Book Reviews

1. RICH DAD POOR DAD

By Kiyosaki

“Rich Dad, Poor Dad” is the story of two fathers; one has a collection of degrees
and diplomas and the other is a high school drop-out. When the overqualified
father dies, he will leave next to nothing behind, and even a few unpaid bills here
and there. The school drop-out father will become one of the richest men in Hawaii
and will pass on an empire to his son. Throughout his life, the former would say
things like “I can’t afford to treat myself to this or that”, while the latter would say:
“How can I treat myself?”

The rich father in this book teaches two small boys some invaluable lessons about
money through their own experiences. The most important one is to understand
how to best use your mind and your time to create your own wealth through
business and investments.

Get out of the rat race. Learn how to seize opportunities, find solutions, take care
of your business and investments and most especially, make money work for you
and not be its slave!

NB: the expressions “poor” and “rich” are used by Kiyosaki in order to explain
what type of behavior is preferable in order to have financial freedom. It is not
about judging yourself on the current state of your finances and your richness.

Some of my favorite lines from the book

● There is a difference between being broke and being poor, being broke is
temporary but being poor is eternal.
● Great opportunities are not seen with your eyes, they are seen with your
mind.
 2. THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE
By Thomas Hardy

The Mayor of Casterbridge was written by the British author Thomas Hardy, who
is described as “the greatest tragic writer among English novelists”[i]. In fact, he is
believed to be the source of the term “cliffhanger”. In one serialized novel, Hardy
literally ended a chapter with the main character hanging off a cliff[ii]. His book
The Mayor of Casterbridge was published in 1886 and is set in a fictional part of
rural England called Wessex. Hardy didn’t need a cliffhanger for this story,
however, because it started with a man auctioning off his wife and baby daughter.

This is how the story starts, “A young man and woman, the latter carrying a child,
were approaching a village… what was really peculiar, however, in this couple’s
progress, and would have attracted the attention of any casual observer otherwise
disposed to overlook them, was the perfect silence they preserved. They walked
side by side in such a way as to suggest afar the confidential chat of people full of
reciprocity, but on closer view, it could be discerned that the man was reading or
pretending to read”

The hustle and bustle of a fair taking place in town attracted the pair. Having not
found work, and hungry, they entered the fair field. The young man, Henchard,
woke up the next day to find money thrust in his front pocket and his wife’s ring
tossed on the floor. Fragments of last night’s occurrences crowded his mind. It was
not a dream he realized, he had indeed auctioned off his wife and daughter.

Desperately he searched the town, but couldn’t find them anywhere. It all started
with a drunken fit complaining about him being married so young. He swore never
to drink again for as many years as he lived and took off to the town of
Casterbridge. Eighteen years later, the mother and daughter returned looking for
him. Turns out, he was not hard to find, seeing as the man they’re looking for is
now Mister mayor.
Funny how all of this mess is only chapter one; clearly there is more to the plot
than that. There are few main characters here, and with every chapter the story
continues but from a shifting perspective, revealing their inner thoughts and
feelings.

The major themes in this novel are past secrets, propriety, and honor. When
Henchard moved to Casterbridge, the town’s people only know that he lost his
wife. They are unaware of the exact circumstances that led to that, and now that he
has become mayor he intends to keep it that way. If the complete story was made
known, his respectability will be at risk. As the story goes on, it is revealed that
Henchard is not the only character with a dark past to conceal.

It is evident how propriety and honor were at the forefront of Henchard’s mind,
and these values don’t always push him in the right direction. His desires and
values are in a constant tug of war, yanking him this way and that. He is presented
as not entirely good and not altogether wrong, but simply flawed.
 3. NAMAL
By Nemrah Ahmed

The novel starts off with a tinge of mystery and thrill. Faris Ghazi, a young man is
accused of murdering his stepbrother and is sent to jail. The only eyewitness to the
murder, Zamar Yusuf, a just but nevertheless stern district attorney who also
happens to be Faris’s ex-teacher, declares him as the culprit. A complex and well-
planned murder makes these two become foes against each other.

Nemrah Ahmed has explained the convoluted system of Pakistani Law in the most
transparent way. While keeping murder as the focal crime, she has managed to
explain other criminal activities which take place in our daily lives and go
surprisingly unnoticed.
Hashim Kardar (Faris’s first cousin), a villain to the world but hero to his family, is
the character we can all hate but love at the same time.
Hashim is a renowned lawyer and owner of an Oil Cartel. Despite being involved
in numerous illegal activities, Hashim never fails to uphold his promises to his
family, which is his strength. This character is depicted in shades of grey where
Nimrah Ahmed leaves the final analysis to the readers to study his character in
depth.

The next prominent character is Saadi Yusuf, the perfect definition of a handsome,
young, and tender-hearted young man who is both relative to Faris and Zamar. He
outsmarts the main culprit by finding out about the murderers of Faris’s
stepbrother, Waris Ghazi.
Through Saadi, Nimrah Ahmed has beautifully explained to us various verses of
the Quran especially of “Surah Namal” hence the name of her novel. She further
explains how a person, a Muslim, is never supposed to lose hope and stick to
his/her core beliefs no matter how grueling or wearying the circumstances may
become. For it is indeed, a test from Allah.