50books_poc | Entries tagged with pakistani-british

spiralsheep.livejournal.com

6, 7, & 8. Three poetry collections by Moniza Alvi: Carrying My Wife, A Bowl of Warm Air, and The Country At My Shoulder (all three collections are available together in an omnibus also called "Carrying My Wife"). I have to admit, out of about 150 poems, there were three that did anything for me. I mostly found the expression of content incomprehensible, possibly due to the author reaching for innovative imagery, and the aesthetics of form uninteresting, but she's a comparatively popular mainstream Establishment poet so my judgement is extremely questionable (and I haven't heard her read her own work live). There are two of the poems, which did speak to me, at my dw journal.

9. The Redbeck* Anthology of British South Asian Poetry, edited by Debjani Chatterjee, is a nearly 200 page collection with a wide variety of content and style, which I enjoyed. There are two example poems at my dw journal and a third example poem but, of course, three poems can't reflect the breadth (or depth) of this anthology.

* I keep misreading it as "Redneck". ::facepalm::

10. The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan didn't appeal to me visually as much as the previous Tan books I've perused but the gist, that it's more important to be happy than to fit in, is another good theme, especially for kids.

Note to tag wranglers: "british-asian" and/or "british-south-asian" is correct usage and, yes, some of the authors (and/or their subjects) are also caribbean / african / &c.

Tags: women writers, poetry, anthologies, asian, british-asian, pakistan, britain, british, caribbean, african, bangladesh, india, indian, indian-british, pakistani, bangladeshi, pakistani-british, bangladeshi-british, british-south-asian, asian-australian, australian, chinese-australian, picture books

pauraque

In one of the stories in this collection, there is a character who is a frustrated writer, and at one point she decides to burn all her manuscripts and start anew. It was hard for me not to wish the author of this book had done the same.

Most of the stories are about middle-class British men getting divorced and/or having affairs. The women are described physically with a certain amount of observational skill, but they have no personalities beyond being foils or objects of desire for men. The men themselves, amazingly enough, have even less substance. The characters and situations are interchangeable; if the names of the characters were all the same and the stories became chapters in a novel, it would be almost as meaningful as the individual stories actually are.

Which is to say, not very. Many of the stories are as dull and generic as their titles: "That Was Then", "A Meeting, At Last", "Girl". The worst of them read like something written by a person having a bad day at NaNoWriMo, just trying to keep going and get more words -- grammatical, but rambling and directionless.

There are a few that were better than that. One is a sad and accurate portrait of an acrimonious divorce. The one about the frustrated writer is engaging, if over-long. I also liked one about a couple struggling to bring home four chairs on the subway (though the "love is a struggle" message kind of beats you over the head). These three benefit from Kureishi not trying to write about sex or drugs, which he does a lot, and when he does you get the feeling that he wants us to be impressed by his daring in mentioning them. He has forgotten that merely mentioning things that are potentially interesting is not actually interesting in itself.

In these stories everything is told, nothing is shown. Telling can give a feeling of simplicity, but even that is lost in pretentiousness here. The dialogue is wooden and stilted; no one talks like these characters. The endings of stories have the form of deep revelations, but not the content. To paraphrase Roger Ebert, Kureishi has learned that better writers do certain things in their short stories, but he has not learned why.

The last story in the collection comes completely out of left field. After a book of thematically similar realistic litfic, we wrap up with a surrealist look at a porn star who has misplaced his penis. (It is called, enlighteningly, "The Penis".) When found, the penis reveals that it has decided it wants to be a movie star in its own right. The penis talks and rides in taxi cabs. I don't know what this story was supposed to mean, but at least it was different.

This author seems to have won awards, so clearly he has his fans. If you are one of them, I don't begrudge you your enjoyment, but I emphatically do not share it.

(tags: a: kureishi hanif, short stories, pakistani-british)

puritybrown.livejournal.com

38: The No-Nonsense Guide to Islam by Ziauddin Sardar and Merryl Wyn-Davies

A recent mention of this book by blogger and all-round fascinating person Yakoub Islam of Steampunk Shariah reminded me that I've had it on the shelf for ages and I really should actually read it, because it's not like the information is going to leach into my brain by sheer proximity. It's a short guide to Islam and the Islamic world -- principles, concepts, origin, history, and present condition -- written by two Muslims who are friends and frequent collaborators; Sardar is a well-known writer and broadcaster and a bit of a name in cultural criticism, while Wyn-Davies has an anthropological background.

