From Aleppo Without Love
By
Amir Darwish
Paperback:
110 pages
Publisher:
Salvation Press (26 May 2017)
Language:
English
ISBN-10:
1527209377
ISBN-13:
978-1527209374
Amir
Darwish is a British/Syrian poet and writer. From Aleppo Without Love is
an autobiography that in horrific, almost unbelievable images details the life
of Amir Darwish. The book covers Darwish’s childhood and early teenage years
while living in Syria. From Aleppo
Without Love is an autobiography; this first part which I read is only the
beginning in a three part series. Each chapter in the first section is titled
after the residences of the Darwish family. The Al-Ansari Mashhad home covers
years 1982 to 1984 and tells of the death of Amir’s father baba. The second
portion is the New Aleppo house covering year 1984 immediately following the
death of baba. Al Martini house covers the years 1987 to 1994 and is where Amir
suffers the worst physical and sexual abuse. The end of the book indicates to
the reader that there will be a continuation of Amir’s teenage years told in
the next installment. Amir also provides the reader relief in writing, “I will leave the reader to digest this
first part before I give more episodes to chew on”.
Digest
the first part, more like read and forget the first part, as there are so few
images one would want to ever remember. The other two parts have not yet been
published. Therefore, I can only give a review based on the first portion I
read. In honesty, I don’t think the reader could tolerate an entire novel of
what the first portion alone carries. I know I could not. The rampant sexual
abuse and negligent treatment by Amir’s family is at times too much to take. As
a reader, I was disgusted more than I was interested in reading the scenes of
brutal abuse. And the scenes seem to be
throughout the entire short book.
The
book was not what I anticipated at all. Darwish describes the lack of parental
love and familial protection throughout the entire memoir. There is not one
family member that seems to love Amir or one another. Nearly everyone Amir has
contact with has only a selfish desire to fulfill their sexual perversions or
their malevolent will on poor Amir. It is clearly written throughout the book the
conflicting lifestyle that most live; one second they are praying,
the next at the hidden rated xxx pornography theater. The cruelness that lives
in the people that Darwish focuses on is pure evil from the very youngest to
the very oldest. There seems to be such a sense of detachment on how to
properly treat one another. No one is safe from the physical abuse and sexual
abuse that seems to plague the Darwish home.
To
make matters worse, the treatment of Amir’s sisters is simply horrifying. Not
even Amir’s mother saves her daughters from the vile abuse they suffer at the
hands of the older brothers. Yet, Amir’s mother was also a victim of severe
physical abuse at the hands of her husband. Darwish describes in one scene a
typical family night where together Amir, his mother and siblings are sitting
bunched around the television set enjoying a Syrian sitcom. While in the room
next door his sister is brutally attacked and beaten by an older brother. The
young girl can be heard screaming, pleading for help from her mother. Instead
of Amir’s mother coming to her daughters rescue, she encourages the abuse. Every
female in the book is abused, beaten, belittled for no reason other than being
a woman.
While
in the New Aleppo house Amir accompanies his brother Husien and their mother in
an attempt to collect money that Amir’s mother is certain Hasan the oldest son
stole from a safe after baba died. This sections ending was a tad confusing.
The event took place after baba died which was in 1984. It is a violent scene,
packed together with Hasan physically abusing his mother, screams from Amir and
his mother and then, what reads like a vicious murder with the mother’s brain splattered
all over the home. Clearly, the reader gets the idea that the mother is
murdered by her own son, Hasan. Yet, throughout the book, the mother is still
very much alive. I’ve reread that section several times and always come to the
same conclusion, the mother dies. There seems to be no value for life throughout
the book, no loyalty or love toward mothers or women or people for that matter.
The
boys throughout the book are no safer than the females. Often times a simple
trip to the local street vendor to purchase fireworks would have a male
sexually assaulting young Amir. There is no safe place for a female or a young
boy in Amir’s Syria. And sadly it would seem, according to the novel that a
mother is defenseless in providing protection for her children, when there is
not even protection to save herself.
I
kept waiting for the silver lining. I hoped at each turn of the page for a
moment, an image of happiness, of love, anything other than mental anguish,
that moment never surfaced not in imagery nor Amir’s memories of the past.
There was nothing. However, when writer
Amir Darwish was not writing about the rampant sexual, emotional and physical
abuse he endured, there are sentences, paragraphs that are beautifully written that
it provides relief from the brutal torment of the Darwish home.
