The Emigrants by W.G. Sebald – Book Review

 

Publisher’s write-up :

‘At first The Emigrants appears simply to document the lives of four Jewish émigrés in the twentieth century. But gradually, as Sebald's precise, almost dreamlike prose begins to draw their stories, the four narrations merge into one overwhelming evocation of exile and loss.’

The Emigrants is a collection of four short stories written by the writer and academic W.G. Sebald, who wrote the book originally in German. As the title suggests, this narrates the story of four emigrants, all of whom are jews who fled Germany to avoid prosecution and living in their adopted countries.

The first story is about a doctor living in the English country side, Dr. Henry Selwyn, the second is that of a teacher, Paul Bereyter who now lives in Switzerland, the third is Amboros, who lives in the United States with his rich relatives – with whom he travels to expensive places around the world, and the last character is Max Ferber, who is a young painter in Manchester, whom the author meets.

The story dealt with different aspects of life, particularly that of emigrants, where there is always a yearning to belong to your new place, along with the nostalgia for the place that you had left but you have your reasons why it is implausible to move back to the previous place. This was best shown in the story of Paul, who struggled to belong in his new place even though he was well respected and always had a longing for the mountains in Bavaria.

The author had the setting described well in each of the stories, be it the countryside in the story of Dr. Selwyn or the various towns of Switzerland. The best use of a city was the description of Manchester in the story of Max, where I felt the author had used the city well. The author also has a unique style of adding pictures without any caption and this allowed me to visualize a lot of these scenes described to me by the author.

The story I had liked the least was the one of Amboros, where there were too many characters for one to get lost in the sea of information and they keep travelling around the world, going from place to place. It felt more like reading a travelogue than a novel. Unless these characters were completely based on real people, I felt the stories were unnecessarily sad, even stories that I felt which did not need such levels of sadness for it to move the reader (such as the story of Paul), and after a point, it becomes predictable, I had the shock while reading the story of Dr. Selwyn, but eventually, I started expecting such events.

On the whole, I would say that it was a good read, not the easiest of reads, but still has got some interesting stories. I award the book a rating of six on ten, and I am certainly interested in trying the other works of the writer.

Rating – 6/10

Have a nice day,
Andy

I’ll be strong for you by Nasim Marashi – book review

 

Afin de lire mon avis en français, cliquez ici

Note: I read the French translation of this book, so I would be using the names of the characters as it was written in French

Publisher’s write-up (from goodreads):

‘Three recent college graduates in Tehran struggle to find their footing in this award\-winning debut by Iranian journalist Nasim Marashi. Roja, the most daring of the three, works in an architecture firm and is determined to leave Tehran for graduate school in Toulouse. Shabaneh, who is devoted to her disabled brother and works with Roja, is uncertain about marrying a colleague as it would mean leaving her family behind. Leyla, who was unable to follow her husband abroad because of her commitment to her career as a journalist, is wracked with regret. Over the course of two seasons, summer and fall, in bustling streets and cramped family apartments, the three women weather setbacks and compromises, finding hope in the most unlikely places. Even as their ambitions cause them to question the very fabric of their personalities and threaten to tear their friendship apart, time and again Roja, Shabaneh and Leyla return to the comfort of their longtime affection, deep knowledge and unquestioning support of each other. Vividly capturing three very distinct voices, Marashi\x27s deeply wrought narrative lovingly brings these young women and their friendship to life in all their complexity.’

I’ll be strong for you is the first novel of the writer Nasim Marashi, written in Persian and published in 2014, which was highly successful in Iran. It is a story of three young women who met at the university in Tehran during their studies. The three have different family backgrounds, with Leya having a privileged background, Shabaneh who is from a small town and lived through her town being bombarded during the war (which war, is not mentioned) and does not want to leave her brother with special needs alone with her mother, the latter who does not have a particular liking towards him, and Rodja, who has big dreams and wants to leave the country. The narration is done in the first person though the narrator is different in each chapter (Leyla, Shabaneh and Rodja respectively).

 I liked the fact that the novel was universal and addressed experiences faced by most people living an urban life anywhere in the world. At times, I was interested in even going for a coffee with Leyla, just to hear her out, with all the difficulties she is facing with her mental health. I also appreciated the narration and the writing style as well, and even though the narrator changed every chapter, the chronology was maintained and the first person narrator of the previous chapter is a character in the third person in the present chapter.

Each of the character had to address a difficult situation, faced my most people, that is, ‘whether to stay or leave’, be it the country, job or a relationship and each of them had to measure the pros and cons of whatever decision they were to take.

However, universal nature of the novel was also its weakness, as regardless of whether this novel had taken place in Tehran or New York or Paris or Tokyo or Johannesburg would have caused little difference. I had a lot of expectations considering the novel was translated to French in the year 2023, with the context of the protests against the regime triggered by the murder of the young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini by the state in 2022. However, the author never touched upon sensitive topics, neither religion nor politics. The former I understand as based on several articles I have read, Iran is quite a secular society where religion is less important than its other neighbours in the Middle East, despite their government. However, with politics, she had an opportunity, as Iran is a multicultural country despite popular perception (with Persians, Kurds, Azeris, Arabs, etc.) and I never saw any of these cultural aspects come out. And given that these women either wanted to leave the country (like Rodja) or create a positive impact (like Leyla), it was very much possible to explore the political angle.

