The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise by Pico Iyer

The Half Known Life is a slim book with so much between its covers. In some respects it is a travelogue and in others a look into the theology and philosophy that men seek to understand. Iyer was born in Oxford England and has lived in San Francisco and Japan. This book recounts his travels to Iran, North Korea, Northern Ireland, Kashmir, and Sri Lanka. He seeks to discover what Paradise means to the inhabitants of those places in addition to himself.


Central to the book is Iyer's relationship to the Dalai Lama with whom he has been friends for over 40 years. As he has traveled the world with the Dalai Lama, he has become accustomed to the people who search out paradise here on Earth and beyond. In response to that, however, the answer lies more in the experiences on Earth rather than theoretical explanations of eternal life.

Traveling from place to place is illustrative of the human condition where people struggle for a meaningful existence, especially in the midst of chaos and violence. Although Iyer is not a Buddhist, he tends to look at the calmness that is central to that religion and suggests that a reliance on it will provide a quiet that leads to introspection.


He comes to the conclusion "I decided that I would no longer seek out holy places in [a] city of temples I would just let life come to me in all its happy confusion and find the holiness in that.”

Iyers conveys a sense of peace, wanderlust and even some strife as he travels to all the places. It was a book that I probably would not have picked up except that he will be speaking on 29 September 2024. I am anxious to hear him. I do wish that there had been a map within the book that detailed his journeys. 

Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures - 30 September 2024

Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures - 30 September 2024

 

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

A sweeping novel of 3 generations of an Indian family, The Covenant of Water,  is one of the best books that have been written in the last years. At 765 pages, it is definitely not a fast read, but a read that will provide the reader one of the most pleasurable hours that can be spent with a book. Verghese is a masterful storyteller and possesses the gift of understanding how to craft words into a literary masterpiece. 

The novel opens a young 12 year-old girl, who will be known as Big Ammachi marries a man over 20 years her senior. She leaves her home and travels with him to Kerala and his estate, Parambil. He had been married before and has a son, JoJo. After about 7 years she delivers a baby girl, Baby Mol, who is developmentally challenged. Her husband's family has been afflicted with The Condition, a predisposition to a fear of water that is borne out by the drowning of a member of the family in each generation. Through the birth of her son, Philipose, and then, the granddaughter, Mariamma, the Big Ammachi establishes herself as the patriarch of the family. Through her eyes, the reader feels her joys and pains and is privileged to her wisdom as she guides the family.  

Part Two of The Covenant of Water introduces Digby Kilpour from Glasgow, Scotland. He has been raised by his mother, Gwendolyn, after his father disappeared when he was very young. She suffers from depression, which causes her to take her own life. Digby decides to leave Scotland and join the Indian Medical Service, where he studies to be a gifted surgeon. His story is told parallel to that of Big Ammachi's and the reader knows that their families' lives will cross paths at some point in the novel. 

To detail the intricate story lines would take about as many pages as the book itself. No character is exempt from grief and loss, one of the major themes of the novel. It is the way each character deals with tragedy that gives insight into all aspects of the human condition. In many books, the reader feels disconnect from the people about whom the story is centered. This is not the case in Verghese's book. There is joy as new babies are born and good deeds are accomplished and tears are shed as death invades the families. But Verghese also gives glimmers of hope as the characters evolve and grow.  

Added to this theme is the glimpse into the world of India from 1907 through 1977 and how it has grown from moved from primitive to modern with the advances made in home amenities, sanitation, and medical breakthroughs. It is fascinating and compelling. Not only is the reader engrossed, but s/he is also educated and enlightened. The Covenant of Water should be on everyone's To Read List. 

On 13 November 2023 we were so lucky to hear Abraham Verghese speak on his book. Without a note and in front of the podium. What a treat!

Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

What can be said about one of the most powerful books that I have ever read except WOW! In building on the book The Warmth of Other Suns,  Wilkerson examines the disparity between the words of racism and caste in her discussion of the the state of the United States. She masterfully uses metaphors and simile as she documents the history of the United States' caste system.  

The treatise explores the caste systems of India, Nazi Germany, and the United States. She freely admits that in the United States caste and racism are interwoven and it can be difficult to separate them. But she does define them succinctly on page 70 of the book:

" Any action or institution that mocks, harms, assumes, or attaches inferiority or stereotype on the basis of the social construct of race can be considered racism. Any action or structure that seeks to limit, hold back, or put someone in a defined ranking or seeks to keep someone in their place by elevating or denigrating that person on the basis of their perceived category, can be considered casteism."

She cites numerous examples of how this system of caste has evolved in the United States and most are quite painful to read. Her comparison of the crowds in Germany waving Nazi flage in supporting Hitler's campaign against those in the lower caste (Jews, homosexuals, and gypsies) to those who gathered in the South to witness lynchings. The violence exhibited against those in the lower castes were nothing less than sadistic and dehumanizing. In our country even the lowest whites, so far down in the caste system consider themselves above the highest Blacks. The Obama presidency has led to a backlash and realization that by 2042  the majority of the citizenry of the US will be people of color. Such resentment by the whites and the desire to maintain caste contributed to the results of the 2016 election. 

Perhaps one of the most painful examples of this caste system is in Wilkerson's discussion of the Eight Pillars of Caste - Purity versus Pollution. The upper caste does not ever want to touch anything from the castes beneath. In 1951 in Youngstown, Ohio, Al Bright, a little league baseball player was forced to sit outside a swimming pool while watching his other teammates frolic and revel in their championship victory. When one of the coaches finally convinced the life guards that Al should be at least allowed a few minutes in the pool, he was put on a float and never allowed to touch the water. 

I was so privileged to hear Wilkerson speak as a part of the Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures Ten Evenings series. Her articulate examination of caste and her emotional discussion of it was inspirational. It was heightened when the son of Al Bright introduced himself to her and the audience. 

This book deserves a second and third read as we try to come to an understanding that it is humanity and an appreciation that we are all in this together as the only way to escape the hate and derision that a caste system fosters. It should be required reading for all.