Hell in High Heels

Blurb:

Addressing women in history with a unique perspective and a bit of flair!

History textbooks haven’t changed in at least thirty years. Imagine the author's disappointment when she realized her children were learning the same misinformation she did in K-12. Where the fuck were the women who refused to conform? Who refused to live under a man’s boot? The villains? The criminals? Did they not exist?

A handful of badass women are mentioned, usually in passing, in mainstream history books as a sort of appeasement for the feminist crowd—Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Cleopatra, Catherine the Great, et cetera, et cetera—but the author, a feminist, was not appeased. Or amused.

You won’t recognize many of the names here, if any, but there are some familiar names who merit a more honest accounting than they’ve been given. These are women who broke the law; who committed murder; who stole; who got a bad rap; who defied convention; who were so fucking fierce in their own time that contemporary historians exaggerated their villainy.

You ought to meet these badass—and sometimes really fucking scary—bitches. Some will make you cheer; some will make you laugh; and some will make you say, “Holy fuck! I hope that bitch is burning in Hell!"

Thoughts:

The book's title and its sardonic disclaimer at the beginning caught my interest. I started off by laughing at most things C.H. Burford had written because I thought it was quite a refreshing take on historical infamous figures.

I quite liked the gritty, sarcastic, edgy treatment Burford has given them. She seems to have worked hard in terms of the sheer volume of in-depth research that has gone into the book.

I believe that women, whether their contributions are positive or negative, are an integral part of history. They should not be confined to just bare mentions or be portrayed as sidekicks or supporting actors. They also need not be painted as virtuous or villainous to suit the so-called normal/moral standards of society.

However, my enthusiasm started waning as I reached about a quarter of the book. Repetitive swear words, asides, and descriptions made the writing predictable.

Profanity: I don't use swear words but I am no prude. I am interested in etymology, and I respect all words because all of them were coined for some purpose and used so. I found the use of most swear words in the book purposeless.

Characters: In all anthologies, I look for the basic theme. Burford says: "So here I´ve gathered for you a collection of women who most of the world don't know existed. (...) These are women who broke the law, who committed murder, who stole, who got a bad rap, who defied convention, who were so fucking fierce in their own time that contemporary historians exaggerated their villainy. I think you ought to meet these badass - and sometimes really fucking scary – bitches."

Again, I am all for highlighting the feats of strong, fierce women but after a while, I started wondering whether she wanted to show that women can be as cruel/violent/terrifying as men or more so!

Asides and strange descriptions: I could overlook even the swear words but the asides - the frequent explanations or descriptions in parentheses - were unbearable. Were they meant to be funny, snarky, or cheeky? They were so irritating!

To sum up, this book is a missed opportunity. Had Burford excluded the profanity and the asides, it could have been an excellent reference book.

Note:

BookSirens provided me with an advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Road to Mekong

 

Blurb:

For fifty-six days, four women left their ‘regular lives’, homes, families and comfort, to ride their motorbikes through scenic landscapes, inhospitable terrain and diverse regions. In this process, they covered 17,000 kilometres through six countries. What inspired them to follow this dangerous, and at times maddening, adventure trail?

In Road to Mekong, Piya Bahadur recounts her once-in-a-lifetime journey through Southeast Asia. With little prior experience in expeditions of this nature, the group successfully planned and executed an exhilarating trip from Hyderabad, through the east Indian coast and the northeast of India, weaving through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, along the river Mekong, and finally to Cambodia. By the time they returned, the lives of these audacious women had changed forever.

Piya takes the reader along on her travels through places rarely visited by the itinerant Indian and shares the new world that unfolds as she journeys from being a working mother constrained by her own inhibitions to a confident traveller accepting of whatever adventures life has to offer.

Thoughts:

I bought the book because its cover and blurb seemed quite interesting. I wanted to know more about these four women who went on a bike ride through six countries covering 17,000 kilometres.

The journey was sometimes arduous because of the red tape involved and also because of the vagaries of the route. They were able to overcome everything because they were strong, courageous, and determined. The joy of experiencing new places and diverse cultures was enough compensation for them. They also had the support of a team that followed them in a bus. 

The book is a good choice for those who love travel, women empowerment, chasing dreams, and breaking norms. The descriptions are vivid, the narrative interesting, and the language, simple and apt. Bahadur has explained the process of planning and executing the long ride quite well.

However, you would be disappointed if you wish to know more about the camaraderie between the four women, the personal challenges they overcame, or the friendship they forged. Bahadur does not dwell too much on the personal or the human aspect, except if it was directly related to their trip.

You will understand more about why this is so and what they wanted to accomplish with this journey when you read the last two chapters.

Overall, a good book!

Summer of Georgie

Blurb:

Deep into her 40s with a lackluster career, Georgie wonders how she became so...underwhelming. If she’s not battling her micromanaging boss and egotistical CEO, she’s trying to quiet her inner voice, the one whispering that she hasn’t lived up to the cool, funny and creative person she used to be.