To conclude, I enjoyed the book, and though it did not meet my expectations, if you enjoy reading about universal emotions such as love, friendship and dilemma, it is still a good novel to read. Considering that, I would award the novel a rating of six on ten.

Rating – 6/10

Have a nice day,
Andy

The Shallows by Nicholas Carr – Book Review

 

Publisher’s write-up:

‘Boldly reactionary... What looks like feast, Carr argues, may be closer to famine' Sunday Times'Chilling' The Economist. In this ground-breaking and compelling book, Nicholas Carr argues that not since Gutenberg invented printing has humanity been exposed to such a mind-altering technology. The Shallows draws on the latest research to show that the Net is literally re-wiring our brains inducing only superficial understanding. As a consequence there are profound changes in the way we live and communicate, remember and socialise - even in our very conception of ourselves. By moving from the depths of thought to the shallows of distraction, the web, it seems, is actually fostering ignorance. The Shallows is not a manifesto for luddites, nor does it seek to turn back the clock. Rather it is a revelatory reminder of how far the Internet has become enmeshed in our daily existence and is affecting the way we think. This landmark book compels us all to look anew at our dependence on this all-pervasive technology.’

The Shallows is a ten chapter book written by the tech writer Nicholas Carr. This book in particular, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. It needs to be kept in mind that the first edition was published in 2010, when iPhone was ‘new’ and social media did not have the level of impact it does today. However, in the foreword of my 10^th anniversary edition, the author claimed he stands vindicated considering what we have made of the internet. The title of the book states that the author tries to establish how the internet changes the way we think, read and remember, and I would evaluate whether the author has built the case for that.

The author starts by telling us how the concept of knowledge changed over time, where memory was important till the time writing and archiving were invented, it was associated less with knowledge from thereon. He also explains in detail the revolution brought by Gutenberg with the invention of printing press changed the way we processed information. I also liked how he compared Google to that of a church, wherein, the company despite its shortcomings are convinced of their vision statement where they are ‘making knowledge free’. The arguments about how our brains were impacted, sounded technical but was interesting when it came to making his case.

Having said that, I still found the book a tad outdated, wherein, many studies conducted on hyperlinks and its effect were from 90s, while I understand that many of it might still be relevant today, it is far easier to refer hyperlinks and get to the original text now that in was 30 years ago. It still raised a valid point, considering how it is easy to get distracted by hyperlinks. There are also other points where the author spoke of how we have not reduced television consumption but significantly increased the time we spend on the internet, and thus are left with less time. However, these days it is hard to distinguish between television and the internet as compared to 2010 (is Netflix television or internet? Is streaming on YouTube using your television be considered by the author as television or internet?)

While the author spoke of digressions, I felt for most of the book, the writer himself was digressing, with most of the book speaking very little about the internet and rather, the evolution of how we processed information over the centuries.

Many points raised by the author are interesting, such as the ineffectiveness of multi-tasking, which is all the more relevant in today’s work environment with real time conversation capabilities, we are often tasked with many different things to do at once. It also talks about how hyperlinks, rather than giving more information, provides less information to the reader. Ironically though, his own books cited a lot of sources, which, is required in a non-fiction work.

To conclude, I would say the book raised a lot of interesting points that ought to be discussed, such as how internet keeps us distracted. Many points got touched on the surface but none of it went deep enough to have an impact. On that note, I would award the book a rating of four on ten.

Rating – 4/10

Have a nice day,
Andy

Aliss at the Fire by Jon Fosse – Book Review

 

Publisher’s write-up:

‘In her old house by the fjord, Signe lies on a bench and sees a vision of herself as she was more than twenty years earlier: standing by the window waiting for her husband Asle, on that terrible late November day when he took his rowboat out onto the water and never returned. Her memories widen out to include their whole life together, and beyond: the bonds of one family and their battles with implacable nature stretching back over five generations, to Asle's great-great-grandmother Aliss.

In Jon Fosse's vivid, hallucinatory prose, all these moments in time inhabit the same space, and the ghosts of the past collide with those who still live on.

Aliss at the Fire is a haunting exploration of love, ranking among the greatest meditations on marriage and loss.’

Aliss at the Fire is an experimental novel written by Jon Fosse, who is a well-known playwright from Norway. Having said that I do not know how to place or where to place this. This novel goes through several generations of the Signe’s husband Asle, and talks a lot about his great-great-grandmother, Aliss and how since her days, the same events have been repeating in her family. Even Signe, who has been ‘waiting’ for her husband for over twenty years even though it is very apparent to the reader and everyone else that her husband left on a day when the weather was terrible and the boat sank, and that he is dead.

