Maus by Art Spiegelman – Book Review

 

Maus is a Pulitzer winning non-fictional work from the illustrator Art Spiegelman in the form of a graphic novel – presenting us the survival story of his own father under the Nazi regime and various concentration camps. The book goes across various periods – the writer’s present, in the US in the 70s; Czechoslovakia and Poland before the war; the survival of his father post war and eventual emigration to the United States.

The book starts with the author visiting his father, Vladek, a Jew from present day Czech Republic, and discusses his idea of presenting his father’s survival story in the form of a graphic novel. The account is dependent on his fathers recalling of the events and one could only trust his father to be a reliable narrator. It starts with him recalling how he met his wife Anja, the birth of their first child Richieu. He has had a lot of personal tragedy, the death of his firstborn during the holocaust, the trauma he had to face in the camps, the suicide of his wife much later in their life (and the impact it had on Art, the author himself), and the present relationship issues that he was having.

I liked how the author chose to present the discussion between his father and him as is, including the various arguments that they had during the course of the discussion (at one point with the son calling his father a murderer but I would not divulge that). This was an interesting choice rather than just present his father’s survival story in the camps as a graphic novel, as we could understand a lot of their present day struggles, years after the holocaust, including for the descendants of the survivors (such as the author).

There were also several subtle themes presented by the author – wherein all characters were presented as animals – the Jews as mice, the Poles as pigs, the Germans as cats, the French as frogs, etc. These reflect stereotypes and also the absurdity of classifying a whole group of people as ‘the same’, considering none of the groups are a monolith. The author brought this out as well, where there was an instance of an ideological argument between a Russian Jew – who holds communist ideologies, hit out at Vladek, for being a capitalist and never having ‘worked’ in his whole life.

Much as this is a remarkable survival story, one also needs to note that the story is narrated by Vladek, the character who seems to have solutions to every problem and has a solution for all of his wife’s problems as well. The book also brings out his evolution as a character as in the present day, there is an argument between Vladek and his daughter-in-law (Art’s wife) where Vladek makes a racist remark on a black person (confronted on the basis that he is doing to the blacks exactly what the Nazis did to him).

The struggles of Art was also shown well, where he was in sessions with his psychiatrist, and also remarks that his deceased brother is like that ‘perfect child’ and every instance, he was competing with a photo, which proved to be very difficult for him.

The only downside, much as I would not comment on life choices on an individual when it comes to a biography, I would still say Vladek was not a particularly likeable person for me, he was a racist, to me he came off as a 1930s version of a gold digger – wherein he rejects the advances of a woman not over a lack of interest, but over the fact that she came from a very poor family and could not afford his dowry and for that matter, one of the virtues he stated of his wife Anja was that she came from a very rich family.

Overall, I liked this book – it was well presented, I particularly appreciated it being presented more in the form of a memoir and that it was non-chronological. It presented a very serious event, one of the greatest tragedies in human history as a comic, with its own subtleties (when it came to presenting groups of people as animals). On that note, I would award this book a rating of eight on ten.

Rating – 8/10

Have a nice day,
Andy

Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis – Book Review

 

Publisher’s write-up:

‘Zorba the Greek, Nikos Kazantzakis’ most popular and enduring novel,, has its origins in the author’s own experiences in the Peleponnesus in the 1920s. His swashbuckling hero has legions of fans across the world and his adventures are as exhilarating and exciting now as the were on first publication in the 1950s.’

Zorba the Greek is a novel written in the 20^th Century – originally written in Greek set in the island of Crete. The book mainly features a mysterious character going by the name Zorba, who accompanies the narrator to the island of Crete and works as his foreman for coal mining.

The book is set in the early 20^th century, after the first world war, wherein the narrator is impacted by the departure of his friend’s departure to the Caucasus, to fight for the ethnic Greeks in the region. The author being an intellectual, wanted to leave his books aside for a while and take a break in Crete, under the guise of mining coal. This is where he meets Zorba, in the ship – a personality he finds to be interesting and at the same time, highly eccentric. The two have contrasting views of the world and unlike the narrator, Zorba is a man of action and experience, and does not find a meaning in the intellectual pursuits of the narrator.

The best part of the book is the location – the fact that it takes place in Crete. This is from the perspective of an outsider, wherein, most of the Greek literature I have read is from ancient times and this is the first book that I am reading that has been written in the 20^th century and that I could read the description of a modern Greece. I also liked the interactions between the two main characters, where at one point, the narrator does feel that Zorba is the person who is living the life that he wishes to live, though he is not accepting of Zorba’s  impulsive methods.

While I repeatedly asserted that the book is featuring a modern Greece, however, there are instances that could be shocking to the average reader as to how regressive the outlook was, towards women and also for what reasons the people are willing to kill another human being (this is towards the end, I would not go into details at the risk of spoiling the book).

