Book Review- Stolen Family: Captive in Saudi Arabia by Johanne Durocher

In 2001, a Canadian girl of seventeen fell in love with a Saudi man, who claimed that he was a student in Canada, and became pregnant. When he was deported back to Saudi Arabia, she decided to follow him with the baby, thinking that she could return whenever she wanted. Little did she know that she would be trapped there, in a violent marriage marred with abject poverty, and that no bureaucracy or diplomacy would take the step to hear her pleas and relieve her of her egregious distress. Her mother moved heaven and earth to repatriate her and her children back to Canada, and still, after more than one and a half decades, she continues the fight.

Stolen Family is the real-life account of the plight of Nathalie Morin, who got trapped in Saudi Arabia, as told by her mother, Johanne Durocher. It also details the immense struggle of Johanne to ensure the safe return of Nathalie and her children back to Canada and the personal losses that she had to endure in her effort. The book was originally written in French, and Netgalley gave me an ebook of the upcoming English translation by J. C. Sutcliffe, in exchange for my honest feedback.

It is a very shocking book to read. To imagine that the events described in it have happened or are playing out in our times is very disturbing. In hindsight, it is easy to blame Nathalie for her erroneous decision-making and for not backing off when there were several evident danger signals. It is also easy to blame Johanne for not trying harder to avoid the traps into which her daughter fell, in spite of her being a victim of similar crimes.

But nothing can excuse the devious and underhand manner in which her husband trapped Nathalie in a foreign land and forced her to conceive three times more, binding her more to Saudi law. Equally dicey is the Saudi authority, which used its power to unfavourably prevent any respite for her and make her stay in Saudi Arabia by hook or crook. The Canadian government and authorities also failed spectacularly in protecting their citizens interests and safety in a foreign land. It is evident that they misinterpreted and trivialised a serious diplomatic issue between two sovereign countries into a common family tussle. It can also be observed many times that Canadian officials worked hand in glove with the Saudis to ensure that Nathalie and her children were not repatriated to their homeland.

The best quality of Johanne's writing is her utter frankness and courage to call a spade a spade. She names every politician, officer, bureaucrat, and journalist who intentionally or unintentionally denied justice. In the initial pages of the book, I got the feeling that Johanne is just a vitriolic mother who is desperate for her daughter's return and not ready to have an objective view of the situation. But while the situation was unfolding in the later pages of the book, I realised that this was not the case. Two incidents especially anchored my realisation: her reaction to the plight of two Saudi activists who tried to help Nathalie and her objective description of her Saudi son-in-law that is described towards the end of the book.

Stolen Family: Captive in Saudi Arabia is a harrowing experience even to read. We can only imagine the plight of the individuals who had to live through this and had their lives devastated. It also makes us aware that many other unaccounted-for similar incidents are happening around us even today, in the era of a globalised world. I believe educating children to become more independent and to curb their tendency to get addicted to substances will be the right step. Recently, Saudi Arabia has been ready to dilute many of its tough religious laws and open up towards a more liberal and free society. I hope other autocratic nations follow suit and that no more families are stolen hereafter.

Jumanji: Twice Right.

There are some movies that you're convinced are never going to work, and they doesn't- like Baywatch. And then there are some movies that you're convinced are never going to work, and surprisingly they does- like Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.

Jumanji was one of my favourite movies. It was funny and goofy and transported me to another world altogether. Every scene threw in a new surprise. And Robin Williams was amazing. When I heard they were remaking it, I had serious doubts. And then I heard Rock will appear in it with Jack Black. Still I had my doubts and gave upon it.

But when it released, it had a fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes. So I decided to try it. And I feel it is exactly what it promised it to be- loads of fun. The makers were very successful in tapping the best out of all leading actors. The story is crazy, but kept me engaged. It was a wise move to make Jumanji a video game instead of a board game in the first part. Another good move was to make the whole movie set inside the jungle instead of being in the home like the first part. These re-touches made it different from the prequel and allowed to widen the canvas considerably.

The movie was largely dependent on the personalities of the main characters and they doesn't let it down. But it wasn't as magical as the first one.

Darkest Moment: Dialogue driven War thriller...

As an Indian, Churchill is no hero for me. The guy is an imperialist responsible for many atrocities like the Bangal Famine. His attitude towards Indians is condemnable. He forced Indian soldiers to fight for England and used Indian resources for the effect of war. There are many accounts of the valor of British soldiers in World War 2, but not much is heard about Indian soldiers who fought in the war and the Indian wealth used in fighting it. There is much for me to loathe him as deep as Hitler from an Indian view point.

Now, when I watch a movie made about Churchill, should I permit my bias to meddle with enjoying it? I am of the opinion that history is history, but when you make a fictional movie or write a novel by adapting an historical event, you should be ready to grant it a certain leeway for dramatic effect. Otherwise it is better to watch a documentary.

So when I sat to watch Darkest Hour, fully knowing the premise of it, I was all ready to watch it unbiased and take only the good things out of it. Darkest Hour is the story about Churchill's ascent to prime-ministership as a compromise candidate and how he manages to steer the opinion of his parliament and the public towards fighting Nazi threat instead of negotiating for peace.

