Review: Playing with Fire - Henning Mankell

This review is part of HIV/AIDS in YA Lit Week organised by Caroline from Portrait of a Woman.  For more information check out Caroline's post here

'In the night there was a blue world lit by the moon...blue sand trickled between her fingers and swells of seawater moved inside her...It was a dream, yet Sofia knew that her time had come.  She was fifteen, and childhood was behind her.'

Sofia takes in sewing, and her older sister, Rosa, works in the vegetable plot to help their mother support their family.  Rosa is strong and beautiful, and she loves boys, and dancing - something that Sofia, with her crutches, will never be able to do.  Sofia imagines a boy who will love her for herself - Moonboy - the boy who appears in the night.  Then suddenly Rosa falls ill, and Sofia is afraid for her.  Their mother puts her faith in African magic, but it's Sofia who must help Rosa face the reality of AIDS, and the difficult road ahead.

Fire Trilogy:
Secrets in the Fire
Playing with Fire
The Fury in the Fire

Visit Henning Mankell's website for more information

Review:
Life is difficult for Sofia and her family, they don't have much money and their mother works long days in the fields to grow food for them.  Sofia and her sister both do their best to bring in extra money with Sofia taking in sewing and Rosa working on their vegetable plot.  Rosa is everything Sofia wants to be - she is beautiful and loves to go dancing, something Sofia has been unable to do since she lost her legs after stepping on a landmine 4 years ago.  Sofia dreams of finding someone who will love her as she is but everything changes for her when Rosa falls ill.  Sofia has seen the reality of HIV and AIDS from her long hospital stay but her mother and sister are convinced that the witchdoctor can heal Rosa. 

When I picked up this book to review for the YA book bloggers campaign to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS I didn't realise it is actually part of a trilogy.  This series is actually based on the true story of Sofia, a young woman in Mozambique, someone Henning Mankell met there and has remained friends with.  Henning spends part of every year living in Mozambique and the fact that he knows the country and it's people so well shines through in the writing.

Playing with Fire is a moving story of a young girl suffering with HIV, it shows how the disease is spreading through the community with not many people understanding what causes it and how it is transmitted.  People believe that the witchdoctor can cure sufferers and go to great lengths to get enough money to for their help.  This book isn't afraid to show the harsh reality of what it is like to suffer from HIV and AIDS.  It also talks about poverty and the difficulties the family face just putting enough food on the table and of course touches on the horror of landmines and the damage they can do.  There were so many serious themes running through the book but overall it is a story about hope and strength, love and family.

Sofia is an amazingly strong character, she lost both her legs after stepping on a landmine but has since learnt to walk again with her prosthetic legs and crutches.  She is determined to attend school and wants to learn enough to become a doctor one day.  Sofia is frightened by what is happening to Rosa, especially as she knows more about the disease than her family but she puts her worries to one side while trying to support her mother and sister.

This story that will transport you to Africa while you are reading, it is so easy to picture Sofia's family and their friends who are all larger than life characters.  The only thing I wasn't too keen on were the dream like scenes between Sofia and the boy she calls Moonboy, they were a little too surreal and to me didn't fit with the rest of the book.  I'm guessing they were the author's way of lightening up what could be a difficult story to read but I felt they took something away from it.  That is down to personal taste though & I'm sure not everyone would feel the same way as I did.  Overall I enjoyed the story and am definitely planning on reading the other books in the series Secrets in the Fire and The Fury in the Fire.

Source: Library

Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Review: Soul Love - Lynda Waterhouse

This review is part of HIV/AIDS in YA Lit Week organised by Caroline from Portrait of a Woman.  For more information check out Caroline's post here

Living with the past can be difficult, even at fifteen...

Jenna doesn't want to betray her friends and won't reveal the truth behind her exclusion from school, so she is sent away to live with her aunt in a sleepy countryside village.

It's here that she meets Gabriel, who seems so genuine and different from other people she knows.  But she is wary of him at first - lately boys have been nothing but trouble for Jenna, and Gabe can be moody and withdrawn.

Despite her caution, Jenna can't help falling in love with Gabriel, and the longer she spends with him, the more deeply she falls.  Could he be her soul mate?  He seems to be the only one who understands Jenna and doesn't leap to conclusions.  But then she discovers that Gabriel is living with a deep secret of his own...

Visit Lynda Waterhouse's website for more information

Review:
When Jenna gets in trouble and gets expelled from school she is sent away from London to live with her aunt in a quiet country village.  She doesn't want to get her friends in trouble by explaining what really happened and is determined to keep her secret.  While living with her aunt she meets and falls for Gabriel, but Gabe has a secret of his own.  How will things change between them when the truth becomes known?

