Book Review: The Promise of Happiness

by Justin Cartwright - Bloomsbury Books - 2004

I would like to read other books by this author. This book was borrowed. I started it on December 27th 2015.It took a few reads to get into.  Then, having given up on at least three occasions, I became addicted.

Absolutely a great weaving of threads. Each family character is revealed as the story unfolds around daughter Juliet, with the sense of justice or injustice that she endured.  Her passion and interest in glass bring her and members of her family to deal with, or not, the various interplay of emotions that goes on between people,  to encounter and face emotional injury, present and past lovers, addiction, compassion, secrets, truths, lies about who they each are and what keeps FAMILY together.  It provokes thoughts on core values - on morality.  It is a story that incorporates at the very least, fear, responsibility for one's own life, betrayal, guilt, freedom, redemption, forgiveness, compromise and understanding. What is love? filial, romantic, enduring....
Out of despair brings hope seemed to be the underlying theme in the pursuit of the reality that Happiness comes and goes, and is dependent and not dependent!
Set partially in America. However, the epicentre of the story was set in a little part of Cornwall I had the good fortune to be near a few Autumns ago. I still wish to walk that coast and the coastline of England! 
The story is about the quirkiness of FAMILY happiness : the woven threads of a dream if one is fortunate!!!!!!!!!  Ah... promises that little babes in arms bear...

Book Review: Singing for Mrs Pettigrew

Michael Morpugo: Singing for Mrs Pettigrew : illustrated by Peter Bailey
Hard back copy 2006 first edition:  borrowed from my daughter

I was drawn to read this book by its design,  the look and the feel of the paper of the wrapped cover.  I love the red hard cover board with its dark green end-papers and I adored the b/w sketches.  I liked that the font size and spacing varied according to the short story of the long story of the journey that he was telling about himself and how he'd become a story maker.
The end story about Mrs Pettigrew is poignant!

Book Review: A Change of Climate

by Hilary Mantel.  1994. This is a personal viewpoint. Found in the books boxed in the attic, I chose to read it for its North Norfolk setting.
It's an interesting tale of two, who linked to 'the family firm', decide to be 'sort-of missionaries' in South Africa and then fall foul of the politics in the 1960s.  Rather than flee homeward they have another 'go' to help others in a different culture to their own and it becomes tragic. The chronology of the plot jumps about but events fell into place in my head at the end of chapter 7. A few more twists to the tale and it ends with unanswered questions as do many a good novel! It is a story of love, marriage, family, loss, bereavement, injustices, the weak, frail and misguided, the loyal, committed and persistent.  Recommended.

Book Review: A Street Cat Named Bob

by James Bowen. 2012. Borrowed from my daughter. 
It is a true story about how one man and his cat found HOPE on the Streets of London.  Each cat has its own personality and can be quite individual; they choose their servants and are usually incrredibly loyal.  Bob is a blessing and helps 'healing' in more ways than one when he arrives in friendship.  They provide reciprocal support.   Bob needs to be looked after and gives James the need to care. It is a basic human need.  Eventually, even though James had tried to cease his addictions, Bob the Cat gives him 'un raison d'être', a reason to live LIFE. He encounters difficulties... well you would walking a cat through London. There are two more books and there is much online.  It's such a HAPPY STORY! A Beautiful Story of HOPE when people or cats are down on the luck.. and currently still devoted friends! 

My Big Feet is now 13 but she used to walk miles and was and is still quite traffic savvy. She used to regularly cross a busy street, trot across the pedestrian pavement of the bridge as she knew that was safer, cross the road again to get to The Common where she would hunt rabbits or moles and bring them home!  She has also followed my partner and I on two mile walks, even noting the two foxes playing their love dance in the field.  She has also travelled with a harness.

Book Review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

My daughter gave this book to me.
Living with February influenza forced my mind to read between sleeping!
There has been a glimpse of Spring. I sat in the garden sunshine for no more than 30 minutes contentedly reading.  In the coming days I wondered where I had left the book!  Ah, the rain! The pages weren't yet completely stuck together so I dried the book out on top of the woodburner.  But it pushed against the hot flue.  I wondered what that sweet smell was!  Nevertheless, still a little damp it was readable!
It took a while for me to understand the lay-out of the novel, identify with the characters and understand who was relating the story. It wasn't the Book Thief!  'Twas the Grim Reaper!  It says so on the back cover!  Like many, I am deeply upset at what happened in WWII ...  it is the setting of this literary work!  It must have been hell for so many! We cannot alter our place of birth!  Out of learning grows reward.  The ability to play an instrument, to draw, to write, to have a skill are talents which can be shared with others in joy or dire times. 
I loved the style and the bold black intros to each section...telling of what was to come.
Incredibly soul-wrenching...souls were allowed to live a while before they were taken / stolen... as well as books, apples and potatoes. The desire to read drew the desire to steal.  Out of horror, sorrow, badness grows goodness, delight, satisfaction, love. BUT all things pass and everyone dies!
The fact that my book went through the rigours of the elements,  matching some of that which happens in the story seemed to be ironic!  
An excellent work of how words can triumph over the extremes of loss. I highly recommend the novel. 

