Two new books I read last week have prompted me to do mini-reviews mostly for the benefit of my BCBs (Book Club Babes aka Mads, Sups, Unn, Geetika, Nikki and Namrata, for the uninitiated.) I felt considerably moved and creeped-out, tickled and educated respectively by Emma Donoghue’s Room and Nicolas Wild’s Kabul Disco. Here I’ve provided my five cents worth, unfairly assuming that you give a hoot. Tee Hee.
Wrenching is this
Ok I admit it. I cried. At the end of this $&^$%@ book, which I read in one day, I let it rip–albiet quietly and with great dignity. (Ahem, ahem ~adjusts her tie and brushes her bangs aside~) A book like Room is not my usual style, but I wanted to read Donoghue, considered to be a stylish writer of prose.
What I got was a gut wrenching, psychologically astute portrayal of Jack and his ‘Ma’, a mother-son pair caged in a 12 X 12 ft room by a psychopath. Captured at 19, and having borne a son (as a result of multiple rapes), the mother uses every device as well as her considerable imagination to nurture and entertain her son, who turns five-years-old as the story begins. Narrated in Jack’s voice, the story is poignant. For those who want happy endings, yes, they do escape, but escape brings with it its own set of complications.
At times, it got very hard for me to continue reading the book, but just when I thought of putting it down, I came upon a beautiful uplifting moment–a literary treat–that lead me to go on, and I am glad I did. I thought Donoghue did a job of sophisticated storytelling, organizing the book in beautiful chapters: Presents, Unlying, Dying, After, Living. (You’ll see how perfect these headings are, when you read the book!) Her understanding of vocabulary and language, child psychology, family units and inside jokes is key to this book, and I’m glad it was she who wrote it. You may have guessed that the book does take its inspiration from life, namely from the true stories of Josef Fritzl, Natascha Kampusch and Sabine Dardenne.
Read its (more succinct and red blooded) review here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/01/room-emma-donoghue-review-fritzl.
’tis Graphic!
I’m sure you’re all tired of hearing about how we should all read Graphic Novels, why I like ’em, why I think they’re misunderstood by the mainstream readers, why we should read one in our Book Club, etcetera etcetera, here’s a new one that I can safely recommend! Kabul Disco is another in a series of graphic novels that follow the tradition of reportage, comparable I suppose to Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis and Joe Sacco’s Palestine. (Thank you Mads for introducing me to them!) BUT, but it also deserves to be looked at from its own standpoint. Like Persepolis and Palestine, Kabul Disco does give us a lens with which to view (because you dont just read graphic novels) places that are different from our own and carry considerable political and media baggage. Unlike Persepolis and Palestine, Kabul Disco provides us with a truly personal, unique lens of an expat.
The book (the first in a series) doesn’t tell us that much about Kabul, but let’s not blame Wild for that. What it offers is an interesting, enlightening narrative of a French graphic artist/writer who lands up with a job in Kabul without preconceived notions, and how he finds something other than ennui and dollar signs to hold him back. I thought the narrative was honest, piquant amd challenging. It addressed stereotypes with great elan and builds the story with beautifully rendered sketches. Do pay attention to background–they not only lay out the terrain of Kabul, but also contain plot devices!
To read more about Graphic novels read this article, which I thought was nicely done: http://www.livemint.com/2010/03/12215219/When-the-truth-is-graphic.html
Happy readin’ folks! Do tell me what you think of these books.
Pencil Strikes 