All posts by softie

Stitches: A Memoir

Fiction,

stitchesThe story revolves around David Small from the age of 6 to adulthood. He comes from an interesting family–his mother and her side of the family is explored in depth. David develops a growth on his neck, which turns out to be cancer. However, his family does not tell him this, which is just one of the sources of conflict between him and his parents. I really enjoyed how the story was told. You can really feel the struggles David goes through growing up within this family.

And in some ways, his mother reminds me of my grandma (in terms of the value of money and weighing the cost of something against something else). I also like how imaginative David (the character in the book) can be, and you see that throughout the story (like his admiration for Alice in Wonderland, which appears again towards the end of the story) In the end, the story has a great moral lesson–your voice is more than the words that

come out of your mouth. It is also your actions, what you do and how you do them, that speak for you. That is a great message to learn from a book about a child growing up.

The artwork is black, white, and gray, and in this story, it works perfectly. Some of the best frames in the book are when the author uses a direct light source on his character. For example, when David is in an elevator, and the doors open and close, he creates a fantastic effect by using this lighting technique. It happens a few times in the story, and it is definitely worth stopping to study the frame and look at the detail.

Finally, I believe that this story could only be told in this way. It just would not have been as effective if it was told in a traditional book. You need the art, combined with the

story, David’s imagination and the writer’s control of his words to get everything you

see in front of you. It just works as a graphic novel, telling the story of his own memories. I read the entire graphic novel in about 45 minutes. I now think that was too fast, and I plan to go back and read it again. I highly recommend this book for its great story and art work, even if you know nothing about the author. By the time you are done reading, you will feel like you know him personally.

Tropical Fish

Fiction,

Tropical FishAn amazing set of short stories by debut author Doreen Baingana, “Tropical Fish” quickly drew me in and held me captive until the very last page of the last tale in a series of stories on the lives and development of three Ugandan sisters. Largely focused on the youngest, Christine Mugisha, these stories take us into life as young women in a society full of such promise but decimated in many ways by missteps such as the regime of Idi Amin.

Christine Mugisha and her eldest sister Rosa and the middle child Patti are drawn in strong contrasts, as well as powerful parallels. They are all young women trying to find their way in society with a shared family history. However, each has clutched a different talisman as their saving grace. Rosa seeks comfort and support in a group of friends and in the arms of a young man with whom she has a secret relationship. Patti chooses God as she immerses

herself in the society

of born-again Christians. Christine searches in many places including both of the paths already chosen by her older sisters. Eventually her quest takes her to the United States of America as she seeks to distinguish herself and truly find out who she is. The paths that each of them takes lead them to distinct destinies. Following their journeys through the eyes and words of Ms. Baingana was a true joy.

Author Baingana is a treasure. She captures the nuances of life in post-Amin Uganda without over politicizing her tales or her characters. In fact, she very convincingly portrays

the normal struggles of young women transitioning into full adulthood over the background of struggles of class, gender and politics amongst other issues. I look forward to her navigating another delightful journey.

The Lost Symbol

Fiction

The Lost SymbolI want to be fair to Dan Brown.

Elitist literary critics say that Brown is not a good writer, and that his stories are bland. I personally think that if you manage to genuinely entertain and awe your audiences, then

you have accomplished something worthy of reading. I also think that “The Da Vinci Code” was nearly an impossible act to follow. People will have all sorts of crazy expectations for your next book that you won’t be able to fulfill. As such, I write this review as fair as I can, trying to assess it on its own merits, but comparisons are inevitable.

The Lost Symbol isn’t a bad book, but it is a letdown. I didn’t like this one for the same reason I didn’t like Angels and Demons as much. Also, Brown doesn’t advance the story at a good pace. A good two-thirds of the book (I’m not exaggerating, I counted the pages) was filled with variations on such a scene:

Character A: Have you heard of X?
Character B (usually Langdon): Yes, but I thought that was just a myth.
Character A shows or tells B something.
Character B reacts with shock.
Then, insert scenes of people walking from one place to another, being chased.
Then, insert the sentence “Suddenly everything made sense.” At least for the next ten pages.
Repeat.

