Confessions of an Old Boy by Kam Raslan

Assalamualaikum...

I started reading this book soon after i finished Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I didn't practice that very often, i mean, about reading one book right after another. Because i'm the type of guy to savour the feelings/essence of every book i read (sometimes for days - the longest was Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Huhu, really..) and i have to tell you 'Eat Pray Love' also had almost the same effect to me.

But still, i decided to read this book right after Ms Gilbert's book anyway.

The reason? I made a 'mistake' of reading the first chapter of this book, 'A letter to a newspaper' -the most hillarious first chapter i've ever read- and i was instantly hooked. After several minutes, i already finished one fifth of the book and i knew i've to finish reading the book straight away!

Maybe i have to explain here the reason i didn't practice reading one book exactly after another, other the 'savoring' part i mentioned above.
The reasons are many but very simple. Different genre, style of writings, depth of the story telling, memorable characters, just to name a few.
Simply said, i won't read Harry Potter books soon after i read Jack Welch's book. Or even after a John Grisham's book. And neither do the other way around. It just feels... wrong. Each author has their own strength and style and obviously different genre. And i felt -personally- as if i will do them unjustice if i didn't take time to -again- savour their work.

And in this case, i definitely worried because i never heard of Kam Raslan before. And after reading such an impressive book in Eat Pray Love, i was really sure that 'Confessions of an Old Boy' won't stand a chance.

I was wrong!

The story of Dato' Hamid' life and his adventures in this book was told in such a way, you want to believe and not to believe it at the same time. At times, it felt so real, so convincing, we believe Dato' Hamid was real. He was somewhere out there, just finished sharing the story with us. At times, it felt outlandish and bizarre, hard to believe, but still want to believe it anyway!

If there's one word to describe the book, I would say: Intriguing

For me, Kam Raslan is an excellent author. I love the way he told his story (which can be very complex in an inexperienced hand, like me, heheh) in such a relax and simple manner. As a reader, sometimes i love to feel the pressure of the story plot, and sometimes i don't. This book falls onto latter category -it could be really overwhelming to younger readers, in my opinion- and Kam Raslan delivered it perfectly. His writings was sly and cunningly appealing, cynical and brilliantly hillarious. I laughed so hard sometimes, and i thought i smiled all the way to the end of the book.

Dato' Hamid's character, hands down, is one of the most exciting character i've ever read. And i think, Kam's words at the back of the book, summed it best.

"You'll never meet anyone quite like Dato' Hamid, but you'll know him."

Okay, now to the 'not-so-nice' part. And surprisingly it all came down to one particular subject only. As you can see below..

Firstly, the name of the character, Hamid. I dont have problem with the name Hamid. In fact it's a very good name. No, not just that. It is a very very very good name, it also happened to be one of Allah's name, in Asmaul Husna. Kam is right when he named the character Dato' Abdul Hamid. But as you learned when you read the book, the name Hamid wasnt really suitable to the 'bad boy' character of Dato' Hamid in the book, which will make my point no 2 below.
I believe, this minor flaw -not quite minor for some people i afraid- is accidental, but still it would be nice to be extra sensitive about things like this.

Secondly, the 'bad boy' character of Dato' Abdul Hamid. In the book, Dato' Hamid is an 'Old Boy', meaning he lived in an era of not-so-islamic way of life. Women and liquor, are part of the lifestyle, especially from an elite family like Dato' Hamid. And Kam did very well to describe all that in the book. In fact, too well, too casually told, it didn't even feel wrong to any of it! Which made it all the more wrong then, if you got what i mean..

I understand, this is an English-languaged novel -which for some mysterious reason, Malay/Muslim guy/gal didn't even know/interested to read- but for me, again, Kam needs to be sensitive to such issues. I can understand the needs to put all that in the book, but maybe it won't have to be apparent/detailed, you know..

That being said, i strongly recommend the book to everyone. It is a Malaysian book, everyone can read it and will enjoy it immersely. Except for that particular subject above, 'Confession of an Old Boy' is an excellent read, one of few local book i really love, and enjoy immersely.
And i wil eagerly await for the next book from Kam Raslan.

To all my government servant friends, this book is for you.
To all my non-government servant friends, this book is also for you, hehe.

Why I made such 'toast', you have to figure out by reading the book...

If there needs to give star, i'll give 7 out of 10.

P/S Thanks to Mullah for lending me this book. Maybe i should get one for myself, huh.






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Book Review: Eat, Pray, Love

Assalamualaikum...