Initially
I had thought that the book was about Syria, sprinkled with family life. Syria is
a brief milieu to what the books first section is about which is the Darwish’s
family and their extended household. I cannot say it enough; I have never read
a memoir that contained so much brutality and lack of compassion from one’s own
family. It was hard to read and Amir makes that really clear from page one of
the book. He forewarns the reader what is in store for them by reading this
chilling tale of his life.
Although From Aleppo Without Love was an emotionally difficult read. With that knowledge,
I still would read the second and third portion once it is released. I want to
know when the relief came to Amir’s life and what happened to his siblings.
Today, Amir is a celebrated poet and writer. So thankfully it is obvious that
Amir was able to channel that terrible abuse into art and recover from the
pain.
***I was
given an advance copy from Publishing Push in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you Publishing Push. Thank you Amir Darwish. From Aleppo Without Love
is currently available online and in selected bookstores. Order a copy and read
it for yourself.***
Reviewed by Francine @ Anthem Book Review
*********************************************************************
All at Sea by Decca Aitkenhead
Paperback, 240 pages
Published April 7th 2016 by Fourth Estate (first published March 24th 2016)
ISBN 0008142165 (ISBN13: 9780008142162)
Decca,
Decca, O, Decca, how have you managed to pour your heart out ever so
truthfully, ever so poetically gentle in 240 pages. I fell in love with this
book at first glance. The wavy blue sea with its powerful words announcing -“All at Sea”. Decca Aitkenhead
loses the most at a place where so many find peace.
All
at Sea is written beautifully honest through each page. Aitkenhead in no way
attempts to shield her shortcomings, she in detail describes her first marriage
to Paul and while during his travels out of country for work, she embarks on an
innocent friendship with a nearby neighbor named Tony.
First,
let’s talk about Tony. I liked Tony from the very first sentence he appeared.
Aitkenhead describes Tony as being gregarious, tall, good-looking, with
dreadlocks, and so verbally loud he is impossible to miss. Tony and Decca
become friends. The difficulty of a man and woman maintaining a platonic
relationship is soon verified and Decca and Tony find themselves in love with
one another. Soon, their marriages end and Tony and Decca are able to embark on
their life together.
Decca
writes a scene that really depicts the vast differences between she and Tony, Tony
goes to pick up Decca at her home.
Decca, prim and already a well-known award winning journalist gets into
Tony’s car and he is loudly playing 50 cent and dressed like someone from a rap
video. Here Decca has a moment of
realization as to what she is doing. Instead of not continuing to see Tony, she
falls deeper in love with him, putting all their differences aside Decca allows
herself to love Tony, and love him unconditionally is what she does throughout
the book.
CRACK.
Let me not leave that interesting tad bit out. Tony is involved in illegal
activity. He sells cocaine; he is a former convict and spent years of his young
life in prison. He smokes crack daily. Yes, you read correctly, he smokes
crack. Although, Decca is not thrilled by this and she herself does not do
drugs, she does not let his late night crack habit interfere with her love for
him.
Decca
was raised in a family of rather intelligent parents and siblings. There is a
line in the book that resonated with me and how I try to raise my sons. Decca
describes her parent’s philosophy as not caring about money or social class as
much as belonging to a highly educated, intellectually radical belief that is
indifferent to material wealth.
“We didn’t care about fashion, or cars, or appearances. What
we cared about were words” All at Sea.
Soon,
Decca introduces her family to Tony and they immediately do not approve. Decca
and Tony go through a whirlwind of events, yet manage to stay together. But
when Tony is arrested for something that is not his fault, Decca puts her foot down
and gives him only one option, she insists he stop using crack or it’s over.
Tony moves out that day. And weeks go by with no contact from him. Insistent on
the fact that Tony chose crack over her, Decca does her best to heal.
And
just like that, Tony returns. During their time apart, Tony began treatment for
his crack addiction and began classes at a local Narcotics Anonymous group. He
also began seeing a therapist. When Tony was a child he was abandoned by his
birth parents and raised and eventually adopted by a loving couple that treated
him well and as one of their own.
Yet,
the demons that haunted Tony could not be silenced, that is until he met Decca.
Tony is a remarkable character. He takes all the negative aspects in his life
and with the love and support from Decca immediately changes his life. He
attends college and receives his degree. He begins to give back to the
community and help at risk youth. He becomes somewhat of a pillar in his
community. Soon he and Decca purchase a ranch house together and marry. They
have two sons Jake and Joe and live in marital bliss.
I
loved reading their relationship grow and the steady flow of love and mutual
support that blossomed so beautifully between the two. Then, tragedy has to
strike. In life it seems that is unavoidable. Here is where the book comes
alive. Reading about Tony prepares the readers mind to like, even fancy this
man who made something of himself. When Decca and Tony go on a family vacation to
Jamaica everything changes.
