Book Review – 50 Events You Really Need To Know – History of War, Robin Cross

A few weeks ago, while casually surfing the web, I came across a cartoon. Donald Trump, the US President, and Kim Jong-un, the North Korean Supreme Leader, were both caricatured as naked little boys having a standoff, with nuclear missiles drawn in place of their ‘manhood’.  No matter how offensive you might find it to be, the cartoon stands to prove one thing - for all the sense of self-importance that we humans hold for being the ‘most intelligent species on the planet’, there are quite a bunch of inherent vices that prove to be perfect antitheses to such beliefs.

Compassion, Love and Empathy may not all be present in every human being, but Greed, Corruption and Violence are perfectly embedded within our selves in varying degrees. Starting from the Biblical times when Cain slew Abel due to envy, to these modern days where ‘leaders of men’ hold the world hostage with their nuclear whims, we have always encouraged violence. It will not be wrong to say that we are even fascinated by it. TV, media and movies are all thrive on violence of one form or the other. And, war is the perfect theatre where we humans give a free hand to our violent personalities.

I have always liked the books of ‘50 Ideas You Really Need To Know’ series. Presenting 50 little essays on any chosen subject, peppered with snippets of info all over the pages, these books are a collector’s pleasure. So is this book on war. Robin Cross starts from the days when the war chariots first came into being and concludes with a look at war in the cyberspace, where the ‘warriors’ need not even move from their seats. In this work stretching across millennia, he has chosen 50 ideas, innovations, weapons that changed the course of war and proved decisive. Ranging from the Roman Legions to the unmanned combat aerial vehicles, from longships of Vikings to the deep-diving submarines, monstrous cannons to machine guns, this book takes a peek at everything that has ever been a masterpiece of the gore art of war.

But, there is something disappointing about the work. First of all, this book sounds more like a mere collection of facts than like the fascinating subject that history is. There is a bit of incoherence in the writing at times as well. A little dry and dull writing style in the middle makes for uninteresting reading. Also, this isn’t the ‘history’ of war, as the title states, but only a highlight of some of the weapons and tools that changed the face of war.

While the subject is something that we might all like or even love, the book isn’t. A moderate shot at the very long history of wars! Interesting topic written in insipid style!

Book Review – The Sun and Her Flowers, Rupi Kaur

There are many glorious names adorning the genre of poetry. Names that can at once excite the reader as they are uttered. Names that can tinge the air with a peculiar sensation. Kahlil Gibran, Gulzar, Pablo Neruda and Kamala Das are a few such names drawn from my own reading experience. This woman Rupi Kaur is definitely headed towards that elite list, provided she keeps writing the way she does – touching our deeply hidden emotions, fears and desires at ease through her words. Of course, it is too early to attribute such a halo around her head. But few contemporary poets write with the candidness that is her forte.

Poetry isn’t merely putting together a bunch of flowery words and hoping that the reader will get to see the hidden meaning in them. A poem gets conceived like a child. Only a poet can understand the birthing pangs as a poem takes shape deep inside one’s soul. Every poem written on paper is a sliver of a poet’s persona. A poem is a collage of all the dreams, pains, failures, desires, hopes, experiences and expectations that swirl within the vortex that is the poet’s mind. And, this poetess beautifully lays them all down straight on paper.

This much-awaited anthology continues from where the previous collection left. Just like the previous work, this book also deals mainly with themes like love, longing, grief and healing, with a feministic attitude towards them. Just like human personality, some poems convey the pain of separation, while some poems deal with the process of healing the heart. Some poems speak about the fear of being not enough, while most speak about self-love and self-worth. A refreshing aspect in this collection is her paying attention to the search for identity in a land faraway from her own. Poems written with compassion for her parents, their struggle to make their lives in a place far from their motherland, her empathy towards their pains, emotions and sacrifices make moving reading. It is refreshing too, as a break from the usual pining over the loss of a beloved.

Another fresh thing about her writing is that she isn’t negative with her words, there is no male-bashing in the name of feminism, and the pages don’t just stay soaked in tears and self-pity. As much as she feels low over the loss of love, she exudes abundant hopes and self-worth as well. Also, delicate topics like physical desires, self-pleasure, etc., which, if handled carelessly, can give the work a lewd tint, have been handled with utmost sensitivity that only the poets are blessed with. Her seemingly scribbled illustrations are blissful too.

Occasionally one can’t help feeling that the book feels very similar to the previous work and sounds more like the second volume of a collection than like a separate work. But, being so young and so intense, she can be ‘forgiven’ for not diversifying on her themes yet. I am hopeful that as she ages, she will diversify her themes and get beyond mere ‘feministic’ themes.

Full of unconventional poems – from spellings to themes – and poetic sentences, this book feels more like a gallery of emotions. This is more than a book. This is an experience for the eyes!