sametimenextmonth: February 2015 Book Club

Saturday, February 7, 2015

February 2015 Book Club

Book: Alif the Unseen Author: G. Willow Wilson

Hostess: Lou Christian

Rating 3.6

Arriving at Lou’s charming home and B & B we found it decorated for Valentine’s Day. The tables were beautifully set with red and white table cloths, candles and crystal confetti. I must say, that outside my family, you women are the loves of my life! Happy Valentine’s Day! Unfortunately, we missed Darby, Lis, Janie and Terry this month.

Our Valentine’s meal was delicious, as always. Lou served paprika and garlic chicken breast with roasted cauliflower. Barb brought salad, Diana brought hummus and bread, Carla A rice and warm spinach, Denise brought heart shaped sugar cookies, Pam brought Mediterranean deserts and I brought mixed olives and cheese. Jenny greeted us enthusiastically and Silky took a nap.

Our book this month was Alif the Unseen written by G. Willow Wilson and recommended by Pam. Everyone, except Barb and Arnora, were very excited about the book. Barb and Arnora had a hard time getting into it. Barb doesn’t expect to finish though Arnora thought she might try again. Carla G had a hard time getting into the book but eventually liked it. The book was recommended to Pam by a friend who compared it to Harry Potter. There is a supernatural element to the book as the main characters mix with the supernatural elements of the various ‘Jinn’s” or Genies. However, it differs from Harry Potter in that our main and very human characters do not practice any magic. They are only able to see and communicate with the unseen world.

The book starts out with an old man, Reza, in Persia, at an undetermined time in history, taking dictation of a collection of stories from a “Jinn” with yellow eyes. After each days dictation, when the ink is dry, he mixes a very special varnish that he coats the pages with. This varnish keeps the book intact for more than 700 years. The book becomes the Alf Yeom and is at the center of the story. Unlike the priceless stone of our last story, the Alf Yeom not only brings unlikely characters together, but its mystery figures prominently throughout the story.

In a modern time in an unknown Muslim country, the Alf Yeom falls into the hands of Alif, a young computer programmer. Alif writes programs that protect his clients from hackers. He is in love with Intisar, a young woman out of his league and caste and engaged to another. Intisar breaks off the relationship and tells Alif she doesn’t ever want to see him again. She must marry the man she is engaged to. Heartbroken and angry, Alif tries to write a program that will identify Intisar no matter what device she might use to search him out on the internet. In his attempts to become invisible to her he outwits himself and writes a program that works better than he intended. It takes on a life of its own. As it turns out, Intisar’s fiancé is a powerful member of the State who is quickly on to Alif and wants his knowledge. Very quickly, Alif and his childhood friend, Dina are on the run from this man and the state. Intisar has possession of the Alf Yeom. She has paid a handsome price for the book to use as research for her dissertation. She manages to put it in the hands of Alif. In his efforts to outsmart The Hand (what he calls the state) he and Dina find themselves in the Immovable Alley meeting with Vikram the Vampire and the veils between two worlds are lifted.

Though Alif is not a teenager, I viewed this as a kind of coming of age story. Alif, is having his first love affair and circumstances separate him from his family. He’s forced to find his way in a dangerous world and fight is demons along the way. The book is fast paced and mysterious. It kept me turning the pages to find out what happened next.

The book is full of paradox: The mythical vs virtual; Irrational vs transcendent; East vs West; Philosophy vs religion; magic vs coding; and Government vs freedom.

The author is a comic book artist turned author and an American convert to Islam. She has woven together many layered and varied elements. It would not be a far stretch to imagine that she based the character of “The Convert” on herself.

The book rated 3.6, one “I really, really liked it a lot” and one “I really liked it whole hundred ba-gobs!” A book that many want to read again.

Our next book is “Kind of Kin” and can be found on Amazon as a Kindle download for $1.99.

No comments:

2015 Hosts and Books

Jan 9 - Pam Boeck - All the Light We Cannot See
Feb 6 - Lou Christian - Alif the Unseen
March 6 - Terry Cummings - Kind of Kin
April 3 - Janie Tisdale - The Girl on the Train
May 1 - Arnora Parish - The Stolen Child
Jun 5 - Barb Barrow - The Elephant Whisperer
July 10 - Diana Beal - Lone Wolf
Aug 7 - Denise McGough - The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
Sept 11 - Sherrie Phillips - H is for Hawk
Oct 2 - Arnora Parish - The Boy Who Drew Monsters
Nov 6 - Sherrie Phillips
Dec - Laura Madden - A Child's Christmas in Wales & Christmas Day in the Morning

The Honey Tree - Mary Oliver

And so at last I climbed

the honey tree, ate

chunks of pure light, ate

the bodies of bees that could not

get out of my way, ate

the dark hair of the leaves,

the rippling bark,

the heartwood. Such

frenzy! But joy does that,

I'm told, in the beginning.

