Book Description
A MEAL TO DIE FOR
With the kids packed off on their summer road trips, it's an ideal time for Jane Jeffry to pursue other interests, so the harried suburban mom enrolls in a writing course at the community college. But when an obnoxious aged classmate keels over dead after sampling a tasty treat from a pot luck student buffet, Jane realizes there's a culinary killer among the local would-be literati.
The pen may be mightier than the sword. . .but poison beats them both. And before the both. And before the demise of a very disagreeable old biddy can be written off, amateur sleuth Jane intends to find out who's responsible -- and cook the culprit's goose in his or her own creative juices.
Customer Reviews:
Nicely Done Cozy Mystery.......2007-09-12
Jane Jeffry's mother Cecily is in town on a visit and she and Jane sign up for a writing class at the local community center. Cecily has traveled all over the world and thinks the class on writing autobiographies is a good way of preserving her memories. Jane and her friend Shelley Nowack are taking the class to keep Cecily company, but Jane soon discovers she may have a talent for writing. Jane's enjoying the class, although she wishes the obnoxious Agnes Pryce hadn't signed up as well. Jane's not the only one who doesn't like Mrs. Pryce and when she demands that the entire class attend a pot luck dinner at her house, someone takes the opportunity to poison Mrs. Pryce's quiche during that dinner. Even though the police, including Jane's friend Detective Mel Van Dyne, are investigating the murder, Jane does a little snooping of her own, since someone used the quiche that Jane made to poison Mrs. Pryce. When someone starts leaving Jane a series of clues, she realizes who the murderer is and that the truth isn't always easy to handle.
"A Quiche Before Dying" is another delightful entry in Jill Churchill's Jane Jeffry cozy mystery series. In this, the third book in the series, Jane is really developing as a character, as she is leaving the memory of her late husband behind and coming into her own as a person. The little tidbits about the writing class and Jane's discovery that she may have the talent to be a writer are a fascinating glimpse into the world of writing. Two of Jane's children, Mike and Todd, are away for most of the book, but Jane's interactions with her daughter Katie add to the realism in the book. And it was nice to meet Jane's mother Cecily, who added yet another dimension to Jane's character. I also loved the way the romance between Jane and Mel is developing. Jane's writing classmates and teacher are all well written and great suspects: teacher Missy who writes romance novels; the affable Grady Wells; sisters Ruth Rogers and Naomi Smith; the offbeat Desiree Loftus; and ex-military man Bob Neufield. The mystery elements are well written and well plotted and with so many suspects readers will have fun trying to figure out who the killer is. Churchill has a tendency for Agatha Christie like scenes in her books when the murderer is revealed, which can be a bit unbelievable, but in this case it does add some poignancy to the end of this book.
"A Quiche Before Dying" is a nicely done cozy mystery.
Macho Bacon & Spicy Swiss, Please!.......2005-07-14
On the back flap of my copy of this paperback is a quote from Mysteries By Mail:
"Jane Jeffry is a cross between Miss Marple and Erma Bombeck."
That comment toots-the-bugle on target, and the 1993 copyright date sets the receding edge of the Bombeck boom, a blip in the Quiche resurrection, and the finality of my age at 57-years-and-slipping ... cuz I fondly recall all of this too clearly, and with more than a few happy chuckles and taste bud awakenings:
-- Generous segments of hot Swiss cheese oozing within egg custard set warmly into a fresh & flaky, crisp pie-crust-shell ... Oh, yeah!
-- Macho bacon chunks holding tangy barriers between melted, creamy goo, and souffle-ed to a steaming, lightly bouncy, moist egg fluff ... Uh huh.
-- Soft hints of nutmeg nearly overcome with glee by freshly sauteed, almost crunchy, slithery garlic and green onion pieces ... Ho, ho, ho.
Tim Taylor lives!
(And is dated with fond memory, in the kitchen, by the oven, within the ambiance of this review of a culinary cozy, thank you Lord!)
Ahem. Excuse the slips through drooling saliva.
Returning to the above quote from M by M...
Miss Marple is another story (beyond and before Erma). Rather than nicely seating an age-flavor as Bombeck has done so well, Christie's Marple is ageless and forever famous ...
... except to a young editor at Penguin who rejected a ms because the protagonist, at 55-years, was too old to appeal to mystery readers. Huh? Penguin, I love your Tuxedo, and that ms deserves a second chance to dance!!
Pretend I didn't slither in that last paragraph.
