Girl in Translation

Jean Kwok literally brings her characters to life in her debut novel Girl in Translation (Riverhead Books,

2010). The book traces the life journey of a Chinese girl Kim who moves along with her mother from Hong Kong to New York as an immigrant and takes on the challenges of poverty, underpaid labor, and cultural adjustments – her strength being the “talent of learning”.

    

Of the challenges Kim faces as a young Chinese immigrant in her new place, she specifically struggles with language. To her, learning English is at once the problem and the solution to her difficult situation. Given her gift of learning, Kim gradually takes control of her life and by the time she steps into adulthood, she has achieved what would make her and her mother proud. A tale of challenges and the courage to face them with patience, this novel has immense inspirational and motivational value, particularly for the newly immigrated people who have to grapple with issues of culture and identity in a foreign country.

Kwok’s voice is compelling, her talent of expressing character situations extraordinary. Far from trying to raise her protagonist to an inflated model of courage, the author lets Kim’s character come of age realistically, showing various shades of her person – the fear, the innocence, and the spirit driving her forward. The author’s approach is direct, her characterization anything but lofty so that the reader gets a sense of immediacy about the characters and their situations. By the end of the novel, the reader is most likely to be already in love with it.

Girl in Translation is one of the more refined works of contemporary fiction in English language. Whether immigrants or natives, this book makes an enjoyable and moving read of solid literary merit for all readers. 

ISBN: ISBN: 978-1594485152

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Translation-Jean-Kwok/dp/1594485151/ 

Angelina’s Angel

Angelina’s Angel (Robertson Publishing, 2011) is about a nine-year old girl Angelina who feels sad after her mom tells her they won’t be able to buy all the items Angelina wants for Christmas.

But when Angelina visits her Uncle Marty’s workshop, her feelings change to happiness and excitement. What gifts she sees there and how they cheer her up switch the mood of this story to sweetness and pure joy.  

Authors Marilynn Carey and Denise Carey-Costa have dedicated this very special Christmas story to ‘Great’ Uncle Marty. A life well lived is never forgotten, says the dedication page of this book. The story of Angelina and her uncle make the perfect example of what makes life really good.

Angelina’s Angel shows kids what is most valuable in life. It’s a book for all kids and makes an excellent Christmas gift, since the story takes place at Christmas time when happiness and hope fill the air all around us.   

ISBN: 978-1611700480

Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Angelinas-Angel-Marilynn-Carey/dp/1611700485

Edwin’s Flight

Interesting, inspirational, and uplifting – Edwin’s Flight (Trafford Publishing, 2010) by Denise Carey-Costa

is an important book for children and for parents – particularly those having children with any kind of disabilities. It tells and shows the story of a baby bird named Edwin, born with a disability and unable to fly at first due to his physical limitation. However, with determination and personal effort, Edwin overcomes his weakness and flies high as any other birds of his kind and age.

The story is touching and written in an easy-to-understand language so that children who are just starting school can read and learn from it. Edwin’s change in his situation from a depressed bird to a confident flying one has an empowering potential for many children with special needs who will readily identify with Edwin’s character. Nicole Sjostrom and Jonathan Iseminger have beautifully illustrated this book with colored drawings of scenes from the story.

Edwin’s Flight can be of great value to for parents and educators who live or work with children having special needs and are vulnerable to low self-esteem and/or lack of participation in activities due to their special needs. 

ISBN: 978-1426922176

Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Edwins-Flight-Denise-Carey-Costa/dp/1426922175

Not Becoming My Mother

One of the most interesting aspects of literature is the ease with which it bridges the gap between relationships that define generations, particularly when the relationships are gender-specific. Tracing traits among a line of descent provides a measure of the progress and/or decline in various parameters of life. Ruth Reichl’s Not Becoming My Mother (Penguin Press, 2009) draws a perceptible line of circumstances and individual choices from the time her mother grew up in a conservative American society of the 1920s to her own life in a more emancipated status.

Reichl tells the story of how she finally decided to pen her mother’s diaries on the day of what would have been her mom’s 100^th birthday, and she found bits of her own self strewn through the lines in the pages her mom wrote. Growing up in Cleveland, her mom had to choose between becoming a good wife or fulfill her potential as a person in the way she liked. As she opted for becoming what society expected of her, the woman left unfulfilled inside her chose to record her life’s gaps in words that would later fill the spaces discovered by her daughter in her own life.

Not Becoming My Mother is a book of deeply personal and highly valued relationships – that of a mother and child, and that of a person with themselves. It is a tribute to womanhood for all what this gender has been and how it has continued to come out of the haze of social standards set particularly for her. Aside from the exceptionally illustrative title cover, Reichl’s style of writing has a feel of immediacy and depth that goes to the core of her subject. It is a book for people who want to know their mothers’ lives and their own.

Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Not-Becoming-My-Mother-Things/dp/1594202168

Author Website: http://www.ruthreichl.com/

Stricken Yet Crowned

Suffering rape at the age of 12 was the beginning of Michell Spoden’s eventful life as Spoden tells her life story in Stricken Yet Crowned (Sakura Publishing, 2010). Physical rape, as the author shows through her story, is only one of several forms of abuse besides various factors facilitating abuse of women even in societies where they have more civil rights than the rest of the world.

