Author Archives: DS

East Wind: West Wind is the first book by Pearl Buck – written in her twenties. It is an easy read. Pearl Buck’s style of simple writing holds for this book as well. She describes mundane things and does not unnecessarily analyze the actions of the characters.

The book gives a good introduction to the Chinese way of life. The story is told from the eyes of a traditional Chinese girl, Kwei-lan, married to a Chinese man, a medical doctor, educated abroad. The story is a monolog told to a lady by Kwei-lan. The lady is addressed as – “Sister”. This sister is apparently a foreigner who has lived all her life in China; much like Pearl S Buck herself. Kwei-lan considers that “sister” is as Chinese as she herself is.

The story is about Kwei-lan, opening up to freedom and points of view of the western world. She is brought up with the belief that western people do dark magic and are uncivilized. Her mother tells Kwei, since god divided the east and the west with a sea in between, it is not right to mix with westerners and go against god’s wishes. When Kwei gets married a man, to who she was betrothed even before her birth, she discovers that he is not what she expects. He does not take interest in her initially. But, when her mother-in-law is rude to Kwei, her husband moves out from his parents’ courts with her into a modern house.

The part of the story where Kwei observes and ponders over the features of the new house is very intriguing. She wonders why they first make a hole in the wall, cover it with glass and then hang curtains over it – they could just cover the holes with colored paper – like they do in traditional Chinese houses. With her bound feet, she finds it difficult to go up and down the stairs. Later, she lets her husband unbind her feet. Then, they start bonding. She begins to believe her husband is a wise man. Also, she discovers how easily she is able to go up and down the stairs with unbound feet.

When a son is born to her, she fears that she will have to part with him once he grows a little older, since he belongs to her husband’s family. When her husband stands up for their son and refuses to part with him, she first thinks, he is being selfish and not fulfilling his responsibilities towards his parents – but then, approves of it.

Kwei-lan’s brother, who studies in America, marries an American lady, Mary. They come back to China to convince his parents to accept their marriage. Kwei speaks to her mother on her brother’s behalf. But her mother would not give in. Kwei’s father is good to Mary and bonds with her but does not accept her into the family. Kwei’s parents ask her brother to give money to Mary and send her back. They want him to marry his betrothed, the daughter of the house of Li’s. He is yet to fulfill his responsibility of giving them a Son. Kwei’s mother wants her son’s first son to be born out of a Chinese woman and fears Mary might get pregnant. This comes true and Mary is pregnant with their first child.

In the climax, Kwei-lan’s mother dies of heartbreak because, her son would not leave the American and marry his betrothed. His Father threatens to disinherit him if he does not marry his betrothed. Eventually, both her brother and his wife, Mary leave the house courts and move out. Kwei’s brother makes the sacrifice of his family and home for Mary and Mary makes the sacrifice of her country. Kwei-lan and her husband are humbled by such love. A Son is born and ties the east and the west together.

Pearl Buck takes the reader thru the journey of Kwei-lan in a way that is exotic. At each point, Kwei compares the traditional Chinese way of doing things with what her husband says is the western way to do the same. Slowly, she learns to live with a balance of what she finds good in the western way of life and the eastern (Chinese) way of life.

Pearl S Buck wrote this book after she had won the Nobel Prize for literature. This book has all the Pearl Buck Magic. I read The Good Earth 5 years ago and the descriptions in the book still remain with me. I thought, this is the best book I would ever read. But then, I was wrong.

Dragon Seed is moving. It is not an easy book to read. “A novel of China Today” says the line under the title on the cover of the book. “Today” is way back in 1942 – during World War II.

Pearl Buck makes you live thru the times of war from the eyes of a Chinese Farmer and his family. It is about war – people in times of war, women in times of war, atrocities in times of war, food and lack of it in times of war, and hope in times of war. Some of the scenes in this book will be with me all my life.

Ling Tan is a farmer. He and his family – wife(Ling Sao), three sons (Lao San, Lao Er, Lao Ta), two daughters-in-law (Orchid, Jade), one daughter (Pansiao) and two grand- children live in a small village near Nanking, China. His Elder daughter is married off to an educated merchant, Wu Lien in Nanking. She lives there with Wu Lien, their two children and Wu Lien’s old mother.

