Handle With Care The Bookish Book
The Bookish Synopsis
Charlotte O'Keefe's much-longed-for, adored daughter, Willow is born with osteogenesis imperfecta - a very severe form of brittle bone disease. One stumble could force her to spend months in a body cast.
Willow's condition is an expensive one, and her family faces financial ruin. Then Charlotte is offered a lifeline. She would file a 'wrongful birth' suit against her obstetrician, in the hope of receiving a monetary payout which would secure Willow's future.
But the doctor she would be suing is Charlotte's best friend. And it also means saying that if she had known in advance about the disability, Charlotte would have terminated the pregnancy - standing up in court to declare she would rather her daughter had never been born...
My Bookish Idea
I had delved into Handle With Care with a certain amount of expectation. After all, this is Jodi Picoult we're talking about. She learnt how to handle a gun for Nineteen Minutes and she visited a prisoner on the death row for Change of Heart among other things she did for her books. When an author puts this much effort into writing her books, you just learn to have high expectations for such books.
What I didn't expect was that Handle With Care managed to move me with such profound intensity. As always, I am made to think, to question my beliefs and ultimately become a person who had "experienced" something more. Although Handle With Care is fiction (as in the characters and plot), it's made to be so realistic that I sincerely feel for each and every single one of its characters. Everyone from Willow, Amelia, Charlotte and Sean to Piper, Marin and Rob.
I have always loved Picoult's style of writing and it is no different with Handle With Care. It is a form of art, the way she phrases a sentence, describes something, moves the plot. People usually get bored when there are lots of medical terminology and legal jargons but with Picoult, you can be rest assured that that won't be the case. One can't help but just admire the amount of effort and love that has obviously been put into Handle With Care.
To be frank, it is quite difficult for me to sum up this wonderful journey with Handle With Care. I sincerely believe that you should pick up the book and go through it yourself especially if you've never read a Jodi Picoult book in your entire life.
Now I'm just going to go off and try to get over my depression over Handle With Care's sombre ending.
The Bookish Rating
10/10
"That a scallop has thirty-five eyes, all blue. That a tuna will suffocate if it ever stops swimming. That I was loved. That this time, it was not me who broke. - Willow O'Keefe"
Labels: Jodi Picoult |
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
3:34 AM |
The Secret Garden  Its a classic book that people should have read growing up. But now sadly, most people rarely pick up a book unless there is a cheesy storyline in the synopsis or a hot guy in the movie based on the book. Yes yes I am guilty of that too.
But I believe that The Secret Garden should be a staple in any child's diet of literary novels. I loved this book when I first read it at the age of 8. Of course back then I had the simplified version with pictures in every chapter. I managed to get my hands on the original novel last year and it was such a delight.
The Secret Garden is about an orphan, Mary who was sent to live in Misselthwaite Manor with her Uncle Archibald Craven after her parents die in India due to cholera. Her uncle is a recluse and leaves her to her own devices. Mary starts out as a spoiled child who insists everyone do her bidding but is brought to a rude awakening that there is much more to the world than herself. Alone and curious, she wanders around the ground of the moor and finds a garden locked away, which opens her eyes and her heart to a whole new different world.
I shall not go into too much detail of the book's storyline but I will write on a character that I did enjoy in the book which is Martha Sowerby. Martha is Mary's maid in the book and a patient one she is. She is the reason Mary ventures out and learns to accept the new environment she is thrown into. Martha who has little cameos throughout the book, talks to Mary about Dickon and the wonders of the moor, is the first servant to ever speak back to Mary about her behavior and attitude. In a way, I personally think that if it wasn't for Martha, there wouldn't be this story. Here's to background characters who are the secret driving force of a plot.
