Title: When Dad Killed Mom
Author: Julius Lester
When first the book was in my hands, I was swamped with work and assignments. I was hesitating whether to start reading and when I could complete reading the book - with all the other factors crowding my mind. The title of the book had me hesitating as well, as I didn't want to be brought down with heavy reading that will take up my time and distract me from work and assignments.... However, against all these notions, I opened the book and glanced through the first page, second page.... fifth page... tenth page... and by then, I knew I couldn't put the book down. I had to continue or not sleep for the night wondering how the book went. Admittedly it did took me at least three nights, before I could finally complete the books (Ayman was very jealous of the book... it did took up my time from him! hehehehe)....
Hmmm.... The book is a well written book about the aftermath of a murder. At first the title did portray something gory, that I was afraid of, but I am glad I read the book. The book revolves around Jenna and Jeremy.
Jenna and Jeremy's father Eric has just killed their mother Rachel and they are left with to pick up the pieces of his heinous crime. The story is narrated alternately from both Jenna and Jeremy's point of view. It is really interesting to read from their perspectives and how they felt - betrayal, coming to terms of their mom's death, coping with each other, dealing with their volatile feelings towards their father...
The story follows the two children as they struggle to come to terms with the heart-breaking legacy their father has left behind. Not the closest of siblings, with Jenna having been a Daddy's girl, and Jeremy getting on better with their mother, the two siblings are forced to reconcile their differences in order to survive the future. Not easy when you both have the weight of the world on your young shoulders.
There were times, reading as someone on the outside, you feel anger at the way the children are manipulated by some of the adults... in order to get what they want from the children. There were also times when I felt like family life before the murder were taken lightly and a lot of unresolved issues were the keypoint for the cause of the murder. It reminded me back to the time before I got married. An aunt of mine passed a little something to prepare myself for married life. She said not to bring the squabbles of today to tomorrow. Live a new day with a new perspective. She also told me to settle anything that is troubling the mind on that day and not sleep on it, as then the uneasiness and pricks of anger will be nourished to something ugly.
Anyway, back to the story, apart from their confusing feelings and uncertainty, there is their father's trial to deal with, a traumatic experience for both youngsters, plus secrets that need to be told as well as old family conflicts that have to be dealt with. I won't tell you what secrets, as you'll have to find the book and read through it yourself.
I highly recommend this book and thanks to Zelureus for recommending the book. This is a sharply written book with good dialogue, some of it very grown-up in places. Jenna is a precocious 8th grader, whilst Jeremy is almost bird-like, fluttering uncertainly at first as he tries to sort out in his head what made his father kill his mother. Both children bounce off the adult characters, such as Karen their father's first wife, their grandparents and an assortment of friends and curious hangers-on.
A thought provoking book that deals with the concept of violent death in sensitive and none-condescending manner.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Pillars of the Earth
Title: The Pillars of The Earth
Author: Ken Follent
Kak Zura was the one who intorduced me to this book. She noticed the bookworm in me and recommended this book as it was one of her favourite books while she was pursuing her PhD in the UK. I was looking forward to read the book, however, when the book finally arrived here, I went a bit 'off' it when I realized it was 1076 pages long with fonts as small as size 6 (I presume!). But since kak Zura was excited about the book, I just took it back home.
I've started reading it about 5 times (and stopped not halfway, but one-tenth way is more like it) before I really sat down and read it. Tu pun sebab I saw the book in kak Zai's collection so it sorta made me think that maybe there is something more in the book than I assumed.
The book doesn't really have any main characters but it revolves around Tom Builder and his family, Prior Philip and his monastry as well as William whateverhisnameis and Aliena, the Baron's daughter. The story goes with a span of 51 years from 1123 to 1174.
Now, the story is way too long for me to make a decent review of it but once I got the hang of the story, I suprised myself when I found it hard to stop reading it (and to think that I thought the book was boring).
If I were to chose a main character, I might say its the cathedral. This is because the story started when the cathedral was just a dream and continued throughout the construction of it, with two master builders taking lead in the construction, namely Tom Builder (who died halfway o the book) and Jack Jackson (who was Tom's stepson as well as 'scholar' and who took over the construction of the cathedral). From just a simple but large cathedral (Tom's idea) to a more beautiful one (modified by Jack). Jack even got married in the cathdral itself.