The movie is mainly dialogue driven. But after finishing it, I had the effect of watching a thriller. There are no action sequences or battle scenes, and absolutely no suspense because we all are pretty aware how it turned out to be. But the rapid breathless pacing and the urgent atmosphere makes it feel like a thriller. Surprisingly, the movie has moments of humor and sentiment interspersed, which helps enormously in its enjoyment.

I had an issue with a scene were Churchill goes to public to ask their opinion. It was a sudden change of atmosphere and tone the movie was taking and so unbecoming of the man whom we saw till that moment. The scene doesn't seem probable and its depiction is also a bit unrealistic. I feel now that it was more like a dream that he had and not an actual happening though nothing in the movie substantiate my version.

Gary Oldman deserves his Academy Award for best actor for his characterisation of Churchill. To be using that much prosthetic and make up and still emote the subtlest nuances, is indeed great talent. He makes the man more endearing and human than his textbook depictions. I'm sure the sensitivity that his  Churchill displays in many scenes is a cinematic liberty to make us root for him.

If you loved the Nolan movie Dunkirk, you will be glad to see a more wider historic look on it here. The movie is a companion piece to Dunkirk and provide necessary exposition that Nolan never bothers to provide us.

61 Hours: Less on Thrills

61 Hours is the 14th Jack Reacher novel written by Lee Child. I've read some 6 or 7 of his works and always felt Jack Reacher books provide adequate thrills and entertainment- nothing more, nothing less. The basic premise is always similar. Jack Reacher, the perpetual traveller, reaches a corner of USA and gets involved, mostly against his wishes, in some trouble and settles it by the end using his brain and brawn.

61 Hours uses the same formula. This time Reacher is a traveller in a bus carrying some senior citizens, while it breaks down and is forced to stay in Bolton, a prison town. He has to endure snow fall and heavily fallen temperatures while solving a mystery involving murders of crime witnesses, lawless bikers, a mysterious structure concealing hidden secrets from Cold War era and a powerful drug baron from Mexico.

I loved the overall plot. Its really thick and carries suspense adequately. Compared to other Reacher adventures, this one is more mellowed and introspective. And thrills come far in between. But it never hampers the pacing. I loved the detailed description of landscapes that Lee Child etches in his novels. That differentiate the otherwise similarly plotted from each other and provides each with a unique signature.

The title doesn't have any significance to the story. I felt it as just a gimmick and doesn't contribute anything to the plot. The countdown in every chapter appears to be added in later drafts of the novel. I feel it is included just to invoke a false urgency to the proceedings. 

Likewise I felt that some of the suspenseful passages are too drawn out and lessens the impact of the story. You wait eternally, with bated breath, along with the characters, when entire passages are dedicated to every leaf turning and every snowflake falling, only to find that ultimately nothing happens. This event has a significance that is revealed later on but at the cost of some frustration to the reader.

But it really was a welcome change, reading a Jack Reacher book that is not just a collection of one frantic action set piece after other. The ending also was very different from usual fare. The ambiguous ending was unexpected, but gave more gravity to the story. And makes me want to grab the next book in the series... 

Book Review: English Bites! By Manish Gupta

Acquiring proficiency in a new language is a difficult task. It becomes more tough when the language in question is one that evolved through centuries and spoken in every nook and corner of the world acquiring vagaries of its own all the time. In case of mastering English language, it also is a matter of survival, especially for us Indians as English binds our country that is divided into numerous different small territories speaking different vernacular in each and also because English is the medium for higher studies in any discipline. It is quite common that many students score less academically and doesn't reach the heights of career professionally which they are otherwise destined, just because they started their studies in vernacular and were not able to cope up later when the medium shifted to English. But it is not impossible to reverse the outcome as the life story of Manish Gupta, author of English Bites! My Full Proof English Learning Formula, demonstrates.

Manish Gupta never used to be fluent in English. Instead of blaming his education or circumstance, he worked hard to improve himself and is continuing to do so. English Bites published by Penguin Books is the story that explains how Manish Gupta transformed himself from a shy boy studied in vernacular to a smooth talking banker. The book, though an autobiographical account of his struggles to become fluent in the language, aims primarily to help others- students, professionals or just language nuts, to use his method and achieve success instead of reinventing the wheel. The book has fourteen chapters. The first chapter is about his troubles with English when he joined for Mechanical Engineering. Then as each chapter progress, the reader comes to know different techniques to get fluent with different aspects of the language like usage of mnemonics and GK trivia, so that words and their meanings get fixed in memory to use in the appropriate situation. Some of the final chapters take a particular topic and covers the major words associated with that. Liberal use of trivia, humor and anecdotes keep the reader interested and engaged throughout the book.

The best feature of this book is the liberal sprinkling of tough and confusing words, highlighted in bold, with the meaning and detailed explanation given as footnotes right below the page. I feel it is really helpful in developing the vocabulary. The book really helps readers to understand many idiosyncrasies of English. More than that it will interest and motivate them to explore the language more deeply and helping themselves with more new words thereby increasing the vocabulary.

English Bites! is a book that can be helpful for students and professionals to know, explore and master English language. But just reading this book won't do. An attempt from the side of reader is essential to use the techniques for his benefit.

Book Source: Author