September 2020 📚 Wrap Up

September was a busy month for me with a lot of difficulties and new experiences, and this is why I did not have much time to read or to write. So, although I don't have a lot of books to talk about with you today, I would still like to share my comments on them. As for the reasons for my absence from the blog and my limited reading of literature, they will all be explained at my next post 😏

The Professor of Desire by Philip Roth (1977)

We follow the life of David Kepesh from his childhood to his mid-thirties. Throughout his life he is struggling to discover who he really is and to live accordingly; is he a secular, pleasure-seeking man or a bright and capable of self-descipline literary scholar?

The book is written as a character study narrated by the specific character, David Kepesh, himself. His lifelong struggle to choose between his desires and his intelligence is heavily discussed and investigated in the entirety of the book. What makes this theme even more interesting is the fact that at the beginning it was approached in a humorous -in the first pages, even innocent- way and then it was becoming more and more serious. This gradual change is justified by the ageing of the character. However, personally, I enjoyed reading about the secondary characters the most. David, besides his moral dilemma and his literary career, lacked personality; he had no other interests or topics to discuss. Thankfully, it was extremely interesting to try and put the pieces of the personality of all the other characters together through their interactions with David.

Sister of My Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (1999)

We follow the 12-year-old cousins, Anju and Sudha, as they happily pass their childhood days in their restrictive household in Kolkata, India. The girls have to behave respectfully since they belong to the potent and wealthy Chaterjee family, even though this power seems to be slowly vanishing after the death of both of the girl's fathers. As Anju and Sudha grow up, they will have to deal with secrets, dilemmas and great hardships. Will their unconditional love last or will it be distorted by life and fate?

Although I didn't like the book cover, I'm elated by my decision to give this book a go. First of all, it was astonishingly fun to read as we're introduced to this world by the innocent and youthful perspectives of Anju and Sudha, and the narration gradually matures since incidents and language become more realistic and tragic. A variety of intriguing themes are investigated, such as family, the role of women in an oppressive society, the sense of duty, fate and much more. I'll have to note that even though there is much emphasis on the patriarchical values that were prevalent at the time and place of the story, the book is full of strong-minded and resolute women who do what they think it is right despite of the feelings of fear they experience. My only complaint is that towards the end of the book, we are given no explanation on how Anju manages to overcome a traumatic event, which even caused her severe depression. 

There is a sequel, The Vine of Desire, which was published in 2002.

Amy's diary by Maureen Lee (2012)

We read the 18-year-old Amy's entries to her diary from the beginning of Second World War to its end. 

To be honest, I was not a fan of this book. The first thing that I noticed and threw me off was the language. Emotions are presented in a robotic way, which contrasts with the exuberance I would expect from a young girl when she confides her secrets and incidents from her life to her diary. But even when traumatic incidents occur due to the war, again we have no expression of intense feelings or reactions. And that applies to Amy and to all the other characters in the book. I should note however, that as the destructive nature of the war starts to dominate the narrative, insightful observations about the deterioration of the city in combination with the unyielding spirit of the citizens of Liverpool better the reading experience. 

And that is the end. Did you read any fascinating book in September? Let me know.