BOOK REVIEW #5 THE SECRET OF MAGIC

        What a lovely story coming from a black woman. I would never expected that the author was African American, given the way she wrote was so beautifully crafted and her English was so good, easily understand but yet the way of words flow through the ink was so sophisticated.

        This novel is about a young woman lawyer, which is not common during that time, let alone a black woman. It is during the time in the US when white people triumph over black people. It is gradually changing, the perspective it is. Black people were not discriminated against white anymore. But in Mississippi, it was still the same. The black was treated like slave. Though there are some successful black there, it was small community.

        When a black soldier named Joe Howard was murdered during his way back home to Mississippi, and his murder did not get justice in court, it broke his father. That’s when Regina was called by M.P. Calhoun, an author of a controversial, banned kid’s story book which Regina loved as a kid to help in the case, she was more than happy.

Little did she know, it was not easy as it seemed.

M.P. Calhoun was not like what she expected. The town as well. It didn’t take her a long time to discover the truth. It was not a mystery case. It was a case of racial conflicts.

The murderer was a white man, an influential man to be exact.

In Mississippi, when white man killed a black man, he still roamed free, bragging to his friends, that he did killed Joe Howard. To teach him a lesson, he said.

        As I go through the book, I kind of guessed, giving the whole situation, there’s no way Regina can pressed charged on the murderer. It was impossible. Knowing the fact, Joe Howard’s father take matter into his hands.

        The concern here, when a black man killed white man, and surrendered right after that, he might not survived.

        But Mr Willie Willie was a good man, his acquaintances mainly white people, tried their best to give him a fair trial. Despite him being black and all.

        This is not something common. There’s more in the connection between them. The white probably feel bad for what happened to Mr Willie Willie’s son, but giving the situation, they might be helpless in a way.

        At first, I was angry and feel wronged at the old man. The whole town knew the fact that Wynne Blodgett killed Joe Howard, without any sense of remorse. But nothing can be done. That’s because Blodgett owned half the town. And I can feel that Regina’s effort was hopeless. It’s getting into my mind. 

IMPOSSIBLE.

        But when Peach was killed in a fire set by Wynne, Mr Willie Willie knew he had to be stopped. There will be no more killing. In order to do that, Wynne need to be disposed, just like how Luther was in the Secret of Magic book. So it did. And the case was gone. There’s nothing can be done anyway. But it taught them a lesson. No matter how bad the white treat the black, they were still human. And human felt indebted toward each other. And as human, they respected each other’s existence. The white slowly accepted the black as fellow human.

It’s the change that matters.

BOOK REVIEW #4 THE SECRET OF HAPPY EVER AFTER

        I always thought that romance novel is all about mushy and cheesy words, full with inappropriate descriptions of steamy hot love. BOOOORIIINGGGGG!!!! 

        I didn’t even know how this book grabbed my attention. It was a reflex. Maybe I was too used in reading mystery, fantasy and psychothriller detective books that I think I need something different. I was curious about the synopsis at the back of the books. It said something about Michelle’s dark past. That’s why I chose it. I never think long, I just grabbed the book during Big Bad Wolf. You know how the book sale was like.

Utter madness, I thought.

        It was too crowded, I can’t think straight. I just grabbed books that I thought decent enough for a reading. Dear, I hit a jackpot.

So, what’s about the book that I was drawn into?

        Firstly, it is about friendship. Two different women from different walks of life met at a coffee shop and the instantly become best friends.

Fate. Just like that.

        Michelle was a sophisticated businesswoman who always thinks about profit and sales. Despite her cold and composed demeanor, lies a fragile woman who was once shrouded with traumatic dark past. She managed to conquer her trauma and became very successful and independent.

Love come when we least expected it.

        Anna, a selfless person who married a divorcee and managed to get three stepdaughters. Teenagers. Teenagers are rebellious, sarcastic, dramatic and inconsiderate. For someone unrelated, Anna really make an effort to put them together. She acted like their own mother, but what kind of woman, didn’t want a child of their own. Someone who is her flesh and blood.

It was a hearwarming story.

Things that intrigued me badly, other than their friendships are the way they describe bookstore. Here, in Malaysia, the bookstore looked like a premises, instead in the story, the bookstore was described of a place where community hang out, discussing their favourite books. There are a lot of sections, sofas and coffees. It was cosy and I can see myself lost myself to the books while I’m in there.

And book bouquet.

Such a fresh and thoughtful idea.

Books are fun. But not many realized it. In the story, they stated how magical our world was when we take a step back and imagined ourselves as the main character. 

It was beautiful and beyond words.

BOOK REVIEW #3 THAT BURNING SUMMER

Setting during the World War II, in which Britain receiving an invasion threat from the Germany. The people getting anxious day by day, getting worried over the fact that the dreaded day can come any moment.

I am a falcon. A peregrine, a traveller. Yet godlike. Alone in an azure obstraction. Air purer than danger. Like a heartbeat my engine throbs as I soar above a sea of cloud. Canvas and metal, these wings are my wings. A thought. A muscle. They lift, and tilt. We are one. A break in the whiteness. The sea below me glints. The horizon shifts. I see my prey. My heartbeats quickens. I move in for the kill. Not yet. Not yet. When they see me it will be too late. Now.

     Peggy, a British saved a Polish pilot named Henryk when he crashed down to her hometown. Seeing the broken state of the lad makes Peggy felt sorry toward him. So, Peggy sneaked food during mealtimes to feed him. They became friends, which later blossomed into love.

     Ernest, Peggy’s brother found out about the meeting between Peggy and Henryk. He is a very active boy, wanting to make a breakthrough so people in town will recognized him. He wanted to prove that he is a grown-up now and not a little boy anymore. So when he noticed that his sister is acting weird, he followed her. When he met Henryk for the first time, unlike his sister, he is suspicious towards Henryk. He accused Henryk as a spy from German coming to pry on their country.

Little did they know, there was a spy.

      From this novel, in my opinion, the main issue is LMF. LMF stands for Lack of Moral Fibre. This is a psychological casualty in the Royal Air Force in which the aircrew refused to fly without reason.  In the medical perspective, the men broke down due to stress during flying in battle resulting unfit to fly. The family background, genes and characters are put at fault. Henryk reached his ‘breaking point’ and showed battle trauma. There was a moment when he felt anxious as he recalled what had happened to him. From this, we can see that not only the people are suffering during war but soldiers also. The bad experiences while he was serving as pilot may trigger his battle trauma.

     Apart from that, the issue revolving in this novel is the role of Polish in the Battle of Britain. In this novel, the Nazi German invaded Poland and took the citizen as their hostages. The Polish pilots were promised spots in the army but they were treated nothing less like the war hostages. Only when they were needed, they were called. To make it worst, the German gave them the planes of poorest conditions. Later, it is said that Polish helped Britain to gain independence.

     In the last chapter, it is portrayed that everything back to normal. War has stopped. Ernest went to help their father who was being held captive as the human guinea pigs in the scabies experiments. Henryk stays in Britain, keeping himself close to Peggy, who had her own job and life. There’s nothing left for Henryk at Poland as all of his family member were sacrificed during the war. Henryk finally recovered from his trauma. The key to his LMF is due to him becoming hopeless and heartbroken due to his ill-fated family members. Now that he had Peggy by his side, he can now fly.