One day, they learn that war is to come. The scene when they see planes bombing for the first time is funny. The bomb drops on a farmer’s field making a large hole. This farmer is happy since he anyway wanted to dig a pond in his field for a long time. He had been putting it off. Others farmers get jealous as they also want ponds in their respective fields. Then, they see smoke rising out of the city when it is bombed. Slowly, the concept of bombing and other modern ammunition dawns on them.

Thru war-pages in the book, which by the way, is most of the book, there are heart moving scenes – of people being killed, of young and old women being raped, of beautiful young boys being raped, etc. Many die and there is a lack of – space, coffins and effort to bury the dead. Many dead are simply thrown into the river. In summer, they see the ill effects of this when the water is contaminated and diseases spread causing more deaths.

Like thousands of other families, Ling Tan’s family also goes thru all this. Old Mother and Orchid are raped and they die. Lao Ta is “used as a woman”, but he survives it. Lao San’s children die of diseases. War changes the very personalities of the characters in the book. It makes them thick skinned – indifferent to killing a fellow human.

Among so many depressing things, Pearl Buck keeps alive an element of hope. Despite this, it is difficult to not cry when reading the book.

The book ends thus:

“Is there not promise of rain?” Ling Tan asked suddenly out of darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
“Only a promise,” Lao Er said.

Ling Tan’s thoughts are intriguing and most enjoyable to read. When Ling Tan learns that the earth is round, he imagines a foreigner on the other side of the earth tilling the land. The following excerpt is in this context:

“But the foreigner on the other side of the land grew to be a joke in the Ling Tan’s household, and if the soil grew dry he would pretend to grumble that the foreigner on the other side had drained it, or if his turnips came up smaller than they should, he said the foreigner was pulling the roots”

Another interesting thought of Ling Tan:

“To him the stars were a handful of lights, lanterns, jewels perhaps, toys and decorations, things for beauty rather than use, like a woman’s earrings.”

Food descriptions thru out the book make you hungry. The way they are cooked, the way they look, they smell, they taste, and how nutritious they are… slurrp!! There are paragraphs and paragraphs about food scattered all over the book.

“Out of the eggs she had brought and with some bits of meat and onion she found in a bowl on the table she made a dish so fragrant with goodness that Wu Lien, waking a little to brush off a fly, smelled it and opened his eyes.”

“Here was this good food under his nostrils, eggs such as a city man does not know from birth to death, and he plunged in his two chopsticks and did not take the bowl from his face until it was empty.”

Here is one of the thought provoking paragraphs. This is when Pansiao thinks how the girl her brother would marry should be:

“Did she love her brother or hate him when she thought thus of him? Some of both, she thought for he was both lovable and hateful. Perhaps any woman, even the one sought, would love and hate him, and she must be the one in whom these two did not quarrel, so that when hate came love was not killed by it, and when love waxed, hate stayed for self- defense.”

There are phrases and descriptions in the book that show that women were trivialized in those times. Phrases like – “in the end, she is only a woman“. Jade’s character captured changes in women in those times. Jade is an independent and forward thinking woman that wants to do more than rear children. Her husband seeks her advice in tough times and she demonstrates a lot of talent and intelligence.

This is best book I would ever read.

This book review is written and submitted by DS

I’m new to reading non-fiction. Perhaps, this is why it took me longer than usual to read this book.

The book is about Indian Women – by Elisabeth Bumiller, published in 1990. Being an Indian and a Woman, the book is of interest to me. Moreover, reading the state of Indian Women as perceived by a third party – an American Woman, is interesting.

A glance at the book’s cover, and I thought, this would be another book by a Foreign Woman writer where she would portray a blown up picture of how bad the condition of Indian women is, how they are tortured and ill-treated, how mindless the traditions are, how poor the poor women are, etc. But then, I was pleasantly surprised. Elisabeth Bumiller did try, not to be judgmental and succeeded thru most of the book. The picture she portrays about Indian Women is close to accurate. No doubt, the information provided is somewhat dated but, the problems she speaks about pretty much exist even today – only different in extent. Some things are better now and some things are worse.

