Book Review: The World and All That It Holds

There are many unique takes of The World and All That It Holds, the latest book by Bosnian-American author Aleksandar Hemon. Set on a long timeline from the outburst of the WWI in Sarajevo to the WWII episodes in Asia, this is mostly a book about refugees. Those born without knowing any other condition but being a refugee, those turned into one overnight.

I don´t remember too many books using frequently expressions and references to Ladino, a language I started to be interested in in the last years. Hemon´s book has regular mentions in a way that makes you think about how this language used to be part of the everyday language only one century ago. For a language still looking to get a better voice within the realm of languages, it is a noteworthy contribution.

Another important detail, unique in my opinion, is the mention of Uighurs, as individuals crossing paths with the characters of the book: Pinto, a Jew from Sarajevo and his daughter Rahela, in fact the result of a relationship between Pinto´s lover Osman and a woman. As Osman eventually dies, Pinto, following the refugee path carrying Rahela with him through the desert until Shanghai. 

I entered relatively slowly into the ambiance of the book - as it usually happens with me in the case of historical fiction - , but after the first 50 pages, I was charmed by the story and the intertwined layers of talmudic stories with everyday life passions and cruelty.

The traces of all those experiences reflects in the language: a mirror of the worlds they lived in. ´(...) they spoke a language that no one in the world spoke other than the two of them, because no one had gone through the things they had´.

In addition to the fictional story, the novel was inspired by real events and real people, thus the references to memoirs and testimonies about persons mentioned in the story. The author is getting closer to us by inserting his own opinion about a specific event, feeling or character. The presence of the ´I´ into the course of the story may be unexpected but a creative distraction from the story. 

I also appreciated the ending, which closes a story and disclose the origin of the story itself, a meditation about the literary sources and the genesis of creative ideas. 

My only critique about the book is to have been assigned to the 1930s an expression that we use nowadays, that do not have any substance to those times: ´leaving both of them to their devices´. An error that nevertheless does not negatively affect the overall quality of the book which qualifies is among one of the best works of fiction I got to know this year.

Rating: 4.5 stars

L´Usage du Monde

While reading L´Usage du Monde by late Swiss journalist and traveller Nicolas Bouvier I realized how much our world and the way in which we see it changed over the last decades. Together with graphic artist Thierry Vernet whose works are included in the book, he made a trip from the Balkans to Afghanistan, in the early 1950s. The account of the adventures were published ten years after.

The stories included in the book are talking about people and places they got to know while living together with those people in those places they are talking about. This is why for the 21st century reader, the encounters may be uneventful and not too much focused on collecting experiences and impressions. Instead, they are taking their time, trying to find some work locally, and do blend as much as possible with the local population. Therefore, the travel stories shared are subjective accounts and experiences. 

They are not trying to educate the reader or reveal unknown cultural or historical facts about the places they are visiting. Instead, they are reflecting at the places through the stories they went through.

For our fast forward mentality, L´Usage du Monde may sound old fashoned, but at the time it was written - at the beginning of a long decade of discovering the East (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, sometimes Iran too) by minivan, travelling all over the world - the Western citizens particularly - it was a pioneering work in this field. From our technological and speedy perspective, it reminds us that there is so much to see in this world, and never may ever replace the importance of direct human contact and empathy. We need to learn how to use this world.

Rating: 4 stars

Corylus Books Blog Tour: Murder at the Residence by Stella Blómkvist translated by Quentin Bates

 ´(...) I can´t help thinking about the ugliness of death or about the childish expectations some people seem to harbour that good and justice will prevail in a society of swindlers´.

Every time when I am invited to take part to a blog tour organised by Corylus Books I know already it is an invitation to a world of mystery, where mentalities do meet political crime and unexpected mentalities. Murder at the Residence by Stella Blómkvist (first book featuring a maverick lawyer called...Stella Blómkvist) translated from Icelandic by author and translator Quentin Bates is my latest read in the series of Icelandic Noir. 

The author herself is a mystery, a kind of Elena Ferrante of Icelandic literature. Murder at the Residence is her first book published in English, but she wrote more than ten books in the series published between 1997 and 2022. 

The novel starts at the New Year´s Eve of 2009, in the climate of incertitude and social unrest created by the financial crash. A financier is found dead after attending a high end social gathering, a woman disappears suddenly and it seems like Reykjavik´s underworld only trust Stella - a ´high-flying lawyer´ for various kinds of confessions and requests. The Reykjavik of Murder at the Residence is not the one we are used with from the travel memoirs or travelogues: it is the world of strip joints were undocumented women are forced to work, and the corruption and incompetence of the Government opens the gates of hell for the inhabitants of this small and apparently picture perfect country. 

