Stolen Innocence

Title: Stolen Innocence
Author: Elissa Wall
Published: 2008
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 3 out of 5

I love to read books about women who have overcome oppression and abuse. Last year I read three books of FLDS escapees including 'Escape' by Carolyn Jessop. It is hard to believe even in this time and age, people are brainwashed and abused in the name of religion.

Elissa writes about her polygamist family and childhood. She is ordered to marry her first cousin when she was 14 years old, whom she despises. Not knowing what comes after marriage, she is abused by her husband and gets pregnant, suffers miscarriages. She meets another FLDS member and falls in love with him. After Warren Jeffs was captured, she fights FLDS in court. All along she hopes that she would get out of FLDS, but extremely scared to do so.

It was quite interesting for me to read that her parents were converts to FLDS. I was unable to understand an educated man like him was brainwashed into FLDS! She talks about others in the community who she says knew things were wrong and why did not they take any action?

I am glad she has overcome the abuse and hard times and now leading a good life. But somehow her story left a lot of questions unanswered.

Favorite lines from the book : 

• Evil flourishes when good men do nothing. - EDMUND BURKE

The Survival Kit

Title: The Survival Kit
Author: Donna Freitas
Published: 2011
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3 out of 5

This book was recommended by Goodreads. My first book by Donna Freitas, which was an easy read (young adult and chick-lit).

The book starts with the death of Rose's mother. On the day of her mother's funeral, Rose finds a 'survival kit' by her mom with Rose's name on it. The bag contains a picture of peonies, a crystal heart, a paper star, an iPod, crayons, and a paper kite. Rose tries to figure out the meaning of all those items left by her mother to continue in her life.

Rose has a great group of friends and one of them Krupa who is closest and does help Rose a lot to overcome the grief of losing her mother. Rose's dad turns alcoholic and self-destructive after the death of his wife. Her grandmother is very supportive and caring but rough around the edge. Rose's brother Jim is in college. Rose also has a neighbor who is a senior in the same high school and is a hockey player and a gardener, who has lost his dad to cancer too.

The high school life, dealing with grief, peer pressure, and trying to move forward for Rose was pretty difficult. As she tries to find the meaning behind every item in the survival kit, she finds happiness and clues to look forward to more things in life and let go of her sorrow.

The book was definitely a good read for young adults and not as much for a grown-up. Rose's rollercoaster ride to overcome the death of her mother is written very well.

Favorite lines from the book :

• Why is it that when we lose something big, we begin to lose everything else along with it? 
• The girl I am now, this girl--she survived. I just needed a little help getting here.

Unaccustomed Earth

Title: Unaccustomed Earth
Author: Jhumpa Lahiri
Published: 2009

Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4 out of 5

After reading 'The Namesake', I was pretty impressed by Lahiri's writing. So took up 'Unaccustomed Earth', which is a collection of short stories. Loved all the stories, though some could have been less draggy.

Unaccustomed Earth: This story is about a young mother Ruma in a new city. After the death of her mother, her father visits her for the first time. Ruma has never lived her with father alone and has never connected to him. Her father takes care of her son and tends to the garden in the backyard while keeping his friendship with another woman a secret. The father-daughter-grandkid relationship and how Ruma overcomes the unknown fear of living with her father has been written brilliantly.

Hell-Heaven: This is about a housewife and an acquaintance Pranab whom she falls in love with. He marries an American and the Bengali community is upset about him not keeping in touch with any of the old friends, which they blame on his American wife. All the friends are invited to Pranab's house for Thanksgiving after 20 years. The twists and turns after the gathering are interesting.

A Choice of Accommodations: This is about a couple who have planned a romantic getaway when they attend a friend's wedding and it takes a dark turn.

I did not quite understand this story, except for the ups and downs in a marriage that everyone faces. I didn't get what the author was trying to say!

Only Goodness: This is about a woman who tries to give a perfect life to her brother who is an alcoholic while dealing with her parents and their cultural differences.

Nobody's Business: Sangeeta is in love with Farouk and her roommate says that Farouk is cheating on her after a woman calls up home and asks if Sangeeta and Farouk are cousins. The story went on and on without any conclusion.
 
Hema and Kaushik: A three-story linked with two main characters named Hema and Kaushik. The story intensely deals with life, death, love, and fate. It is a very well-written story about two families and how one deals with death and loss. The way this story ended was totally unexpected and left me in disbelief.

