Sparks Like Stars

Author: Nadia Hashimi

Genre: Fiction

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Date Started: 15 July 2021

Date Finished: 21 July 2021

This is my second book by Nadia Hashmi, after 'A House Without Windows'. I bumped into this book in one of the Instagram accounts I follow, and the storyline sounded interesting. I also like the writing style of the author. Seems like I like to read stories of survival in both fiction and non-fiction genres. Khaled Hosseini is another favorite author of mine who writes about Afghanistan and its beauty.

The story starts with a ten-year-old girl Sitara Zamani, who is the daughter of the advisor for President Daoud Khan. The story starts in 1978, which is the pre-war, a golden era for Afghanistan. The grandchildren of President Daoud Khan and Sitara's family are close-knit and Sitara talks about how privileged she was while growing up, until the night, a military coup kills her entire family. A soldier who she recognizes as Shair takes her t his house who she thinks has killed her family.

Shair keeps Sitara with his family to protect her and during an argument with Sitara, he takes her and drops her off with an American woman. Antonia (Nia) Shepherd is an American diplomat working for the US Embassy in Kabul, who lives with her mother Tilly. Nia is determined to save Sitara and tries everything possible to get her to the United States. Sitara takes her sister's name Aryana Zamani, who was born in America and died two years later.

Sitara is smuggled into Pakistan by Tilly and some American hitchhikers, who are hiking through the hippie route. Sitara, now Aryana is a witness to the attack on US Embassy in November 1979. Aryana along with Tilly flies to the USA and is placed in a foster home, where the parents are abusive. Antonia adopts Aryana, which changes her name to Aryana Shepherd.

Aryana is a surgeon in New York and one day she meets a patient, Abdul Shair Nabi, almost thirty years after that unfortunate night. He was the same Shair, who had saved her and according to Aryana, had killed her family. The author then talks about how her memories of that night come back, and she presses Shair for the truth of her family's murder and looks for closure. The book also talks about how her past affects her relationships and the way she views the world. Aryana decides to visit Kabul to find the graves of her family and to give them a proper burial.

My favorite character was Sitara. Her will to survive, find closure, and overcome the trauma was compelling. Even though Aryana was traumatized at a very young age, she was resilient, and pursued her way to become a doctor, as her father had wished. The character of Antonia is well written too. Antonia had her own way of living and her own trauma and emotional baggage. But she had decided to save Sitara from war-torn Afghanistan and give her a chance at a good life.

This book was a roller coaster ride of 452 pages. There were many pages where I had blurred vision and wet cheeks! The story although swirled around Sitara or Aryana, it was a gripping story, and I could not have imagined the end. I felt that a girl who goes through seeing her family murdered to escaping the country with someone else's name escaping an abusive home to becoming a surgeon is a huge feat. I could see how the trauma of her past affected her relationships and the trigger situations. Sometimes I felt that she went through the survivor's guilt.

Aryana compares herself to Anastasia Romanov, who was the youngest daughter of Russian Tsar Nicholas II, whose entire family was executed. Aryana feels that Anastasia and herself are the same - trying to survive the murder of the family. Aryana holds a lot of hope that Anastasia was still alive for a long since her body was not found. Aryana is heartbroken when the archeologists find the body of Anastasia, which she feels was the defeat of her struggle to survive.

Favorite lines from the book:

• While Neelab was mesmerized by the gold and the stones, I was stunned by the ring's ability to outlive anyone who had worn it.

• The will to live is strongest in those who have a reason to live, something to save.

• Sometimes it's when people are silent that you hear them most clearly.

• You need no one to confirm you. You are everything you believe yourself to be.

• People are God's cruelest creations. They'll step on the smallest of backs to feel an inch taller.

• Whether by blood, by fire, or by default, to become a mother is no easy feat.

• Had Anastasia lived, would she have wished that she hadn't?

• Grief starts before anyone has gone missing.

• All I want is an accurate record of history. I want a truthful account of that night. I want something to mark the graves of my family so that the world can know that they lived and died. Truth matters.

• "Heaven and hell," Shair scoffs. "As if those are two separate places. As if you and I have not stood in both."

• Necessity isn't just the mother of invention. She's the mother of faith too.

• Shiva has powers of destruction, but re-creation as well, as one cannot happen without the other.

• I remember my father once telling me that whether prayers were made on a gold-threaded rug or on a straw mat, they carried the same weight with God.

• Prayer is you talking to God. But meditation is God talking to you.

• You know, we're so damned afraid that talking about the ones we've lost will hurt us as much as losing them did. So we just stop talking about them. But that's when we truly lose them.

• People have an easier time kissing their elbows than believing war touches kids.

• People keep living and growing and changing and dying whether we're here or not.

A House For Happy Mothers

Author: Amulya Malladi

Genre: Fiction

Rating: 4 out of 5

Date Started: 11 July 2021

Date Finished: 15 July 2021

This book was recommended by Goodreads, and the synopsis sounded interesting. I also like to read books written by authors I have never read before.