Elisabeth speaks of sati and progressive women in India in the same breath. She does not just say – female feoticide (Sex selective abortion) happens in such and such village in Tamilnadu and goes on to crib how cruel it is, etc. She goes and finds out the root cause of this and gets pretty much convinced of the reasons. It is this element in the author, that makes the book flow from one problem to the other – dowry deaths, sati, female feoticide, problems of working women, women artists, urban women, etc. In the end, you see how they are all inter-related.

Despite its paradoxes, the lives of Indian Women are constantly troubled by one common problem – that looks not so important initially. The problem is, An average Indian man is far from beginning to respect an average Indian Woman. Centuries and centuries of such culture have given birth to, many other problems and nourished them.

Having been brought up mostly in urban India, I did not know quite a few things mentioned in this book. Still, when reading the book, I could relate to it most times.

It all starts at birth – those who know a girl is to be born kill it in the womb. Those that do not have access to such technology – kill the girl after it is born. They would not let a girl be born. This is because, a girl child brings along a bundle of problems both to her parents and to herself.

Though illegal, Dowry (wealth given to the groom’s family) is a very prevalent phenomenon. The groom’s side of the family consider it their right and bride’s side spend all their lives saving for the dowry. Some brides that do not bring enough dowry to satisfy the whims of their in-laws are burnt to death.

The classification is made at the time of birth of a Child. A Girl is a liability. A Boy is an asset. Since, a girl is to be given away in a wedding along with a lot of dowry, it is considered unnecessary to spend too much on her education/ food and she is never treated as apart of the family into which she is born. While boys her age, go to school and are preparing to face the life ahead, she is at home preparing for marriage. Thus handicapped from being able to do anything other than being married.

Thankfully, the inhuman practice of sati (the practice burning the widow of a man on his funeral pyre) is almost dead. But the condition of Widows in certain parts of India is still, pathetic.

Elisabeth’s interviews with working women – actresses, artists and others bring out a very interesting fact. Almost none of them think they never ever faced a problem because of being women. Could it be that, our expectations are low in the first place?

Aparna Sen, a renowned film director’s answer to one of Elisabeth’s question was very amusing and deep at the same time

Interviewers from other Indian magazines were always asking her how she managed to cope as a wife, mother and a filmmaker, and her answer was that she did not cope very well. “If you asked what is the most important thing about me, the answer is guilt,” she told me. “Every time I am knitting I feel I should be writing a script, and when I’m writing a script I feel guilty because I have not finished the cardigan for my father. When I am at work I feel, ‘Oh, my poor daughters, they are always deprived,’ and when I am looking after my daughters I think, ‘All these other people are working on their careers and what am I doing?’”

Elisabeth explores the life of a Woman police officer, Kiran Bedi who later would win the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1994. She compares it with the life of a particular average Delhi housewife. While Kiran Bedi is living away from her husband, doing exceptionally well at her profession and the housewife, living with her husband and children, occupied with the daily duties – both are content in their own ways.

This was a decent read.

This book review is written and submitted by DS

The Bengali Original – Chokerbali was written by Tagore. Its Translation is titled Binodini in English. Apparently, Binodini was what Tagore intially thought of naming his Bengali book – not sure how it ended up being called Chokerbali. I watched the movie Chokerbali – starring Aishwarya Rai. But, as in most cases, the book is way better.

“The book is a classic exposition of an extramarital affair” – begins the review written behing the book – rightly so. Characters are not painfully preachy and impractically righteous – they have shades of grey. This was enough for me to take an instant liking to this book. Characters’ actions are so much closer to people in real life – they err, they seduce, play with others’ minds, later call it “playful”, they change their minds, plot, avenge, justify their mistakes to themselves, take pride in others’ failures and their own successes – makes an aaassom reading. Lots of interesting conversations scattered thru out the book.

