Kim’s Comments (group member since Dec 01, 2016)

Kim’s comments from the Only A Book Apart group.

It was stunning. Heart wrenching and thought provoking and it slowly forces you to understand and come to terms with human ability to experience a wide range of emotion, forgiveness being one of the most complex ones.

We were thinking that this second memoir (follow up) was a little bit different than expected. There was more of a recounting of events, but also how that impacted her daily life in Canada. Which is definitely important to examine when thinking about the hardships of integrating into society as it is. However, it definitely felt like almost an ode to discovering the path of writing and telling ones’ story, dealing with critique and in a sense making a public response to it. Which on the positive side we can see that there is still a need to call out story twisting by people in society as well as some of the injustices that still happen within our borders. But overall, we would say that this is definitely a piece about the coming together of the last memoir and although is an interesting read considering we have the background about her, didn’t offer a considerable amount of new knowledge on the state of affairs in different parts of the world.

So we definitely experienced a wide range and flux of emotion reading this memoir of Marina Nemat of her story as a prisoner at Evin in Tehran. Certainly a compelling writer, Nemat was able to portray the fear, anger, frustration, love, ambition, and complexities of her experience as well as the contingencies of human nature and society. From showcasing childhood innocence, familial love and duty, to civil obedience, there were multiple times that we needed to put the book down to just pause and think on the reality behind the words and voice of prisoners unknown and previously unheard. One does not have to be a regional expert to follow along a timeline as Nemat makes it easy to understand cataclysmic events. It is certainly a testament to resilience, the courage of not only herself and the other women and people she spoke of, but of the patience and hope that people hold on to, and that that is what keeps us going on even in the darkest of times. It also speaks to some of the pushing factors behind refugees; is it really our place to speculate and story create for people we don’t entirely know?
It was interesting to see the prologue and epilogue for this memoir as well, it speaks to both the reality of mental health and future implications of traumatic events as well as the role of the media and its selective showcasing of stories- we need to care about others beyond selective circles within our borders.

419 when looked at is rather ironic and an engaged politico-philisophical thriller. We question how much sympathy we should have for fellow North Americans who are naive? Do we care for the woes of tax-dodgers in comparison to those trying to live honourably in rapidly changing places. The book has a long period of drag in the storyline but then picks up once there is confrontation in Lagos, Nigeria.
Interestingly enough, a study in 2010 reported that 9.3 billion was lost to 419 scams. But the four characters in this book were shaped by the 419, the great global confidence trick that is neoliberal capitalism, and is only partly embraced in the novel. But there is an inclusion of hope, love, and laughter… the human aspects of the tale rather than the broader systemic issues.

The picture that this book paints is that of an escape to a true republic where they all are capable of discovering another reality. That of themselves. Azar reflects at the end of her book that to be able to have good governance, we require open dialogue among the real actors in our lives, and about those in literature- those that reflect our reality.
It was both interesting and infuriating to live the lives of the 8 women in this novel. The reminiscing about lives once had, and the frustrations of losing more with each passing day. But through it all, the ability to find meaning through famous pieces of work, and each with different opinions reflected. It becomes a manifesto about the freedom of thought and movement.
It is a tribute to both the classics of world literature and to the resistance against oppression.

Sorry for the late update! Been busy travelling! Kind of mixed feelings about this one as we were discussing this book through. There is an obvious depiction about the events of this novel being that of normalizing disease in a world where people become ostracized for being afflicted with the unknown. And it’s good to see a book that humanizes disease and the people behind them- people do not become the disease they have. There is an incorporation of real people in history into the story, which creates a realistic storyline; it shows how so many people were affected and brought into the life of trying to look at Leprosy (formerly, Hansen’s disease), who worked tirelessly, but also more broadly, the endurance of the human spirit- to keep living, to move on, to move forward, and to find new meaning in life.

Hope you all enjoyed this quick read over the past two months! It was really interesting to hear about the issues of childhood marriage from someone who was affected by it, and to realize that these things really do happen to people, even in today’s world. The rise of media, and the details and processes that are a conversation amongst people all over the world is now of use to other people in similar situations, and for the future too. It does seem to be a trend though that (of course) with media, there is a rise and fall of conversation that sparks from events that are broadcasted to the world. Sure, this book may have caught people off guard about childhood marriage, helped inspire other girls to seek their rights to be acknowledged, and had people talking about girls rights for a good amount of time. But as we saw in the epilogue, life still gets in the way and international support can still be put to a standstill with other family matters at stake (even though it still worked out)… but what is the follow up now? Has Nujood made it to university at this point as she would now be around 19 years old? When the media leaves, so do the thoughts and conversations of those who followed it to begin with. What we need to do is to keep asking questions, keep following the stories, keep telling the stories.
This recount also speaks to the value of girl’s education. It delays marriage, provides future opportunities, and is an opportunity that children may genuinely seeking for themselves. There still needs to me a more inclusive conversation about domestic violence and assault not only around the world but here in Canada too. There are improvements absolutely, but there is always more that can be done. What’s inspiring to see is the short side stories of those who have helped others like Nujood along the way. The small heroes, the ones you don’t hear of everyday- who give their all. Like Nujood’s aunt who gives 2$ she begged for that day, having nothing for herself and family when she needed not have. The taxi driver who could turn down an unaccompanied married woman in his culture; the lawyers who genuinely cared about human rights. These stories too, are ones we need to hear of today, the small inspirations that let us know even the smallest action can make a difference.

