Shantaram by Gegory David Roberts-Part 1

At 933 pages this book was daunting at first, but by the end I could have kept reading more. This was a story that grew on me. At first I had to force myself to keep reading as I wondered what do I care about the life of this criminal who has escaped from prison and now living life in India? But it's India, foreign, exotic and completely unlike my own life and culture. The author pulled me in with the description of the smells and colors that someone newly arrived in India might experience. As the main character gets introduced to the people of Bombay and the food and life style the story became more endearing. There is so much to quote in this book I am finding it hard to narrow down. Here is a great picture of the Indian slums:

I began the long walk into the slum. There was an open latrine near the entrance, concealed by tall weeds, and screens made from reed mats. The smell was appalling and almost overpowering. It was like a physical element permeating the air, and it seemed that I could feel it settle on my skin in a thickening, slimy ooze. Gagging and swallowing back the impulse to vomit, I glanced at Prabaker. 'See Lin,' he said, 'See how the people live'. Once past the latrines and within the first lane of huts, however there were fitful guts of wind from a wide arc of seacoast that formed the furthermost edge of the slum. The air was hot and steamy, but the breeze dispersed the stink form the latrine. Smells of spices, cooking and incense predominated. Seen up close, the huts were pitiful structures made from scraps of plastic and cardboard, thin bamboo poles and the flat reed mats for walls. They were erected over bare earth. Patches of concrete and stonework showed in some places where the old floors and foundations of the original building, cleared from the site years before remain intact. As I walked along the narrow rag-and-plastic lanes of the slum, word spread that the foreigner was on his way. Their eyes were wide with surprise and excitement. They burst into fierce gusts of nervous laughter, and shouted to one another, and leaped into jerky, spontaneous dances as we approached. People came out of their huts to stand in every doorway. Dozens, and eventually hundreds, of people crowded into the side-lanes and the occasional gaps between the houses. They were simply staring at my fear. They were trying to understand what demons haunted my mind, causing me to dread so terribly the place they knew to be a sanctuary from fates far worse than slum life.

The slums begins to be the best place Lin has and ever will live because of the people. This is a good point to realize in my life. No matter the size of your dwelling, home it what you make of it and who you are surrounded by while in it. Lin begins serving his fellow neighbors by starting a small medical clinic- mostly treating rat bites, cuts and burns. It is through this service that he forms a close bond with his neighbors, making them like family. (Service brings closeness)

As Lin (the main character) is getting to know India he visits the Standing Babas. "Men who have taken a vow never to sit down, or lie down, ever again, for the rest of their lives. For the first five to ten years of that constant standing, their legs began to swell. Blood moved sluggishly in exhausted veins, and muscles thickened. Their legs became huge, bloated out of recognisable shape, and covered with purple varicose boils. Their toes squeezed out from thick, fleshy feet, like the toes of elephants. During the following years, their legs gradually became thinner, and thinner. Eventually, only bones remained, with a paint-thin veneer of skin and the termite trails of withered veins. Some of the Babas were compelled by something like the vocation that calls other, in other cultures, to become priests, rabbis, or imams. A larger number of them were older men preparing for death and the next level of incarnation. Not a few of the Standing Babas were business men with once successful lives. And there were criminals-thieves, murderers, major mafia figures and warlords. All seeking atonement from their suffering. Their faces were radiant with their excruciation. Sooner or later, in the torment of endlessly ascending pain, every man of them assumed a luminous, transcendent beatitude. Light, made from the agonies they suffered, streamed from their eyes, and I've never know a human source more brilliant than their tortured smiles."

This description intrigued me so I looked up more about the standing Babas online. Here is an interesting clip. I would have to say that their faces do not look radiant with their excruciation though. It's a novel, it sounds good, great really, I get it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojeR1fOKv_A

Crime And Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Having never read a book by a Russian author before I found the names a bit difficult at first. The main character, Raskolnikov, became "Rask" as I spead read his name and his friend Razumihin became known to me as "Raz". I wish they weren't quite so similar. The story was fantastic though and well worth the infamy. I wasn't sure that I wanted to read about the thoughts of a murderer at first. I find it disturbing by how much everyone seems entertained by crime as of late. CSI, Bones, NYPD all seem to glamorize crime to me. I decided this book is so well known that that I will just have to forge through. I'm glad I did. The character Raskolnikov is not a vindictive, revengfull, homicidal mainiac as I feared but a student whose thoughts and hypothesis lead him down a very wrong path as his attempts to greatness were in no way as successfull as Napolean's. The theory that did him wrong: Great, exceptional men often must commit crime on their way to greatness but this is a small, excusable, un-noticed bump when they contribute so much more to the betterment of mankind. Raskolnikov would kill a pawn broker for her money, and with that money become a great scholar or theorist or humanitarian so he hoped. Alas, his theory is not true and suffered mental breakdown because of it. All of the subplots and additional characters made this a fascinating read. He never does feel guilt or a need for repentance by the end of the story but the author aludes that perhaps he may find faith in Christianty yet since his devoted girlfriend finds so much support in it and how can her convictions not now be his own? Great read.