I may confess that I am not in too much detail familiar with Iceland´s political intricacies, but maybe it is about time to upgrade my information.

I love the ambiance of the book, revealing the world that you hardly associate with Iceland. It is fascinating and unexpected, but sounds very real and relatable. I felt that most of the action of the book is built around Stella which is a complex character, but would have been interested to discover other characters as well. 

Stella is cynical,  of the type that comes with a deep knowledge of human behavior and unlimited capacity of doing evil by assumed choice. She does not mince her words when she refers to politicians of all kind and their corrupt endeavour. I loved to follow her questioning and smart twists and the intelligent way to manage her daily tasks, as a busy lawyer and a single mother too. She´s the kind of character that I would love to chat with in real life. 

The story - introduced through daily, diary-like kind of mentions, with its complex intertwined episodes, as it is customary to a setting in the dark entrenches of the society, is cleverly paced, packed with enough action to keep you awake, although relatively short in length - less than 200 pages. The actions and the persons are described in the smallest details, allowing the reader to have a very clear picture of both the characters and the events. 

My first meeting with Stella made me curious to continue the adventure, and would be more than happy to have access to other translations of her work. My fascination with languages brought me close to flirting with Icelandic as well, but I bet I do need a much more intensive practice until fluent enough to read a ´Noir´. I could only hope that Corylus will continue with more translations of this mysterious writer of mysteries.

Rating: 4 stars

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

Random Things Tours: The Murmurs by Michael J. Malone

 

I am very careful with the Gothic novels I am reading, but a novel published by Orenda Books rarely (actually never!) disappoints. The Murmurs, by Michael J. Malone, a multi-awarded author I am getting to know for the first time, has not only the hollow of out-of-this-world supernatural mystery, but also integrates less known fragments of Scottish history, which make it even more interesting for me. 

The night before her first day at work at Heartfield House for the elderly, Anne Jackson had a terrifying premonition dream. Shortly after, one of the elderly patients dies. Strange visions mixing fragments of familiar reality with absurde apparitions - as it happens both in the case of nightmares and dreams - that may be in fact the manifestation of a family curse.

Premonitions are terrible poisonous gifts. You can predict something you cannot stop. It is a real Greek tragedy kind of emotional and existential entanglement threatening Anne and even if you don´t believe and supernatural the drama and emotional weight is real. Those tensions do make the story both emotional and unexpected.

The Murmurs do have a varried and diverse cast of characters, but personally I was even more fascinated by the historical - past-related events - inserted into the everyday life. The dual timeline offers a generous space for variety of events, both personal and at a larger society level and the ways in which Malone succeeded to balance all those details, while adding a very Gothic touch to the story was very unique and hardly allow me to focus on anything but the book. 

The Murmurs is a beautiful thriller, a poetic Gothic novel with an important historical layer. Noteworthy to mention also the fine and elegant bookcover.

Rating: 5 stars

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

Book Review: Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada translated by Margaret Mitsutani

´No. I´m not a Buddhist. I´m a linguist.´

´Is that a religion?´

A dystopian novel set in a world where Japan disappeared as the effect of climate change, Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada, translated from Japanese by Margaret Mitsutani is a quest for understanding authenticity in a dislocated realm.

´When the original no longer exists (...) there´s nothing you can do except look for the best copy´.

The characters of the book, that are each and one of them are contributing to the story, their voices being shared through short installments revealing parts of the narrative, do connect through dying languages. They move back and forth within the Nordic countries, Germany and France, one of them even invented a language ´Panska´ a common language for all the Scandinavian countries, aimed to help people on the move to communicate. Another character is assuming an Asian role - as a Sushi chef, among others - although an Eskimo, but impersonation would only destroy the dreams and expectations the society made about him.

The sci-fi part is relatively mild, therefore not a challenge for readers like me, not necessarily interested in imagining future worlds, but nevertheless it does creatively extract topics from a big array of areas, like robotics, AI, challenges of climate change and the impact of languages to personality and human development in general.

As usual, Japan-born, Berlin-based author Yoko Tawada challenges the reader to think about language and its role in the everydaylife as well as the distortions occuring through social and political interactions. Scattered All Over the Earth, shortlisted for 2022 National Book Award has the charm of fantastic fairy tales and the tone of emergency of policy reports. An uneven encounter that may also happen in the pages of a book. 

Rating: 4 stars

Random Things Tours: Nigerian Mafia: Mumbai by Onyeka Nwelue

´Nobody goes out of Nigeria to return to Nigeria´.

