A House Without Windows

Title: A House Without WindowsAuthor: Nadia HashimiPublished: 16 August 2016Genre: FictionRating: 4 out of 5Date Started: 29 June 2020Date Finished: 5 July 2020

My interest in this book is:

When I read the synopsis of the book, it intrigued me. Since the story was about a woman who is convicted of killing her husband in a place like Afghanistan where the human rights and the rights of women hold no value, made me pick up this book.

Ideas Expressed/Message/Plot:

Zeba, who is married to Kamal for nearly two decades leads the life of a loving wife and a mother. On an unfortunate day, she is arrested when her husband Kamal is brutally murdered with a hatchet in their backyard, and Zeba is accused of killing him. The children swear that their mother could not do such a heinous crime against their father.

Escaping the anger of Kamal’s family members, she is arrested and jailed in Chil Mahtab. The novel contains the stories of other women prisoners who have been wrongly jailed since a woman’s reports are not taken as evidence. For the women, the jail is both harsh and a safe haven, protecting them from the cruelty outside.

Into this comes the Afghan-born, American-raised lawyer Yusuf, who tries to fight Zeba’s case. Will Yusuf be able to save Zeba from the death sentence?

Favorite Characters:

Of all the characters in the book, my favorite character was Yusuf. He tries to shard to save Zeba knowing that there is more to the story. I liked the way the author writes about his struggles trying to adjust to the culture and environment he spent his early years. Having grown up in America, he compares how the family could have faced a different destiny if they ended up staying in Afghanistan.

When I finished this book, I felt:

It was a long read and an extremely detailed one as well. I felt that the book could have been reduced to half of what it is and still have a strong impact on the reader. There were so many unnecessary characters and substories and the end was twisted and failed to have the same impact as the story!

Favorite lines from the book:

• Children always forgive their mothers. That's the way God's designed them. He gives them two arms, two legs, and a heart that will cry 'mother' until the day it stops beating.

• There's a special kind of hurt in learning that your parents are not the angels or saviors you wish them to be.

• What a burden it is to be born a woman.

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World

Title: 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World

Author: Elif Shafak 

Published: 24 September 2019 

Genre: Fiction 

Rating: 5 out of 5 

Date Started: 20 June 2020 

 Date Finished: 26 June 2020 

My interest in this book is: 

This book was recommended by Goodreads and had more than a 4-star rating. The plot and the author’s biography made me pick up this book. Since I have been learning Turkish, I am more interested in knowing about Turkish culture. I have read a couple of books by Orhan Pamuk but had not read any books by any female Turkish authors. 

Ideas Expressed/Message/Plot: 

The story starts at the end. A prostitute, known as Tequila Leila, is killed in Istanbul and the 10 minutes and 38 seconds are her last minutes of being alive and she recalls her entire life from birth to death. She recalls being born, her childhood, and growing up in Van. The turn of events of abuse and her father’s conversion to following a Sheikh to follow a strict Islamic way of living makes her rebel against the family and move to Istanbul. 

She recalls five of her friends Sinan, Jameelah, Jumeyra, Zaynab, and Nalan. Leila also tells the story of how she met every one of them and what their backgrounds were. I felt that ‘Everybody has a story’ holds so true in all those stories. There is so much more to everyone’s life than what we see. Leila shares so much with her friends, but never talks about her family after the bitter experience with her father.

The author has made an exceptional job of walking the readers through the city, the lives of everyone involved, and Leila’s life. Although being looked down upon by society, Leila holds her head high and treats everyone with love. There are so many random acts of kindness Leila does to show her simplicity. 

The ending sounded a little dramatic but could have been made simpler. I did not particularly like the cinematic ending but glad that Leila, at last, got what she wanted. I was expecting the fate of friends after Leila was gone and I wasn’t surprised to read that. I wished that the culprits got punished though. I am not sure why the writer chose to ignore the fact that Leila could have gotten justice. But I also think that the story would have been perfect and that’s not how things work! 

In the note, Elif Shafak talks and has a picture of the ‘Cemetery of the Companionless’, which broke my heart. Everyone deserves a good burial or last rites according to their belief. 

