Book Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling

Ok, so it took me longer than usual to finish this book. Sue me, I've been busy :P

Anyway, this is a rather hard book to review. Over the years its has gathered up so much hype and expectations it was bound to disappoint in one way or another. Also I'll be trying to keep any spoilers out of my following review, so rest easy all you internet crazies. You can drop those pitchforks.

So does it disappoint?

Yes.

And no its not all about the hopeful, doe eyed expectations.

Ok I'll try to be more specific, which is pretty hard without violating the holy non-spoiler act. Book 7 is a very dark book, especially when contrasted with the cheery and charming first three books. But people who've read book 4 (or seen the movie) know the dark turn the books had taken. Death, torture and other darker themes became more and more prevalent. And the final chapter is the darkest by far. Its not really a children's book anymore, and has crossed the boundary over to so called "Young Adult" fiction.

Which is pretty good. Until you start looking closer, and all the warts come out. That's when the book betrays its children's books roots. The clumsy world building, black and white characterization (with only a few notable exceptions), the rather immature and cheesy handling of death and other more adult situations, and the prevalent use of handy deus ex machina solutions without so much as foreshadowing.

The book starts out nicely paced at the begining. You can almost feel Rowling's relaxed state of mind. Then the second half starts, and things go high wire. The pace gets more rushed and clumsiness sets in. Its almost as if Rowling had a checklist of things to happen before the book ends, realized that she was almost out of space, then started rushing things through. Dramatic situations are shrugged off, and people die just because they need to die and are then glossed over in the mad sprint to the finish line.

And then comes a rather anti climatic end, and a rather silly epilogue.

Mind you, I still found Deathly Hallows to be a fun book. I mean Harry Potter was never high literature to begin with and that has never changed. For all her faults, Rowling is pretty good at spinning an enjoyable story and fun characters. I just wished that she had taken her time to flesh them out a bit more in this book instead of cramming every secondary and tertiary character in the series into one book.

If you're an established fan of the books I dare say you'll enjoy the book. It's a ... competent ... end to the story. But if you've never cared for the boy wizard from the start, this book won't change your mind.

Soak up the Sun

Me and the family spent the last weekend in a Jeddah resort enjoying the 3 S's; Sun, Surf, and being Steamed alive by the summer humidity! And to give it all a nice conclusion we rented a fishing boat and went for a little cruise around the Ubhur creek. I took the opportunity to flex my (unfortunately) atrophied photography muscles and put my expensive digital SLR camera to some real use. The boat's captain kindly gave us an exciting experience by going at high speed. An Exhilarating experience, but bumpy which made my attempts at immortalizing the moment in digital form a bit hard. So I did that thing with the multiple captures that I always see the pros do (*snap* yes beautiful *snap* *snap* gorgeous *snap* keep that pose *snap* *snap* flick those waves babe *snap* *snap* aaaaand I'm spent...). While I was browsing my catch I came upon this little pic above which I don't remember actually framing. Possibly the best pic I took all day, and I didn't even know about it. Makes you appreciate all those small little moments that makes life so beautiful, and gives you a bitter-sweet punch in the gut to know that except for a few chance photographs or mementos those moments live solely in your memory.

Cherish those moments. Cherish the memories and hope they live there forever. After all, you might not always get lucky and have a camera nearby.

Harry Potter and the Finally Finished Franchise

It's finally here!!

I was at Jarir yesterday, and sure enough the seventh (and final) installment in J. K. Rowling's super mega hit series was on offer. Seeing that the worldwide release was the day before, Jarir had outdone themselves. I had learned long ago to trust them to make the latest Harry Potter available as quickly as possible. Something I learned the hard way, much to my discomfort. They have also promised me a 20 riyal gift certificate (part of the promo) as soon as they become available. Well, they have my phone number.

I've been reading these books ever since the release of the fourth book "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and the huge crowds it generated made the news. Book 4 was a huge book, especially in children literature standards, and I thought "any book that kids want to read despite the intimidating size must be good". So I bought all four, and I was instantly hooked. I flew through the first two (admitedly much smaller) books on the first day. I was a fan. A Pothead!