Paper books can suffer water and fire damage but still feel great in the hand and to the eye.

Book Review: Running Wild

This is the first novel I have read of Michael Morpurgo, a prolific author.  Highly recommended.  I do have a copy of Farm Boy but never read it as it demanded attention at a time when I had none.  I also watched the dvd of War Horse.
My daughter lent me "Running Wild". Last night having ended the novel and read the several postscripts, I found myself watching You Tube footage of two tsunamis 2004 and 2011 about people who survived but had lost members of their families.  Unimaginable is an understatement!
I have ridden an elephant in Sri Lanka but never would I ever wish to have witnessed the real experiences of a 13 year old boy who was saved by riding a beach elephant, or an elephant who had come down to the beach.  At speed with energy and force it could escape the mysterious and destructive surge of the sea. This was the basis of the story. The Times says it is a thrilling and moving novel. That is exact. It thrills and it moves.  My tears flowed at page 321.
Witnessing not-my-own-bereavement this week, and knowing that my friend is in South East Asia, I became fearful, as well as tearful.  Yet, feel that I could be out in the great world travelling and facing my own fears. A fear of funding, deciding where to go, booking it are all shelved as other tasks to be done in order that I can do it seem to continue to extend the time when I have not gone!  I wonder if I will ever go, not so much to S.E.A. but even further within Europe.  Perhaps people go to Asia because it is by and large cheaper to travel on a budget. Apart from India I don't seem to have any urge to go to S. E. Asia.
The novel is a journey incorporating the survival of people, elephants, orang-utangs and tigers in the wild. It is a journey of how the loss of love, warmth, security and bereavement brings a journey of other growth for not only the boy but also for others.  It is a journey of hope.  It raises awareness of the forces of evil, greed, cruelty and some peoples' disinterest in global conditions. The novel is educational to young people of geographical matters.  Excellent!

Book Review: The Sea Change

by Elizabeth Jane Howard was tricky to get into as each chapter was divided into the four characters speaking from their own perspective...I very much enjoyed it and romped through the last several chapters. This was an orange Penguin edition number1752.  Towards the end I wondered how much of it was a reflection of the experiences of the author!  The novel explores emotions of those who lose parents when they were small, so feelings of abandonment, rejection and bereavement.

Daily life review: Two consecutive days to attend two funerals... senior residents of the village... one had died immediately on contact with the ground a tragic fall from a height... he shouldn't have been where he was at his age!) another who had been housebound for many years finally succumbed. VERY SAD. She once owned my house.  It was interesting to see into a vault and not as macabre as I suspected... all very automatic with the French as we processed to the daughter and family to offer our sentiments.  I don't wish to be laid in the earth! Scatter me amidst the ocean!  Meanwhile I must "Seize the day for the end will come."

On a happier note it was a delight to see a child aged six who believes he will never have wrinkles  tuck into a Superheroes themed birthday cake.  I didn't see the one he took to school!  I couldn't unravel the licorice spirals, which were bought to make a spider web design, nor did I wish to make red icing with additives. A paper image sufficed for cake decoration!  He was chuffed!  I bought Smarties, surprised at how few red ones there were and how few blue ones.... the most common colours were green, yellow and orange.  Fatal to have Smarties or M&Ms available in my house!  Pure sugar. I prefer 70-80% dark chocolate with my morning coffee! The price of a Superheroes magazine containing small toy in a cellophane packet was another surprise, but a lot less than a packet of superheroes type Lego or other toy!  It all seems so outrageous - more than I try to spend on my weekly wine pleasure!   His face was a picture and impressed that I had made it just for him... though we all ate a slice!

