Book 16 and 6th book for April! Also, it's the first repeat of an author since I started this reading frenzy of mine. I, Alex Cross by the same author. This one is interesting, a mix of history to give it a real feel plus it's light reading. Light reading means I finish the book in 2-3 days.
Setting is America of the early 20th century, in a little town called Eudora (remember Eudora Mail the e-mail software?), Mississippi. Mississippi is one of the Confederate states during the American Civil War. Even though the Civil War had ended eons by then, the blacks were still not treated equal with the whites. It was an era of Ku Klux Klan... I haven't read about the KKK for upteen years. Last I read about it was during my Encyclopedia Britannica reading frenzy teenage years! Used to devour pages and pages of the set that Dad got for us. Guess that set sort of sealed my love for reading stuff other than novels.
Anyway, Alex Cross' Trial is a tale of America divided.... whites on the privileged side, blacks on the other. Apartheid in practice but not from the law standpoint. Of whites looking good on the outside but bigotry, prejudices, reside deep within. Politicians, the regular town doc, dentist, pharmacist, grocer, inn keeper..... under all the nice nice exterior, many were bigots and racists. They subscribed to this racial supremacy thingy...
If one were to draw comparison to our present, here in Malaysia, you might still find yourself looking at the same of a lesser intensity.... we are supposed to be more civilized now....
Politicians, your regular everyone who fills up what we call our society, the same feelings run deep. Take a look at the civil service... where are the 'colored' people in high positions? Minus the horrific lynchings in the novel, we have the cow head incident, the torching of the churches, the claim on Allah (as in the use of it), the keris wielding incident, incitement of racial suspicion by our racist leaders... they too point towards the same bigotry, intolerance, greed, fear.....
Who says books don't have lessons for us all? This is not a book review per say but just a rambling of the connection I made... past and present. History does repeat itself... same manifestation, different era. Man is rather consistent, don't you think?
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3 comments:
historical stuff....my type. wouldn't mind this.
LOL! Your kind of stuff too, huh? How are you progressing with the reading??? 8)
reading till my eyes pop.....dat's y no time for blogging now. i hv lots of historical romances which kc downloaded for me...so converted dem n transferred to d ipod. been glued to dem at every opportuinity. i muz say...it's really worth every cent of it esp when it comes to books. as for games....found one of my favourite...shoot turkey; but battery wears out fast.
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