The Beach House - Jane Green

This is my first book by Jane Green. I read the summary on the cover of this book; it sounded appealing enough to read.

The book starts off by giving you the impression that it is going to be a great read but in between it ends up being a hodgepodge of stories - all about relationships (each of which could have been a book by itself) and ends up unraveling in the end to dump a happy ending on the reader. Not only is there a lack of depth on each of the storylines but overall it sounds unconvincing.

Nan lives alone on an old house on the bluff in Nantucket. She & her husband moved into this house belonging to her in-laws right after they got married. Her husband committed suicide about 20 years ago after getting on the wrong side of the debtors due to his gambling problem. Nan had to deal with raising her son single-handedly who has since moved away to New York. Now at 65, she discovers that the money she thought will last her lifetime has dwindled and she could risk losing her house which she loves more than anything. To avoid selling her goldmine of a property to builders who are buzzing like buzzards around her, she decides to rent rooms for the summer. This is when the author starts introducing all sorts of characters who are unhappy in their current relationships and how they all end up in Nan’s house including her son. Towards the last few chapters of the book, the stories of these characters start intertwining. Jane makes a feeble attempt at throwing a curve-ball - surprising the readers by introducing an unexpected visitor who turns her life and those of others in the house upside down. However towards the end, hurriedly, it all ends well for everyone.

I have refrained from writing reviews about books that don’t deserve a 3 or higher on my rating but I guess one has to start somewhere! It is not that the book does not have its moments – it does, but that is just early on and hence grudgingly I rate it to 2 on my scale (see below). At the risk of sounding chauvinistic, I think this book may appeal more to women who read “chick lit”.
My rating scale:
5. Must own and read several times
4. Must own & read
3. Must read - without owning
2. Don’t buy but read if you have nothing else
1. Don't even glance at it

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I saw this book at a store and based on the title was contemplating to even opening the cover page and reading the summary on the jacket.... glad I did - the first few lines - "..... Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers” - caught my attention and when I had read the summary on the cover I had to read it. This book, written in epistolary style, is perhaps only the 2nd book I have read that used this style - if I can categorize The Diary of Anne Frank in this category.

Imagine that you found a bunch of letters and you start reading them and a story forms around these letters - out emerges: a central character - Juliet who is sunny, somewhat lonely woman in her 30's, a budding author; a quaint little island which is part of UK that was occupied by Nazis and a bunch of islanders who show their grit and character as the story develops. The letters depict how one of the islanders, a total stranger, gets in touch with Juliet and what follows is a heart-warming story that you want to believe is true just like the island (Guernsey, part of the Channel Islands close to France) it is based on and the fact that it was indeed occupied by the Nazis. Letters are between Juliet, her publisher, her friend, some of the islanders who are part of a book club and a rich American who pursues Juliet. The circle of letter writers keeps widening as Juliet finds out more about the island and its history of occupation by Nazis.

After reading this novel, I read about the author - hard to believe she is an American - the letters portray a Juliet who has a sunny disposition and you really feel as if you are reading letters written by a someone very British in the post world war II era. This is Ann Shaffer’s first book. After years of working in book stores, libraries and in publishing – she always wanted to write a book that someone would be interested in publishing. She came across Guernsey when she visited England and on a whim decided to visit the island. She was stuck on this island due to weather and was captivated by stories of Nazi occupation. Years later, after goading from friends, she thought of writing this novel based on Guernsey. However, her desire to see her book published was not realized as she was overcome by illness and her niece (Annie Barrows) completed the book.

As you read through the letters, Juliet and the readers learn of a book society that was created on the spur of the moment by one of the islanders to escape punishment from the Nazis and how they had to organize a real society and schedule meetings to keep up the facade. The book gets its name from this society and the pie that the members eat during their meetings. The author subtly brings to our attention the atrocities of the Nazi occupation, the impact it has on the people of the island without going thru the graphic details – all revealed unknowingly thru letters by the islanders or as narrated by Juliet to her publisher. As Juliet finds more, she is drawn to this island and some of the people she corresponds with. Ann Shaffer has painted each of the characters on the island that you feel as they really exist!!! At one point, I had to let go of the book and read about this island - it will be on my list of places to visit.

