The author, Preethi Nair, was apparently turned down by several publishing houses before she decided to self-publish and promote her novel. It was successful – sold 2000 copies at an independent bookseller – but for mysterious reasons left unspoken, she didn’t follow-up on that success. When she finally wrote her second novel, the first was reissued as part of that publishing deal.

The story is written in three parts from the perspectives of three different characters: Evita/Molu, an woman adopted from India as a child and raised in North London; her adoptive mother Auntie Sheila and her adoptive father, Uncle Bali.

I found parts of the book, particularly the first story of ‘Evita’ hard to follow. As a result, I didn’t develop the necessary ‘suspension of disbelief’ required for the more esoteric aspects of the novel. Early on, it started to feel silly and self-consious. In the opening story, the young protagonist quits her job and is taken on a spontaneous journey into a far-off land, after she sees an ‘African Dancer’ prance across her computer keyboard. She is troubled by the insistent beat of drums in her head. Instead of coming across as magical and serendipitous (which seems to be the author’s intention), it seems wacky and ill-timed.

It’s a shame, because some parts (particularly the story of the Uncle and the Aunt) were well-written and engrossing. If the plot of the book was restructured and expanded around their life experiences, insted of merely becoming props to the weak plot of the ‘African Dancer,’ it would have been a better book. Instead, I would be shocked out of my enjoyment of their stories by side-references to ‘following the African Dancer.’ I was put off by this and found that using this ‘thread’ to tie the stories together simply didn’t work. It felt pretentious to me.

I wouldn’t recommend this book.

This is one of those books I’ve been meaning to read for years. I first heard of Viktor Frankl in Stephen Covey’s book ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.’ I’m not sure what inspired me to look the book up now, but perhaps my recent travel to Europe and passing through Amsterdam (Anne Frank) tickled my memory of it.

Although I was a bit intimidated by the Logotherapy angle (and found the last part of the book the hardest to get through), I was fascinated by Frankl’s story and in particular, the very calm and clear way he presented it. It takes a special kind of person to take a ‘the cup is half-full’ perspective on life in a concentration camp.

Frankl makes no bones about the hardships and horror’s he suffered or the hard decisions he made to get through them. In the opening pages, he emphasizes that those who survived did so through any means necessary. He says simply: “We sho have come back, by the aid of many lucky chances or miracles – wqhatever one may choose to call them – we know: the best of us did no return.” There’s no vestige of ‘survivor’s guilt’ in his statement, just a plain statement of fact.

He doesn’t dwell on the details of camp life, rightly pointing out that it’s already well-documented. Instead, he focuses on the psychological aspects of survival by using his own personal example.

I found the book inspiring and full of hope. Frankl is not naively optimistic, but his observations about the strength of the human spirit are deeply moving.

In my favourite quote from this book, Frankl talks about the power of love as a way of finding meaning:

“The Meaning of Love

Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality. No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves him. By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the bleoved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential in him, which is not yet actualized, but yet ought to actualized. Futhermore, by his love, the loving person enables the beloved person to actualize these potentialities. By making him aware of what he can be and of what he should become, he makes these potentialities come true.”

“In logotherapy, love is not interpreted as a mere ephiphenomenon of sexual drive and instincts in the sense of a so called sublimation. Love is as primary a phenomenon as sex. Normally, sex is a mode of expression for love. Sex is justified, even sanctified, as soon as, but only as long as, it is a vehicle of love. Thus love is not understood as a mere side-effect of sex; rather sex is a way of expressing the experience of that ultimate togetherness which is called love.”
(Page 116)

This book was absorbing, entertaining and mostly forgettable I had a difficult time writing this review because already, the details are slipping from my mind). For me, it was a book to be ‘experienced,’ but not necessarily read again. It’s a shame I couldn’t get the book at the library – The waitlist was 802 people long, so I had to purchase my own copy. It’s not a book I would necessarily keep in my library.

The story was interesting and kept me turning the pages, but I wasn’t moved by it. I didn’t feel any sympathy or empathy with the main character of the story. The supporting characters felt a bit lopsided to me, particularly the men, who seemed like cardboard cutouts. I would have liked to know more about what they were thinking, feeling, and plotting. Because of this, the story seemed incomplete. I was fascinated by the detailed descriptions of the life of Geishas. As the book drew to a close, I was becoming bored with the whole thing. I found the ending predicatable and anticlimatic.

I’m definitely planning to see the movie. The goalie on my hockey team told me that the film is actually better than the book. I’ll reserve judgment, but I have a feeling that if the costumes and scenery of World War II Era Kyoto are depicted with any accuracy, I may enjoy the film very much.

A close friend of mine encountered a few Hare Krishnas during her travels in London and they gave her this book. She gave it to me because it is about the Bhagavad Gita – a Hindu scripture I’ve been studying in-depth.

The book is short and clearly-written. It has a series of beautiful illustrations on glossy paper which I love – they depict Krishna in various scenarios, including a lovely picture of Krishna driving Arjuna’s chariot into battle.

The ideas were presented in a clear and undertandable way, but this is my own perspective. For someone not already familiar with the concepts of the Bhagavad Gita, it might not have been as clear. In fact, I believe some familiarity with the Gita is probably necessary in order to benefit from this book.

Although I didn’t always agree with the Swami’s interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita, I enjoyed his discussion of Jnana and Vijnana. These are difficult concepts and he made them very clear.

My travelling compaion gave me this book for the plane as we were leaving Europe to travel home. It’s a book of various fairytales, including some that should have been familiar to me. One problem: Disney’s interpretations of some of these tales are watered-down and sugar-coated.

I liked these, the original versions, much better! In fact, I found the stories very compelling and couldn’t put the book down. I nearly missed my subway or streetcar a few times, I was so absorbed in this book.

My favourite story is the one of the Snow Queen. I like the thread of the story and the meaning behind it.

I found this book quite by accident while browsing my favourite ‘new age’ bookstore. It was excellent and very helpful to me, as I’m currently grieving a great loss. It was reassuring to have my concerns and feelings addressed. The author takes a very spiritual (quasi-Buddhist) approach to grief that I could relate to.

It was actually very helpful the first time I read it and VERY enlightening, since I’m newly out of a relationship. I’m finding new insights on every page.

I’ve always been fascinated by the Amish – my grandmother lives near an Amish community in Ohio. Once I picked up this book I could NOT put it down. The plot is well-constructed, the characters are compelling and the book has you guessing right up until the very end. Loved it! I recommend it highly!

Angelina is fabulous, gorgeous, amazing. I’m not a fan of Brad Pitt, but he held his own. It was a fun movie. I loved all the gadgets, the violence wasn’t too gratuitous and it held my attention to the end. Great cinema it’s not, but a fun diversion on a summer day? Definitely.

I still have four more to read before the new one comes out. It was great reading through this a second time – I picked up on many things that went over my head the first time.