November Books of the
Month
Book 1: Helium by Jaspreet Singh
Hardback now £9.99
Review: By Mary Whipple on
Amazon (5 out of 5 stars)
“In this ambitious and
often exhilarating novel, author Jaspreet Singh explores the world of his main
character on many levels while keeping the novel firmly focused on life itself,
not just on the speaker's life, but on the grandest and sometimes most horrific
aspects of all life--socially, historically, artistically, scientifically, and
even cosmically. The speaker, Dr. Raj Kumar, has just returned to Delhi after
living in the US for over two decades. He is a professor at Cornell,
specializing in rheology, the study of the flow of complex materials, which he
describes as "materials with memory." (This is illustrated clearly
and more fully in the book.) He is also fascinated with the element of helium,
"the noble gas" - a primordial element which "prefers isolation
and solitude," as it constantly escapes the earth's gravitational field.
However complex this may sound, the speaker uses these images symbolically and
successfully throughout the novel as he tries to understand himself and his own
search for information about an event which has left him traumatized for more
than two decades.
Moving backward and forward through time as his memories return, develop,
revise themselves, and then become new memories, Raj Kumar describes his
earlier life as an 18-year-old student in 1984, when his most traumatic memory
occurred. Returning from a class trip with a few classmates and his favorite
professor, a Sikh with whom he has been close, the students learn that Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi has been assassinated by two of her bodyguards, both
Sikhs. When the train with the students and professor returns to Delhi, an
anti-Sikh mob attacks the turban-clad teacher at the station, putting an
automobile tire around his shoulders, spraying him with oil, and setting him
afire. Raj has never fully recovered from this event.
Years later, when he returns to Delhi, he plans to visit his father, a former
high-ranking policeman, along with the widow of his professor in search of some
answers. Nelly Singh Kaur, the widow, is about to retire from her job as an
archivist. As someone widowed by the anti-Sikh violence in 1984, however, Nelly
hopes, in retirement, to compile an oral history that will finally force people
to take responsibility for those events. The perpetrators of those horrors have
never been punished, no one has ever been held responsible, and no one,
apparently, has ever felt any guilt. The alliance of religion and politics, and
the existence of religiously based political parties, have allowed perpetrators
to feel innocent, as long as their own party has prevailed. The larger issue of
personal responsibility on a human level is one of the major themes in this
rich and absorbing novel, as Raj tries to deal with his own possible
connections to events.
Though the author deals with long-term issues of guilt and innocence throughout
the novel, he never mentions the word "soul," substituting instead
images of birds and flight to convey freedom from earthly cares. The imagery of
rheology and of helium, which also pervades the novel, adds scientific and
cosmic elements to the thematic brew. Political changes in India in the past
half century are reflected, physically, by the architectural and artistic
changes which the author notes throughout, and though he pays homage to author
Primo Levi many times during the novel, Singh creates his own style, unique and
often thrilling, in this unusually ambitious work, which succeeds in
maintaining its pace and its thematic intensity until it bogs down somewhat
under the weight of its own themes and images near the end of the book.”
Book 2: Game of Love by Harjinder Singh
Available from:
Overview and Context: The
Game of Love tells the
story of the Sikhs and their freedom struggles throughout history. Guru
Nanak the first Guru of the Sikhs started the revolution of Sikhs standing up
against tyranny and oppression in the 15th century, this movement of freedom
struggles has carried on to the present day.
In the post 9/11 world, the words of the 10th Guru, Sri Guru Gobind Singh
resonate,
“When all peaceful means have been exhausted it is just to draw the
sword”
The Game of Love portrays the tears, torture and the sacrifices of the
Sikhs throughout history, the readers will decide if they are termed freedom
fighters, insurgents, militants or the popular word used by oppressive
governments to term the brave and courageous.
Review: On Amazon by A. Steatham 5 out of 5 stars
“As a non-practising
Christian, I am not interested in religion, other than to better understand how
belief systems shape the thinking and actions of those who belong to particular
faiths; however, even I found myself feeling incredibly drawn to the the way of
being and thinking described in this book.
As a great opponent of injustice, I was incensed by the way Sikhs have been
treated over the centuries and, at the same time, I was full of admiration for
the way in which they have stayed true to their beliefs and fought to uphold
justice and freedom, not only for their own people, but for all communities.
It is so easy to believe what you see on the TV and read in newspapers and form
an opinion on who is the 'aggressor' in a given situation; I had very 'western'
views of what happened at the Golden Temple - this book clearly explains the
truth behind that atrocity and has changed my understanding of what I believed
to be 'the truth' as portrayed by the media.
This book is informative and thought-provoking. It gives a good insight into
the history of the Sikhs and sets out the basis of their beliefs and why their
struggle for justice is so important, not just for them, but for all of us who
believe in fairness and equality.”