There are texts that are complex, which require the level of detail and verbose writing is enjoyable to the reader. And then there are books like Aliss at the Fire which have no content and is complicated for the sake of being complicated. I tried my best to get into the experiment of the author and I often like such innovative ideas or experiments and give it the widest time possible for me to judge, but this tested my patience immensely. The first five pages of the novel effectively conveyed that Signe looked out of her window, in so many words (mind you, this is an 80 page novel). It reminded me of a character from the British satirical show Yes Minister, the Permanent Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby, who spoke such sentences but at least his intent was clear, that was to confuse the minister and in the end get his own agenda through. However, what was the intent of Jon Fosse? I would presume to frustrate the reader.

There are some parts of the text that I enjoyed, such as the description of Signe’s rural home by the Norwegian fjord, but that was all the content that was available on this book, the rest of the 75 odd pages were fluff. I read this book for a book club, and there were those who had positive views on the book, especially among those who enjoy poetry, so if you are someone who enjoys such works, you may try this book.

Since I read a translation, I also did not appreciate how the translator changed the title of the book, wherein, the Norwegian name of the title character is ‘Ales’ but the translator added a note stating that he changed it to Aliss (which is not a traditional Norwegian name), since it could have been misinterpreted as a story about ale and other types of beer. I hardly think anybody would have thought this book is talking about some technique to ferment an ale using fire. 

I would conclude by saying that reading this book was one of the worst by which I used my time and on that note, I award this book a rating of two on ten.

Rating – 2/10

Have a nice day,
Andy

Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville - Book Review

Note : I read the French translation of the novella

Afin de lire mon avis de lecture en français, cliquez ici

Publisher’s write-up (translated by me from the French edition):

‘The world described by Melville in this 1853 novella is already the world of ‘start up nation’, automation, surveillance, uberisation, the world of ‘bullshit jobs’, of open space, a world that is empty and impersonal, digitized and petrified in which all forms of resistance are criminalized. The world of copyright, the fast life of the megacity. To summarise, a mercantile world, brutal and closed, born during the first half of the 19^th century in Wall Street, and that which has become ours today. It is thus not surprising that ‘I would prefer not to’ is a slogan that was used by the protesters of the Occupy Wall Street movement’.

Bartleby the Scrivener is a novella written by the American author Herman Melville, who is known for his novel ‘Moby Dick’. In this, Bartleby is a new scrivener employed by a Wall Street advocate who was at first impressed by Bartleby’s sincerity at work. However, little by little, he loses interest in everything and thus, always responded to every question or request with his famous phrase ‘I would prefer not to’.

Even though the novella was written two centuries ago, it is still relatable as mentioned by the publisher, that the text is still relevant in the world of Uber and ‘Bullshit Jobs’ (to read my review on Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber, click here). Through this novella, the author had also shown the absurdities in the work environment, where the advocate did not lose anything even when Bartleby was doing nothing, never sacked him owing to sympathy and he was forced to eventually sack Bartleby not because of ‘cost cutting’ but because his reputation was being damaged in front of his clients who were observing that there was someone in the office doing nothing. If not for that, there was no impact in paying Bartleby for doing nothing.

The study of psychology and psychiatry was not that developed in the 19^th century but today, Bartleby might have been diagnosed as someone suffering from a severe depression. It was also a commentary on the American society of this era, where the a person’s profession defined who they were, which is even the case today where the society prefers a person who does some ‘work’ even though it is not useful for anyone rather than someone who does nothing (though the value added to the society in both these cases is nil). As mentioned earlier, there were many similarities between what was described in this novel and the 21^st century essay written by David Graeber on the phenomenon of ‘Bullshit Jobs’.

I would also add a point on the translation, I normally hate reading translations if I know the original language, especially in this case where the original language is my native language. However, the French translation was done very well and had a lot of footnotes which are required for the understanding of a 21^st century audience, for example, the book talks of a ‘dead letter office’, a concept which people are unlikely to be familiar with today, but, my French edition had a footnote explaining what it was and I could understand Bartleby’s plight further, thanks to that.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel, even though it was at times a caricature and the situation described by the author was an extreme and totally absurd, but still, sometimes it is these absurdities that help us think of more important questions on the society and the discussions that we need to have. On that note, I would award the book a rating of eight on ten.

Rating – 8/10

Have a nice day,
Andy

Promised Land by Karel Schoeman – Book Review

 

Publisher’s write-up (translated from the French edition by me):

Afin de lire le commentaire en français, cliquez ici.

“For George, this trip to South Africa was a promise to return to the land of his Afrikaner ancestors. However, they were just not the nostalgic memories that resurfaced. Between fear, silence and a ruined world from ‘the past’, the return of the prodigal son turns quickly into suffocation. For the peasant families forgotten by history, George represented everything at once. The foreigner who is a son of the country. The past and the present. A role that would soon prove to be too heavy to bear.”

Note: I read the book in French translated from Afrikaans by Pierre-Marie Finkelstein.

Promised Land is a novel from the well known writer from South Africa, Karel Schoeman, who wrote novels in Afrikaans, a language spoken by a majority of the Afrikaners in South Africa. The plot takes place in 1972, during the apartheid regime of South Africa.

