Random Things Tours: A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power

Three generations of women, three dolls. From the 19th century onwards, the destinies of those three women were connected with the destiny of indigenous groups and their different take on their everyday life and their identity struggles.

A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power is a very emotional book about inter-generational empowerment and traumatic experiences. Sissy, Lillian and Cora do have, each of them, a doll awarded super powers. They do wisper messages of strength and may protect them during terrifying moments. 

The action of the book is taking place through eventful centuries for the indigenous people, faced with massacres and the forced enrollment in boarding schools where they were supposed to leave their cultural identity and traditions behind. However, despite the temptation to get caught into the nets of historicism, Power is going beyond the context, creating a story that, similarly with the nesting dolls, it enfolds following its own literary narrative. 

The book is both emotional and informative, revealing the complexity of women relationships but also their healing power. Reading this book, I realized how important is for a community to have their voices represented and storified, in order to make a larger audience aware of their history and identity.

A Council of Dolls was longlisted for the National Book Award and the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction. 

Mona Susan Power is enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

The cover of the book, using traditional Indian motives, it is also worth a mention.

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Random Things Tours: How to Speak Punjabi in Brampton by Onyeka Nwelue

I am passionate about languages as much as I love reading and reviewing books with a multicultural, diverse topic. A book with the title How to Speak Punjabi in Brampton by polymath Nigerian author Onyeka Nwelue, whose books I had the chance to previously review, caught then automatically my attention. Because, even though I consider myself very versed in languages (some of them, at least) I have no clear idea about Punjabi. 

However, this book is less about teaching and learning languages, but more about living in languages. Or rather what happened when your family is paying you a visit with your arranged wife in toe, but no English skills. 

Balminder Jagvir Singh is a lecturer at a University in Canada, but his parents are not fully happy with his situation. He needs a wife, this bookish lad, therefore, they are coming to him, convinced the time has come to get married. As they arrive in Brampton, in the province of Ontario, they may not be completely lost, thanks to the numerous Punjabi community there. As they navigate the cultural differences and misunderstanding, they do offer a living example of what does it mean to live in between cultures and languages.

With a lot of humour and empathy, Nwelue challenges the reader to figure out the details and everyday challenges of multiculturalism. Also, the references to Punjabi culture and language are important for a better overview of this community.

I really enjoyed the book and I will add it to the collection of readings on relevant cultural and diversity-related topics.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Black Sunday by Tola Rotimi Abraham

Set in Nigeria from the 1990s onwards, Black Sunday, the debut novel by Tola Rotimi Abraham is a succession of short installments from the life of siblings struggling to survive in Lagos. Born in a poor family, with their parents suddenly disappearing and showing up years after, for all the wrong reasons, the siblings do go on with their lives growing up and trying to overcome their social and financial limitations.

Each of the siblings are given a voice thus each story is written from an individual point of view, but the twin girls are given a larger space. Somehow, their stories do rarely interwin, until following separate pathways, with the boys´ perspectives being brief and more self-centered than in the case of the girls.

The tone is usually neutral, almost the same for all siblings, which is a shortcoming, as I was expecting an individual voice at least for each of them. The dialogues and parts related to social realities though do compensate for this shortcoming, which may be normal for a debut novel.

In fact, each of the siblings´ perspectives may qualify for an individual portrait and I personally see the potential of this book for a film, short film including. 

I did enjoy reading the book and the author has a real talent, especially for portraying social contexts and dialogues. Nigeria has such a great and unique pool of authors, especially women, therefore I was delighted to add Tola Rotimi Abraham to my list of Nigerian authors to watch.

Rating: 3 stars

Rachel´s Random Resources: Murder at Raven´s Hollow by Louise Marley

 

I love to follow up beloved crime series. Murder at Raven´s Hollow by Louise Marley is the latest from the series that I devoured last year, one after the other. Set in an English village, it features a small yet always surprising set of characters. From hidden family secrets and curious rich ladies, there is so much to discover in such a small place. Definitely, it contradicts the assumption that villages, especially English villages, are all about quaint uneventful daily life.

The book can be read in any order, and even as a stand alone, but it´s really worth reading all of them. You may just need to come back to this microcosm because there are still so many secrets around waiting to be revealed.

Murder at Raven´s Hollow follows a pattern that I encountered in the case of the previous books, but nevertheless offers enough surprises and twists to keep you engaged until the end. 

This time, it´s DS Harriet March who is faced with deep burried family secrets. And as in other cases, everything starts with an appearance of crime: a skeleton discovered beneath a lovely popular florist store. But when another corpse, this time freshly killed, appears again, it is about time to dig deep beneath her personal stories that may lead to finding the real culprit.

