Book Review: THE SIEGE OF KRISHNAPUR by J.G. Farrell

The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"He had come to believe that a people, a nation, does not create itself according to its own best ideas, but is shaped by other forces, of which it has little knowledge."

Holy cow.

All books are time travel machines, but there are degrees to how absorbing they are. It doesn't get any better than this!!! I tell you, I WAS in the Siege of Krishnapur!!! Or rather, the real one that took place in Lucknow, in 1857, when the Sepoys mutinied against the British and tried to kill the men, women, and children who hid in the Residency for four months.

My heartrate has yet to get back to normal. I was panting as I raced through the last chapters! It was as if I was watching the drama unfold all around me, so vividly did Farrell make the characters and setting come alive.

I was sooooo happy to close the final page, to find a table laden with enough food and water... singing praise to God that I have a comfy bed and a safe place to sleep in tonight. Fresh from reading about the horrors and deprivations of a four-month siege, this is one of those books that makes you glad you were born in the 21st century and you're not a colonial minority in a country where everyone wants to kill you.

There's something in the book for everyone! I particularly liked the conversations and mini-debates between the idealists and materialists, those who believed in the cause of spreading Civilization versus those who were in India purely for material wealth, and even the occasional religious (Protestant vs. Catholic) and medical arguments (how best to treat cholera?).

I absolutely loved my first Farrell, and will look out for his other works. This was a very rare blend of pathos, history, philosophy.. and astonishingly, humor! This is highly recommended, especially for those who are in a reading funk. If Farrell doesn't shake you from it, no one can!

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Book Review: THE HEART OF THE MATTER by Graham Greene

The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"How can one love God at the expense of one of His creatures?"

I read another of Greene's "great Catholic novels" on the day that Catholics on my feed are rejoicing at the decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade. To those exulting in this chillingly backward move, I would recommend more of Graham Greene's brand of understanding and forgiveness, and less of the pulpit thumping and judgment. In the words of the priest in this novel: "For goodness' sake, don't imagine you - or I - know a thing about God's mercy."

THE HEART OF THE MATTER (1948) can be incompletely described as the sum of THE END OF THE AFFAIR (1951) + THE QUIET AMERICAN (1955), but of course it defies rigid categorization and simplistic summaries. As should human laws in the face of human agony.

Greene isn't afraid to ask the most difficult questions about the Ten Commandments, making us question our Sunday school lessons. In this novel, he brings us to British Sierra Leone during World War II, and shows the perils of loneliness amongst married couples, as well as the difficulty of trying to stay honorable while surrounded by all kinds of moral and professional corruption.

To read Graham Greene is scour one's soul. And while I believe in the democratic right of literature for all, I think Catholics would have a greater appreciation for the torment of the protagonist. A Catholic formed conscience (and its companion: guilt), in Graham Greene's hands, becomes both damnation and saving grace. He shows both the weaknesses and the strengths of Catholicism, writing as one who has been both outsider and convert, and advocates for both sinner and saint so effectively ALL UNDER 250 pages!! This former spy is truly a master at portraying human nature!

Warning: Don't read the introduction by James Wood at the start, as it gives away absolutely everything, in an overly simplified way, and rather badly.

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Book Review: THE POPPY WAR (Book # 1 of THE POPPY WAR Trilogy) by R.F. Kuang

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

You know it's a five-star-read when:

a) the real world vanishes for the length of time it takes to finish this fantasy novel, with events taken from real Chinese history!
b) you're so emotionally invested in the characters, you immediately look for Books 2 and 3 of the trilogy, and search AO3 for support group therapy

But be warned: this is not for everyone, and definitely not for young adult readers!! This is a thinly disguised history of Sino-Japanese relations, compressed in novel form. R.F. Kuang just changed names of people and places, but I think the reason the war scenes are so horrific is precisely because she didn't make them up. THEY REALLY HAPPENED. There is a very real possibility of experiencing something close to PTSD, because the events described ACTUALLY took place not too long ago. :'(

So why bother reading this?

Perhaps because it offers insight into human nature that made atrocities like the Rape of Nanking possible. We see the dangers of xenocentrism pushed to genocidal extremes, the dangers of blind obedience to authority, the weakness that lies in trusting gods and heroes to save one's country.

This is not escapism. This is the equivalent of a crash course in Chinese history and culture, with geeks rejoicing in thinly veiled references to Sun Tzu, Journey to the West, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and more that I'm sure I missed, but those more intimate with Chinese literature will delight in!

Highly recommended! And how lucky for Filipino readers that the trilogy is readily available in local bookstores! I so regret not getting the other two volumes when I had the chance, huhu. Best read with relaxing sips of hot tea, and afterwards... I think I'll de-stress by rubbing some White Flower ointment on my pounding temples.

