Soldiers Of Salamis - Javier Cercas

After reading this book I searched internet for "Soldiers of Salamis" - what exactly it means, Wikipedia explains this "The book's title is a metaphorical allusion to the famous Battle of Salamis in which the Athenian fleet defeated the Persians. It is composed in a mixture of fact and fiction, which is something of a speciality of the author" . True . This book is mixture of both. I don't know anything about Spanish history so it was bit troublesome to understand some historical characters in this book.

All wars are full of stories that sound like fiction.

This is the story of a journalist who is obsessed with finding truth about the daring escape by Sanchez Mazas from the firing squad. He was particularly intrigued by a Republican soldier who let Mazas go. The book is divided into three parts. In first part , journalist  Javier Cercas was intrigued by the story of Mazas and started making contacts to people associated with Mazas and the incident. He gather enough information except nothing about the solider who let go Mazas. The second part is a biography of Sanchez Mazas. And in the last part , the author meets another great writer Roberto Bolano who shares his experience of working in camp and ask Javier to call one -Miralles.

There're lots of decent people; they're the ones who know enough to say no in time; heroes, on the other hand, are few and far between. Actually, I think there's almost always something blind, irrational, instinctive in a hero's behaviour, something that's in their nature and inescapable.

Javier goes in search of Miralles and found him in a old age home. Miralles was a war veteran who fought the war with Republican. As all the circumstances and details leads to the same location and time as Mazas escape Javier suspects that Miralles was the soldier who let  Mazas go. But Miralles did not confirm it. For the author , he may or may not be that soldier but he completes the story of his book and brings back the memories all those unknown soldiers of the war. The conversation between Miralles and Javier at the nursing home were touching and emotional.

"Someone who considers himself a hero and gets it right. Or someone who has courage and an instinct of virtue, and therefore never makes a mistake, or at least doesn't make mistake the one time when it matters, and therefore can't not be a hero."

The crux of the story is "who is  hero?". The civil society treated Mazas as a hero where as countless soldiers like Miralles were left the world unknown.  Even today the society behaves the same way. The author very cleverly moves around right and wrong , fact and fiction  of the war. The author slowly realizes that the civil war is not the thing of past , it is present and it is alive through the survivors and its affects and influences everyone including his own.

This novel highlights the struggle of writing , being a writer and the creative process involved. The language , pace and insight in each paragraph make this novel one of the best. The author brings the human experience , memory  and various events during the war with sole aim of finding the truth. Whether he found the truth or not that's questionable but he brought back the memories of those  thousands of unknown soldiers to the front.

The book was written in Spanish and translated by Anne McLean.

A classic.

The Gift Of Rain - Tan Twan Eng

To have memories, happy or sorrowful, is a blessing, for it shows we have lived our lives without reservation.

Another Asian writer book which one should not miss. I was really lucky to get this book at the expo. I heard of this author before but could not remember the book name when I was searching ,luckily one guy dropped this book on my foot and I was so happy to see the book and I bought without a second thought!.

Accept that there are things in this world we can never explain and life will be understandable. That is the irony of life. It is also the beauty of it.

After reading Tash Aw's 'The Harmony Silk Factory'  I read about recent Malaysian  history in wikipedia and I got some sort of idea about the life of the people of those time. Reading this book made me aware of the atrocities caused by the Japanese army.  This is the story of Philip Hutton (half Chinese, half English), son of a famous businessman Noel Hutton. Life was going well till he met Mr.Hayato Endo  , a Japanese diplomat. How this unexpected relationship changes his life is the story of this book?

 "What am I teaching you ?" "To fight," I said. "No. That is the last thing I am teaching you. What I wish to show you is how not to fight."

Philip completely believes and trusts Endo .Endo too teach him all he could. Their relations was like master and student.No one suspected Endo , they all had complete faith in him. Endo too treated them well. Philip was influenced by Endo in every aspect of his life. As the war rages around Malaysia, Philip was torn between his families and his Japanese master. Philip realizes that his master duped him and received all the necessary information.In order to save his family he needs to provide information to Endo and act as sort of mole. He was not a traitor but he was forced into. This will haunt him for generations.

Time seems to overlap, like the shadows of leave pressing down on other leave, layer upon layer. 

He also supported the resistance by helping friend Kon who was fighting against Japanese. After the war Philip continued to live in Penang  - some locals thanked for saving lives and some other hated him for his role in deaths of many people. The Japanese were ruthless ,every counter-action was dealt with death . The people of Penang were left with impossibilities. The author did not confront the decisions taken by these people .

The young have hopes and dreams, while the old hold the remains of them in their hands and wonder what has happened to their lives.

The details of Akido adds more weight to the story. Many scenes are cinematic specially the conversations. Through out the novel there was a  constant struggle between duty , family and loyalty.  Philip's dilemma is the heart of this novel. The author beautifully balances the Japanese philosophy ,its art and its war time atrocities. The stories of that period on that part of the world (South East Asia) needs to be told . This is the good book to start.

The writing is fluent , easy and one can finish in one or two sitting. I liked the characters Aunt Mei  and Traids members.  Its better for a reader to read about Malaysian history before reading this book, it will be a great use and make the reading better .

Gripping, believable  and emotionally charging - A good read.