Book Review: Girls in their Married Bliss by Edna O'Brien

Penguin Book 2649 first published 1964 reprinted 1967.
Given that I've acquired loads of Orange Penguin books to sell for someone, I took the opportunity to read an author I have enjoyed...this novel says a lot about life in the 50s 60s. Think "Up the Junction" (Nell Dunne) . In those days it really was a tragicomedy as described on the back cover - it is seedy, sad and an epitome of some women in those times; an irony.  The power of womanhood has improved. Would I recommend it?  For social history: it's a quick read!

Book Review: Friends, Lovers, Chocolate by Alexander McCall Smith

My daughter looked offended when I answered that I hadn't read the book but was passing it on.  As I replied, I realised she'd given me this book and another of his titles! Therefore, I gave it a go! I was suitably surprised and thoroughly enjoyed the 2nd book of the Philosophy Series...so much so that I'd finished it within three days. I am a slow reader! That is, I haven't always got the TIME to read! I did some research and was again impressed with how many books this author has written. I think that is why I initially thought they would be 'not my style'!  But the philosophical content was interesting and made me more alert to perspectives of thinking!

Book Review: The Dead School: Patrick McCabe

Dust. 
Dead.
Days. (Larkin)
Living.
Loving.
Loss.
Death.
Dying.
Disintegration.
Destruction.
Depression.
Deviation.
Dearth.
Destiny.
Dreams broken.
Betrayal.
Madness.
Macabre.
Ancient.
Modern.
Ireland.
England.
Deeply Disturbing.
 "all the  precious moments... shared... down the years... well they weren't really anything at all now, were they? ... you certainly couldn't call them precious moments ... A better name for this might be something like: DUST!"
Two characters clash, contrast, come together.
Two or more levels of craziness.
Teachers and pupils.
Catholicism.
Ah.. I remember it all very well.

I confess.
My Days have certainly passed when I as a teacher became long-in-the-tooth and went from being outstanding to not. When I was head-hunted to when I was hunted-to-be-dismissed. Oh my, did they give me the best gift ever which was early retirement by at least five years of bliss and heaven... for if I was a year or two later it would not have been allowed! My bacon and sanity were saved .. although some may think the last ten years have been a hard time!   
Raphael Bell should have taken his freedom before teaching sent him to the brink.  
Like Raphael I thought I was important with my status and power...but now I am wiser, less arrogant.  I learned at the end of my career that I was irredeemable and not irreplaceable, even when the governor, on my final day before the blow, in front of a class of eleven year old children said "ah.. you are still surviving!" and I replied: "Yes I am a survivor!" 
Now I believe I am less self-centric, aware of my failings.  I am almost DUST and shall be when all my days have ended.
Who would be a teacher?
I would again, if I knew that what I was doing was making a positive difference to education, but if not, then I would get out quick, and do something more beneficial for my inner soul and for others.
Ironically, I have chosen to publish this on the day children return to school in UK and I didn't realise a new curriculum commences. 
It is A BRILLIANT BOOK. 
I read it before when I was numb because I don't remember any of it!
I haven't read THE BUTCHER BOY but was shocked out of the skin within seconds of watching the movie with a friend who couldn't stand it, who walked out! I made him return to the nightmare, even though I didn't wish to, and sit in the Hertfordshire cinema to brave it out! It didn't get easier to watch! Brilliant Movie! I would like to read more of his literature.

I'm wondering...

whether to find a copy of Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan in French.  I tried to read a French version of an Agatha Christie a few years ago but it was too hard!  Inspired, when opening my friend's Orange Penguin collection where there were some French titles...this was on my 'to read' bucket list! I enjoyed the book immensely... an easy read of artful teenager's interference with adults which causes tragedy and heartbreak!

Book Review: A Week in December

I wouldn't normally have chosen this subject matter to read but I had been having a Sebastian Faulks moment... when my bunion incapacitated me. I had borrowed this book from a friend.

I persevered and came to enjoy the different scenes in different chapters with different characters... it activated the mind and memory and I was not only pleased to reach the end but pleased that I'd had the challenge.

If you'd like a much more detailed book review then go to The Guardian!

Book Review: Charlotte Gray

The novel Charlotte Gray was written in 1999 by Sebastian Faulks with a film directed by Gillian Armstrong starring Cate Blanchet released in 2001.

I loved this book.   It was profound and emotionally educational unravelling some of the tangled thoughts about my own parental relationship.

page 474:
I was upset when she commented about how her father was emotionally and mentally damaged by his experiences in WWI.
I began to realise that my own parents may have been proud of me but they never ever praised me in all of my life. My mother once did say I was clever so maybe that counts!