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Book Review: THE IMPERFECTIONISTS by Tom Rachman

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"Newspapers are like anything else: they're pure and incorruptible and noble -- as far as they can afford to be."

I'd always thought journalism was a very brave and noble profession, but never really appreciated how "the little motivations" affected employees at a newspaper. After all, not everyone does their job out of a sense of heroism. Some view it as merely a way to pay the rent. As simple, and as important, as that. This interesting read by a former journalist shows us what goes on in the lives of very different journalists, from diverse backgrounds, with the only thing in common being their work place.

The way the chapters are structured make it seem like a collection of short stories, so I was able to squeeze in some time to read each one this past week, over a cup of joe. And it is only at the end that we see how each person, each piece of the puzzle, forms a whole. Clever, clever writing. One of those books that make you re-evaluate your workplace, and co-workers, and cast them in a new light.

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Book Review: WALKING WITH GHOSTS by Gabriel Byrne

Walking With Ghosts: A Memoir by Gabriel Byrne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"They would look on the face of death itself and be reminded of the gift of life."

I've been deeply in crush with Gabriel Byrne ever since I watched his Professor Bhaer take Winona Ryder's Jo March to the opera."He's my tukayo -- we share each other's name, it must be destiny!!" I whispered dreamily to my 4th grade sellf.

I saw quite a lot of him growing up because -- how fortuitous! -- he was also one of my dad's favorite actors and THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK became an annual VCD rewatch.

And so when I heard that he WROTE A BOOK I didn't even think about ordering it, after some appropriate screaming from 'kilig,' of course.

Alas, no love is untested, and the pandemic delivery system worldwide made me wait six months before the postman finally delivered it to our door today. My faithfulness was rewarded!!! And so, upon returning home from the office, I immediately tore into it. And am now quietly sobbing at how quickly I finished it, how beautiful it was, how the last few pages mirrored so closely our own family's experience of loss.

Isn't it strange how sadness is present, despite our joy at finally getting what we want?

Sadness and joy, the twins of all lives. Byrne could have made a name for himself as a writer!! From his childhood growing up the eldest of six in Dublin, to becoming a seminarian, then embracing the seedier part of life as an adult hanging around pubs and folks with questionable morals before finding fame as an actor, only for it to bring about even more existential angst... my only complaint about the memoir was that it ended too soon. I would have happily read through more encounters with theater greats, more childhood memories, more wise insights from one who has seen and done it all.

I thought I'd recommend this book because it was written by THE ACTOR.

But having read it, I recommend the book now purely on its own literary merit.

And apparently the book is now a one-man theatrical show!! Something to look forward to : perhaps watching the book performed as a play, one day. <3

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Book Review: PERFECT HAPPINESS by Penelope Lively

Perfect Happiness by Penelope Lively
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"Knowledge lurked, now, of unsampled depths; the world was shadowed in places where there had been untrammelled sunlight."

I had planned to write a "proper" Independence Day write-up on Nick Joaquin's collection of essays about Philippine heroes, but this book dropped into my lap and was too utterly compelling from the first page onwards that I was carried away by the music of Lively's prose. She is quickly becoming a favorite author, and I'm utterly amazed at this display of her breadth and scope. How different this second Lively is from my first (MOON TIGER)! And yet, in its core, I found the same penetrating insight and melodious turns of phrase, blessed with the gift of finding beauty in the ordinary.

"I have known what it is to be happy... Even what has gone is sustenance, to have been happy once is a privilege. I am not damned but blessed."

The book shows how lives are changed by loss. It's the chronicle of an inner geography: a man dies, and we are shown in intimate detail how his widow, sister, and daughter are able to forge on ahead. And I know that summary sounds dismal, but I promise you this book isn't! (Look at this passage: "I shall get through this... because I shall grit my teeth and put up with it. But I would rather go to sleep for six months.") Ha!

This is no depressing read, but neither is it a stereotypical happy-ever-after children's book. Lively is a fighter and an optimist, and so are her characters. She is able to portray grief with accuracy, but focuses more on the joyful love that inevitably gives birth to the pain of loss. She writes of days filled with silent screaming in the shadows, but also of moments full of light. Lively offers no easy, tidy answers, but possible horizons. Go do new things, meet new people, explore new places, she urges. For life goes on. And this grateful reader closed the book reluctantly, feeling that the novel was a beautiful gift.

There are many kinds of independence. And while no life is totally free from tears, this book reminds us that in the midst of sorrow, there is much beauty yet in living.

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