Review #376: Green Island: A novel by Shawna Yang Ryan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“The people have realized that Martial Law is not law. A regime not established by law is devoid of the attribute to dispense law. A regime which puts in a bunker the highest law in the land does not have the moral authority to say that nobody is above the law.”

----Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

Shawna Yang Ryan, an award winning American author, pens her new book, Green Island: A novel , that unfolds the story of a Taiwanese family living in Taipei when the Martial Law was incorporated and changed the future of this family. Told from the perspective from the unnamed narrator who happens to be the youngest daughter in this family, she traverses two decades under this law as well as facing the aftermath of this law by playing so many roles in her life. This is not only her story, it is the story of the people who faced the darkness of this Martial Law.

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Review #322: Soundless by Richelle Mead

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



“What chance combination of shadow and sound and his own thoughts had created it?”

----Patricia Highsmith, an American novelist

Richelle Mead, a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, has penned a Chinese-themed young adult fantasy tale, Soundless, that portrays the story of a young girl trying to help the people of her village specializing in mining, who are all deaf, from the injustice done to them by a kingdom despite of the dangers lurking outside the village.

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Feature & Follow #16: My Favorite Cuisine

Good morning guys,
What a morning! Rain and water clogged streets welcomed my first step out of my house. Sorry can't give you a glimpse of it, because it was pouring heavily and I was scared that my precious Lumia phone would destroy if I take out from my pocket due to the rains. Anyways, I can give a snap shot of my office which has submerged under the water and I had to climb some walls to enter my office. Yeah, I'm very sporty when it comes down to these things, I can climbs trees, walls, houses, and anything!

Yeah so you can imagine the gravity of the situation in my city- Kolkata, which is famous for it's rains, since the whole city goes under the waters, and it feels like a fanatsy novel- a city under water, we are all like mermaids, there are some evil creatures lurking in the water, and there are some angle and hero like craetures protecting us from the evil, now I'm making up a story.

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Review #14: All the Flowers in Shanghai by Duncan Jepson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


As quoted by the Chinese Communist revolutionary leader and the founding father of the People's Republic of China, Mao Tse Tung, commonly called Chairman Mao,

"In class society, everyone lives as a member of a particular class, and every kind of thinking, without exception, is stamped with the brand of a class."

Well no wonder why the middle-class Chinese families in the 1930s were so keen on becoming the 'face' of the society or, rather say a class society, thus leading to animosity between the poor and rich and the rich used to treat the poor like the untouchables. The rich used to get scared whether if their children befriend someone so poor, that they might lose their 'face' in the society. It's so astounding to see that this type of narrow-mindedness existed in those people and thus giving birth to seed of the Chinese revolution. Not only that, it was shameful to give birth to daughters in the rich family and how they were given away to the poor farmers.

Well it was so fascinating to gather these kinds of knowledge and especially more captivating and alluring to read about a young girl's life journey during those hard times. A very notable author-cum-award-winning-director/producer-of-5-feature-films-cum-editor-cum-lawyer, Duncan Jepson has remarkably got into the skin of a young Chinese girl living in Shanghai, in his novel, All the Flowers in Shanghai, to narrate her journey from the beautiful gardens to the lavish cage of marriage to the dreadful village outside Shanghai. After reading this book, I learnt that by writing this novel, Duncan has certainly paid tribute to his loving mother as well as to his homeland and the people of his homeland. And as said by the American leader/politician/author, James E. Faust,

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Review #6: Girl in Reverse by Barbara Stuber

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“Don't forget who you are and where you come from."
----F Scott Fitzgerald

It is becoming hard for Lily to move ahead without getting any idea about her real mother or father or her real roots. Without the raging war between America, Japan and Communist Party in China and for Lily, who happens to have a "chink" face and living with her adopted American family in the Kansas City, it is getting harder to survive her high school days without any mockery or racial teasing.

Barbara Stuber's protagonist, Lily, in her new book, Girl in Reverse is a meek, confused and curious young teenager, who's life suddenly takes on the reverse gear to find out about her past, that happens to haunt her almost every day! Girl in Reverse is not any kind of cheesy YA tale, instead it weaves a tale about finding your real roots and how to not forget them and exploring the bright dimension of art, antiques and cartoons!!

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