As usual, Marley adds a lot of atmospheric details recreating the local ambiance, and uses generously humour to deter the tensions while preparing for the next twist. Revealing the local human network in such a small remote place made me curious to discover.

I recommend this book, and all from the series, to anyone looking for some local riddle with a Gothic touch. Cold weekends are still long so why not use the time to follow the Raven´s pathways.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Random Things Tours: City of Night Birds by Juhea Kim

Art is beautiful and makes this world a better place, but the inner life of people creating arts may be far from being beautiful. 

City of Night Birds by Juhea Kim reveals the cruelty and merciless of the world of ballet. Once a talented and acclaimed prima ballerina, Natasha Leonova lives now from the glamorous memories what what she once was. An injury put her career on hold, opening the Pandora´s box of loneliness and pain.

But she wants to come back and use her talent and strength, although the challenges she may need to overcome are not only her own physical limitations but also the professional inimities and jealousies. It is a world where not talent may prevail, but the strength of overcoming various rivaries between colleagues. 

The story is a back and forth inquiry through times, deeply emotional and nostalgic. It is a story about dreams of a better life, paid with a high price, in a world that brutally rejects failure of any kind. 

Well-researched, with direct references to unfolding political and social conflicts but also to history of ballet and various classical dancing techniques, City of Night Birds is a fine written book where words were assigned a tremendous role in creating glamorous worlds. It is a story so human and emotional which connects arts to any other aspects of everyday life. Because the strongest art cannot exist disconnected from life. And life, in its fullest means conflict, emotions and struggle.

I haven´t read too many books about ballet dancers, especially those belonging to the famous yet feared Bolshoi but it will very hard to find too soon a better writted book than City of Night Birds. 

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Rachel´s Random Resources: The Great Race by Sun Chara and Joe Happy-Light illustrated by Daniela Frongia

For preschool children, children who are learning English or just children who love a good story, The Great Race by Sun Chara and Joe Happy-Light, beautifully illustrated by Daniela Frongia is the best companion to spend some good bookish time.

Inspired by Aesop´s fables, it rewrites old narratives for younger contemporary audiences, in a very dynamic, involving way. The little children who are gently told the story by their father before going to sleep are actively taking part to the story, and not only by learning what is the difference between turtle and tortoise...or hare and rabbit. It is a family setting that may inspire many parents to do the same.

Through humourous characters and stories, the reader is encouraged to take stances and figure out what can happen next. Also, there are some good lessons to learn about, regarding respectful conversations and social contacts, empowering, friendship and trusting oneself, no matter the physical strength.

The language is besides the story another reason why one should read this book to their children, grandchildren etc. It adds many new words to their daily vocabulary, and helps using the right word for the right situation therefore recommended for both preschool children and small ones trying to learn English as a second language. In both cases, the entertaining story will keep the children engaged and curious to find out what the events will take them.

The Great Race is the first in series dedicated to Return to Fable Land the sister-brother writing duo wrote and I bet you will return to the stories too. 

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Rachel´s Random Resources: Dashiki by Florence Wetzel

 

As much as I love crime stories, I am equally very fond of jazz, but until reading Dashiki. A Cozy Mystery by Florence Wetzel never happened to me to see the two of them on the same page. But there is always a first.

The last person, except her murderer, that Betty Brown/Baseema Baheera met was journalist Virginia Farrell. She just shared with Virginia some exquisite tapes of a gig from the end of the 1950s between Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane. Not afraid, Virginia wants to continue the story, trying to recover the tapes while cooperating with detective Robert Smith from Hoboken Police Department to reveal the truth. Which may lead or may not lead to a bit of romance that may help the reader breath after so much tension due to the intricated ways leading to the truth.

Reading Dashiki - the name of a hit, but originally a word that designates a colourful men´s garment worn in Western Africa that covers the half top of the body  - was an immersive experience into the surroundings and the ambiance of the book, similarly in many respects to the jazz experience itself. The bubbling dialogues do spice well the story, which unfolds in a moderately paced rhythm. 

The characters are hard to forget either, with the detective himself very much into many human psychology after thoughts and his genuine efforts to get back into the dating track despite the delicate nature of his job and the fact that at least for a short while Virginia herself was on the list of top suspects. 

The book is well seasoned with important details of jazz history, displaying Wetzel´s extensive knowledge in this field. And the intrigues going on in an office of a jazz magazine were new music for my ears too.

To be read with a matching jazzy background.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own