When Spies Fall Apart

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Farah Ng @ Broken Penguins

Once upon a time, I read Tailor, Tinker, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre and hated it.

It’s his most famous novel but I just didn’t dig it. Too barren, too cold, too confusing. So I let his other novel The Secret Pilgrim gather dust on my shelf.

I’m glad I returned to le Carre because I loved The Secret Pilgrim. The Cold War has ended and a spy named Ned narrates what becomes of the British spy service. The Secret Pilgrim is actually a series of short stories about the agents that have fallen over the years — either turned traitor, had their cover blown or just plain gone missing.

Confession: I finally read this because I became hopelessly addicted to watching Homeland. This article sums up what it’s like to be a fan of this show. It’s a tad obsessive but it makes you want to read and watch anything and everything about spies. But I assure you, The Secret Pilgrim is not just about spies.

Loyalty is a fickle sport and you get to witness the mental anguish behind betrayal. We’re reminded that when it comes to war (and love, for that matter), there is no real clear divide between the good guys and the bad ones. And when you’re constantly caught between the two, it’s entirely possible to find yourself fighting on the losing side.

Le Carre also makes a political statement at the end of the book. I don’t want to give too much away but it’s a statement that’s very relevant today despite being written in 1990. Different war, same problems.

What’s the best spy novel you’ve read? And how anxious are you getting for the next season of Homeland?

Photo credits: ffffound.com, flickr.com, flickr.com & streetbonersandtvcarnage.com

Timing is everything and usually nothing in A Tale for a Time Being

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Farah Ng @ Broken Penguins

Summing up Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for a Time Being is going to be hard but here goes…

Maybe it was the gorgeous weather outside but I spent a lot of time reading this one. I wanted to savour every word because Ozeki’s writing isn’t just beautiful, it’s quirky and it throws you through loops when you least expect it.

A Tale for a Time Being starts off with Ruth, a British Columbian islander, finding a washed up diary and wristwatch on the beach. She speculates that it could have been debris washed away by the tsunami. Ruth wasn’t always from the islands — at least not these ones. She was once a writer from New York but she’d long been suffering from writer’s block.

The novel alternates between Ruth and the diary which was written by a young girl in Japan named Nao. The girl writes about being tormented for being an outsider and about her Buddhist nun grandmother. I found myself trying to read ahead during Ruth’s chapters to know what Nao does next.

Ruth’s world is all cats, forests and freethinking island residents while Nao’s world is skyscrapers, suicide and really scary schoolgirls. Ruth’s chapters seem typical of Canadian literature until things get really strange towards the end. That trippy time traveling stuff had me scratching my head.

It’s hard for me to compare A Tale for a Time Being to another book because I’ve never read anything quite like it. I especially admire Ozeki’s ability to capture Nao’s frustration and her sense of curiosity as a teenager.

A Tale for a Time Being truly is a trip between time and space but reminds us that we spend so much time chasing Now, we forget that it’s so no so different from Then.

Photo credits: silenceondecore-blog.com, freespiritspheres.com, somewhereintheworldtoday.tumblr.com

Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Farah Ng @ Broken Penguins

Thank you to Soho Press for sending me a copy of Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See in exchange for an honest review.

I picked up Too Bright To Hear Too Loud to See by Juliann Garey because it was described as a “brilliant look into mental illness” but I felt like it wasn’t so much about mental health as it was about the antics of a Hollywood exec losing control.

Greyson Todd is a studio exec that represents some of the most famous celebs in Hollywood. But between holding the hands of unstable celebrities, Todd can barely keep it together for his own family. His bipolar disorder leads him to leave his family and make some horribly risky decisions around the world. All roads lead back to the psych ward.

Todd’s money-fuelled antics are sometimes fun to read but I’m not entirely sure what the author was trying to achieve. I’m not even sure that there is a lesson to learn or an overarching theme.

I’m also not sure how accurate of an account this is of bipolar disorder. I felt like the novel glamourized the disease. The ending for Todd is sad but it seemed like he had a lot of fun getting there. But maybe that’s the nature of the illness.

Writing Advice from Chinese-Canadian Authors

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Farah Ng @ Broken Penguins

In case you missed it, I attended an amazing event held by CAPE Scholarship featuring Chinese-Canadian authors Jan Wong, Wayson Choy and Vincent Lam.

Along with some pretty sweet swag, we walked away with plenty of writing advice. Bloggers and writers, it’s time to learn from the masters.

Vincent has three kids and practices medicine full time! So he relies heavily on scheduling. He always sets apart chunks of time where he does nothing but write. This is something I need to do so I can keep Broken Penguins in tip top shape.

Wayson made a really interesting comment to justify creative non-fiction. While some would call this “lying”, Wayson says it’s okay to tell a real story with a slant so the reader understands your heart. Does that mean he approves of James Frey’s slightly fibbed memoirs A Million Little Pieces? Wayson’s latest book is called Not Yet and tells a creative non-fiction account of his asthma-heart attack. (Ow?)

Lastly, Jan offered some really eloquent advice. She says, “Don’t stare at your cold, dead laptop. Talk to a warm body to help you write”.

You hear that cold, dead laptop? You’re not helping: