Belgium - Thirty Days

Book #16: Thirty Days - Annelies Verbeke

"Alphonse, funny, observant, and imaginative, is a former musician who has left Brussels with his girlfriend Cat to live near her parents in the buttoned-up rural district of Westhoek. It has open fields, wide, low skies, more World War I graves than almost anywhere in Europe - and one of the highest suicide rates in the western world. Alphonse starts a new life as a handyman. As he paints and decorates the interior of peoples' homes, he gets to know their complex emotional lives - their affairs, family disturbances, messy divorces, everyday cruelties, and unexpected dreams. But when he, Cat, and a client help a group of Afghans and Syrians at a makeshift refugee camp, he learns that not all locals appreciate their work." 

---

I really wanted to love this book. I almost did. There was so much promise. The book description sounded so rich and I couldn't wait to start reading it. It just...never quite gets there. I spent most of the book waiting for something to happen. The author would tease - there would be interesting character development, followed by pages of...nothing. Unfortunately, the story didn't really evolve until the last 100 pages, and even then, it happened in fits and starts. I'm disappointed, because I like the characters. I want to know more about them. I want to know what happens after this book ends. But I don't want to read another 300 pages to find out. 

But what of the challenge? Did I learn anything about Belgium? Yes, that I did. I've been to Belgium, and I absolutely loved it. I've even been to this general part of Belgium, to a WWI cemetery. But this book offered a different view. The main character, Alphonse, is an immigrant from Senegal. His interactions with his neighbors are shown through his lens. Also, the book touches on how Belgium is dealing with asylum seekers from Syria and Afghanistan. I really wish this had been investigated in more detail, but the author wanted to make a point, and she certainly did. Over all, this book left me frustrated, but I did learn a thing or two about Belgium.  

Belarus - Voices from Chernobyl

Book #15: Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster - Svetlana Alexievich

"On April 26, 1986, the worst nuclear reactor accident in history occurred in Chernobyl and contaminated as much as three quarters of Europe. Voices from Chernobyl is the first book to present personal accounts of the tragedy. Journalist Svetlana Alexievich interviewed hundreds of people affected by the meltdown - from innocent citizens to firefighters to those called in to clean up the disaster - and their stories reveal the fear, anger, and uncertainty with which they still live."

--

Chernobyl is located near the now-abandoned town of Pripyat, Ukraine. So why did I select this book to represent Belarus? Because today, 1 out of every 5 Belarussians lives on contaminated land. 70% of the radionuclides released into the atmosphere landed in Belarus. Fully 23% of its territory is contaminated (compared to 4.8% of Ukraine).

I also selected this book because Chernobyl is this thing that happened far away in the Soviet Union when I was old enough to vaguely recall that it occurred, but far too young to grasp its scope and severity. I wanted to learn more. And wow, I did. This book is terrifying, horrible, maddening, sad...and desperately important. The Soviet government acted in ways that, sadly, were unsurprising in their utter disregard for human life. From removing books about Hiroshima from the libraries to forcing hundreds of thousands of troops to literally stand on top of the leaking reactor. The people tried, are still trying, to make a life. 

As we continue to consider nuclear power as an alternative fuel source, this book is a must-read.  

Barbados - Song of Night

Book #14: Song of Night - Glenville Lovell

"So the heroine of this evocative novel introduces herself to the tourist-woman lying on the sands of Accra Beach to whom she hopes to sell the dresses she is peddling. It is an unplanned encounter, but Amanda, the African American tourist, is not in Barbados just for a vacation. Nor is Night the simple, easy-going island girl Amanda takes her for. This is a meeting that changes both their lives."

___

I loved this book. It's a coming-of-age story mixed with Caribbean mysticism. Cyan, nicknamed "Night" because of her skin, has a turbulent relationship with her mother. That's a bit of an understatement. And her father has recently died - hung, because he murdered a man who flirted with his wife. She's a social outcast in her tiny village, but she's determined to figure out a life for herself. Except tragedy seems to follow her everywhere. I can't say much more without giving it away, and I absolutely don't want to do that. The twists and turns are the best part. 

Bangladesh - A Blonde Bengali Wife

Book # 13: A Blonde Bengali Wife - Anne Hamilton

"They all said that Bangladesh would be an experience... For Anne Hamilton, a three-month winter programme of travel and "cultural exchange" in a country where the English language, fair hair, and a rice allergy are all extremely rare was always going to be interesting, challenging, and frustrating. What they didn't tell Anne was that it would also be sunny, funny, and the start of a love affair with this unexplored area of Southeast Asia."

