Sheets by Brenna Thummler (Review)

Sheets is a story about Marjorie Glatt, a girl managing a laundromat on her own (in addition to keeping on top of school work). The story follows her struggles with keeping her late Mum's shop open, while a sleazy businessman prowls around sabotaging her efforts and a ghost, slithering in and out of the laundromat, seeks her friendship.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT IT
The struggles of a young adult struggling to keep a parent's dream alive is a theme that was well woven into this tale. The author makes us feel and root for Majorie as we opened the pages in haste, wanting to know if she will come out on top of her life situation.

The villain of the piece, Mr Saubertuck, is devious and cunning. But he is not a caricature by any means. Saubertuck's desire to open a yoga business isn't just a mindless idea to accumulate money. He actually loves yoga.

DISLIKES
The facial expressions for the characters could be better.

WHO IS IT FOR
Anyone can enjoy Sheets, though I have a feeling it is primarily written for pre-teen and teens. I recommend Sheets for those who don't like reading heavy tomes or being bogged down by lore.

Many thanks to Lion Forge for review copy.

How Food Companies Skew The Science Of What We Eat

Unsavory Truth exposes the connections between scientists, government, pharmaceuticals and the food industry. It shows how the food industry influences research on nutrition in order to favour companies and how we all we all end up paying the price.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT IT
What Unsavory Truth does well is its disclosure of the mechanics of how the food and pharmaceutical industry lobbies the government to get controversial new products on the market. It also reveals tricks some companies use to get certain parts of a food research suppressed or lost in translation.

More importantly, the Marion Nestle reveals the false claims made about certain foods, the aim of which is to make the company more money.

WHO WILL ENJOY READING
This is a book for anyone concerned about what they put in their mouths. Those involved crafting health policies and well as health practitioners might benefit from reading it.

Many thanks to Perseus Books for review copy.

Infidel And The Inadequacy Of Fear

Infidel is about Aisha, a Muslim woman married to a non-Muslim. Alongside her mother-in-law, step-daughter, and a host of colourful neighbours, Aisha lives in a house that was a mass murder crime scene many years back.

As distrust and suspicion between the house residents grow, the ghosts of the murder victims feed off these emotions, causing nightmares and assaulting the waking hours of those most affected.

Fear is a natural playground for prejudice and discrimination. Most of us revert to our core beliefs in its most extreme form when threatened or afraid. Reason has little or no place to function when we are in this frame of mind.

Infidel exploits its genre (horror) as a premise for addressing the issue of racism in an environment where people are scared and paranoid.

 

While the story is interesting and raises interesting questions about racism, I don't believe the book's setting is ideal for discussing themes like that.

This is because paranoia brings out the worst in us and any observations of humans nature in this kind of environment tend to be a little bit skewed.

Fans of the horror genre will love Infidel's realistic art style and the flesh-like goriness of some of the characters. Dialogue is one of the strong points of this book - the quality of the dialogue lends a lot of credibility to the characters. Also, people hankering for characters of colour as the main protagonist of a graphic novel will not be disappointed.

Many thanks to Image Comics for review copy.

Intimate, Yet Broad - A Look At The Mental Load: A Feminist Comic by Emma

The Mental Load by Emma is like a box of assorted Danish biscuits – while some taste like semi-hardened butter, so sweet and soft in the way they crumble under on molars, some you just want to chuck in the bin. Still, within this work, you can feel Emma's passion, frustration, and pain (with a bit of disdain) about the themes surrounding this book. As a reader, sometimes that is all you can ask for.

The Mental Load takes a broad, yet intimate look at typical problems faced by women in the western world. It also examines the types of mindsets that cause and perpetuate these problems. From men's "lazy" attitudes to domestic chores to doctors' lack of respect for the woman body during childbirth. From the unchecked killings of minorities by police to subtle workplace discrimination women face. From media manipulations during riots to wide economic disparities in the society..., The Mental Load sets out in a humorous way (with the aid of drawings), numerous examples of compromising situations women and minorities face on a day to day basis.

The Mental Load excels in giving us details of how women are shortchanged by the present cultural hive-mind. To its credit, it also suggests little ways things we can all change things for the better without losing our minds. Also, Emma isn't scared to say when she doesn't see a pertinent solution to a particular problem. This is refreshing in a book.

The term "feminism" is a controversial term for a good reason. And books like this always have their men bashing section. The Mental Load is no different. I believe the book gets most things right about the cultural upbringing that makes most modern men what they are. However, I feel it makes the same mistakes men and women make when hurting and itching for a change, which is using few extreme examples to indicate the spread of an insidious behaviour that needs to be rooted out in other people. The instinct of this mindset is always to look out, never within. Ultimately, this always results in divisions and tragedies - it never ends up with the goals we have in mind.

