Bali RaiReseñas

It's stomach churning to say the least. Bali Rai charts the disparity between the Sikh faith and its environmental, atrophied Punjabi culturalism where gender equity is concerned. 'Killing Honour' is more than just a young reader's novel charting the brutally inhumane aspect of South Asian culture.

How Rai conveys his hard-hitting points is through the medium of fiction. In my opinion, he's a master at harnessing the power of narrative to subtly punch patriarchy in the face. We follow our protagonist who discovers that his sister's supposed elopement is in reality a convenient visage for concealing her brutal murder. The most harrowing account in the novel is that of how another 'bride' is slaughtered by her husband in a bout of honor killing.

To say that this book is visceral is a colossal understatement. But it altered my life and my comprehension of South Asian cultural dynamics. For this, I will be forever thankful to Bali Rai for opening my eyes to what transpires behind closed doors.

Gripping book about a boy from the council flats Jonas who witnesses some criminals throw away a gun which he then retrieves and hides in his room. Jonas is involved with a couple of other boys who are being picked on by a gang of youths from another council flat and their confrontations turn violent. Jonas makes the mistake of telling his unhinged mate Kamal about the gun and things take a turn for the worse. Full of suspense and action ( albeit somewhat violent), Australian students might struggle with the British slang terms but all in all an enthralling story.

Collins Read On Easy Reader. Joey has been seeing Ria without the consent of her father and brothers. He has stolen one kiss from her and Ria is trapped by outdated cultural norms that she will go back to the "old country" and marry a man from her father's village. Suddenly Joey is being chased down by Ria's brothers and he must run through town for his life. He rings Ria and she decides that she can't live with her family anymore. They agree to meet up but when Ria goes to leave her house, she discovers she is locked in!
Gutsy book with an abrupt ending.

Publisher's blurb:
"Aman's dad is gone. Mum won't say it and she's struggling to talk about it, but it's a fact and he isn't coming back. Aman has been feeling more than lost and alone since he died. It just seems to be her and mum against the world, even against their family.
When a lovely man called Gurnam moves in next door, it looks like he might fill a little gap in her life. But Gurnam has his own sadness. One that's far bigger than Aman can understand and it's tearing his life apart..." (Booktopia)

My comments:
Aman is dealing with the death of her father when she is rescued from some bullies by an older man called Gurnam. G seems to fill the gap in her life but suddenly A realises that G has his own issues that need to be confronted.
(SPOLIER ALERT : He is gay and has just come out to his wife and family after many years of marriage, and is deeply depressed because the family won't talk to him.)

Silly, funny. Definitely a crash course in modern teenagers.

Very frightening but should be read by all teenagers (and probably adults too). A shocking example of how easy it is to infiltrate somebodies life. A fantastic ending as well.

The Angel Collector by Bali Rai.

This is a Young Adult book that I found really interesting. I thought it was well written in a style of teenage language which really interlocks in your mind to keep reading. The characters were developed to fit right in to the psychological mystery thriller it proclaimed to be. Some of the context was tense and demanding that connected the authenticity and emotional truth to approach difficult issue for teenagers. Some offensive subjects are written in a way that opens areas of discussion for the reader to figure out the motivations of the issue on their own. The author made it easy for the reader to read between the lines and not give away any spoilers until three quarters of the way through the story. For myself I was shocked when I started to sense a connection of who the villain was. Throughout the book there was a page or two with additional comments from the “The Angel Collector“.

It’s a story of Sophie, a teenager girl, missing and after eight months the police just place it on the back burner. However, Jit, the main character with a high IQ and narrator, starts his own investigation. He was Sophie’s best friend and soul mate who can’t accept the fact she might be dead. Plus, Sophie’s father, Stephen was close to Jit and also pushed Jit into looking for his daughter. They kept in contact by phone everyday relating back and forth with any latest clues either one of them would come up with. Stephen was helping by keeping a connection with the police.

Jits journey takes him from Leicester to Birmingham, London, Newcastle, and eventually Scotland. He took a few notes as he questioned people but most of it was on a list he kept in his head. He read the police report and took the information to the very beginning to where and who Sophie was last seen with when she disappeared. He left no rock unturned and came across some discrepancies and false leads but never gave up. The more Jit dug into some of the people Sophie was last with and the more weird stuff he found out, the angrier he got. The police bypassed information that they should have looked into. As Jit meets with some of the people that Sophie was around he discovers a cult in the mix and that other girls that had gone missing. That information was not in the police report. Being headstrong, Jit decides to invade the cult’s farm compound where he thinks Sophie might be hidden…What’s going to happen next…? Will Jit meet up with, “The Angel Collector”?

When Sat's sister suddenly disappears he knows there is something seriously wrong and does not believe the story her husband tells to explain her disappearance. Despite his family's objections, Sat is determined to discover the truth which puts him in serious danger.

"Killing Honour" is essentially a crime story but deals with some heavy issues including domestic violence, drug abuse, corruption, gangsters, family relationships and racial hatred. Told from Sat's point of view, the book moves from the present to events leading up to it and the reader catches glimpses of the life Jas has led since her arranged marriage to Taz who, I must say, is a horrible character.

Well worth the read.