Favorite Characters: 

My favorite characters in the book were Leila and Zeynab. Leila because she has so much strength and resilience. I liked Zeynab more than any other character apart from Leila is because of her dedication to friendship and her soft nature. She has a strong belief in God and religion. She keeps a tab on everyone for choosing to do right from wrong. 

When I finished this book, I felt: 

The book was a roller coaster ride of emotions for sure! My vision blurred so many times while reading the book. I felt good that no matter where you are, there will always be people who will love you and be with you through thick and thin. On the other hand, I also felt sad that her parents didn’t make any effort in reaching out to her. They were more worried about society than their daughter. 

Favorite lines from the book:

• No one survives alone – except the Almighty God. And remember, in the desert of life, the fool travels alone and the wise by caravan.

• But now she understood, with a sinking feeling, that Baba did before her in fact.

• Are we humans, just like sheep and goats, composed of two kinds: those who can never forget and those who can forgive . . .

• Given that her recovery was nothing short of a miracle, they called her ‘Sekiz’ – ‘Eight’, for clearly a creature that could endure so much pain had to have nine lives, eight of which must have been spent.

• Funerals are for the living, that’s for sure.

• It was not fair that they had dumped Leila in the Cemetery of the Companionless when she wasn’t companionless at all. Leila had friends. Lifelong, loyal, loving friends. She might not have had much else, but this she surely had.

• How could meditation help you to quieten your mind when you needed to quieten your mind in order to meditate?

• No offense, but religion is plain commerce, Give-and-take.

• But in Poland, they drink it (vodka) at funerals – to toast the dead.

Educated

 

Title: EducatedAuthor: Tara WestoverPublished: 2018Genre: MemoirRating: 3 out of 5Date Started: 16 June 2020Date Finished: 20 June 2020

My interest in this book is:

After reading the great reviews and ratings on Goodreads, I thought I would pick it up. Secondly, the struggle the author went through to make her life from not going to school to getting a Ph.D. in Cambridge was the key point in my attracting my attention. I love to read about women who come out shining from the hard situations they are in and I thought this memoir was one of them.

Ideas Expressed/Message/Plot:

The story is about Tara, who is born in Idaho, into a Mormon family, who never went to formal schooling. Tara's father thinks that the schools and the government are brainwashing children into socialism and that the doctors are evil. Tara and her siblings never saw a doctor or nurse and the cure for every illness was their mother's oils, which she prepared at home.

Lacking formal education, Tara began to educate herself and taught herself enough to get into BYU. From there with the help of a professor, she got into Cambridge, qualified for Gates Scholarship pursued her Ph.D. The book is about her struggles as a child and as an adult with a dysfunctional and manipulative family and how her father controlled everyone with his bipolar disorder and manipulative nature.

Favorite Characters:

I liked the character of her paternal grandmother, who was encouraging her to study and get ahead in life.

When I finished this book, I felt:

I never understood the hype! After reading about 120 pages, I wish the book was way longer than it needed to be. There was no necessity for the author to list every childhood incident in that detail. It was more about her father and family than what she actually felt. The mother and her maternal grandparents sounded like they were formally educated and how no one saw any of the kids not being educated baffled me.

There was abuse in all areas - no school, no doctor visits, burn accident of her younger brother, and the abuse by one of her older brothers Shawn! She has listed that on four different occasions she was severely abused and refers that her sister was too. Why no one contacted the authorities was beyond my thought process. She says they were poor and yet had a computer! I was expecting the book to be something similar to 'Stolen Innocence', where the author gives the practical picture of her life before and after.

I also did not understand how Tara got so much money to travel back and forth from the UK while being a student. She says she studied at BYU without help from anyone. I am not sure how she managed the money till the Bishop helped her. College isn't cheap and neither are textbooks. In the end, the whole survivalist attitude made me feel like 'I am not really sure if she is' thought!

Favorite lines from the book:

• While my father and brother shouted, ignorance kept me silent; I couldn't defend myself because I didn't understand the accusation.

• It's strange how you give the people you love so much power over you.

• Stuart Mill claimed that women have been coaxed, cajoled, shoved, and squashed into a series of feminine contortions for so many centuries, that it is now quite impossible to define their natural abilities for aspirations.

• When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies?