East of Eden

One of Steinback's two great novels (the other clearly being the one most commonly known by high school students country-wide, The Grapes of Wrath) is East of Eden, a look at good and evil. It is a beautifully written, retelling of sorts of the Cain & Abel story from the Book of Genesis. The title is derived from the last line of the story of Cain & Abel, "And Cain went out from the presence of Jehovah, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden." (Genesis 4:16). Steinback also alludes to Cain & Abel in the names of his main characters - Charles & Adam, Caleb & Aron, Cathy & Abra.  While the novel is based on this very old story, it uses this story as a lens through which to look at the Hamilton and Trask Families at the turn of the 20th century. Throughout East of Eden, Steinback focuses on the concept of "timshel," a Hebrew word which translates into thou mayest, which demonstrates the innate choice man has in between good and evil. As Lee, a secondary (yet extremely important) character in the novel describes,

...But the Hebrew word, the word timshel—‘Thou mayest’— that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if ‘Thou mayest’—it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not.’ Don’t you see?”

The first half of the novel tells three seemingly unconnected stories of Adam Trask (and his brother, Charles), the Hamilton family (living in the Salinas Valley in California), and Cathy Ames (a cruel, cold girl). These stories all interweave (I won't spoil it for you), and culminate in the story of Cal & Aron. Cain is described in the Bible as a "worker of the ground" and Abel as a "keeper of sheep" (Genesis 4:2); Caleb invests in bean crops and Aron studies to become a priest (in Psalm 23, the term "Shepherd" is used for God, therefore priests can be referred to as shepherds). (If you want to spoil yourself, click here for more parallels between the Book of Genesis and East of Eden)
However biblical this review is getting, Cain & Able's story isn't the truly focus of the novel. The theme of good and evil permeates throughout. As the narrator tells the readers, "I believe that there is one story in the world, and only one, that has frightened and inspired us...Humans are caught - in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too - in a net of good and evil. I think this is the only story we have..." His novel attempts to capture the essence of this story, just as Cain & Abel do in the Bible. While it is a 600-page novel, I was immediately drawn in and I could not stop reading. I finished the book in little over a week, and while it may look intimidating, time simply flies when you're reading it. I highly encourage you to read this when you have the chance Rating: ★★★★★

Little America: The War Within the War for Afghanistan

Part two of two of a series on Rajiv Chandrasekaran (read part one here). This novel differs from Chandrasekaran's first one in that it focuses more on the military/civilian conflict of America's intervention, not the complete civilian failures. "Meticulously reported, hugely revealing, Little America is an unprecedented examination of a failing war—and an eye-opening look at the complex relationship between America and Afghanistan." (source) It is how America has failed to understand Afghanistan, and never will. Chandrasekaran was a correspondent for the Washington Post, and from 2009 to 2011, he reported on the war in Afghanistan, traveling extensively throughout its the southern provinces (Helmand and Kandahar) to reveal the impact of President Obama’s decision to double U.S. force levels. President Obama ordered the increase in American troops in 2009:

And that's why, shortly after taking office, I approved a longstanding request for more troops. After consultations with our allies, I then announced a strategy recognizing the fundamental connection between our war effort in Afghanistan and the extremist safe havens in Pakistan. I set a goal that was narrowly defined as disrupting, dismantling, and defeating al Qaeda and its extremist allies, and pledged to better coordinate our military and civilian efforts.

(Read his full speech here) The so-called "surge" was largely seen as a failure, and Chandrasekaran's book helps his readers to understand this. As in Imperial Life in the Emerald City, he doesn't outright comment on America's policy, and lets his readers make his own opinions. Yet, as the NYT Book Review writes, "No doubt most readers of this book will come away with the conclusion that our principal enemy in all this is ourselves." In the last chapter, Chandrasekaran wavers and he lets out a stream of complaints about America in Afghanistan. Yet, he doesn't offer another viable alternative, besides going long, not big: a policy which Americans were clearly against. Afghanis, too, didn't support the increase in troops: “We were not happy about the arrival of the surge troops, and we are not sad that they left,” said Mohammad Naim Lalai Amirzai, an Afghan Parliament member from Kandahar. “As the American surge ends, the Taliban surge will begin.” (from a NYT article, Troop ‘Surge’ in Afghanistan Ends With Mixed Results) That is a serious question: once America officially leaves, will the Taliban take over? Should America have tried harder to fix its flawed policies? These questions linger after you finish the superbly written book. I urge you to read it if you want to understand what happened in Afghanistan since 2009. Again, thanks to my dad for recommending it. Rating: ★★★★★