Overall, the book was good and I enjoyed reading it. I like the intricacy of relationships, emotions and cultural differences are presented.

Favorite lines from the book :

• Megan laughed at such moments, wiping off their hands and faces, convinced that her children could survive anything. She spent her days with people who were fighting for their lives, and could not be shaken by a scraped elbow or a hundred-degree fever.
• "I'm not planning on getting married any time soon," I told her, and she said that she wished she could say the same for dying.
• Even my memories of my mother had begun to break apart in the three and half years since her death, the thousands of days I had spent with her reduced to a handful of stock scenes. I was lucky, compared to Rupa and Piu, having had my mother for as long as I did.
• I had never traveled alone before and I discovered that I liked it. No one in the world knew where I was, no one had the ability to reach me. It was like being dead, my escape allowing me to taste that tremendous power my mother possessed forever.

Gone Girl

Title: Gone Girl

Author: Gillian Flynn

Published: 2012

Genre: Fiction

Rating: 1 out of 5

I had read very good reviews about this book on Goodreads, NY Times, and other blogs I follow. I am not sure how do I put this book in words!

Amy is the daughter of the author's parents who has written the 'Amazing Amy' book series. Amy is married to Nick Dunne. Both Amy and Nick are writers working in New York City and both of them lose the job. Amy's parents are in bad financial condition and they borrow money from Amy's trust fund. Nick's mother is diagnosed with cancer and his twin sister Go (Margo) asks for his help and Nick decides to move to Missouri with Amy. Amy is a creepy perfectionist. Amy maintains a diary where she records her thoughts and feelings about mid-west life. She is good friends with Nick's mother and her friends. Amy does not have any friends. Nick borrows money from Amy and opens a bar with his twin sister. 

On their 5th anniversary, Amy disappears from home. Nick is the suspect for killing Amy, but her body is nowhere to be found. Amy's blood is in the kitchen, cleaned up, messed up the living room, tea kettle on the stove which is switched on. All the clues point to Nick as a killer. But Amy has planned all this elaborately for about a year and has run off with about ten thousand dollars. Nick gets on TV to plead to Amy to come home. Nick tries to get help from Amy's friends but their involvement does not help either. Amy goes from place to place and clears all her tracks. She watches Nick on TV and not sure if she wants to go back. I won't spoil the plot further (in case you find the book interesting!).

I found Amy very stubborn, creepy perfectionist, mentally twisted, and evil. Nick on the other hand is a normal guy. The book was very slow in the beginning and as I was thinking of dropping the book, it suddenly had a nice twist and got interesting. Then it dragged on and on and on. I was unable to understand the end! I am clueless to figure what exactly was the ending. Now that I have completed the book, I feel I wasted my time with this book. I was very disappointed with this book. And I am not sure if I want to read other books by Gillian Flynn.

Favorite lines from the book:

• There's something disturbing about recalling a warm memory and feeling utterly cold.
• But there's no app for a bourbon buzz on a warm day in a cool, dark bar. The world will always want a drink.
• People say children from broken homes have it hard, but the children of charmed marriages have their own particular challenges.
• Sleep is like a cat: It only comes to you if you ignore it.
• Republicans go to Sam's Club. Democrats go to Costco.
• Love makes you want to be a better man. But maybe love, real love, also gives you permission to just be the man you are.
• There is an unfair responsibility that comes with being an only child - you grow up knowing you aren't allowed to disappoint, you're not even allowed to die. There isn't a replacement toddling around; you are it.

The Fault In Our Stars

Title: The Fault In Our Stars
Author: John Green
Published: 2012
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4 out of 5

This was my first book by John Green recommended by Goodreads after I read 'Me Before You'. I loved loved loved this book! Lots of Kleenex, tears, and sobs and I wasn't ready it close it. This book is about teenagers who are either going through cancer treatment or are in remission. It is heart-wrenching to read the treatments, pain, and kids dealing with the death of their friends. The characters fit perfectly with the story but somehow sounded very mature for their age and thinking. But I kept thinking maybe it was so because of the hardships they go through. Parents of those kids don't have it easy either (no parent should ever go through that).

Hazel Grace Lancaster is a 16-year-old with stage IV thyroid cancer and has been living with an oxygen tank since she was diagnosed at the age of 12. She is on an experimental drug that keeps her tumors shrunk, but she is called "Terminal" all along. She attends a support group at a church and meets Augustus Waters, who is in remission for nearly a year and a half. Gus (Augustus), is charismatic, attractive, and handsome with one leg missing due to cancer.