From Nollywood to Bollywood, dreaming about Hollywood. Uche Mbadiegwu was just ready to start a new life. But ended up strained in Mumbai, victim of human trafficking, without a valid residence permit and at the mercy of dubious locals. 

What it really surprised me in the case of The Nigerian Mafia: Mumbai by Nigerian filmmaker, author and academic Onyeka Nwelue is the main character voice: naive and trusting people, nurturing that kind of hope that has to do with the lack of knowledge about how far humans can go. It is naive yet genuine and one can just envy such a worldview. But it is how sometimes victims do feel, particularly victims of human trafficking sharks. 

Reader, get ready to face a world of ambivalences, where humour and irony are hiding violence, aggressivity, sex and drugs. It can be cruel sometimes, candid, naive and even stupid. But for sure it makes you think over and over again about the condition of the victim in a world of dreams. Dreams of success suffocated by the weight of slums.

This book is the first in a 10-book series inspired by the author´s travels around the world and would be really curious to follow-up with the rest of the adventures.

Rating: 3.5 stars

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

Book Review: The Centre by Ayesha Monazir Siddiqi

After reading The Centre, the debut novel of Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi you may reconsider the obsession of learning fast, at any price - the expensier, the better the promise - a language. As a book featuring a young woman translator AND language learning, this book looked as my perfect read as both topics are very important for my professional and personal life. Therefore, I was very happy to be offered the chance to read the book, with the excitement of having to deal with something completely new and intellectually challenging.

And, indeed, The Centre is one of those books dealing with a lot what is discussed right now in the intellectual circles: stories and clashes of race, priviledge, language learning as a class-based priviledge. Anisa is a translator of Bollywood films based in London coming from a middle class family from Pakistan. Through an ex, Adam, a fluent speaker of many languages, she got to know The Centre, a mysterious place for learning languages in less than one month, through complete immersion in the language: no grammar and other annoying details - ask my students how we negotiate every day the vocabulary over the ´der, die das´ - just listening a personal story of the translator, told in her/his mother tongue. Afterwards, she was able to fluently translate from Russian, respectively German. 

Everything looks like an intellectual fairy tale, until one day, when she is getting to get some dirty secrets while visiting her supervisor, the daughter of one of the founders. Her curiosity to really understand what is happening to the translators is fully rewarded as she will be revealed by bits a terrible secret. A secret that goes way too far. Does it matter when the price is learning a precious rare language in just two weeks? An idea really hard to ´digest´ - literally - for me.

I was indeed overwhelmed by the diversity of topics, although I enjoyed the intellectual exchanges and conversations, and they maybe flow as in real life: sporadic, spontaneous, unrelated. It is like a flow of though that is coming and going getting lost in the everyday events. Therefore, I felt like this diversity promises too much but you don´t know what to expect in the end. (Talking about the end, it was my favorite part of the book, one of the best I enjoyed in a long while).

Through the characters, the women characters are relatable - my favorite is Anisa´s best exotic friend Naima - and their everyday humour and irony saves the awkwardness of some situations. 

When I go through small details, I may have some reserves about The Centre, but when I look from a different angle, more inclusive and self-ironic, it is a very intellectually challenging read.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Random Things Tours: Defeating SAD

 

Growing up in a warm sunny climate, with long hot summers and mild spring-like winters, it took me a long time to adapt to the German long dark and cold winters. My first few years, I just used to escape the winter as fast as possible, heading for weeks in a row in those parts of the world blessed with more sun and no freezing winters. I was not practically depressed, my my productivity used to be low during the winter and my social life was limited. I was feeling that life was escaping me completely and surprised myself more than once thinking that I was living mostly to see the green signs of the spring again. Which was depressing anyway.

But things went and are going better, as my body and mind adjusted to the external conditions. It took me a long time and wished I could have shortened this time. Actually, my condition had a name - Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and there are studies and books treating it. The creator of this term is Normal E. Rosenthal M.D. who identified the symptoms in the 1980s and was the first to recommend light therapy. His book Defeating SAD - A Guide to Health and Happiness Through All Seasons is a step-by-step guide about how to cope with those challenges and overcome the changes. 

SAD can affect everyone, children, women, men - slightly less, teenagers and retired persons. The conclusions are based on years-long researches using a large variety of subjects. Thus, he is able to recommend different measures and light-therapy timings based on the specific requirements of each patient. In such situations, only experience makes a difference and helps finding the right solution. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is another way to deal with SAD which may give more spiritual content to the emotional pressure. For instance, trying to have a normal social life, doing various physical activities or meditation are possible recommendations following CBT therapies.

