friendship

The Think Happy Club: Friendship

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by Anne Saucer and Grace Snoke

Reviewed by SA

This month, we’re doing something a little different. We’re doing to have two self published Saturdays! Why? Because I thought the 31st was a Saturday. Nope, it’s a Friday, so the last Saturday this month is today. All this to say I’m reviewing TWO self published books! One today, and one next SScreen Shot 2015-07-25 at 7.18.11 AMaturday.

Just like this book, my review will be short and sweet. Another book we’re not used to reviewing on Readcommendations, but I enjoyed it so much I feel like I need to share it with you. It’s a small, cute, illustrated advice book on the value of friendship and the methods of keeping a friend close and valued.

It’s one of those books you may get a friend as a gift, to remind them how much you love them; or a book you may hang on to yourself, to reming you of how you can show your friend they mean so much to you. Honestly, when I read it, I instantly thought of it as a book for adults, while it was only after that I saw it as something children would love too.

It’s incredibly sweet, with such advice as “Listen: don’t just hear the words, but their meaning and emotion” or even “Share the Same Melody”, things that seem obvious, but as human beings, we frequently tend to forget to do. It’s so very nice to have a little handy guide to put us back on track. Reading it filled me with the “warm fuzzies” and made me want to hug my besties closer. Truth is, we’re losing touch these days, relying too heavily on our social media without knowing how to act outside of it. This handy guide will guide you right back on track.

I loved the illustrations. They were, just like the book, incredibly sweet. The style reminds me a lot of the Japanese chibi (“cute” cartoons) though gently painted like a water color. They’re not in your face, they’re just bringing the advice to life, one smile at a time. It’s what gives this little gem its charm: they connect with you. They looked ready to hop out of the page and hug me.

Friendship is the first of these little guides in the series, the Think Happy Club, and I would love to read more.  I wonder which one they’ll think of next! It’s great for kids and adults alike, and does exactly what it sets out to do –  it’s “filled with inspiration images focused on improving or changing things in our lives” and promoting healthy relationships. We all need a little of that in our lives.

Check it out on Amazon and the Think Happy Club website.

The Color of our Sky

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by Amita Trasi 

Reviewed by SA

Fair warning: this book is a difficult read. The subject matter is heavy and painful, so there are content warnings for rape, abuse, and violence, to say the least. It will also frequently bring you to tears. Yet the story is one of love and determination, spanning years and breaking your heart. I absolutely loved it.

Synopsis

Tara has returned to India, to her old apartment in Bombay, the scene of the kidnapping of her friend Mukta eleven years previously. Mukta was a village girl, daughter of a prostitute and fated to become one herself, who was brought in to their household by Tara’s father when she was no older than ten. The girls grew up together, spending five years blossoming their friendship, before the fateful night when Mukta was abducted. Now Tara is determined to find her, and will do so at any cost. The novel spans thirty years, taking you to the past, the present, and pushing into the future as Tara digs up clues to her friend’s fate… as well as secrets surrounding her own family.

First and foremost I loved the lyrical nature of this novel. Trasi has an incredible style, and manages to bring to life the most gorgeous images of India – as well as the, well, not so gorgeous. She weaves local terms into her text, which at first I found a little confusing, as there was not always enough context to grasp their meaning, until I found the lexicon in the back. She truly brought India to life, for better of for worse.

The bond between Tara and Mukta was one of the factors that kept me reading this book so intently, even through the incredibly terrifying moments. The character development through the course of the plot was grounded and human, which made the two of them gain dimension and depth. The other characters in their lives sometimes lacked the spark that brought them out of the page, but with the two young women front and center, the focus is where it should be.

The horror in the novel is a serious wake up call. The brutality of human trafficking is alive in India, and the torment Mukta is living through would be something I wished could not be real. The author describes in vivid detail the living conditions of these women, the horror of what they have to go through every day, and the definite knowledge that there is no way out. These were the most difficult parts of the novel to read, and it’s enough to bring us to tears.

There were definitely a few things I found weird. For example, Tara’s cash flow. We’re told she has been working three jobs back in America, yet she finds a somewhat endless supply of cash for bribes in India. She also somehow affords to take months out of work to try and find Mukta and doesn’t seem to be working in India either. Maybe this is just a detail, but it took away from the realism that was otherwise so convincing.

Another little weird thing was the quotes. Between chapter, you would get a quote from either Tara or Mukta (sometimes to signify a change of perspective or point of view) which just felt a little out of place. The form of the novel does not call for it: the book is not an interview, a journal, or letters. What are the quotes doing there? They really felt out of place.

Read this book at your own peril: you will find love and friendship, but also pain and suffering. You will read true horror but also true hope. The Color of Our Sky is expected to be published on June 30th.