In
the early morning as they are to sit and enjoy coffee and the sea that lies
outside their beach house, they notice their son Jake is in the water unsupervised.
A strong current is pulling Jake in and he is unable to get to shore. Immediately,
Tony and Decca rush to his aide. What happens next is unbelievable. Tony saves
his son from drowning. Tony needed so bad to be saved had been over and over
again, first by his adoptive parents, then by Decca and he flourished; now he
gives his life to save his son’s. What Decca and her sons must endure from here
on out is heartbreaking.
Yet,
with each passing sentence, Decca writes in such gentle, poetically driven
prose that it shields the writer from the ache and tears that would usually
come from a memoir teemed with tragedy. It is so much more informative and therapeutic
to read her words than to immediately respond with emotion. Her voice demands to be heard.
"But I think I
understand how a funeral can become a battleground over ownership of the
deceased, because it can be easier for the bereaved to find something to be
angry about than to let themselves feel sad." All at Sea
"After everyone has gone home... in the silence it
strikes me that having witnessed both birth and death, I know which one taught
me the meaning of life." All at Sea
I
loved this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the romantic love story, the transformation
of Tony and the way in which Decca and Tony embarked on their lives. Decca Aitkenhead
is a great writer, she manages to not only tell her heartbreaking story but
also give somewhat of a road map on what and how to deal with the loss. Instead
of just writing about it, she delves into the deepest part of her past hurts
and loss of her mother to help her figure out how to deal with this grief.
This
book is full of tender moments with her sons after the incident in Jamaica.
There is family moments between a mother and her sons so beautifully written, you
just wish them whole.
I
highly recommend this book. I truly adored it. My heart went out to Decca Aitkenhead
and her sons and Tony, wow Tony, what a remarkable man he was that proves
anyone can turn their life around.
Written
by Anthem Book Review
**************************************************************************
Morality
Published September 4, 2012
Published by: Twelve Books, Hatchett Book Group
English author and American Citizen Christopher Hitchens was
born April 13, 1949 and passed away on December 15, 2011. He was a literary critic, a hardcore atheist,
a true intellect, a great debater with the best comebacks ever known to man,
and most importantly; he was a writer. Morality was written during the final
eight months of Hitchens’s life.
By Francine Ramos
______________________________________
Us: A Novel
David Nicholls
Sale Date: October 28, 2014
9780062365583, 0062365584
$26.99 USD, $32.99 CAD
Hardcover
Fiction / Family Life
Sale Date: October 28, 2014
9780062365583, 0062365584
$26.99 USD, $32.99 CAD
Hardcover
Fiction / Family Life
I have been a fan of the ever witty David Nicholls since reading “One Day”. His latest novel “Us” is just as great and will have the reader intrigued within the first chapter. Where “One Day” had readers following the lives of two best friends destined to become lovers; “Us” trails Douglas and Connie as their over twenty year marriage comes to an end.
Nicholls is such a great writer and so darn funny. When I read “One Day” I could not help laughing throughout the book. He has such an intelligent humor and places it perfectly within his novels making it a delight to read. In “Us”, Nicholls sprinkles his charm once again.
Us, is a rather serious novel. Douglas, Connie and teenage son Albie are headed on a month long holiday to explore Europe. Days prior in the middle of the night Connie expresses her need to no longer be in their marriage, saying that it has run its course. Douglas is a scientist and Connie is an artist. The two could not be more different.
During the holiday as things turn from bad to worse between the three; Douglas reminisces on how he and Connie met and how their love blossomed. It is a lovely story and I couldn’t help but root for their marriage, as well as I am sure Douglas did. He is hoping that this family vacation will help Connie change her mind. It is obvious the two still have a deep love for one another.
There is a more desperate story within the novel and that is of Douglas and his son Albie. Father and son do not see eye to eye, while Albie and his mother seem to be of the same soul. Douglas has his work cut out for him, one he is trying to save his marriage and also, build a better relationship with his son who will soon be headed for college.
There are so many twists and unexpected turns in the novel it will never bore the reader. I am of an American mind and I honestly thought it would end differently. As with “One Day” where I had to reread the last fifty or so pages in shock and fighting back tears because I just couldn’t believe what Nicholls had done. I share the same outlook on love as Nicholls and he is honestly one of the best voices around.
