Monday, February 20, 2012

My Review of "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini


Disclaimer: I cannot judge this book fairly because I hated a lot of what the author wrote about in the story as far as domestic abuse.
So this is the same author who wrote "The Kite Runner," which is an incredible book. He has a good writing style that is very easy to read, and his stories are incredibly easy to see in your mind's eye. The way he describes his characters and settings is vivid and amazing. The story itself had a lot of husband beating the shit out of wives and sometimes daughter. This marred much of the book for me to where I actually hated it. Like "The Kite Runner," the story itself is very upsetting, so beware!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Female Hate in The US

The US likes to think that we're progressive and equal and happy and perfect. As we all know, this is not true. Ask any minority.

Now, this post is about how we as a "progressive" society still, to this day, hold women at a lower level than men. There is still a difference in pay for men and woman (small, but still different), women are still in less positions of power than men hold, but also, women are blamed for more faults.

This is what I mean:
Why when the Chris Brown/Rihanna story JUST came out (that Chris beat the shit out of Rihanna and photos were leaked from the police reports), a very LARGE amount of people immediately started defending Christ Brown with statements like,

"But what did SHE do?"
"She probably deserved it."
and my personal favorite,
"If a woman was on me like that, I'd do the same thing!"

First off, when the story just broke, all we knew was Rihanna was badly, badly hurt and it was Chris Brown who doled out the beating. Nothing more. But I find it very interesting how many people were on Chris's side so immediately. Why is this? Why are we quick to demonize Rihanna, all 5' 8", 130 lbs of her, instead of listening to the police report that blames ADMITTED Chris Brown, all 6' 2", 180 lbs of him.

Then, when he goes and publicly admits this part in this terrible event, everyone is like, "Oh my gosh, we forgive you! How horrible this whole thing must be for you." WHAT?? No one was running to Rihanna with that reaction as ferociously as they were running to Chris Brown. I mean, I was actually listening to a morning radio show and the host was talking about the incident. He was RELATING to Chris Brown and how bad he felt for him. No mention of Rihanna. At All. This can't be right. It really can't.

Why are we blaming her? Why are we blaming her??? We do we take the man's side? I know someone whose husband cheated on her, so she divorced him, and her own FAMILY blamed her and was on his side through the whole thing. Now, you can say the family is demented, but how many people do you know who do this same type of thing: quick to place blame on the woman? It's more common than you think.

An interesting thought as well:

A blogged asked about this same incident - how would the public react if he beat Taylor Swift instead of Rihanna? Hmmm. .

By the way, for Chris & Rihanna's incident, the full police report was recently leaked, and here it is:

“Brown was driving a vehicle with Robyn F. as the front passenger on an unknown street in Los Angeles. Robyn F. picked up Brown’s cellular phone and observed a three-page text message from a woman who Brown had a previous sexual relationship with.
“A verbal argument ensued and Brown pulled the vehicle over on an unknown street, reached over Robyn F. with his right hand, opened the car door and attempted to force her out. Brown was unable to force Robyn F. out of the vehicle because she was wearing a seat belt. When he could not force her to exit, he took his right hand and shoved her head against he passenger window of the vehicle, causing an approximate one-inch raised circular contusion.
“Robyn F. turned to face Brown and he punched her in the left eye with his right hand. He then drove away in the vehicle and continued to punch her in the face with his right hand while steering the vehicle with his left hand. The assault caused Robyn F.’s mouth to fill with blood and blood to splatter all over her clothing and the interior of the vehicle.
“Brown looked at Robyn F. and stated, ‘I’m going to beat the sh– out of you when we get home! You wait and see!’
” The detective said “Robyn F.” then used her cell phone to call her personal assistant Jennifer Rosales, who did not answer.
“Robyn F. pretended to talk to her and stated, ‘I’m on my way home. Make sure the police are there when I get there.’ After Robyn F. faked the call, Brown looked at her and stated, ‘You just did the stupidest thing ever! Now I’m really going to kill you!’
“Brown resumed punching Robyn F. and she interlocked her fingers behind her head and brought her elbows forward to protect her face. She then bent over at the waist, placing her elbows and face near her lap in [an] attempt to protect her face and head from the barrage of punches being levied upon her by Brown.
“Brown continued to punch Robyn F. on her left arm and hand, causing her to suffer a contusion on her left triceps (sic) that was approximately two inches in diameter and numerous contusions on her left hand.
“Robyn F. then attempted to send a text message to her other personal assistant, Melissa Ford. Brown snatched the cellular telephone out of her hand and threw it out of the window onto an unknown street.
“Brown continued driving and Robyn F. observed his cellular telephone sitting in his lap. She picked up the cellular telephone with her left hand and before she could make a call he placed her in a head lock with his right hand and continued to drive the vehicle with his left hand.
“Brown pulled Robyn F. close to him and bit her on her left ear. She was able to feel the vehicle swerving from right to left as Brown sped away. He stopped the vehicle in front of 333 North June Street and Robyn F. turned off the car, removed the key from the ignition and sat on it.
“Brown did not know what she did with the key and began punching her in the face and arms. He then placed her in a head lock positioning the front of her throat between his bicep and forearm. Brown began applying pressure to Robyn F.’s left and right carotid arteries, causing her to be unable to breathe and she began to lose consciousness.
“She reached up with her left hand and began attempting to gouge his eyes in an attempt to free herself. Brown bit her left ring and middle fingers and then released her. While Brown continued to punch her, she turned around and placed her back against the passenger door. She brought her knees to her chest, placed her feet against Brown’s body and began pushing him away. Brown continued to punch her on the legs and feet, causing several contusions.
“Robyn F. began screaming for help and Brown exited the vehicle and walked away. A resident in the neighborhood heard Robyn F.’s plea for help and called 911, causing a police response. An investigation was conducted and Robyn F. was issued a Domestic Violence Emergency Protective Order.”

