Dead Famous: Spartacus and his Glorious Gladiators by Toby Brown – Book Review

Publisher’s write-up:

‘You have probably heard of Spartacus …

He is dead famous for:

• Being quite a good gladiator
• Giving the Romans the run-around
•  Looking an awful lot like Kirk Douglas.

But have you heard that Spartacus:

• Fought for the Romans as well as against them
• Once camped his army of rebel slaves inside a volcano
• Cut a deal with a bunch of double-crossing pirates?

Yes, even though he is dead, Spartacus is still full of surprises. Now you can read the inside story in Spartacus’s diary, catch up on all the latest battle results in The Daily Gladius, and find out how to keep the mighty Roman  Empire at bay with just a few trusty followers and a cunning plan.’

This is a biography on the young gladiator from Thrace who led a strong revolt against the Mighty Roman Empire around 70 BC. The book is part of the Dead Famous series from Scholastic (now published as Horribly Famous) and is written by Toby Brown and illustrated by Clive Goddard.

Spartacus is bored of herding sheep in Thrace and is looking for some excitement and joins the Roman army to quell his boredom. However, he was handed very mundane tasks and thus, deserts the army, gets married and as a punishment for deserting the army, he is designated as a slave and sold to a gladiator academy, where he performs very well.  However, Spartacus had the ambition of going back home and thus, leads a mutiny along with the fellow gladiators successfully pulling down the gladiator academy, which is the beginning of a mass rebellion by the slaves against the mighty Roman Empire.

The author did a very good job at bringing out the character of Spartacus; thirsty for adventure but not necessarily bloodthirsty, an astute tactician who could look at the bigger picture wherein, he spared the lives of certain Roman captives, so that peasants and other ordinary people are not intimidated by the slave army. The book also brought out the conflicts within the army regarding the way of handling the situation, such as Crixus, who didn’t agree with Spartacus’ rather humane approach. The classes of people in the Roman Empire was also brought out well, as to how slaves and gladiators were supposed to be at the lowest strata, which was an added reason why Romans underestimated them and were also equally embarrassed by such a rebellion.

The best aspect of the book was certainly the illustrations of Clive Goddard; humours, detailed, to the extent that in many cases, it covered both the pages to portray a much clearer picture, an aspect which I have not seen in any of the other books in the same series.

I read the book nearly eight years ago,  when I was perhaps the target audience and I really enjoyed it and found it informative, when I read it again now to refresh my memory, I didn’t enjoy it any less and I would award the book  a rating of eight on ten.

Rating – 8/10

Have a nice day,

Andy

Harriet Tubman: A Life from Beginning to End by Hourly History – Book Review

This is a short biography on  the 19^th Century American activist Harriet Tubman, whose activities included fighting for the abolition of slavery in the United States, transporting slaves from  slave states to the progressive Northern free states, fighting the civil war on  the side of the Union and eventually, fighting for women’s suffrage. 

The book starts with the history of slavery in the United States, then moving on to the family which Harriet served, the brutality that she had to withstand which led her to attempt to escape. The book then focuses on how she used the Underground Railroad to rescue slaves from the Southern states and her eventual role in the Civil War and how her knowledge of the rail roads helped the Union. The book also focused on the role of religion in her life which proved to be a driving factor in her taking up such daring tasks.

The book covered the issue of slavery in the United States very well and it also described the attempts of Tubman’s escape in good detail. The book also did a good job in bringing out the various aspects of her life, personal, religious, the abolitionist and the suffragist.

However, I felt that the book was more on slavery in the United States than it was on an individual. The book started with the attitudes of various Presidents towards slavery and then, going on  to describe a lot of achievements of Frederick Douglass and eventually, even a short note Martin Luther King Jr. towards the conclusion that I felt I was reading a book more on slavery and civil rights than on a particular individual.

The book was certainly informative, but I felt it was under the wrong title and I guess that is the reason why I would have to downgrade the book to a rating of five.

Rating – 5/10

Have a nice day,

Andy

Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights by Sir Salman Rushdie – Book Review

Publisher’s write-up:

‘One day in the near future, a storm strikes New York City – but it is no ordinary storm.  A down-to-earth gardener finds that his feet no longer touch the ground. A graphic novelist awakens in his bedroom to a mysterious entity that resembles his own sub-Stan Lee creation. Abandoned at the mayor’s office, a baby identifies corruption with her mere presence, marking the guilty with blemishes and boils. A seductive gold-digger is soon tapped to combat forces beyond imagining. 

