A Writer's Pen

Review: Murder in the High Himalaya by Jonathan Green

awriterspen — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 00:52:00 +0000

Murder in the High Himalaya is one of those rare non-fiction books that elicited a myriad of emotional responses from me. I love mountain climbing and had for years heard rumors of the Tibetan plight. Yet, I had no real idea what exactly their hardships were outside of knowing the Dalai Lama was exiled and the Chinese occupied their otherwise peaceful country.

Jonathan Green compiled an incredible amount of data from the few witnesses willing to come forward and confirm the murder they witnessed on Cho Oyu. He brings the stories of the survivors, the deceased, and the witnesses together in alternating stories, weaving a timeline of events.

From this book, I was able to grasp the extreme hardships these peaceful people go through to leave Tibet, go to India, and meet their exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. Pilgrims die, they lose limbs, are imprisioned, beaten, tortured, threatened, separated from their families, and murdered. Despite the hardships of little food, water, clothing, and shoes, ane experience, a few make it through the Himalayas. Sadly, most do not make it.

I listened to the audio version of this book. While listening my emotions varied from sadness to hope, anger to tears.

At the center of the story the main focus bounces from a young nun names Kelsang and her best friend Dolma to American mountain guide, Luis Benitez. Luis and a few other westerners risk their careers and lives to get the story out. Romanian journalist Sergiu Matei had the wisdom to break out the camera and start filming once he heard gunshots. He smuggled the footage out of the country and refuting the Chinese press release on the incident, proved the coverup with irrefutable evidence.

The stories of the Tibetan refugees and pilgrims were heartbreaking but I sincerely appreciate the effort of Jonathan Green, and all of the climbers who came forward as witnesses to such a cold blooded murder of a young nun.

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Review: The Clouds Beneath the Sun

awriterspen — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 04:42:00 +0000

Set in the early 1960′s, The Clouds Beneath the Sun revolves around Natalie Nelson, a freshly minted Ph. D. Suffering the loss of her mother, rejection of her father, and the breakup of her married boyfriend, Dr. Natalie Nelson heads to Africa to join an archaeological team digging in a Kenyan gorge. This digging season proves to be the most intense the experienced team has ever had. Two team members raid the ancient bural grounds of the local Massai tribe in order to have modern bones for comparison to the bones they have discovered. One of them is murdered. From there, problems arise in many forms: criminal, moral, and political; with romance and natural dangers thrown in for good measure.

I truly enjoyed The Clouds Beneath the Sun. The story never felt rushed or contrived. At over 450 pages, the author took his time to develop the story and the characters, as well as the believable setting. Although most of the book takes place either in the camp or in Nairobi, some of the best and most memorable parts of the book take place in the bush, at a secret lake, saving wildebeests, and over Christmas break in Lamu. Massai culture is touched upon, but certainly not a strong theme in this book.

Almost 4 stars for me!

Filed under: 1960's, adventure, africa, archaeology, july 2010, kenya, massai, paleontology, science

Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

awriterspen — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 02:45:00 +0000

After hearing so much about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo I finally picked it up. I am so glad I did. If you’ve ever heard the words, “The plot thickens” I have seen no finer example than in this book. The details spanning generations are skillfully woven together.

Lisbeth Salander is a fascinating character and central to the story. She is a ward of the state, a brilliant computer hacker, a justice seeker, and so much more. Working alongside Mikael Blomkvist they seek to solve the forty year old mystery of the disappearance of a young woman from a wealthy family.

The story is fast moving, intriguing, and never dull. I’m so glad I’ll be able to jump right into the next two books in the series and see the movie. I am saddened though that the literary world lost such an amazing author before his time.

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Review: The Good Son by Michael Gruber

awriterspen — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 02:13:00 +0000

I was incredibly disappointed with The Good Son by Michael Gruber. The book description sounded like a fascinating, but the more I read the more unlikely the story was. Furthermore, I found absolutely none of the characters to be even plausible. Most especially, I felt that Sonia Laghari was so detached, so unmotherly, and so unreal that it became irritating to read about her.

Sonia was one of the two main characters, yet I found it impossible to get inside her head and understand how she can be so robotic in words and actions. Even Annette, another character in this book, remarks that she has never known anyone like her.

I read the first two-thirds of the book in hardback, and finished the final third by listening to the audio version. I’m glad to see that this book has appealed to so many people and is getting great reviews at Amazon and LibraryThing, but unfortunately, it was just not a good read for me.

The only part of the book that I really found interesting was when Theo, Sonia’s son, joins the mujahadeen and later goes back to Afganistan. I also found the Pashtun tribal culture to be very interesting.

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Review: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

awriterspen — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 00:07:00 +0000

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress was recently recommended to me and I’m so glad I read it. It’s full of charming characters in very uncharming circumstances. Set during Mao’s cultural revolution, the narrator and his friend are deemed intellectuals due to their middle school education and their parents occupations. They are sent to a remote mountain village in China to be “re-educated” by the peasants. While living in house on stilts, their life is never portrayed as dull despite the times they were living in.

This book follows their quest for banned literature, storytelling, and their affections for the little Chinese seamstress. I started reading this book initially, and then managed to get the audio version, and reader B.D. Wong uses his voice in such a magical way that it only added to the storytelling.

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Review: The Hole in our Gospel

awriterspen — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 00:21:00 +0000

A couple of months ago I read The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns. Normally I would have moved on to my next non-fiction Christian book but this one caused a change in me – a real change. This book made such an impression on me that I found it difficult to get engaged with any other book.