George Neethling returns to his country of birth, after having been raised and lived in Switzerland for most of his life; in order to see the farm where he grew up in, the farm that belonged to his family at Rietvlei in South Africa. En route, he stops at the house of the Hattingh family, who inform him that there is nothing left in Rietvlei considering how his mother had left long ago and that there was nobody who took care of the farm. He was welcomed into the Hattingh family and everybody were interested in him for some reason or the other, as most of them had never seen a foreigner, or in this case, someone who had lived abroad. The conversations between Carla (Hattingh’s daughter) and George was my favourite part of the novel, where both sides made some very strong points. I also enjoyed the feast organized for George, where during the party, everyone wanted to dance with George to strike a conversation with him, for reasons of their own.

The author also explored most human emotions that is common all over the world, such as nostalgia with George, where he spends too much money to come all the way even though he had very little hope that he was returning to a better country than the one that his mother had left; and equally on the other side, the family values that are displayed by Hattingh and his friends. There was always an air of mystery, be it with George or the Hattingh family and their friends, which lasted for almost two thirds of the novel, which was something I appreciated. The contrast between someone from the countryside and someone from the city was also a topic well explored, where Carla even tells George that though they speak the “same words”, they do not speak the “same language”. I also enjoyed the description of the landscape and the Afrikaner village – where I felt like personally being in that setting in 1972. The novel also subtly touched upon political aspects of the time, though not directly, by using characters like Gerhad, who reminds George of his duty towards “his country”, “his people” and “his ancestors”. Even George’s gradual change was interesting, where he initially saw himself as being in his country but eventually identified himself as a foreigner.

A potential problem for readers could be that they need a context as the novel is written for Afrikaans speaking population in South Africa and if we do not know the history of the Afrikaners or the country, it could be difficult to appreciate the subtleties of the novel or even boring. It was a remark made by around half of the participants in the book club I attended to discuss this book (in French), and I understand their point of view.

To summarise, I loved this book, it was well written and the author invoked several complicated subjects despite the small size of the novel (around 250 pages in my pocket French edition). So, I award the book a rating of eight on ten.

Rating – 8/10

Have a nice day,
Andy

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

The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings #1) by JRR Tolkien – Book Review

 

Publisher’s write-up:

‘One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkeness bind them

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, The Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit.

In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.’

The Fellowship of the Ring is the first book in The Lord of the Rings trilogy from JRR Tolkien. This is perhaps one of the most well-known books that I have read so far; being one of the most sold books in the world and also having highly successful film adaptations. I had loved the films as a teenager and wanted to get to reading the books someday. So, in this review, I would evaluate if it was worth reading the book.

The story happens in the world built by the earth, Middle-Earth, inhabited by various different species – being the hobbits, elves, men, dwarves, orcs, etc. The story begins with Bilbo Baggins celebrating his birthday in The Shire (the village of the hobbits) and leaves his possessions to his beloved nephew Frodo, including a ring with special powers. Frodo is visited by Gandalf the wizard, and is told of the evil powers of the ring; previously possessed by Sauron, the ruler of the land of Mordor. Frodo is joined in this mission by his gardener and close friend, Samwise, along with two other friends from the Shire, Merry and Pippin. The rest of the story is about their adventure and their path towards destroying this evil ring or as they say in the book, the one ring to rule them all.

This was a book that I wanted to like, a book that I had been meaning to read for a long time, it was a film that I enjoyed as a teenager, enjoyed the games that were from the universe, etc. However, the key word phrase here is that I wanted to like but I could not bring myself to like this book despite my best efforts. To start with, the narration was drab and often flat, providing no nuance to the characters and the manner in which they expressed themselves at various points. This was a standard young adult novel where each character had a clear identification of who was good or who was evil and there were hardly any layers to the personality of any of the characters.

There were aspects that could have made the book interesting, such as the distrust between the dwarves and the elves, and how they make do with that, but then, the ‘Fellowship’ is closely knit (something unusual for a group created on the spot by an elven lord, with only notable exception being the character of Boromoir who had shown some levels of dissent).

One could praise the writer for the detailed world that he has built and how this has inspired several other fantasy novel writers, whom I have personally enjoyed, but with that said, this book was a travelogue in a world that I was not interested in. There was nothing more to it than a bunch of people walking together, complaining about the weather, describing the surroundings, and moving from a point to another point. What was expressed in this particular book could have been expressed in a third of its size without losing the essential content of it.

While this book contains the features of a standard young adult novel, unfortunately, it is not a very easy read for a teenager either. Thus, I am unsure of whom it appeals to (no wonder this often features in the list of books people ‘pretend to have read’).

 To summarise this book, I would say that it is a boring travelogue featuring drab characters happening in a world that I am not interested in. On that note, I award the book a rating of three on ten.

Rating – 3/10

Have a nice day,
Andy

About Looking by John Berger – Book Review

Publisher’s write-up:

‘As a novelist, essayist, and cultural historian, John Berger is a writer of dazzling eloquence and arresting insight whose work amounts to a subtle, powerful critique of the canons of our civilization. In About Looking he explores our role as observers to reveal new layers of meaning in what we see. How do the animals we look at in zoos remind us of a relationship between man and beast all but lost in the twentieth century? What is it about looking at war photographs that doubles their already potent violence? How do the nudes of Rodin betray the threats to his authority and potency posed by clay and flesh? And how does solitude inform the art of Giacometti? In asking these and other questions, Berger alters the vision of anyone who reads his work.’