__

This book doesn't fit the requirements of my challenge at all. The writer is Irish. It's a "travelogue" of her three month journey to Bangladesh. When I selected this book, I was skeptical. I really wanted to avoid an outsider's view of a country. But I looked and failed to find a book written by a Bangladeshi native that's been translated to English. And the reviews for this book are pretty good. 

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised. There are unavoidable limitations - Hamilton is not a native, and she doesn't pretend to be. But she does try to present Bangladesh fairly. That is to say, it's not a book full of stereotypes. I found myself not exactly wanting to visit Bangladesh, but certainly wishing I could meet Munnu, the Bangladshi man who takes Anne under his wing and escorts her around the country, ensuring that she is always fed, always has transportation, and always has access to a toilet. Their friendship is funny, touching, and provides a really valuable lens through which to see the country. I also want to meet the Hoque family, who play host to Anne and her Australian travel partner, Christine. Hasina, the family matriarch, is warm, caring, and absolutely runs her traditional Muslim family - as is so often the case. 

I certainly learned a lot about Bangladesh. I'll miss the people I "met" in this book. 

The Kingdom of Bahrain - Yummah

Book #12: Yummah - Sarah A. Al Shafei 

Yummah is the story of Khadeeja, a woman who entered an arranged marriage at the age of 12. It appears to be the fictionalized story of the author's grandmother, and so is simultaneously both a good look inside life in Bahrain in the mid 20th century, and also a highly romanticized account. The author provides a good sense of the day-to-day, but glosses over the relationship between the child bride and her deeply flawed husband. Which makes sense, if that man is actually her grandfather. In addition to an interesting, if somewhat shallow, account of Khadeeja's rather tragic life, the book also shows the evolution of customs and life trajectories, particularly for the women of Bahrain. Where Khadeeja had no choices, a mother multiple times over by the age of 23, her granddaughter ends up attending Harvard. This progression, in the span of three generations, makes the book a worthwhile read. 

The Bahamas - Thine is the Kingdom

Book #11: Thine is the Kingdom - Garth Buckner 

"This novel of adventure and conflict explores the nature of class and identity in the post-colonial world of the Bahamas. The narrative, rich in imagery, reveals the inner lives of the characters and implicates us all in one man's struggle to do the right thing."

__

The title is somewhat misleading, the cover art even more so. This novel has absolutely nothing to do with religion. The kingdom in question is a man's birthright. In the Bahamas, citizenship travels along the paternal line, and Gavin Blake's father is from Florida. So despite the fact that he was born in the Bahamas and his mother's family has lived there for generations, he lacks papers. Gavin has gone away to college, traveled the world, and returned to his native Bahamas, only to find that his opportunities are extremely limited and his standing in society is that of an outsider. Gavin ends finding work caretaking a yacht for Jacob Thesinger, who comes from a wealthy land-owning family. While it appears that Jacob has it all - an estate with the right address, money, boats, and a respected family name, it quickly becomes apparent that even Jacob struggles with what the Bahamas is becoming. Ultimately, both men have to figure out what they're willing to do to claim their piece of the kingdom. 

This was an interesting book to read in light of conversations happening in the US today. What happens when birthright citizenship isn't a thing? What's the fallout from that? And in this case, the undocumented person was a white man with a college degree...and American citizenship (that he didn't really want, because he felt that he belonged in the Bahamas, not the US). Thought-provoking on many levels.

Azerbaijan - Ali & Nino

Book #10: Ali & Nino: A Novel - Kurban Said 

"It is the eve of World War I in Baku, Azerbaijan, a city on the edge of the Caspian Sea, poised precariously between east and west. Ali Khan Shirvanshir, a Muslim schoolboy from a proud aristocratic family, has fallen in love with the beautiful and enigmatic Nino Kipiani, a Christian girl with distinctly European sensibilities. To be together they must overcome blood feud and scandal, attempting a daring horseback rescue, and travel from the bustling street of oil-boom Baku, through starkly beautiful deserts and remote mountain villages, to the opulent palace of Ali's uncle in neighboring Persia. Ultimately the lovers are drawn back to Baku, but when war threatens their future, Ali is forced to choose between his loyalty to the beliefs of his Asian ancestors and his profound devotion to Nino."

---

I think I would have liked this book more if it hadn't been billed as some grand love story. It was ultimately, I suppose, but mostly in the second half of the book. Otherwise, it felt more like a plot device to show the struggle between east and west than the primary storyline. But what this book did very well was show that struggle - Muslim vs. Christian, Asia vs. Europe, Russia/Armenia vs. Persia, history vs. the future. I'm now interested to learn more about the Azerbaijan of the present, because it seems likely that, given geography, many of the issues brought to the fore by World War I have never been fully settled.