Saturday, November 15, 2008

Book Tag: Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama

Dreams from My Father

Thanks to Silent Eloquence for book tagging me. I have a good reason to wake me up from my blog slumber. The rules of the tag - Get the book closest to you. Open the book to page 123.Count to line five. Write the next three lines. Tag five people and acknowledge the person who tagged you

I would eat in silence until they were finished and then begin a long discourse on the problems of the city and the politics of the disposed. I scolded Maya for spending one evening watching TV instead of reading novels I'd bought for her. I instructed my mother on the various ways that foreign donors and international development organizations like the one she was working for bred dependence in the Third World.


I still remember the Christmas of 2007. I was at a friend's party being all merry. The conversation eventually wandered into American politics and the presidential election. The primaries were picking up steam and everyone acknowledged the inevitability of a Hillary Clinton win. I ventured to remark that if Obama were to win Iowa, he has a good shot at the presidency. There was a brief awkward silence.

I could never support Hilary Clinton. Her calculated posturing on Iraq and her about-face on bankruptcy laws made me very wary. Barack Obama on the other hand, started off with immature and ridiculous policy stances on energy and the environment, but was quick to learn and correct himself. If you read this book, you will see a man who is constantly learning, adapting and then learning some more.

Obama takes us through three distinct chapters of his life in this book. The Origins, Chicago & Kenya. I found origins the most interesting of all. He talks about his life in Hawaii, his move to Indonesia and back, about his father from Kenya, about his mother and grand parents from Kansas.

I am not sure I want to get into a detailed book review. I liked reading the book. It might not be a great book, but it is a good book and is definitely worth a read. He comes across as someone who is well read, who understands the history and brutality of colonialism and the struggles of post colonialism. Has a healthy respect for different cultures and a healthy respect for his own. I would definitely recommend this book to folks in the Indian media who are all hulla gulla about Obama not making that phone call and so Obama might not care about India and blah and blah.

So I tag all the hyper ventilating media pundits in India!

4 comments:

S said...

great to have you back blogging again! Cheers, S.

Gingerbread & Me said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Gingerbread & Me said...

Hey there,
Chanced to stumble across your blog while I was trawling the net for interesting reads...And I found your interesting blog.
Sometime back, I got this shiny silver trophy which I would like to award to you for your interesting blog.
http://3madmoggies.blogspot.com/2009/01/milestone-100-thank-yous.html
I know this must seem strange comming from a rank stranger but I do hope you will visit us to pick your Award...

Cheers
The Mad Moggies
www.3madmoggies.blogspot.com

Riot said...

Miaow,

Thank you! Glad you stopped by and hope you will return.