I know this is a haphazard review but I hope I have droppped enough hints to make you curious enough to want to pick the book up. Needless to say, this is a 5/5.Labels: Frances Hodgson Burnett |
Saturday, February 26, 2011
6:40 AM |
Moving PIctures The alchemists of the Discworld have invented moving pictures. Many hopefuls are drawn by the siren call of Holy Wood, home of the fledgling "clicks" industry – among them Victor Tugelbend ("Can't sing. Can't dance. Can handle a sword a little."), a dropout from Ankh-Morpork's Unseen University and Theda "Ginger" Withel, a girl "from a little town you never ever heard of", who become stars, and the Discworld's most infamous salesman, Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, who introduces commerce to the equation and becomes a successful producer. Meanwhile, it gradually becomes clear that the production of movies is having a deleterious effect on the structure of reality. Ginger is possessed by an unspecified entity and she and Victor find an ancient, hidden cinema, complete with portal to the Dungeon Dimensions. Back in Ankh-Morpork, a creature from the Dungeon Dimensions breaks through, and Victor fights it, having found out that with a camera pointing at him life works out the way it does in the movies.
Another satirical look at the world's attitude towards the glamour and sparkle of Hollywood. Author Terry Pratchett takes the author down a journey to look at Tinsel Town with critical eyes. In "Moving Pictures" his tenth Discworld novel, Pratchett illustrates the rise of fall of stars. Victor, a clever wizard-to-be (he always fails the exam on purpose because if he does become a wizard he loses the money he inherited from his uncle) feels a sudden tug to go to "HolyWood" (very subtle eh?) and find himself in one of the 'clicks' (Pratchett's version for 'movie'). There he meets with Dolores aka Ginger who is a 'rising star'. And with some luck, Victor ends up becoming a star himself from being an 'odd job' boy to making ladies swoon by heating up the screen. But HolyWood is consuming as the magic that begins it all starts to literally eat the actors alive.
I enjoyed this book thoroughly. You're introduced to Gaspode the "wonder" dog, Cut My Own Throat Dibbler and the wizards of the Unseen University including Windle Poons who stars in his own novel later in the series. A delight from start to finish with funny footnotes, a classic Terry Pratchett characteristic he does in most of his novels.
Rating: 5/5
Labels: terry pratchett |
Saturday, December 4, 2010
8:40 PM |
Evening Is The Whole Day Disclaimer: While reading the review, do bear in mind that I'm writing solely about the book and not about anything else.
The Bookish Book
The Bookish Synopsis
When the Rajasekharan family's servant girl, Chellam, is dismissed for unnamed crimes, it is only the latest in a series of losses that have shaken six-year-old Aasha's life. Her grandmother has passed away under mysterious circumstances, and her older sister has disappeared for a new life abroad. But what was Chellam's unforgivable crime? And what is Aasha's respectable father hiding from his wife and his children?
Set in post-colonial Malaysia, this is the spellbinding story of a prosperous Indian immigrant family as they slowly peel away layers of closely guarded secrets, and find their hopes and dreams inescapably entangled in the country's troubled past.
My Bookish Idea
Evening Is The Whole Day is an honest story albeit it being categorised as fiction. There is no denying that some parts of it are painstakingly true up till this day. If you're confused as to what I'm referring to, I'm talking about how the Rajasekharan family (being Indians) felt about living in Malaysia.
Take for example the fact that Aasha's sister, Uma can't wait to leave for America. Isn't that a familiar scenario? Young people leaving the country on the pretext of furthering their studies but yet, will somehow or most probably never return?
Or take the subtle racist events that occur in the daily life of the Rajasekharans. Snide comments such as, "Living in Malaysia but can't speak Malay" and "KTM means Keretapi Tanah Melayu, the Malay land train". Does that ring a bell?
I absolutely love the way Preeta Samarasan entwines events and situations of past and present and make them so relevant to our current situation. That itself is a talent many authors can only dream of. Her style, combined with literary images makes for a read that requires one to think. And isn't that the aim of every book in this genre? To make its reader think and reflect?
This book has certainly succeeded in making me think and reflect. I loved it though I think that the font is a tad too small.
The Bookish Rating
7/10
"You can go there broken, and tomorrow find yourself whole."
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Friday, November 19, 2010
2:00 AM |
Review: Big Bad Book Sale 2010 Oh what to say, what to say? Pricing wise, the Big Bad Book Sale remains unbeatable. The price range is still between RM1 to RM20, though most of the books were RM8.