A young, newly wed couple – self-centered Mahendra and naïve, girl-like Ashalata live happily. Bihari is Mahendra’s loyal childhood friend. First, Mahendra refuses to marry Asha. Then, Mahendra’s mother coaxes Bihari to marry her. But, Mahendra takes a liking to her when they go to see her and marries her.

Binodini, the protagonist, after whom the book is named, is a young widow. Previously both Mahendra and Bihari refuse Binodini’s hand in wedding even without seeing her. With the introduction of beautiful, vivacious, Binodini, there is an upheaval in the Mahendra household. Binodini befriends Ashalata and thru her, plays with Mahendra’s mind. Mahendra gets attactred to Binodini. But slowly, Binodini takes a liking to Bihari.

It ends up like Binodini loves Bihari, Bihari loves Asha – but does not acknowledge it – even to himself, Asha loves and is devoted to Mahendra and Mahendra loves Binodini.

What unfolds is beautiful. Definitely worth a read. Tagore’s Words impart so much life to each character – they come out of the book and start living around you. He expresses very complex human emotions effortlessly.

This book review is written and submitted by DS

Imperial Woman is a biographical story of Tzu Hsi (or Cixi), the last empress of China, written by Pearl S Buck. Tzu Hsi’s claim to fame is that, she was a fierce, efficient, intelligent and a very controversial empress.

The story starts when Tzu Hsi is a child. Orchid is her childhood name. She is the daughter of a low-ranking Manchu official of Yehonala clan. As was the practice then, a set of young girls are chosen out of who, a wife and some concubines are picked for the Emperor. Orchid and her cousin, Sakota are both picked as expected and go to stay in the Forbidden City – never to return. While Sakota is given a the rank of the Emperor’s primary wife because, her elder sister was at a high rank, Orchid (now known as Yehonala) earns a high rank. To be noticed, she makes an effort to stand out. She bribes the enuches and is good to the Dowager Empress (Emperor’s mother).

While Sakota gives birth to a girl, Yehonala gives birth to a boy and rises to the position of the “Fortunate Mother”, the mother of the heir. Thru sheer guile and ambition, she continues to be the favorite of the Emperor. Pity is the only emotion she has for the sickly and weak Emperor. Her love is always for her kinsman – Jung Lu, to who she was betrothed. Jung Lu is a guard at the gates of Forbidden City.

Yehenola reads history, learns affairs of the state, painting and poetry. She takes interest in matters of state and the Emperor is soon dependent on her for most decisions. She learns to trust no one but only those closest to her. After the death of the Emperor, though She and Sakota together rise to the position of Regents, Yehenola is the de facto ruler. Yehenola gets the Title of Tzu Hsi (or Cixi, The empress of the eastern palaces) and Sakota gets the title of Tzu An ( or Cian,The empress of the western palaces)

There are rumors that her son is born thru Jung Lu. Her life and her son’s life are in danger. The nation is under attack. She has to protect herself, her son and the Empire. With the demands of countries like France, England and Russia increasing, with the missionaries converting Chinese into Christians, with the number of rebels from within the nation increasing, there is unrest all around.

Tzu Hsi learns and grows as a ruler gaining the trust of her subjects. People call her “The old Buddha” – thus rising her to the position of God. In a time of great change and cultural upheaval in China, she is a relic of the past – always resisting change. The Boxer Rebellion marks the beginning of the end of Tzu Hsi.

The story is written in lucid prose – it flows thru the story of Tzu Hsi, thru the death of her son, her crowning a nephew to be the next Emperor and when he fails, taking the throne back for herself. She grows old and begins to accept change as she realizes, she has no other way to retain her empire.

This book provides a good insight into a critical phase of Chinese History. After having read it, I’m tempted to visit the Forbidden city. The book is worth hunting for.

This book review is written and submitted by DS

Throw together a shopaholic like Rebecca Bloomwood (Becky) and a wedding together and thats a great potential for good chick lit. This books exploits the potentia well.