About Looking is a collection of essays by the Booker Prize winning novelist and art critic, John Berger. Most of these essays were published in the 60s and 70s which include the author’s take on interpretations of various art forms including photography, and the starting essay which was on the evolving relationship human beings have had and are still having with animals.

The author not only tries to make this a long technical summary of evaluating artists like Francis Bacon or Jean-François Millet but also brings in his political views into these essays such as the impacts of capitalism and how we tend to depoliticse events like war. This could please readers who are aligned with his politics and at the same time, alienate those who do not. I felt the first two essays were the most thought provoking and powerful, especially the way he explored how animals’ overtime have been marginalised and have now been reduced to mere relics such as in children’s toys, metaphors or in zoos. As aforementioned, the impact (or lack thereof) of the devastating photos of the Vietnam war was explored very well by the author in one of the essays.

However, the author frontloaded the best two essays and the rest were more difficult to understand, getting a tad too technical on artistic movements and various different styles. Initially, there were illustrations for the works of art that the author discussed but in the subsequent essays, I felt the author assumed the reader knew the works of art that he was describing – and beyond two or three essays, I did not have the patience to google every artist and work of art mentioned in the book.

The first few essays satisfy a general audience, and for a work of non-fiction, it is important to know who the intended audience is and unfortunately, the latter half is not for the general audience. I understand that the writer is British who lived a large part of his life in France, and thus, works of art from these two places are extensively discussed but considering his extensive knowledge on the subject, I would have liked to read an essay about artistic movements / artists in the other parts of the world.

To conclude, some of the essays, especially in the first half of the book were thought provoking and interesting. The latter half could be very interesting if you have deep knowledge in the subject that the author is discussing, but if not, you would be as lost as I was.

If the book had stopped with the two brilliant essays the author had started with, this book could have had a much higher rating, but considering the incomprehensible latter half, I would award the book a rating of four on ten.

Rating – 4/10

Have a nice day,
Andy

Why Fish Don’t Exist by Lulu Miller – Book Review

 

Publisher’s write-up:

‘David Starr Jordan was a taxonomist, a man possessed with bringing order to the natural world. In time, he would be credited with discovering nearly a fifth of the fish known to humans in this day. But the more of the hidden blueprint of life he uncovered, the harder the universe seemed to try to thwart him. His specimen collections were demolished by lightning, by fire, and eventually by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake – which sent more than a thousand of his discoveries, house in fragile glass jars, plummeting to the floor. In an instant, his life’s work was shattered.

Many might have given up, given in to despair. But Jordan? He surveyed the wreckage at his feet, found the first fish he recognized, and confidently began to rebuild his collection. And this time, he introduced one clever innovation that he believed would at last protect his work against the chaos of the world.

When NPR reporter Lulu Miller first heard this anecdote in passing, she took Jordan for a fool – a cautionary tale in hubris, or denial. But as her own life slowly unraveled, she began to wonder about him. Perhaps he was a model for how to go on when all seemed lost. What she would unearth about his life would transform her understanding of history, morality, and the world beneath her feet.

Part biography, part memoir, part scientific adventure, Why Fish Don’t Exist reads like a fable about how to persevere in a world where chaos will always prevail.’

Why Fish Don’t Exist; as mentioned above in one of the longest write-ups I have read for such a small book, is a book from the NPR reporter Lulu Miller on David Starr Jordan, a taxonomist who was also the first Chancellor of the Stanford University in California, US.

The book starts by simultaneously describing her own personal crisis and then introducing David Starr Jordan, a man born during the mid-19^th century in the state of New York, who was highly interesting in observing an understanding nature during his childhood. Considering the author’s personal crisis, she wanted to seek inspiration from the life of David Starr Jordan, whom despite his circumstances, had immense levels of confidence and on the face of any crisis, looked for a solution to make the solution better. However, the more she learned about him, the more she learned of a dark side to his personality and the consequences of his actions.

I was initially apprehensive about the book considering I had heard of David Jordan, who was the first Chancellor of Stanford University and also an early proponent of eugenics. However, these fears did not last long as the writer explored all sides to him and it did not lead to unnecessary levels of glorification and in fact, quite the opposite.

The book did seem directionless in the initial phases and left me confused if the objective was to talk about herself or if this was a biography of David Starr Jordan. Portraying him as someone beating the odds did not sit well with me considering he seemed very successful at quite a young age. But as it went, I enjoyed reading the book, especially the latter half, where we learn a lot of dark aspects which most are unaware of – like the forced sterilisation programmes that were carried out in the United States inspired by scientists like Jordan.

The author also brought about her disillusionment over David Jordan very well, considering his work often involved exploiting the locals in Japan or Polynesia without giving them credit for the ‘discovery’ of the fish, a murder allegation against him, etc.