For about 5 months, this book was sitting in my book rack. Occasionally, i moved it around. On the table, on my bed, in my bag, on the floor and even in my car... before once again, in my book rack. Each time, i told myself, i have to start reading the book, i have to finish it!

But for some reason unknown to me, i found it very hard to read (i mean, to start reading) the book - which was so not me! Maybe, because of its unique title (what kind of book with that title!), or maybe because the genre is unclear to me (at the time), i wasn't really sure.

The only sure thing at the time was constant reminders from Mullah (whom i have to thank here for lending this book to me), urging me to read the book.
"You have to read the book, abang Zahar!" said Mullah to me repeatedly. Sometimes he added, "The author made appearance in Oprah!"

So, three weeks ago, i opened the book (for the umpteenth time) and started to read it. And a week later, i finished it. Since then, i knew i have to do reviews for this book. i just have to!

In general, i would say Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert is an excellent, informative, refreshing, hilarious book, and i must add, very thorough and meticulously done.

It is a true story, a travelogue, told by the author herself. Following her painful and long due divorce involving large sum of settlement, the author, Ms Gilbert, spent a year traveling... and thus, came this story. It is built on the notion of a woman trying to heal herself from a severe emotional and spiritual crisis.

The journey took place in 3 countries, which represents each of the verbs.

Eat - Italy,
Pray - India,
Love - Indonesia.

To quote her in the book, Ms Gilbert writes "I wanted to explore the art of pleasure in Italy, The art of devotion in India, and in Indonesia, the art of balancing the two."

In her sly and witty style of writings, she shared about her story in each country and the effects the journey had on her.
We learned about the Italians and their love for foods, about an ashram in India, where people from all over the world came to meditate, and lastly in Bali, where the beauty of natures healed the wound to start anew.

Each story, told smartly and meticulously, we felt like we are on board with her, together making the journey, and from her eyes, seeing the world in a different perspective.
The task made easy as she used "I" in her narration, coerced us to feel what she feels, and to experience what she experienced.

I particularly loved the first (eat) and third (love) part of the book. Partly because she shared a lot of new things about Italy and Bali that i never knew before. Oh, and i want to give you example here:

In one chapter, she was in Italy, and that night she went out with her friend, an Italian guy named Luca Spaghetti (delicious name isn't it?) and a bunch of Luca's friend. The destination? To a stadium, where a football match between Lazio and Parma were held. Luca and his friends are Lazio fans (Luca said they can't help being Lazio fans. They were born into families where loyalty was already established; meaning they will follow their ancestors into becoming a Lazio fan! They can changed their wives and even nationalities, but they will still become Lazio fan until they died!).
So, that night, Lazio lost to Roma. Thinking that those guys are just like the Americans or Englishmen to go and sit in the bar and maybe gotten into some fight to channel their frustration, she was shocked when Luca said they were going somewhere else.
Guess where?
To a bakery! Huh!
That night, they were talking about the game, while eating cream puffs!!!

Now, about the second part (pray), i didn't really like the part because somehow it made me pity her. She was in India for about 4 months, in an ashram, meditating her way to finding 'God' but with little success.
While she elaborated lengthly about yoga and meditation (which i have no problem with..) the part where she thought she found 'God' was a ridiculous notion to me. I didn't know how to explain it here, you have to read it yourself.
But, one thing i can assure you, it made me feel really grateful that i'm a Muslim. i already have my God, Allah; with Whom i can reached in my prayer, with Whom i can asked for forgiveness every time i have sinned, with Whom i can depend and asked for help when difficulties befallen me...
Just one word... Alhamdulillah...!

So, except for the second part, i really enjoy the book, especially when it ends beautifully (Oh, i always up for anything with a happy ending!).
In my heart, i knew, in more than one way, Eat, pray, love taught me about living the life that i want! Perhaps more importantly, i realized that i also want to do the same thing.
That is to go travel around the world some day, learning about a whole lot of new things out there, and share all about it in my writings...




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What is our legacy?

Assalamualaikum...

What is our legacy?

The above question came to me more than a month ago.
At the time, i was in Borders Bookstore, The Curve, immersing myself in a couple of new-released books, fully enjoyed my quality time alone there...
I have this habit of taking 2-3 books at once and bring them with me to the sofa, even though i'm pretty sure i will read only one.
So, at the time i happened to take this one book titled "Three Cups of Tea" with me. What makes me took the book at the first place is because of its striking cover: Three young girls at the age of about 9 years old, sit together while each reading a book. All three girls are wearing tudung, and they have the air of innocence on them that makes us wanting to hug and protect them at the same time.

