Hasan Osama Osama itibaren Fatikchhari Upazila, Bangladeş
Witty, blunt , and deeply observant. This book does not make expensive or indirect philosophical assumptions about religions, but rather comes straight to the point, and that point is in today's world how dangerous religions became. The book mainly concentrates on assaulting three 'great' monotheistic religions, but other 'seemingly less harmful ones' (eg. Budhism) were not 'spared' either. According to Hitchens, given their man-made origins and their violent track record in history, religions do not deserve 'respect', that they are entirely man made institutions driven by human ambition of controlling human societies by fear. Excellent book. 5 stars. (read Aug 2007)
While the Locust Slept by Peter Razor Book Review by Jay Gilbertson This memoir will take your breath away. Not because the writing is filled with color and nuance, but the sheer brutality of the story is simply devastating. As with most books, this one chose me. Now it haunts me. At first I ran from the thought of even trying to give this story a voice and yet I feel it’s powerful and very pertinent. Peter Razor was born with a grey cloud over his life that would follow him like an invisible chain-and-ball for a long time. He was from the Fond du Lac band of Minnesota Chippewas, his father served in the First World War and never worked again; he drank. When the state social services ruled that his mother suffered from confusion, they sent her to an asylum at St. Peter. Razor’s father abandoned him and he eventually became a ward of the state; he was seventeen months old. One of the main reasons that I didn’t give up on his compelling account is because there is very little written about this. We have very few accounts of this particular stage in our history and especially the local tribes in particular. Razor’s work deserves to be read, it needs to be. “I walked through weeds on the playground to see grasshoppers of all sizes leap and fly. When they settled, I watched them watching me. One, I learned, the one the boys called locust, slept seventeen years in darkness before soaring into the summer light.” A great deal of Razor’s historical information is filled in with bits and pieces of actual verbiage from case files he was able to locate after a great deal of searching. It was part of the healing process as well as a way for him to fill in many of the gaps in his first seventeen years due to a common coping skill found in survivors of abuse; traumatic memory loss. Comments from various doctors, social workers and psychologists as well as teachers provided personal glimpses into this period. Though they were often bleak, most of them held a shred of hope, a possibility that maybe he could make it. To what lofty goal, he was never told. When Razor turned fourteen he became an indentured servant but his file read that he was “ready for farm placement.” The next three years of his life were sheer survival in some of the worst situations imaginable. Through all his harsh treatment, never having had any sort of mentor or counselor or even a close friend to confide in; Razor found peace. Ultimately, what Razor’s memoir brings to light is the incredible strength of the human spirit and how no matter what some of us are thrown; we endure. And more importantly for me, this was a powerful reminder that no matter how we try to deny Native American’s their freedom—they will remind us—you cannot contain the wind… For more information please visit: www.mnhs.org/mhspress
When the kids have that puzzled look when you finish reading the story, there's something amiss.
Some good gothic fun
I finished this this morning over an Americano: perfect. Peaceful, mournful, hypnotizing, this read like a film--an especially beautiful and excellent one. Highly recommended.