The story is about how Manny plans to get out of an arranged marriage to a girl he has never seen at the age of 17. His parents are lower-middle class Punjabi’s who have migrated to England and are completely uninterested in educating their children, only getting them all married at the age of 17 to girls or boys from India.

Manny goes to a government school and his best friend is black while his girlfriend is white. His father believes that mixing with anyone other than Asians is a no-no. At home he is beaten by his father. He also hates his second brother with whom he has to share a room.

Manny eventually goes to India with his family. They leave him there to learn the Indian way. He is ‘rescued’ by his Uncle, the black-sheep of the family. When he returns to England he plans his escape from his family.

I can't remember why I added (Un)Arranged Marriage to my wishlist but I'm glad I did. The book is written in the style of the Adrian Mole or George Nicholson books except that Manjit (aka Manny), the protagonist, actually does something to improve his life beyond writing about how awful things are.

This short book (270 pages) covers in flashback Manny's upcoming arranged marriage, his abusive family, his conflicted feelings over being British and Punjabi and his desire for a better life. At first Manny seems no different than the typical British teen in one of these diary style books. His family is dysfunctional and he hates sharing his room but it's not until the middle of the book that the tone darkens and Manny's need to escape from his family takes on a new-found urgency.

Half of the book takes place in England and the other half takes place in India. While the English bits are glossed over a bit in their descriptions to focus more on the plot and character interactions, the India section comes alive with a wonderful attention to detail.

The content of this book is overly-simplified and appallingly biased throughout. Whilst I wouldn't object to the author putting forward their opinion, his obsession with always sharing his largely polemical views quickly gets tiresome. The content would have better served as a series of blog articles.

I think this book is good. becouse it is set in india and there are innicent citizens trying to escape away from ghosts. the book is a mixture of love, war and life and death.

The five members of a teenage 'crew' in inner-city Leicester get in over their heads when they find a bag containing 15 grand in a bag hidden in the alley running behind their houses, but good advice from their parents, and help from both the police and some rather shady members of the underworld help them get out in one piece. An exciting story, with an engaging group of characters.

loved this

Acquired via BookCrossing 02 Jan 2010 - bookring

Wow. This was *heartrending* but, of course, being by Rai, utterly brilliant and unputdownable. We meet the Crew again but life is very different now, with Jas bonding with his scary cousins, Ellie being bullied and Della and Billy not really around to protect her. When the police start arresting drug dealers, the Crew and the wonderful rasta Nanny start to realise there's a whispering campaign against them. Meanwhile, Jas is hearing a whisper of his own and it's starting to ruin his life too.

This is uncompromising and quite upsetting. I certainly wouldn't look into messing around with drugs if I was an impressionable reader in the age group it's meant for. Having read the first book, I was already quite emotionally involved with the characters. There is some light relief in the friendships between the characters, but it is darker than the previous book and with some shocks. I had to read something else between finishing this and going to bed...

Rani & Sukh är en modern Romeo och Julia historia skriven för ungdomar. Historien utspelar sig i 60-talets Indien och i ett nutida England. Rani och Sukh lever i England och båda har familjer som utvandrat från Punjab i Indien. Rani är hårt hållen och pojkvänner är inte att tänka på. Hennes familj bevakar henne och hon blir tvungen att ljuga för att kunna träffa sin stora kärlek Sukh. Vad de två ungdomarna inte vet är att det mellan deras familjer finns en gammal fejd med ursprung i en tragisk kärlekshistoria mellan två ungdomar från deras respektive familjer.

I read this an adult looking for books to share with my pupils and this is great. Covers racism, stereotypes, football, teenage love, friends and dreams - perfect! Simple language, not too much on a page and highly relevant for today's children to read.

This collection of short stories all feature the same group of teenagers in Britain. A knowledge of “Ali G” speak is required to decipher the Brit/Paki/ Rasta slang …e.g. “Bwoi” = boy, and I have issues with this book because I don’t think Yas will get the “you reap what you sow” message. First story where boy gets put in hospital very powerful, as he is the one who sees the “domino effect”. Story about the missing child is ok too except the cop smokes pot at the end! Mixed messages – stealing, swearing, drugs, sex, racism, drinking – it’s all here for your reading pleasure…NOT!p.74-81 Henry disappears at the carnival..(note language)

Harj ssuddenly discovers that 2 girls like him – Neeta & Kelly. He can’t chose between the two, so he dates them both until a disastrous party where BOTH girls turn up and he has to spend all night keeping them separated and stopping Neeta’s creepy older brother from hitting on Kelly!p.26 “And..”p.27 “..simple.”Also p.22 “Suddenly..said “skip to Änd then..timer”

The book tells the story of a young Punjabi boy, living in Britain, who is strongly opposed to the marriage that his father has arranged for him. It looks at conflict across cultures and generations as well as addressing the universal theme of teenagers rebelling against his parents.

more @ http://toogood2read.blogspot.com/2006/04/unarranged-marriage-by-bali-rai.html

While Baljit shovels chips in his dad's chippy, he dreams of football stardom. Then the chance of a life-time comes along - a trial for the Premier League. But Baljit is sure his parents will disapprove and so the lies begin. Will Baljit's parents cost him his dream - or will his own lies trip him up?