I highly recommend this book. It is worth every second of your life. Toward the end of the book Douglas gives the readers a truthful look at the perception of marriage as a child and the reality of it as an adult. It is brilliant and so full of truth. Love is such an unexpected occurrence and it is novel it can happen over and over again. This is one of the most splendid elements of life that it goes on and so does love. Nicholls captures this perfectly. The family dynamic shifts time and time again within ‘Us” but love keeps it balanced.
I give this book 4 of 5 stars. It is bookshelf worthy. A must read and just plain brilliant. If you have not read "One Day" yet I highly recommend it.
I received an advance copy of Us for my honest review. Thank You Edelwiess. Thank You Harper UK.
By Francine
***************************
Disraeli Avenue by Caroline Smailes
HarperCollins UK, HarperPress/4th Estate/The Friday Project
Release Date: July 26,2014
My grandmother used to say that if you wanna know what
people really are, see how they live. Caroline Smailes’s book Disraeli Avenue
reminds me of my grandmothers saying.
Disraeli Avenue is littered with different personalities and not many of
them have an ounce of saving grace to move you. What they do have is a great
writer in Smailes that writes with such precision it will have you wanting more.
There are 32 residents living behind multi-colored doors
from all walks of life. Some not so moral, most actually are very immoral. Some
are just getting by, like many living in poverty, hoping, wishing on a lottery
win to fulfill their dreams.
Smailes wrote a book titled In Search of Adam and Disraeli
Avenue is said to be an offset to this book. Jude Williams is one of the main characters in the multiple,
mini storylines encountered on Disraeli Avenue. When reading about Jude and her
sister Crystal I was really bothered. Poor Jude didn’t have a fighting chance, what with her
evil stepmother and weak father. As I continued reading, it is discovered that
sexual abuse played a role, along with Jude’s mother’s suicide that takes Jude
down a dark path. It was crushing to read the gap this left in Crystal's life.
Reading what went on behind each door and in the minds of several
of the characters was nauseating. Some people are just too rotten for words. The
incest that takes place behind the blue front door of Number 30 was shocking. The abuse that Eddie inflicted on his sister stunts her life and then to
find out he was also the one that damaged Jude Williams was sickening.
It is a horrible realization that sexual abuse runs rampant when
no one speaks up. Had Eddie’s sister spoke up sooner maybe something would have
changed for Jude Williams. Sadly, no one helped poor Jude and her pain was too
much for her to handle and she took her own life.
The Wards in Number 12 were also a tad weird. Smailes gives
the reader snippets into others’ lives, lets them sneak into their homes and
watch and listen like a fly on the worn wallpaper and take in the interesting
and odd ways humans behave when no one is around.
Truly, entering through the front door and hearing Smailies
share the inner dark secrets that others carry makes for a fascinating read and
an eye-opening realization that people are never who they seem to be on the
outside.
Disraeli Avenue is not a lengthy book, coming in at 220
pages. It’s a good thing too, because there are some doors that you may
just want to skip over but the chapters are so short that reading them are
tolerable. I recommend reading this
book. It is interesting and at times the different characters you encounter are
entertaining. I must forewarn you, there are some areas that may make you
uncomfortable.
I give this book 2 stars. It is a good read. Even though I didn’t read the first book, In Search of Adam, I didn’t
feel lost when reading Disraeli Avenue.
By Francine
Note: A copy of this book was given to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
********
Me After YOU
A True Story About Love, Loss and Other Disasters
By Lucie Brownlee
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Random House, UK Ebury Publishing (July 10, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0753555832
Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold” will now remind me of Lucie Brownlee and her mining in Paul’s heart of gold,
in life, and long after. Lucie, Paul and three-year old daughter B, whom they
both adored, lived a rather ordinary family life in Newcastle, England. Lucie and
Paul were happily married and shared a lovely friendship.
By the age of 37 Paul had already overcome some pretty
serious heart related issues. Lucie stood by his side the entire time. Together
they both thought the worst was behind them. Yet, on February 11, the worst
reared its ugly face once again, as Paul collapsed next to Lucie as they were about
to make love. In what should have been a
moment of marital bliss turns into the beginning of heartache for poor Lucie. In
an instant Paul is gone.
Me After You, tells the beautiful story of love and loss.
Paul’s life is cut short by a genetic heart condition and the realization of a
life without him for Lucie is sorrowful to read, however necessary. This book
really struck a personal cord for me.
Three days before I began reading this book, my husband had been given
dire news of his newly discovered heart condition, also genetic. When I first
began reading Me After You, I lay in bed reading the first two chapters to him,
when mid-sentence he stops me and says, do you really think you should be
reading this. My reply was yes, but maybe not to you, which he agreed. I
continued reading in silence that night and the night after, at times chocking
up with sadness.