Both Gus and Hazel have a good time with each other while they deal with Isaac and his blindness due to cancer. Gus and Hazel read a book 'An Imperial Affliction', which does not have an end. Gus, through 'Make A Wish Foundation', takes Hazel to Amsterdam to meet the author of that book, but the main reason was to spend more time with Hazel. Hazel knows that Gus has a future whereas she doesn't. The relationship she has with her parents is beautifully written too. She is sad about her parents going through pain and the issues with money because of her. She is always sad to see her dad cry. The only time she behaves as a teen is When is interacting with her parents.

Humor, death, cancer, loss of sight, love, losing someone you love and know, thoughts about death, afterlife, and funerals through a teen's perspective are written very well. I have read many reviews about this book and the author and pretty much everyone says that the characters are the same in all his books, but his books have really good ratings. I will probably read more of John Green's books.

Favorite lines from the book:

• Whenever you read a cancer booklet or website or whatever, they always list depression among the side effects of cancer. But, in fact, depression is not a side effect of cancer. Depression is a side effect of dying.
• Don't tell me you are one of those people who becomes their disease.
• What a slut time is. She screws everybody.
• You say you're not special because the world doesn't know you, but that's an insult to me. I know about you.
• Some infinities are bigger than other infinities.
• You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful.
• The only person I wanted to talk about his death was him.
• The pleasure of remembering had been taken from me because there was no longer anyone to remember with.
• Pain is like fabric: The stronger it is, the more it's worth.
• Grief does not change you. It reveals you.
• The marks humans leave are too often scars.
• You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers.

The Unexpected Son

Title: The Unexpected Son

Author: Shobhan Bantwal

Published: 2010

Genre: Fiction

Rating: 3 out of 5

I have read Shobhan Bantwal's books before and haven't been impressed by her writing. I feel that the plot of her stories is good but the narration along the way loses strength and the story becomes stale.

Vinita Shelke-Patil lives in New Jersey and is married to Girish Patil for nearly 25 years and has a 23 years old daughter Arya. Vinita receives a letter from India written by an anonymous person which says that her son has cancer and in need of help and her brother Vishal could provide more details. She thinks back about 30 years when she was in college and in love with a local goon. As a result, she is pregnant and despite her family's pressure to abort, she decides to keep the baby. During birth, Vinita is sick and loses her baby, or at least that's what she was told.

Later she meets Girish, marries him, and lives a happy life. After she receives the letter, her husband Girish is upset that she kept the secret for 25 years and now she is traveling to India to meet her sick son and help him with a bone marrow transplant. Vinita confronts her family back in India for keeping her son a secret and meets her son who was adopted by a couple who live in the same town. She finds out that the adoptive father and the actual father of her son Rohit are arch-rivals and are leaders of two different groups fighting for heritage and could even kill each other. Vinita stays in Palgaum for an extended period of time trying to donate bone marrow to Rohit but ends up malaria. She meets Rohit's actual father and asks him to help his only son, but he denies it. While all this is going on, her married life is turbulent since her husband Girish neither speaks to her over the phone nor communicates through e-mail. Vinita is now worried that Girish is planning to file for a divorce. The end was surprising but stale.

Shobhan has written about Palgaum which I feel is Belgaum, located on the border of Karnataka and Maharashtra, where clashes for language and heritage are still alive today. The middle-class family of Shelkes and the adolescent years have been written very well. Arya's character is very mature for her age and is very broad-minded to accept her mother's past. The coverage of local politics was completely pointless and unnecessary. Some of the chapters were pointless and had nothing significant. 

I was neither impressed with the story nor the writing. I don't think I will read another book by Shobhan Bantwal unless it is exceptionally good.

Favorite lines from the book:

• Happiness was only a state of mind, a fleeting and fragile condition that could be shattered in an instant.
• Fate was an odd thing. Events returned full circle sometimes, leaving one helpless and struggling against the tide.
• Anger is such a wasted emotion when you don't know whether you'll be alive next week or not.

Funny In Farsi

Title: Funny In Farsi

Author: Firoozeh Dumas

Published: 2004

Genre: Memoir

Rating: 5 out of 5

This book was recommended by my colleague who said 'I am sure you will like it and enjoy it', and I did!