The ending justified the title and was also powerful as the author figures her own way to deal with her personal crisis. And I need to mention here that I loved the illustrations by Kate Samworth at the beginning of every chapter.

On that note, I would say that the book was an enjoyable read – has a beautiful cover and good illustrations, to add to the reading experience. Would recommend it as a light read (which deals with a lot of heavy topics) and on that note, I would award the book a rating of seven on ten.

Rating – 7/10

Have a nice day,
Andy

Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber – Book Review

 

Publisher’s write-up:

‘In the early twentieth century, people prophesied that technology would see us all working fifteen-hour weeks and driving flying cars. Instead, something curious happened. Not only have the flying cars not materialised, but average working hours have increased rather than decreased. And now, across the developed world, three-quarters of all jobs are in services, finance or admin: jobs that don't seem to contribute anything to society. In Bullshit Jobs, David Graeber explores how this phenomenon - one more associated with the Soviet Union, but which capitalism was supposed to eliminate - has happened. In doing so, he looks at how, rather than producing anything, work has become an end in itself; the way such work maintains the current broken system of finance capital; and, finally, how we can get out of it.

This book is for anyone whose heart has sunk at the sight of a whiteboard, who believes 'workshops' should only be for making things, or who just suspects that there might be a better way to run our world.’

Bullshit Jobs was a book written by the anthropologist David Graeber based on the testimonials he had received for an essay he had written regarding the phenomenon of bullshit jobs. The author estimates that around 40-50% of the jobs in the world are pointless and builds a case for his position.

The author structured the book in the following manner – the author’s hypothesis (occasionally backed by data or a famous real incidents), followed by a testimonial confirming his own hypothesis from one of his readers and then, draws a conclusion based on this testimonial. The author’s manner of expressing some of the terms, was rather indiscreet, which some might even consider pejorative to certain jobs – but I guess that was also the author’s intention, to draw attention to the phenomenon.

The positive thing about the book is that it made me think – about the phenomenon of bullshit jobs. A lot of work that is done could perhaps be pointless and we do not necessarily need a 40-hour working week. The author tries to use Keynes’ prediction as his justification where the latter had predicted that it in days to come, owing to technological improvements, we might need to work only 15 hours a week. In that sense, the author tries to draw attention to the fundamental flaw in the society where self-worth has been tied to work and the effort put in, even if that effort is not required (and the author describes this to be a form of sadomasochism). The necessity to work long hours when it might not be required is an important discussion to have.

With that said, relying entirely on testimonials to substantiate his theory is flimsy and in a lot of instances, the author seems to have profound hatred towards some of the professions which he seemed to have want to manifest in this book (like corporate lawyers – and for his information, I know of many corporate lawyers who are passionate and genuinely believe they are creating a difference, running contrary to the author’s hypothesis on them). In many cases, the people might hate the jobs that they are doing, may feel that it is redundant and is also possible that these jobs add no value to the society – but these facts are not enough to conclude that the job is redundant. In his own example, there was an example where a supervisor felt that their job was pointless as their team was perfectly capable of carrying out their functions without being supervised, but the moment the process fails, that is when a supervisor is required to monitor and correct the same (and till there is such a failure, it is possible that the supervisor does not do any actual work). Same is the case for those who fix bugs in a software and other defects in other professions whom the author pejoratively names ‘duct-tapers’.

In most cases, what the author took were extreme examples, and drew conclusions that were too strong for the underlying facts that the author used to build the case (most of them were based on a specific YouGov poll). While the premise was interesting, this could have remained an essay instead of being a full-fledged book, I was disappointed with the first half of the book, but the latter half salvaged it for me.

As I said earlier, this book is interesting to the extent that it could be the basis to have a lot of conversations that we ought to have, as to how work environment and society at large are to be structured in the future. I was uncomfortable with the kind of language used by the author, but that was perhaps expected from the very title of the book. This book could be read as a long essay and we may use it to build our own thoughts on the subject and ignore much of the author’s conclusions.

On that note, I would award the book a rating of six on ten.

Rating – 6/10

Have a nice day,
Andy

At Night All Blood is Black (Frère d’âme) by David Diop – Book Review

Publisher’s write-up:

‘Alfa and Mademba are two of the many Senegalese soldiers fighting in the Great War. Together they climb dutifully out of their trenches to attack France's German enemies whenever the whistle blows, until Mademba is wounded, and dies in a shell hole with his belly torn open.

Without his more-than-brother, Alfa is alone and lost amidst the savagery of the conflict. He devotes himself to the war, to violence and death, but soon begins to frighten even his own comrades in arms. How far will Alfa go to make amends to his dead friend?

At Night All Blood is Black is a hypnotic, heartbreaking rendering of a mind hurtling towards madness.’

Note: I read the book in French – review in French – cliquez ici

At Night All Blood is Black is a historical novel written by David Diop. The story is set during the times of the First World War and revolves around Alfa Ndiaye, a Senegalese rifleman in the French army, who has had a deeply disturbing experience in the battlefield.