After reading this, I had to wonder whether Brown is a writer on Lost, where people can’t seem to give straight answers, and where scenes never resolve any questions.

Here’s my advice to Dan Brown:

1. Fire your editor. There were some whole passages, even chapters, that served no purpose other than to inflate your book to an unnecessary size. I don’t mind reading big books, but I do mind reading through unnecessary words. Ch. 69, for example, is unnecessary. If your editor didn’t ask you to take it out, then he should be fired. Sorry.

2. We don’t need to know exactly how every character moves from one location to the next, which turn they took, what street they walked across. If it serves the plot, if the geography is important (as it was in Angels and Demons), then fine. Geography was crucial at certain moments in this book, but many times, the passages when you describe how someone moves from one part of a house to another part, what door they opened and closed, all that is boring and tedious.

3. Don’t write your novel like a screenplay. Whether you’ve done it consciously or not, your short chapters read as if you had in mind exactly what camera shots you expect out of an inevitable movie adaptation. Leave that to the screenwriter. If they can adapt a book like “Naked Lunch,” they can surely adapt your book as well. Write your novel as a novel.

4. Be careful of hubris. You’re in a unique and rare position that, I’m sure, many authors dream of: your books will sell millions by default and you will get a multi-million dollar movie deal without question. Good for you! Some authors handle that well (e.g. J.K. Rowling), some don’t (e.g. Stephen King, Michael Crichton). It’s not that the latter are bad writers, but that they are capable of writing some really bad stuff. Having said that, I’m not saying that The Lost Symbol is bad, just that it needs to lose about 100-pages of unnecessary, repetitive scenes. Speaking of Crichton, the reason I stopped reading him is that he became too formulaic. All his books are about a bunch of mismatched experts going to some remote location and something goes wrong. Formula isn’t bad per se. Rowling is formulaic too. Most of her books revolve around the Hogwarts school year, but she puts enough story in there to make it work. You should do more of that.

5. Know what you’re good at. You know your technology, which makes your book authentic. You also know that your readers are likely to go Google

a painting or artist you mentioned and be awed by what you described. That’s great! I bet that also saves you the pain of having to request reprint permissions of artwork and such. Also, since most people don’t know their history, let alone the etymology of words they use everyday, you have literally an endless supply of stories. That’s what you’re good at. I’d say, forget the science stuff. It’s interesting, but, as with Angels and Demons, it’s an awkward fit. I don’t recall there being any modern science in The Da Vinci Code and I was fine with that.

6. Try a recurring character. Langdon is fine, but consider having a character or two that returns in subsequent books. Make them interesting, of course, and don’t make them a love interest.

So, here’s the good news. Dan Brown hasn’t nuked the fridge, at least not for me. Also, now that this book is out in the open, readers are likely to give his next book a much fairer assessment. So, I look forward to reading that, but, I probably won’t be buying it on the first day it’s out.

I Will Teach You To Be Rich

Business

I will teach you to be richFirst, here’s what this book is not: It’s not your parents’ money management and investing book, although as a parent I wish I had done in my twenties what Ramit Sethi tells the twenty-somethings they should be doing right now.

Ramit starts with the premise that most people are so overwhelmed by the sheer amount of financial information available that they just shut down and do nothing. So Ramit tells you exactly what to do with your money and why. 20 and 30 somethings are the intended audience for this book. And for them the book is delightfully irreverent and saucy in its language.

Ramit also tells the truth about brown-bagging your lunch and curbing your latte habit; and the truth is that these actions on their own are virtually pointless. Instead, you should go after

the big wins, like getting the lowest interest rate and the best price on your next car because you have impeccable credit and negotiated “like an Indian” (negotiation scripts included).

Ramit maps out exactly how to get from where you are now to where you want to be financially, including how to create a personal money management system that practically manages itself. Ramit’s system starts with a no-fee

checking account and an online high-interest savings account. (He even tells you which online bank he uses.) He then walks you through setting up automatic bill payments and regularly scheduled transfers to your investment accounts. Throughout, he includes easy-to-understand charts, as well as short pieces by other personal finance bloggers.