I was in tears towards the end of the book: 

"She strained at the memory of her childhood, at the sense of some rapture lost. Yet it all remained like some frozen sea: great blocks of ice, submerged but static, and beyond the melting capacity of her conscious will."......... "her mother would turn form intimacy"

page 479 and after:
the author writes about a man's need and fears of being a father, a person, a man as a boy and how men can be a prisoner of sensual desire.... so I started to wonder about how people set themselves free from the chains that they have self-imposed.  When I was in my 30s or 40s I doodled many chains and wrote about myself being a prisoner but then I did not know what of!  I still have that INNER CHILD THERAPY JOURNAL.
page 482:
I had a kind of revelation.  I began to sob suddenly and uncontrollably as I realized that possibly I had never ever really thought about MY LIFE from my parents' viewpoint ...  It is what I have been expecting my grown up children to do! I want them to appreciate and understand that I think about their lives from my viewpoint and I think that perhaps one of them hasn't yet understood that and won't until he becomes a parent. 
page 483:
I interpret the author's writings:
The noise of shouting and violence... the sight and sound of torment, grief and horror cause the destruction of the softness of love.

``````````````````

In this novel, Charlotte Gray, a young Scot,  became involved with the French resistance at Vichy, in 1942, during the Second World War.  She'd traveled to London to work as a medical receptionist for a Harley Street doctor but on the train she shared a compartment with two men, one who works for the secret service and he invites her to contact him when the job gets boring. Despite the war, social life was in full swing and she soon meets an accomplished airman, Peter Gregory. The temporary nature of life at wartime brings romance where she loses her virginity and her heart. Peter is sent on a mission over France and becomes missing in action.  She joins a Special Operations Executive (SOE) training course where about one third of the women sent to France never returned. The secret service exploit her talent to speak French fluently and she is happy to return to France where she spent much of her childhood.  She passes interrogation to be a spy,  has her hair and dentistry adapted to look more like a French woman and is parachuted into France to complete a specified mission.  She goes AWOL and sets out to find Gregory.
Wikipedia says:
"The character of Charlotte Gray was based on a New Zealand woman called Nancy Wake who worked with the French Resistance near a village called Verneix in the Auvergne region. Instead of escaping she became a courier for the resistance but had to eventually flee to Spain and then England where she was trained by the SOE. She was parachuted back into France on 29 April 1944 and went on to lead a 7,000 strong resistance group in the Auvergne region. Her husband, Henri Fioca, was tortured and killed by the Gestapo for failing to reveal her whereabouts."

Book Review: Eric Clapton The Autobiography

An Icon. A Legend. God of Blues and of Guitar. Loved by so many!

I didn't realise he was and is a recovering alcoholic and of cocaine, but I'm not surprised, even though then, it was the days of sex 'n drugs 'n rock 'n roll!  He endured much therapy before recognising and accepting his inner happiness in the position of a family man with Melia and their three daughters and he has an older daughter.  Sadly, his young son died accidentally. His song 'Tears in Heaven' reflects upon that loss.
Eric was shy, insecure, with many obsessions/addictions and was fortunate that from his music he had an excellent income to supply those desires. A lonely soul finding it difficult to sometimes integrate behind the mask of who he thought he was. Yet it was his public persona that endeared him to so many: a brilliant musician, a perfectionist, an idealist, a modest man.  He confesses to anger and disagreeable attitudes which cost him dear and momentarily lowered his status in my eyes (because I can't handle anger!)  but by the time I'd finished reading his memoir, he was raised again to the Wonderful Man that I love for his music and for the perceptive and intuitive person whom I see and hear when he sings the lyrics of his songs and those written by others.  Goodness knows how his women/wives coped or didn't cope with his absences as well as his addictions.  I like to think that perhaps they were forgiving and some not without personal issues because no matter how rich we are, we are all the same: we are human!
I admire Eric Clapton for writing about his personal and professional life in intimate detail.  I can feel him sitting next to me TELLING his story.  Of course, it is history how he inveigled Pattie Boyd to be his lover and how George Harrison agreed.  It is a Story of Unrequited Love.  He recounts his personal and professional self discovery and his absorption with The Blues.   He shows his struggles and redemption.  He says he needed to be good at other things than being a musician.  It was a revelation when he was asked "Who are you?', whilst receiving therapy and being on withdrawal from alcohol and drugs. Later in the book, page 282, he describes how he was confronted with the statement; "Tell me who you are" and found it a struggle to do so.