The story starts with the death of Mademba Diop under gruesome circumstances, the person whom Alfa calls as someone who is more than a brother to him (hence the French title – which translates to soul brother). While he was mortally injured, Mademba requested Alfa to end his suffering and kill him, which Alfa could not bring himself to do. Since this incident, Alfa became desperate for revenge against the ‘blue-eyed enemy’ and recreated the scene of Mademba’s death by cruelly executing the ‘blue-eyed’ enemy soldiers. His own camp and his captain were worried about Alfa’s actions and wanted to remove him from combat roles.

It was an excellent premise, and I loved the narration style of the author wherein, Alfa recalled the past several times to the reader, but this was done in connection with the events that were currently happening in his life and thus it could still be considered a linear narration. At the outset, he describes his trench and his camp, and also the expectations they had of the African soldiers: which was to behave like ‘savages’ to intimidate the enemy, for that is exactly their perception of them. He also brought out the disconnect between the French and the Africans in the trench, sometimes with a bit of black comedy, wherein a soldier screams saying that he had understood the reason why he needed to die, and that was for his family pension.

The reason for the extreme behaviour of Alfa would be diagnosed as a case of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) these days. He was considered as an outcast by both the French and the African soldiers, the latter who believed that Alfa was a djëmm (Wolof for devil) – I loved these references in Wolof, be it the beliefs, superstitions, or the folktales.

My favourite part was Alfa recalling the story of his family – in a small village in Senegal called Gandiol, where we learn the traditions and social norms of the village, the ongoing ‘politics’, and risks and also their relations with neighbouring ethnicities. It was during this part that the friendship between Mademba and Alfa is brought out in full, and also their contrasting personalities, wherein Mademba was the intellectual who could even speak French and Alfa was the typical brash strongman.

I would have liked if there was more to the book as I was enthralled by the part of the story in West Africa and would have loved to have had more of it. Alfa is a complex character, with whom we can sympathise but may not particularly like and it was this layered aspect of his that I enjoyed.

To conclude, I would say that is an excellent read and I award the book a rating of eight on ten.

Rating – 8/10

Have a nice day,
Andy

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie – Book Review

 

People are unpredictable and most often, those who do well in life are those who know how to deal with people. This is perhaps one of the earliest books written on the subject by the writer and lecturer, Dale Carnegie, on How to Win Friends and Influence People. The skills could be useful for anyone and especially given my personality traits (overly introverted), I thought this could be a useful book.

The book is split into four parts and in each of these parts, the author preaches various ‘principles’ to influence people or gain their trust. Some of these principles include ‘do not criticise’, ‘do not argue’, ‘give a hearty praise’, etc. and all of these are supported by anecdotes from his personal life, people around him or historical personalities (he often referred to letters by Abraham Lincoln or George Washington).

Much as this book is popular and seems to have helped many people, I did not personally find this useful. Some of the principles where the author encourages empathy and urges us to see things from the other person’s perspective before coming to criticise are commendable and could be incorporated by everyone. However, this book is not about gaining meaningful friendships but being an effective salesperson and that seems to be the primary target of the author. Most of his examples are of how someone won a deal or sold a product or received a larger share of an inheritance of the lasting sorts.

My worry about the advice given in this book is that following these techniques verbatim could have an adverse effect on one’s mental health. While they could help in gaining influence, this would be retained so long as you behave this in the manner specified throughout the relationship and the book does not have a word on standing up for yourself or fulfilling your needs. I reckon if a person spends their whole lives trying to please other people in the quest for influence, at some point you would reach your breaking point on your needs never being met.

I was uncomfortable with the author celebrating people such as Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee as distinguished persons of repute in his example (both who were prominent members of the Confederacy in the US Civil War, the side that fought to have the right to ‘own slaves’). I gather that the version I had was revised, with a lot of earlier racist connotations being edited or removed – the publisher should have done enough to remove these references.

To conclude, this book is not useful – if you have a product or service to sell, please read this book. If you wish to have friends in life, this book is not going to help in that, especially on the long run. On that note, I would award the book a rating of three on ten.

Rating – 3/10

Have a nice day,
Andy

The Origins of Political Order by Francis Fukuyama – Book Review

Publisher’s write-up:

‘Nations are not trapped by their pasts, but events that happened hundreds or even thousands of years ago continue to exert huge influence on present-day politics. If we are to understand the politics that we now take for granted, we need to understand its origins.

Francis Fukuyama examines the paths that different societies have taken to reach their current forms of political order. This book starts with the very beginning of mankind and comes right up to the eve of the French and American revolutions, spanning such diverse disciplines as economics, anthropology and geography. The Origins of Political Order is a magisterial study on the emergence of mankind as a political animal, by one of the most eminent political thinkers writing today.’

When we look at political structures around the world, we would have several questions. Why do certain countries seem to be authoritarian for long periods of time in their history? Why are some regions politically unstable, whereas others have maintained liberal democracies for centuries? In this book, Professor Francis Fukuyama explains how political systems emerged in various parts of the world – from pre-historic times till the French Revolution.

