Melody's Reading Corner: March 2014

Melody

ISBN-13: 9780452297548

Publication Date: March 2012

Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)

Format: Paperback, 336 pgs

Source: Personal Library

Do you believe in love at first sight? Maybe. But do you believe in love before that? To be precise, do you believe in liking a person before you have even met him/her? It might sound silly but it happened to Lincoln O'Neill in Attachments.

Lincoln works in the IT department and his duty is to monitor the staff's emails and to issue warnings or report to his superior should he finds the staff infringe the company's rules. Their IT department had installed a new program called WebFence on to the network and it would monitor what everyone is doing on the Internet and the Intranet. Lincoln monitors WebFence and anyone's emails which consist of nasty or offensive words would be flagged, even simple words like "secret" or "classified" since they print newspapers.

During one of Lincoln's random checks, he read a correspondence between Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder. They didn't write any offensive words, but they do chat using the office emails and at this point Lincoln should issue them a warning, but he didn't. He becomes engaged in their conversations as the days go; the two women could talk about everything from relationships to pregnancy, and any other stuff. Lincoln should feel embarrassed, but he has stepped in too deep and couldn't get out. He finds himself liking Beth the more he reads her emails to Jennifer. He may not have seen her face, but he somewhat feels he has known her through the email exchanges.

The thing is, Lincoln is not good at meeting new people. He is shy, but most of all he was dumped by a girl back in college and he isn't sure if he could like a girl so much, again. But things are always unpredictable as powerless within our control, as Lincoln would find the real meaning of love, even if it means loving a person out of sequence, i.e. falling in love with Beth before meeting her in person.

Attachments is such a wonderful read that I find myself being 'attached' to the characters, just like Lincoln couldn't stop reading Beth's emails. This story is full of charm and humor, yet it is also sweet and tender at the same time as I watched the relationship between Lincoln and Beth grows and blossoms. The setting also made me reminisce the time when we encountered the Y2K issue and how this affected us (or sent us in a panicky state) who has a computer.

A refreshing and an original plot, Rainbow Rowell's debut novel has made me believe in love before first sight, even though I'm a bit skeptical in love at first sight. Needless to say, this author has made it on to my to-buy list (You must read Eleanor & Park! And Fangirl would be next on to my to-read list).

Labels: 5 stars, Book Review, Fiction, Romance 2 comments |

Three Souls by Janie Chang

Melody

ISBN-13: 9780062293190

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Publication Date: February 2014

Format: Paperback, 496 pgs

Source: Publisher

"We have three souls, or so I'd been told. But only in death could I confirm this...."

And so this begins the haunting story of a young woman named Song Leiyin, in which her death means she was denied entry to the afterlife due to the things she had had committed during the time she had lived. Wandering about as a ghost, she has to seek answers on gaining entry to the afterlife as well as to make atonements for the things she had committed.

Alongside with her are three souls - the stern and scholarly 'yang'; the impulsive, romantic 'yin'; and the wise, shining 'hun'. They are all part of her and with their guidance, Leiyin would delve back in time to witness and review her life for her understanding to all the events which had happened would release her current denial and eventually make her realise that there is no reckoning of motives good or bad; there is only a life, a death; and what was averted and what was caused.

Set between 1928 and 1936 China, Leiyin tells us her story being a young schoolgirl to a young woman in the wealthy Song family. With a backdrop of the civil war and the Communist movement, Leiyin also shares with us the turmoil the Chinese face during the tough times as well as the roles and difficulties of how women were treated in that generation.

Being a Chinese, I fully understand the traditions and the history of this story through Leiyin's journey. What makes me so thankful of the generation we are currently living is having the freedom; for women during the older times were trapped in strict rules and traditions. For example, many of their marriages are arranged through matchmakers; men are allowed to have concubines and that sons are looked upon as compared to daughters. Although I think some Chinese families do adhere to these traditions to this day (well except the concubines, I think!), I have to say times have changed and that Chinese women today are more independent and have much more freedom and for these I'm thankful in living in this modern generation.

The characterisation of Leiyin is interesting; unlike many young Chinese women who are docile and shy in those times, she is actually a feisty girl who is not afraid of voicing her thoughts and acting on them. Her infatuation with a left-wing poet and translator shows us that she takes matters in her own stride no matter how her father has strongly opposed. Alas, her strong-willed has led her towards exile and eventually death and all I could think of is how vulnerable our life is and how powerless we can be over our fate. Leiyin's story may be a fiction but it allows us to think and reflect of the things we do and that it is always better to make amendments now than to make atonements later for time may be shorter than we thought. I highly recommend Three Souls as it is a remarkable well-written story - both the characterisation and the historical plot. Janie Chang's first novel has definitely left a deep impression on me and I look forward to her future releases.