Best reads of my year…so far

Someone to watch over me by Judith Mcnaught

Intriguing read. McNaught as usual delivered a story which was articulate, compelling and a non-stop page turner. I however felt oddly dissatisfied with this book. McNaught went out of her usual culture of dallying and let everything get on too fast. She didn’t give me enough time to fall in love with Leigh and Michael. I probably knew more about the case detectives than I did of the main characters. Moreover, as compared to ‘Perfect’ (my all time favourite McNaught book), this story wasn’t as thorough and had lots of loop holes which could have diverted on to a different ending.
Nevertheless, it was a beautiful refreshing read and I couldn’t help but realize that Mcnaught has a weird thing for Italians.

The Diamond girls by Jacqueline Wilson

Jacqueline Wilson’s story once again put many tears in my eyes and left me indignant at the poor parenting choices of most mothers… and fathers too. I feel, in fact I’ve always felt, that Jacqueline’s books shouldn’t be read by children, it’s entirely too mature for them. Parents should read this instead. It would give them a shocking insight on how much their decisions affect their children.
This one in particular is about a mother with 5 children each with different fathers. She had her first daughter when she was only 16 and 16 years later she just had her last child, the father apparently unknown. The story was told through the eyes of Dixie, a ten-year-old. We follow the journey of how she struggles to cope with being an absolute dreamer, keeping her mother’s ‘big secret’, helping a friend with an unreasonably abusive mother, moving into a new unsafe neighbourhood, a pregnant teenage sister and being shut out from her father’s life. It’s so heart-breaking knowing that there could be millions of other children out there living this life.

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

It’s quite surprising that this book wasn’t based off a true story because all the emotions of the story were so real. It told a story which can just easily be anyone’s story. It told the story of a boy, August Pulman who has a genetic facial disorder. As he himself puts it, ‘it’s nothing like we can ever imagine’. He has cauliflower-shaped ears he can barely hear from and disoriented eyes which bulge outwards. All these after tons of surgeries to make him look ‘normal’. His parents would have loved to keep him at home and shield him from the world but they realize that someday he has to face the world. So they decide to send him to middle school at the beginning of the year. It’s incredibly hard being the odd one especially when most people aren’t welcoming. But Auggie learns to fight the stigma, live with it and even makes several good friends in the end.
What I like most about the book is how it constantly switches points of view, so I get to hear everyone’s side of the story. I especially liked hearing Olivia’s (Auggie’s older sister) side of the story. Most people are only concerned about what ‘special kids’ go through and they usually forget that their families go through just as much. Sometimes Olivia doesn’t feel loved as much as her brother is, and sometimes she just wants to be normal without everyone knowing about her brother. But all in all, she’s a wonderful and incredibly understanding sister.
Another book I’d give 5 stars to any day, just because I can.

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdeih

I have only 2 words (phrases actually) to describe this book: heart-wrenching, poetic beauty. So, when I first came across the synopsis of this book (which I’ll include toward the end) I was intrigued, definitely because it had a very unusual storyline and I was a bit sceptical since I didn’t know what to expect. But I decided to read this book anyway- one of the decisions I’ll never regret. To be honest what I hoped for was at best a passable story with equally passable characters. But I never imagined I’d meet a spirited young beauty ready to battle the world to avenge the death of her best friend; or a misunderstood, misaligned but strangely poetic Caliph who knew how to love with his entire soul; or a love worn boy who gave his all to a fight only to have his heart broken; and definitely not an obnoxious hand maiden with an incredibly smart mouth.
I didn’t expect to fall in love, but I did, especially with the Caliph and how he could say the simplest things so beautifully. This is a book I’d read a 100 times over and still not get enough of everything it has to offer.

All the things we never said by Yasmin Rahman

3 girls: Mehreen, Olivia and Cara decide for completely different reasons that they want to commit suicide. So, they join this app, ‘Memento Mori’ (which apparently in Latin means, “remember that you will die”) and it puts the three of them together to plan for the suicide. Let’s meet the characters:
Mehreen: Muslim from Bangladesh, actually doesn’t have a problem with being religious. However, she has a huge problem with her self-esteem and self-worth. The voices in her head tell her people think the worst about her and it gets to her a lot. She can’t take it any more so suicide seems like the best option.
Cara: she was in an accident with her father about a year ago which paralyzed her waist down and killed her father. She feels responsible for his death and also hates being unable to live her life normally. Hence her motive for suicide.
Olivia: in the beginning when you meet Olivia, you’re puzzled about her motive for suicide. She’s pretty, she’s bubbly, has no self esteem issues and seems to be taking the suicide thing very well. But later in the story we find out that her mother’s boyfriend ‘rapes’ her, regularly too and she has no way of fighting back. She doesn’t think her mother will believe her either and it’s killing her inside too. So, personally I think she has more motive for suicide than anyone else does.

So, in the course of meeting to plan for their suicide, they become friends, share their problems and help each other to figure things out. After a while they realize they don’t want to die anymore because life isn’t so bad. The problem though is that the app, ‘Memento Mori’ isn’t ready to let them live either and is rather adamant that they die. So, it starts messing up their lives and instigating them against one another until Mehreen actually feels compelled to take her own life. Will her newfound friendship be strong enough to save her from drowning to her death?

Stay with me by Ayobami Adebayo

Everything about ‘Stay with me’ broke my heart a thousand times. It was a mirror of all the things women in childless marriages go through. In Africa, or at least in very traditional societies, children are the most important victories of a marriage and women unable to bear children are tormented, traumatized and seen as unlucky.
Yejide after several years of marriage is unable to have children, even though all the tests say there is nothing wrong with her. She is prepared to do everything to give herself and her in-laws a child. Even if it means going on pilgrimages to mountains, moving from one sage to another prophet to yet another priest, or perhaps accepting to share her husband with another woman.
What makes this an even sadder story is the fact that her husband is the reason she can’t have children and he knows it but refuses to tell her. She has to go through unending torment for something she wasn’t even responsible for while he basically goes scot free. The injustices of society!! Her husband feeling somewhat contrite, conspires to get her pregnant. A brutal, licentious conspiracy that would have gone off without a hitch. But, alas, the universe cannot be very easily cheated.
"Stay with me" is in all ways a story that agitates the soul and leaves you with an odd desire to push for change.