This is another one of the books I reviewed as part of the YA book bloggers campaign to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS and I found it really interesting to find out more about what life is like for a HIV sufferer.  I'd never really thought about the way people can sometimes look at someone with HIV.  I liked the comparison that one of the characters made about how if you are suffering with cancer people will offer you sympathy and help but if you have HIV people look at you differently, like it is your own fault that you caught it.  I think it is sad that we live in a society where people can be judged for something that was completely beyond their control.  Yes HIV can be caught by sharing contaminated needles which you could say was somebody's own fault but that isn't always the case and even if it is what right do we have to judge someone who has become a drug addict?  How are we to know what happened in their life that turned them down that path in the first place?  What about people who were infected by a blood transfusion or because of a sexual assault?  Even if it was caught through consensual sex with a partner that is something that could happen to any of us.

I think it is important to read stories like this one and think about how a sufferer must feel.  Not only are they dealing with a life threatening illness they have to cope with the attitudes of their family, friends and even strangers, I'm not saying that this reaction is always negative but it saddens me that sometimes it can be.  There is no cure for HIV and AIDS so the only thing we can do is try to stop it from spreading.  The best way to do this is by raising awareness about how it is transmitted and ways to prevent it.  This book would be a great way of opening a discussion with teens and adults alike and I'd strongly recommend it to anyone.

Although the story talks about HIV that isn't the only theme - its really a coming of age story.  Its about learning who to trust and also about not giving into peer pressure and being forced to do something you know is wrong.  At the beginning of the book Jenna acts like a sullen, sulky teenager and I was irritated by her childish behaviour.  We don't know the full story of what happened in London but the fact that she refused to talk about it annoyed me.  As you find out more and get to know Jenna better you understand why she didn't want to speak up.  As she adjusts to life in the sleepy village she becomes a much more likable character and you want to see her turn her life around.  By the end of the book she is like a different person and I enjoyed seeing the change happen.

I don't want to say too much more for fear of spoilers but this was a lovely story and one I'd recommend.  The romance is sweet and endearing and although the ending isn't what I was expecting it was true to real life which I liked.  If you're looking for a touching story about romance and first love you should definitely check this one out.

Source: Library

Other Reviews:
Portrait of a Woman (review and author interview)
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Review: Abela: The Girl Who Saw Lions - Berlie Doherty

This review is part of HIV/AIDS in YA Lit Week organised by Caroline from Portrait of a Woman.  For more information check out Caroline's post here

Orphaned in Africa, abandoned in England; will Abela ever find her place in the world?

'Be strong, my Abela.'  These are the last words of Abela's mother in their HIV / AIDS stricken African village, where it seems that to live or to die, to be sick or to be healthy, is just a matter of chance.  It takes all Abela's strength to survive her Uncle Thomas's scheming to get to Europe, but what will be her fate as an illegal immigrant?

'I don't want a sister or a brother,' thinks Rosa in England, when her mother tells her that she wants to adopt a child.  Could these two girls ever become sisters?  Is there room in Rosa's family for an African orphan haunted by lions?  Is there room in their hearts?

Visit Berlie Doherty's website for more information

Review:
Abela is just 9 years old and she has already lost her father, mother and baby sister to the AIDS epidemic that is sweeping through her village in Tanzania.  With her uncle scheming to get back to England she soon finds herself living in a strange country with a virtual stranger and her life will never be the same again.  At 13 Rosa is the only child of a single mother living in Sheffield.  When her mother announces that she wants to adopt a child from Africa she is horrified - why would her mother want another daughter?  Isn't she good enough?  Can Rosa come to terms with the idea of someone else joining her family and will Abela be able to get away from her Uncle and his plans for her?

As I reviewed this book as part of a campaign to raise awareness about HIV & AIDS to coincide with World AIDS Day I'm going to kick off the review talking about the beginning of the story while Abela is still in Africa.  Berlie Doherty paints a vivid picture of life in Tanzania and does a great job of showing just how devastating the AIDS epidemic has been in Abela's village.  Abela and her mother face a long and difficult journey just to get to the nearest hospital and the scenes when they get there brought tears to my eyes.  It was heartbreaking to think that this is probably a reality that thousands are still facing every day.

