A Gentle Kind of Poverty by Mu Mu Winn: book review

A Gentle Kind of Poverty (2015) is set from 1994-1996 in England and Myanmar (Burma) in three parts: (1) Reconnection, (2) A World of Affluence, and (3) A Gentle Kind of Poverty.

Narrator Lwin Lwin is 39 years old, living in England for the past 14 years. She returns to her birthplace Yangon, Myanmar, for a holiday to see her relatives and friends. The visit has a great impact on her, and when she returns to England, she begins to reflect on the quality of life in her adopted country and the simply, but poorer, life of her family in Myanmar.

Lwin Lwin’s shyness and lack of confidence makes it difficult for her to have a male relationship, although she has friends through her work at the BBC. Forty-year-old Richard enters her life, but people advice her against a cross-cultural relationship.

A year later, 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and the leader of the National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest on-and-off from 1989 to 2010, is released in 1995, giving Lwin Lwin some hope that she could return to an improved democratic country. As her relationship with Richard deepens, it makes her decision to leave England more difficult.

The writing style is simple, making this a quick and easy read. The author touches gently on politics in Myanmar, but mainly focuses on the lives of her parents, poverty, food, cultural sites, and social issues. Lacking description, tension, and ambience, it is more of a gentle approach to love, and coming to terms with her heritage and identity.

MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Comments

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...

Apes go to the movies - and remember the scenes

Apes remember major events in movies, even after a single viewing. That’s the findings of primate research in Japan (New Scientist, September 17, 2015). Researchers at the Kyoto University in Japan conducted experiments with two species of apes – chimpanzees and bonobo primates – to test their memory and recall. Instead of using food to test memory, they used films. The researchers made two short movies to show to the apes. Fumihiro Kano and his colleague, Satoshi Hirata, starred in the films with another person dressed as an ape. They wanted to have strong dramatic scenes to see if the apes remembered them. In the first 30-second movie the character ape bursts through a door on the right hand side (there is also a door on the left hand side) and attacks the two researchers (characters) 18 seconds after the start. After 24 seconds a human character choses one of two weapons next to each other and launched a revenge attack on the ape. In the second 30-second movie t...

The acacia thorn trees of Kenya

There are nearly 800 species of acacia trees in the world, and most don’t have thorns. The famous "whistling thorn tree" and the Umbrella Thorn tree of Kenya are species of acacia that do have thorns, or spines. Giraffes and other herbivores normally eat thorny acacia foliage, but leave the whistling thorn alone. Usually spines are no deterrent to giraffes. Their long tongues are adapted to strip the leaves from the branches despite the thorns. The thorny acacia like dry and hot conditions. The thorns typically occur in pairs and are 5-8 centimetres (2-3 inches) long. Spines can be straight or curved depending on the species. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Suda...

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog