FASTING, FEASTING

FASTING, FEASTING

by

Anita Desai

ISBN 0-099-28963-6

Cover image taken from internet

After reading the children's book The Village by the Sea by Anita Desai, I moved on to her adult novel Fasting, Feasting after coming upon it in the local MPH bookstore. I have read this book several times and without fail, I always enjoy the first part far more than the second part. It is divided into Part I and Part II. Part I introduces us to Uma, the bumbling, clumsy somewhat simpleton spinster totally under the control of her ageing parents. Papa is an old retired small town lawyer and Mama the stereotyped conservative, old fashioned Indian mother. Uma has a younger sister Aruna who is the opposite - prettier, smart, vain, sassy, ambitious....basically all the things Uma isn't. When the girls were teenagers, a brother was born - Arun and being the only boy, of course his parents favoured and pampered him in the typical fashion that only Asians are able to comprehend. The narrative moves seamlessly between the present (when Uma is middle aged) and the past, that is when the girls were at school and then when they were of marriageable age. Even though I'm not Indian and this story is set in India, I identify so strongly with all the characters because somehow, they are so familiar to me. I recognise them because there is always a relative or a friend who shares the same idiosyncrasies like Uma and the rest of her family. When the writer describes Papa, i keep thinking how much he resembles a certain relative of mine. Grumpy, gruff, self-important, enjoys making others feel uncomfortable and prefers to be a big fish in a small pond. The reader can't help but feel sympathy for Uma - by virtue of her age and 2 failed attempts to marry her off, she is now destined to be at her parents' beck and call. Simple of mind with a almost childish outlook on life, Uma seems to be the main character in Part I and the through the narrative, you get a fair idea about middle class social norms in India and how girls and women are treated, despite fathers being educated. Societal norms and traditions reign supreme and anyone challenging them must  be prepared to be a somewhat outcast or even shunned. I can't place the era in which the story is set but my guess would be anything between the 50s to the 70s. I think this was done on purpose because the writer wanted to show that certain prejudices, cultural and societal values withstand the test of time.

Part II is all about Arun when he leaves India to study in some small town in America. Being a sheltered kid from a conservative family in India going to the US is some kind of culture shock for him though it's all bottled up inside him. Arun is the kind of character I feel like giving a good hard shake and a slap across the head. He is this silent, colorless kid who doesn't seem to talk properly. Only mumbles incoherent answers and tries to run away. Perhaps its his upbringing that has made him that way. So living with his foster family is like pure torture to him even though his host "mom" tries her best to make him feel comfortable and at home. 

Overall, Fasting, Feasting is a fantastic read and if you are a fan of Anita Desai, this is not to be missed. The prose is richly descriptive without overwhelming fancy language and the attention of the reader is easily held even though there is no complex plot. That is Desai's appeal to me.....the ability to describe the ordinary in such an interesting manner with just enough attention to detail.

I CAPTURE THE CASTLE

I CAPTURE THE CASTLE

by 

DODIE SMITH

ISBN 978-0-099-57288-6

This caught my eye while I was browsing at MPH Bookstore because it was categorised under Vintage Classics. I have a thing for these type of books. More so a book I had never heard of before. The other books on that shelf were the usual classic staples. Quickly, I whipped out my handphone and did a Google search for this book. Not bad..... the reviews seemed good and what got me convinced immediately was that J.K. Rowling (creator of Harry Potter, in case you didn't know) gave a super glowing review totally gushing about how wonderful this book was.

Cover of" I Capture the Castle" published by Vintage, Random House Group

Well, to cut a long story short, it was a pain to finish the 566 pages in this edition published by the Random House group. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that JK had given it a superb recommendation and that the back of the book contained a 2 page story on how Dodie Smith came to write I Capture the Castle sometime during the Second World War. Considering how much painstaking effort she had put into it, I was expecting things to improve. So I kept on reading.