If you want to read something timeless and ageless, though, something which exemplifies the best of many crossover worlds bleeding into each other in a classic mystery scene taking the suburban housewife into her own where she'll never be underestimated or overwhelmed again ...
If you want to be impressed with how stark-salient-simplicity, and routine-real-life might be successfully lived and easily prioritized, on an easy fly, within the-gracious-hostess-role played with panache ...
If you want all that and more, read (and reread) the Last Chapter of A QUICHE BEFORE DYING.
I'll quote a few passages and comment upon the depth and complexity which can be easily missed do to the smooth ride of the jazzy rhythm and snappy-blues of Jill Churchill's voice.
Not to worry, though, I won't give away even a hint of any part of the plot or denouement which needs to be kept under raps for the mystery threads to remain intact, to be unraveled only as you read this book from page one to the end, which I recommend "to no end."
Chapter 21 begins:
>> "Mom!" Katie called from the living room. Mike and Todd are being repulsive again! They're such dweebs!"
>> "It's their nature," Jane called back from the dining room table. (Note that Jane doesn't leap up, zip upstairs and micro-manage, like those fictional super Mom's we know too well, in response to this whine & conflict; nor does Jane's heart surge into a cholesterol calling frenzy. She's cool. And wise to no end.)
>> "I'll help you clear this up," Thelma said, surveying the dirty dishes and general wreckage of Sunday dinner littering the table.
>> "No hurry, Thelma. More coffee, Uncle Jim? Mel? Mom? (See Jane easily side-step Thelma's push to put process before people, to clear the clutter rather than leisurely running the course on calls to hostess.)
>> Shelly came into the room. "I've got my gang off to the pool. May I invite myself to dessert?" She sat down at Kate's abandoned place and helped herself to a microscopically thin wedge of strawberry pie.
<<
Those few words expose volumes in such a free-flowing syntax, it's easy to notice only subliminally that Churchill is dramatizing Jane's wise-and-easy style of Mom-ship; her casual expression of understated, gracious hostess-ing; her deft diversion of the Mom-in-law maneuvers. Jane accomplishes all this without missing a cue (or clue), without controlling, micro-managing, or bashing budding brains; she steps and sidesteps with grace, on-the-fly.
Did you SEE that?? See Jane? See Jane run?
That last chapter deserves to be reread with a certain amount of regularity, each time I want to be reminded of what a murder mystery was meant to do. Jane not only accomplishes all the above, she regularly gives a hell-of-a-good answer to life's habitual conundrums. And, if I read between the lines with enough care, after-thought, second and third thoughts, I see the subtle wisdom there which is so cashed in nuance to have caused The Suburban Housewife, Jane Jeffry, and Jill Churchill to be underestimated with the "under" so LOW as to have been buried.
On that note I'll wind down with advice to myself:
Remember the phrase, "... coming down with." It can be seen as (only one of many) a subtly repeated clue to the Churchill/Jeffry mystique.
Remember and wonder, Linda:
"Why Jane, (of all people)?"
Why Jane?
"Who is John Galt?" (From ATLAS SHRUGGED -- Ayn Rand)
This series deserves to be reproduced in an elevated version of a new and complete hardback collection (along with the one I've bugled that Joanne Pence deserves, along with the one Joanne Fluke has been deservedly given) ... with this review as a preface!
Oh my. I'm flying high this morning.
But, trust me when I say that I mean (more than I can say) every word of praise to Jill. Though, I honestly doubt that this review is that good!
Illusions of Grandeur I sometimes have; I admit it. But I usually know depth, complexity, and subtle wisdom when I read it. And, I know what makes a good mystery, though I'd like to allow many types of these.
Speaking of which, the convoluted coming to light of the culprit, motive, criminal and moral resolution of this one is as a true mystery lover would appreciate:
The whole shebang is intriguingly unusual and nudges the reader to contemplate, maybe even connect his logic-tight-compartments (as psychologists termed in the 70's those parts of the brain which refuse to acknowledge each other, on the grounds that awareness might incriminate).
Yours In the Game, though I'm not "Fair Game,"
Linda G. Shelnutt
Well, I didn't really like quiche before this book................2003-02-18
While I still remain a fan of Jill Churchill and her Jane Jeffry series, this book was a slight disappointment compared to her first two. This mystery revolves around Jane and her classmates in a week-long seminar she takes with her mother and sidekick/neighbor, Shelley. Naturally Jane gets involved when someone bumps off Mrs. Pryce, the crotchety old lady from class. Obviously it's one of the classmates, but who?
