Tag Archives: Immigrant

BOOK: “How to be an Alien” by George Mikes

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How to Be an Alien: A Handbook for Beginners and Advanced PupilsHow to Be an Alien: A Handbook for Beginners and Advanced Pupils by George Mikes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – Penguin

This book is hilarious… unless you’re British — in which case it probably reads like a swift kick in the crotch. Well, if you’re from continental Europe, many of the comparisons with Britian are no more favorable to Europe and are just as comically searing. But if you’re American, it’s a laugh riot. Well, except for when it delivers reminders of the absurdity of xenophobia, triggering realizations that one’s own country is in the midst of a crisis of that malady. However, the book is not primarily a rebuke of xenophobia, but rather an accounting of what immigrants to Britain find strange and unwieldy about their new country.

George Mikes, born Mikes György, was a journalist and humorist of Hungarian birth who lived most of his life in England, and it’s this experience that the author draws upon to describe of what immigrants to Britain must accustom themselves.

Among Mikes’ prolific body of writings, there are a number that take this form — humor disguised as a how-to guide. The first one that I read was How to Be God, which was his last such book. The book under review was his first and continues to be the most popular.

I’d highly recommend this book for humor readers… unless you’re British… or European… or are experiencing dread over the Pheonix-like rebirth of xenophobia in the world. If there’s any one left after that who reads in English, this is the book for you.

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“I Sing the Body Electric” [6 of 9] by Walt Whitman [w/ Audio]

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The male is not less the soul nor more, he
   too is in his place,
 He too is all qualities, he is action and 
   power,
 The flush of the known universe is in him,
 Scorn becomes him well, and appetite and 
   defiance become him well,
 The wildest largest passions, bliss that is
   utmost, sorrow that is utmost become
   him well, pride is for him,
 The full-spread pride of man is calming and
   excellent to the soul, 
 Knowledge becomes him, he likes it always,
   he brings every thing to the test of 
   himself,
 Whatever the survey, whatever the sea and
   the sail he strikes soundings at last only 
   here,
 (Where else does he strike soundings except
   here?)

The man's body is sacred and the woman's 
   body is sacred,
 No matter who it is, it is sacred -- is it the
   meanest one in the laborers' gang?
 Is it one of the dull-faced immigrants just
   landed on the wharf?
 Each belongs here or anywhere just as much
   as the well-off, just as much as you,
 Each has his or her place in the procession.

(All is a procession,
 The universe is a procession with measured
   and perfect motion.)

Do you know so much yourself that you call
   the meanest ignorant?
 Do you suppose you have a right to a good
   sight, and he or she has no right to a
   sight?
 Do you think matter has cohered together
   from its diffuse float, and the soil is on
   the surface, and water runs and 
   vegetation sprouts,
 For you only, and not for him and her?

BOOKS: “36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem” by Nam Le

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36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem by Nam Le
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Amazon.in Page

Release Date: March 5, 2024

This is a clever collection of poems, lighthearted in places but raw and incensed in others. (A pacing that I appreciate in poetry collections.) The collection draws heavily on the author’s experience being of Vietnamese ethnicity while growing up in the West. It touches upon the tragedies lived by his elders, but, more so, how his life (and perception of him) has been shaped by war and the diaspora it caused. The collection playfully engages with language and cultural concepts in a way that is interesting and – at times – scintillating.

My main gripe with this collection would be its occasional swerves into the domain of huge, rare, and super-specialized terminology. I enjoy being sent to the dictionary as much as the next person, but in a poetry collection – where evoking emotion is the name of the game – I find it takes me out of the experience.

I enjoyed reading this collection and would recommend it for poetry readers.

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BOOK REVIEW: Dark Tourist by Hasanthika Sirisena

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Dark Tourist: EssaysDark Tourist: Essays by Hasanthika Sirisena
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Amazon.in Page

This collection of, mostly autobiographical, essays rambles over a territory that includes: grief, the immigrant experience, sexuality, art and catharsis, and the profound impact of self-perception on one’s experience of life. The title most directly links to one of the more evocative essays, “Confessions of a Dark Tourist,” which is about the author’s travels back to her native country, Sri Lanka, to visit the northern region where a vicious civil war played out most intensely. [For those unfamiliar with the term, “dark tourism” is travel to areas that have recently experienced upheaval due to war, economic collapse, intranational conflict, or large-scale accidents and disasters.]

I used the term “rambles” in my opening sentence, and these essays (even within essays) can take the reader places a lawyer would object to on the grounds of relevance. That said, it’s a far better thing to be rambling and interesting than tidy and dull, and this book does a good job of keeping it interesting, using stories that are (I presume) meant to symbolically link to a point at hand. Sometimes, that symbolism hits, and sometimes it might not, but it does make for a compelling read. The author is valiantly candid about her personal struggles, particularly as they pertain to issues of self-perception owing to a lazy eye and her [bi-] sexuality.

If you’re a reader of essays and creative nonfiction, I’d recommend you give this book a look.


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