The regions that the author discusses include China, India, Europe, the Middle East and to a limited extent, Latin America. The US is often touched upon, but the scope of the book ends at the French Revolution and thus, there is not much to cover about the US in this volume. The author explores how societies were initially organised tribally – which tended to be egalitarian and from there, multiple places have had different approaches to build institutions and the challenges that the community would face during this process. Political order has three components according to the author, being state building, rule of law and establishing accountability of the government.

The main points argued by the author is that the success or failure of a state is not often defined by resources that they have at their disposal or the battles won but the institutions that are built. To build on these – the author brings about several examples, the most profound being the ones centred around England – how they developed a strong state as compared to a weaker absolutist state in France and Spain. It was interesting that many of the references that the author had were books that I had read earlier, like Machiavelli’s Prince or Sun Tzu’s The Art of War.

I was initially sceptical about this book over the neutrality of the author’s perspective considering his political leanings, having served in the Reagan administration and being a founder of what I consider a very toxic ideology – neoconservatism. To be fair to him, the author has distanced himself from these ideals and the Republican Party during the 21^st Century. But I would say that this book is neutral and does not aim at putting forth a particular manner of administration or ideology as superior to the other.

If politics and history interest you, this book provides a good insight to both of them. There are people who often believe that several government institutions are redundant; this book can provide with examples as to why those are necessary for effective state building and also why having an all-powerful authority at the top is not viable and if achieved, has hardly been good for the state.

This book could deter hyper nationalists / jingoists when their respective nation is evaluated and that their past was not all that glorious but then, I do not expect them to pick up a book of this kind. I might have liked a more dedicated section on Japan and their largely isolationist policy till the 20^th Century; and how they built such a state.

On the whole, I would say that considering my personal interests on both politics and history, I found this book very insightful. If you have similar interests, you would like this book too. This author has done enough to get me interested in the second volume and I shall be reading it soon. On that note, I award the book a rating of eight on ten.

Rating – 8/10

Have a nice day,

Andy 

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo – Book Review

Publisher’s write-up:

‘From Newcastle to Cornwall, from the birth of the twentieth century to the teens of the twenty-first, Girl, Woman, Other follows a cast of twelve characters on their personal journeys through this country and the last hundred years. They're each looking for something - a shared past, an unexpected future, a place to call home, somewhere to fit in, a lover, a missed mother, a lost father, even just a touch of hope . . .’

Girl, Woman, Other is a Booker Prize winning novel written by Bernadine Evaristo featuring twelve principal characters – all of them being Black British women. Each of these characters were connected to the other in some way or the other; inevitable the first two characters in a chapter being a mother-daughter relationship (or the other way round) and the third being a woman closely involved in the lives of one or both of them.

The book features people from different sections of the society – a well to do playwright and her rebellious daughter, an immigrant from Nigeria running a successful business and her daughter who gets admitted to Oxford and is losing her ‘Nigerian identity’, a teacher, a struggling teenage single mother, a self-identified ‘gender free’ character, etc. Through these characters, the author explores multiple themes, patriarchy, privilege, racism, one of intersectionality – wherein some of the characters would often be facing discrimination at three levels, that is, being a woman, being black and also being lesbian.

The book is written in an odd manner, I was initially wondering if there was a mistake in my version of the book or that there was a printing error throughout. The book is in a poetic structure wherein, there are hardly any complete sentences and there are paragraph breaks all the time. However, I got used to it within the first twenty pages and could then enjoy and start appreciating this style of writing.

I liked how each of these characters were connected – which added an inadvertent element of suspense as to at what point is this character going to be connected to an earlier character (or characters). However, the relationship between the characters is not as important as the individuals themselves, as each of them had their own complexities. My favourite section was the chapter involving Bummi (the Nigerian immigrant mentioned earlier) and her daughter Carole, who looked down on most of her classmates and then, the story is presented from the perspective of one such classmate. It gets interesting when each character seems justified while narrating the stories from their perspective.

I was circumspect about the manner in which she conveyed some of her messages, perhaps to engage better with a global audience (for I am sure that the author is more aware of West Africa than I am). This was when she repeatedly used the word Nigerian – like Bummi telling Carole that she must embrace her Nigerian identity and marry only a Nigerian man, which is a very culturally diverse place with ethnicities having of little connection to each other. From their profile, I could infer that Bummi was an Igbo and every time she said ‘Nigerian’, she perhaps meant Igbo or a related ethnic group (and likely not a Hausa or a Fula who are also ‘Nigerians’).

I enjoyed every chapter, but some could feel that there is heavy repetition involved my most of the characters often repeating the same themes of patriarchy or intersectionality. I also felt that there could have been a bit more diversity in the book – with a less privileged White British character. There was a promising conversation between Yazz, the teenage daughter of a playwright and her Cornish friend about a ‘privilege olympics’ and I might have perhaps liked a story dedicated to this friend. But I do appreciate that not all characters were based in London.

On the whole, this book was a great read – was an engaging style of writing for various reasons (be it language or even the structure), the multiple themes that were explored and the engaging characters. On that note, I would award this book an eight on ten.

Rating – 8/10

Have a nice day,
Andy