Tuesday, 2 February 2016
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm.
To play along just do the following:
The Truth About Peacock Blue by Rosanne Hawke.
I didn’t go easy on myself this week regarding my book choice and in the end out of two possibly controversial books I chose the political cultural one rather than the social cultural one. Because I think it’s easier to talk about? Which in itself is quite a double meaning as that is exactly the core problem the main character faces in this book in a way: the freedom of speech, but more so the freedom of religion. This book deeply moved me and made me think and made me angry and made feel powerless. All those who should read this book and feel the same way are never going to read it and those who read it and feel like I did will most likely not have any possibility to initiate any real change.
The place of our birth and our upbringing is such a random lottery and if you’re reading this, chances are that you are lucky to live in a place where you don’t have to fear that speaking your mind will land you in prison or that not being a member of the dominant religion could secure you a place on death row. Double that if you’re female.
The case presented in this book is fictional, but it is written so well that at times I forgot. And when I remembered I had no difficulty imagining that this does happen in real life. Maybe not exactly like this but also not completely different. And in those moments I am so grateful for my fate, which was handed to me through no doing of my own, just by being born in a certain place at a certain time with a certain set of chromosomes. Yes, it is not all peachy rosy happy here either, but it can be so terribly and unfairly worse due to no other cause than a combination of geographical and genetic factors.
It’s not often that I read issue books of any kind mostly because I want my reading to be firmly settled in a comfortable fictional space and I don’t want the real world to invade that. Perhaps that’s escapist and a little cowardly of me, but when I read such a title I keep them with me quite a while and maybe that makes up for it a little. Let me know your thoughts and preferences if you like along with your teasers in the comments.
To play along just do the following:
- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
The Truth About Peacock Blue by Rosanne Hawke.
 |
| The Truth About Peacock Blue – Allen and Unwin |
It had taken only that morning almost a year before to shift the way I viewed the world, to see the danger we lived with daily. I was not yet thirteen and still thought life consisted of cricket and songs.
— Chapter 2
It lifted my spirits above the crowd of angry men shouting for my death to learn of a girl fighting for girls everywhere to have an education and to be treated justly. I imagined she was also meaning me.
— Chapter 25
I didn’t go easy on myself this week regarding my book choice and in the end out of two possibly controversial books I chose the political cultural one rather than the social cultural one. Because I think it’s easier to talk about? Which in itself is quite a double meaning as that is exactly the core problem the main character faces in this book in a way: the freedom of speech, but more so the freedom of religion. This book deeply moved me and made me think and made me angry and made feel powerless. All those who should read this book and feel the same way are never going to read it and those who read it and feel like I did will most likely not have any possibility to initiate any real change.
The place of our birth and our upbringing is such a random lottery and if you’re reading this, chances are that you are lucky to live in a place where you don’t have to fear that speaking your mind will land you in prison or that not being a member of the dominant religion could secure you a place on death row. Double that if you’re female.
The case presented in this book is fictional, but it is written so well that at times I forgot. And when I remembered I had no difficulty imagining that this does happen in real life. Maybe not exactly like this but also not completely different. And in those moments I am so grateful for my fate, which was handed to me through no doing of my own, just by being born in a certain place at a certain time with a certain set of chromosomes. Yes, it is not all peachy rosy happy here either, but it can be so terribly and unfairly worse due to no other cause than a combination of geographical and genetic factors.
It’s not often that I read issue books of any kind mostly because I want my reading to be firmly settled in a comfortable fictional space and I don’t want the real world to invade that. Perhaps that’s escapist and a little cowardly of me, but when I read such a title I keep them with me quite a while and maybe that makes up for it a little. Let me know your thoughts and preferences if you like along with your teasers in the comments.
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10 comments:
Sounds like a very good book that gives insight into a foreign culture. I've read a few of these type and had the same feelings you express here. Like your teasers and your opinion on the book.
Oh wow, this sound like a really good book! I understand wanting to keep your reading firmly fictional but sometimes it's really useful to use fiction to place yourself in someone else's shoes. And 'The Truth About Peacock Blue' sounds like one of those reads. I might have to go hunt down a copy ;) Thanks for sharing :) I hope you have a great week!
My Tuesday Post
Juli @ Universe in Words
This sounds like a really powerful book, to have so moved and angered you... I completely understand where you are coming from - I, too, prefer to cocoon myself in my fictional NeverNeverland. But as Juli says, sometimes we need to poke our noses out and see what is really happening out there... Well done for doing that! This is my TT - seriously fictional, but addressing similar ideas, for all that...
https://sjhigbee.wordpress.com/2016/02/02/teaser-tuesday-2nd-february/
Sounds like a powerful read. I'll add it to my list.
My teaser (w/ a giveaway) is at Beth Fish Reads.
Sounds like an intense read. I usually prefer fiction also but occasionally a nonfiction changes things up nicely. I hope you can stop by:
http://collettaskitchensink.blogspot.com/2016/02/teaser-tuesday-icecutters-daughter-2216.html
Colletta
Sounds like a powerful story. My YA teaser this week comes from Reign of Shadows by Sophie Jordan. Look for my review on Thursday. Happy reading!
This story sounds like it is worth reading.
Sounds like a fascinating book.
My Tuesday post features GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE.
I've read a couple of books in the past year that were about freedom for girls and women in the middle east, and I just learned yesterday that two Canadian colleges that have established branches in Saudi Arabia that are complying with that government's policy of being for males only. The message isn't getting through. This sounds like a great read. Here's my link for intro and teaser: http://wp.me/p4DMf0-19D
Thanks for sharing this. I am not ready to read this book but I believe I will one day
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