Michell Spoden’s book outlines the abuse of women in multiple forms and at various stages in life – physical rape, emotional deceit and manipulation by intended immigrants, and administrative denial to help pursue the truth and bring the culprits to justice – all laced in the same thread of womanhood. Readers will find it inspiring and motivating how something greater within the author never gave up on life. Making her past the path to her liberation, Spoden shows us that the spirit of healing never fails us if we commit not let ourselves down. That is how she learnt to be in the presence of the Holy Spirit and save her inner self from life-long possession by trauma and abuse.

The style of narration in Spoden’s book is interesting, fairly unusual as we read it like a documentary with an omniscient voice introducing various phases in the author’s life followed by her first-person account of the details of those stages in her life. It is the straightforwardness, the unaffectedness of her voice that feels as the most striking quality of her story. There is no drama in her book, no sentimentalism or appeal to any sort of trite gender-based victimization. The author’s account as well as questioning of attitudes and procedures is clear, to-the-point, and grasping.    

Now involved in helping the affected, traumatized, and suffering, Michell Spoden is starting to reach out to women in places where they suffer abuse regularly but have no voice to raise against it. By her own example, as detailed in Stricken Yet Crowned, she affirms that oppression is to be taken no more by the victims; that it “really is time for change”.

ISBN: 978-1463546304

Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Stricken-Yet-Crowned-Michell-Spoden/dp/1463546300/

Tony’s Tale: Tragedy in Arizona

June 18, 2012 was one of the darkest days in the recent history of Arizona since the terrifying series of victimization of a harmless pet dog, named Tony, reached its peak that day. Tony was put to death by the animal control in Clifton, AZ, following judicial orders that ignored the international outcry for a fair trial of the dog accused of fatally injuring a smaller dog in the neighborhood while no physical evidence or solid testimony supported the accusation.

Tony’s Tale: Tragedy in Arizona (Robertson Publishing, 2012) is a short book, authored by animal rights advocate and spokesperson Denise Carey-Costa, telling Tony’s story from birth to execution and beyond. The book shows glimpses of memorable phases in Tony’s life as a beloved member of the owner Michelle Dozier’s family – Dozier’s acknowledgement to supporters being part of the book.

This book is important to read as it gives voice to the question of victimization by authorities, including a judge, which impose orders despotically on civilians and are not accountable to the people despite getting paid by the money raised from their taxes. A true story full of love, belongingness, and pain, Tony’s Tale is the voice of not a single person but everyone who believes in justice, family, and love. 

Note: A portion of the proceeds the book gets from sales will be donated to The Lexus Project, a legal defense fund for all dog breeds.

ISBN: 9781611700992

Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Tonys-Tragedy-Arizona-Denise-Carey-Costa/dp/161170099X

Writers on the Edge

Once in a while we come across books which broaden our view of problems, delivering insight that makes the foundation for finding effective solutions. Writers on the Edge (Modern History Press, 2012), edited by Diana M. Raab and James Brown, is such a book dealing with the widely prevalent problems of addiction and dependency. In this anthology, twenty-two writers speak about addiction and its impact on personal – physical and psychological – as well as social life of people.  

Jerry Stahl in his foreword to the book explains the often confused meaning of the “edge”, saying that the “edge” actually is in the middle—i.e., when you are in the middle of turmoil, it is the stage often mistakenly, or for sake of verbal fashion, termed as the “edge”. This point is illustrated by the mostly poignant voices of the authors included in Writers on the Edge. Their memoirs, essays, and poems open to readers the journey through addiction, showing the gradual, often semi-intentional slipping into dependency on a substance, habit, or lifestyle that would ultimately stifle their growth as a person—sometimes leading to active suicide attempts. Unlike blaming it all on the object of addiction, the self-conscious writings here attempt to show the crevices in one’s own personality and integrity through which the desperate need for clinging to something oozes inside one’s being.

Individual pieces of writing in this book are brilliant and complete. Many of these writings are painfully honest and more than a few get the reader to a point of tenderness where the story of the writer, with all its power, replaces the reader’s surroundings. The insights vary from the angle(s) the writers take to explore the problem of addiction and dependency – ranging from Chase Twichell’s cuttingly thoughtful “eyes behind the eyes” element of one’s self to Frederick and Steven Barthelme’s grasping picture of the psychology of gambling, and Anna David’s dreaded “beep” of failure in creative expression leading to self-destructiveness.   

Writers on the Edge is ultimately a book of hope, showing how people losing themselves to the shady grounds of addiction do always have the choice to take control and switch their direction to arrive at healthy, positive living. This is not a “how to” guide on taking a U-turn from a difficult situation but a personal journey of people who made it away from the “edge” by existential choice and self-realization; so why not anyone else?          

ISBN: 978-1615991082

Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Writers-Edge-Speak-Addiction-Dependency/dp/1615991085