Shopaholic Ties the Knot by Shophie Kinsella is the third book of the Shopaholic series and is set in New York. Boyfriend Luke Brandon joins Becky to set up the second branch of Brandon Communications at New York. At her best friend Suze’s wedding, Luke pop’s the question in the most romatic way ever and before she realizes it, Becky finds herself in the middle of cake tasting, grooming, shopping for the wedding dress and other such bridal activities. Wedding preparations are in full swing and she only has some minor details to figure out – like which continent to get married in. Yes, two weeks to the wedding and the preparations are at a fairly advanced stage on either side of the Atlantic scheduled for the same day. Luke’s mother, Elinor has planned a sophisticated plaza wedding with the theme, Snow White and Becky’s mother has planned a good wedding at a local church inviting people Becky cares about. Becky cannot say no to Elinor’s bash else she’ll be sued and she does not have the heart to say no to her mother’s bash. This is the problem Becky tries to get out of in the rest of the book.

The letters from Becky’s bank manager (in response to her’s) are much more hilarious in this book than the previous ones. There are some good takeaways from this book – for instance, accidental spilling of tomato ketchup is a good way to hide certain critical words/numbers in your credit card bill. Again, a good feel-good book.

This book review is written and submitted by DS

Three daughters of Madame Liang, published first in 1969 is one of the last pieces of Pearl S Buck’s work. I’ve read more than half a dozen of her pieces of work and, this one is as lucid, as deceptively simple and yet deep as others.

Through the book, Three daughters of Madame Liang, Pearl S Buck takes you into the story of a family, the family of Madame Liang. After her husband takes a concubine, because she could produce no son, Madame Liang leaves him. She sets out on her own and opens a gourmet restaurant in Shanghai. In the times of great turmoil, when good food is scarce, her restaurant survives by providing the best food to the Who’s who of People’s Republic. She, prudently keeps her opinions of the Republic to herself and lives in constant fear. She sends her three daughters – Grace, Mercy and Joy to a much safer world – America.

Grace, the eldest of them is summoned by the government to serve the nation. She returns to immerse herself into her service as a doctor and studying ancient Chinese medicine to compare it with the modern medicine in which she was trained. Grace falls in love with Liu Pang, a young physician despite knowing, he is narrow minded and has been brainwashed into communism. She adapts herself to new China.

Mercy, the younger daughter, a musician convinces her husband John Sung, a rocket scientist to return to China for self-fulfillment. They flee from America. Though, a communist China does not have any use of a musician, she could make use of the services of Mercy’s husband. But John sung refuses to create weapons and gets himself into trouble. Mercy’s experience with new China, forces her to escape.

The bitter sweet chemistry between Grace and Mercy, motivated by their changing loyalties to China is interesting. Madame Liang is deeply saddened by the two sisters growing apart but resigns since she could not live their lives for them.

Joy, the youngest daughter stays in America, never to return. She finds love in a fellow Chinese artist and settles down.

Pearl Buck paints a picture of Cultural Revolution through the very personal accounts and view points of people in Madame Liang’s family. The story is fast paced and the book, un-put-downable.

This book review is written and submitted by DS

Shopaholic Abroad by Sophie Kinsella is a sequel to Confessions of a Shopaholic. But then it does not really matter that it is a sequel. You can read this anyway, just like you can watch any episode of FRIENDS at random.

Rebecca Bloomwood (Becky), is in the limelight with her high flying career in television and got out of debts. She is slowing falling back into debts yet again and is not able to get along with her new Bank Manager. She accompanies her boyfriend Luke to New York and discovers she was born on the wrong side of the Atlantic. She was made for New York – especially for the shops there. Currency being different from pound only helps her shop – it feels like getting all the stuff for money which more like that in monopoly. With her shopping, this time she gets both herself and Luke into trouble. The rest of the book is about how she gets out the mess.

What I like about this book and the first one is, When I was reading them and burst out laughing suddenly, A asks, “What happened?” and I go “You know what Becky did?…”. Almost always, after a while, I hear – “What is Becky doing now?”. You see, I am not the only one addicted.

Many humorous pieces of soliloquy are spread across this book too. A good book – though, I found Confessions of a Shopaholic better.