As I was reading this, I was anticipating that the society was formed to spy on the Nazis and somehow passed on messages back to the Allies. I also kept thinking that there is a much thicker plot lurking around the pages. But what the author manages to do is far from the pulsating fiction this would have been had the book club been a spy society. Instead the author depicts how the trying circumstances bring out the best in some ordinary folk and give them the courage to overcome their fears and provide support and comfort to others that are not as strong. What you don’t see coming is Juliet’s growing attachment to the island and the people that have befriended her, the trust and love she gets from a child orphaned by war and reward of a romance she has been dreaming of.

In this age of email and instant messaging, this book reminds us of the joy of writing and receiving letters, the thrill and anticipation that pen pals would have felt prior to the era of instant gratification. However, I was surprised to see that some of the responses to letters were postmarked the same date – which meant that the British post office delivered letters more than once a day!

This is a "must read - without owning".

My rating scale:
5. Must own and read several times
4. Must own & read
3. Must read - without owning
2. Don’t buy but read if you have nothing else
1. Don't even glance at it

To Kill a Mockingbird

Review of To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases...." with each reading - I might add to this Robert Frost poem - to describe this book by Harper Lee.

Harper Lee has crafted a masterpiece - every word, phrase and sentence has been crafted with a rare wordsmith precision. Each time I read this book, I discover some facets which were as yet hidden. It could also reflect on my inability to grasp it all in one read. I read this book again recently and thought I should pen my thoughts. So with my apologies to Ms Lee I put forth my humble opinion on this Pulitzer winner.

What I like about this book:

1. The book is written as seen from a 6-9 year old child’s (Scout) perspective - a ploy which allows the author to put forth an unbiased point of view including situations that Scout does not understand. Harper Lee leaves it to the reader to interpret the prejudices and hypocrisy which an innocent child is incapable of understanding. I think the success of this book is vastly due to its ability to touch its readers and without lecturing - teach us all lessons about compassion, empathy, courage and discrimination. That by itself is an extremely powerful strategy. It is up to the reader to take as many moral, social and character lessons out of this book!
   
2. Another ploy used by the author is the effective use of dual parallel plots - one childish, that involves Bo Radely and the children’s fascination for drawing him out of his house and a secondary plot involving the racial trial of a black man falsely accused of a terrible crime. Both plots converge at the end into one. I feel that Lee has utilized the first plot to draw out the innocence of the children while the second plot kills their innocence by exposing the children and the readers to the virulent racial hatred and bigotry.


3. At the highest level, is the symbolism utilized by Lee. The symbolism of "Killing a Mockingbird" is well-known and brought out in many of the reviews. Another is the symbolism of the "mad dog" shot by Atticus. I think the author wanted to symbolize the disease that the dog had with that of the racial prejudice and bigotry in existence with the town folk. Atticus could shoot & kill the dog and prevent the spread of this disease as well as protect the rest of the town. However, he fails to rescue a black man from the clutches of all the racially diseased people in Maycomb. He has no other weapon, other than leading by example, in an effort to cure them of this disease.

The author has disguised some of the short-coming of using the approach described in (1) above. The author needs Scout to see everything to describe it to the reader. In some cases it is not possible. For e.g.: When Atticus goes to Tom Robinson’s house, he cannot take Scout along. Lee solves this problem by having Atticus meet Jem & Dill on his way and is forced to pick them up and take them along. This sequence is described by Scout as narrated to her by Dill. Another e.g. is when Atticus is threatened by a mob, Scout is unable to describe to the readers that one of her classmates’ father, a Mr. Cunnigham, may have instigated the mob to conspire against Atticus. However, when the situation is diffused, she subtly conveys to the reader that Mr. Cunnigham had some sway over the mob when he calls off the mob. Another question that some initial readers may have related to this approach is how could a child relate and narrate events, describing everything like an adult? If you pay attention to the line on page 1, "When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back....." indicating to the reader that the narrator is no longer a child.