(I haven't been an alcoholic though I have to my shame known the edge, the precipice. I suppose I am one because giving up the glass or two of wine on a daily basis seems an impossibility for me, although Rooibus tea really helps! It's a small treat. A small blessing at my age! In my own self discovery I have held back from drowning in any form of alcoholic bliss, which is escape.   Maybe everyone has to, at some stage, CHALLENGE the question of WHO we are and WHAT we are and how we fit into the world.  It is human and normal but brings us up sharp to realise we have much to be thankful for.)
I loved and enjoyed reading about The Yardbirds, Cream, Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce, Derek and the Dominoes, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and many other musicians. In the 70s I saw Ginger Baker play live.  It seemed rather strange for me to be reading about an era in the late 1960s, when I wasn't allowed to go to the music clubs mentioned in Eric's well-scripted, frank, soul bearing, spirited, painfully joyous life story.
I've always wanted to meet him... and if I did I would go very weak at the knees! I can play "Layla", "Wonderful Tonight", "I Shot the Sheriff", and all the rest ALL DAY, EVERY DAY but I don't because there is so much lovely music in the world.
"Unplugged" 1992  is one of my favourite albums - but hey, they are all favourites!
 Eric demonstrates his love, compassion, dedication.  I'm glad his life has become a happier one and of course, Luck has been his Lady despite the ordeals.  
A true Legend. A true Icon in Musical History.

I borrowed this book from a friend and need to return it!

Book Review: East of the Sun

This was a 2013 Summer birthday gift from my daughter.  I like the fact that she often gives new and recycled gifts. I suspect it is a book I left at my daughter's house some years ago and now it has been returned to me! It's a good read - perhaps a little lightweight - yet intriguing.  I enjoyed it whilst my brain was disconnected from my foot after the bunion op last October. It was just right for curling up on the settee,  spying the flames of the woodburner as I peeped out from the duvet!
Julia Gregson in 2008 published East of the Sun which is set in Autumn 1928.
The author researched real events and characters from Indian history. She learned about Indian Calvary regiments having heard about The Fishing Fleet.  Young women travelled to India from UK for 'the Season' to become married or to search for a husband.  Gregson recounts 'the party life' of  bored British women East of the Sun.  The main character acts as an inexperienced chaperone in order to reduce her own ticket to India. She escorts two giddy young women, one to be wed, the other to be a bridesmaid, and an obnoxional, young boy with OCD, expelled from a boarding school.  Viva is naive with her romance and childhood memories, still in personal denial now that her parents are deceased. Whilst exorcising her memories, she discovers that her parents were not necessarily the ogres she thought they were... Ah, this rings a resonance with me and it should with my offspring, one of whom, knows not what it is like to be a parent.  Hope and secrets, truths and lies, good and bad conduct interact to eventually produce a form of freedom for each character.

Book Review: Coastliners

I read this 12 years ago when it was first published ... the copy is in my attic.
Q: Why not on a bookshelf?  A: I don't have one as my previous house had an inbuilt library!
A friend bought this copy from a UK charity shop!  Unfortunately, it was a slow and tedious read both readings, however, this time, I would wake in the middle of the night to read a few more chapters and came to enjoy the book.
Today is Saturday but I post this to my blog on Sunday yet moved the posting to Thursday!
I don't know why I am so exhausted.  I was reading before and after sleeping under the duvet, on the settee, in front of the fire. Unusual for me! I think it was a combination of Friday, a headache, THE RAIN, the desire for change and for the pile of chores to disappear!
There are more than enough reviews and it best to go to Joanne Harris' website for all you wish to know.  It's about insiders/outsiders and pessimism/optimism. The frailty of human life which is dependent upon age, employment, lifestyle.  It is about birth/death and how LIFE struggles on, despite all that occurs...well, until we die!  The thread in the story is the belief that if something departs or is lost it will return.  It's a bit of a cliffhanger ... suddenly the tale ends and one wonders.
I have read the 2nd,3rd,4th 5th of her published books. I think I stopped buying when I realised there was a pattern.  I own THE FRENCH KITCHEN which I rather like!
I miss the sea...but probably would not wish to be near the angry 'hungry dog' on the west and south of the British Isles.

Book Review - The Constant Gardener

The Constant Gardener

This is my first reading of any John le Carré novel. A friend has lent it to me. I am pleased because I heard the radio serialization some while ago and enjoyed it.  At first, I found it a bit boring but there were exciting moments and I know I was absorbed because I would wake in the middle of the night and continue reading! There were terrifying moments, violence and conspiracy for the characters and the reader.  It made one think. The answers were not all evident.