A fun-filled memoir of an Iranian, Firoozeh who moved to the US in 1972 when she was seven. Her father who studied in the US speaks highly about the US but Firoozeh and her mother are clueless since they do not have firsthand knowledge of the country and do not know English.

Being from Asia, I could relate to Firoozeh culturally. I had wondered about some of the same things which she mentions in the book (hushpuppies and hotdogs??!). It was good to read the interview by Khalid Hosseini who also comes from similar background culturally.

Firoozeh Dumas also writes about the painful part of the history Iranians lived, when Americans were held hostage in Tehran. It must have been tough on the Iranian community back then when they did not have to do anything with the hostage situation.

Overall, I had a great time reading this book and some really LOL (I mean really out loud) moments in the book.

Favorite lines from the book -

• At an age, when most parents are guiding their kids toward independence, my mother was hanging on to me for her dear life.
• I wanted to tell her that Mickey was the reason I was lost in the first place. Had I not been trying to talk to him on those so-called phones, I wouldn't be sitting here. I didn't owe that rodent anything.
• For American friends, "a visiting relative" meant a three-night stay. In my family, relatives' stays were marked by seasons, not nights.
• Seeing our puzzled expressions, she showed us a picture of a beautiful, long-haired cat. "It's a Persian cat," she said. That was news to us; the only cats we had ever seen back home were the mangy strays that ate scraps behind people's houses.
• I now had two hurdles to overcome, fear of water and fear of being in the water with my father.
• Perhaps the greatest irony in the wave of Iranian-hating was that Iranians, as a group, are among the most educated and successful immigrants in this country. Nobody asked our opinions of whether the hostages should be taken, and yet every single Iranian in America was paying the price. One kid throws a spitball and the whole class gets detention.
•  My mother learned what she knows about dating from Days of our lives. The only dates my father knew about contained pits.

The Woman He Loved Before

Title: The Woman He Loved Before

Author: Dorothy Koomson

Published: 2013

Genre: Fiction

Rating: 3 out of 5

Again, this book was recommended by Goodreads. The story sounded interesting too. Somehow I have been reading books by European authors lately and like their style of writing.

Libby (Liberty) meets Jack in a car dealership and thinks he is arrogant. Jack portrayed as a sweet person hunts Libby and long story short, both end up getting married. Jack is still not over grieving over his first wife Eve, who died in an accidental fall. Jack is still in love with Eve and not ready to let go of her. Jack and Libby are in a car accident and series of events happening after the accident make Libby feel that Jack was the one who killed Eve. One day she finds Eve's diaries in the basement and knows she is in danger of being killed too. Eve writes about herself even before she met Jack.

Jack seems like a very loving and caring husband to both Eve and Libby. Libby, even after being married to Jack for two years isn't sure if she took her decision in a haste but sees that Jack is still in love with Eve. Life is really not fair with some people, and Eve was one of them. Despite that, she sounded like a very strong person to put her physical and emotional scars behind after she married Jack.

The book is about love, choices, and consequences of how the present is affected by the choices we made in the past. I liked the way Koomson has written about Libby being confident and how she is shattered about her self-esteem after the accident.  The story was captivating, but the ending was pretty bland. The end was definitely not as strong as the entire book, hence only three stars. In all, I would suggest this for a beach read.

Favorite lines from the book :

• I would rather have nothing than something that was only alright.
• Money isn't the root of all evil; the love of money isn't the root of all evil; the NEED for money is the root of all evil.
• No matter how much you love a man, always have a stash of money that would get you as far away from him as possible in an emergency.
• When you love someone, them being hurt is worse than any pain that you could suffer.

Before I Fall

Author: Lauren Oliver

Published: 2010
Genre: Fiction

Rating: 3 out of 5

This is my first book by Lauren  Oliver. This book was recommended by Goodreads and after reading the description, decided to read it. "What if you only had one day to live? What would you do?" caught my attention.

Samantha Kingston (Sam), Ally, Elody, and Lindsay are a group of friends and are popular (in a mean way) in their high school. Sam has a boyfriend Rob and a good friend Kent. All the girls bully Juliet Sykes. February 12th, which is a 'Cupid Day' should have been like any ordinary day for Sam. All of them attend the party at Kent's home that night and end up in a car accident. Then Sam wakes up, only to find out, it's Friday, February 12 again. Sam goes through the same experience of the same dream six more times and tries to analyze the meaning behind her experience and the actions of everyone around her including herself.