Lucie is honest and revealing in describing what life is
like for her in the years that follow Paul’s death. She is forthcoming in
detailing what dating and the non-dating scene is to a newly widowed woman. She
takes the reader with her as she experiences with the excessive drinking of
wine and nights out with friends, to her solemn moments as a mother and preparing
herself for a life without Paul, a task that is never easy. She seeks support in friends, family and
online support groups. She tries to keep busy with traveling; taking her
daughter along with family members for holiday, yet, even this creates a
whirlwind of heartache.
If there ever was a handbook to coping with loss, Me After
You is it. Lucie Brownlee in Me After You comes as close to a manual as one can
get. She delicately captures that there are no rules or timeline to sadness and
that is what makes it the essential book for anyone dealing with loss.
This book highlights the fact that love is really endless.
Lucie loves Paul and that is evident and even as time passes and she meets new
people no one is able to remove this love from her heart. Not even death can cease loves power. Me After You is not only a great book but it
is beautifully written.
I give this book 4 stars. It is bookshelf worthy. I strongly
recommend you purchase a copy for yourself and an extra copy for someone else
because you never know when loss will strike. Life is an unpredictable sucker,
as much as one can be ready; be. Thank you Lucie for sharing your story.
I wanna live, I wanna give, I’ve been a miner for a heart of gold….~Neil
Young
By Francine
Note: A copy of this book was given to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
********************************************
Australia's Finest Writer
Tim Winton
Book Review: Eyrie
Pages: 432
Publisher:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013
Never before has there been a book I read where I respected
and rooted for the two main characters in the beginning as I did in Tim
Winton’s Eyrie and then by the end of the book I was repulsed by them. When we
meet Tom Keeley he is a broken man, having lost his job after a public rant
on Australian television and his wife to an affair he now lives in a one bedroom
flat where he daily drinks himself into a stupor. He is hopeless and depressed
and carries not a shred of grace upon him. Reading further I came to discover
that Keeley along with his job, wife and wealth and also lost himself and his
zest for life. When through a fluke of randomness he meets a middle-aged woman
and her grandson and together their relationship seems to be fate, the good
kind of fate that improves circumstances.
Gemma is a childhood friend of the Keeley family.
Through this encounter the background to Keeley and Gemma’s life begins to
unfold. Here is where I really begin to love the characters and want them to
find happiness and safety in one another. Keely had a big burley father that
was filled with integrity and was seen by many as a local hero. The description
of Nev is that of a savior. He is always there to help others, a guy one can
lean on, count on, solid in all his ways. Gemma’s parents are the complete
opposite of the Keeley family. For one, her father is an abusive alcoholic that beats
her mother and in the wee hours of the night, Gemma and her sister Baby often
run to the safety of the Keeley’s home. Gemma confides one night in Thomas that
she and her sister were sexually abused by just about every man they were
around. We find out that Nev Keeley was the only man that never touched the
girls, Nev being so upstanding, Gemma is sure that his son Thomas Keeley is the
same. So now years later both Gemma and Thomas Keeley are
neighbors living in the same building, both in rather dire circumstances. At
first, their relationship starts oddly romantic and the only thing you want is
these two broken souls to fall in love and get better. Soon, you realize, as in
life, that two screwed up people only bring more drama and problems to one
another.
Keeley and Gemma’s grandson eventually become inseparable
and their relationship is the best thing in the book. Keeley is very fatherly
to the fatherless child and the child gladly welcomes this. Through a series of
events that I don’t want to spoil for you potential readers, Keeley takes Gemma
and her grandson to stay with his mother. Here the entire story turns and the
once empathy for these broken characters changes to a pathetic one. Keeley is a
wimp in the worse way. Gemma carries herself like a tacky older woman that
thinks she is twenty. She is trashy, ungrateful and her moral guidelines are
questionable. Clearly she is unable to be helped. The book is riddled with
depressing facts, and horrible occurrences. I have never read a book from an
Australian author and although I enjoyed the book, I couldn’t help but realize
what writer Tim Winton did. He took two people that were screwed up and allowed
them to find each other and just when it seems that something good would and
could happen, he never let them change. Opportunity presents itself for change
to occur. Instead they slip deeper into trouble and eventually are incapable to
free themselves of it. I love what Winton did. It surprised me.
I will read another Tim Winton book any day. His characters
are so well developed and whether good or bad the suspense he creates with his
writing will have you glued to his book.
Written by Francine Ramos
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