South Asian Voices

Don't worry, I have many many more travel post lined up but I have also been reading and don't want to let me book posts fall behind.

I have read more than just these two but I wanted today to only talk about these two books. Both are written by desi's (a term for those from the sub continent - India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) I usually stay away from South Asian voices. Why? I don't know.. I feel too conflicted or lack connection with those storylines. But then I picked up two. All That Rage I had wanted to read and The Reading List had been sitting on my bookshelf being ignored. 

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

       

Synopsis - Widower Mukesh lives a quiet life in the London Borough of Ealing after losing his beloved wife. He shops every Wednesday, goes to Temple, and worries about his granddaughter, Priya, who hides in her room reading while he spends his evenings watching nature documentaries.
Aleisha is a bright but anxious teenager working at the local library for the summer when she discovers a crumpled-up piece of paper in the back of To Kill a Mockingbird. It’s a list of novels that she’s never heard of before. Intrigued, and a little bored with her slow job at the checkout desk, she impulsively decides to read every book on the list, one after the other. As each story gives up its magic, the books transport Aleisha from the painful realities she’s facing at home.
When Mukesh arrives at the library, desperate to forge a connection with his bookworm granddaughter, Aleisha passes along the reading list… hoping that it will be a lifeline for him too. Slowly, the shared books create a connection between two lonely souls, as fiction helps them escape their grief and everyday troubles and find joy again.

Thoughts - I picked this one up because who doesn't like a book about books bringing people together. And then it seemed like it would be a slow read so I just left it on the bookshelf. Once I started reading it, it was still a slow start and I wasn't sure If I was going to like it. But it was mainly Mukesh who won me over. Coming from a desi household I could see so many similarities, the way his daughters hovered, babied and criticized.. I could see the love they had but how wrong they were in the way they showed it. I could see it because we as a culture do that. Unlike here where old people still go about living their lives independently (until sickness or disability hits) our elderly live their lives as dependents waiting for sickness (something I do not agree with) I felt for Aleisha, mental illness is a real disease and so many people go through life without seeing a doctor, without seeking treatment. Not taking mental health seriously not only affects the sick but infects everyone around them. This is the case with Aleisha and her family. And the books, lets not forget about the books. I loved the way each book connected with every character who read them in a different way, taught them something about themselves. It was a really wonderful book. There are some mental health and death triggers. I stopped so many times while reading this book to share bits and pieces with M. It was a really wonderful book. 

All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir

       

Synopsis - Lahore, Pakistan. Then. Misbah is a dreamer and storyteller, newly married to Toufiq in an arranged match. After their young life is shaken by tragedy, they come to the United States and open the Clouds' Rest Inn Motel, hoping for a new start.
Juniper, California. Now.
Salahudin and Noor are more than best friends; they are family. Growing up as outcasts in the small desert town of Juniper, California, they understand each other the way no one else does. Until The Fight, which destroys their bond with the swift fury of a star exploding.
Now, Sal scrambles to run the family motel as his mother Misbah's health fails and his grieving father loses himself to alcoholism. Noor, meanwhile, walks a harrowing tightrope: working at her wrathful uncle's liquor store while hiding the fact that she's applying to college so she can escape him--and Juniper--forever.
When Sal's attempts to save the motel spiral out of control, he and Noor must ask themselves what friendship is worth--and what it takes to defeat the monsters in their pasts and the ones in their midst.

Thoughts - While The Reading List was heartwarming even in the sad parts. This one enraged me. It was the complete opposite of the first book. While the first book was about everyone coming together this one had everyone tearing each other apart. Misbah and Toufiq came to America to live the American dream. There migrant story reminded me of my parents. Coming to America with similar dreams. While our characters own a motel my parents owned a corner mom and pop store. They are living a difficult life. And like so many first gen kids Salahuddin makes it his responsibility to care for his parents, care for the motel, even when he hates it he can not shake the guilt of letting everyone around him down. Noor and her uncle are stuck in a painful cycle of guilt and debt. When someone saves you do you own them for life? When you sacrifice everything for someone should them forever be indebted to you? So many difficult questions. I felt for them all. The author created these amazingly flawed characters. They were real people with trauma too great to recover from so it spilled over and infected those around them. I loved this book. I again had to stop reading so many time in order to share parts of the story with M. If you can handle difficult subject matters I would highly recommend this book. 

Etsy           Instagram           Twitter           Redbubble           Zazzle           Society6