didn’t know what to expect when I started reading ‘Underwater Welder’, but it surpasses whatever little images I had in my head.

It’s a 4/5 from me.

The Long View – Grisly & Gripping

I finished reading book number 11 for the year. ‘The Long View’ by Mark Hurst is great horror material – spooky, gory, grisly, discomforting & gripping. Had this novel been a little shorter, I might have binge-read it in a day.

The plot follows Sophie, an asocial teenager that can see the dead and even talk to them, just like her mom. The author weaves an interesting tale of what happens between the living & the dead, with a serial killer thrown in the mix. What serves as perfect background is the fact that Sophie’s father runs a funeral service, complete with a mortuary at their home.

I said the book was discomforting because there’s some brutal bullying that isn’t very comfortable to read. There is also some graphic violence that kind of comes with horror territory, so is absolutely justified. I felt knots in my stomach as I read some of the horrible stuff the protagonist has to endure. All I am trying to say is that “The Long View’ is not for the faint-hearted. But if you are a horror enthusiast, you will probably love the book.

I have read the author’s previous work “The Nasties”, and “The Long View” is way more intense, with detailed descriptions that give you a clear vision of the author’s imagination. The descriptions are so vivid that the story plays like a movie in your head. The book will probably spook you a bit if you read it alone at night post one am.

I felt like the climax was slightly long drawn, but it wraps up quite neatly, with a witty little twist at the end. It’s a 5/5 from me. The book is available on Kindle Unlimited, so if you are looking for something creepy, grab a copy.

All My Friends Are Dead – 2020 Film Review

The 2020 Polish film “All My Friends Are Dead” directed by Jan Belcl has to be the wackiest film I’ve seen in a over a year. It’s like “American Pie” on cocaine, so things get way out of hand and there’s a lot of blood and ridiculous violence.

The movie starts with two detectives inspecting the crime scene, a huge house with lots of dead youngsters after a New Party gone awfully wrong. “This is called epic fail” the senior detective explains his junior, in the 21st century teen lingo. Things then go on rewind to show us what really happened at the party, which starts off a normal enough gathering, with kids drinking the night away to music.

It’s just a party montage following one weird person after another – there’s a girl who thinks she can read people, two sisters who have an insane libido, a photographer who is just out of rehab, two ‘loser’ friends who would do anything to get laid, so on and so forth. How they all end up dead is just one idiotic mishap after another.

The movie is shot in a house that’s huge and exudes ‘privilege’. Amidst all the rich kids partying, there was a small sub-plot, about a pizza delivery guy working on New Year’s Eve, who ends up at the soon to be ‘house of the dead’. It was a moving juxtapositions, to show the viewer a ‘rich vs the poor’.

As the plot unfolds, half the time you would be exclaiming ‘wtf?!’, rest of it you’d either be watching amused or be like “okay, this is way too silly”. But all in all – “All My Friends Are Dead” is a fun film to watch with friends after a few drinks. It’s an 18+ film, with lots of drugs, nudity and wack-ass jokes.

What hit me as interesting was the fact that both men & women were equally sexualised/objectified in the film. Such ‘party gone wrong’ films tend to over-objectify just the women, not this one. The makers parody a lot of party tropes and despite making a funny film, they manage to send a pretty strong message against gun ownership. Never leave a house with kids and loaded guns alone. Or people can end up dead.

It’s a 6/10 from me.

Finding Ohana Review – FamJam Time

The animated film ‘Lilo and Stitch’ introduced the world to the Hawaiian word ‘Ohana’ in 2002. There’s a beautiful quote from the film that explains its meaning – “Ohana means family and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten”. While there are no extra-terrestrial beings in the 2021 Netflix film “Finding Ohana”, there are some supernatural elements and familial bond is a dominant theme.

Directed by Jude Weng, “Finding Ohana” follows the story of two siblings Pili & Ioane, who have been raised in New York, but find themselves spending the summer in Hawaii with their grandfather. Pili finds a journal that talks of a hidden treasure & the girl is convinced of its existence. What follows is an adventure which is very reminiscent of the classic film ‘The Goonies’, but with some Hawaiian cultural twists.

The cinematography is done well and some of the beach scenes are breathtaking, it makes the viewer want to pack their bags and fly away to Hawaii. The writers weave in a lot of cultural elements native to Hawaii, along with some interesting myths, that make this typical adventure tale more interesting than it otherwise would’ve been. Actor Branscombe Richmond who plays the grandfather looked like he was straight out of Moana, the popular disney movie.

Actor Kea Peahu is adorable as the fiesty Pili who loves adventures. The sibling rivalry between Pili and Ioane makes for some fun comic scenes. Even though it’s quite predictable, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the film and think it makes for a great pick to watch with the entire family on a nice lazy Sunday evening. I could try spend more time thinking about it to analyse the film and pick out some critical points, but I prefer my reviews to be about my immediate movie-watching experience. So yeah, it’s a fun film and worth a one-time-watch. It’s a 7/10 from me.

P.S – AbstractAf also has a podcast channel on YouTube now, be sure to check us out & subscribe

Crazy About Her – First Look

Netflix just dropped the trailer to its new French film ‘Crazy About Her’ (Loco por ella – original title) starring Álvaro Cervantes, Luis Zahera, Susana Abaitua. The trailer starts off typical romantic comedy style – where two strangers hook up and tell each they don’t need to remember anything about the night.

The two strangers tell each other just their firs names, the guy is Adri and the lady is Carla. While Carla vanishes into thin air the next day, Adri develops a crush he cannot shrug off. So he frantically begins to look for Carna and finally finds her in a mental health facility.

“This is a madhouse”? he asked bewildered, when he finds the place. Undeterred, he manages to admit himself at the facility so that he can court Carla, who claims she is a manic-depressive. We then are shown a few montage like scenes from the ‘madhouse’ & I guess the rest of the story is about whether these two individuals will end up together in the most unlikely of places.

There weren’t any fun moments in the trailer, although it briefly did remind me of ‘The Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind’, which was a magical movie by the way. The plot definitely seems interesting, but one is made to hope that this film doesn’t romanticize mental health problems.

The lead actor Álvaro Cervantes looks like a mash between Liam Hemsworth and Prince Harry. I can’t possibly be the only one who thinks that, take a look for yourselves –

The film is directed by Danny De La Ordan, who has made a few romantic comedies in the past, although ‘Crazy About Her’ seems a little different. Will have to find out if its worth a watch on release date! Leaving you with the trailer.