Review: I am Malala

As a girl, reading and learning were central to my life, and it’s painful to imagine that there are still people in the world who think that it’s inappropriate for girls to attend school. This moving memoir by Malala Yousafzai recounts her experiences up to and beyond the moment when a gunman entered her school bus and shot her in the head. I first reviewed it for Women24.

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

In a classroom in a small school in Pakistan stands an empty chair. It is reserved for Malala Yousafzai, a teenager who has become a symbol of bravery around the world.

It is her true story, told with intelligence and clarity, which makes this autobiography one of the must-read books this year.

Following in the footsteps of her father, an education activist, Malala, now aged 16, started standing up for the right of girls to be educated.

Writing a blog under an assumed name, she spoke of her strong desire to be educated and to create a society where no woman would be illiterate, like her own beloved mother.

In time, as education for girls became a hotly debated issue in her homeland, she began to raise her voice in the local and international media.

But opposition from the Taliban was fierce, as a tussle developed in Pakistan between various political forces.

Malala’s was only one small story in the political upheaval that had gripped the country with bombings and gunfights becoming all too commonplace.

Caught in the middle was Malala, and millions of other ordinary people, many of whom were displaced from their homes as pitched battles broke out between various political factions and the authorities. In the chaos, Malala and her family moved out of their home temporarily, making their way to her mother’s home village deep in the countryside.

Finally, they returned, convinced that a fragile peace would allow Malala and her friends to return to school. But one afternoon the school bus was stopped in an ambush, and with the words “Who is Malala?” a gunman opened fire, injuring not only his intended target, but two of her classmates as well.

Shot in the face and neck, Malala was rushed to hospital, and eventually flown to Birmingham for treatment.

Here she awoke, surrounded by strangers, a badly injured young teenager missing her family and her old life. But outside the hospital, and around the world, her name had become a rallying cry for freedom of education.

When her family subsequently joined her, it was decided that they would stay in England until it was deemed safe for them to return. She remains an active voice striving for the freedom of education so many of us take for granted.

Malala’s story avoids grandstanding, and speaks to the heart of the issue – a clever girl, hungry for knowledge and to do well in class, placed in peril by the convictions she and her family hold dear.

Through her bravery and pain, this young woman has drawn the world’s attention to those other girls who sit beside the empty chair and still pursue their education against all odds.

Review: The Accidental Apprentice

Thanks to the wonderful movie Slumdog Millionaire, based on his novel Q & A, Vikas Swarup is a well-known name to more than just us book gluttons. This review I wrote of his latest book first appeared on Women24.

The Accidental Apprentice by Vikas Swarup (Simon & Schuster)
What if a stranger offered you the opportunity of a lifetime – the chance to be rich beyond your dreams, and lift yourself and your family into a bright future? But like with any offer that seems too good to be true, there’s a catch – or in this case seven.

Sapna Sinha is an electronics salesperson, good at her job but stuck in a rut and seemingly destined to never achieve her full potential. Then a chance lunchtime encounter with a business mogul in a temple opens the door to a stellar future as the CEO of a major company.

There are seven tests she has to pass first, though, and she won’t know she’s going through them until afterwards. Sipna is reluctant to commit to the challenge, but when her family’s wellbeing seems in jeopardy, she agrees to the test.

Moving through a moral landscape where the nature of good and evil shifts and regroups like menacing shadows, the accidental apprentice is forced to question her own priorities and defend her family. How far can principles be pushed when a better future is tantalisingly close?

Acclaimed author Vikas Swarup (best known for the book on which the film Slumdog Millionaire was based) uses the device of the seven tests to throw light on some of India’s biggest social ills, while never losing sight of the character at the centre of the story.

Review: Thirty Second World

I haven’t found many South African writers of the kind of lighter reading I like for my holidays, but this one by Emma van der Vliet hit the spot. This review I wrote of her latest novel first appeared on Women24’s Book Club.

Thirty Second World by Emma van der Vliet (Penguin SA)

A lifetime ago I spent a couple of years in the film industry, and from Emma van der Vliet’s funny account, not much has changed.

The grips still walk around with their pants weighed down by tools, the directors are still highly-strung and see themselves as artistes.

And the newbies are still fair game for seasoned veterans of the location shoot and their dubious intentions.

Beth is an artist who finds her way into the art department at a commercial production company.

The stakes are high and there’s no room for error, which soon results in naive Beth becoming submerged in this rarefied environment where nothing else seems real.

She watches in awe as tough, brittle producer Alison slowly unravels with the stress of balancing home and family with the demands of clients who don’t know the word no.

Along the way Beth becomes friends with a delightfully camp wardrobe master and gets too close for comfort to a sexy, but sleazy location manager whose history with Alison is a subtext beneath every interaction.

Emma van der Vliet writes about a world she knows well, but balances an insider’s insights with a writer’s observant eye.

The result is a funny, highly readable novel that demystifies the glamour of the film industry with a very human perspective.