The book is about two women, one who lives in California wanting to have a child, and the other Asha, who is in India, poor and living with her husband and two kids.

The story starts with Priyasha, who is in California with her husband Madhu. She desperately wants a child goes through IVF treatments and has three miscarriages. The couple decides to have a child through surrogacy. Asha lives in a village in India, with her husband Pratap, who is a painter, and her two kids Manoj and Mohini. To get more money for Manoj's education, Asha decides to be a surrogate.

The book takes the reader on a roller coaster ride of all sorts of emotions. Priya, who wants to have a child with Madhu, feels guilty of putting someone through pregnancy and risks and feels that she is selfish. Priya's mother Sushila, who goes by Sush, is against surrogacy and reasons that it is exploiting the poor. The author also has done a great job of giving the details of the relationship between Madhu and Priya. The stress, the fights due to Priya's obsession to have a baby, and the stress that comes from the friends who have children.

Priya loses her job and visits India to be with Asha two months before the due date and she realizes that it is her duty to help Asha's family. She collaborates with a family friend to get Manoj into a boarding school for better education. Asha's emotions towards the baby are well expressed. She carries the baby for nine months and feels the baby kick, but she is aware of the fact that the baby is not hers in the end. Asha constantly dreams of having a home for herself and the family and her son Manoj gets a better education with the money she would make from the surrogacy.

There were some inconsistencies in the book, one of which stood out. In the beginning, the author says that Sush does not like to shorten Priyasha's name as everyone else does, but when she meets General Parikshit's family, she introduces her daughter as Priya!

No particular character stood out for me to obsess or like in the entire book. I felt out of all the characters, I liked Madhu the most. He seemed very practical and supportive. He too wanted a child but was not obsessed like Priya was, and had made peace with the situation that they were unable to have a child. He sounded level-headed in every situation as well.

There was no specific story as such in the book, but just an emotional roller coaster ride of motherhood, surrogacy, and feelings of anxiety of the parents who opt for surrogacy. This book gave me a lot of information about how surrogacy works and how the poor are exploited. It also gave me an insight into how parents who opt for surrogacy behave as well. Some really want to have a connection and bond with the surrogate mothers, but some choose not to be in touch at all. The thoughts and feelings of surrogate mothers are hard to understand. Even though they are paid, some women tend to (at least as mentioned in the book) move on easier than others.

Favorite lines from the book:

• "It takes years. It costs so much money. And you don't know what blood you bring home." "You bring home a kid," Madhu said.
• India was tough on the nerves if you hadn't grown up there.
• It was one thing to have always been single - then you didn't know what you were missing - but it was another to have been so deep into a marriage, into a relationship, and then find that part of your soul ripped out.

The Alchemist

Author: Paulo Coelho

Genre: Fiction

Rating: 5 out of 5

Date Started: 1 July 2021

Date Finished: 11 July 2021

This book was referred by many of my friends, apart from Goodreads and many other blogs and Instagram handles I follow. I do regret not reading this book soon enough. The reviews were either 'I loved it' or 'I hated it', but there was no in-between. I had also heard many people saying that the book was lost in translation. All these points made me pick up the book. This was my first book by, Paulo Coelho.

The book is about a boy, Santiago who lives in Andalusia, Spain. He is a shepherd and dreams that he needs to look for a treasure near the pyramids in Egypt. The book talks about the journey of Santiago from Spain to Egypt. He never would have left Spain but dares to take a trip into an unknown land and meet various people. The book explains the knowledge he gains during his journey, hardships, friendships, trust, and believing in himself the most. The book also talks about wanting something really bad and that one is ready to do anything to get that while trying to make sense of the hardships.

The book was not just a story of a boy, but I felt that it was philosophical in a way. We all have our goals to achieve and meet a variety of people and situations on the way. Treasure in this case is the things we chase in life that we feel make our lives better. There are heartbreaks that can either be a boon or a curse, but we all have to face them. The book is also about self-realization, which I feel is part of life and the goal we all try to achieve.

My favorite character in this book was Santiago. He represented me and the struggles of my life. Santiago is persistent about getting the treasures and tries to trust everyone he meets. He looks for a silver lining in every situation and never gives up easily.

This book was an eye-opener about life. The struggles, unexpected situations, and the chase towards a common goal were very relatable. I felt like this book resembled 'Life of Pi' in some ways. This book was also about resilience, struggle, and going back to one's roots. In the end, it leaves many questions - Was the journey worth the effort? Was that the treasure I was looking for? Did I find my treasure? Were my struggles worth the experience?