Unbeknownst to them, they are all descended from Dunia, a princess of the jinn, and they will play a role in an epic war between light and dark, spanning a thousand and on nights – or two years, eight months, and twenty-eight nights. It is a time of enormous upheaval, where beliefs are challenged, words act like poison, silence is a disease and a noise may contain a hidden curse.’

This is a novel by Sir Salman Rushdie, a story involving various elements such as the idea of fear and god,  the idea of good and evil, love and lust, tyranny among many other things narrated through the author’s impeccable writing style and engaging elements of magic realism. 

The story begins in Cordoba during the period of the Almoravid Dynasty where a young jinn, meets and falls in love with the philosopher Ibn Rushd, a rationalist, who is in an ideological war against the Persian philosopher, Ghazali. The children of the jinn, Dunia and Ibn Rushd are born with the characteristic of not having earlobes. Centuries later, in modern day New York, a storm begins which lasts for 1001 nights during which; an old gardener’s feet does not touch the ground, a baby ends up in the office of the Mayor of New York which identifies corruption and the logic of the old world no longer seems to apply triggering the War of the Worlds between the world of humans and the jinn. To counter this menace, Dunia, the jinn, gathers all her descendants – the Duniazat – tribe of the world (which include the gardener, Mr. Geronimo and a few others) and the battle goes on for two years, eight months and twenty eight nights. 

I was highly interested in the book owing to the rather interesting title given to it by the author. Post that, I really enjoyed how the author dealt with a lot of timeless topics such as reason versus god, hope against fear, love and of course, he also made a lot of specific allusions, such as his highly indirect references to the Afghanistan and Taliban (as the situation created by the evil jinn under the orders of Ghazali) and also on allusions on the current western political scene.  As always,  I really enjoyed the way in which  he narrated the story, the choice of words, the flow of the story, the sequence in which they were arranged and the way in which he created the new world – Peristan (the world of the jinn) and not for once, gave the reader an impression that he was going beyond the rules of the current world. I really enjoyed the way the characters of Geronimo and Dunia were brought out, the former, a happy go lucky gardener dealing with all sorts of mundane issues with the latter having the task of saving the world from mayhem, dealing with personal tragedy, lost love and the need for love again, dealing with her emotions among other things. I also enjoyed the various diverse mythical references that the author touched upon, being Greek, Indian, Egyptian, a bit of Abrahamic myths and even a brief anecdote on a Yoruba myth. 

However, like it had various good elements of a typical novel of Rushdie, it had the very same issue I have with most of his books, being,  he took  too long to come to the point, that it took nearly a third of the book before the plot actually started taking shape and by then, he had introduced too many characters which became a challenge to the memory and even more disappointing, when most members of the Duniazat were grossly underused, barring Mr. Geronimo.  

I really enjoyed reading the novel, and as always, despite the fact that it took some time, I felt it was worth the time spent. My pencil had a lot of work while reading the novel, marking some of my favourite lines and I shall just state one of them below:

‘The enemy is stupid. That is ground for hope. There is no originality in tyrants, and the learn nothing from the demise of their precursors. They will be brutal and stifling and engender hatred and destroy what men love and that will defeat them. All important battles are, in the end, conflicts between hatred and love, and we must hold to the idea that love is stronger than hate.’

With that, I would conclude my review here that considering all the above stated aspects and also giving weight to the amount of time it took to read and also a bit of redundancy that was involved, I would award the book a rating of eight on  ten. 

Rating – 8/10

Have a nice day,

Andy

Haitian Revolution by Hourly History – Book Review

This is a short summary of the revolution that shook the world in the 19^th Century, being the one at the then French colony Saint Domingue (Haiti). People are aware of defiant blacks like Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King Jr. but the first successful revolution by the blacks was possibly by the slaves of Haiti.

The book starts with how the French established a colony in the island of Hispaniola which was earlier under the full control of Spain. The book goes on to describe the complex class system that was established to govern the French colony, where whites had full rights whereas the rights of mixed race people was dependent on the extent to which they were white. The book touched upon the two main personalities of the revolution, being Toussaint Louverture who established control during the early stages of revolution till his imprisonment and death followed by that of Jean Dessalines, who founded the new nation of Haiti, a first case of slaves overthrowing their colonial overlords.

