The Wander Island

The Wander Island or Jazire-ye Sargardani is a fiction by Dr. Simin Daneshvar. Yes, the book is in Farsi/Persian, I know. I don’t know who reads this blog.

I finished this book very rapidly because I just liked the story very much. Granted it did not end the way I wanted it to, rather the ending was in such opposition to my ideals that it left a really bitter taste in my mouth. However, up until the last 20 pages I was very much drawn into this story. The storyline used a lot of real events with a lot of real influences and names in it, which made the story all the more believable and relatable. Granted not everyone my age, even Iranians born in Iran, knows about these names and events. Thanks to a previous paper and research I was familiar with them and things made sense.

The writing was fluid and easy to read as well. There were some old words and phrases and slangs that I did not get, but aside from that, it was quite a modern script. This book was written not so long ago, however, I as shocked by the editing. The way lines and paragraphs were edited, confused me at times.

Overall I liked this book very much. This was the first book of the infamous Daneshvar that I read, and not I am going to read more of her works. I recommend it to whoever understands Farsi

Mountains Beyond Mountains

Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder is the life story of Dr. Paul Farmer. This book was the “common book” of UW my freshman year. I picked it up, read the first chapter–as it was not very intriguing–I never picked it up again until 3 weeks ago.

Now that I have read it, I can see that it means more to me now than it would have two years ago. I have to admit life of Paul Farmer is quite…something…something so unbelievable that I would not have believed it, if it was not for the search I did on him. Still I have to say that I did not like the writing very much. I understand that this work is a non-fiction, but Farmer’s life has more events than any ordinary fiction can offer. Thus, the displacement of climaxes and the boring manner in which chapters were devised ruined a good story in my opinion! Furthermore, Kidder insists on the continual use of the Creole terms–even those that have English equivalent–which he only translates once 100 pages before the next use! (and he does not provide a glossary!) At least that is my beef with the writing!

On a personal level, I do not know if I can ever be like Farmer. There are many goals that I have that I “think” I need to achieve, and helping the poor is only one of them. I do not know if I am ready to devote my life completely, and I mean completely to that cause! Then again Farmer went through a similar phase, and also he does not, ever, advise anyone to do things the way he has (he knows how insane he is!). So we will see. First, I need to actually be a doctor, or do I?!

At the end, what do I recommend? Read it, maybe with another book on the side.