The only part of the book I found distasteful was Mr. Stearns repeatedly (especially in the beginning) talking about how successful he was prior to becoming CEO of World Vision. I think that part could have been edited down significantly. The rest of the book though brings tremendous insight into what we can be doing today to alleviate hunger, poverty, disease, and the biblical basis for such actions.
If you’ve been on the fence about getting more involved financially or through volunteering to better the lives of the less fortunate that share our planet, this is the best starting place I have found. If you don’t know where to start, this book will guide you.

The end of the book contains excellent reference material including Q&A with Richard Stearns, What are you going to do about it? (A guide to taking action), recommended books & movies, a 5 part study guide, notes, scripture index, and a general index. Midway through the book there are also several candid pictures of people featured in his stories.

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Review: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

awriterspen — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 04:52:00 +0000

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold is a book that caught my attention back in 2002 when it was released. At the time, although I was interested I couldn’t fathom reading this book. It just seemed too unfair what happened to Susie Salmon, the main character. Yet, this book carried a lot of interest for me. I wondered how the author could write a book about a girl who gets brutally raped and murdered on her way home from school and yet keep her in the book as the main character despite her death.

Author Alice Sebold did an amazing job with this. Susie Salmon goes on to her “heaven” which does sound heavenly. Her family and friends are left to deal with her death. Each person handles her death differently and it’s the interactions of the friends and family members that keep the book interesting.

From Heaven, Susie looks in on both her loved ones and her killer. Although this is not a *must read* in my opinion, it was a short read. Despite it’s horrific beginning, the pieces come together at the end in a nice, happy way.

I look forward to renting the movie soon, which was released to DVD on April 20, 2010.

Excerpt can be read here:

DVD Trailer:

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Review: Buddha’s Orphans by Samrat Upadhyay

awriterspen — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 04:16:00 +0000

Buddha’s Orphans is a circuitous story that takes the reader through the end of one generation to four generations later of a Nepali family. Focusing most strongly on the cultural expectations imposed by Nepali famlies on their children, you can feel the world changing through each generation. The second theme of the book focuses on the strong (and not so strong) bonds of family. A sprinkling of politics is thrown in as well.

Most of the book focuses on Raja and Nilu. Raja is abandoned by his mother in a city park while she goes on to drown herself. Raja, an orphaned infant is turned away at the local orphanage. The poor street vendor, Kaki, rejected by her own son, sees raising Raja as a way to correct any mistakes she’s made in the past with her grown son, and struggles to raise him despite her very precarious economic situation.

From this point, Rajas life takes twists and turns through life, but by his side from childhood is his friend and true love Nilu. Their story together takes center stage throughout most of the book. The youthful love bonds that these two created were believable and I found myself reflecting on the crushes/close friendships I had with boys when I was a child.

Ultimately, can Raja’s birth mother’s mistake ever be rectified through future generations? That is the question the author works towards up until the final chapter.

The book does have some awkward sexual situations. Nothing really gets steamy or sensual. The author glosses over most sexual situations with simple to the point language.

Overall, I enjoyed the book but would liked more focus on Kaki and her first six years raising Raja. She is quite a character, my favorite of the book.

Filed under: arranged marriages, generations, kathmandu, nepal, nepali, young love, youthful love

Review and Giveaway: The Last Bridge by Teri Coyne

awriterspen — Sat, 29 May 2010 06:46:00 +0000

To say I enjoyed The Last Bridge is like saying I enjoy tragedy. Yet, having survived an abusive childhood I found much of what Teri Coyne wrote rings true to me. She has a gift of portraying the emotions, the situations, and their effects on everyone involved. I quickly became emotionally involved with the story.

In The Last Bridge, Cat, estranged from her family for the past ten years, finds out her mother has committed suicide. Between drinking and flashbacks, Teri Coyne builds a story of Cat’s painful abuse by her father and the reactions of the other family members. Not surprisingly, Cat turns to alcohol as her coping mechanism and throughout much of the book she is not sober.

A mystery is set up early, when Cat’s mother, before committing suicide, leaves her a note that says, “He isn’t who you think he is”. Various male characters are introduced leaving the reader wondering who the reference is to and what the answer will reveal.

The Last Bridge is intense and realistic. The storytelling is excellent throughout, until the end where things wrap up just a little too neatly and too quickly. This is not a book I will soon forget, and I hope to read more by this author in the future.

In celebration of the paperback release of this book on May 25th, the author has given me a copy to pass along. I love the new cover! All I ask is that you leave a comment if you are interested in reading this book along with an email address to contact you at. A really cool bookmark is included as well.

Giveaway ends June 9th, random winner will be chosen on June 10th!

Bonus entries:

Tweet about the contest (once, post link)
Blog about this giveaway (once, post link)

(tiny url link for this contest: http://tinyurl.com/lastbridge)

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Review: Cutting Myself in Half by Taylor LeBaron, Jack Branson, and Mary Branson

awriterspen — Wed, 19 May 2010 06:37:00 +0000

Taylor LeBaron is such an inspirational success story. He lost 150 lbs by creating a mental game he could play with himself called UFG (Ultimate Fitness Game). In the game he gave himself $1 per calorie per day and had to spend them wisely in order to win. For example, if he starts the day with $2000 then he can spend that on 2000 calories.

As a kid he faced difficulties fitting into desks, clothing, and even being teased by classmates.

The writing is completely candid and he shares his personal struggles and their solutions. Although the solutions may not work for all, I think there is a large population of kids who can benefit from this book.

The diet portion of the book advocates low fat, egg beaters, zero calorie soda, whole grains, and high protein, but there is a lot more to this book than diet. There is a plethora of personal motivation in addition to fitness information, family support, and setting goals. I think this book could very easily be used with other diets such as Atkins or Pritikin.

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