Lauren Oliver has a keen insight and a brutal view of high school life including friendship, bullying, cruelty, and carelessness of kids. The first few chapters were not particularly interesting, but in the later chapters, as Sam tries to perfect her last day and analyze people and situations, it gets interesting. Sam tries to perfect her last day by doing things differently to her family, friends, and herself.

The plot was good but felt it was a bit draggy. The story left me thinking, that anyone could go through that, even grownups and it’s never too late to change anything. Even as grownups, we tend to hold anger and grudge towards someone, and if we really think and analyze the situation, people, and ourselves, I am sure one is able to let go of all the bitter feelings.

I would recommend this book mostly to young adults. I am interested to read more books by this author.

Forgot to mention – On page 50, it says “like when you hear thunder and know that any second you’ll see lightning tearing across the sky”. As far as I know, it’s the lightning which comes first, then the thunder! Light travels faster than sound.

Favorite lines from the book :

• Some things are better left buried and forgotten.
• Most of the time, one night blends into the next, and weeks blend into weeks and months into other months. And sooner or later, we all die.
• A good friend keeps your secrets for you. A best friend helps you keep your own secrets.
• Here’s another thing to remember; hope keeps you alive. Even when you’re dead, it’s the only thing that keeps you alive.
• That’s the best thing about best friends. That’s what they do. They keep you from spinning off the edge.
• It amazes me how easy it is for things to change, how easy it is to start off down the same road you always take and wind up somewhere new. Just one false step, one pause, one detour, and you end up with new friends or a bad reputation or a boyfriend or a breakup. It’s never occurred to me before; I’ve never been able to see it. And it makes me feel, weirdly, like maybe all of these different possibilities exist at the same time, like each moment we live has a thousand other moments layered underneath it that look different.
• So many things become beautiful when you really look.
• I shiver, thinking about how easy it is to be totally wrong about people – to see one tiny part of them and confuse it for the whole, to see the cause and think it’s the effect or vice versa.
• The scariest secret of all, the part we’re trying to forget.
• Sometimes I’m afraid of what I’m leaving behind.
• I guess that’s what saying goodbye is always like – like jumping off an edge. The worst part is making the choice to do it. Once you’re in the air, there’s nothing you can do but let go.

The Namesake

Title: The Namesake

Author: Jhumpa Lahiri

Published: 2004

Genre: Fiction

Rating: 5 out of 5

I have been planning to read this book for quite a while now. Tried to read it two times before but some things in life took priority over reading the book. I had watched the movie a long time ago (and I hardly remember scenes from the movie which is good for reading the book). This is my first book by Jhumpa Lahiri.

Her style of writing is excellent with simple English and made me feel like one of the characters in the book.

Being an immigrant myself, I can totally relate to Ashima and Ashoke about the life they live - missing family, bringing up kids, new things to learn, meeting new friends, adapting oneself to the new environment and the culture clash kids go through sometimes.

The two scenes in the book was very touching to me where Gogol feels what his parents might have felt when their parents died and wonders how did they live here with such courage being on their own. The second one was the last chapter when Ashima is packing up her stuff after selling the house. That is written in such detail that I could see Ashima right in front of me doing everything as I read.

Overall it's a good book. I also felt that it was much difficult to bring up kids in a different culture in the 70s-80s than it is now. But I would think one would enjoy it more if one has a bit of knowledge about Indian culture and immigrant life.

Favorite lines from the book:

• He is terrified to see his mother, more than he had been to see his father's body in the morgue. He knows now the guilt that his parents carried inside, at being able to do nothing when their parents had died in India, of arriving weeks, sometimes months later, when there was nothing left to do.

•  For thirty-three years she missed her life in India. Now she will miss her job at the library, the women with whom she's worked. She will miss throwing parties. She will miss living with her daughter, the surprising companionship they have formed, going into Cambridge together to see old movies at the Brattle, teaching her to cook the food Sonia had complained of eating as a child. Se will miss the opportunity to drive, as she sometimes does on her way home from the library, to the university past the engineering building where her husband once worked. She will miss the country in which she had grown to know and love her husband. Though his ashes have been scattered into the Ganges, it is here, in this house and in this town, that he will continue to dwell in her mind.