So..... what was so bad then? Wait, before I begin, here's a short summary taken from the back of the cover. It's about the diary of the heroine, Cassandra Mortmain whose mother is dead and lives with her elder sister (Rose), younger brother (Thomas), has-been writer with a one hit wonder book Dad (James), ex-model eccentric yet very, very kind and maternal step-mom (Topaz) and son of dead maid who is now the handyman and i quote "incredibly handsome" Stephan who naturally has the hots for the heroine and kisses the ground she walks upon. So the whole family live in this romantic crumbling castle with very little money and even less to eat. Things get exciting when a pair of American brothers who are naturally rich (far more wealth than poor Stephan can imagine) come to claim their inheritance (yup, even more money for them) in the form of a dead relative's property which is, you guessed it, the castle. With them is their mother, who is even richer than both the boys put together but the good thing is that she is "very kind, generous and intelligent". 

As expected, the castle girls become rather excited with the arrival of the 2 American brothers. Rose, the big sister, can only think of one thing......how to get hitched to Simon (the elder brother whom we are told is "intelligent, friendly and hospitable despite his detestable beard"). Rose hates all that facial hair but because the guy is rolling in it, hey, she figures she can get him to get rid of it after marriage. Seriously, Rose is about 19 or 20 in the story and I have not come across a character so fixated on hooking a guy. By today's standards, Rose would simply be called a gold digging bimbo. She doesn't have any talents and revels in being totally useless. At the beginning of  the story, everyone comes together for a meeting to rack their brains on how to earn some money to stop them from starving to death but we are  told Rose "isn't good at things like gardening and housework". In short, Rose isn't good at ANYTHING. Honestly, I find this kind of character totally unbelievable. I don't know whether it was the fashion to be useless in the 1930s but this kind of portrayal really irks the shit out of me. 

Anyway, the story goes on and on about how Cassandra falls for the bearded guy (secretly of course) despite the fact that everyone is rooting for Rose and Simon to be an item. Heck, they even get engaged and there is a whole lot of elaboration of how Rose shops for her terribly expensive wedding trousseau in London. Somewhere along the way we learn that Rose isn't happy and has to keep convincing herself that she is. Seriously, those parts are a pain to read because you just want to slap her. Hard. Errrm, then we also learn that Stephan who has carried a torch for Casssandra since goodness knows when, finally accepts that he can never compete with Simon despite his god given looks and decides to go to London to be a photographer's model. Here the story gets a little weird because we are told the lady photographer who is a cousin of the American boys, and is nicely married to an architect, develops the hots for Stephan (eeeuw, cos Stephan is like old enough to be her son!) and they have some sort of affair, perhaps with the knowledge of the husband but he can't do anything because he is such a pussy and his wife is some alpha female. 

I think I shouldn't go on anymore because despite my feelings about this book, I think there are a lot of fans out there plus I don't want to be a spoiler to anyone who has not read the book yet. You obviously don't want me blabbing out who ends up with who in this blog. So, read it if you want and judge it for yourself. As for me, I'm quite sure I won't be reading this again. It will either remain on my shelf as part of my collection or I'd sell or trade it later for something else. Worse case, I'll donate it to my old school library so that some other kid can read about how girls who didn't go to regular school had in store for them and the pain and angst they went through to sort out their muddled feelings about love and life. 

By the way, this was also made into a movie in 2003 starring a lot of beautiful people. Henry Cavill was cast as the handsome Stephan. Another interesting thing is that the author of the book, Dodie Smith also wrote the book One Hundred and One Dalmations which was made into a famous cartoon by Walt Disney.      

The World's Wealthiest Losers

THE WORLD'S WEALTHIEST LOSERS

by

Margaret Nicholas

ISBN 1-85152-866-0

This is the kind of literary cheap thrill that I sometimes look forward to. A cheap book (RM5.90 in this case), with tacky content. But hey, when you are bored, reading about wealthy losers beats scrolling through your Facebook wall. Because on Facebook, everyone's probably bragging about their exotic holiday or posting pictures of dogs, cats and babies or worse still, posting those annoying motivational quotes and religious reminders. 

