Of Mice and Men

Author: John Steinbeck
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date: 1994
Place: New York
ISBN: 0-14-118510-4 (paperback)
Price: R94.46 (Kalahari.net) $2.43 (Amazon.com)
Page No: 106 pages

Reviewed by Brenda Daniels ©

My Grade-nine daughter was introduced to Of Mice and Men in her English classes at school. Deeply moved by the story, she urged me to read it before returning the book to her teacher.

Set in California in the 1930s, Of Mice and Men centres around the lives of two itinerant workers, George and Lennie. Forced to move from farm to farm, the unlikely friends have a dream that keeps them going; a dream of owning their own piece of land one day. Unusually strong, but simple minded and forgetful, Lennie relies heavily on George’s guidance. Despite his gruffness George cares about Lennie. Their friendship and dream are tested in every way when the two find themselves in difficult circumstances and amongst difficult people on a farm in California.

Although Steinbeck’s work is not factual, the circumstances for labourers at this time are typically depicted and Of Mice and Men is a social comment on conditions at the time. Written mostly as direct speech and in colloquial language, readers are drawn near to the sad and lonely lives experienced by these workers. Steinbeck is famous for other works such as The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden.

Nabeel's Song

Author: Jo Tatchell
Genre: Biography
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Date: 2006
Place: London
ISBN: 0 340 89748 1 (paperback)
Price: $8.74 (Amazon.com)
Page No: 369 pages

Reviewed by Brenda Daniels ©

The date of the book sale was pencilled into my diary. Plans were made to arrive at the store early enough to browse through the best books on offer. But, not one to do well at sales at the best of times, on the day in question I found myself listlessly fingering the spines of untidily stacked books, disappointed and confused by the jumble of titles. “How strange and serendipitous life is,” (to quote from Nabeel’s Song) that, having given up rummaging and settled on merely the latest issue of Newsweek, I should spot one copy of Nabeel’s Song by Jo Tatchell nonchalantly propped up behind a pillar and bearing the humble price of R35. This book wasn’t on my list of recommended titles. I’m glad it wasn’t – I might have missed it otherwise.

Nabeel’s Song recounts the story of well-known Iraqui poet, Nabeel Yasin, who reluctantly fled his homeland to live in exile in Britain. Brought up in a humble but principled Muslim family, Nabeel and his six siblings were educated in a formerly progressive Iraq and encouraged early on to speak their minds. The family began to prosper when Nabeel’s father, Yasin, purchased a stationery store. This period was short-lived, however, and the children’s individualistic traits proved disastrous when Sadam Hussein and his Ba’athist regime came to power. One by one, each of the Yasin brothers falls foul of Hussein’s neurotic laws, resulting in imprisonment, beatings, military drafting and lives spent on the run. Nabeel, who became a poet and a writer, spoke his mind and paid the price. Able to evade capture, he and his wife Nada and young son, left Iraq and settled in Britain where Nabeel continued to put into writing the anguish he experienced over the homeland and family he loved. His poems wend their way back to Iraq where they are secretly distributed by a relative to a people starved of literature and free thought.

Written by Jo Tatchell, a journalist who spent many years in the Middle East, Nabeel’s Song is a clear reflection of the erosive effects that a government can have on a family and a nation. Despite the sobering nature of the recorded events, however, this eye-opening, beautifully told story also portrays how love and hope can bind people together.

American Wife

American Wife

Author: Curtis Sittenfeld
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Doubleday (an imprint of Transworld Publishers)
Date: 2008
Place: London
ISBN: 9780385616485 / 9780385616416
Price: R199 (Exclusive Books)
Page No: 558 pages

Reviewed by Brenda Daniels ©

As the world basks in the afterglow of the 2009 U.S. elections, it was appropriate that I should come across American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld; this epic novel tracks the life of Alice Lindeque, a woman who marries a man destined to become the President of America.

Alice is an ordinary, small town American girl with vague democratic political leanings. The events of her life ultimately lead her to marriage with Charlie Blackwell, a republican, and a man so different to her in character, upbringing and conviction. When Charlie becomes president (his position is based on that of George W Bush which I found rather irritating) Alice finds herself living a life with which she is uncomfortable and not wholly suited to. Finally, in her influential position as First Lady, Alice develops the courage to act on her convictions, and in doing so finds some sort of peace. Her courage grows gently, however, after many years of being undecided, living in two worlds. This is the theme of Sittenfeld’s writing and could easily apply to her readers – how many of us are not absolutely certain of our political convictions, our religious beliefs, romantic attachments or social stance?

But this gentle juxtaposition could also prove to be the book’s downfall. After a heady start with engrossing descriptions of sex, pages of 'show not tell' detail and sustained and accurate character portrayal, American Wife fails to climax, ending slowly and without fanfare. But, based on the book’s theme, perhaps that was the author’s intention; I’m not sure……..