The story deals with architecture and structural engineering (which no wonder appeals to me! Tu dalam tak suka belajar structure dulu tu.. and its not the boring details which are usually heard in my class but it talks about the wonders of buildings.. and the architect in Baizurah might appreciate this book!)) which gives a glimpse of how all these fields started once upon a time ago. One thing I like about western writers is that they deal with the FACTS (compared to Malay, no offense here coz I'm Malay too, yang suka tulis facts ntahapahapa) so eventhough this book is loosely based on a church and christianity, it admits the fact that Muslims were not only the pioneers, but also the best in architecture, maths and engineering :-)
And to those who hate books mixed up with facts, this IS a novel so those facts are only to make it more interesting. The book still revolves around life and death, love and hate, success and failure as well as everything in between.
What I'd like to comment is on the writers ability to make you visually 'watch' the story in your head. I could picture Jack (one of the charcters) growing up from a peculiar looking child, to a strikingly handsome builder. I could feel the joy and frustrations of Prior Philip and his ambition for a cathedral dedicated to his people. I could somehow understand the pain Tom Builder felt when he had to hide the fact that he was little Jonathans father. I could sense the pain Lady Aliena felt when she had to stand up from her fall at the hands of William. In fact, you'd feel a deep connection with all the characters, you'd think you've known them all your life.. no wonder kak Zura and kak Zai both praised this book!
The book is still in my hands now, but I just don't know HOW to write a review outta it as it has so many high points in it. The only solution I can give is to ask you guys to go and grab a copy.. if you can! I don't think its sold in the stores anymore as its quite an old book.. but maybe if you go to Chowrasta or Novel Hut, you might just stumble on the book. So if you do, buy me one copy, will ya!
Author: Ken Follent
Kak Zura was the one who intorduced me to this book. She noticed the bookworm in me and recommended this book as it was one of her favourite books while she was pursuing her PhD in the UK. I was looking forward to read the book, however, when the book finally arrived here, I went a bit 'off' it when I realized it was 1076 pages long with fonts as small as size 6 (I presume!). But since kak Zura was excited about the book, I just took it back home.
I've started reading it about 5 times (and stopped not halfway, but one-tenth way is more like it) before I really sat down and read it. Tu pun sebab I saw the book in kak Zai's collection so it sorta made me think that maybe there is something more in the book than I assumed.
The book doesn't really have any main characters but it revolves around Tom Builder and his family, Prior Philip and his monastry as well as William whateverhisnameis and Aliena, the Baron's daughter. The story goes with a span of 51 years from 1123 to 1174.
Now, the story is way too long for me to make a decent review of it but once I got the hang of the story, I suprised myself when I found it hard to stop reading it (and to think that I thought the book was boring).
If I were to chose a main character, I might say its the cathedral. This is because the story started when the cathedral was just a dream and continued throughout the construction of it, with two master builders taking lead in the construction, namely Tom Builder (who died halfway o the book) and Jack Jackson (who was Tom's stepson as well as 'scholar' and who took over the construction of the cathedral). From just a simple but large cathedral (Tom's idea) to a more beautiful one (modified by Jack). Jack even got married in the cathdral itself.
The story deals with architecture and structural engineering (which no wonder appeals to me! Tu dalam tak suka belajar structure dulu tu.. and its not the boring details which are usually heard in my class but it talks about the wonders of buildings.. and the architect in Baizurah might appreciate this book!)) which gives a glimpse of how all these fields started once upon a time ago. One thing I like about western writers is that they deal with the FACTS (compared to Malay, no offense here coz I'm Malay too, yang suka tulis facts ntahapahapa) so eventhough this book is loosely based on a church and christianity, it admits the fact that Muslims were not only the pioneers, but also the best in architecture, maths and engineering :-)
And to those who hate books mixed up with facts, this IS a novel so those facts are only to make it more interesting. The book still revolves around life and death, love and hate, success and failure as well as everything in between.
What I'd like to comment is on the writers ability to make you visually 'watch' the story in your head. I could picture Jack (one of the charcters) growing up from a peculiar looking child, to a strikingly handsome builder. I could feel the joy and frustrations of Prior Philip and his ambition for a cathedral dedicated to his people. I could somehow understand the pain Tom Builder felt when he had to hide the fact that he was little Jonathans father. I could sense the pain Lady Aliena felt when she had to stand up from her fall at the hands of William. In fact, you'd feel a deep connection with all the characters, you'd think you've known them all your life.. no wonder kak Zura and kak Zai both praised this book!