The Good Man Jesus And The Scoundrel Christ - Philip Pullman

I was intrigued by the name of this book. This book is part of "The Myths" series of books. I guessed the story after page 11 and it was correct. The author retells the story of Jesus as if he were two people. In this story Mary gave birth to twins - Jesus and Christ.  Most Christians knew that the Greek word Christ means Messiah. Jews are still waiting for him where as Christians believe the Messiah is Jesus.

"There is time, and there is beyond time. History belongs to time, but truth belongs to what is beyond time. In writing of things as they should have been, you are letting truth into history. You are the word of God."

Christ was the pious one , reading scriptures,discussing their meanings with teachers and listen to Mary and Joseph, Jesus on the other hand learnt carpentry and  did everything on his own. Hearing John preaching , Jesus followed him. As Jesus was start preaching , a stranger appear to Christ and ask him to write down all the things Jesus says and promises that his name will shine with splendour.

 Jesus studiously wrote down all the words spoken by Jesus and the events attributed to Jesus through his informant. In some cases he wrote the real words , and in some he deleted and rewrote the words on his own. The stranger cleverly answers all Christ's questions and make him to believe that his words will be 'word of God ". Christ observed everything about Jesus with undiminished devotion like a artist drawing his masterpiece. Christ even tempted Jesus about having his own followers and a structured organization (Church).

"And think what worrying does: has anyone ever added a single hour to the length of his life by worrying about it?"

In Gethsemane , Jesus prays alone and questions God :"Lord, if I thought you were listening, I'd pray for this above all: that any church set up in your name should remain poor, and powerless, and modest. That it should wield no authority except that of love. That it should never cast anyone out. That it should own no property and make no laws. That it should not condemn, but only forgive" .  On the other side, the stranger makes Christ to believe the good things about Church , its power and why people needs it and recruit him to betray his brother Jesus. Christ did exactly - delivered Judas kiss and betrayed his brother.

The next step on the stranger's plan was resurrection - a staged one. Jesus died and resurrected as Christ. People believed in the resurrection and then Jesus becomes Jesus Christ . To make it believable Christ goes with Jesus's followers to Emmaus and began the process of building the Universal Church in the  name of Jesus Christ. Christ went on to live with his family far away from his home town.

This novel questions the facts and the possible ambiguities in the New Testament. The author says in afterword that he read and reread New Testament and he believes the gospels tells contradicting stories. He says "Most of the gospel narratives describe events at which there were other people present as well as Jesus, who would testify to what had happened.Even strange unlikely events , such as the Transfiguration, occur in the presence of witnesses. There is always someone who can vouch for the truth of the narrative."

 "There are some who live by every rule and cling tightly to their rectitude because they fear being swept away by a tempest of passion, and there are others who cling to the rules because they fear that there is no passion there at all, and that if they let go they would simply remain where they are, foolish and unmoved; and they could bear that least of all. Living a life of iron control lets them pretend to themselves that only by the mightiest effort of will can they hold great passions at bay "

One thing is clear, the author looks the gospels from atheist point of view but he clearly emphasizes the concept of Universal Love in Jesus's life. The author gives his own explanation for various events from Annunciation to Resurrection.  This book made me to read the gospel more closely . This book needs a good amount of knowledge about bible specially the four gospels.  This book garnered lots of criticism from Christians and negative review from believers.

Good Read! A provoking book.

The Girl Who Saved The King Of Sweden - Jonas Jonasson

Get ready for one hell of a roller coaster ride! Though the author dragged the story bit far but still one can enjoy this book.Jonas Jonasson's previous book "The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared" was a huge hit I enjoyed it lot. This book also to certain extends follows the same template. This is farcial , madcap and absurd.

If the person you are talking to doesn’t appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear. Winnie-the-Pooh

This book follows the life of three - an African girl Nombeko Mayeki , intelligent and street smart girl and a "twins who are officially one person".  How these three along with another mad young woman kept the nuclear weapon secret and how they saved the monarchy is the story of this hilarious novel. The story of Nombeko was remarkable - started as latrine cleaner and ended as a ambassador to China through her studious knowledge gathering. The author beautifully explores the life of Soweto people .

With the new antiterrorism laws, the government could call anyone a terrorist and lock him or her up for as long as they liked, for any reason they liked. Or for no reason at all

Among all the characters only Nombeko , Holger Two and the prime minister have some sense. All the other characters act and behave like fools  or may be that's how people react to situation. (??!!). Some times I felt annoyed and sometimes captivating  by those stupid characters popping up here and there. And some part of this novel is very very slow.

“The world went on revolving around its sun at the constant speed and with the inconstant temper it always had.” 

The episodes of Nombeko and Chinese president , the three with King and the prime minister, and  Ingmar's obsession with killing the king - hilarious, specially the actions of Ingmar regarding Monarchy. As in his previous novel - lots of historical characters pops up - Balthazar Vorster, "terrorist" Nelson Mandela ,Olof Palme and Pieter Botha. There are lots of reference to politics of Africa and Sweden and international relationship.

Present—that part of eternity dividing the domain of disappointment from the realm of hope. AMBROSE BIERCE

There are some unforgettable characters other than Nombeko and Holgers - the three Chinese girls creating fake antiques, Vietnam war veteran who built tunnel to escape CIA and the grandma who likes the King and grows potatoes. The author makes the seemingly unbelievable story believable but lack the charm of his first novel "The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared". The writing is clear and funny, though slow at times.

Not a bad one.