Tag Archives: supernatural

May7

The Glowing Hours by Leila Siddiqui

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The Glowing Hours by Leila Siddiqui

This 336 page adult gothic horror book frustrated me.  When I got stuck reading the electronic arc, I waited until publication and checked out the physical copy, when I got stuck reading that I switched to an audio version.  It had so much positioning and build up and details that I really was hoping I’d be rewarded with some fantastical imagining and historical fan fic bringing to life a period of history among real notable writers and a mysterious summer they spent together in 1816.  Told from a “Mohammedan” house maid, Mehrunissa Begam’s experience working for the Shelleys, shows us how her misfortune brings her into the company of Mary, Percy, Polidori, Claire, and Lord Byron at Lake Geneva and specifically the Villa Diodati. The author researched the people, the times, and the setting, and obviously took liberties to not only fill in the blanks, but to make a fictional story of it all. But so many threads and details left untugged on, made the book slow and drag in some places, and seem glossed over and underdeveloped in others.  The book is an adult read, with a mature scene, killing, death, power struggles, manipulation, haunting, and the like, and there is really no Islam.  Mehr doesn’t put the label of faith on herself even though she regular recounts her family lineage as being religious and the shrines that people come to pray to as being salvation for so many.  The crux of the hauntings, or at least a contributing factor, I think, SPOILER is not the literary folks Mehr looks down on, or the love and power triangles the house manipulates amongst them all, but the taweez, the amulet she wears from her deceased mother.  So culture more than religion is definitely a part of the story, but in an othered sort of way. The tale at hand hints at the horrors the house hosts and its inhabitance endure, that inspire the writings of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and John Polidori’s The Vampyre.

SYNOPSIS:
I’m just going to copy and paste the blurb from the publisher, so as to not give anything further away. 

Summer 1816: London is a hostile place for the newly disembarked Mehrunissa Begum, who’s come to deliver her brother’s letter of inheritance before returning to her comfortable life in Lucknow, India. Only, she can’t find her brother anywhere and has no money for the return trip. With nowhere else to go, Mehr finds refuge in a boardinghouse for Indian maids. If she can’t find her brother, she reasons, she will get a job and start saving.

Mehr is soon hired at the English estate of Mary and Percy Shelley, young artists of burgeoning fame who are on the run from secrets of their own. Mary is brooding and quiet, but takes a curious liking to her new maid, asking her to accompany the Shelleys and her stepsister, Claire—as well as the eccentric Lord Byron and his physician, John Polidori—to Lake Geneva for the summer.

Almost immediately, Mehr notices strange, ghostly events at the villa. The walls breathe, portraits shift, and phantoms appear like unbidden guests who refuse to leave. The weather is fierce and foreboding, showing no signs of softening its relentless pall. And as Mary Shelley begins work on what will become her earth-shattering literary phenomenon, Mehr finds herself trapped in the villa as the rest of its inhabitants descend into madness.

WHY I LIKE IT:
I don’t find the last paragraph of the provided above blurb accurate, it takes a while for creepy to be fully recognized, and by the time it does, I felt short changed by all the hints that amounted to nothing.  It is highly possible I missed a lot of the symbolism or connections, I’m happy to be schooled on the literary merits, but key players being absent from scenes while everyone is in one house, conversations being stilted, random items being stressed, only to be of no consequence later, example: What was up with the grapes? The grape pickers? What did sleep quality have to do with it all? Why did Mehr even need to be there, she was a terrible maid, and wasn’t likeable.  I get trying to show the hold Byron had on them all, but so often I couldn’t make sense of Percy and Mary’s dynamic, seemed they were all sleeping with each other and trying to gain literary genius credentials, but it was almost like the showing and telling didn’t always match.  I love the premise and I do get that the historical truths and intertwining relationships and power struggles and emerging the reader in the time really do resemble world building, but it takes forever to get to any action, and once it does it seems too shallow. I reread the prologue at the end, and appreciated it much more after completing the book, so if you pick it up and it makes little sense, you aren’t alone.

As for the Islam, I understand a Westerner may have called a Muslim, a Mohammedan, but it felt icky that Mehr didn’t push back on it.  She mentions the athan, and that she is descended from Prophet Muhammad saw, but says she doesn’t believe in it.  She is prodded to do what she does because the inheritance that her brother is to receive is larger than hers per Islamic rulings, her Uncle is shamed by Mehr’s mother’s actions, marrying a foreigner, and, Mehr’s actions don’t ever imply that she is Muslim or that she views the world through an Islamic lens.  I hope it is clear that a taweez is not religious, but rather cultural practice, but since it ushers in the supernatural, I don’t know how it is perceived or intended to be perceived.