The book is still in my hands now, but I just don't know HOW to write a review outta it as it has so many high points in it. The only solution I can give is to ask you guys to go and grab a copy.. if you can! I don't think its sold in the stores anymore as its quite an old book.. but maybe if you go to Chowrasta or Novel Hut, you might just stumble on the book. So if you do, buy me one copy, will ya!
Sunday, January 29, 2006
The Wedding
Title: The Wedding
Author: Nicholas Sparks
"Sparks knows how to tug at the reader's heartstring"
-Chicago Sun-Times
"Excellent.. After reading this book you really will want to convey your feelings to someone you care about before its too late!"
-BestsellersWorld.com
"Sure to leave you breathless.. In this stunning follow-up to The Notebook, readers new and old will remember the joy of falling in love and the challenges of staying in love"
-RoundTableReviews.com
"The Wedding left me with a smile on my face. The ending suprised me, and left my heart aflutter. this is a book that will forever have a spot on my bookshelf"
-TheRomanceReadersConnection.com
Haha.. okay, enough about the reviews from 'outside'! I orignally wanted to put down only three reviews but the last one surely hit the spot for me, so I was 'obliged' to throw in that one too.. :-) What can I say, the story really DID leave a smile on my face that continued till I fell asleep that night, in fact, I'm positively sure I slept smiling <-- okay, this might be a bit exaggerating!
I've never really been interested in Sparks books as I find the movies (A Walk to Remember and The Notebook) quite ordinary, though pleasantly sweet. But I guess I forgot one thing, those story are realistic stories that could happen to anyone. I mean, most big-named authors write love stories for the wealthy; tycoons, earls, dukes.. okay la, at least ONE half of the couple must be indecently rich while the other one might be a bit poor or misfortunate or something! As if ordinary people, like you and me, don't really experience romantic love.
Well, back to Sparks! A Walk to Remember caught my eye one day at a book store, and the book-addict in me wanted to add it to my collection. However, the avid-reader me found this book quite different from the movie. Not really vastly different, but the book made the movie seem so much more real and I really understood the movie after that. If at first I thought it was just pleasantly sweet, after reading the book, I realized it was really wonderful <-- poor choice of words here!
I wanted to sample his other works too, so when I came across his books at a book fair, I immediately sat down to chose between a wide range of titles he had written. At first, I wanted to buy The Notebook since I already seen the movie and found it quite touching. On second thought, I already knew the story was beautiful, though quite slow for my liking in the movie. So I decided to try another book and came across The Wedding. With such a simple title, I was suprised to read the reviews, though as all of us know, reviews CAN be misleading!
It took a long time for me to start reading this book, what with my thesis and piling work but a few days ago, I managed to get hold of this book and start reading it. And to tell you the truth, I didn't want to put it down!
Its a story of old folks love really. About a man, Wilson, who was suddenly afraid that his wife, Jane, had fallen out of love with him, after 30 years of marriage, when he was still as much in love with her as the day the took her as his wife. The starting point was when he forgot their 29th anniversary. Since he had never been the romantic one (they even got married at the registrars office je pun), he didn't really care at first, hoping that in buying an expensive piece of jewellery would make his wife forgive him. But a few days later, he realized how hurt his wife had really felt and this made him vow to give her the best 30th anniversary ever.
In his plan, he includes all their children who were suprised at the change in their father, his father in law (Noah in The Notebook) and their mutual friends as well as their extended family. He even took a week off to make sure he was at home on their anniversary. However, a week before their anniversary, their daughter came home with news that she was getting married and she had planned to get hitched on her parents wedding anniversary. (And I thought THE WEDDING was for the old folks when I first read the synopsis, which turned out to be someone elses.. or so I thought.. hmmmmm..)
After that came a whirlwind of activities to get ready for the wedding though clearly, Jane was the most excited since she wanted her daughter to have a much better wedding than she had. And she made it clear to Wilson that a wedding is a day a woman would one day look back and wants to be happy about it. She doesn't want her daughter to regret the day of her marriage. It goes without saying of how much Jane felt her wedding day wasn't what she had dreamt of.
Anyway, the story is alternated between the preparations of the wedding, to Wilson's talks with his father-in-law (which I really liked) and about him reminiscing the days he and Jane first met and how their relationship blossomed!