Favorite lines from the book:

• I weep for Narcissus, but I never noticed that Narcissus was beautiful. I weep because each time he knelt beside my banks, I could see, in the depths of his eyes, my own beauty reflected.
• Well, usually I learn more from my sheep than from books.
• The day was dawning, and the shepherd urged his sheep in the direction of the sun. They never have to make any decisions, he thought. Maybe that's why they always stay close to me.
• I couldn't have found God in the seminary, he thought, as he looked at the sunrise.
• It's this: at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie.
• And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it.
• If you start out by promising what you don't even have yet, you'll lose your desire to work toward getting it.
• For her, every day was the same, and when each day is the same as the next, it's because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day the sun rises.
• Because it's the thought of Mecca that keeps me alive. I'm afraid that if my dream is realized, I'll have no reason to go on living.
• You must always know what is that you want.
• Every blessing ignored becomes a curse.
• The closer one gets to realizing his Personal Legend, the more that Personal Legend becomes his true reason for being.
• Learning something new is an unnecessary burden.
• We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it's our life or our possessions, and property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and history of the world were written by the same hand.
• Once you get into the desert, there is no going back. And, when you can't go back, you have to worry only about the best way of moving forward. The rest is up to Allah, including the danger.
• Walking along in silence, he had no regrets. If he died tomorrow, it would be because God was not willing to change the future. He had lived every one of his days intensely since he had left home so long ago If he died tomorrow, he would already have seen more than other shepherds, and he was proud of that.
• Every search begins with beginner's luck. And every search ends with the victor's being severely tested.
• When you possess great treasures within you and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed.
• "But this payment goes beyond my generosity," the monk responded. "Don't say that again. Life might be listening, and give you less next time."
• Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.
• People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.

The Storyteller's Secret

Author: Sejal Badani

Genre: Fiction

Rating: 2 out of 5

Date Started: 14 June 2021

Date Finished: 1 July 2021

This was recommended by Goodreads, and the storyline sounded interesting. Goodreads also had more than 4 stars for this book, and I trusted the reviews. I also tend to read books by South Asian authors since I can relate to them easily.

Jaya, who is a journalist in New York, has had three miscarriages and has separated from her husband Patrick. Jaya was born and brought up in the USA by her Indian parents. Her father is a doctor, and Jaya does not so a good relationship with her mother and considers her cold. One day Jaya finds a letter addressed to her mother about her mother Lena's father Deepak being serious in India.

Jaya tries to find reasons for her never visiting India as a child to see her grandparents and Lena has no answer for that. Faced with separation from Patrick due to her miscarriages, and needing a change of scenery, Jaya decided to go to India to visit her grandfather against the wishes of her mother. She lands in the ancestral village and learns that her grandfather Deepak passed away a few days before her visit. Her grandmother Amisha died when Lena was a child.

She meets the family's loyal servant Ravi, and he narrates the stories about the family. Ravi comes from a lower caste and is considered untouchable. Jaya's grandmother Amisha does not believe in the caste system and takes Ravi as one of the servants in the house along with others. Ravi tells Jaya about Amisha, who loved to write stories and taught story writing in the local Raj (British) school. Amisha is fond of learning and tries to learn English from Lieutenant Stephan.

The story walks through the family life, Amisha's love for English and learning in general, society, and the interactions with Stephan. Jaya gets to meet Ravi's family as well. Ravi, in honor of Amisha, names his great-granddaughter as Misha. Ravi talks about Amisha and the relationship she has with everyone in the family and in the village. During the trip, Jaya realizes the reasons for her mother's cold behavior, and why she never visited India.

My favorite character in the book was Ravi. He was the best friend and a great confidant Amisha could have. He not only supported Amisha in everything she wanted to do. He was the one Amisha could trust to keep her secrets. Ravi seemed like he was indebted to Amisha because she treated him an equal, and paid him way more than anyone else in the village, which helped him and his family build a better life. He keeps all her secrets as promised and lets Jaya know about Amisha.

Where do I start! I was glad the book ended! The books could have been not more than 150 pages, and the story dragged on. Amisha's story was way longer than it should have been, and I felt that story development was slower than it should have been. Both the story and the end were very predictable and had no surprise element. If I could I would not have read this book!

Favorite lines from the book:

• Sometimes loving something isn't enough.
• Sometimes, Jaya, it is best to leave things if they cause you harm.
• Living in New York, I am used to beggars. As guilty as others, I give my standard response, shaking my head and walking away. But never have I ever been faced with children. The sight of them begging, some barely old enough to walk, turns my stomach.
• Amisha, also married at fifteen, knew girls are married at all ages. A poor family could barter its newborn away for a bag of rice. Fifteen, in some villages, was thought too old.
• Hope was her life raft that tone day they would be valued. Hope is a four-letter word and one of the simplest in the English language; contrast that with floccinaucinihilipilification, one of the most complicated.
• Death was a gift given to them because, once dead, they longer had to fear life. Death was freedom. Never should the hand of death be fought; rather, it should be welcomed as a savior into the home.