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| Image Credit: Balwynbestbooks |
What an utterly extraordinary book. I feel lucky, blessed to have read a work of art that brims with imagination, fantasy, love and life. My Name Is Mina is a little masterpiece that speaks aloud to your soul if you care to listen long enough. I am not sure if this is young adult fiction or children's fiction - but you know what? This is beautiful fiction. There should be a genre for that, surely. There should be a dictionary for words like destrangification, limplessness, claminosity, and the sheer strattikipinesss of it all. Mina is a precociously gifted child - a misfit for school - and her voice is magical. The more I read what Mina wrote, the more I felt that this is what I would write about myself too. Those dark thoughts that swirl around in my head, they are not dark at all - because isn't the night beautiful in its darkness? That's what Mina says, anyway. "Perfection is boring! Perfection is empty! Perfection is nothingness!" she shouts in bold.
Look at the world. Smell it, taste it, listen to it, feel it, look at it. Look at it! And I know horrible things happen for no good reason. But this horrible world is so blooming beautiful and so blooming weird that sometimes I think it'll make me faint! JUST LOOK AT THE MINDBLOWING, LIPSMACKING WONDERFUL AMAZING BEAUTIFUL STUNNING MARVELLOUS GORGEOUS lovely loveliness OF OUR WORLD!!
And there are little pockets of instructions:
EXTRAORDINARY ACTIVITY : Stare at dust that dances in the light. Write a page of UTTER NONSENSE. This will produce some very fine NEW WORDS. It could also lead to some very SENSIBLE RESULTS.
It's about wishes.
A WISH & A PRAYER
If my soul, when I die,
is taken by the body of a beast,
I pray that the beast will be a bird,
And that my soul will be uplifted
By the body of a lark
There are chapters called Sprouts, Sarcasm and the Mysteries of Time. Chapters called Spaghetti Pomodoro & a Dream. And there are stories without words.
I don't think Mina would like me reviewing this book, pretending to know what I am talking about. I can imagine her sitting in her tree, watching the blackbirds squawk, and see how utterly wroackerous I am in trhukning bowlue houdues. So let me abandon that pretence, and just go for a walk without direction simply because words like taking a walk...and that's what these words will do now...
Verdict: One of the most extraordinary, beautiful books I have read. Walk through this experience.
Rating: 6/5
What an unusual sounding book. It's gone on my wishlist on the strength of your review alone :)
ReplyDeleteOhhh! this books sounds very very sweelicious!!! Thank god!! Finally a book that impressed you so much that you have a 6 on 5!!! Totally agree about the night and the words especially.... can't seem to find them when I need them most... and then suddenly find such big heaps of them that I don't know what to do with them...
ReplyDelete@ Sam - it's indeed an unusual book! I just loved it Sam.
ReplyDelete@Thoughts - Hehe, I am also so thrilled that I liked a book! I am tired of picking up books that don't move me at all!
Wonderful review, Soul! Your enthusiasm is infectious :) This is probably only the second or third book I have seen which you have rated 6 out of 5. I want to read this book now. The lines you have quoted are so beautiful!
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