Well, cheesy or not, this book has had 5 re-printings which is more than some other respectable books can claim. Admittedly, the "stars" in this book are somewhat from a another era. Most likely your mother or grandmother would have heard of them. So forget about getting the lowdown on today's celebrities. Names like Gloria Vanderbilt, Barbara Hutton, Evalyn Walsh McClean, George Hudson, Mario Lanza ring a bell? The most recognisable names to me are Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, John D. Rockefellar and Imelda Marcos. Though I must say it is rather harsh to brand Marilyn and Elvis as losers just because they screwed up some bits of their life towards the end. Compared to today's stars, what they folks did was TAME. 

There's a lot of dirt dished up in each account but I treat it purely for entertainment sake and I think everything written should be taken with a pinch of salt. Nothing seems to be corroborated and frankly, there is a LOT of heresay. I guess we'll just never know what was true and what was made up but in the end, it doesn't matter because it isn't anyone's business anyway. These people were famous in their time and had lots of money to lead glamorous and decadent lifestyles so I guess when they screwed up, the ordinary Joes and Janes liked to read about it because that proves that even rich and beautiful folks have problems just like everyone else. 

I don't see this book sold anymore in the shops. I guess it has run its course after 5 re-printings, the last being in 2006.

DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!

DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!

The New Windmill Book of Humorous Stories

Edited by David Kitchen

I own quite a number of Heinemann under their New Windmills series. Back in the mid 1990s, the local Times bookstore had brought this series in and that was when I had time to visit the bookstore almost every week and always buy something. The price of each hardcover book was only about RM14 then. *gasp* So cheap!

*Image taken from internet

This is one of my favourite books because it has short stories by Anne Fine, Paul Jennings and Vivien Alcock, writers whom I like. Not all the stories in the collection are funny...... well, to me at least because they didn't even make me smile let alone laugh. Here's the list of all the stories and those in RED are the ones I tend to read every time I re-visit this book. 

Licked by Paul Jennings

You Don't Look Very Poorly by Anne Fine

SWALK by Sam McBratney

Uninvited Ghosts by Penelope Lively

The Harry Hastings Method by Warner Law

A Ghost of One's Own by Ursula Moray Williams

Dog's Dinner by Lynne Hackles

Cuts by Russell Hoban

Wunderpants by Paul Jennings

Tama Gotcher by Robert Dawson

The Dolls by Ian McEwan

A Prawn in the Game by Elaine Sishton

QUERTYUIOP by Vivien Alcock

William Darling by Anne Fine

The Bakerloo Flea by Micheal Rosen

The Stowaways by Roger McGough

I especially like the one titled William Darling. That's not his real name. That's what his very old dad calls him, even in front of the boys at school. *yikes!* It's bearable at primary school because William is one of the big boys but come September it will be at a new school where woe betide him if anyone were to find out his dad calls him "Darling". So William devises means to stop dad but its hard because dad is old and doesn't really understand how important it is to William. Well, mum saves the day eventually. I found this story hilarious because of the way it was written plus I am sure everyone of us knows a person like William's dad. 

"Then he turned round and pressed a brand-new, shiny ten-pence piece into my hand. (He often does this. He's so old that he thinks ten pence is a fortune. It's one of the worst things about marrying someone a lot older than yourself, Mum says. You spend a fiver and they think you're wicked.)"

"Dont lose it," he warned me. 

"Don't lose it! I get ten of them every week for pocket money. He must know that. But he's in the habit of keeping shiny coins he comes across in a special pocket in his waistcoat, ready to press them on the deserving, and he's too old to bother to change. So I held my tongue."

Here's another one except. 