When she's fired for finally pushing back on her CEO’s questionable business practices, Georgie – with the support of her husband and book club friends– uses her free summer to rekindle latent talents and redefine success. But just as she figures out what’s next, an unexpected hurdle threatens to turn her summer of opportunity into a zero-sum disaster.

Summer of Georgie is a fresh and likably snarky take on the “middle age do-over,” with an authentic portrayal of friendship, marriage, motherhood, and that inner critic inside us all.

Thoughts:

This debut novel by Kerry Crisley was just what I needed after reading so much nonfiction. It also helped me navigate through a few days of physical pain.

A job for which the protagonist Georgie is overqualified and a terrible boss who does not appreciate her—something that many of us can relate to. Of course, Georgie is fired when she is assertive and refuses to bow down to unreasonable demands. Then you see her being assertive, unleashing her creativity and passion, and forging ahead to grab her dreams.

That and the portrayal of the supporting characters won me over. Her husband Dan seemed very realistic in that although he worries about their finances, he supports her wholeheartedly. Her parents, her friends, and her children are also similar to people you might meet in your everyday life.

A fun read, this book will make you root for Georgie’s success. I enjoyed it more because it is about women helping other women.

Note: I received an advance review copy from BookSirens in exchange for an honest review.

Chance Particulars

Blurb:

The goal of the writer is to live with the keenness of the foreigner. To experience, wide-eyed, the sensations aroused and the events offered up by a peculiar surround and then to evoke them so brightly on the page that the reader, too, experiences the foreigner's frisson. A time-honored way this is accomplished is through the keeping of a field notebook--through the faithful recording of the this and that of life; the atmospheres and incidents; the bells, the beer, the bread.

Based on what accomplished nonfiction writer Sara Mansfield Taber learned in her many years of field notebook keeping, Chance Particulars is a unique and handy primer for writers who want to use their experiences to tell a lively, satisfying story. Often, writers try to turn their notes into a memoir, essay, travel piece, or story, only to find that they haven't recorded enough of the concrete, sensory details necessary to create evocative description. To help writers overcome this problem, Taber has composed a true "field notebook for field notebook keepers." Enhanced by beautiful illustrations, this charming and comprehensive guide is a practical manual for anyone who wishes to learn or hone the crafts of writing, ethnography, or journalism.

Writers of all levels, genres, and ages, as well as teachers of writing, will appreciate this useful tool for learning how to record the details that build vibrant prose. With this book in hand, you will be able to recreate times and places, conjure up intricate character portraits, and paint pictures of particular landscapes, cultures, and locales.

Thoughts:

‘Chance Particulars’ examines how journaling and record-keeping enrich writing. It shows how you can mine information from experiences if you note their particulars down.

The book talks about how to be present, engage fully, and observe well so that you can share your experiences better. Taber tells you to focus on details while using all your senses. She asks you to document your observations descriptively.

If nothing else, you will have enough material to fall back upon when you sit in front of a blank page or the outline of an essay or story trying to fill it.

Although I read a digital version, I feel that I should read or buy a physical copy of this book to make full use of the prompts and the space for practice.

This is not a book that you read and complete. It is more of a guide that you may refer to repeatedly if you are serious about writing.

I loved the excerpts and quotations from other books that Taber has used to illustrate her ideas. They provide you with proof of how language informs, connects, inspires, and brings us joy.

Overall, a well-organized book, with great illustrations by the author’s daughter, Maud Taber-Thomas.

Unbound

Blurb

‘The capability of the individual matters. Not the gender. As a woman you need to have the confidence that your gender cannot hold you back.’

—Meena Ganesh, former CEO of TESCO Hindustan Service Centre

How does an item girl tackle sexual harassment at her work place? Why does a highly paid woman software engineer pay a dowry? Breast pumps and BlackBerry phones … do they go together? When a woman focuses on her career, does she lose out as a wife and a mother? Is there a female model of achievement as distinct from a male one?

These and other similar questions are explored in Unbound: Indian Women @ Work through a series of interviews conducted by the author with women from all walks of life and from different parts of the country. Icons like Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairman and Managing Director of Biocon Ltd, and Meena Ganesh, former CEO of TESCO Hindustan Service Centre, rub shoulders with Rachel the hair designer and Sumathi the call-centre employee who comes from a family of domestic helps. Women engineers discuss insidious gender discrimination and working mothers speak of the difficulties of balancing motherhood and work.

The stories in this book are of real women who spoke out candidly about their concerns—their families, their love lives and marriages, their victories and defeats. Together they provide a valuable guide to the brave new world of today’s women professionals.

Thoughts

Content

In an article she wrote in 2013, author and journalist Gita Aravamudan mentions this book’s genesis. After writing “Disappearing Daughters: the tragedy of female foeticide”, she wondered why women were so unwanted, despite being talented and able.

The reason, she found, was that they were perceived as economic burdens. She then had the idea of writing about women who generated wealth.

The result was Unbound: Indian Women @ Work, a book that presents a comprehensive overview of Indian working women who live in Tier-1 cities.

Aravamudan interviewed women between the ages of 25-50, one of the exceptions being a 97-year-old doctor. Most were middle-class women from the metros Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Chennai.

