LIFE ISN'T ALL HA HA HEE HEE by MEERA SYAL

Growing up in London three Indian origin girls try to cope with a traditional family background and also maintaining their modernity and independence which they successfully do. Three very different girls cope with friendship, family, marriage and relationships in very different ways. Though its about Tania, Sunita and Chila in general, it focuses on Chila the most and how her life affects the other two even though everyone is now grown up and adult.

At the very beginning Sunita and Tania are the strong ones who always protect Chila. She is the one who needs protection from the harsh world around them. With Chila's marriage a change comes over all three and with her marriage break up comes the strengthening of the relationship between the three women despite the fact that one of them was in some way the cause for the break up of the marriage. 

This was an easy read. Being Asian I was able to identify with some of the characteristics of the families - the fear almost that mothers have that their daughters are going to remain unmarried! though thank God this is now a distant memory in my part of the world but I do remember older people talk disparagingly of some family or the other with unmarried daughters, or those who put their parents in a home - keeping them in their own home and being cruel to them and using them as unpaid babysitters and caretakers and cooks was better than putting them somewhere they would be looked after well and with plenty of time to rest, sleep or do whatever they want. The funny prejudices of the old ways have now all but gone but we do remember them. 

I watched the TV serialization of this book and enjoyed it too. 

Still doing last minute packing and trying to squeeze in just one item more. Very Sri Lankan in that respect - taking everything I possibly could. I doubt very much that I will be ever able to travel without being way above the baggage limits!

DECEPTIONS ON HIS MIND by ELIZABETH GEORGE

This was a major change for me from the usual Elizabeth George books. Inspector Lynley was missing and did I miss him. It somehow missed the flavour of all her books and though Havers did a wonderful job, faux pas and all throughout and ended up trumps, I somehow felt that something was missing from the mix.

We have a sleepy little town in two distinct halves. The "white" very English part of town and the very "muslim" part of town - no one actually says anything but the feelings of animosity and almost anger and hatred are very strong in some sectors. Amongst both communities you get the rational beings but a few rabid souls can rouse a whole community and the Police have been set with an unenviable task of keeping the peace.

A murder of a young man who is just six weeks in England, come to marry the youngest daughter of the foremost Muslim family in the town. The Bangladeshi community feels that since it is an Asian man murdered, the police are not very interested in finding the culprit and are more than likely to sweep everything under the carpet, unless they can find another Asian suspect. The English on the other hand think that it is a murder within the community and the threads that start unraveling definitely point out that way. 

There is infighting amongst the leading family, a Asian English love affair which will horrify both sides if it comes out, blackmail, two friends completely at odds with each other, homosexuality, women still living very stultified lives in a modern community at variance with what is happening outside their homes and an economic recession to add more woe to the inhabitants of this seaside town.

How Havers works with the Chief of Police of this town and succeeds in solving the crime but at what personal cost to themselves. 

I was surprised at the amount of racial hatred and the animosity and the disparaging attitude of everyone involved in the story. Although everyone tries to maintain a facade of tolerance, this is not even skin deep and practically everyone in the story is intolerant. 

The end was very surprising and not at all what I expected. The butler never did this one! 

MAILBOX MONDAY/IT'S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING?

A win of mine came through this week Oleanna courtesy of Peeking Between the Pages. Thank you Darlene. 

Hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

Just finished another Elizabeth George.

This was a cracker! Review to follow. 

I have several more Elizabeth George and P D James books on hand but think I should change the genre now! the reviews may get monotonous for those who do not want to read only about murder and mystery.

On a pleasanter note, the rains are here. I know I can get boring going on about the weather but when you are hot as we are here, the rains are most welcome. I only hope they are here to stay. On another book note, I am hoping to leave for Melbourne this week. Taking my TBR list with me. That follows me wherever I go. 

THE SHADOW LINES by AMITAV GHOSH

Set across Dhaka, Calcutta, London and in a minor way other cities this story is a narration of a thirteen year spell where the narrator starts with London and ends with his departure from London to Delhi at the completion of his studies.

Ghosh's other books were much more alive for me than this one. This was for me a bit of a plodder. I knew the story line was a good one but unlike his other books this was not one which kept me captivated till I finished (and it was a small book as well).

The story of a life of personalities starting with his grandmother and her vivid memories of her life in Dhaka before the Partition (Bangladesh) and the other women in his life his cousin Ila and May Price. 