"He nearly had a stroke last year when the girl in Woolies paused in the act of snipping the elastic thread Mum was buying and asked how many centimeters there were in a metre. Mum pretends it was the girl's shocking mathematics that so upset him. But I know better. I know it was the fact that, until then, he hadn't realized yards, feet and inches have gone."

You can still get this book online (both used and new) from websites like www.amazon.com, www.abebooks.com and www.booktopia.com.au
  

THE BIG BAD WOLF

THE BIG BAD WOLF

Sometime towards the end of 2012, a small advertisement appeared in the local newspapers. An event called The Big Bad Wolf Book Sale would take place at The Mines Convention Centre in Sungai Besi around December 2012. I remember the rather plain ad which promised massive discounts even better than those seen at MPH Warehouse sales. I remember the slight tinge of excitement as I digested the details. I remember making a point to visit the sale even though I live more than 120km away. The long, long line of cars as they queued to find parking space. The huge convention hall filled to the brim with THOUSANDS of books. I didn't know where to start. Where to look. People were carting away or walking around with their arms full of books. Some were pulling trolleys and those wheelie luggage bags you see at airports. When I picked up a few books to check the prices, I clearly remember being FLOORED. What? RM5 for a brand new hardcover? Never!!!! RM6 or RM8 for a book which usually retails at RM30 at any store in Malaysia? I remember having palpitations due to excitement. Ok, so maybe the selection wasn't exactly what you would find at Kinokuniya but with thousands of books and rock bottom prices, I definitely found books worth buying. Nothing to complain about really. 

My BBW loot for 2014. 

By mid 2013, the Big Bad Wolf had taken the books on a road trip to major states in the Peninsular and Malacca's sale was held at the Melaka International Trade Centre (MITC). So close to my then office. Yay! I think I went at least 3 times and was able to browse at leisure compared to the my first frenzied, mad, crazy grab at Mines. 

When December 2013 came about, I didn't even bother going to Mines as I knew they would come to Malacca in good time. They did and it just ended last week. I went twice and my loot is smaller compared to the other sales but it doesn't matter because I only bought stuff which I think was worth it and not just because it was cheap. More importantly, they are books which I feel I would really like to read. 

Cook books by Nigella and Jamie which are a fraction of the original prices

BBW (as it is called today) has successfully branded itself, if you ask me. There is organised online and print media advertising and you can see that trained media people are behind their popularity and strategic marketing. If people used to complain that books for young children (picture, reference and stories) were too expensive, they certainly aren't at BBW sales. Mothers and fathers were carting books for their young ones by the hundreds and home libraries have expanded so much that kids are saying there is no need to visit the library because there are more than enough books to read at home. That's wonderful in my opinion because I do agree that books are terribly expensive in Malaysia. True that incomes have risen over the years but the average household still cannot afford to go to a bookshop and splurge on a book buying spree anytime they feel like it. 

So here's a big THANK YOU to the Big Bad Wolf team who have made book owning and reading more popular and accessible and a reality to Malaysians from all walks of life. It is said that the average Malaysian reads only 2 books a year but with BBW on the scene, hopefully this number will increase slowly. As an observation, I think most BBW customers are mostly urbanites as they have the means and the transport. Perhaps it is about time the authorities like government backed youth and family organisations recognised the significance of BBW sales and attempt to bring the rural dwellers to the convention centres and raise awareness about the importance of owning and investing in books. Rural children should not be left behind and be asked to depend on the often poorly-stocked county libraries. A home library is one of the simple joys of childhood.   

Hardcover reference books for kids. From RM10-15 each!

THE VIEW FROM SATURDAY

THE VIEW FROM SATURDAY

by

E.L. KONIGSBURG

If I remember correctly, this was the first book by E.L. Konigsburg which I read. After that I was hooked and immediately felt like going out to buy her books. Unfortunately, it wasn’t easy to find her books in local bookstores at that time so what I have today is from online stores and from Kinokuniya in Kuala Lumpur.