Imperial Life in the Emerald City

This is part one of two (part two to be published soon here) on a series on author Rajiv Chandrasekaran. This novel  takes a critical look at the Green Zone, the base of civilian authority in Iraq. The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was a transitional authority in Iraq following America's invasion of Iraq. Chandrasekaran doesn't truly bring politics into his writing (he doesn't take a side on whether the U.S. should or shouldn't have invaded Iraq), yet the nature of this non-fiction account is a look at the colossal failure of the civilian authority in Iraq. You can't help but sense his opinion on the mistakes they were making, one after the other. It is truly eye opening. As the New York Times Book Review wrote, "The reality of Iraq is much more frightening than a bad acid trip, but the writing about this continuing fiasco has been cleareyed and sober, and all the more powerful for it." Chandrasekaran outlines the ineptitude and arrogance of those in charge, and the removed reality of life inside the Green Zone. The Green Zone was a total bubble, cut off from wartime realities, "where the task of reconstructing a devastated nation competed with the distractions of a Little America...Most Iraqis were barred from entering the Emerald City for fear they would blow it up." (X) Read an excerpt here to get a sense of how the book plays out; many short stories about the CPA, those who worked in it, Iraqis who tried to bring change, etc. Preluding every chapter or two is a scene of life in the Green Zone. One such scene, XI, tells the story of a young CPA staffer who typed up a joke on his computer about life in the Green Zone, sent it to a few of his friends, and by the end of the week every CPA staffer had scene it. The joke is: "Why did the Iraqi chicken cross the road?"with answers from the CPA, Halliburton (oil company), Shiite Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr (extremely influential religious leader), U.S. Army Military Police, Peshmerga (armed Kurdish fighters), Al-Jazeera, CIA, and Translators. The joke-CPA response was: "The fact that the chicken crossed the road shows that decision-making authority has switched to the chicken in advance of the scheduled June 30th transition of power. From now on, the chicken is responsible for its own decisions." (282). Overall, the book gives you a clear picture of what went wrong in Iraq and lets you form your own opinions on what the United States should have done. Thanks to my dad for making me read this. Rating: ★★★★★

GraceLand

The story of a teenager named Elvis trying to make a life for himself outside the slum of Makoko in Lagos, Nigeria, GraceLand is a captivating (albeit choppy) story. Chris Abani is a Nigerian writer who was arrested in 1985 at the age of 18, "in connection with a politically dangerous novel" (x) that he wrote at 16. "The Nigerian government suggested that the plot of his first novel...had laid the blueprint for a political coup. He was held for six months, during which time he was beaten daily. In 1987 he was arrested again. This time he was sent to Kiri-Kiri, a maximum security prison in Lagos, where he was held for a year. During his incarceration he was tortured." (x) Torture comes up towards the end of GraceLand, forming some of the more vivid scenes of the novel. The account of torture is described so it fills all your senses, and it remains with you even after you finish the novel. Yet, as the NYT Book Review points out, "there's not enough room left afterward for the shock waves to dissipate -- it's hard to believe in Elvis's recovery, or the subsequent events." Elvis's story was interesting enough, but it was interspersed with excerpts from his mother's journal - of random recipes of Nigerian foods and tidbits of history about the Nigerian people which made the novel seem quite disjointed. Every other chapter was a flashback to Elvis's youth, which did get tiresome at times. Overall, the story of Elvis in Nigeria in 1983 was an interesting one - but it dragged out parts of the story that were uneventful and rushed the important parts. "This book works brilliantly in two ways. As a convincing and unpatronizing record of life in a poor Nigerian slum, and as a frighteningly honest insight into a world skewed by casual violence, it's wonderful. What it isn't, quite, is a successful novel." (x) I liked reading it, but I wouldn't put it on the top of my list of recommendations. However, it did open my eyes to the life of those in Lagos, one of the biggest slums in the world. It lead me to some interesting research on the subject. To me, that is a hallmark of a successful read, if it inspires my curiosity or makes me think about something I haven't spent time on before. I couldn't decide if this book was a 4★ or 3★, so Rating:★★★(★)

