BOOK REVIEW: I Escaped a Chinese Internment Camp by Zumrat Dawut & Anthony Del Col

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I Escaped a Chinese Internment CampI Escaped a Chinese Internment Camp by Zumrat Dawut
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Amazon.in Page

Release Date: April 11, 2023

This short but evocative graphic novella tells the story of a Uyghur woman who is sent away to a reeducation camp and who is also sterilized against her will. It shows the brutality of China’s totalitarianism at its most oppressive. It’s easy to see China as a fairly benign – if autocratic – regime until one learns about the Orwellian nightmare that exists for some minorities deep within the country.

FYI – This book won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for “Illustrated Reporting and Commentary.”

I’d highly recommend reading this work as it shines a light deep down the rabbit hole of Chinese governance.


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A Place of Death [Rubāʿī]

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I walk past row on row of granite stones.
The grass is usually freshly mown,
but lately vegetation doesn't seem to grow,
and so, I kneel where seeds have been sown.

What the Grass Loves [Haiku]

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a cold, rainy day,
but the green grass thrives --
well-watered / air fresh

DAILY PHOTO: Sunset on Silvery Waters

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Helsinki Limerick

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There was a cafe owner from Helsinki
whose coffee shop was often called "dinky."
"You must pack them in --
the fat and the thin --
to save on heating, not to be kinky."

BOOK REVIEW: Punishment of a Hunter by Yulia Yakovleva

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Punishment of a Hunter: A Leningrad Confidential (The Leningrad Confidential Series Book 1)Punishment of a Hunter: A Leningrad Confidential by Yulia Yakovleva
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Amazon.in Page

This is “Seven” meets “1984” — i.e. an American-style work of crime fiction where an obsessive and deceptively savvy detective attempts to solve a string of bizarre murders but set under a totalitarian regime in which the powers that be are more concerned about quashing liberties that might bloom into insurrection than solving the odd murder. Yakovleva isn’t the first to do such a fish out of water crime novel, but she does a fine job of it. The mash-up does spin things around a bit vis-a-vis the genre’s usual conventions and mechanisms. In the typical American version, the police detective teeters on roguishness, but in the Soviet Union, “going rogue” has an entirely different meaning and set of consequences. I enjoyed the psychology that plays out in this story.

This book does demand attentive reading. There are quick and dirty transitions that can make the book read in a disjoint fashion, and – if you blink – you may miss something crucial to the story. That said, it’s not a murder mystery precisely, and so it’s not like one is engaged in a clue hunt. The story has a fascinating premise and I enjoyed reading it tremendously.


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San Ignacio Limerick

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An Italian chef living in San Ignacio
invented a cereal he called Nazi-O's.
Be careful which way
you spell sobriquets
so you don't make ignoble, San Ignacio.

DAILY PHOTO: Colorful Streets of Budapest

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Fig in the Wall [Lyric Poem]

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It doesn't need wide open spaces.
It doesn't need direct sunlight.
No bark-wide chasm through the tombstone --
Gardner, leave that tree alone.

Hey, Gardner, leave that tree alone!
All in all, it's just another fig in the wall.
All in all, we're just a bunch of figs in the wall.

Tallinn Limerick

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There was a young lady from Tallinn
who'd go to the beach, but not swim.
"Baltic beaches may be brisk,
but swimming adds the risk
that you'll leave behind one or two limbs."