Personally, I had a split opinion on Zorba, where his views towards women were regressive, to the extent that he doubted whether they were part of the same species, but at the same time, he supported certain other ideas that I liked – such as being someone from that period, he rejects ideas of irridentism, going on to say that Greeks attempt to take over Constantinople is as good as a Turkish attempt to take over Athens and it should not be pursued. While I preferred the character of the narrator more, this was where I preferred Zorba’s views, in the topic of irridentism.

There were also several minor characters who were used well, particularly, that of Madame Hortense, the manager of the inn where the two characters stay. There is also a romantic sub plot between Zorba and Hortense and while Zorba was unaffected by almost any event, we could see the emotional side of him when there was a tragedy that struct Hortense.

Having said that, the story is not for everyone – to the extent that some might wonder if there is a plot at all or just one man describing his holiday for a month. However, I would not go too much into that considering that was the narrator’s aim as well, to escape his routine. Another point that disturbed me was I could not quite understand the adulation of Zorba by every character, I found him a bad person who was morally compromised and I found the character of the narrator much better.

I understand that this book is a translation, however, I do not know the reliability of it – to give the context, I read this book for a book club (discussion in French) and I found that the French edition was significantly bigger than the English version – and the difference I was told was that my edition was a 1950s translation where there were a lot of cuts, and the more recent editions are elaborate and authentic. If anyone wishes to read, I recommend to buy a more recent translation than mine.

To conclude on the book, the highlights of the book is the rural setting in Crete, the two main characters and the narration by the writer. A little further focus on the philosophical aspect could have made it better, and considering my overall experience, I award the book a rating of seven on ten.

Rating – 7/10

Have a nice day,
Andy

Think Again by Adam Grant – Book Review

 

Publisher’s write-up:

‘Think Again is a book about the benefit of doubt, and about how we can get better at embracing the unknown and the joy of being wrong. Evidence has shown that creative geniuses are not attached to one identity, but constantly willing to rethink their stances and that leaders who admit they don't know something and seek critical feedback lead more productive and innovative teams.

New evidence shows us that as a mindset and a skilllset, rethinking can be taught and Grant explains how to develop the necessary qualities to do it. Section 1 explores why we struggle to think again and how we can learn to do it as individuals, arguing that 'grit' alone can actually be counterproductive. Section 2 discusses how we can help others think again through learning about 'argument literacy'. And the final section 3 looks at how schools, businesses and governments fall short in building cultures that encourage rethinking.

In the end, learning to rethink may be the secret skill to give you the edge in a world changing faster than ever.’

Think Again is a self-help book written by the psychologist and professor, Adam Grant. This book emphasises the importance of rethinking and relearning considering we often fall into the trap of ‘best practices’. The author gives several examples of success where the persons involved managed great things by managing to rethink and act differently in a situation and those who are intelligent in the traditional sense ended up in failure.

The author starts the book with the incident among a group of firefighters, where most tragically lost their lives even though they followed exactly what was taught to them, except for one who thought differently in the book and did something that was never in any of the manuals. The author’s point is that while the traditional understanding of intelligence is to think and learn, it is equally important in the modern sense to rethink and unlearn.

Considering that the book was written recently, in the post covid-19 era, the examples given are relatable and the author even cites examples of early failures arising because of a failure to rethink and unlearn what they knew till date. The examples cited were very interesting, where the author cited multiple personality types – about people getting into a ‘preacher’ mode when it comes to ideas they believe in and a ‘prosecutor’ mode when it is related to an idea that they do not agree with. This was the first time where I saw someone argue that the ‘impostor syndrome’ is not necessarily bad, and having that forces oneself to rethink and relearn than the ones who are certain – and the author backed it up with data to suggest that there was no data to suggest that those who considered themselves as impostors performed worse that their peers who did not hold such views.

However, there were parts of the book where I do not believe are practical, either in terms of safety or in terms of one’s mental health, where the author gives the example of Daryl Davis, an American singer from the African American community who had convinced several members of the Ku Klux Klan by engaging with them and enabling them to rethink their positions. Even if one ignores the safety aspect, often, a discussion with someone who holds such views would leave oneself very upset for having such a conversation in the first place (here I am speaking for myself).

Some of the author’s conclusions were extreme from what I saw, in some ways arguing that those who have IQ or are considered conventionally intelligent are at a disadvantage as they could identify patterns with ease, and thus go by a past trend rather than rethinking (giving the example of Lazaridis who was adamant about Blackberry’s design).

This book is an interesting and a rather easy read, and could give you some tips and a lot of confidence to those who have a lot of doubts about where they are. Whether all of these suggestions are practical, only time would tell. Considering my personal experience with the book, I award the book a rating of seven on ten.

Rating – 7/10

Have a nice day,
Andy