The story lives in the present and then suddenly goes back to a vivid past for all the characters and this was what was attractive. For people who have had history woven into their lives e.g. someone who has lived through a war, displacement and then resettlement history has never been part of a dull past. It is something one has captured in one's heart and one which actually lives with you till the end. It is unlike the life of a person who has quietly been born and lived his entire life without any major outside upheaval. So many people live and work in their own little corner of the world and watch events happening from far away but when you are part of the event which is what happens in this story, the drama is very much closer at hand.

On another note, I finally sorted out my visa for Australia and hopefully can get a ticket to fly on Friday. It is going to be a busy week! Looking forward to seeing my children and now my grand daughter. Having a christening on the 2nd June and looking forward very much to that. 

WITH NO ONE AS WITNESS by ELIZABETH GEORGE

Three adolescent boys murdered in three different boroughs of London and no one thought it was a serial killer until  the first white victim was discovered. Unleashing a spate of public upheaval and media hype over the fact that if black boys were being killed, the cases were put on the back burner and it is only because a white boy has been killed that the Yard is taking some sort of interest  and the officious Inspector Hillier is coming to the fore.

Hillier instead of calming things down makes matters worse by putting Nkata as the face to the investigation purely because he is black, came from a gang and has now made Detective Sergeant. Hillier also comes up with the bright idea of having a journalist as part of the investigation and this leads to disastrous results.

The investigation seems to be going around in circles and it was only at the very end that I cottoned on to our murderer. There seemed to be so many suspects and then more than one murder was not connected to the earlier ones so that whether this was a serial killer, a copy cat killer or just a killer on the loose was not apparent.

I was taken aback by the amount of bureaucracy faced by Lynley, Havers and Nkata in just carrying out their duties. Back biting, currying favour seemed to be the order of the game and whether this is so or not I really don't know. It adds just another twist to the writing of Elizabeth George in whose books nothing is too small for minute detail. That sometimes there is overkill in the details is also apparent.

The stories themselves are very good and I do so like the descriptive parts very much. I like books that take me and plonk me down in the middle of London, Cornwall, the moors or wherever the book is set and Elizabeth George certainly does this. 

ANITA AND ME by MEERA SYAL

Meera is the daughter of a Punjabi couple who live in the village of Tollington. They seem to be the only  Asian in this village and source of great wonder for the inhabitants of the village. Meera because she has grown up in this village seems to be more part and parcel of the village, not an oddity but it is mainly due to the fact that like most immigrants, no one wants to stand out - they want to assimilate and get on with their lives in the quietest way possible. 

Like most children of immigrants Meera is torn in two. Does she go the way of the parents - respectful, traditional, listening above all to everything her parents tell her or does she go the independent way of her peers. The person whom Meera wants to most ape and befriend is the brassy Anita and she becomes Meera's "particular" friend and mentor. What Anita wants Anita gets and Meera follows her blindly until a rather gruesome end. The meaning of love and friendship, betrayal which at this age becomes so hard and finally bereavement hits Meera hard. 

The coming of age of Meera and Anita, the tough choices faced by families like Meera's parents trying to tread a path between tradition and the new ways (always hard - this my personal experience!!!), and at the same time to bring up your children in a "right way" is this story. It is in a way a coming of age story of the parents as well. 

I have watched several TV presentations of Meera Syal and thought the book was as light hearted as those shows. The book is certainly hilarious at times but overall it is a serious look at life.

MAILBOX MONDAY/IT'S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Nothing came into my Mailbox but I am hopeful it will come in tomorrow Tuesday! which is the US Monday!!!

This meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. 

I read all the books I received last week and did reviews on three of them. There is only the Anita and Me by Meera Syal to go. I thought the book would deal with the differences between an Indian girl born in the UK and the contrast to her English friends but it was a little more than that. Review coming up. I am always amazed at how much change immigrants face and how they cope with the changes, trying to adapt, most importantly most of them trying to blend in and not be confrontational!

Presently reading an Elizabeth George 

Thomas Lynley at his suave best with Havers his sartorial opposite! I still cannot imagine an American author writing about the British, the countryside, the appalling ghettos in the UK - so descriptive, so much detail you are actually living in it. 

Next on my list is a triology of P D James - another brilliant mystery murder author.