The book is recommended to both practitioners and patients, as it offers to both insights and important experiences based on 40-year of practice and direct research. An useful guide just in time before the cold season settles again.

Rating: 5 stars

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

The Castle of Writers

 

So many decades afterwards, there is still so much to be said about the post-war Germany and especially those who were part of the so-called ´new beginnings´. Nürnberg trials, aimed at bringing to justice the war criminals of Nazi Germany, were an important stage into trying to breaking out with the past, at least by forcing the society to face the horrors they tolerated and often encouraged.

Das Schloss der Schrifsteller by German researcher and writer Uwe Neumahr is an important contribution to the story of those trials, as it features - for the first time as far as I know - the people who reported about the proceedings. Those journalists were important personalities of the written world, writers, journalists and former Resistance fighters - sometimes all at once. The end of the horrors of Nazi Germany were documented and reported to the world from the place that once was used to show the power of a monstrosity in the making. Symbolically, Nürnberg was aimed to display the failure of a criminal plan.

Headquarterted in the Faber-Castell castle, belonging to the family owning the famous pencils company created in the 18th century, the media representatives gathered people that were themselves part of history: the Balkans chronicler Rebecca West, Martha Gellhorn, John Dos Passos, Elsa Triolet, Erika and Golo Mann - Thomas Mann´s children, so different in their mindsets though -, Willy Brandt - the soon to be cancellor, registered as a ´war correspondent´ for the Norwegian media, Markus Wolf - soon to be the chief of the DDR intelligence, and who later will successfully spy on Brandt. 

In addition to adding various stories and literary references, the research often takes a psychological turn - for instance, assuming that Rebecca West reports who had an affair, among others, with one of the American judges, out of sexual frustration were ´sexualized´ - that seems limitative. I would have been also curious about writing more about the translators - it´s only one mention which noteworthy includes references about the hardship of being a simultaneous translator from and into German - but definitely it is not enough.

As a first attempt to feature the times and society of the post-war Germany, Das Schloss der Schrifsteller is definitely a first important step, which shows how much is still to be done academically in this respect.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Random Things Tours: 42 Wildly Improbably Ideas of Douglas Adams edited by Kevin Jan Davies

 

For the lovers of The Hitchhiker´s Guide to the Galaxy, 42 Wildly Improbably Ideas of Douglas Adams reveals to the public for the first time since the passing of the author completely novel ideas, memories and notebooks. Edited by Kevin Jan Davies, a long-time collaborator, the book opens with a foreword of Stephen Fry with whom he shared the passion for latest technology and high-smart tech. At the death of Adams, in 2001, we were far from the current social media and high-tech outburst and he would have been delighted to be part of this new world in the making, mentions Fry.

The book outlines important moments in the life of Douglas Adams: notes, diary entries, poems, photographs etc. The archives, many of them handwritten, are based on the documents inclulded in the almost 60 boxed recovered upon the author´s death. Published in this edited version for the first time, they provide valuable details about Adams´ life and career but also about the environment where this important thinker grew up and created. 

Published with annotations and explanations for the reader, the book can be also used as an example of memoir and memorialistic documents in general. 

Rating: 4.5 stars

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

Random Things Tours: The Opposite of Lonely by Doug Johnstone

 

It took me almost one year until getting to continue my story with the Skelfs. The fifth installment in the series, The Opposite of Lonely, published by the always surprising Orenda Books continues the adventures of the women behind the mortuary company with a sweet spot for real (not after)-life detective investigations. For me, it was the second book, but felt somehow that I may need to start from the very beginning in order to figure out the roles the author assigned with the characters, as well as the continuity of the cast and the changes to the scenery.

Set in Edinburgh, the story is developed in different directions, centered around the personality of one of the Skelf women: matriarch Dorothy trying to figure out what happened following a fire at a traveller´s site; daughter Jenny still under the shock of the disappearance of the sister-in-law and recovering after the life with a murderous ex-husband and last but not least Hannah, busy with both some detective work aimed at revealing some strange conspiracies and her PhD in astrophysics.

The novel advances in short chapters, featuring the women characters, as precise as scenes of a movie - hope someone would think one day to create some series based on the Skelfs adventures. The brevity is smartly used in the advantage of the story, as the characters and the actions balance perfectly well, adding ambiance and suspense, curiosity and also a bit of humour. 

Personally, I loved even more The Opposite of Lonely than Black Hearts, but I still have to go through the entire series until being able to issue an informed literary verdict. As usual, there is so much to read and discover and Orenda is way too generous with its exquisite offer of titles and authors.

Rating: 4.5 stars

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