Later, maybe,

I'll come here only

sometimes and with a

middling hunger. But now

I climb like a snake

I clamber like a bear to

the nuzzling place, to the light

salvaged by the thighs

of bees and racked up

in the body of the tree.

Oh, anyone can see

how I love myself at last!

how I love the world! climbing

by day or night

in the wind, in the leaves, kneeling

at the secret rip, the cords

of my body stretching

and singing in the

heaven of appetite.

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Lis and Diana's Review of Isaac's Storm

Lis said: This book centers around the devastating hurricane that hit Galveston, Texas, in 1901 and is blamed for the death of over 4500 people. Although the story wasn't a page-turner for most, it was full of interesting historical and scientific data while building up to describing accounts of the devastation and aftermath that the storm created. In my opinion, it is debatable whether the book should be considered a true fiction or a non-fiction. Hand in hand with the storm description, the book tells about the creation of the National Weather Service and the struggle that the organization went through to earn the people's trust. When looking back over the disaster, the author identifies areas of misuse and false pride - in the bureaucratic sector as well as the people's personal lives - that, if it had been overcome, might have averted some of the lost lives. Building up to the storm, the author touches on many historical facts surrounding the era, such as the state of Arkansas passing legislation a few decades earlier to legalize the proper pronunciation of its name to be "Arkansaw." Into this background, the author creates the characters that he was able to find in his research that made up the early Weather Service and some of the residence of Galveston, their spouses and children, making us shiver with dread over successful and unsuccessful rescue efforts. After bringing to life the unimaginable aftermath, with whole neighborhoods destroyed and bodies at every step, the book concludes with Galveston's recovery and a large chapter of Acknowledgements for the extensive support and research that the author relied on. I for one enjoyed the book immensely and, after the first third, found it difficult to put down till the end. Elisabeth Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine. I got to thinking one day about all those women on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.

Diana said: The old saying, "hind sight is 20/20" comes to mind while reading the hurricane account of Galveston, Texas in 1901. Author Eric Larson's story reminded me of his first book we read, Devil in the White City, as he combined historical facts and real people while piecing together a plausible tale of personalities and lives. I have huge respect for writing historical fiction, as the writer not only has to devise an interesting story but also works as an investigator and researcher in the process. The first third of the story was slow and at times I found myself skimming the pages waiting for action. I think this may have been purposeful by Larson. As a reader I was going about my daily business and uninvolved like the townspeople of Galveston noting the changing winds and heading off to work. I took occasional notice of Isaac's trip to the American west by stage and his appearance as a "dandy", the use of telegraph as the primary form of communication from on location to another and it was surprising to find out the American and Cuban weather men held so little regard for each other. Americans found the Cuban forecasters primitive, romantic and unreliable. But once the hurricane was upon Galveston, I was spellbound for the remainder of the book. With the exception of once when I had to put the story down due to the brutal descriptions of decaying bodies which I found overwhelming. For me the story telling mimicked the event itself. Galveston and the rest of the U.S. were going along with business as usual, and then wham! A hurricane the magnitude no one expected or had experienced before bursts forth with action and drama and left no one untouched including me.

Lis' review of A Thousand Splendid Suns

The story playing in Afghanistan made it another compelling read and a walk through a different culture, very foreign to most of us. I had the fortune to have also read the book The Kite Runner by the same author and found that the two stories make great companion books, almost a must-read duo. Our month's selection takes us into the Arabic culture through the life of two women, one of them a servant girl's bastard child - and yes, I used the old fashioned term for illegitimate child on purpose to stay with the tone of the novel. The other woman is depicted as a well-educated, emancipated young woman from a progressive, westernized family. Through the turmoils surrounding Afghanistan's recent 30-year history, their lives intertwine with the same abusive husband and their attempt to deal with the changes brought on by the Russian occupation, the takeover of the Mujahedin and, eventually, the Taliban. The companion book, The Kite Runner, deals with the same political and social upheavals in Afghanistan but is told through the life of a man and his very devoted male servant. A Thousand Splendid Suns evoked a lot of emotion for most of us, feeling comfortable as well educated American women that have rights and can expect a certain social standing that greatly exceeds the animal-like treatment of our female Afghan counterparts under Taliban rule. Needless to say, we had a lively discussion about Afghanistan's troubles, the interactions of both women's parents' influences, their different upbringing, and how it made them relate to each other. We found similarities to the book Shanturam in this author's use of the cinema, especially Bollywood movies. One thing we did not discuss though that I found enticing, was the advantages of being able to skip hair and make-up treatments through the use of a Burka! Blue was, after all, the favored color of my youth, although I always preferred much darker shades. What do you think, ladies, Burkas in our future?

sametimenextmonth

Saturday, February 7, 2015

February 2015 Book Club

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