Like the old saying, "too many cooks spoil the broth?" Well in this case I believe too many suspects spoiled the mystery! So while it didn't keep me from finishing the story (and guessing who did it before the end) it was a little too "busy." However, Churchill's writing style and flair for humor never cease, and for that reason it was worth reading.
Quiche This!.......2002-02-14
Jane Jeffrey, at the last minute, enrolls in a local writing course. Of course, the class is full of the usual eccentrics, including the town's totally obnoxious crone. Needless to say, the poisoned tongue this old biddy creates too much damage for one of the class members. She finally gets her comeuppance and winds up dead after sampling a bit of poisoned quiche at a class pot luck supper.
Everyone in the class has a motive for killing, and it is up to Jane to find out who did it.
Like Jill Churchill's other books, I figured out who the murderer was before the end of the book, but it was pleasant cozy mystery.
Recommend reading.
Another dessert book!.......2001-12-03
Jane enrolls in a writing course only to find out the local obnoxious busy-body is also taking the course! The woman was truly outrageous with her tactless comments to her fellow classmates, so it's no wonder she was poisoned during a potluck dinner! As disagreeable as the old biddy was, Jane finds herself attempting to determine "who done it". I'd have given five stars if the old biddy had been less nasty and I wasn't so appalled at her character bashing of the fellow students.
Product Description
Mass Market Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Avon; Reissue edition (February 1, 1993)
Language: English
Customer Reviews:
Useful in some ways..........2006-11-22
The RDF Manual, the second Robotech RPG book, is only 48 pages but can prove to be very useful in some cases. If you plan to organize a game set on Earth, shortly before or after the SDF-1 disappears or after the First Robotech War, this book does have the timeline and data needed to set up such a game.
Characters could play military and government leaders trying to hold the World Government together during some of the many major crises. Or they could play front line grunts, who would be armed with either Destroids or non-Robotech weapons such as tanks and jet fighters, putting their military units at a great disadvantage when dealing with Battle Pods and any other alien mecha.
The fact is that even the fastest Destroid, the Raidar X who can move at 80 miles per hour, is only fast enough to keep up with the slowest Zentraedi Mecha, the Heavy Artillery Battle Pod. If fighting one on one the Earth forces might have a chance. If fighting against greater numbers the players will have to use their skill and knowledge to win. That can be rewarding or very, very frustrating.
The only real flaw is much of the information can easily be found in the first book or invented by an imaginative game master. You can very likely get the same data off the Internet.
Robotech Role Playing Game Book Two : Rdf Manual.......2000-03-25
This book is full of information about the Robotech Defence Forces and E.B.S.I.S. Floors plans and descriptions of Prometheus & Daedalus added to the Robotech time-line, world maps, global summary & character sheets, random encounter and critical hit location tables plus the wilderness & town/city creation tables make this book one of the most important and used by the Robotech RPG Game Master.
Book Description
Turn back your biological clock. A breakthrough book for men--as much fun to read as it is persuasive--Younger Next Year draws on the very latest science of aging to show how men 50 or older can become functionally younger every year for the next five to ten years, and continue to live like fifty-year-olds until well into their eighties. To enjoy life and be stronger, healthier, and more alert. To stave off 70% of the normal decay associated with aging (weakness, sore joints, apathy), and to eliminate over 50% of all illness and potential injuries. This is the real thing, a program that will work for anyone who decides to apply himself to "Harry's Rules."
Harry is Henry S. Lodge, M.D., a specialist in internal medicine and preventive healthcare. Chris Crowley is Harry's 70-year-old patient who's stronger today (and skiing better) than when he was 40. Together, in alternating chapters that are lively, sometimes outspoken, and always utterly convincing, they spell out Harry's Rules and the science behind them. The rules are deceptively simple: Exercise Six Days a Week. Eat What You Know You Should. Connect to Other People and Commit to Feeling Passionate About Something. The science, simplified and demystified, ranges from the molecular biology of growth and decay to how our bodies and minds evolved (and why they fare so poorly in our sedentary, all-feast no-famine culture). The result is nothing less than a paradigm shift in our view of aging.
Welcome to the next third of your life--train for it, and you'll have a ball.
