aishaayoosh's reviews
127 reviews

This novel is based on a complex family saga spanning almost a century of Vietnamese history, from the French colonial period through the communist Viet Minh's rise to power, the great hunger, the separation between North and South Vietnam, the Vietnam War, all the way to the present day.

Through drawing on her own family history, incorporating this with stories from other survivors, and by using her considerable research into the history of her country, Nguyen has given us rich and intimate insights into a world most of us have only ever seen through images on our television sets and reports in newspapers.

I have learned so much about Vietnamese history, customs and culture through this novel. It has definitely left me wanting to know more about the plight of the Vietnamese people. I recommend a timeline google search of the history alongside reading, it helps as the book switches backwards and forwards in time.

I don’t want to go into any detail about the stories which emerge because the power of this outstanding novel lies in the gradual revelations of just how many personal challenges this family has had to deal with. And despite the wrongdoing and grievances suffered, the forgiveness and patience that flowed through this family was nothing short of inspirational.

The author's writing style is very moving, it flows and really brings to focus the suffering experienced by individuals and families throughout this war.

Anyone who has read Kintu, Pachinko, Home Going and loved it, will most definitely love this one!

Another great historical fiction for this year by one of my faves. I can appreciate this book hasn't been everyone's cup of tea purely because of Elif's writing style. I can definitely say her writing has got a lot better in her more recent books. There are moments in this novel where I thought all the detail was unnecessary, none the less it picked up and made for really great storytelling.

The novel is set across two families, one Turkish and one Armenian. As with most of Shafak's narratives, many individual stories are told that eventually piece together in the most unexpected way. I cannot afford to go into details without flagging up for spoilers.

I have to say though, the book is important for having drawn attention to the massacres of the Armenian people and to the Turks' ambivalence about them, and for what it has exposed about freedom of speech. There is also a lot of female prowess flowing through this novel which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Between the Turkish edition and the English edition of this novel in 2006, Elif Shafak was put on trial for “denigrating Turkishness” under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. The charges that were brought against her were due to the words that some of the Armenian characters spoke in the novel; She could have been given up to a three-year prison sentence, but the charges were eventually dropped.

The book is based on the brutal social inequality in present-day Malaysia told from the viewpoint of Ah Hock, a Malaysian of Chinese ethnicity who has just spent three years in jail for killing a Bangladeshi migrant worker.

What I liked about this book was that it never sugarcoated what reality is for migrant workers in Malaysia. Some migrants are local Malaysians, others are recent immigrants from more destitute places like Bangladesh and Myanmar. A grim picture emerges from this novel of the Asian continent’s poor and less-poor.

The laborers who built modern Malaysia seem to be destined for obscurity, each layer of cement and heavy load they carry crushing who they really are. They have migrated in the hopes of 'making it in life', but unfortunately it is all perceived as self-delusion, and climbing the rungs of society is almost impossible.

The book has really taken aim at the rampant dislocations that class exploitation has wrought on Malaysian society. In this respect, I think the book is important for bringing awareness to this topic. However, the story for me wasn't very engaging and felt some parts weren't required in quite so much detail. (I skim read the second half of the book in 45 minutes...)

Makumbi delivers again!!


Like Makumbi’s first novel, Kintu, The First Woman offers a careful exploration of heritage and culture in Uganda today.

Whilst the earlier novel was told from a male perspective concerned with myth and descent over multiple generations, this book presents us with a narrower focus, specifically from a female perspective.

The book is really invested in interrogating the difficult relationship between tradition and change, with a particular interest in the position and agency of women. With the back drop of the novel based around the Idi Amin regime, you will find a community straining under the intrusion of Western forces – politically, economically and culturally.

Kirabo is the lead heroine in this book, however Makumbi has also created a plethora of interesting complex characters to accompany her through her coming of age journey.

What I loved most about this book was how the narrative explores the way women make other women suffer. Feminism literally splinters along class lines, urban and rural lines and along differences of tribe and race.

If you’re into the African folklore style of storytelling, I would really recommend this.

To note, the novel is rich with Luganda and some Swahili words. Have a translator to hand.

Who is this book for? Anyone sitting the PM or APM modules for ACCA, CIMA students, production managers, and CEO’s.
It’s a book that is very easy to read at all levels because it is written in the style of a thriller novel. The book contextualises the theory of constraints (TOC) into a real-world scenario.