However, with authors like Emma striving to bring inclusivity, understanding, and compassion, I hope we might all come to a good path where who you are and what you look like no longer defines how your life is going to turn out.

The Mental Load is a book that won’t be to everyone’s taste, but it does a decent job of not just achieving what it sets out to do with simplicity and candour. 

Many thanks to Seven Stories Press for review copy.

The Darkside Of Fear And Tradition

Zojaqan is a tale about a woman, Shannon Kind who finds herself stranded in an alien world.

As years roll by Shannon notices that presence on the strange planet has slowed down her ageing process. And thousands of years roll by she discovers that the creatures she used to hunt are growing bigger and evolving into smart intelligent beings.

Shannon adopts one of such species to watch over them, teaching them how to live. Through her the tribe she now calls Zoja comes to learn language, art, and self-defence.

The story continues by focusing on how Zoja lived over hundreds of years after Shannon's brief departures. More importantly, it expands on the terrible acts the young tribe enacts in an effort to follow Shannon's rules and guides.

Zojaqan is difficult to describe. On one hand, it almost feels like a fantasy about a lone human in an alien world. On the other, I sense a level of allegory about the world's present political and religious state. This ambiguity is one of the reasons why I love this tale. It is also probably why I still can't stop thinking about it.

All in all, Zojaqan does well to portray the desperation that takes hold of civilisations in grip of fear and tradition.

Many thanks to Diamond Books for review copy.

The Intolerability Of Anonymity

Paul Baron works at the World Book of Records. The firm is a fictional type of the real-life company that publishes the Guinness Book of World Records.

Paul Baron's work includes receiving letters from people who believe they have done something extraordinary. He also has to go out to meet these correspondents to verify whether their feats are worthy of the World Book of Records or not.

One day, Paul Baron receives a letter from a man declaring his intention to kill as many people as possible, including Paul.

The reason for the killing is simple - he has done a great deed that would benefit humanity, written to the World Book of Records about it, but the company wouldn't acknowledge what he has done.

The story follows the carnage that ensues as murdered bodies begin to pile up in the city.

In today's world of social media fame and fake news, The World Book of Records tries to examine what true achievement is. It also questions if getting our names or actions on any media medium really determines our worth or the importance of our deeds.

The Book of World Records by Tonino Benacquista and Nicolas Barral is a meditation on acceptance, fame, and our place in the world.

Many thanks to Europe Comics for review copy.

What Having A Crises Of Faith Feels Like

“Nowadays… if you are barren, you go to the Pentecostal church on Sunday, you bring baby clothes. You give money and you pray and you will get many children. That’s original Africanism."

It is never easy leaving the religion of your birth, especially if you have been immersed in it as a child through adulthood. This is what Jessica Wilbanks finds out after she realises her devotion to Christianity fading. She had stopped attending churches and began to question some of her beliefs. Alarmed and scarred, she takes an unconventional step - travelling to Nigeria, a place where she believes Christianity is purer and stronger. She does this to see if she can her faith recharged. The account of her journey to Nigeria and its aftermath make up the bulk of this book.

When I Spoke In Tongues tries (sometimes unsuccessfully) to place emphasis on the author's experience without interpreting to the reader what it all means. This means the reader is allowed to make up their minds about people, situations and doctrines.

Whether you are struggling with your faith (whatever religious persuasion you are) or still going strong in it, When I Spoke In Tongues opens a portal into how people who are having a crisis of faith are perceived inside and outside church circles. It also reveals the struggles, conflicts, and contradictions in the mind of those going through such changes.

Many thanks to Beacon Press for review copy.

Rock Critic Law Shows How Damaging Cliches Are To Writing

Any blogger or writer would admit that it is convenient using  cliches to drive home a point. Hunting for the right words or phrases is  part of the job but it takes time and energy to come up with them. Hence some of us resort to lazy writing by scooping up easily accessible  words that do not convey the exact meaning of what we have in mind. We then string them together in a sentence without thinking too much about  the reader.

Rock Critic Law by Michael Azerrad is a reference book that compiles 101 examples of the most common cliches in music reviews. It highlights the thread of rigidity and lack of imagination within the music review scene. With the help of colourful illustrations, the author pokes fun at lazy metaphors and tacky prose that has become the hallmark  of that genre.

There aren't lots of books about review writing. Though Rock Critic Law is more of a reference book, I welcome it all the same. The book shows us examples of how damaging cliches are to writing. It also reveals how taking shortcuts in writing produces ridiculous  meanings that stray away from our original thoughts, producing shoddy and uninspiring work.

Rock Critic Law by Michael Azerrad is published by Dey Street Books (HarperCollins). Many thanks to Dey Street Books for review copy.