Customer Reviews:
Can We Live to be 150 .......2007-09-18
It is a very good book for anyone concerned about aging. We get more aware of our age at the time of retirement. Switching from a daily-work routine to a totally new idea of all-time-holidays is often not as pleasurable as we expected thirty or more years before. At that difficult time, it is very helpful to focus on the Four Pillars of Longevity as suggested by the authors of the book:
1. Six-times-a-week exercising.
2. Eating for nutrition, not for any other reason. Focusing on fruits and vegetables.
3. Avoiding boredom, developing your hobbies.
4. Connecting with many other people - creating a solid circle of friends.
The book provides some good medical background for these readers that like to understand why certain things are happening.
Another book well worth reading is Can We Live 150. It is the Body Maintenance Handbook, as the subtitle states. I like the common sense approach that is prevalent throughout the pages. Some of author's ideas, for obvious reasons, are similar to the ones presented by Crovley and Lodge, but on the whole it is a totally different book.
Younger Next Year.......2007-09-17
Great information on life changes for living a quality life beyond the age of 50.
Younger Next Year.......2007-09-16
The content is to exercise hard six days a week and little more presented in a smug and slightly condescending tone.
a guide to living like 50 until your're 80 and beyound.......2007-09-16
Anyone who is concerned about the high cost of health care and insurance should read this book. Best way to stay healthy is read this book. Both man and women need to read this book.
Great Book!!.......2007-09-07
This book is great reading! It's easy and entertaining. It offers excellent insights into our aging process and how to be healthy as we age. Each time I finish reading, I feel motivated to get out, exercise and get healthy!!
Average customer rating:
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Mas Joven Cada Ano/ Younger Next Year:: Una Guia Para Permanecer Joven Mas Alla De Los 80 / a Guide to Living Like 50 Until You're 80 and Beyond
Chris Crowley
Manufacturer: Editorial Sirio
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Younger Next Year: Live Strong, Fit, and Sexy—Until You're 80 and Beyond
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Younger Next Year for Women
ASIN: 8478083286 |
Customer Reviews:
This is it!.......2005-12-28
This book is incredible. It is engaging, fascinating, challenging - and it is changing my life. It integrates everything from the evolution of the human body to modern motivational training and the social-psychology of fitness. Wow. I am confident that I will enjoy the best of health.
Don't trust Audible's advertised price - it wasn't correct.
But it's worth it anyway.
Average customer rating:
- A Good Start, But Biased
- Lots of information in a compact form.
- Great Organic Starter!!
- The Organic Food Guide
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The Organic Food Guide: How to Shop Smarter and Eat Healthier
Steve Meyerowitz
Manufacturer: Globe Pequot
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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A Field Guide to Buying Organic
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Taste Life!: Organic Recipes
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The Organic Foods Sourcebook (Sourcebooks)
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Transition into Organic Foods
Accessories:
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Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor
ASIN: 0762730692 |
Book Description
This handy guide provides a quick introduction to organic food: what "organic" and related terms like "locally grown" and "all natural" mean, how to read food labels, and how organic foods are related to nutrition and health.
Customer Reviews:
A Good Start, But Biased.......2007-02-02
The Organic Food Guide is a good starting point for someone interested in organic food, and it's a quick read. However, I feel that it does not go very in depth on the subject. It also seems somewhat biased, proclaiming only the (sometimes undocumented) benefits of organic food. Also, the pictures left a bit to be desired, as most were of poultry/egg farms. The cost-comparison chart included showed organic foods to cost the same as, or only slightly more than, conventional products, which, as any shopper could attest, is inaccurate.
Lots of information in a compact form........2007-01-31
I really enjoyed this book. It didn't take me long to get through it and it kept me very interested in the volume of material that was shared. This is a great book for those that are trying to learn just what "Organic" is all about.
Great Organic Starter!!.......2005-10-27
Within the past 8 months I have switched my diet and lifestyle to an organic one. Since then I have been bombarded with people asking me why and what does it mean. I found this book in my research and think it is a very informative and practical guide to understanding why organic foods are so important, both for our health and for our environment! I have bought a bunch of these books and have been sharing them with friends and family. I recommend reading this book as a good starting point to truly understanding organic essentials!
The Organic Food Guide.......2005-03-08
This book outlines the differences in labels and treatment of foods in stores. For example, what is the difference between regular and organic foods, besides price? Before reading this book I never really understood the difference between products and why I should be buying organicilly grown foods. I found this to be very helpful in understanding if I am really eating healthy.
Customer Reviews:
EXACTLY WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR ON DOG BREEDS.......2007-09-20
For one thing, this book is all aboyt dog breeds.(Plus a little history) It has EVERY SINGLE DOG BREED IN THE WORLD. No exagerations. It has a few stats before each detail about the dog, such as class, height, weight, and such.
