4 in 2

In the course of 2 months, I am very proud to announce that I managed to read (and finished) 4 novels. This is a proud achievement as compared to what would normally be a novel in 3 months. I have never felt so whole and satisfied, really.

I started off with Preeta Samarasan's Evening Is The Whole Day (EITWD). To be honest, I stopped after a few turnings due to its dense contents and unlikeable font (at least to me).

When I stopped, I couldn't get myself to pick it up and read it again -- probably my mood wasn't into it already. Feeling guilty, I moved on to the next novel which I have bought and was glued to it until the very last page while EITWD was left untouched. The novel was Anita Shreve's Testimony.
I have heard so much about this particular writer but I have never read any of her writings. Testimony was my first and I kinda like it. It is about how a scandal in an Ivy boarding school, being uncovered and let out in the public can affect so many lives, and also took one under the unbearable circumstance. The novel is written in the point of views of the people involved, hence the title testimony. It managed to build up the suspense in me, unwanting to know the truth of what really happened but at the same time, I cannot wait for the novel to unveil everything.

Close friends would know how much I love and adore Jodi Picoult's work so when I finally got my hands on her latest novel, Handle With Care I went straight into it and finished it in no time!
Like her previous novels, Handle With Care, too centres on the themes of family and choices. Although I didn't cry at this one, it certainly opened my eyes on the Brittle Bone Disease which is what the main character Willow was suffering. This story is about how a mother out of her helplessness and years of tiredness (I'd like to think of it that way) taking care of her child with BBD ended up filing a wrongful birth to the person who is supposed to be held responsible for her and her daughter's suffering. That person is her personal doctor, who also happens to be her best friend.

I like how Picoult managed to let her readers feel the misery of how a family can get so affected with a disease which a member is suffering from that the truth sometimes needs to be spoken out loud. She lets us weigh the arguments of the wrongful birth, and makes us realise that if this ever happened to us, we might do what we initially disapprove of. This story speaks for itself, that an action can bring a family together or tear them apart. Handle With Care, too reminds us that no matter how hard we try to mend things, they sometimes can't be saved; they break just like the many bones in Willow.

After reading this, I decided I was ready to dive into EITWD for the second time, which I successfully finished. I have so much fondness for this novel because it is something that I can truly relate to as a Malaysian. The setting and backdrop of the Post-Independence Malaya was painted quite vividly and the characters are among whom we can find in our daily lives in Malaysia. It also highlights the issue of class and caste which whether we realise it or not, is still prevalent if not among the Indians but also the Malaysian society in general. It speaks out what we wouldn't dare to admit about unity among the races and that we are very much shaped by our past that it could be a mistake all along. It was a good read although at times I kinda lost it.

Lastly, I stumbled upon this book one day while I was book-hunting in Popular. It's Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones.

If a book is about a tragedy, a family, and the aftermath/in the course of its happening, I am one who would be hovering over it. Now a major motion picture (I am yet to read the reviews), I can't help but think that The Lovely Bones is slightly Picoult-ish in comparison. This novel was neither brilliant nor bad. I wish the antagonist would suffer more from his murderous acts. It didn't leave me with a bang (as what I had hoped for) and I wasn't satisfied with how it ended. But again, it depicts a family's struggle to cope with their loss of a family member who was brutally raped and murdered at 14 and how each one of them tried to cope differently. Their grievances somehow drifted some of them apart while some remained tight than ever. This story is written from the eyes of Susie (the dead child) hovering, watching from up above, everything that's been happening in the lives of her loved ones, even after a decade of her death and her (still) untraceable body parts and bones.

So, time to bury myself in another book since it's the holidays. I don't plan to purchase any because I am just starting my brother's Harper Lee's To Kill a Mocking Bird. I know, I know (sangat ketinggalan) but better late than never right? I know that this will not let me down. Happy Reading people!