They included journalists, doctors, entrepreneurs, teachers, salesgirls, beauticians, software engineers, item girls, chefs, and actors—ordinary women with great grit and grace.

Some were well-known, such as Biocon Ltd chairman and managing director Kiran Mazumdar Shaw; former CEO of Tesco Hindustan Service Centre Meena Ganesh; Radhika Bordia, NDTV journalist; VJ Sophie; and talk show hostess Lolakutty.

The stories of these women give you different perspectives across various fields, classes, social structures, and industries. They also shed light on some lesser-known conflicts, archaic laws, and legal impediments working women face.

Regardless of their work or wages, women have to contend with many common issues, such as family support, domestic commitment, marriage, dowry, bearing and rearing children, safety at work, and discrimination.

This book shows how women are achievers and wage earners, despite these innumerable impediments. It reveals the positive changes at workplaces and in society as well as the areas where progress is lacking.

Aravamudan’s extensive research also brings forth what she calls a ‘feminine pattern of achievement’, wherein people consider their domestic responsibilities and professional commitment equally important.

Writing

Although I had heard of Aravamudan and read some of her articles, I was not familiar with her books. I ordered this book under the impression that it was part of a series about Indian women called Unbound.

I realized I was wrong when I was reading Unbound by Annie Zaidi, the book I thought was the first in the series.

I do not regret buying hard copies of either. I am always interested in reading about Indian women pursuing careers. After all, I am one of them.

As Aravamudan mentions in this book’s preface, the unbinding of middle-class Indian women happened gradually. It went rather unnoticed until its impact reached far and wide. As a woman journalist who experienced it, she was able to document its impact skilfully.

The book could have been much better in structure and language had it been edited well. However, I appreciate the effort that went into its research.

It provides you with a lot of information and snags your interest with real-life stories. The writing style is simple and easy to comprehend. Yet, it reads like a long article or descriptive thesis.

Although it is repetitive at places, I didn’t mind it so much because I read it over a long period starting from last year.

Unbound

Blurb:

Unbound is a collection of some of the most significant writing by Indian women over the past two thousand years. Divided into eleven sections, it encompasses writing on various aspects of life: spirituality, love, marriage, children, food, work, social and individual identity, battles, myths and fables, travel, and death. While many of the pieces are commentaries on the struggle that women undergo to overcome obstacles—social and political—all of them showcase the remarkable creative ability of the writers.

Selected from hundreds of novels, memoirs, essays, short story collections and volumes of poetry that were either written in English or that have been translated into English, the pieces in this collection include the most distinctive and powerful voices from every era.

There are verses from the Therigatha, written by Buddhist nuns (circa 300 BCE), and writing by poet-saints like Andal, Avvaiyar, Lal Ded, Mirabai; modern classics by writers like Ajeet Cour, Amrita Pritam, Arundhati Roy, Attia Hosian, Bama, Bulbul Sharma, Irawati Karve, Ismat Chughtai, Kamala Das, Krishna Sobti, Mahasweta Devi, Manju Kapur, Mannu Bhandari, Mrinal Pande, Nayantara Sahgal, Pinki Virani, Qurratulain Hyder, Rashid Jahan, Romila Thapar, Sarojini Naidu, Saudamini Devi, Shivani; and powerful new voices from our time like Arundhathi Subramaniam, Nilanjana Roy, Nivedita Menon.

Profound, exhilarating, haunting, angry and meditative, Unbound is a collection that will shatter stereotypes about women's writing in India.

Thoughts:

‘Unbound: 2,000 Years of Indian Women’s Writing’ is a great compilation of writings of Indian women writers, some of whom are quite famous, some contemporary, and some neither (and hence were unknown to me).

The book is a small window into the vast volume of work of Indian women writers. In the excellent introduction to the collection, the editor Annie Zaidi says that the work was daunting and she worked under a severe space constraint. There are over a hundred individual pieces of writing (including fiction, non-fiction, and poetry) in all.

She has divided them into eleven categories. At the beginning of each category, she mentions whose works have been included and why. There is also a detailed list of the writers and translators at the end of the book. She admits that the choices were subjective and that the collection is not comprehensive.

Zaidi has researched far and wide, collected information, and given it a logical structure, with clear rationale. From whichever angle you look at it, her work is commendable. Researching, reading, categorizing, and selecting works for this anthology, spanning 2000 years and so many languages, must have been a mammoth task. 

Besides, even now, women’s writing is a topic of debate and controversy—many don’t recognize it as a category and some regard it with disdain.  

I admit that I did not like some parts of the book. The styles, times, themes, and genres are so varied that it is sometimes hard to understand the logic behind the inclusion of certain pieces. 

I put the book away many times but always returned to it. This is one of the reasons why it took me over ten months to complete it. Another reason is the small printing, which made reading quite difficult.

However, I am sure there is something for everyone in the book. It introduced me to so many writers and books. As an Indian woman, I could relate to some of the writings. Some of the short extracts are lovely. Some are inadequate and dissatisfying.

Either way, they can make you curious enough to find the books and read them in full. Overall, I enjoyed the book and recommend it wholeheartedly.