I stayed up till 2.30am reading this book and when I finally turned the last page, my face had this dreamy look on it with a smile that didn't seem to want to go away! I never expected this book to have this effect on me, but it did.. and I'm glad to have a dose of a love story for us ordinary people!
Author: Nicholas Sparks
"Sparks knows how to tug at the reader's heartstring"
-Chicago Sun-Times
"Excellent.. After reading this book you really will want to convey your feelings to someone you care about before its too late!"
-BestsellersWorld.com
"Sure to leave you breathless.. In this stunning follow-up to The Notebook, readers new and old will remember the joy of falling in love and the challenges of staying in love"
-RoundTableReviews.com
"The Wedding left me with a smile on my face. The ending suprised me, and left my heart aflutter. this is a book that will forever have a spot on my bookshelf"
-TheRomanceReadersConnection.com
Haha.. okay, enough about the reviews from 'outside'! I orignally wanted to put down only three reviews but the last one surely hit the spot for me, so I was 'obliged' to throw in that one too.. :-) What can I say, the story really DID leave a smile on my face that continued till I fell asleep that night, in fact, I'm positively sure I slept smiling <-- okay, this might be a bit exaggerating!
I've never really been interested in Sparks books as I find the movies (A Walk to Remember and The Notebook) quite ordinary, though pleasantly sweet. But I guess I forgot one thing, those story are realistic stories that could happen to anyone. I mean, most big-named authors write love stories for the wealthy; tycoons, earls, dukes.. okay la, at least ONE half of the couple must be indecently rich while the other one might be a bit poor or misfortunate or something! As if ordinary people, like you and me, don't really experience romantic love.
Well, back to Sparks! A Walk to Remember caught my eye one day at a book store, and the book-addict in me wanted to add it to my collection. However, the avid-reader me found this book quite different from the movie. Not really vastly different, but the book made the movie seem so much more real and I really understood the movie after that. If at first I thought it was just pleasantly sweet, after reading the book, I realized it was really wonderful <-- poor choice of words here!
I wanted to sample his other works too, so when I came across his books at a book fair, I immediately sat down to chose between a wide range of titles he had written. At first, I wanted to buy The Notebook since I already seen the movie and found it quite touching. On second thought, I already knew the story was beautiful, though quite slow for my liking in the movie. So I decided to try another book and came across The Wedding. With such a simple title, I was suprised to read the reviews, though as all of us know, reviews CAN be misleading!
It took a long time for me to start reading this book, what with my thesis and piling work but a few days ago, I managed to get hold of this book and start reading it. And to tell you the truth, I didn't want to put it down!
Its a story of old folks love really. About a man, Wilson, who was suddenly afraid that his wife, Jane, had fallen out of love with him, after 30 years of marriage, when he was still as much in love with her as the day the took her as his wife. The starting point was when he forgot their 29th anniversary. Since he had never been the romantic one (they even got married at the registrars office je pun), he didn't really care at first, hoping that in buying an expensive piece of jewellery would make his wife forgive him. But a few days later, he realized how hurt his wife had really felt and this made him vow to give her the best 30th anniversary ever.
In his plan, he includes all their children who were suprised at the change in their father, his father in law (Noah in The Notebook) and their mutual friends as well as their extended family. He even took a week off to make sure he was at home on their anniversary. However, a week before their anniversary, their daughter came home with news that she was getting married and she had planned to get hitched on her parents wedding anniversary. (And I thought THE WEDDING was for the old folks when I first read the synopsis, which turned out to be someone elses.. or so I thought.. hmmmmm..)
After that came a whirlwind of activities to get ready for the wedding though clearly, Jane was the most excited since she wanted her daughter to have a much better wedding than she had. And she made it clear to Wilson that a wedding is a day a woman would one day look back and wants to be happy about it. She doesn't want her daughter to regret the day of her marriage. It goes without saying of how much Jane felt her wedding day wasn't what she had dreamt of.
Anyway, the story is alternated between the preparations of the wedding, to Wilson's talks with his father-in-law (which I really liked) and about him reminiscing the days he and Jane first met and how their relationship blossomed!
I stayed up till 2.30am reading this book and when I finally turned the last page, my face had this dreamy look on it with a smile that didn't seem to want to go away! I never expected this book to have this effect on me, but it did.. and I'm glad to have a dose of a love story for us ordinary people!
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