A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

★★★★★

I weeped at the end of this book. Simply weeped.

Before I get into its praises, let's get a few shortcomings out of the way. There are a few aspects to Hosseini's writing style that I'm not fond of, and the same minor complaints I had in The Kite Runner also apply here, except to a lesser degree. He still did some explicit foreshadowing, but only a couple times, and in at least one case, I do think it added a bit of suspense rather than detracted from the current narrative. Later on, when foreshadowed events occured, characters undoubtedly conjured up old memories that reminded the reader that said event was foreshadowed - as if Hosseini didn't trust the reader to be smart enough to remember on his own. But, in most cases, it seemed natural that if these events were really occurring, the characters would remember these old conversations with fondness, regret, or poignancy, so it wasn't really out of line to write about such memories. Overall, I think Hosseini's writing is more developed in this book, and ultimately, my rating of a book depends a great deal on how much of an impression it left on me, which is why I gave this book 5 stars despite these minor annoyances.

If The Kite Runner was, in part, a gentle and lovely portrayal of a peaceful, bygone time in Afghanistan history, then A Thousand Splendid Suns is its natural successor, telling intimate stories of women who endured the recent decades of multiple wars that tore the country apart and made it unrecognizable to its own citizens. On one level, this book serves a purpose by informing readers of Afghanistan's political turmoil and the nightmare of living in a war zone. But, it is also a book about motherhood, self-sacrifice, endurance, grace, and unadulterated love for one's homeland.

The book is filled with interesting characters. A woman who, to a stranger, may look like the embodiment of weakness and servility, but proves to be a fountain of admirable grace, wisdom, and strength not in spite of, but because of her sufferings. A man who mistreated women with shocking cruelty out of a misguided sense of tradition and conservatism, but also not unintelligent and still capable of affection and tenderness. Another woman who has enormous potential as a child, who is raised to value education above all else, but who must succumb to the draconian laws of the Taliban.

I was so invested in the characters that two-thirds of the way through the book, I started to fear that an undesirable conclusion would ruin the book for me. Without giving anything away, I'll say that I loved the ending.

Masa - Woburn, MA

★★★★½

Steve introduced us to Masa, and we loved it! We didn't order entrees, though, so my rating may be skewed. (There are always "those" restaurants that have excellent appetizers and desserts, but only mediocre entrees.) We knew we wanted to try their tapas, which are only served at the bar, so we waited around for bar seats to open up. Someone who might have been the manager saw us waiting, surveyed the dining guests, and gave us some tips on where we might want to hover in order to get the next available seats. Once we found seats in the bar area, he quickly brought us some menus. The bartender was pretty friendly, too; by the time our dinner was over, Ken had developed a rapport with him. Ken thought our mojitos were perfect (lots of fresh mint), but I thought mine was a little dry; I think I do like my mojitos to be just a little sweet. We ordered the combo platter of 10 different tapas, and 7 out of 10 were really fantastic. The remaining 3 weren't bad, they just didn't stand out as being as interesting or as flavorful as the other 7. We also got 3 out of the 4 available small dishes (I forget what they called them, they were somewhere between tapas and appetizers.); I loved the BBQ mac 'n cheese with chorizo, and Ken said the tuna tartare was great. For dessert we got the two menu items with chocolate; the "chocolate truffle tamale" (kind of like a molten chocolate cake) was yummy, and Steve said the bourbon pecan pie had a good filling, but a weak crust. (I'm not into nuts, so I don't think I can judge nut-based desserts fairly.)

Summer Winter - Burlington, MA

★★★★

I heard about Summer Winter a while ago, but since it's on the pricey side, we decided to wait until Ken's birthday to go. Thanks to Facebook, I found out that a high school classmate of mine is a server there, and when I told her about our reservations, she managed to pick up the shift and put us in her section. Needless to say, our service was excellent! The food was wonderful, from the "Strange Flavored" Eggplant (on the "Small Bites" menu, which is kind of like pre-appetizer tapas) to my avocado and polenta appetizer with goat cheese, tomatoes, and basil (a unique dish, I think), to Ken's crab cakes appetizer. My ginger and coconut fried chicken with curry sauce was tasty, and the chicken was especially juicy. Ken says his rib-eye steak was cooked perfectly. For dessert we had a nut tartlet - Ken's birthday choice. I'm not a fan of nuts, so I guess it wouldn't be fair for me to judge this dessert. I wanted to give this dining experience 5 stars, but Ken said it wasn't perfect because his sangria had too much ice in it. Ah, well.

This Is It (2009)

★★★★

Wow. To call this the "comeback tour to end all comeback tours" would not have been an overstatement. A touching opening scene, which showed dancers who were moved to tears by the mere thought of just having a chance to dance with MJ. I got goosebumps watching him dance "Billie Jean" again, hearing him sing "Man in the Mirror". Whatever you think about his personal life, there's no denying that Michael Jackson was a brilliant artist, performer, and entertainer. And to do all that he was doing at age 50! His premature death was such a tragic loss; he still had so much to do, so much to give.

Temple Grandin (2010)

★★★★★

A great feel-good movie. Very eye-opening, not just about autism, but, interestingly, about cattle, too! Really gives the viewer a feel for how at least one autistic person perceives the world. Also, the mother's struggle to deal with Temple's autism was well-portrayed; if it's difficult to raise an autistic child now, in an era of autism awareness, imagine how challenging it must have been in the 1950's, when even the "experts" didn't know what they were talking about. Temple Grandin's life is inspiring, not just for people with autism, but for all people.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

★★★

As an adult who is already a Sherman Alexie fan, I don't think this book offered much that can be considered "new". In many ways, it's more of the same, except it was written for a teenage audience. In that sense, it makes for a good introduction to Sherman Alexie for early teens.

The teenage voice of the narrator, Arnold Spirit, took some getting used to. It was so informal that I imagined I was listening to a teenager telling a story, not so much reading a novel. But since Arnold is a funny kid, it was certainly an entertaining story.

In the book, Arnold tells how, as a freshman in high school, he transfers from the economically depressed reservation high school to an all-white middle-class high school off the reservation. His quick turn-around, from a loser on the reservation to practically a superstar in the white dominated school, was a little much. But despite that one seemingly out-of-character development, Arnold quite effectively describes his inner turmoil of trying to succeed in the world outside the reservation and what that means for people who seem destined to live and die on the reservation.

The lessons of the book are sometimes made obvious to the point of triteness, even for a young adult book. In one case, the narrator explicitly emphasizes "the power of expectation", and in another case, "You can do it!" is used like a mantra.

Still, there are other times when, in pure Alexie fashion, wit, insight, and humor collide. The comic-style illustrations by Ellen Forney, far from being superfluous, really added another level of humor and understanding.

As you might expect from Sherman Alexie, there is no shortage of tragedy in this book. Thankfully, I really enjoyed the ending. I think another reviewer (I can't remember where I read it) put it best when he/she said that Alexie is somehow able to make you laugh, even while breaking your heart.

Wintry Night by Li Qiao

★★★★

Translated from a Taiwanese trilogy, this book has two parts: Part One is the first book of the trilogy, Part Two is the third; the second book of the trilogy was omitted. Unfortunately, an unabridged translated version isn't available.

A few pages into the book, I had to draw a family tree. Part One of the book focuses on the extended Peng family, and without writing it all down, the names and relationships would have been a big jumble to me. Part Two shifts the focus onto the extended family of one branch of the Peng family, and I had to draw a whole new family tree to keep up with the story.

Though it tells a fictional story, the book is an educational introduction to Taiwanese history. Part One describes the hardships of those who first opened up aboriginal mountain lands for farming (a period of time that reminded me of the harsh life of American pioneers who moved West into Native American Indian territory). Part Two tells of the difficulties faced by Taiwanese men conscripted into the Japanese army towards the end of World War II. Frequent references were made to the anti-Japanese resistance movement (which reminded me of the French Resistance against the Nazi occupation of France). I would have liked to have read more about the anti-Japanese resistance, but alas, it was the omitted second book of the trilogy that focused on that part of history.

Despite finding similarities to other more familiar histories, the stories in Wintry Night are entirely Taiwanese. While the book at times read like a non-fiction account of one family's history, the author interspersed the story with poetic descriptions of the Taiwanese mountains and the spirit of Taiwanese people. One understands how much the environs were an integral part of the lives and livelihood of the early settlers, and how much being Taiwanese (and more specifically, Hakka Chinese) was at the heart of their identities.

While Part One told of hardships and struggles, it's clear that hope existed, and perhaps the Peng family would one day prosper. In this part of the book, people seemed to act rashly, and I didn't always understand a person's motivations. I wasn't sure if I was missing something, if the author wasn't developing the characters enough, or if some important detail was lost in the translation.

Part Two, meanwhile, was somber and depressing, with graphic descriptions of the casualties of war. Even the rare faint glimmer of hope felt more like a yearning, blind faith rather than a practical possibility. The endings of both parts were poignant and artistically beautiful, but left me feeling empty. As the reader, I knew the family would survive - as they did after every setback - but I still wanted to read more, to find out how they fared.