Cleopatra: A Life

Cleopatra, the famous last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, comes quite vividly to life in Cleopatra: A Life, which tells the stunning and intriguing story of Cleopatra. Her life and death has been disputed greatly, and with the loss of records from the destruction of Alexandria's library, the sources of Cleopatra's life come only from those who destroyed her and Mark Antony. Stacy Schiff attempts to "strip away the accretions of myth that have built up around the Egyptian queen and plucks off the imaginative embroiderings of Shakespeare, Shaw and Elizabeth Taylor." (X) The book is captivating and spins Cleopatra in a new light: a "shrewd strategist" and an "ingenious negotiator," a woman who has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons...

The sources may be flawed, but they are the only sources we have. There is no universal agreement on the basic details of her life, no consensus on who her mother was, how long Cleopatra lived in Rome, how often she was pregnant, whether sha and Antony married, what transpired at the battle that sealed her fate, how she died. (8)

 I knew very little about Cleopatra and Ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire before I began this novel. Upon finishing, I feel like I have a very solid grasp of Cleopatra's life (and of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony). I did not know that Cleopatra killed her siblings to secure her throne, or that she was the wealthiest woman in the world at one point in history. I didn't know she associated with the godess Isis, the ideal mother and wife. She is a truly admirable woman, using her perceived weakness as a woman to her strength. The affairs of Cleopatra/Caeser and Cleopatra/Mark Antony are strongly interwoven throughout the novel, adding a layer of romantic intrigue, even though Schiff makes it clear "Cleopatra's life was neither as lurid nor as romantic as has been made out." (322) It is a historical novel that doesn't feel like one; you subconsciously realize as you're reading this is a true story of a magnificent women, but the book itself is "a cinematic portrait of a historical figure far more complex and compelling than any fictional creation, and a wide, panning, panoramic picture of her world." (x) A #1 National Bestseller, I urge you to read Cleopatra when you have the chance. You won't regret it, and you'll learn that Cleopatra is much more dynamic the femme fatale western literature and culture has made her to be. Rating: ★★★★★

A Room with a View

Written at the end of the Victorian Era and dawn of the Edwardian Era in England, E.M. Forester's A Room with a View comments on the new liberal and open-minding ideals were replacing old social norms. The protagonist is Lucy Honeychurch, on holiday in Italy with her straight-laced, snobbish, and narrow-minded aunt. A "classic exploration of passion, human nature and social convention," Forester's novel is both delightful and insightful.

But Lucy had developed since the spring. That is to say, she was now better able to stifle the emotions of which the conventions and the world disapprove...Love felt and returned, love which our bodies exact and our hearts have transfigured, love which is the most real thing that we shall ever meet, reappeared now as the world's enemy, and she must stifle it. (132)

Lucy struggles with identifying her emotions and defying the social constructs of the time period she's living in. It was wondrously written, letting the reader get lost in the worlds of Italy and England. It was adapted into a critically acclaimed film in 1985, starring Helena Bonham Carter as Lucy. Overall, Forester's classic novel was a short, easy read but an enlightening social commentary on England at the turn of the twentieth century. Rating: ★★★★

