It was a very insightful book. You know those types which you're intrinsically aware of the things being discussed but you don't actively think about when it actually happens irl. Amanda retold a very profound series of accounts from survivors of various cult groups and presented them in a very digestible manner. The premise of the entire book revolves around cult affiliation(group affiliation), human psychology, brainwashing, unjustified prejudice, glossolalia, genocide and language performativity theory. It also tells us how everyday people end up in cults just to find a meaningful connection as we(humans) are programmed to be seekers of the unknown and social communes are a way to satisfy our emotional and religious needs. The book was written in the light of the writer's father's experiences which gave it a personal and professional outlook. Overall it was a good read but it was long overdue due to uni.

Content Warnings

Taboo: The Hidden Culture of Red Light Area by Fouzia Saeed

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adventurous informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Dr.Fouzia Saeed's in-depth analysis of the Lahore's infamous Red Light district gives rise to a myriad of questions. But she meticulously answers Them in great Detail. From breaking cultural taboos to delving deep into the complex history of Prostitution in south Asia while comparing it with state policies of the ancient times. It is evident that this domain has evolved into something intangible and continues to fester as something that cannot be curtailed. Fouzia questions the double standards imposed by tradition and culture that people mindlessly follow and proclaims the issues regarding this "false morality". This was a field research study which probed the cultural limitations of south Asian Muslims. All in all, the main point I got from it was that the men of this region contort Islam into a crutch through which they corroborate their explicit behaviour while keeping the opposite gender forever in need of resources. It touched on the rights of transvestites and women alike as well as the Strange sub-culture of the shahi mohalla which questioned the patriarchal mindset of the people involved.

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

This autobiography entails the strife of an Indian-American Neurosurgeon 'Paul Kalanthini ' who suffered from lung cancer in his late 30s while juggling the aspects of existentialism and facing death. He held a book closeby authored by Sir Thomas Browne called 'Religio Medici' which recapitulates on Paul's story since it was a spiritual account of a physician learning about humanity and humility while keeping his hubris aside for the good of his patients. Spiritualism played a great deal in this account along with an organic perspective on living life. In the end, Dr. Kalanthini faced great adversity health-wise but never backed down since he knew that it would do no good. However he accepted his fate and tried earnestly to support his wife and child to secure their futures. He cried at his prognosis,he cried at the hospital, he cried with his spouse Lucy but never gave up. In the end, the message of this book Is to live life to the fullest regardless of dire circumstances. Modern science can only do so much, but it can never replicate or measure humanity at it's core. Apart from some rlly fun medicos lingo, the book was really philosophical to say the least. Also I keep forgetting the info when I read books so imma just state My favourite term and quote. 1) psychogenic trauma
When a patient and their family is dazed by the prognosis.
2) You can't ever reach perfection, but you can believe in an asymptote toward which you are ceaselessly striving. Human knowledge is never contained in one person. It grows from the relationships we create between each other and the world, and still it is never complete.

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Working with Sharks: A Pakistani Woman's Story of Sexual Harassment in the United Nations - From Personal Grievance to Public Law by Fouzia Saeed

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challenging emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

Dr. Fouzia Saeed has eloquently explained her unfortunate encounter with the Pakistani united nations in her book "Working with Sharks". The premise of the book entails the feudalist,myopic and phallocentric world view in Pakistani society while regarding incompetent individuals constituting the upper echelons of large scale international agencies such us the UN as 'sharks' who don't think twice about exploiting working women's images and continue to sexually harrass them to the point of deterioration. They call such women slurs and undermine their rights as equal human beings. Men like Tariq Khan(head of organizations in the UN) shamelessly exploit not only working women sexually but also stoop so low as to immerse their superiors in a fantasized yet distorted image of reality which serves as a crutch for them to discredit any complaints regarding abuse of power. Unfortunately, the corporate sector of Pakistani society has fallen prey to this malaise since the inception of the British rule where such tactics were used to gain political leverage in the face of adversity. One other fun fact about all this is that fouzia saeed's description of men like tariq Khan colluded with the description of ghulam Mustafa Khar aka the ex spouse of tehmina durrani, who explained In vivid detail about his attrocities such as love bombing and emotionally/sexually abusing her including blackmail to name a few. We can see the similarities between the 2 stories and ascertain that the phallocentric worldview discredits women's perspectives in their respective societies since individuals rely on a tactic called 'filling in the gaps' in a story to make it more tantalizing and gossip worthy no matter how distorted and false it may become. So, in the end the truth is only what people make it out to be with their faulty logic and with no experience regarding the actual cases of harassment.

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Schoolgirl by Osamu Dazai

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reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was by far the best dazai book I've read regardless of it's length. The nameless schoolgirl lost her father to unknown causes which leads the mind to wander and bind to the storyarche and try to ascertain it's premise but while reading this book. Personally, I am of the view that the social structure of the world is being explained in the eyes of a grieving adolescent girl with a more nihilistic outlook to life(kinda my thing ngl). The mundane imagery added to the simplicity of the book reimbursed by dazai's writing style(kinda different from his other works). What I found funny is that he referenced his future book "the setting sun" in it too. That was fun. It also touches on themes of parental emotional unavailability and the inability to cope with a child's growth stemming from stagnated perception. The sycophant bit about the mom with her guests was a little relatable since we're all conditioned to smile through it all without an outward show of emotion cause' that's rude obviously. There were also bits that I found relatable like how she zoned out occasionally and went through depersonalization as well as berating herself/questioning her existence. Aaand yea, guess that's it.
10/10 would read again. Maybe. Idk if I have the attention span or the drive to do that but you get my point right?

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The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai

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emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I feel very strongly about this book since I relate to Naoji(kazuko's brother). Not the drug part but rather his outlook on life and so on. As for kazuko, even though she belonged to the remnants of japanese aristocracy, instead of clinging on to it as a feeble and desperate attempt of self preservation, she works as a commoner and toils away nursing her ailing mother who ended up dying from tuberculosis (it didn't have a treatment method back then, all you could've done was to ease the pain by morphine and camphor injections). Throughout the book, snakes were regarded as harbingers of death but also renewal since with the death of her mother and brother she was finally free. Emotionally and spiritually. Sure she was forlorn about it but at the end she learned to accept the way of the circle of life. I personally loved the imagery in this book and the almost clingy nature of kazuko for Mr. Uehara(the blunt novelist). I liked how she wasn't caught up in the norm of having an obsequious front to woo others. Girl meant was she said. Preach!

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Spirits Rebellious by Kahlil Gibran

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sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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