For seconds, this book is BIG. That's even underestimating. This book is HUGE, GIGANTIC, HUMONGOUS! It has over 800 pages! And I thought the DOG BIBLE was big...
Trust me. I've been studying dogs for 4 years now and haven't found a dog book so impressive with ABSOLUTLY ALL the dog breeds. So, if you want to find out if SAINT BERNARDS are good watchdogs, what dog comes from NEW GUINEA, what breed of dog isn't capable of barking or just want to find an exctinct type of dog to put in your mystery novel to make it all the more mysterious, this book HAS IT ALL.
P.S.-This book even containes the exctinct breeds!
The best dog breeds book ever!.......2007-04-06
This book is so good. I have a couple of breed books and they can't hold a candle up this book. It is the best book I have ever read. I think that if you want a good research book this is the one. It tells the origins and charecter features. This book is so good I would even recomend it to my worst enemy. You NEED to buy it.
GREAT BOOK!.......2007-01-25
You can't do without this book in your library! I currently own two copies and would not sell them for almost anything! It has great information about dog breeds and beautiful pictures, a hefty book, but if you want to realy know what some dog breeds realy look like, this is the book for you!
The Atlas of Dog Breeds of the World.......2007-01-10
This is an excellent book for the experienced dog enthusiast of for someone whe is just wanting to know more about specific canine breeds. It is a throrough and complete text. I highly recommend it to my friends because it covers a lot of information not covered in other text.
MUST HAVE FOR VETERINARIANS.......2007-01-09
SEVERAL YEARS AGO WE, AS A GROUP, BOUGHT THIS BOOK FOR OUR EMPLOYER, A VETERINARIAN. THE BOOK MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARED. THIS YEAR I BOUGHT THIS UPDATED BOOK AS A CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR THE VETERINARIAN. HE WAS VERY APPRECIATIVE AND EXCITED WHEN I GAVE HIM THIS BOOK. HE HAS TOLD ME REPEATEDLY THAT THIS BOOK HAS THE BEST PICTURES FOR ANY BREED HE LOOKS UP AND USES IT AS A REFERENCE TOOL WITH OUR CLIENTS. IT ALSO GIVES A WONDERFUL HISTORY FOR EACH BREED.
Customer Reviews:
Delightful Book for Pottery and Related Banks........1999-12-14
This 224 page book contains over 800 full color, sharp, large photos of pottery, porcelain and composition banks from 60 manufacturers. The banks are grouped by maker, ranging from Adria Art, American Bisque and Applause, to McCoy Pottery, Regal China and Royal Copley, to United Feature Syndicate, Walt Disney and Warner Brothers. Prices are updated to 1998. It is completely indexed to facilitate locating items. A useful guide for collectors of these items.
Book Description
The only book you'll need on the fundamentals of threads and weaves, plus numerous projects. Coverage includes shed and its variations, weaving a table mat or rug on a loom, making a two-harness table loom, preparing the weft, more. Extremely clear discussions of weaves for the four-harness loom. Over 160 illustrations.
Product Description
In this collection of provocative and ambitious essays, participants in the SBLs Seminar on Ancient Myths and Modern Theories of Christian Origins challenge traditional paradigms and reimagine the beginnings of Christian religion. Rather than assume that the gospel story has its foundation in the historical Jesus, a human encounter with transcendence, or the dramatic religious experience of individuals, contributors make use of social anthropology and propose that the beginnings of Christianity can be understood as reflexive social experiments. The first of three proposed volumes that launch a new and genuinely critical discourse about the history of early Christianities.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Journal of the American Oriental Society, published by Thomson Gale on July 1, 2005. The length of the article is 791 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Redescribing Christian Origins.(Book review)
Author: J. Harold Ellens
Publication:
The Journal of the American Oriental Society (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 125
Issue: 3
Page: 479(2)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Average customer rating:
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Peter Pillar: Auto Beruhren, Leidenschaftliche Fahrer (Archive Peter Pillar)
Christoph Keller
Manufacturer: Christoph Kellerrevolver Verlag
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Amazon.com
Tracing her family's odyssey from her grandmother's 1908 birth in rural India through her own 1960s childhood in the boomtowns of the American West Coast, Mira Kamdar paints a poignant but anti-nostalgic portrait. It's true, she notes, that Motiba (Hindi for "Grandmother") spoke, moved, and lived with a calm assurance that came from her roots in an ancient culture inaccessible to her cosmopolitan, mixed-ethnicity descendants. But she had also been pulled out of school at age 12, as was customary to preserve a girl's virtue, and was fiercely proud that her granddaughters had access to the education forbidden to her. Kamdar, whose prose is as subtle as her perceptions, captures the timeless appeal of village life when describing a visit to her grandmother's birthplace, but she also vividly evokes the vibrant sophistication of Rangoon, where her family made its fortune, as well as the colonial and racial tensions that forced most Indians out of Burma after World War II. Her father came to study in America and stayed to marry the red-haired daughter of Danish American farmers. Motiba's far-flung descendants remain close, even if they now keep in touch by e-mail as much as through the lengthy visits traditional among Indian relatives. In a moving final passage, Kamdar deems this new global community consistent with her grandmother's Jain belief that "we are all sojourners... adopting endless, myriad identities." --Wendy Smith
Book Description
The story of the Indian Diaspora--the great migration of Indians from their homeland to the New World--through one woman's memories of her remarkable family.