My copy of The View from Saturday

This book was a gift from my cousin, Lilaine, who had bought it from a used bookshop in K.L. Before that, I had never heard of E.L. Konigsburg. The year was 2002. I am very glad she made this introduction. To date, I have collected 12 titles.

The View from Saturday is about 4 children, Noah, Nadia, Ethan and Julian. They call themselves “The Souls”. All 4 are quite like kindred spirits (a term conveniently borrowed from “Anne of Green Gables”) and attend 6^th grade in the same school. The story starts with The Souls representing their school at the Academic Bowl. Their team is the youngest, the others being 7^th and 8^th graders but they still manage to answer the questions based on their past experiences which are narrated individually in subsequent chapters. So the chapters go to and fro between the questions posed at the Academic Bowl and the stories each child narrates. To me, this is part of the book’s charm and succeeds in keeping the reader’s attention.

Even though this is classified as children’s fiction and I was already a full grown adult when I read it, there were lots of little nuggets of information which I found interesting. Yes, we never ever stop learning, even from children’s stories.

For example, in Noah’s story, these were the interesting bits:-

What a B & B letter is

What a retirement village in the USA is like

How to correctly fill a fountain pen (6 steps!)

A dental hygienist is a “profession” by itself (I have never heard of people describing themselves as a “dental hygienist” in Malaysia)

§  

     One of my favourite lines was “The ballpoint pen has been the single biggest factor in the decline of Western Civilization. It makes the written word cheap, fast and totally without character.” – Tillie Nachman

Nadia’s story is titled “Nadia tells of turtle love” and is my favourite one among all. Along the way, we find out that Nadia is related through marriage to Noah and that her parents are divorced. My favourite parts are about the turtles themselves and how turtle conservation is managed and organised in Florida. In Malaysia, we have sea turtles coming on land to lay eggs too but over the years their numbers have dwindled drastically due to ignorance and sporadic conservation efforts. So, this part is special to me. Nadia’s father initially feels nervous and awkward as he doesn’t know what to do with her when she comes to spend part of her holidays with him after the divorce. Nadia on her part, feels resentful for certain changes in her life and also that she has had to move to another state with her mom. In a way, she blames it on her grandfather’s new wife, Margaret, who also happens to be Ethan’s grandmother (a fact which she doesn’t discover till much later and which makes her mad!). But when the new turtle hatchlings are threatened due to a storm, Nadia puts aside her resentment and does her part in saving them after her grandfather’s makes a special plea. During that course, Nadia comes to terms with her new custody arrangement between her parents and accepts the reality of commuting in the coming years.

“The following places in New York State are associated with women famous in American history. I shall name the place; you are required to tell me why it is important and name the woman associated with that place. ……The place names are Seneca Falls, Homer, Rochester and Auburn”

“Ethan Potter would know all four parts. Yes, yes, yes and yes.”

Ethan Explains the B and B Inn is Ethan Potter’s story and that enables him to answer the question posed at the Academic Bowl.   

Ok, I won’t go into further details on Ethan and Julian’s story because that would be a spoiler for anyone who hasn’t read the book yet. Suffice to say, with the supporting characters of Mrs. Eva Olinski (their paraplegic teacher) and Mr. Singh (Julian’s father), this book, to quote the review of the Publisher’s Weekly on the jacket is “Glowing with humour and dusted with magic”.

I also appreciate the last 2 pages of the book where the writer sets out the Fifteen Questions with Thirty Six Answers. These were the questions posed at the Academic Bowl. In case you are wondering about the answers to Ethan’s questions, here they are:-  

Seneca Falls

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Called the first women’s rights convention here in 1848.

Homer

Amelia Jenks Bloomer

Was born here, was editor of LILY, a paper devoted to women’s rights and temperance. She wore a short skirt and full trousers whenever she lectured, and they became known as the Bloomer costume or bloomers.

Rochester

Susan B. Anthony

Led a group of women to the polls here in 1872 to test the right of women to vote. She was arrested, tried and sentenced to a fine.