The Secret Agent

Arguably one of Joseph Conrad's finest novels, The Secret Agent (published 1907)  was inspired by the possibly first terrorist international incident in Great Britain, anarchist Martial Bourdin's 1894 death while apparently attempting to blow up the Greenwich Observatory. Mikhail Bakunin, a Russian anarchist, believed in order to gather a larger following, “We must spread our principles, not with words but with deeds, for this is the most popular, the most potent, and the most irresistible form of propaganda.” (source). Conrad took this story to a whole new level, adding saboteurs, violence and mystery to thicken the plot. "Murder is always with us. It is almost an institution." (34) The role of terrorism & anarchy is important in the novel. Conrad lets the reader understand the bombing before the main characters, therefore letting the readers have a greater sense of what was happening, even as he leaves us hanging on many unanswered questions (How is Winnie going to react? Is Verloc truly responsible?) Starting off slowly, the novel slowly built tension and intrigue, and Winnie (as eloquently described, "She was death itself - the companion of life."(235)) developed into my favorite character in the novel. As the New York Times book review from 1907 writes, "the story is a sombre one. There is death in it, despair, revenge...and there are Anarchists, human but freakish, each after his kind..." This novel was written during the first great terrorist wave (perpetrated by anarchists, with casualties including an assassination of an American President). As the NYT hailed The Secret Agent in 2005 as "the most brilliant novelistic study of terrorism," it strikes me as extremely to this new age of terrorism we're living in. In the aftermath of 9/11, The Secret Agent became one of the three most quoted pieces of literature in the American media. As a Slate article discusses, the media wasn't getting it wrong. They were taking the book at face value - comparing al Qaeda terrorists to the anarchists who blew up the Observatory - when, in reality, it's the book itself that's demonstrating the principles of terrorism:

Conrad specifically compares his book to a work of terrorism—in a preface to The Secret Agent, he apologizes for its grim violence, then says, "I have not intended to commit a gratuitous outrage on the feelings of mankind." The idea Conrad sets out to blow up in the novel is modernism's sin of thinking abstractly about moral and human affairs...The anarchists think this way; the police do, too; and so do the government officials. Conrad dismisses them all. The only person who does not think this way is the secret agent's wife, Winnie Verloc.

(Again, reasons why Winnie is my favorite - she was the one true anarchist in the novel, very surprisingly so for reasons I won't disclose due to plot spoilers!) Stick with the novel if you chose to read it; beginning slowly, it introduces characters one by one and gives the reader a clear portrait of England in the 1890s before bringing the novel to the important action. Once the bombing occurs, the plot doesn't stop. It's thrilling and exciting and a lens through which we can view terrorism today. Rating: ★★★★★

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)

Mindy Kaling's hilarious collection of essays was so good I started reading it this afternoon and didn't stop until I had finished it. Split into six sections detailing Kaling's childhood, post-college life, hollywood, romance, appearance, and her legacy, her unique and honest voice shines through. Not only is she absolutely laugh-out-loud funny, she is as a refreshingly grounded celebrity and positive role model. I loved her section on best friends, a list of "Best Friend Rights and Responsibilities":

I WILL HATE AND RE-LIKE PEOPLE FOR YOU
But you can't get mad if I can't keep track. Robby? Don't we hate him? No, we love him. Okay, okay. Sorry.

As one review states, "By the end of this book, you will want Mindy Kaling to be your best friend, and you will want her parents to adopt you." (x) Her autobiography/memoir/insight on the tv industry makes you fall in love with her completely. Her style of writing is forthright and honest. She also has a very large twitter following (currently 2.1 million followers and rising), which is another way for her to comment on her life/what she finds interesting. For example, right before Beyoncé's halftime show at the most recent superbowl:

Is Beyonce nervous? Does she get nervous? I AM NERVOUS FOR GODS SAKE
— Mindy Kaling (@mindykaling) February 4, 2013

The New York Times ran a profile on Kaling when her book was published in 2011. In it, she was quoted as saying "You know the whole thing where if it takes a long time to write a poem, then you probably shouldn’t be writing poetry? With Tweets, if you’re sitting around for more than 45 seconds, it’s probably not the medium for you." Her twitter is outrageously hilarious, just as her essays are. But, obviously, her essays touch on much deeper subjects than her tweets (such as body image). The book isn't really a memoir, it's more like a letter to a friend. A current bestseller, I would definitely recommend this light, easy read. And, for the record, Mindy, I would love to hang out with you. Rating:★★★★★

The Satanic Verses

One of the most controversial novels ever published during the modern era, The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie is a masterpiece. Set in a modern world filled with "mayhem and miracles," the novel tells three stories; the main one is the tale of Gibreel and Saladin, two Indians who miraculously survive a terrorist bombing of a London-bound plane. Magically, Gibreel takes on the personality of the Archangel Gibreel and Saladin of the devil.