The book focused on the events well and also kept the interest by touching upon the acts of well-known personalities in the revolution, such as Napoleon. Additionally, the book also talked about brutalities from both sides, talking about how whites treated the slaves and also how Dessalines ordered the massacre of all the remaining whites in the island post his victory in the revolution. I had very little knowledge of the Haitian revolution barring the fact the flag of Haiti was stitched from the torn pieces of the French flag post their victory but this book managed to touch upon a lot of information in less than an hour, and thus, the book was quite effective. The book also managed to conclude well; giving insight into why Haiti is still poor despite centuries of independence; arising from the economic blockade and tribute imposed by France post their independence.

The only aspect that I found to be lacking was France’s economic interests in Saint Domingue, being the coffee and sugar plantations, which was hardly mentioned.

The book was a good read, considering, I had very little knowledge about the topic prior to reading the book. I would award the book a rating of eight on ten.

Rating – 8/10

Have a nice day,

Andy

The Shadow of the Crescent Moon by Fatima Bhutto – Book Review

Publisher’s write-up:

‘Fatima Bhutto’s stunning fiction debut begins and ends one rainswept Friday morning in Mir Ali, a small town in the troubled tribal region of Waziristan, close to the Afghan border. Three brothers meet for breakfast. Soon after, the eldest, recently returned from America, hails a taxi to the local mosque. The second brother, a doctor, goes to check in at his hospital. His troubled wife does not join the family that morning for no one knows where Mina goes these days. And the youngest, the idealist, leaves for town on a motorbike. Seated behind him is a beautiful, fragile girl whose world has been overwhelmed by war. Three hours later their day will end in devastating circumstances.’

The Shadow of the Crescent Moon is the first attempt at fiction by the Pakistani poet, Fatima Bhutto. The story revolves around a family comprising three brothers in a small town (Mir Ali) located in the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) of Pakistan.

One the morning of Eid, three brothers gather for breakfast and then head towards different mosques to offer prayers; the first time when each of them are going to different mosques. The eldest brother, Aman Erum, doesn’t want to be confined to the boundaries of Mir Ali and wants to leave the place and explore the world and run a successful business. The second brother, Sikandar is a doctor practising in a government hospital in Mir Ali who is troubled by the loss of his son and more so, by his wife’s new habit of gate-crashing into funerals of strangers. The third brother, Hayat, is an idealist and a Pashto nationalist fighting against the ruthless state of Pakistan and its institution, thereby following in the footsteps of his father. He is even part of an underground rebel group in the local university at Mir Ali. Apart from that, there is a romantic sub-plot between Aman Erum and a young beautiful girl, Samarra, who is very fond of Mir Ali and doesn’t want to leave the place; thereby having a conflicting view as compared to that of Aman Erum. The three brothers await terrible incidents to unfold over the course of the next three hours.

The fact that the Fatima Bhutto is a poet was definitely a plus, with regard to the book, it was a well written prose, with certain abstract expressions and a lot of scenes left open to the reader to conclude after giving sufficient input. I felt the character of Aman Erum and his fiancé Samarra was really well built, and how they had conflicting ideas and how they tried to handle them and also; the character of Sikandar, a pragmatic man living in the reality, and his wife Mina, unable to come to terms with the death of their son, was also a good aspect of the novel. Apart from that, the author also took up a story based in a less known area of Pakistan, rather than the plots that usually revolve around Karachi, Lahore or Islamabad.

With that said, the plot was very poorly structured; the events were supposed to be happening on the same day and a chapter starts with a time of the day. However, very little happens on that day and instead, the book is filled with flashback and other events surrounding it rather than the actual present and within the same chapter, the book went back and forth within the present and the flashback. Moreover, despite the author’s half-Pashto roots, I still find it odd; considering I reasonably know that FATA is extremely conservative and Samarra seems like a typical upper middle-class woman from Islamabad rather than someone from Mir Ali. Just to add further to that point, the author used her setting very little; the description of Mir Ali was very shallow and considering she was eyeing a global audience, she should have described the insurgency in more detail, regarding the factions involved – considering she mentions both a civilian rebellion and the fundamentalist taliban and she barely touches upon whether the two were in any way connected.

