Hunger and Mighty

I finished two really great reads last week. The first was The Hunger Games Trilogy (if you've been living under a rock, you must have at least heard about the movie and the awesome Jennifer Lawrence).

For a change, I watched the movie before I started reading the book, and thankfully the director/ producers never reallt strayed from the author's plot. So, unlike my experience with Harry Potter, the characters etched in my mind do look like the cast of the movie. I think they did a pretty good job with the casting too, with the bright-eyed, earnest face of Josh Hutcherson playing the pure-hearted Peeta and the darker, heavy-lidded Liam Hensworth playing the proudly anti-establishment, almost vengeful Gale.

You probably will have no idea what I'm talking about if you haven't read the book. While most reviews would have you know that the plot revolves around a bunch of kids fighting it out to the death for the entertainment of the masses (like a really sicko reality series), the underlying tale is that of the heroine (unwittingly and sometimes reluctantly) inspiring the people, united or not, to start fighting to overthrow opression by a dictatorship. The masses look to their "mockingjay", their talisman, so to speak, for inspiration and as a symbol of the uprising. I found that the most poignant parts involved Peeta, from the beginning where "accidentally" burns bread so he can give some to the starving Katniss, to his determination even before the first Hunger Games that "I want to die as myself....I don't want them to change me in there", right up to the end when he struggles, painfully, to overcome the "tracking", meaning poisoning of his mind by his torturers.

Mighty Be Our Powers - This is one of the very best books on the (very trendy) subject of the enpowernment of women I have read since Half the Sky. Actually, it is one of the best books I have ever read, full stop.  Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Prize winner, mother, activitst, once insulted by her father and abused by her partner, led a group of women to say, enough is enough, they had enough of war, enough of their children suffering, enough of ordinary men's helplessness.

This book is also a memoir, beginning with how a promising young teenage girl's world is torn apart by civil war. As the tale progresses she is bold and unflinching in both describing the horrors of war (young boys soldiers threatening rape and slaughter, women sharing their sorrows, slaughter of citizens taking refuge in a church). Amazingly, she is equally forthcoming about her mistakes (hooking up with an abusive man - her father, who at her high school graduation pary predicted big things for her, called her a "baby machine", shaming her into taking control, alcoholism). She also writes about the fellow women in her support system - particularly her sister Geneva, who became "the wife" who stayed home and looked after her children while "the husband" Leymah earned the living and did great things. She recognizes that she could not have done what she has done without Geneva. She also points to the people who pushed her beyond what she thought she was capable of - her first boss who challenged her to dig deeper into why her country was thrown into civil war (these things don't just happen, resentment and dissatisfaction has been simmering for years), her partner who encouraged her to pursue her university education and paid her fees, her fellow activist Thelma who pioneered the outreach to women as action parties during times of war. She brought women of varying ethnicities (sometimes at war with each other, ethnic rivalry was the heart of the Liberian civil war anyway), religions (Christians and Muslims), backgrounds (a single mother with little possession, "out of a bush", who wanted to do more; a strong-willed Muslim policewoman; a privileged, upper-class grand dame) to condemn the war, sit in peaceful protest and shame the warlords into a peace agreeement. It is amazing to read, and her descriptions of the complexities of organizing thousands of women in one place in protest, made me feel like I was running with her in a white t-shirt (the protest "uniform") under the hot Liberian sun, handing out water in one hand and holdng up a placard in another.

I have been reading a fair bit of of nonfictions lately (kinda my new thing). Some I have talked about. I have read memoirs about slavery in Sudan and this wondrous tale of a Cambodian lady, who, enslaved in her youth, became a fighter for young girls in Cambodia. They are all heart-wrenchingly tragic and leave the readers with some insight into their respective plights. But Mighty, which dares to reveal so much more than just these tragedies, exposes also the similarities each and every woman share, whether you are a Disney heiress or a Liberian peasant - a willingness to do anything for her children, the endless multitasking, the heartbreak at the suffering of children, that nagging guilt that comes with success, because a mother should be with her children and not go on the road teaching peacemaking. With success, comes sacrifice. Leymah does not gloss over this either.

I came out of this book feeling altogether awed/inspired, useless, ashamed and grateful all at once. Awed by the grim determination of this woman to pull herself out of her personal rut (no one would blame her is she stayed, her country was at being torn apart all around her, for goodness' sake) and make something of herself. How she worked in the day to bring in the money, studied by candelight and her babies' beds towards a university degree. How silly my own "I'm too tired" excuses look now. Inspired by her courage not only to do what she did, but to NOT gloss over her own flaws, mistakes, fears and regrets. She is a human superhuman. And this, to me, is where the true poignancy of the story lies. That every one of us is flawed. It's what you choose to make of it. That one cannot go it alone. That you need to surround yourself with people who will believe in you. That one person can make a difference. That women are truly powerful, but not in the way you would normally think. One reviewer on Amazon put it really succintly when she said, "Make Life deal with YOU."'

On an end note, I am going to post this picture that has been making its rounds on Facebook lately. I am at this point in my life when I feel almost suffocated by my own helplessness and self-servitude. I know I need to change, and I have some things in mind. I still have to wait for that move to KL and take some time to settle down, so it's not gonna happen overnight. So until then, this is a reminder.