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timeywriter 's review for:
Miss Burma
by Charmaine Craig
I will admit, I think my focus was not 100% when reading this novel. For it was incredibly interesting, and yet I found myself drifting away from it toward the end. Despite this, it was an eye opening novel in to the revolution in Burma.
Benny and Khin barely know each other when they get married and they learn to love one another through the terbulant years that ravage Burma under the British Empire, World War II, Japanese Occupation, and internal revolution. While Benny was raised and educated in India, Khin is a part of a regional minority in Burma called the Karen. This both draws them appart and brings them together as their nation is ravaged. All the while they welcome children into the world, ones that are given a wonderful home as Benny becomes an industrial tycoon and then ones sent to hide in the woods as their father is taken prisoner. While Benny is in prison though, Khin does her best to raise their family and have everyone survive. An aspect of this survival, to ensure that their family is on the right side, is to have their eldest daughter, Louisa, enter a beauty contest. Becoming the first Ms Burma, Louisa is then pulled into her own dance of political upheaval as she courts a military leader and the fate of her parents rests on a pagent. The concept for this novel was real, as stated by the author who drew the idea from her own family. For that, this story did have a very real aspect to it. The realistic descriptions and the horrors of war that were detailed was astounding. I think the thing that lacked for me was a sense of closeness to any of the characters. I wanted more emotion from them, or even reason for their actions beyond simply survival in a time of war. But again, that might have been because of my attention that was constantly drawn away while reading this story.
Either way, this was a beautifully written novel that is obviously close to the heart of the author and portrays a time that I have not read beore.
Benny and Khin barely know each other when they get married and they learn to love one another through the terbulant years that ravage Burma under the British Empire, World War II, Japanese Occupation, and internal revolution. While Benny was raised and educated in India, Khin is a part of a regional minority in Burma called the Karen. This both draws them appart and brings them together as their nation is ravaged. All the while they welcome children into the world, ones that are given a wonderful home as Benny becomes an industrial tycoon and then ones sent to hide in the woods as their father is taken prisoner. While Benny is in prison though, Khin does her best to raise their family and have everyone survive. An aspect of this survival, to ensure that their family is on the right side, is to have their eldest daughter, Louisa, enter a beauty contest. Becoming the first Ms Burma, Louisa is then pulled into her own dance of political upheaval as she courts a military leader and the fate of her parents rests on a pagent. The concept for this novel was real, as stated by the author who drew the idea from her own family. For that, this story did have a very real aspect to it. The realistic descriptions and the horrors of war that were detailed was astounding. I think the thing that lacked for me was a sense of closeness to any of the characters. I wanted more emotion from them, or even reason for their actions beyond simply survival in a time of war. But again, that might have been because of my attention that was constantly drawn away while reading this story.
Either way, this was a beautifully written novel that is obviously close to the heart of the author and portrays a time that I have not read beore.