The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera

Fiction
Verdict: Meh

When I moved out of American Fiction and expanded to Indian authors, the differences in outlook knocked me sideways. For some reason, it never occured to me that European authors would have their own flavor. This book is just one example I've had of that. I can't even decide if I liked it or not - which is quite the statement for me. While we can't pigeon hole groups of people, mindset affects storytelling and different places have different mindsets.

Kundera's novel traces through the life of two couples and the ebb and flow of those relationships. While it's interesting from the viewpoint that relationships are seen in a very different light, the casual nature of the relationships is hard to digest. The idea that connections last but relationships don't always. The over defined sense of self and ease of letting go when the situation changes.

It was certainly educational, if an uncomfortable read for me. There were no major shocks in the plot line, but the subtle tension of will something happen or not was definitely there.

Read it. If nothing else, you'll ponder your own relationships for a while.

Becky

Tell me a Story - Rupa Bajwa

Fiction
Verdict: Read it

It's no surprise. I have a firmly established fetish for stories about average people that explain big things about culture. This book fits that mold perfectly and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Rupa winds a story around a lower middle class family living in Amritsar and how their fortunes and family come and go. There's no fireworks, or dramatic story twists, heros, or villians. It's just a girl that works in a parlor living with her aging father, brother, and his wife and son. They have money problems and things aren't always good.

The reason why this format appeals to me so much is that the characters feel real to me. It's like peaking in a window and observing lives without being a peeping Tom. Since this type of thing fascinates me endlessly, I very much enjoyed this book.

If it fascinates you, or you're looking for additional cultural knowledge on lower middle income Indian families, then by all means read it. If you're already familiar with this, it will probably come off a wee bit dull. My vote is read it.

Essential Rumi

Poetry
Verdict: Read it

Ah Rumi. You and your poety friends continue to elude me. I'll be honest here. I picked up Rumi because I saw a lot of nice Pinterest quotes and I was hoping to cultivate an appreciation and understanding of poetry - especially that of the Urdu variety.

Unfortunately, I did not have any more luck with Rumi than I did with Neruda, Ghalib, etc. This is not to say it wasn't worth reading, nor that it was poorly written. I just felt like I didn't get it.

What I very much did appreciate was the historical and cultural context this book shared with me in regards to Urdu poetry. It was all at once fascinating and terrible to read - I wondered if I was even qualified to understand the explanation, leave alone the poetry.

In the end it was beautiful to read and I will continue my exploration. Hopefully with time and some handy guides to poetry, I should be able to have a better grasp on this type of thing.

Becky