As soon as book five was announced I pre-ordered it on Amazon.com, and I had it in my greedt little hands a couple of weeks after its actual release. I glowed with pride that I had the book before everybody else, even though Jarir supplied the books not long after. Sure the difference was a week or so, but that's what separates the fans from muggles.

Then book six was announced. Confident in the power of my web browser/credit card combo I pre-ordered. This time Jarir gave me the ole' rabbit punch. Book six was available only a few days after the worldwide release. I had to wait for a whole week while my copy crawled through the trails of snail mail to get to me, all the while I had to fight the growing temptation to just buy the damned book and be over with.

This time I knew better.

Excuse me. I have a huge book to read.

Saudi's Racial Divide

I was reading some of the comments on my previous entry on racial stereotyping when I realized that though I may have taken the lighter side of the issue I've never actually spoken of the ugly side. The side we see every day. The side that spouts this kind of ugliness (Crossroads Arabia).

For the benefit of any foreign visitors (Hellooooo? Anybody out there?) let me paint you the racial landscape around here. You can take a piece of chalk and draw a very clear line between the two major racial groupings here in Saudi Arabia. On one side we have Saudi Arabia's original inhabitants; the various Saudi tribes, collectively known by the un-PC term "Bedouins" due to their nomadic past. On the other side you have the "Hadar" (city dwellers), mostly descendants (though not entirely) of non indigenous people from all over the Islamic world.

The two sides loathe each other.

Most of this is just plain old human-pack-mentality invoked response (yes, I do believe that racism is a natural impulse), but its more than that. Like many things, economics play a vital role.

Before we discovered we had this expensive smelly black liquid running under our sands the playing field was mostly even here in Saudi Arabia. The professions market was more or less neatly divided between the two groups. The Bedouins, being either nomads or dwellers of agricultural areas, were mostly herders or farmers. The Hadar, being city born, were mostly merchants and craftsmen. Then came the oil drills and everything changed. Suddenly there was all this money floating around. Trade boomed. And as in all economic surges it was the merchants who benefited most. The Hadar became richer, and as a consequence their children got better education and later held all the important positions. The Bedouins took several generations to catch up.

Money is the root of all problems, they say.

Although most of the old merchant families are still Hadar, the economic divide is long gone. Yet old prejudices are hard to kill. If you believe the stereotypes then Saudis are either uncouth covetous barbarians or immoral thieving money bags. I don't know about you, but barbarians are definitely not exclusive to one side or the other and I seem to have misplaced my hoard of stolen gold. We (Saudis) either pretend that these tensions don't exist, or we play the finger pointing game and try to lay the blame at others' door steps. When in reality we should be pointing the accusing finger at ourselves. Both sides are equally to blame for prolonging the long standing hatred. Both sides have contributed equally into making this hatred ingrained in our sub-conscious.

As a child I was warned against playing with those naughty Bedouin children. A dear friend of mine has been taught by his elders that those sinful Hadar have stolen his legacy.

Do you have any idea what kind of an effect this sort of talk has on a growing child?

Yet I still see this invisible indoctrination happening all the time.

I would love to see the culture of tolerance (both racial and religious) being taught in schools. I would love to see a Bedouin marrying a Hadar without any eyebrows being raised. I would love for all the surnames, stereotypes, racial slurs, and blind prejudice be part of a history book that future generations would laugh at.

But first, let's start with ourselves.




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Book Review: "Use of Weapons" by Iain M. Banks

In general, there's a tendency in the world of literature to look down on science fiction books and other "speculative fiction" literature. True, most scifi/fantasy is escapism and offer very little in the way of beautiful prose or other literary devices, especially during its infancy in the 50's/6o's when they were little more than "cowboys in space" or at best an interesting concept burdened with workman-like writing. But its been a long time since the days of Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein. The genre has matured. And few books showcase this fact better than Iain M. Banks' "Culture" novels. Banks, already an established writer of "normal fiction" turns his literary skills to science fiction, creating an interesting world inhabited by the Culture; an extremely advanced race of genetically modified humans and sentient machines living in symbiosis and playing caretaker for the rest of the universe. I've yet to read all the books, but so far "Use of Weapons" is my favorite by a long margin.