Delving back into the world into which her grandmother was born in a tiny village in Kathiawar, India, Mira Kamdar begins a wondrous journey into the past. She follows her family as it emigrates from the feudal, rural India of 1900 to the bustling streets of Rangoon in the 1920s and 1930s. After a harrowing flight out of war-torn Burma, the family returns to their profitable businesses, only to be stripped of everything and expelled by the Burmese dictatorship in the early 1960s. The family begins a new life in Bombay. It is there that they are first introduced to America. Hollywood captures the imagination of Kamdar's father, who, at the age of nineteen, is packed off to make the family's fortune in the United States. We witness his travails as one of the first Indian immigrants to the US in the 1950's and see how his children and grandchildren grapple with a multi-ethnic identity in post-modern America. Kamdar retraces pivotal historical moments-Satyagraha and India's independence movement, World War II, the "brain drain" years of a triumphant American military-industrial complex-but never strays from the intimate experiences of her own family. With rich, vivid details of her relatives' many fascinating lives, she recreates the moods and atmospheres of lost times and places and explores the borderless world of Indian-Americans today.
Customer Reviews:
"Part beauty mark, part brand, a legacy of tribal values.".......2003-08-04
In this poignant and sometimes melancholy account of the passing of an era, Mira Kamdar tells the story of her beloved grandmother Motiba, a woman from the agrarian and pastoral culture of old Gujarat, showing how the changes in Motiba's life and family during the past seventy years are also emblematic of dramatic changes in Indian culture as a whole. Herself the daughter of Motiba's son Prabhakar (Pete) and Lois Christensen, the Danish-American cowgirl he married while a student in the United States in the 1960's, Kamdar is especially sensitive to nuances of culture, and she brings her Indian family to life within the context of the country's history--her grandparents' marriage, her grandfather's adoption of the values of Mahatma Gandhi, the emigration of the family to Burma to manage their businesses there in the 1930's, the bombing of Rangoon by the Japanese during World War II, the return to Bombay, and eventually, the emigration of several of Motiba's children to the United States.
As she describes her own life, the author shifts her focus to that of the American immigrant experience. The tales of Indian history which infused her life as a child visiting in India eventually give way completely to tales of her life in the United States, as she moves with her parents and siblings throughout the west following her father's job changes. The significance of the death of Gandhi on her grandmother's life yields its place to the effects of the death of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King on her parents' and her own life. Her father's desire to have his family "fit in" becomes more important to him than teaching them the language and culture in which he grew up.
Rich, warm, humorous, and earnest, Motiba's Tattoos recreates the universal story of an immigrant family's metamorphosis from one whose primary allegiance is to another culture to one in which opportunities to assimilate are recognized and embraced. In the process of becoming American, uniquely personal values may evolve and be treasured, while retention of the old traditions must become a conscious effort. What was an integral part of their family life, historically, evolves into pleasant memories and echoes of the old way of life as new generations appear--the final result of the Indian diaspora, which began in the mid-20th century and which continues, unabated, to the present day. Mary Whipple
Preserving and Redefining Culture + a Good Story!!.......2001-02-13
Mira Kamdar writes about her Motiba because she was the last bastion of their family left in India. As long as Motiba was alive and living in India, India was "home". Now that she is gone, the Kamdars are forced to re-center their emotional homeland. This book was the authors attempt to maintain knowledge about her family history while simultaneouly redefining the meaning of being South Asian in the U.S.
