I read. Sad to say, I should read more. I just miss those days when you are so free from any obligations that you could just be nicely tucked in your most comfy duvet and read romance novels whilst imagining your knight in shining armour. Although seriously cliche, and these romance novels do nothing good but feed you with imaginations of non-existing men in real life, but I must admit they were such fun reads. However, having grown up and finally able to call myself a woman, haha, I've adopted a different kind of interest in my reading selection. The three that I'd like to highlight are; A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (a had a good cry for this one), Brida by Paulo Coelho and Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. With one central theme, set in three very different time and place settings these novels are about women who have developed and discovered the realities of life and love through various different ways. In this entry, I would like to share some of my deepest understanding on womanhood as well as what I could relate to when I read them. Please note that I read two of them last year and the latest finished early this year. My memory of the exact plot may have rusted quite a bit but what I wish to capture is the gist of what I have learnt from my first reading of these books. Fyi, there hasn't been any second reading. Please bear with me if this sounds like reading an English assignment, I may have been influenced by the number of assignments that I have written before.
A Thousand Splendid Suns was one book that gave me a good cry. Set in Afghanistan, Khaled Hosseini writes about women oppression in a war-torn country. Maryam's life was never at ease, as a child her hunger for her father's love and acceptance drove her to desperation that finally just breaks her heart. As 'harami' (illegitimate child) she was neither here nor there. Every now and then meeting her father was something that brought joy to her, but having a mother who feels that she is a constant reminder of her mother's bleak life never helped. After both their passing, a tragic one for her mother in particular, she was married off. Her marriage was not a lovely one, simply said. Marrying a man, a few times her senior, who was conservative forced her into a more saddened life. Years later friendship with Laila, a bright girl with some misfortunes managed to ease some of the pain. Together they ventured their lives with the same husband and tried in vain to free themselves from the clutches of this chauvinist. I felt that this novel is definitely inspiring and powerful in sending a loud and clear message to all women about self worth. Although we may be perceived as weak, our strength lies in the fact that we are able to endure and persevere despite such cruel realities, such painful truths and such negative surroundings. In a modern society, women have more power but in this novel even with the little empowerment women receive, these women proved that they are able instead of disabled. They are strong, only misunderstood as being weak. This novel ended tragically for one character but on the other hand, she was finally free. Allah shall be the ultimate judge for what she did is just putting justice into her own rough hands. Her sacrifice gave hope to other character to stay strong and perhaps able to change her course of life. This is a must read, highly recommended even for men.
Brida by Paulo Coelho started off as being quite confusing. It's about a young woman finding her true love. When I read this novel, which was very philosophical in nature and contains many great lines like; "Nothing in the world is ever completely wrong, my dear...Even a stopped clock is right twice a day" and "But how will I know who my soulmate is?...By taking risks...By risking failure, disappointment, disillusion, but never ceasing in your search for Love. As long as you keep looking, you will triumph in the end." Both these lines are just some of the memorable lines in the novel. This tale is different from others because of its inclusion of reality and spirituality. A young woman in the quest for the latter was confused between her love for her boy friend or a teacher who has brought her into such amazing discoveries of the spiritual realm. Although difficult to understand in the beginning, I could quite relate to this novel because when I read it I was both healing myself from a nasty break-up and finding a new love interest. I learnt to come to terms with the previous and embrace the latter even though I know for a fact nothing is certain even with the latter. Ambiguity is not something I am akin to, but learning to understand in a broader perspective. I must admit one of my weaknesses is accepting failure. I am the kind of person who always tries until the end of my very last breath. However, I am learning to accept that life does not work that way. Sometimes people come and they go, they don't appreciate your love and even if they do, it's not strong enough to make them stay. Hence, life must go on. In this novel, I could see that message sent across. Aida, redha, redha, redha. "Ya Allah, make me a servant who abides by Your prophet's teachings and who accepts what You have written for me"
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert is a highly acclaimed novel and the movie was also highly anticipated. I didn't watch the movie, I wans't really anxious about the movie to tell you the truth as I was already acquainted to the novel. (As I'm getting tired now...) In a nutshell, the novel explores a woman's desire to fulfill her life's dreams after realizing how unhappy her marriage has become. A thirty something year-old woman suddenly realizing NO, I don't want to have babies and my marriage is going down the drain, went on a quest of self discovery in three different aspects; EAT, PRAY and LOVE. Eating a very physical act in nature was achieved in Italy. The narrator cum author told her story and wonderful journey of eating and travelling while learning about people and life in a different part of the world. Praying a spiritual act put her life into balance. I believe life makes sense when you have something to hold on to. Hence, we have our religion to become our support system, in which we build our values on and we live by them. Whatever your religion is, if you follow them, you believe you can find that inner peace. Finally, Love, like I said both a noun and a verb, is something truly emotional, tucked deep in our hearts and often times very difficult to explain. From this novel I realized that self fulfillment is the utmost importance to achieving what you call happiness in life. Many things in the novel was quite understandable, i.e. disappointment, heartache, loss and finding joy.
Wah! That's a long piece of writing. I have many more to read both for hobby and self improvement. I hope I could continue this very beneficial hobby until the ripe age of 80 and perhaps read my great-grandkids their bedtime stories. Read, Read, Read - That was what our prophet was told.
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