Zakalwe is a highly regarded and skilled mercenary soldier who is constantly being recruited by Culture agent Diziet for jobs considered too dirty for the Culture to undertake by themselves. Riches beyond his imagination is constantly being promised, yet Zakalwe always asks for one reward, seemingly trivial. A reward that intrigues Diziet to no end. A dark secret lies in Zakalwe's past and Diziet is determined to find out what it is.

The thing I most like about this book is that it stands well by itself even without the trappings of science fiction. Remove all the space ships, robots and other paraphernalia and you would still have a very good and extremely well written book. The most interesting aspect is Banks' use of two narrative streams. One, traditionally enough, follows our protagonist's adventures forward in time. The other stream flows backwards, gradually delving deeper into Zakalwe's past. The two streams alternating chapters. If you've ever seen the movie Memento (if you haven't, you really really should) then this device might feel very familiar. Yes it can feel confusing at first, especially when you're not expecting it, but it flows logically afterwards. Both lines culminating, interestingly enough, into the same climax (in two different time lines).

For people who enjoy interesting to read books I can't recommend Use of Weapons enough, even if they don't usually read science fiction.





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Ganging up on Saudi Vice

A few months ago there were troubling rumors making the rounds about turning the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (AKA Saudi Vice) into a full fledged ministry. As if these hard line extremists should have even more power than they already have. The prospect looked bleak to me. I saw what little hope I had of seeing this institution abolished withering in front of my eyes.

Then one day a brave brave lady dared challenge the mighty Saudi Vice. And suddenly the dam broke. That's the thing about Saudi society. Change takes a long time to come, but when it does come (usually triggered by a tragedy) it cascades through society at an amazing pace. It happened years ago when tragedy broke out in a Makkah school for girls and a lack of safety precautions meant that a simple fire cost the lives of many innocent girls. The tragedy and the rage brought down the Presidency for Girls Education, and prompted the long sought after merging with the (then boys only) Ministry of Education into one monolithic entity. For months after, the newspapers and the media hounded dilapidated schools all over the kingdom.

Now its happening to Saudi Vice.

When a conformist sad excuse for a newspaper like Okaz prints something like this article (translated and published in English by Arab News) you just know that change is in the air. Even the Shoura Council has taken up kicking the down on their luck Saudi Vice.

You could almost feel sorry for them.

Not.

The Saudi people have finally spoken up. We no longer want a Big Brother-like institution to tell us what is moral and what is not. Change now, or be brought down smashing into the ground.



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Warning to Car Drivers in Jeddah

Calling all cars. Calling all cars. Well ... Cars in Jeddah anyway...

If at all possible avoid the intersection of Prince Majid (Sab'een) street and Rawdah street, formerly known as Meedan al Tayara.

Aside from the stifling traffic due to the reconstruction work and the hordes of water tankers waiting in line to get filled up from the water station, there's also the Mother of All Potholes.

Now Jeddites are no strangers to potholes, dodging holes in the ground is the norm here, but boy oh boy is this one a woozy. I had just escaped the traffic around the congested square, and happy with my release I accelerated towards the intersection of Majid and Tahliya when I fell into the worst pothole I have ever had the misfortune of experiencing. My whole car jumped. Then I heard that dreaded sound. The rumbling sound of a ruined tire.

F@&*!!!!!

A quick stop and a look confirmed it. Luckily enough there was a tire repair shop nearby, so with the tire making that awful bumpy noise I drove in. The prognosis? Worse than I thought. The pothole not only managed to give me a flat, it also ruined my expensive aluminum wheel.

F@&*!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I wasn't alone! I counted three other cars at the tire shop with ruined tires and/or wheels during the time I was there. Hmmm. That tire shop must be making an awful lot of money from all these repairs. Hmmmm.

If you find yourself in the stretch between Meedan al Tayara and Tahliya Street, watch out for Potholezilla.


Thanks for nothing city of Jeddah!



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