There are no new financial revelations in this book. If you already have a personal finance library you can pass on this book. If you don’t already have one and are looking for a place to start, this book is a great way to go. I Will Teach You To Be Rich is not for people who have created a measure of wealth and are looking to increase it. For that you will have to look elsewhere.

It's Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle-Blower

Biography

I found this to be a strong and engaging account of one of the more intractable problems I’ve run into. I wish it had left me feeling hopeful, but it was far too consistent with my own experience to permit such self-delusion. Instead, it left me fill

ed with admiration for a hero (John Githongo) who, thanks to the author’s incorporation of her personal experience, can be seen as a human and not as the caricature that time will eventually make of him. I also appreciate the historical and political canvass she offered to illuminate just how audacious his actions were.

Wong’s book is cast as a biography of John Githongo, the former Kenyan anti-corruption czar who blew the whistle on the Anglo Leasing scandal and fled for his life. Using Githongo’s story, Wong is able to weave in a substantial amount of important background information on Kenya, on ethnic politics, on corruption, and on aid delivery. It’s a lovely and readable introduction to these issues, if a bit long. Although at the beginning Wong’s writing style dips into a maddening form of purple prose, she soon

rights herself. She’s at her best

when explaining issues rather than engaging in cinematic story telling; and she has an excellent grasp of the

issues, and of the human costs of the issues that comes through clearly.

Petals of Blood

Kenyan

Petals of BloodSet in Kenya but could be a prototype for a native

culture anywhere

colonized, breaking free, then globalized which is an extension of colonialism. It is easy to understand why the author was imprisoned after the book’s publication in 1977 as he presents a bleak view of what the Kenyans got in the way of leaders after independence from the white rulers. The viewpoint here seems to be anyone “for the people” is assassinated, those that stay in power are stinking rich doing business with the former white rulers and selling out their own people.

The story opens with a brief introduction of the four main characters – Munira, Abdulla, Wanja and Karega – a triple murder has just taken place, 3 leading millionaire government officials of the city of Ilmorog were burned to death in their beds. We are then taken back twelve years in time to when Munira arrived in the sleepy, dusty village of Ilmorog to teach school, The four friends meet and we hear their individual stories, how they change over the years but more so how the place called Ilmorog changes, from a dusty village to a modern urban centre, and the effect on people who lived there for generations.

I found the book very dense reading at first because of the style of writing with many flashback is challenging, but before page 100 I was

sailing along and could hardly put the book down. There are many layers to this novel, it is a book about Africa, about the world history of black people in general, globalization, colonialism, and a murder mystery as well, the arsonist responsible for the triple

murder is revealed to us by the end.

Histories of the Hanged: The Dirty War in Kenya and the End of Empire

History

Histories of the Hanged-The Dirty War in Kenya and the End of Empire

rty War in Kenya and the End of Empire” width=”199″ height=”300″ class=”alignleft size-medium wp-image-64″ />This expose of the

English colonial history of Kenya does a good job setting the record straight on some key issues, and brings to light the suppressed shadow side of the endgame during the period of the Mau Mau.

The infamous reputation of the Mau

Mau always deflected attention from the totally inept and repressive nature of the last hurrah of the colonialists in the sunset of the British Empire.

The colonization of Kenya was ill-conceived and predatory from the start,

and the whole history was a riddled with a set of contradictions, such as the artificial creation of the exploitative white settler culture dooming Kenyan development from the first. You cannot let loose such a gang of people such as the white settler crowd, poor white trash in a true sense, without the rapid appearance of a malignant culture and infrastructure.

This account brings to light what was quickly downplayed, the massive repression of the Kikuyu during the Emergency, with the creation of actual Gulags. The depiction of many of the judicial processes of the period, including the trial of Jomo Kenyatta, is of a mockery of justice. The Kenyan style colony was really an instance of the Empire in decline from its nineteenth century peak and at least the British had the sense after Suez not to prolong the inevitable.