We are jumping back to the Middle East, and going to look at a case in Yemen. Nujood, was arranged to be married to a man three times her age, and in a daring move disobeys her family’s wishes. In Yemen, almost half of all girls are married under the legal age, and it is from the empowerment of girls through education and peers to take their future into their own hands that girls start working together, and stick up for the rights they wish to have. We are hoping to discuss some of the systemic issues that keep girls and women from living out their dreams- but more importantly, the areas where change can have a more meaningful impact.

Based/ inspired by a true story, it is a very humbling story to read through- reliving the perseverance of children, and their strength to overcome that which we do not think them capable of at times. But like any great leader, they all had to start somewhere. This is a story of people who many never make the headlines, or the front page, the history textbooks, or into a conversation you have with someone. But it should. Because how quickly history passes us, and wars accumulating only to be forgotten by generations of people.
There is also the matter of how important water is for one’s survival. A resource we take for granted, coming from a water ’abundant’ country, it remains the one thing that hours are dedicated to sourcing. We may critique development and provision of infrastructure as hegemonic, but there is a need to relieve the anthro-imposed scarcity experienced in the first place.
In the case of this book, we can see the parallel structured of a girl doing a traditional chore of fetching water, and the path crossed later with an ‘aid’ worker who had experienced dehydration in his life previously. One may think that development workers can never truly understand field situations, but chances are, there is someone who does, someone who can go beyond empathizing. And it is part of our job to step aside and let them articulate what needs to get done. Another underlying theme that is of importance and interest is that ‘tribal conflict’ is transcended by the right to water- an understanding that should be showcased more often.
In the present, a good idea for discussion would be to talk about the debates around the privatization of water by transnational companies.
We could also discuss the emergence and re-emergence of Sudan finding itself into scarce times- this time being famine.

I think obviously overall it’s commendable that Greg was able to accomplish everything he has and also stay so persistent on the same project when he thought all hope was gone. There is certainly many more people aware of the development that can be done abroad, and the capacity people have to enact change among themselves for the better when they are empowered and are given some of the means of resources to build their sustainable future. I think from this you can also see such a powerful change come about with promoting gender equality and empowering girls to achieve their full potential.

For the sake of critical development I look at this novel more in depth and see the different factors that go into the development gap and also maybe even the reason for success. To start, the way this is presented is very much a single man’s journey- his hardships and his triumphs. He’s presented as someone who surmounted incredible feats, and granted, yes that is true. He put himself through college by enlisting in the military; he never had to kill anyway, but maybe the conversation should include the soldiers who had to shoot someone jumping the wall. It should include those who can’t put themselves through university. Those who can’t afford medical care either. Being a trauma nurse allowed him enough money to get to K2 when some will never live out their dreams of travelling. But like, yes, amazing job trying to get to the summit, and his love for his family is undying.
When he returns with promises to raise money to build a school… it becomes yet again another single man’s journey and story.
Has to sleep in a hallway? Cool, let’s talk about the homeless population all over the world; the unemployed, the over-worked.
where did the money come from in the end? A single donor, which is a testament to the faith we should put into ‘unrealistic’ sounding plans- but in the end, if people don’t think you’re losing it when you tell them your dreams, you’re not aiming high enough, am I right? Positionality wise too at that point, it probably helped that he was a physically fit (as it keeps mentioning), educated, white male. This could have been a very different story if that weren’t the case…
And who donates the money for the bridge? Same man; again, thankfully he did. It’s interesting the way that Greg’s marriage is portrayed as well; he was her hero, she let him be gone for months at a time- it would be interesting to hear about how she coped with two children at home while working full time.
And in the case of the village- he was a well respected man, he kept his promises and is bringing about change in a community that means a lot to him. That part when his wife is disrespected, it passes off as violence is justified in this case, but he came up again as a hero despite the man eventually being ostracized. Kind of ironic considering Greg’s wife is a psychologist.

With the rise of the Taliban and everything that entailed, the rights of girls was at stake, and so for Greg to keep fighting for that is an inspiration to readers because it shows us that fighting any obstacle shouldn’t put us down; but that together, we are able to accomplish so much more.

Melis and I decided to announce a book every other month so that everyone has time to find and read and discuss!
Our upcoming book for January & February 2017 is Three Cups of Tea :D Read the "why' and lets get talking!

Written in a free verse/ style, Sold is what some consider to be a demanding and sometimes painful book to read. While yes, I do believe that it's true the more one starts to empathize with the aged 12 child protagonist, Lakshmi, I believe that this also heightens the impact of a powerful and important message of a global crisis, that being: the sex trade- which remains unknown to most teenagers, and adults for that matter. Like this book shows, this issue is a problem without passport, with trade occurring across borders, and which in a wider context, across oceans as well- an issue not unknown to our borders. Somewhat like McCormick who conducted extensive research for this book, I started looking into this issue a lot further... previously my knowledge consisted of only documentaries, and a conversation I once had with a participant passing on a different trip. What she told me was about a field of work she would like to pursue- investigating and stopping sex trade deals along the West coast (she is from Seattle) where the lives of many go unnoticed, undocumented, and rushed along amidst a world of busy people. I found that that conversation happened to tie in so well to one I had a few months prior with a director of mine, who recently became very passionate about investigating the child slavery and trafficking 'industry'; had these two conversations not occurred within a little length of time to one another, I may not have realized, but people are starting to talk. The word is getting out. Which gives me hope because it means we are capable of keeping these conversations going, and informing as many people as we are able to. Like the characters of Sold showcased: optimists can lose hope; children can be victims; the brave can be terrified; and the powerful can become powerless in the face of justice.

Super excited to announce the first book- read the 'why we are reading this' and let's start the convo :D