Auburn

Harriet Tubman

One of the most successful conductors of the underground railroad, she lived here for many years.

To find out more about E.L. Konigsburg, check out this link from wikipedia here

THE VILLAGE BY THE SEA

THE VILLAGE BY THE SEA

 by 

Anita Desai

The Village by the Sea is a book I have read numerous times and will continue to re-read. My copy is a hardcover which is still in mint condition save for yellow age spots which is common enough. I am careful with my books when I read them and I never like to crack the spine which will spoil the binding or turn pages roughly. In that sense, I am anal about what I call “respecting the book”. When I open the title page, it says A Village by the Sea – An Indian Family Story. My name is handwritten on the same page with the date of acquisition (19th October 1997) purchased at MPH, 1Utama, Kuala Lumpur.

At the back, the price tag is still clear. RM13.90 for a hardcover. What a bargain. Sadly, after that era, the price of books went up astronomically. Today, a book like this would cost perhaps between RM30 to RM40.

Like many enduring books featuring children, there is a common mistake to label this as “children’s fiction” or a book which is only fit for children. By today’s standards, it wouldn’t even be under “Young Adult” fiction. The theme and the message is appealing to readers of any age whether young or old, in my opinion.

If you go to Wikipedia, you will see that this book won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize in 1983. Now, I don’t read a book just because it has won a prize. In this case, it is clear why Anita Desai won the prize. Her style of writing, the storyline, the plot…..it goes far beyond an entertaining read. The story certainly stayed with me after I finished it.

Basically, the story is about a pair of siblings, Lila and Hari. Life in an Indian village is tough and with parents who cannot care for them and the family, they are forced to take on adult roles. Luckily, there are some kindly adult characters who go out of their way to make life bearable despite their own troubles living in a remote fishing village (Thul) and an over populated city like Bombay. I am not going to write a summary of the plot here because it is already available on Wikipedia.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THIS BOOK

This was my first Anita Desai book and since I have always had a soft spot for Asian writers, it didn’t take much to convince me to buy it at the bookshop. More rare is an Asian writer who features children prominently in the plot.

I can relate to Indian culture. Here in Malaysia, we aren’t strangers to Indian culture so it’s always nice to read a story about something you are familiar with. This includes the clothes, the language and the food, among others.

The Universal message of hope and perseverance and determination to overcome the odds makes me identify strongly with the book and its characters. The characters don’t high and sigh and weep helplessly about their predicaments. They get up and get on with life the best that they can!

It is a book which is in my Comfort Reading Category. Once in awhile, I turn back to the old stories which I first read when my life was much simpler and carefree.

No violence. No drugs. No depravity. No sexual assault, battery or rape. Need I say more? The newspapers and internet are already full of such stories if I want a slice of today’s world.

The writer’s vivid descriptions of the village of Thul and the city of Bombay which is told in simple vocabulary yet richly descriptive. Since I have never been to India, this makes me want to visit Bombay someday. I dislike the way some Asian writers tend to write with all the bombastic words and complicated flowery sentences so as to show their prowess in the English language.

WOULD I READ IT AGAIN?

Most definitely YES!!! (Said with much enthusiasm even after having read it say, 6 to 7 times since I bought it).

NOTABLE or FAVOURITES QUOTES/EXCERPTS

Chapter 11

Hari said, “Mr. Panwallah, you celebrate Coconut Day and Diwali and yet you are not a Hindu, are you? I thought you are a Parsee and celebrate only the Parsee festivals.”

“Oh no, no, no boy,” cried Mr Panwallah comically. “What would the fun of that? And why should I miss the fun of all the Hindu and Muslim festivals?  No, no, I believe in sharing everything, enjoying everything. That is why I have so much fun, eh? No gloom for me, eh?”

(Note : for someone like me who lives in Malaysia, this paragraph carries a lot of meaning).

STAR RATING

5/5