Book Review: Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini and Dan Williams

Quote: First came protest,Then the siege.

How does one read a poem? At one go or does one sit through it for a day? Is it the words that matter only or the history behind it? What of an illustrated book? These are the questions I always revisit before I read a book that is illustrated or is a book of poems.

So my bossy was gifted this book today by our senior-editor, I grabbed it first to read. I have seen the book in every other book shop and bookfair I drop by, reviews calling it haunting enough to evoke bouts of pathos.

The poetry in the book is small but stretched out on 48 pages of illustrations. Beautiful illustrations of loss and fear. If I had read the poetry without the illustrations and on a sepia page, the impact wouldn't have been the same.

It's poetry inspired by a three-year-old Alan Kurdi, whose lifeless little body had washed up on shores of Turkey in 2015. A poem layered by Hosseini's own experience as a refugee. Sea Prayer, as I read was first thought-born as a script for a virtual reality film for the UNHCR.

A parent narrating the life of a home lost, the city of Homs. It's a letter to a son from a father who speaks about a city that the child will never see. A city like any other bustling with life, noise, and harmony.

It's an apology to a generation of children that will grow up through trauma and turmoil, but with almost no hope for triumph. Refugees shed their last thread of dignity before they leave their homeland. Being rootless and homeless is not a choice but an act of desperation. What does a refugee carry with her? Her memories, the violence her mind and body go through, and her prayer to survive.

Sea Prayer indeed has the haunting impact because of the illustrations and the arrangement of the poetry. The breakdown of poetry into stanzas and sentences which are spat out against the beautiful but scary art is what elevates the poetry from a mere poem of despair.

Art and protest go hand in hand. Art gives birth to awareness. A poem can be misread but symbols can't. It can have interpretations but Art will always find that one spot in the human being that will make her think. This book is that right balance of art, awareness, literature, and protest.

Comments

Book Review: The Tiny Wife by Andrew Kaufman and illustrated by Tom Percival

Book Review: The Tiny Wife by Andrew Kaufman and illustrated by Tom Percival Quote: The robbery was not without consequences. The consequences were the point of the robbery. It was never about money. The thief didn't even ask for any. That it happened in a bank was incidental. Can we take a moment and appreciate the cover! The only reason I picked this book from my friend Ashwin's bookshelf; the cover and the adorable illustrations inside. The Tiny Wife is a modern-day fable, it definitely is a weird and witty book! A perfect short distance read. It's the story of Stacey and David, Stacey gets robbed in a bank, where this flamboyant purple hatter robs an item of sentimental value from victims. David, Stacey's husband narrates the story, a smart narrative choice: a spectator and commentator. Each of the victims has their own 'shit' to deal with after the incident. Dawn's lion tattoo springs into life! Grace's husband turns...

Book Review: When The River Sleeps by Easterine Kire.

Book Review: When The River Sleeps by Easterine Kire. Quote: Perhaps the answer lay not in striving but in being. In simply accepting that the loneliness would never be eliminated fully, but that one could deal with it by learning to treat it like a companion and no longer an adversary. Ville a hunter wakes up from a dream, ventures out to search for the heart-stone; that holds the power of the river that's asleep. And this stone is guarded by wailing-angry-widow-spirits. Many attempts have been made at magical realism in Indian English writing, and I didn't like them. My personal opinion is that magical realism needs a deep connection with nature, maybe never explicitly explored in the text, but the traces of that connection always shows in the words written. And I have always argued that North East India is the most fertile ground to plant the seeds of magical realism in. Easterine Kire, pens our deep connection with nature for the national readership to gawk...

Webcomic Review: Fools by Yeongha and Bagdam

Webcomic Review: Fools by Yeongha and Bagdam Quote: If this were a relationship between a male and a female, wouldn't it be safe to assume that we were 100% attracted to each other? But because I'm a male and just an underclassman, Eungi Hyung would never consider anything like that, would he? Fools is a Korean Webtoon written by Yeongha and adorably illustrated by Bagdam. A weepy and heartbroken teen Choi Jeongwoo meets Kwon Enugi one night, where the latter ends up comforting and advising the teen. A few years later, Jeongwoo is a freshman in the university where Enugi has returned for his final year after completing his military service. Enugi comes off as a standoffish young man while Jeongwoo the pretty boy is always smiling and super friendly. After hearing Jeongwoo cry on his phone to his boyfriend during the welcoming party, Enugi can't stop but worry about him from then on. By the twist of fate they end up having breakfast tog...

KhepiAri

Search This Blog