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

I have gotten my hands on a few classics and have thouroughly enjoyed them! The Scarlet Pimpernel was recomended to me by Heather Jones. My edition has Jane Seymour on the cover and I wish it didn't. I'd rather create the character in my own mind then see someone elses version of who they are. The old english was really hard to get used to at first. I set the book down many times during the beginning but by the middle I was hooked and I could not have even guessed about the ending, it was fabulous! Set in the year 1792 during the French Revolution, one english gentelman and his crew have set off to save the lives of French Aristocrats who are being sent to the Guillotine by the hundreds. But who is he?

"We seek him here, we seek him there,
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.
Is he in heaven?-Is he in hell?
That demmed, elusive Pimpernel?"

Awsome.
Very G rated I might add, except for the Guillotine part.
I can't recall reading a book from this far back in history. This fiction painted a picture for me that makes me realize how old Europe really is. Some of the places in London I have visited but never thought about the people from 200 years ago also walking down the same streets, in completly different atire and rules of propriety that I could never even imagine.

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

This book is ficticoulsy based on the life of a first lady, based loosley on Laura Bush. I enjoyed it. The plot was unusal and I couldn't always tell if there was a plot but it kept me entertained. It deals with issues of abortion/pro choice/pro life, upper vs lower classes in America, and child raising along with love and heart break. Here's a quote:
"I can say that the single most astonishing fact of political life to me has been the gullibility of the American people. Even in our cynical age, the percentage of the population who is told something and therefore believes it to be true-it's staggering. In a way, it's also touching; it makes me feel protective. (To be a person who sees a political ad on television and takes the statements in it as fact, how can you exist in this world? How is it you're not robbed daily by charlatans who knowck at your door?)"

So maybe the author and I share a similar perspective, politics involves so many lies and half truths that it's hard to take seriously.

One other thing about this book, the author is a man writing in a female perspective. I think he underestimated the feelings that close female friends share with each other. Alice, the main character and Dena, her best friend since grade school would not have walked away from a 30 year friendship so unintentionally. Maybe I feel this because of a regret from not having my grade school friendships last. Husbands take the place of best friends but the relationship need not be one or the other.

A Place Called Here by Cecelia Ahern

This book deals with the feelings that a friend of a missing girl has. Unlike in the book The Lovely Bones it is unclear if this friend, Jenny-May has been murdered, abducted, or just gotten lost and died of starvation. Not knowing causes pain, maybe more pain than dealing with the hatred that fills a heart after a murder. The not knowing where lost things/people are and the heartache this causes people is the basis of this book. It was interesting to think about the reactions and lives of friends in the same age goup as the missing child. The main character Sandy becomes tragically flawed and an obsession over missing things seems like a natural consequence to having a next door neighbor friend suddenly show up missing and never heard from again. Really it's every parents nightmare no matter if you kid is little or big. I can easily empathize with the characters in the book and pray that I am never forced to really live in this kind of nightmare. Aubrie having wondered off for 40 minutes was enough flood of emotion for me. The rate at wich people's are reported missing all around the world was quite staggering. I wondered what the real statics are. It's also interesting to think about memories being eventually lost. The memory of someone's laugh or smell or smile. It's true these are lost with the passing of time. I wish I could teach my children to have outstanding memories. People with near photographic memories are genius and while I don't expect that of my children giving them the gift of a strong memory seems very important. So should I commit to regular practice? Yes, but as of yet I haven't made it a high enough priority. There always seems to be so much to do. I diegres, the book was great.

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

I was hesitant to write a review for this book, there is so much that I can't wrap my mind around to form any solid opinions. It was very well written, captivating, the movie did a great job but yet I still couldn't put the book down. It does seem probable to me that Mary Magdalene was Jesus' wife. I just don't know how much of the proposed truths to accept into my views of religion and I don't feel like writing a review of my current status of religion. Maybe Constantine the Great did hold the Council of Nicaea where Paganisms was melded into Christianity and Christ being born of divine power was put to a vote. It also seems probable that the Catholic church used the Bible, compiled and edited to their own agenda to rise to power and influence in the world. The statement "we worship the gods of our fathers" is certainly true. Our parents teach us day by day what they feel is important in life weather it be Mormon parents, Catholic or Jewish. The majority of people will feel the same religously as their parents did, though to greater of lesser amounts. I do not know the answer to the religious uprising that this book stirs in me and others who have read the book or saw the movie. But I do know that I just need to try a little harder each day to make good choices, keep an open mind, learn from others (advice, mistakes, life experiences, friendships...) and to love deeply. Wheather or not all the facts in this book are right or not it needn't affect me so much. I needn't go on my own grail quest to find the answers to life. Although it was a great adventure book to read.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

This book came highly recommended to me from DeEtte and I've since found it on "must read" lists. I liked it but it was dark. I know I need to get over my dreams of 'happily ever after' but this book just did not leave me in my happy place when I was done with it. It did however give me insight into these fictional characters struggles that I find fascinating. What would I do in a similar situation? The story is from the point of view of a murdered 8 year old girl. I can still recall the description of the murder in my mind over a month later. I think of it when I pass corn feilds. I'm more worried now that my children will get abducted than before. I hope when (not if) disaster occurs my husband and I will face it clinging tightly together and not alone. I hope if I ever have to face the loss of a child that I won't go insane but know this is something I can't promise. I hope I never have to face a murderer. I also feel that rapists should get the death penalty. All in all I found this book disturbing but a nice slap of reality. Life does not end happily ever after for everyone.