It's probably impossible to talk about a subject as huge and contentious as Islam from a neutral perspective, and Sardar and Davies don't try. The way they make their beliefs and point of view so clear makes the book a great deal more valuable for me -- if they had made a claim of objectivity, I would have found myself trying to read between the lines all the time. As it is, I know perfectly well that they have an agenda in writing this book, and I can make up my own mind whether they've made their case. For my money, they have. This book is designed not to convert unbelievers to Islam, but to convey basic information and uncover myths and misconceptions about Islam that are widely held in the West and that have caused untold damage throughout the world, poisoning relations between Muslim and Christian cultures and fueling war and oppression. Their primary concern is to refute the Orientalist preconception of Islamic cultures as inferior and Islam as inherently inimical to the West; but at the same time, Sardar and Davies are critical of reactionary movements within Islam which threaten to ossify the religion and suppress some of its finest qualities -- in particular, the love of reason, justice, and knowledge of all kinds.

Needless to say, you can't go into much depth in less than 150 pages, and this is definitely a starting-point rather than a definitive exploration; in trying to cover 1300+ years of history as well as the basic theology and current situation of Islam, the book ends up being very dense, and a few of the historical sections dragged for me (I'm more interested in social/economic/cultural history than political history, so the bits that were mostly about one dynasty succeeding another made my eyes glaze over). There's a bibliography at the end which offers a few pointers for the reader who wants to look a little deeper -- one of the books included is another one I've had on the shelf for a while, Farid Esack's On Being a Muslim.

(tags: a: sardar ziauddin, w-a: wyn-davies merryl, pakistani-british, islam)

(Edited because I spelled Ziauddin Sardar's name wrong in the tags. Oops.)

wordsofastory.livejournal.com

Sarwat Chadda, Devil's Kiss

The Knights Templar are still present in modern-day London (though there's not many of them left), and they have a secret mission to fight the forces of evil: vampires, ghouls, ghosts, and so forth. Billi's dad, Arthur (a white British Christian), is the head of the Knights Templar, and ever since her mom (a Pakistani Muslim) died as a result of the Templar's work, he's been cold and closed off to her, focused only on the mission. Billi feels pressured to follow in his footsteps and join the Templars, but she wants her own life, her own friends, and for her dad to pay attention to her.

I really liked this book; it's fast-paced, with an exciting plot (involving the Ten Plagues of Exodus), and interesting characters (including appearances by the Angel of Death and Lucifer), and some genuinely scary moments. I was a bit confused by the fact that everyone in the Templar has a name from the Arthurian legends, some of which are names you would expect to see in modern London (Arthur, Kay) and some which you wouldn't (Gawain, Percival). But this patten is never mentioned in the book, and Arthurian legends have nothing to do with the plot, so I didn't understand what was up with that. There's a sequel that's just come out that I haven't read yet, so maybe it plays a part in the next book.

My favorite parts were moments when the characters dealt with issues regarding Knights Templar in the modern world. For instance, there a long-running argument between Arthur and Gwaine on emphasizing the "demon fighting" aspect of their mission over the "killing people of other religions" part of it. It's mentioned that Billi was raised as a Muslim, but had to convert to Christianity to join the Templars. This isn't a major part of the book, but for me, it made the whole thing feel much more real. I would have liked more exploration of how the Templars have changed and adjusted to the present, actually. Again: maybe in the sequel!

A fun read, and one I recommend.

rachelmanija.livejournal.com

According to his bio, Chadda was raised Muslim and married a vicar’s daughter, with whom he had two daughters, and he wrote this book for them so they could read about a bad-ass, biracial heroine from a Muslim-Christian marriage.

Billi SanGreal, daughter of a white and unenthusiastically Christian father and a Pakistani Muslim woman who died protecting the young Billi from ghuls, is now the only girl in the modern version of the Knights Templar. The Templars protect the world from supernatural evil; though only Christians can officially be knights, they have a number of active allies from other religions. Billi’s group is down to nine Templars, and they train and fight like maniacs to make up for their small numbers. But Billi is tired of constantly training under her distant father’s harsh supervision, and wants to have a normal life. Good luck with that!

What I liked best about this book was the treatment of religion and religious myth. Though Christianity is central to the Templars, Jewish and Muslim myth, culture, and characters play significant roles that aren’t just window-dressing. The religious and racial diversity is handled in a matter-of-fact way, which I appreciated.

I liked Billi a lot — despite carrying a lot of weight on her shoulders, she mostly avoids whining, and she’s both pleasingly kick-ass and believably prone to making mistakes and getting beat-down by fallen angels. And I liked the grubby, believable London setting.

What I did not like was the prose, which varied from passable to absolutely terrible. Billi describes her own eyes as “black orbs” at least twice, giving me flashbacks to “The Eye of Argon.” And that’s not the only turn of phrase which is Argon-esque. (I should note that Billi never describes how pretty she is - it's all stuff like "My black orbs met my father's blue ones as I gasped in horror.")