One man's breath was sweetened, while another's, by an equal and opposite mystery, was soured. What did they expect? Falling like that out of the sky: did they imagine that there would be no side-effects? Higher Powers had taken an interest, it should have been obvious to them both... (137)

After their fail, they struggle to get their lives back together and deal with what they now embodied: good and evil. The second story re-tells some stories of the Prophet Muhammad, based partly on historical fact (Ibn Ishaq's biography of Muhammed, The Life of Muhammad) and on Rushdie's imagination. It is partly recounted through Gibreel's eyes in the city of Jahilia (Mecca) about the founding of Islam- when Muhammad had his conversations with the archangel Gibreel about the will of Allah. As history goes, the people of Mecca were not open to conversion - Rushdie writes, "There is a god here called Allah (means simply, the god). Ask the Jahilians and they'll acknowledge that this fellow has some sort of overall authority, but he isn't very popular: an all-rounder in an age of specialist statues." (101) Here, you can see the satire and humor that permeates most of the novel. Rushdie has stated that The third story is about Ayesha, an Indian peasant girl who claims that archangel Gibreel has directed her to lead her village on pilgrimage to Mecca by foot, claiming they will be able to walk through the Arabian Sea.
It was really difficult for me to get into the novel in the beginning. Part I is the lives of Gibreel and Saladin before they were on the plane, and I was very confused by what was going on. But once you get through Part I, the story picks up.

Question: What is the opposite of faith?
Not disbelief. Too final, certain, closed. Itself is a kind of belief.
Doubt. (9)

There has been criticism that Rushdie wrote the novel intending to stir controversy, and an international incident did erupt over the novel. The controversy was in relation to story #2, the title The Satanic Verses "refers to an incident in the life of Mohammed, recorded by two early Arab historians (al-Waqidi, A.D. 747-823, and at-Tabari, A.D. c. 839-923), discredited by later commentators on the Koran, but taken up in Western accounts as the 'lapse of Mohammed' or his 'compromise with idolatry.'" (x) Ayatollah Khomeini, a Shia Muslim leader, issued a fatwā calling for the death of Rushdie and his publishers. Rushdie had to live under armed guard until it was rescinded. Nonetheless, it is still an impressive, beautifully written (albeit complex) novel. Rating: ★★★★★

Wide Sargasso Sea

Jean Rhys rose to fame with her novel Wide Sargasso Sea. At 16, Rhys left Dominica and moved to England. When Rhys read Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre as a young girl (see my post on Jane Eyre here), she began to imagine the Caribbean upbringing of Rochester's infamous Creole wife, Bertha Mason. Years later, Rhys decided to "try to write her a life." And Wide Sargasso Sea resulted, telling the story of Antoinette Cosway (later Bertha Mason) and her madness.  "The result is one of literature's most famous prequels, a novel that seeks to humanize the racially pejorative characterization of a West Indian madwoman." (x) The novel highlights themes of racism, the oppression of slavery, and the link between enslavement and madness. As Rochester begins to question his hasty marriage to Antoinette, he becomes more abusive and paranoid towards her. In turn, Antoinette sinks into further despair. One of my favorite quotes of the novel is when Rochester is writing about his motivations for leaving the Caribbean;

I hated the mountains and the hills, the rivers and the rain. I hated the sunsets of whatever colour, I hated its beauty and its magic and the secret I would never know. I hated its indifference and the cruelty which was part of its loveliness. Above all I hated her. For she belonged to the magic and the loveliness. She had left me thirsty and all my life would be thirst and longing for what I had lost before I found it.  

In Jane Eyre, the reader doesn't understand why Rochester has locked his wife in the attic, or how that situation came to be. Rhys gives them a backstory that is wonderful in itself. It isn't simply a retelling of Jane Eyre - it is a masterpiece in itself. Even if you haven't read Jane Eyre, Wide Sargasso Sea is still a powerful novel that I recommend. Rating: ★★★★