I picked up this book from the library purely because of her last name, considering her grandfather Zulfikar was the former Prime Minister, succeeded years later by her aunt Benazir and the other members of her extended family too, being politically involved. I felt the book had a great potential but it was very poorly taken forward for the first 150 pages, and then ended very abruptly with abstract endings. The author took a courageous political position to criticise the military establishment of the country, but the hatred might probably arise from the history of her family with the institution, well expressed, nonetheless. This could have been a fantastic book with a little more details and being presented as a fine 325-350 page novel rather than the 230 page novel that it was.

I still feel that the author’s writing was promising, I enjoyed her flow, but not exactly her plot and thus, I would be looking forward to her future works, but regarding this particular work, I would award it a rating of four on ten.

Rating – 4/10

Have a nice day,

Andy

Frederick Douglass by Hourly History – Book Review

This is a short biography by Hourly History of the American Civil Rights activist during the late 19^th Century, Frederick Douglass.

The book starts with the practice of slavery in the United States, followed by the early life of Frederick Douglass and his eventual escape from slavery, becoming a well-known orator and writer and eventually, an activist for abolition of slavery and equal voting rights for African Americans and women.

The book started well, giving a background into the practice of slavery, the punishment for escaping and the risks involved and the eventual escape by Douglass. The book also elaborated well on his activism and his quest for acquiring knowledge and also, had a touch upon his personal life. To be fair, I have heard of activists such as Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman or Martin Luther King Jr. but I had never heard of Frederick Douglass and considering that position, I felt that the book gave me a good insight into the personality as well as the history of slavery in the United States.

I felt that the book overrated his bid for the office of the Vice-President of the United States, considering, he didn’t run for any major party and attained negligible votes. Even if the book had to mention that, they also should have given the information that he ran along with an independent and didn’t secure significant votes.

I enjoyed reading the book, I feel Douglass is not a personality touched upon by many of the books on Civil Rights movement, unlike the others I have already mentioned and I am glad that I read the book. I would award the book a rating of seven on ten.

Rating – 7/10

Have a nice day,

Andy

Happy birthday!

Dear Reader,

Six years ago, I posted a book review of Ian Rankin’s Knots and Crosses and back then, I never expected this habit of mine to last this long. The original intention was to retain the habit of writing so that someday, I can release a book of my own; while that ambition still exists, I am no longer scared of losing the habit of writing but then, I find reviewing an effective way of remembering the books that I have read and also, the added incentive is that you get to know a lot of new people from around the world, mainly authors.

I wrote a similar post when my blog reachedthree years and thus, I shall not repeat many of those points but I would just focus on what I have managed to achieve among the targets that I set myself three years ago and what I haven’t and in case I haven’t achieved, I need to plan on achieving those rather than setting fresh objectives with little hopes of achieving the same.

Objective: Change in design

Status: No change

There has been absolutely no change in the design; rather, I would say it is status quo ante bellum as I tried to make changes, only for it to come back to the same shape in no time. I have no clear plan on how I am going to go about it this time around, maybe, I can hire someone to make it better and I shall do it before the next time I write such a post.

Objective: Increase in popularity of book reviews

Status: No change and not bothered to change it.

I pointed out a concern that my reviews of TV drama shows fetched lot more views than all my book reviews combined. However, my objective is to post reviews of books I read and I am not bothered about the popularity that they get or the readers that they fetch, I primarily do this for my own satisfaction. If people prefer reading my reviews of TV drama, I am happy, and that wouldn’t change my focus and I shall continue to keep writing book reviews.

Objective: Increase in diversity of genre

Status: Achieved

Three years ago, there was a heavy concentration on the genre, Mystery, Crime and Thriller at nearly 50% of the total number of reviews and today, its share has come down to 21% and I have 19 different categories to measure this and no genre other than the aforementioned one has a share of over 15%. To that extent, I am satisfied to the extent of which I have achieved diversity though; I shall not stop working towards increasing it further.

Objective: Writing my own book

Status: In progress

I have an idea and I hope before the next time I make such a post, I make a decent script before finalising it and trying my luck at getting it published. This time I am more determined than the other occasions that I have tried.

I have had a pleasure writing all these posts over these six years, I shall continue doing so for a long time to come and I thank each of my readers for this continuing patronage and support for the content that I am writing.

Have a nice day,

Andy