FLAGS:

Very adult

TOOLS FOR LEADING THE DISCUSSION:

As odd as it is, I actually would love to talk to someone who read this.  I really hope I just missed some crucial, aha moment, and that it really wasn’t just sadly underdeveloped for what it set out to do.  I maybe might have enjoyed this article interview with the author more than the book itself.

https://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/blogs/lapl/interview-author-leila-siddiqui

Sep4

The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf

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The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf

ghost

A book meant for middle grades, 8-12 year olds, that has depth and layers and culture and strength is not something you find very often.  Over 275 pages, the book is at times dark and haunting, but what is truly remarkable is that it doesn’t talk down to young readers and with its pop cultural references and relate-ability,  the book is not dreary.  In fact, the true “haunting” occurs after the book is finished and the concepts of friendship, being alive, and forgiveness stick around and require thought and consideration.  The book is based on a Malyasian folktale, how much is a fleshing out, or simply a starting point, I do not know, but I do know that the characters are memorable, the concept thought provoking, the writing flawless, and the intertwining of Malay culture, Muslim characters and the supernatural, a combination that makes for an enjoyable read.

SYNOPSIS:

When an old witch dies, her pelesit, her ghostly demon, is passed on to her granddaughter Suraya.  Suraya lives with her mother, a teacher, and is lonely and emotionally neglected.  An adventurous girl, the pelesit, keeps the small girl safe, but waits to reveal himself to her in the form of a grasshopper when she is older.  When he does reveal himself to her, she asks him his name, and he doesn’t know it, so she names him Pink.

Suraya and Pink become best friends, and he provides company for her as she receives very little from her mother and has no friends.  Suraya had no knowledge of her grandmother and Pink modifies the stories to leave out how evil, cruel and vindictive she was through him.  As an evil being with no heart these acts never bothered him, although he stopped enjoying them long before she died.  With Suraya however, he feels things.  He is sad that she is unloved by her mother, teased by the other children, and that she doesn’t have the things other kids have.  Suraya is kind, and forgiving, and tries so hard not to let things bother her.  Pink however, with a twitch of his antenna can make things happen.  Bad things.  Things that might at first seem like a part of life, but when Suraya catches on, she scolds Pink.  She makes him promise never to use his magic to hurt people, ever.  He reluctantly agrees, she is his master after all.  Unfortunately he doesn’t keep his promise.

On Pink’s prodding, Suraya makes friends with a new girl at school, Jing, and their friendship makes Pink jealous.  He harms Jing and Suraya decides she no longer wants to be his master.  As a result Pink is determined to make Suraya’s life miserable.  As desperation mounts, Suraya tells her mom about Pink and a pawang is called in to separate the spirit from Suraya.  Something seems off about the pawang, and when Suraya investigates, she realizes that she must save Pink from him.  Together with Jing, Pink and Suraya are off on an adventure against the pawang and might just learn more than Pink’s backstory in their efforts along the way.

WHY I LIKE IT:

I love that Suraya and her family are Muslim and that Jing is not and they are best friends.  Suraya and her family pray, celebrate Eid, give salams when at the graveyard, but obviously also believe in magic and ghosts, and somehow in the story it doesn’t seem to be contradictory or odd.  I love Suraya’s strength.  None of the relationships in her life are good.  Yet, she is good, and she forgives and fights to make those close to her better.  Pink is manipulative and controlling and abusive, but she still fights for him to be treated better and that says more about her, than whatever he is.  Suraya’s mom is distant and neglectful, but yet, there is still realistic hope that their future can be and will be better.  I love that all these layers are there and yet are subtle too.  Kids are smart and they will bring their own experiences, understanding, and expectations to decipher these relationships, and that is amazing.  I love that the characters in the story may be so different than the typical western reader, but they will still see themselves in this poor Malay girl from a small village, in her best friend Jing who lives and breathes Star Wars, or even in the religions pawang who is a power hungry charlatan; toxic friendships and family secrets make the book universal.

FLAGS:

Pink makes it look like blood is on a girls back side, implying a girls fear of leaking, but it isn’t explicit or named.  There is death and dying and supernatural and lying.

TOOLS FOR LEADING THE DISCUSSION:

I am thinking strongly about using this as a book club book, as the discussion would be delicious and varied among the participants.

Interview with the author: https://thequietpond.com/2020/08/20/our-friend-is-here-an-interview-with-hanna-alkaf-author-of-the-girl-and-the-ghost-on-writing-friendship-malaysian-childhoods-being-true-to-your-stories/