Questions:
One thing that continues to baffle me is why Jem & Scout address their father as Atticus instead of Dad, Pa or Mr. Finch? To this day it is very common in the South for the children to address their parents formally as Mr...... or Mrs..... One possible reasoning I can come up with is that Atticus may want to convey to Jem & Scout that they are equals in the family and what applies to him, applies to the whole family as is indicated in his dilema in his discussion with Uncle Jack about being chosen to defend the black man - "But do you think I could face my children otherwise?" Other examples are where he is polite to an elderly neighbor and requests his kids do the same. This elderly neighbor, Mrs Dubose, consistently insults him when speaking to his kids - "Your father is no better than the niggers and trash he works for!"

Another question that I had for many years, is why Harper Lee never published anything again? I read somewhere that Lee said to someone, something to the effect that - when you have a hit like that, you can’t go anywhere but down!!! I think she is humble and knows what she has accomplished would be hard to repeat. The readers would expect similar or even better fare. Also, if you read about Lee, she has utilized many of her real-life experiences and characters to write this book. She is really Scout while Atticus is her fascination of a father that she longed for. Her real life father was not known to be affectionate to children including his own but Lee looked up to her father. A lifelong experience, converted into a book by introspection of one’s lifetime is hard to surpass via research.

I’m sure many readers will echo my sentiments - A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases with each reading! This one is recommended for more than one reading...

Three Cups of Tea

Review of Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson

• How do you repay your gratitude to someone who nursed you back to health, when they themselves were struggling to survive?


• How do you keep your promise of helping someone (who everyone has forgotten) when all you have is $83?


• How do you do something for a culture so remote that the most frequent visitor they knew was death?


• How can you dream of building something for a people who live 13,000 miles away when you don’t have a place to live?


• How do you become the pillar of hope when you yourself are the brink of despair?

Greg Mortenson did all of this and more. A climber by profession, who took up nursing as a career to make ends meet, Greg owes his gratitude to the people in the village of Korphe who are Balti’s – a people of Tibetan origin that settled down in what is now Pakistan hundreds of years ago and adopted Islam as their religion. The villagers nursed him back to health when he was close to death in his failed attempt to conquer K2 in the Karakoram range.

After his failed attempt, Greg embarked upon a remarkable journey to keep his promise to the residents of Khorpe. He takes us along into one of the most inhospitable regions of the world where we can visualize the daily life of these folks that live their lives the same way their ancestors did for generations. We get insight into a fiercely proud people, who are illiterate but have generations of wisdom; who do not have much but are happy; who once befriended are loyal and give you everything they have for the common good.

Greg goes through a lot – right from local crooks who steal from him, getting kidnapped to having a fatwa issued against him. Some Mullah’s suspect him of spreading Christianity and western influence. In the process he becomes sort of a messiah for the people in the region for all their problems including those created by the Kargil conflict. We Indians remember the Kargil conflict for the pain and suffering it brought us on our side of the fence. This book exposes us to the devastation that poor innocent people went through on the other side and reminds us of the futility of wars. Not only has he helped the people in this region, he has done the whole world a favor – every kid that has access to a school Greg built, stays out of those radical madarassa’s that indoctrinate them with hatred.

What I liked best about this book is the insight into cultures that I may never get to meet but more so the inspiration that it provides the readers. Mortenson’s work is leaving behind tribes whose children can now read the very Koran their ancestors revered but could never read – who can now make up their own opinions, identify good from bad and dare to have ambitions of their own that rival the mountain peaks that surround them. Greg has several serendipitous events which are so astonishing that confirms the belief that good things happen when you do good. Thru these events he meets people who care enough so Greg can make it happen. There is also the lighter side originating from cultural differences reflected in conversations with locals like Twaha - “How many goat and ram must you give her father?” in response to Mortenson telling him that he got married!

The man who promised to build one school upon his failure to surmount K2 has overcome every hurdle to build more than 50 schools. In this process of giving, Greg has given everything he had and yet has gained so much. I applaud him for his work and hope he does win the Nobel peace prize some day!

Why read this book:

• It makes us aware of our blessings about being educated and how easy it is for most of us compared to some other citizens of our world.
• It humbles and inspires us to be charitable towards good causes.
• It gives us perspective into remote cultures and reminds us to be respectful and not assume that literacy equates with wisdom.
• We need to encourage, applaud and help individuals like Greg to do more.