The writer of this book is the one who i want to talk about; Greg Mortenson.

In 1993 Mortenson was descending from his failed attempt to reach the peak of K2. Exhausted and disoriented, he wandered away from his group into the most desolate reaches of northern Pakistan. Alone, without food, water, or shelter he eventually stumbled into an impoverished Muslims Pakistani village where he was nursed back to health.

While recovering he observed the village’s 84 children sitting outdoors, scratching their lessons in the dirt with sticks. The village was so poor that it could not afford the $1-a-day salary to hire a teacher. When he left the village, he promised that he would return to build them a school.

And return there, he did!

Fast-forwarded years later, and after several life threatening events such as threats from fellow Americans for helping Muslim children, a fatwa from an angry Islamic cleric for educating girls, and 2003 Afghan firefight between opium warlords, he succeeded in his mission - to build the Muslim children a school!

And he didn't stop there. Today, Mortenson had set up over 60 schools and as a result over 25000 children had been educated.

And once again i want to emphasize here that those children are Muslim, and that Mortenson guy is not!

I don't have to ask this, but still i couldn't help myself not to: How in earth this one non-Muslim guy, can sacrificed everything in his life and endangered himself, just to help those Muslim kids? Where are we? Where are the other Muslim?!

This Mortenson guy leave a strong legacy behind him. A legacy i doubt i can top in this life, but nonetheless give me a challenge and inspiration to do something good and worthy for the world.

Let's together make our presence felt, even in the smallest sense. Don't be like what 'pepatah melayu' said, "Datang tak menambah, pergi tak mengurang"

Allah creates each one of us unique in our own way. Let's explore it and use it to do some good in this world! Let's face Allah in the Judgement Day knowing we had use our ability and gift to help others and help the world to be a better place...!

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Book Review: The Alchemist

Assalamualaikum...


Today, i finished a book titled The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

First published in Brazil in 1988 by a Brazilian author, Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist is the most famous work by the prolific author. In 1993, it was published in English, and since then, has sold 65 million copies and has been translated into 55 other languages, making it one of the best selling book in history.

For so long, i've been thinking of doing book reviews for every book i've read, old and new. But, for some unknown reason, the idea never materialized as i kept postponing it... until today... after i finished reading this book.

'Follow our dreams.. make peace with our heart'

The theme of this book is exactly what i believe and try to practice in my life. As i follow the young hero of this book; a shepherd named Santiago, travel across Mediterranean from Spain to Egypt, looking for his destiny, i feel like he represents me and everyone who read this book in trying to achieve our own dreams in this life.
True, the path won't always easy. More often than not, we're forced to rethink of our dreams and end up.. abandon it. Especially, when it is well outside our comfort world. But one thing that we can learn from Santiago, is how we choose to perceive and face the challenge.

One of my favourite scene, sorry.. part, in the book is when Santiago just realized that he was being cheated by a thief he wrongfully thought wanted to help him. All the money he had, vanished in a blink of eyes, left him with nothing else except the clothes that he wore at the time.

At the time, he heard azan (i just feel it was nice to put it in here..), and when the market where he was at, started to empty of all the people who went to prayer, he did one thing he never did for a long time.

He wept! Really wept!! And after that, he fell asleep. When we woke up, he still feel miserable. And he started to think he was making a mistake by coming to Egypt (hmm, seems familiar? how could i not like this story?!)
But then, something crossed his mind. He can choose to become a victim in this foreign country, or he can choose to lighten up and do something to revive the hope of reaching his destiny. Of course he chose the latter and soon he was laughing his heart out. Why not? He can learn so many new things in Egypt. For example, Arabic...
At the moment, he kept thinking about one thing. A word from a wise-man he met before he made the journey.
"When you really want something to happen, the whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true!" This, i could say is the philosophy and the core of Coelho's writing all through The Alchemist.

One of the sweetest part is when he met his true love, Fatima, in the oasis at the middle of the desert. Oh, i love that part. Even more so when he declared to the girl, "I love you because the whole world conspired for me to come close to you..."

All in all, i strongly suggest all of you to read this book. In fact, so many well-known verses that very close to us from Al-Quran was quoted here and there in this book, make it a-feel-good-reading to everybody.
Oh, and one more thing, if in any case you can't find this book in the fiction/novel section, that's normal. Because big bookstores (MPH, Borders) put this book under self-help section...
I wonder why huh...?