2014-02 – The Hungry Tide, by Amitav Ghosh

2 – The Hungry Tide, by Amitav Ghosh
WHY I PICKED IT: I have enjoyed lots of Ghosh’s other work
ELAPSED TIME: 2 Weeks
RATING: Good

Piya is an Indo-American marine biologist who is studying the Orcaella (an endangered river dolphin) in the Bay of Bengal.  Fokir is a local fisherman who she hires as his guide (despite not speaking any language in common.  Kanai is an Indian businessman, returning to a place he had visited as a child at the behest of his Aunt, to read a notebook left to him by his long deceased Uncle.  

 The story switches between the present day, where Piya is seeking to understand an unusual daily migratory pattern, while navigating an unfamiliar physical and social environment, and the 70s, through a tale told in the notebook, of Bengali refugees settling and forcibly removed from the Morichjhanpi Island.  That tale is a comparatively minor part of the story, but plays a key role in describing several characters’ backstory, and educating the reader on a forgotten piece of history.

As an early work of Ghosh, you can see that he is honing what has become his style – multiple, intertwined, characters and stories and a lot of forgotten history – but it is nowhere near as polished as his more recent work.

2014-01 - Confessions of a Fairy's Daughter, by Alison Wearing

1 - Confessions of a Fairy's Daughter, by Alison Wearing
WHY I PICKED IT: I loved her last book, and one of her one-woman plays.
ELAPSED TIME: 1 Week
RATING: Very Good

Wearing's new book is a biography of her father.  Growing up with a pianist mother, a political science professor father, and two brothers in Peterborough, Ontario, was fairly normal... until her father realized that he is gay.  The first two thirds of the book is her own experience.  The next quarter is excerpts from her father's diaries and newspaper articles that he had cut out.  Near the end, she shares her mother's perspective.

She describes the challenges and the mistakes... but also the warmness that comes with living your life genuinely and true to ones-self.  I will continue to seek out, and read, everything by Alison Wearing.

Hassan's Book of 2013

As with the end of every year, I look back on the books that I have read.  This year, I read 51 books.  Of which, I gave 13 a “Very Good,” rating and 8 books that I would recommend as REQUIRED READING:

• 05 - Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese
• 20 - The Submission, by Amy Waldman
• 22 - The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion
• 27 - Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• 32 - Sea of Poppies, by Amitav Ghosh
• 42 - Chasing Chaos, by Jessica Alexander
• 50 - The Orenda, by Joseph Boyden
• 51 - Mornings in Jenin, by Susan Abulhawa

Having lived with these characters now, I would downgrade The Submission and The Orenda to very good (both are very good, but not quite required reading).

• Cutting for Stone is the story of (bastard) twins raised in Ethiopia, adopted, and their lives.  They are warm characters who engage with the world in an interesting way.
• The Rosie Project is told from the perspective of a professor who has Asperger’s Syndrome.  It’s a quick read, and really warm and sweet.
• Americanah is written by my favourite author.  The story of a Nigerian woman who struggles in straddling Nigeria and America.  Ultimately, it’s a love story.
• Sea of Poppies stands out as the second best book of 2013.  Telling the story of the opium industry in India.
• Chasing Chaos is the autobiography of a humanitarian relief worker.
• Mornings in Jenin is by far my favourite book of the year.  The heart wrenching story of Amal, a woman born in the shadow of Israel, in a refugee camp called Jenin.

The Hassan Book of 2013 is Mornings in Jenin, by Susan Abulhawa.

A LOOK BACK

• Hassan’s Book of 2012 was City of Thieves, by David Benioff
• Hassan’s Book of 2011 was True Notebooks, by Mark Salzman
• Hassan’s Book of 2010 was Three Day Road, by Joseph Boyden
• Hassan’s Book of 2009 was The Help, by Kathryn Sockett*
• Hassan’s Book of 2008 (and of the decade) was Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

* In retrospect, I sincerely regret selecting a book that is unintentionally racist.  That attempts to write a history of a people from an outsider’s perspective.