Sunday, February 12, 2012

My Review of "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini


GREAT BOOK! Two thumbs up, 5 stars, however you want to say it, this book is incredible. It is heart-breaking and intimately depressing. This is the author's first novel, and he did an amazing job. He is Afghani, so he captures the culture perfectly. He uses some Farsi words in here sparingly and most of the time, he'll tell the meaning, but sometimes he doesn't. You might need to look these words up (or ask me), because they are essential to the story.
The story follows 2 boys in their childhood growing up, from the point of view of one of them. You will feel an array of emotions with this book, and I think that if an author can make you feel this deeply, he did a great job. :-)
Also, if you haven't seen the movie, I actually recommend you see it first. I saw the movie first, then read the book, and it was so much more powerful to me.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Mexico's Danger & US Immigration Laws


Let's talk about this. The gist of the article is this: a girl was brought into the US illegally when she was 7 years old. When she turned 18, she got married and had a son. This somehow did not make her eligible to become a US citizen, so through her attempts to become a legal resident, she had to move back to Mexico to file an appeal. Her husband (a US citizen who does not speak Spanish) moved down there with her to keep his family together and support her. The very dangerous city they were basically pushed into has numerous, numerous deaths happening all the time. Her husband was shot 80 times and is now dead.

Why is the danger of modern-day Mexico not considered when looking at cases like these. US immigration laws are not the same thing for everyone, and a case-by-case basis should be the way this is all handled. First of all, her husband was a born-US-citizen. Why was this not simple for her to become a resident at least, though him? Also, why did she had to file an appeal in the most dangerous city and not in her ACTUAL home, the US? She came when she was 7 years old and had NO CHOICE in the decision. Children should be grandfathered in as residents because they did not choose to come to a country illegally. 

A US CITIZEN died due to the horrible immigration laws and through the "punishment" the US was attempting to give the woman because she had lived here illegally (through no fault of her own). Thoughts?

Thursday, February 9, 2012

My Review of "The Last Testament" by God (with David Javerbaum)


This is a very funny book. You have to have some type of working knowledge of most of the major religions to get the jokes and hilarity, but even without it, it's a silly book. Study up on Islam, Christianity and Judaism to get the full hilarious effect of it all. Someone without a sense of humor about religion and God will hate this book. I really liked it, and at times, I laughed pretty hard at the jokes. I do recommend it, but wait until paperback because I think it's only offered in hardback right now.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

My Review of "The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary" by Andrew Westoll


Don't read this book if you don't want to cry. It's not sad the whole way through, but you will cry, guaranteed. This is about the Chimpanzee sanctuary in Canada, that houses chimps who lived most (if not their whole lives) in labs being tested on and otherwise mistreated. These chimps are incredible beings. You have no idea how similar they are in behavior to human beings. This book tells you the story of the chimps, their lives in the sanctuary, and their lives before it. Incredible, touching story that gets you thinking about these chimps and how amazing they are.