This book review is written and submitted by DS

In the last few days, I have read three books of eight by Sophie Kinsella. As a chick lit book website says the books of this genre are, I found them personal, light and humorous. I was slightly apprehensive about trying out Chick Lit. But then, an inclination for shopping made me try and I’m glad I did.

The first one in the series is – Confessions of a Shopaholic. This is about Rebecca Bloomwood, who lives in London’s trendiest neighborhood and owns clothes and accessories of best brands. She spends most of her free time shopping for shoes and clothes and scarves and everything else they sell. Only, she cannot afford any of it. Somehow she just does not seem to be able to stop herself from shopping. According to Becky, credit card bills should come in more colors than black and red and, banks should have a January sale. However, her current aim in life is to pay off her credit card bills. After all, Becky is a financial journalist of the magazine, Successful saving.

She finally decides, it is time for her to save money or make more money. Her attempts are hilarious. Becky tries to cook for herself to save money and in the process, buys a whole range of cooking apparatus. In another attempt to save, instead of going shopping, she visits a museum and opines, museums would be more lively if they put price tags on everything. Somehow, all her attempts backfire and her financial problems continue to grow. She finds herself sinking deeper and deeper into the mess. The rest of the book is about how she gets out of the trouble.

This is surely a good book to cuddle up with. However, be warned – this would turn you into a Shopaholic. I bought this and found myself googling for a bargain on the whole series. Looking forward to reading more such stuff.

This book review is written and submitted by DS

The language of threads, a sequel to The women of Silk is the story of Pei, a Chinese woman that escaped to Hong Kong when the Japanese attacked China during World War II. Much like its prequel, the tone of this book is – gentle, quiet and yet intense. This is the second book by Ms Tsukiyama that I’ve read and I can say, I like her writing.

After reaching Hong Kong, with Ji Shen, a 14 year orphan in her custody, Pei finds boarding at the house run by silk sisters. With one of the sister’s help, she also finds work as a domestic help at the house of an affluent Chinese family. She stays with her employers while Ji Shen, her only family in the big city is at the boardinghouse. Ji Shen grudgingly goes to the school much against her own will as Pei wants Ji Shen to be educated and to settle down. Unfortunately, Pei is wrongly accused of stealing a Pearl necklace (actually stolen by the jealous Fong) and is fired from her Job.

Later she lands a Job as a domestic help with Caroline, a British expatriate and a widow. Caroline allows Pei to bring along Ji Shen and the three women go on to build a great bond. The worlds of Pei and Caroline are far apart. The part of the book where Ji Shen and Pei adjust into Caroline’s world is particularly interesting. While Ji Shen enjoys the morning music that Caroline plays and gladly accepts her way of life, Pei takes her time overcoming her fears and learning the differences in expectations from a domestic help in an English household and a Chinese household. The cultural differences allow for the development of a great bond as the three characters learn about each other.

Once the Japanese take over Hong Kong, Ji Shen and Pei are forced to part with Caroline. While Caroline is taken away to a camp by the beach, Ji Shen and Pei are left to look after themselves in the war-torn city. Caroline leaves behind her Jewelery and money for the girls. The girls visit Caroline each month until her last days.

Meanwhile, Pei reunites with a silk sister and her best friend Lin’s brother, who help Pei start up a store that mends clothes – something she learnt from her mother. Pei is very skillful at the art of mending tears, worn out embroidery, etc . She knows ‘the language of threads’. The business flourishes as the war ends.

Ji Shen’s death from delivering a child sets back Pei. She moves on and lives to grow old, and to go back to the silk house many years later, to see the silk house where she grew up working as a young girl, and to later reunite with her blood sister.

I liked this book better than the prequel, The women of silk. The characters in this one, especially Pei’s character is much more developed than it was in the prequel. Pei has multiple threads running in her life – Ji Shen, earning a living, attachment to the long lost friend – Lin, memories of her family, the war, etc. All these bring out a very real character. I find the nature of Pei’s character, especially the strength she shows when facing all the difficulties in a city where she knew no one – very appealing.

This book review is written and submitted by DS