British Author Challenge May 2021: Na'ima B. Robert & V. S. Naipaul

Na'ima B. Robert was born in 1977 in Leeds, the daughter of a Scottish father and Zulu mother. Robert moved with her family to Ethiopia when she was two, and to Zimbabwe a few years later. She converted to Islam in 1998 and soon after chose to wear the niqāb, a face veil, full-time. She writes primarily picture books and young adult novels; her memoir From My Sisters' Lips was published in 2005.

Selected works

The Swirling Hijaab
Going to Mecca
Ramadan Moon
From Somalia, with Love
Boy vs. Girl
Far From Home
She Wore Red Trainers: A Muslim Love Story

As Thando McLaren:
Letters Around the World
Treasure Hunt: Travel Back in Time

V. S. Naipaul was born in Trinidad and Tobago, the descendant of Indian emigrants who came to the Caribbean as indentured servants. He attended University College, Oxford, graduating in 1953. His first novel, The Mystic Masseur, was published in 1957 and was awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. Naipaul's work continued to garner him many awards and honors, including a Booker for In a Free State, a knighthood, and a Nobel Prize in Literature. He died in 2018.

Selected works

A House for Mr. Biswas
A Bend in the River
Half a Life
In a Free State
The Enigma of Arrival
An Area of Darkness
India: A Million Mutinies Now

Journey Through Islamic Arts by Na'ima bint Robert is a great, soothing, and inspiring introduction for people of all ages!

Forewarned - Naipaul's The Enigma of Arrival features animal cruelty.

>3 m.belljackson: I have that one coming in from the library soon-ish. In the mean time I've already picked up The Swirling Hijaab and Naipaul's The Mystic Masseur.

I will make another stab at A House for Mr. Biswas and hope I can finish it this time.

I've picked up three library books by Na'ima B. Robert:
Ramadan Moon
Going to Mecca
Mabrook!

I have a copy of In a Free State, which I hope to get to this month. And that is in spite of my-daughter-the-PhD-in-English's opinion that nobody wants to read Naipaul. I believe he is one of those extremely complicated authors whose personal life and outspoken views are sometimes hard to admire, but whose work is undeniably powerful and important. A very fit subject for a reading challenge. My library has only one of Robert's books.

>5 cbl_tn: I've requested Ramadan Moon, but I'll have a few week wait for it since there's only one copy and I'm number two on the holds list.

>6 laytonwoman3rd: If we only read books by authors who are 100% decent human beings we would only be left with...uh, did Mister Rogers write any books? We may not like Naipaul as a person and we may end up not liking his books, but at least our opinions of his writing will be informed because we actually read his works.

>8 amanda4242: Well said, Amanda. I certainly didn't mean to imply that my daughter thought he shouldn't be read because of his lack of personal appeal. She'll come over here and do me a wallop!

>8 amanda4242: >9 laytonwoman3rd:

Well, I've read Naipaul, Hemingway, and Capote and can report that my life was not enriched.

I'm going to read Catch Me, a collection of her poetry. I loved From my Sisters' Lips.

Not a Naipaul fan.

>9 laytonwoman3rd: Oh, I didn't think that's what your daughter meant. And if the one book I've read is anything to go by, I can understand nobody *wanting* to read Naipaul!

>10 m.belljackson: I must confess I do like Hemingway. Some of his novels are grossly overrated (looking at you, For Whom the Bell Tolls), but the man could write a short story like nobody else. Steinbeck, on the other hand...

>11 Caroline_McElwee: Sadly my library only has her picture books, so I won't be able to try her work in other genres.

>13 amanda4242:
Well, here's a Steinbeck quote you may like:

"Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts
since the medium is the human mind and spirit."

In THE ART OF FACT, I just read Lillian Ross on Hemingway
and dislike him even more. Sure hope his son Patrick turned out okay.

Joyce Carol Oates is another popular one whose writings (knowing nothing about her life)
I stay away from, except for THE FALLS.

Which Naipaul did you read?

>15 m.belljackson: Pity Steinbeck's talent for writing bumper stickers didn't translate to writing novels. ;)

There's no doubt that Hemingway often treated others, especially the women in his life, like shit; however, I have often wondered how much of his behavior was a result of poorly managed mental health troubles.

I read Naipaul's The Mimic Men and was so unimpressed by it I barely remember anything about it. The comment I made on my thread after finishing it is, "Would have made a great satire if it didn't take itself so seriously."

The Swirling Hijaab by Na'ima bint Robert, illustrated by Nilesh Mistry

A picture book about a girl playing with her mother's hijaab. She imagines it as a warrior's cape, the sail of a boat, the blanket at a tea party, and a number of other things; at the end she says its best job is an expression of her mother's faith.

There's not much to say about a book that's only twenty-four pages long, but the little girl's imaginative adventures are fun and Mistry's illustrations are beautiful, with an excellent sense of movement to them.

The Swirling Hijaab is published in dual-language editions in twenty different languages, so I would definitely recommend it if your in the market for multicultural educational picture books.

The Mystic Masseur by V. S. Naipaul

This has all the beats of a really good social satire, but I kept getting the feeling Naipaul was simply mocking his characters rather than critiquing anything.

>18 amanda4242: Yep, same.

>19 quondame: Glad I'm not the only one.

Here's an article on Naipaul @PaulCranswick shared with me.

https://jezebel.com/v-s-naipaul-is-worse-than-mike-cherico-and-john-fitzge-37746...

The June thread is up!

https://www.librarything.com/topic/332514

Three more by Na'ima B. Robert.

Journey through Islamic Art, illustrated by Diana Mayo

A little girl dreams of Islamic art in different countries and eras.

This is case in which I think the story exists as something from which to hang the illustrations. Mayo's art is undeniably beautiful, but I think an art book with color photographs covering the same subject might be a better investment: children will be able to marvel over the actual art and, as they grow older, read about the works presented.

Going to Mecca, illustrated by Valentina Cavallini

The story of a UK Muslim family's Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. It covers every step of their journey: from their departure, through all of the rituals in which they partake at Mecca, and finally their exhausted, but spiritually uplifted, return.

I wanted to like this one more than I did, but I just don't think it was very clearly presented. People with little or no knowledge of Islam will need to consult the scant glossary in the back before reading the story to understand what's going on. And Cavallini's illustrations give very little indication of the massive number of people who are there, so a Muslim child shown this book in preparation for their own pilgrimage will be ill-prepared for the crush of humanity they'll encounter.

In short, Going to Mecca could be okay as the very first introduction to the subject of the Hajj, but should probably be supplemented with other books for actually learning about it.

Oh, and I was not a fan of the cloth cutout illustrations--made me think of Gumby. *shivers*

Ramadan Moon, illustrated by Shirin Adl

Follows a Muslim family's observance of Ramadan. It focuses on the how of the observation rather than the why, but it's very well done and would be an excellent picture book to add to a child's library.

I'm coming back here months later to report that I finally finished my Naipaul read for May--The Enigma of Arrival. I didn't actually start it in May--but I probably started in October and it feels like I've been reading it since May. It was a dense and slow read, but I found it different in tone from other Naipaul work I've read--introspective and observing, and without the seemingly mean-spirited satire that seems to run through much of his work. It also read much more like a memoir than like a novel, though it's labeled as fiction.