Tessa had been gruesomely murdered in Kenya but where was the doctor she was with when trying to expose the drug company and others involved with the corruption. The fictional pharmaceutical company exploit a drug to cure or kill, to profit under the guise of helping the poor! Justin her older husband enjoyed growing lilies and other flowers especially for her. Had she betrayed or been disloyal to her husband or protected him? He, a diplomat at the British High Commission began a personal odyssey to find her killers and the motive.  He risks his own life for justice and revenge after he was interviewed as a suspected murderer.  He accomplishes his task as well as discovering the depths of his love for a woman who he had little time to fully love.

It is a crime thriller full of subtle betrayal, divided loyalty, bribery and corruption and Capitalism.  Recommended reading.

Book Review - On the Road

The reader is on an epic journey alongside Jack Kerouac.  However at the end, one can say "wow" and "phwew" and be relieved that it is ended. Also be somewhat saddened that such a brilliant, descriptive, experiential writer died at the age of 47, because of alcohol abuse.  In this novel there are many accounts of drugs, alcohol and jazz, for then it was not rock'n'roll!  Hi (high) ... man! The literary journey, eloquently and elegantly describes 'beat' people in all its contextual meanings, landscapes, people, men and women and all that went on between!  He was part of The Beat Generation.  It changed attitudes and history!  Interesting!

Evidently, the first draft of this novel was written in three weeks in 1951 whilst the author was living with his second wife in Manhattan, New York.  It was typed on a one hundred and twenty foot continuous scroll of sheets of tracing paper cut to size and taped together.  It was without margins or paragraph breaks.   Later, Kerouac revised the text, deleting sections which in the 1950s were considered pornographic. He added other storyline tales.

The particular book I read was found in a stored box of books. I had unwittingly acquired it, but as it really belongs to my friend, it can now be returned!  It's one of those books that I am  often reluctant to read... browned pages... however, I thought I ought to read this classic! Glad that I did!

I haven't ever been to America.  Sometimes I think I might like to go. I have a friend as well as a second cousin and his family who live in the north.   I would love to see certain places like New York, the Grand Canyons and places where rock culture began and maybe any French speaking towns.

Book Review - And The Mountains Echoed

 And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

I loved this book because after reading the words,
my mind echoed with thoughts about the rights and wrongs that happen in human life.
How well can any of us do as parents?
How, sometimes unintentionally, we make mistakes
in order to please others
or to force events
or push and pull
in order to survive.

I will read the book again.

Q: Why did I choose this book?

A: Because it was timely. Because I enjoyed "The Kite Runner" but missed his second novel : A Thousand Splendid Suns
Q: How did I choose this book?
A:  At the airport. I liked the blurb on the back cover. I was fascinated by the 13th century Rumi poetry at the front of the book "Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing there is a field. I'll meet you there." 
Q: What did I like about the book?
A: It was about families, loss, love, sacrifice, -  in different situations out of necessity, accident or death, because of courageous or difficult decisions made.  It was about attachment, belonging, 'having roots' and being homeless. It was about poverty and the inverse.  It was about rejection and abandonment.  It was about secrets, deceptions and accepting truths. It was about dishonesty and honesty. It was about perseverance and the quest for knowledge. It showed how ageing can be entrapment for others and by abandoning the one who abandoned, one can cast off a heavy load. It was scary, provocative, sad, joyful.  It contains so many elements about real life that I found it very emotional. It forced me to question the motives of characters in the narrative as well as people in reality.  Out of anguish, angst and torment comes liberty and a freedom to live, and to love anew with family that hadn't been known in life.  When one doesn't know where the tale is going, the echoes and mirrors become suddenly clear.  When the sun goes down in the valley, the moon will rise elsewhere. When the eagle soars in the mountains he can look down and see clearly the smallest mouse. A truly beautiful narrative.
Q: Was there anything I didn't like?
A: I don't always read titles of chapters so was taken aback when the story wasn't chronological...I had to start again and pay more attention to titles which told me the time frame, characters, plot and events.
Q: Anything else?
A: It made me think about regret partuclarly childhood and becoming aged, how children don't always know so how can they appreciate parental sacrifice and suffering. It made me think more about the waste of life that can occur to so many because of poverty or the loss of one's partner, or the loss of a parent or the one who loses a child or a sibling. It made me think about the suffering we have as children or as adults or both!  It made me think more about the frailty and absurdity of life and how one's journey through the mountains is paved for us... it is designated for us by a Power so Great.
Q: What is there to be prepared for?
A: The international twists.  Make sure a handkerchief is at the ready!