Recommended if you like the premise and can tolerate some seriously bad prose and a lot of gross horror imagery. Also note that though there's some humor, the story is more dark and less fluffy than it sounds. (No sexual abuse or assault - it's dark in other ways, including but not limited to endangered children.)

Devil's Kiss

wordsofastory.livejournal.com

33. Gautam Malkani, Londonstani

This book was wonderful. The narrator is Jas, who used to be a bit of a geek, but now is very determined to be a true hard South Asian man, and the story is told through his inner monologue, complete with his worries with trying to fit in and learn the right slang. The slang gives the story so much rhythm and distinctiveness; it was really enjoyable to read. The beginning of the book seemed slow- lots of scenes about Jas and his crew hanging out, checking out ladies, getting into fights, making small-time trouble with stolen cellphones- but when the plot started to develop, it took off very quickly, bringing together threads I hadn't even noticed where developing.

Despite the very fun, rollicking plot, there are a lot of big themes developed: how tradition becomes tradition, cultural appropriation, youth rebellion and mainstream culture, the choices people make in terms of understanding culture. And the end! I did not see the end coming at all, but it makes me want to reread the entire book to look at it with that knowledge. I thought it worked really well with the themes of the book.

Very recommended!

Current Mood: busy

kitsuchi.livejournal.com

The Devil's Kiss was previously reviewed on the comm here so I'll just put my personal response here and skip the summary bits.

I read a review The Devil's Kiss today which seemed to put it in with all the vampire novels that are coming out for girls at the moment (and variants such as the werewolves and even zombies – yes, zombies as romantic interests!) It doesn't belong to this particular genre of supernatural book at all. The Devil's Kiss bears more resemblance to things like Anthony Horowitz's Power of Five series – except without failing on the female protagonist – or to Skulduggery Pleasant, where the girl actually does kick ass. It's an action-adventure, with the addition of Judeo-Christio-Islamic mythology (and definitely all three). Which means it's right up my alley.

There is some romance, yes, but not with a jerk. ( Spoilers! ) And while Billi is a sword-fighter, Kay has the female-coded psychic abilities. It's nice to have a story that can give the female character some romance without letting that overwhelm her character.

The prose itself wasn't anything special, and I think I skimmed a lot of the descriptive parts, but I was gripped by the story, engaged by the world and the characters. There's a sequel coming out, which I'm keen for, but it's also a fully self-contained story (another nice change!) Particularly recommended for teenage girls who like action-adventure and are sick of having their gender relegated to secondary roles!

anitabuchan.livejournal.com

12. The Kayla Chronicles by Sherri Winston

Kayla is a young feminist and future journalist. She is pressured by Rosalie, her best friend, into trying out for her school's dance group, the Lady Lions, in an attempt to prove they discriminate against girls with small breasts. It all goes wrong when Kayla actually makes the team. I loved this book, and I loved Kayla: she's sassy and funny, and even while her views on feminism are being challenged (can she be a feminist and still wear high heels? Dance? Kiss a boy?) she stays true to herself. I also enjoyed seeing how she grew over the course of the book, going from a shy girl who let her best friend push her around, to becoming a leader in her local feminist group.

It's a book that made me laugh and cry, so I definitely recommend it.

13. Devil's Kiss by Sarwat Chadda

Devil's Kiss begins with 15-year-old schoolgirl Billi SanGreal undergoing her Ordeal to become a member of the Knights Templar. There are a few problems with this: she's a girl (all the other Knights are boys/men), she's half-Pakistani, and she was raised a Muslim. She also hates the idea of being a Templar, which mostly seems to involve getting up really early for matins before doing lots of fighting and bleeding. However, her dad's the Master of the Templars, so she hasn't really got a choice.

The plot is very fast-moving, and soaked in Biblical lore. There are ghuls, the return of the tenth plague, the Grigori and the Archangel Michael - not to mention the Devil himself. I liked Billi a lot. She was very kick-ass, but I still sympathised with her desire for a normal life. I think the book could have been improved - I think it could have done with a bit more suspense - but it is Chadda's debut. And I liked it enough to want to buy the sequel, when it comes out.

Although one thing I definitely didn't get was why all the characters (except Billi) had Arthurian names. The name of Billi's boyfriend was also a little obvious. Hopefully it'll all be explained in the sequel.

wordsofastory.livejournal.com

19. Tariq Ali, Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree

I really wanted to like this book. I was so excited for it. And then, sadly, it just didn't live up to my expectations. It's so disappointing when that happens!

Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree is set in 1500, just a few years after the Reconquest of the city-kingdom of Granada, the last of the Muslim kingdoms in the Iberian peninsula to fall to the Spanish Christians. Although the peace agreement signed at the time promised that Muslims could continue to practice their faith and speak Arabic, the tide has been turning against them; the novel opens with a scene of Arabic books being burnt. For Muslims in Granada, there are basically three choices: leave their home and move to Africa or the Middle East; convert to Christianity; or attempt to fight the Christians and take back their land (a pretty much hopeless cause, given the relative military strengths of the Muslims and Christians). The main focus of the story is one family of wealthy Muslims who are dealing with these changes and watching how it affects their friends and family. They debate these choices, some people choosing one and some another, and the novel shows the consequences of their decisions. Despite all this, there's a lot of upbeat and cheerful scenes in the novel, such as the courtship of a daughter of the family, or the youngest son's attempts to beat people at chess.

That's all fine: the plot is interesting, the characters are well-drawn. The problem I had with the book was the writing itself. It came off to me very much like a first draft. There were a lot of little not-quite-right phrasings, people abruptly appearing or disappearing from scenes, awkward dialogue, and historical details that seemed off (like the scene where the family is described as eating tomatoes and red chilis. Both of these plants are native to the Americas, and though Christopher Columbus did bring back some peppers from his second trip to the Americas, and so I suppose it's just possible, if unlikely, that they spread quickly enough to be a common food a mere seven years later, Europeans don't seem to encounter tomatoes until almost fifty years after this scene is set. I know this is a little nitpicky detail, but there were lots of things like this that bugged me). Overall, it just seemed like it needed the author to look over it another time.

I finished the book, and enjoyed parts of it, but I can't say that I liked it well enough to recommend it, though people who are less bothered by writing style than I am may have no problem. If anyone knows of any other books about Al-Andalus, I'd love to know! I do already have Ornament of the World on my reading list.

Current Mood: lazy
Current Music: MSNBC

wild-irises.livejournal.com

There's no way I'll ever read 50 books by POC in 2009, but I joined anyway, because I'd just as soon make the number bigger than it would be otherwise, and I like reading your reviews. Before I joined, I had read A Mercy by Toni Morrison.

I didn't think it was of the quality of Paradise or Beloved, which just means it's a simply wonderful book. It follows a group of people: a Dutch slave-owner who buys a 10-year-old girl from her mother, the 10-year-old girl, the slave-owner's wife, and the senior slave woman of the three owned by the Dutchman. One chapter is told from the point of view of the girl's mother With Morrison's uncanny precision, she manages to simultaneously be unflinching about the horrors of slavery and write sympathetically about the Dutchman and his white wife, weaving a tapestry of the commonalities of women of color in slavery, the commonalities of women regardless of freedom status, the effects of love on women, the effects of loss on everyone. It's a very poetic book even for Morrison, mostly slow, pastoral, patient. I read every word she writes, I'm never sorry, and this was no exception.

Also before I joined, I was in Powell's in Portland and looking for a book by a person of color I'd never heard of. I wound up with Bitter Sweets by Roopa Farooki, a Pakistani woman living in London. Bitter Sweets follows a Pakistani family for three generations: the first marriage Farooki describes is based on an essential lie, and lies become the family's underpinnings through the generations.

One thing that struck me is how similar the structure of this book is to Mary Anne Mohanraj's Bodies in Motion which I thought at the time had a very original structure of following a couple of families through a few generations and showing how they come in contact with each other. I'm now wondering if this is a familiar structure in Southeast Asian fiction (Mohanraj's family is from Sri Lanka). Anyone know?

Bitter Sweets was a mixed pleasure. The writing is excellent, the characters jump off the page, and a lot of Farooki's Western cultural references are my own personal favorites, which helped a lot. At the same time, the way the lies build to a climax sets up a kind of looming tension where the reader knows that something has to break and it won't be pretty, and I never enjoy that. I thought some of her choices were a bit facile; on the other hand, the resolution of the long-impending crisis did surprise me without doing violence to the characters. A good choice if you like well-thought-out fiction that is also basically romance.

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Writers of Color 50 Books Challenge

Entries tagged with pakistani-british

British Asian Poetry and Shaun Tan (again)

7. Hanif Kureishi, Midnight All Day

38: The No-Nonsense Guide to Islam

12. Sarwat Chadda, Devil's Kiss

Devil's Kiss, by Sarwat Chadda

Gautam Malkani, Londonstani

The Devil's Kiss - Sarwat Chadda

The Kayla Chronicles and Devil's Kiss

Tariq Ali, Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree

Morrison and Farooki

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August 2024

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