This story is a good one for the larger South Asian immigrant community and for other ethnic groups that have immigrated in the U.S. in the last 20-30 years. Since Ms. Kamdar's father came here in the late 1940's, he was a very early Indian emigrant, but now a majority of the family is in the U.S. This will also happen to other immigrant families and it requires a redefinition by all generations of what their culture is. The positive light that Ms. Kamdar sheds on the emerging South Asian-American youth "movement" and on the younger members of her own family is refreshing given the negative image common in the South Asian-American community about Westernizing influences - that has given us the term ABCDs and such.
The difference between the current movement of people and ideas and previous emigrations of Indians abroad is well demonstrated by the Kamdar family. The Kamdars lived in Burma for a long time, but their spiritual and cultural center was always Gujarat. America has become a place which influences global culture and integrates the culture and ideas of its immigrants.
An excellent book for young people in search of identity.......2000-12-11
Mira Kamdar's family biography is the heart-warming and lovingly told tale of multiple generations of the Kamdar-Khara families. Beginning in the early twentieth century, in the small Kathiawar village of Gokhlana, we follow the lives and loves of this extended Jain family to the close of the twentieth century. Along the way we are allowed to share in the Kamdar-Khara families `adventures' and `mishaps', as a story that begins in the simple Gujarati villages of Kathiawar takes us on an enchanting journey through Rangoon and Bombay, ending in the vast suburban metropolises of the United States of America.
At the heart of the story lies Motiba, grandmother of the author, a simple lady steeped in the fine traditions of Kathiawari-Jain culture, and witness to all the dramas that have shaped the lives of her large extended family through the twentieth century. Mira Kamdar beautifully brings to life Motiba's world as a young Jain girl growing up in the deeply traditional Jain villages of Kathiawar. Through Mira's retelling of the anecdotes of older family members, especially Motiba, we learn about the lives of Jain women in the early part of the century: How they lived, their position in society, the role of religion in the Jain village and the impact of the British and Mahatma Gandhi upon this pre-modern world.
As the century moves on, the action switches to the British imperial possession of Burma and the cities of Akyub and Rangoon where many members of the Kamdar-Khara families, like other Indians, travelled in search of business opportunities and the hope for a more prosperous existence. Perhaps because the story of the Indian Diasporas in Burma is not as well known and documented as other Indian Diasporas experiences, the story of the Jain community in Burma is one of the most fascinating parts of the entire narrative. Here we discover how young Jain settlers in Burma built businesses and created new lives for themselves and their families and then saw it all swept away after the Japanese invasion during the Second World War and the consequent ethnic conflicts that gripped post-independence Burma. The poignancy of this section of the story is only heightened by Mira's interviews with the remnants of the once strong Indian community in Rangoon.
But wherever Mira Kamdar's story takes us, and it proceeds to take us to Bombay, Oregon and Los Angeles, a number of overarching themes dominate the book. Firstly, how the descendants of turn-of-the-century Kathiawari-Jain families attempted to preserve and adapt their Jain identity in a modern and, more importantly, non-Jain world. We are witness to the struggles of Motiba's eldest son, Prabhakar or `Pete' as he is known in America, as he attempts to cope with life after emigrating to America and how both he and his family cope with his marriage to a white American girl from Oregon and the status of Prabhakar's children's as perceived half-castes. Secondly, we see how the impersonal forces of history interact with people's personal choices to shape their lives as well as the lives of the generations to follow. Whether it be the ravages of the Second World War, the Cold war or the Indian independence struggle the fate of this Jain family has been touched by external events. But Mira never lets the `external' dominate her narrative; instead she weaves the major events of the century into the fabric of her story whilst preserving the primacy of her chronicle as a family biography.
The people and lives that Mira Kamdar has so affectionately described are not the lives of Maharajas, celebrated Indian independence fighters or Indian industrial magnates: There are no Nehrus, Tatas or Tagores amongst the Kamdar-Khara clan. But this, paradoxically, is the source of the very richness and beauty of Mira Kamdar's story. Mira Kamdar is telling the story of one Jain-Kathiawar family and how it has navigated the twentieth century. But this family is similar to hundreds and thousands of other Jain families who began the century in the pre-modern villages of Gujarat and who ended the century in the cosmopolitan cities of New York, Chicago, Toronto, London and Singapore. And this takes us to the heart of this book: How we, the younger generation of Jains, have a tendency to look at our silver-haired parents and grandparents and dismiss, or at the least never enquire, into their lives and experiences. We lose so much that sits just in front of us if we forget that our older relatives have lived fascinating lives, very different from our own, and have often made extraordinarily brave and difficult decisions to leave their homeland in search of a new future of which we are the ultimate beneficiaries. This then is the true joy of Mira Kamdar's book, reminding us all that within our own families are those who have lived through a history very different to our own and that we have much to discover by sitting down and learning from them and drawing upon their rich experiences and wisdom.
