Two books in book reviews
- June 6, 2014, 11:22 a.m.
- |
- Public
1 - I'd like to apologize to every teacher I ever had; author: Tony Danza
Yes, THAT Tony Danza. After his talk show was cancelled, he was approached to do a "reality show" about the life of a first year teacher. It was so unreal: he had ONE class - a double period English class. ALL his students could both read AND write. This was a Microcosm of a teacher's life! As I kept reading, I got more into the book, how he taught and how he dealt with the students' issues. The book would probably irritate a teacher, but it's good for the non-teachers to get a peek into how difficult a teacher's life can be. Granted he didn't have the money issues, or need to attend college at the same time as he was teaching. AND he had a supervisor/mentor in the classroom at ALL times with suggestions after each lesson. He also wrote about how all consuming teaching is. Even when socializing, the main topic is school/teaching /the kids. He discusses union, charter schools, good administration, many topics near and dear to the heart of a teacher. Once the reader gets over the ONE class a day (?), the book is good.
2 - American Dervish; author: Ayad Aktar
I wanted to read this book since I'd first heard about it. It's a coming of age story about a young Pakistani-American boy. The family is Muslim, the father MUCH more secular than the mother (he both drinks and has a mistress). When a friend of the mother's comes to live with them (escaping a brutal marriage in Pakistan) and brings her young son, life changes. She teaches the narrator about the religion and gives him his first Quran (in English). She helps him learn it and understand it.
Throughout the book there are various characters with various levels of belief. None are all good or all bad (well maybe the Iman is pretty miserable). It gets tricky when Mina (the mother's friend) falls in love with a co-worker of the father... and he's Jewish.
There's a LOT of brutality against women in the book... sanctioned by the Quran. It's a view into a religion I know very little about.
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