January Book Reviews

Well, since I didn't start this blog until yesterday, I thought I'd review all of January's books together.  I didn't read much this month mainly due to the fact I currently have a broken arm and I was getting frustrated with not being able to hold a book and turn the page at the same time.  But anyway enough about me - review time...

1.  'For Tibet with Love'  Isabel Losada

 I really enjoy Isabel Losada's writing and have read this book before but since I had not long finished her first book 'The Battersea Park Road to Enlightenment' I decided to re-read 'For Tibet with Love'.  Thanks to a yoga class at the gym, I am really interested in Buddhism which is one of the topics covered in the book and because I have also become interested in the Tibet issue and their wish for autonomy from the Chinese government, so this book really fits the bill.  It reads a bit like a diary and follows Isabel as she tries to look for ways to actively help the campaign to 'Free Tibet', from protesting outside the Chinese Embassy in London, to visiting India and Tibet meeting lots of interesting people along the way including the Dalai Larma (how jealous am I!) and getting into several scrapes along the way.  Whilst the book is a serious subject, Losada manages to make it humorous and unlike many similar books she puts forward both sides of the argument by meeting with the Chinese Ambassador and researching the Chinese's reasons for refusing to grant Tibet independence or even autonomy.  Although the book deals with complex issues, Losada explains things well without diverting too much from the story i.e. what she can do/ as done.  As may be expected the book has both high and low points and you can go from laughing at the beginning of a chapter to welling up with tears at some of the more harrowing stories of torture and persecution told to Isabel by the Tibetans she encounters.  I would recommend this book (and her earlier book) to anyone with an interest in politics or spirituality, it really inspired me and even prompted me to re-join Amnesty International and take part in some of their campaigns.

2.  'Bloodletting'  Victoria Leatham

The true story of an Australian woman who copes with the transition from teenager to adult through self harm.  The book follows Victoria from her days at university to her first few years in a 'real job' and the reader accompanies her fall from 'normal, middle-class' position in society and how she attempts to recover from the depression that led to self-harm.    I found it quite an engaging story and finished the book in one sitting, she describes her periods of depression and self harming well although at points I did feel rather intrusive when she was explaining her feelings or lack of them.  I would recommend this book to people who have suffered from depression or SI (or know someone who has), or to people who like reading biographies, but if you don't fall into either category I don't think it would hold much interest.

3.  'The Reader'  Bernhard Schlink

   OK, I admit it, I jumped on the bandwagon with this one a bit because of the film.  For those that haven't seen the film or don't know the synoposis it's about a man who as a teenager has an affair with an older woman after a chance encounter on his way home from school but she leaves him after a year without explanation.  Years later he sees her again in a courtroom where she is under trial for atrocities committed in WW2, which he attends because of his legal studies.  The book is split into two parts, the first surrounding his carefree days when they were in the first flush of a love affair with the authors style reflecting the protagonists youth and vitality.  The second part dealing with his reactions to her past is markedly different in style and is much darker, reflecting the pain he is in seeing her in this situation and as he tries to deal with aligning the woman he fell in love with, with the 'evil' character that is portrayed in the courtroom.  I really liked the subject matter and the book was well written , especially the second half, however I felt the story was too short and the author didn't explore the themes of love and guilt as much as he could.  Having said that, I would recommend the book to most people, especially if they have seen/ will be watching the film.   

4.  'Defiance'  Nechama Tec

 As with the reader, this is another book I only learnt about because of the film released earlier this year.  It recounts the history of a group of Jewish citizens in western Belorussia who avoid Nazi persecution by hiding in the forests, setting up a remarkable community of men, women and children of all ages and backgrounds, some armed and capable of protecting themselves but the majority not and how they not only survived in the harsh winters but also became a refuge for Jewish refugees who escaped the ghettos.   By 1944, over 1,200 people lived in the community, rendering it the largest armed rescue of Jews by Jews in WW2.  Tec herself is a Holocaust survivor and she deals with the subject beautifully, drawing from many sources including interviews with surviving partisans, including the group's commander Tuvia Bielski who is credited with maintaining the groups focus on saving one Jew rather than killing 20 Germans.  I really enjoyed this book as I am very interested in WW2, particularly the histories of 'normal' people and how they survived the war, however it probably needs some prior interest in the subject although hopefully some of the filmgoers will pick up the book as it is a fascinating read.

5.  'The Virgin Suicides'  Jeffery Euginides 

 Another book with a film adaptation, one which put me off reading the book since I saw the film after its release in 2000.  I only picked it up now as it is on the list of 1001 books I'm reading and I read 'Middlesex' by the same author last year and really enjoyed it.  I was pleasently surprised by 'The Virgin Suicides'.  Written 20 years after events,  through the eyes of the neighbourhood boys who live and go to school with five hauntingly beautiful sisters, the story follows a year in the sisters' lives following the suicide of the youngest sister.  The boys piece together information to tell the story and to try to understand the suicides referred to in the title, which shocked the sleepy American suburb in the 1970's.  Euginides descriptions of the girls and the boys' interactions with them are incredably poignant, his prose is exquisitely poetic and he weaves humorous incidents in with the sad subject matter which make the story even more heartbreaking and true to life.  This book well deserves its place on the 1001 books to read before you die and I would highly recommend it.