Location wise, they did a good job in picking South City Plaza since the place was easy to find and there were sufficient and cheap parking (you only need to pay RM1 for the first 12 hours). The ground floor place where the sale is actually held at is quite big for a book sale. The place is more airy and cooler compared to last year's sale in Amcorp Mall. So no complaints about the location.
However, the arrangement inside needs a lot of improvement. There were insufficient labels to indicate what kind of books are located where. Thus, it was also kind of hard to navigate around with the amount of people carrying boxes everywhere. I lost count of the number of times I bumped into someone or got bonked by someone else.
There should be a place provided whereby people can actually fine-tune their selection of books before making payment rather than having people dump their stuff in the middle of the way. I was kind of put off when one of the staff told me that I could not sort my books at a corner I selected because I was in the way of the "queue" line. Best thing was, there was no queue.
Except for the sorting out my books part, I thought the sale was great. With RM8 per book for most novels, I guess I can't complain much about the inadequacies.
The Big Bad Book Sale will be until 17th November 2010. |
Friday, November 12, 2010
11:47 PM |
A long way down 
New Years Eve at Toppers House, North London's most popular suicide spot. And four strangers are about to discover that doing away with yourself isn't quite the private act they'd each expected.
Perma-tanned Martin Sharp's a disgraced breakfast TV presenter who had it all - the kids, the wife, the pad, the great career - but he 'pissed it all away'. Killing himself is Martin's 'reasonable and appropriate response' to an unliveable life.
Maureen has to do it tonight, because of Matty being in the home. He was never able to do any of the normal things kids do - like walk or talk - and loving-mum Maureen can't cope any more. Dutiful Catholic that she is, she's about to commit the 'biggest sin of all'.
Half-crazed with heartbreak, loneliness, adolescent angst, seven Bacardi Breezers and two Special Brews, Jess's ready to jump, to fly off the roof. Lastly, there's JJ - tall, cool, American, looks like a rock-star (was, in fact, a rock-star before his band split) - who's weighed down with a heap of problems and pizza.
Four strangers, who moments before were all convinced that they were alone and going to end it all that way, sit down together, share out the pizza and begin to talk.
Funny, sad, and wonderfully humane, Nick Hornby's A LONG WAY DOWN is a novel that asks some of the big questions: about life and death, strangers and friendship, love and pain, and whether a slice of pizza can really see you through a long, dark night of the soul.
Well that's on the back of the book. But here's my take on it:
Nick Hornby, the same guy who gave us "About a Boy", takes on suicide in a charming and funny way. I would have never been able to write a story like this. It starts with Martin who's a social pariah due to his scandal who end up on the roof of a building attempting suicide. While he's up there, Maureen calls up to him asking if she could borrow his ladder. How boggling is that? Then one by one the characters turn up and share a meal discussing their wretched lives. And they may a pact to meet up again on Valentine's Day, to see if they all wanted to jump.
Along the way to V-day, they mess up together (the Angel story that Jess comes up with is hysterical), try to solve each others' problems and come to understand who the other person is. In a strange way, they become friends, people they rely on.
Well here's a little spoiler for all of you: The ending of the book is a loud awakening to the four of them.
I think this book makes you think about your life. And about how you want to look at things. You can change what you see, you can change the "lenses" that you see the world with. You just need new perspective.
I give it a 4.5/5 . Its a good read for anyone who appreciates sardonic humour.. and strangely anyone contemplating death.Labels: Nick Hornby |
Thursday, November 4, 2010
3:42 AM |
Pay Less Books Warehouse Sales Pay Less Books will be having not one, but TWO warehouse sales. Details are as follows:
Warehouse Sale No 1
Date: 3th - 7th November 2010
Venue: Atria Damansara
Time: 10.00 am - 10.00 pm
Admission: Free
Warehouse Sale No 2
Date: 19th - 21st November 2010
Venue: YMCA KL, Brickfields
Time: 10.00 am - 7.00 pm
Admission: Free
Note: All the details were obtained from a magazine so I shall not be liable should there be any inaccuracies. To be sure, you can head to Pay Less Books for more details and further confirmation.Labels: Book Fairs |
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
12:25 AM |
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