TOC uses a Socratic method of approach by identifying the systematic problem behind an observed cause/issue. It challenges common business practices and conventional ways of thinking. The book clears the confusion around performance measurements, efficiencies, productivity and company goals.

The three most important areas of focus:
• Throughput: the rate the system generates money through sales. Money coming in.
• Inventory: all the money invested in things it intends to sell. Money in the system.
• Operational Expense: The money spent to turn inventory into throughput. The money you pay to make throughput happen.

The Goal: Increase throughput while simultaneously reducing both inventory and operating expense.

A system only moves as fast as the slowest moving person (the bottleneck). TOC is a process involving five fundamental steps to help identify and alleviate these limitations.

• Step 1: Identify the system’s constraint.
• Step 2: Decide how to exploit the system’s constraint.
• Step 3: Subordinate everything else to the decisions of Step 2.
• Step 4: Elevate the system’s constraint.
• Step 5: If a constraint is broken in Step 4, go back to Step 1.


The bottom line is that the goal of any business is to ‘make money'.

Keeping people working and making money isn’t the same thing. Just because you’re paying for someone doesn’t mean they should be busy all the time, it could cause more harm than benefit.

Three simple questions: What to change, what to change to, and how to cause the change?

The book did touch on other themes that I felt were noteworthy:
• The importance of team buy-in
• Work/life balance and taking time out for reflection
• Cultural difficulties and transformation of mindsets

I loved that this book was written by a Scientist applying his empirical way of thinking into the business world. It really hits back to when I initially trained to be one, this method of troubleshooting can actually be applied in the business world. Eliyahu has paved the way :)

A well-written and easy-to-follow novel that tells the story of three generations of Palestinian – American women.
This book is about the immigrant experience, a story about culture, secrets, love, violence, and shame. An intimate exploration of a controlled and closed culture, visible yet invisible.

Etaf has described each character with great complexity, which makes you sometimes almost sympathise with the one causing the suffering. Husbands take frustrations out on their wives, mothers on daughters and daughters-in-law, even down to grandchildren. The story has you gripped. Who will stand up? Which woman will have the strength to break out of this unending cycle of total desolation?

From a refugee camp in Ramallah to Brooklyn. A Palestinian family carries the traumas of the occupation. Powerless in the face of Israeli soldiers, the men carry these defeats home and disinter the aggression on their wives.

The wives take it out on their children and carry on this closed culture of women's oppression. Seeking help or talking about domestic violence is a shame. So this invisible cloak of shame is used to keep the women under control for fear of what the community or other family members may think.

It’s a story of pain, inner turmoil, silence, and resilience. A unique and important book about the Palestinian (Arab) – American experience. Highly recommend!

Beautifully written book with an intriguing political and social message.

However, I think it would definitely read better in Arabic.

I definitely need to read this again for it to really sink in, but I will make an attempt at summarising what this book is about. The book is built around a conversation that Eliyahu has with his daughter, Efrat. The discussion revolves around how anyone can live a meaningful life and what the obstacles to it are. So.... I’d say it’s quite a philosophical book.


Freedom of Choice: Easy life vs Meaningful life
- Every action is an experiment, results are merely outcomes
- A scientist doesn’t label them as failures, instead learns from this to do better. One must have the stamina to get up after failing.


Obstacles to thinking clearly:
- Reality is complex, when in actual fact it is inherently simple.
- Conflict is a given, but it isn’t. Is compromise the only solution or can both parties get exactly what they what by focusing on a common objective. Win-Win!
- Tendencies to blame, rather than find out how and why things happen. Blaming will not eradicate the issue even once the person at blame is removed. Additionally, adopting the thinking that people are generally good.
- Don’t ever think that you know, because every situation can be substantially improved.


One thing that was interesting was the idea of the “mystery analysis” or what people should do when confronted by a surprising result. Rather than accepting the result, they should discover why the result was so different from expectations. Was it the thinking about the situation rather than the situation itself?

Overcome the 4 obstacles above = Think Clearly = Many opportunities + Stamina to overcome failures + Collaboration = FULL LIFE!

My second re-read of this, as I was reminded how good it was by my plumber :)

Once you’ve absorbed this books central message, it makes the news look rather different.

Nice. “I don’t think that is how to describe a man you want to marry,” I told her. Nice.