Jay Sheth
The contrasting worlds of a mutli-cultural family.......2000-10-26
Subtitled "A Granddaughter's Journey into her Indian Family's Past", Mira Kamdar give the reader a picture of a world that is increasingly getting smaller and a lifestyle that is fading into memory.
Born in 1957, Mira Kamdar is the daughter of an Indian engineer who came to the United States to study and fell in love with the red-haired freckled daughter of Danish-American farmers. Their marriage was a happy one and their four children were raised in the United States but kept their ties to their father's world through lengthy visits to India and close knit family ties.
The word "Motiba" means "grandmother" and Ms. Kamdar has chosen to tell her story by contrasting the differences between her own and her grandmother's life. For example, Motiba was abruptly taken out of school at the age of 9 where she had to live in a protected women's world until her marriage at age 15.
The family was of the merchant caste and settled in Burma during the 1920s and 30s where they lived a luxurious life. But when War came to Burma, things changed. Not only did they lose their prosperous businesses, but they were forced to undergo unspeakable horrors as they fled for their lives back to India.
There is much descriptive detail and a feel of history to this book. We also read about young Mira's feelings of living in two different worlds. We feel her discomfort at being different, and applaud the philosophy of her parents' marriage which they saw as way to bring peace and understanding into the world.
I found the book interesting but not without flaws. For example, the title implies that we would learn a lot about the geometric tattoos that Motiba had on her face. The author does mention them but never did find out exactly what they meant. Also, there were whole sections about Ms. Kamdar's own life that never were explored. We learn she has two children but she doesn't mention her own husband or marriage.
There were nice photographs. I savored them all. Some of them were a little small, but I did enjoy them. Also, the narrative structure, without one line of dialogue, was a little tiring for my eyes even though the book was only 275 pages long.
Changes are occurring so rapidly now that it is hard to stop the thrust of globalization that we live with every day. There's e-mail and instant communication and mixture of peoples from all over the world. Ms. Kamdar's story makes all of this very real and is indeed a worthwhile read.
Fiction And Nonfiction Readers Should Buy This Book.......2000-10-14
This journey quite literally around the world is as much a love letter from the writer to her children as it is a telling of a universal story of family evolution.
What a treasure that Kamdar chose to trace her family's path as a way to explore the past century's economic, military and sociological history.
If you choose to read this as a scholarly writing, you will gain great insight from Kamdar's subject. If instead you choose to read it as an epic cross-cultural tale, you won't be disappointed.
Or you could buy it just for the recipies.
Book Description
"From the Bible to the Odyssey to Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, the journey or quest has been a staple motif of Western literature. Motiba's Tattoos is a welcome addition to that list." (The Washington Post)
Mira Kamdar was born in the United States to an Indian father and a Danish-American mother. In this fascinating memoir, she sets out to rediscover her family's story by tracing its journey from an isolated corner of India to the Web-wired world of twenty-first-century America.
Delving into the history of Motiba-the Gujarati word for grandmother-she follows the family's emigration from feudal India to Bombay where, in the city's Art Deco movie houses, they are introduced to postwar American life-Hollywood-style. Kamdar's father's journey to the U.S. in the '50s marks the beginning of the family's great westward Indian migration, and their subsequent struggle with multiethnic identity in postmodern California.
Deftly evoking lost times and places, Motiba's Tattoos explores the borderless world of Indian-Americans today. Told in rich, lyrical language, Kamdar's story becomes the story of every family who has ever assimilated into a new culture.
Books:
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- An Unthymely Death (China Bayles Mystery)
- And the Sea Will Tell
- Battlestar Galactica: Redemption (Battlestar Galactica)
- Birth Marks: A Hannah Wolfe Crime Novel
- Bloodlines: An Irene Kelly Novel (Irene Kelly Mysteries)
- Borrower of the Night: The First Vicky Bliss Mystery
- Brat Farrar
- Casino Royale (movie tie-in) (James Bond 007)
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