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A review by zhelana
Letters from Burma by Aung San Suu Kyi
challenging
informative
slow-paced
1.0
When I first mentioned I was reading this book, back in November, I think, I had two friends say "ew are you sure?" and "it's so sad what happened with her." Eventually I looked it up, and from there it was impossible to read this book without knowing what happened to her. If you're unaware, she eventually became president of Myanmar and then committed genocide against the Muslim population of that country.
This book is essentially 52 letters, written one a week, about whatever was on her mind as she was held prisoner in her own home. It is strong when it writes about holidays, Burmese culture, and meditation. However, most of the book is her talking about the need for democracy and how cruel the ruling party is to her party, arresting them without trials and keeping them locked in their own houses for years. And honestly, every time I came across one of these chapters where she talks about the need for democracy and how much better her party is than the socialist party, I wish I could reach through the screen of my kindle, slap her, and yell "you hypocrite!" She doesn't describe anything happening to her party under the socialists that is as bad as what she did when she came to power singing the praises of democracy.
Most of the book just made me angry and sad and I think there are probably better ways to learn about Burmese culture and holidays like wiki crawling or looking at anthropology papers. Honestly, I feel a little dirty for having read this book, which I only continued reading after I knew the truth because I said I'm going to read one book from every country and there is not a lot of literature coming out of Myanmar as far as I can tell. I probably could have done better if I had put a little more effort into looking for books but when I chose the book I saw only that she had won the nobel peace prize so I made certain assumptions, and those assumptions turned out to be very wrong.
Do as I say and not as I do, I know, but maybe give this one a pass and read Nelson Mandela's autobiography if you want a nobel lauriate who went on to become president of his nation and did things in a manner befitting that prize.
This book is essentially 52 letters, written one a week, about whatever was on her mind as she was held prisoner in her own home. It is strong when it writes about holidays, Burmese culture, and meditation. However, most of the book is her talking about the need for democracy and how cruel the ruling party is to her party, arresting them without trials and keeping them locked in their own houses for years. And honestly, every time I came across one of these chapters where she talks about the need for democracy and how much better her party is than the socialist party, I wish I could reach through the screen of my kindle, slap her, and yell "you hypocrite!" She doesn't describe anything happening to her party under the socialists that is as bad as what she did when she came to power singing the praises of democracy.
Most of the book just made me angry and sad and I think there are probably better ways to learn about Burmese culture and holidays like wiki crawling or looking at anthropology papers. Honestly, I feel a little dirty for having read this book, which I only continued reading after I knew the truth because I said I'm going to read one book from every country and there is not a lot of literature coming out of Myanmar as far as I can tell. I probably could have done better if I had put a little more effort into looking for books but when I chose the book I saw only that she had won the nobel peace prize so I made certain assumptions, and those assumptions turned out to be very wrong.
Do as I say and not as I do, I know, but maybe give this one a pass and read Nelson Mandela's autobiography if you want a nobel lauriate who went on to become president of his nation and did things in a manner befitting that prize.