The story is told from both Abela and Rosa's perspectives in alternating chapters.  I have to say I found the switches between first & third person a little confusing at first but it didn't take me too long to get used to the writing style.  At first I found myself getting very annoyed with Rosa and her selfish attitude towards adopting another child - especially when you're comparing her easy life to the hell that Abela is facing so stoically - but then I started thinking about how I would have reacted myself at her age and in her situation.  I think her reaction was probably quite realistic and I enjoyed watching her thought process as she came to terms with the idea.  Rosa really does a lot of growing up by the end of the story.  Abela quickly earned a place in my heart, she has been through so much in her short life that it makes you desperate to see a happy ending for her.  I think my only slight complaint about the story would be that I would have liked to have seen the ending through her eyes rather than Rosa's - I wanted to know what she thought of the situation she ended up in.  That is only a minor issue though and definitely not worth making a big issue over.

Abela: The Girl Who Saw Lions touches on a lot of interesting topics that I've not come across much in YA fiction obviously AIDS being one of them but also child abuse, trafficking, immigration, fostering, adoption and multicultural families.  It is a story that will break your heart into a thousand tiny pieces and although by the end it will put you back together again it will change you forever in the process.  I'd highly recommend the story for both adults and teens and am definitely going to be looking out for more of Berlie Doherty's books in the future.

Source: Library

Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

World AIDS Day - HIV/AIDS in YA Lit Week

So December 1st is World AIDS Day and when Caroline (from Portrait of a Woman) said she was arranging HIV/AIDS in YA Lit Week to help raise awareness I jumped at the chance to take part.  I had intended to post this earlier today but as usual I'm running a little late (but better late than never don't you think?).

If you're anything like me you probably don't know a great deal about HIV or AIDS. The extent of my knowledge was that there is no cure and that it is spread by bodily fluids so can be caught through blood transfusions (before blood screening was introduced), sexual contact or sharing needles.  I knew very little about the number of people who have the disease or the treatments available.  I don't remember ever discussing this issue at school apart from a general discussion that you should use a condom to prevent all kinds of sexually transmitted diseases.

With more than 90,000 cases in the UK and 33.4 million people with HIV worldwide this is a serious issue.  I can't even get my brain around those numbers!  There is no cure for HIV or AIDS so the most important thing we can do is find out how to prevent the infection from spreading.  I would strongly suggest checking out the World AIDS Day website for more information, they have some frightening facts and figures that we all need to be aware of.  The real life stories will show you just how difficult it can be to live with the stigma of this illness despite the fact that sufferers can now expect to have a normal life expectancy if they start treatment early enough.



Caroline has done a fantastic job organising HIV / AIDS in YA Lit Week and it's not too late for you to take part if you're interested.  She has created a list of different books about the topic here - why not check out your local library and see if they have any available?  Or if you don't want to read one of these books yourself Caroline is keeping a list of reviews & posts written by other bloggers here so why not stop by and leave a comment showing your support?

I found 3 books at my local library that each look at HIV or AIDS in a different way, each one has been heart wrenching in it's own way but I have thoroughly enjoyed reading all of them.  Check back over the next few days to read my reviews but here are the descriptions to give you something to think about in the meantime:

Abela: The Girl Who Saw Lions by Berlie Doherty:

Orphaned in Africa, abandoned in England; will Abela ever find her place in the world?

'Be strong, my Abela.'  These are the last words of Abela's mother in their HIV / AIDS stricken African village, where it seems that to live or to die, to be sick or to be healthy, is just a matter of chance.  It takes all Abela's strength to survive her Uncle Thomas's scheming to get to Europe, but what will be her fate as an illegal immigrant?

'I don't want a sister or a brother,' thinks Rosa in England, when her mother tells her that she wants to adopt a child.  Could these two girls ever become sisters?  Is there room in Rosa's family for an African orphan haunted by lions?  Is there room in their hearts?

Soul Love by Lynda Waterhouse:

Living with the past can be difficult, even at fifteen...

Jenna doesn't want to betray her friends and won't reveal the truth behind her exclusion from school, so she is sent away to live with her aunt in a sleepy countryside village.

It's here that she meets Gabriel, who seems so genuine and different from other people she knows.  But she is wary of him at first - lately boys have been nothing but trouble for Jenna, and Gabe can be moody and withdrawn.

Despite her caution, Jenna can't help falling in love with Gabriel, and the longer she spends with him, the more deeply she falls.  Could he be her soul mate?  He seems to be the only one who understands Jenna and doesn't leap to conclusions.  But then she discovers that Gabriel is living with a deep secret of his own...

Playing with Fire by Henning Mankell:

'In the night there was a blue world lit by the moon...blue sand trickled between her fingers and swells of seawater moved inside her...It was a dream, yet Sofia knew that her time had come.  She was fifteen, and childhood was behind her.'

Sofia takes in sewing, and her older sister, Rosa, works in the vegetable plot to help their mother support their family.  Rosa is strong and beautiful, and she loves boys, and dancing - something that Sofia, with her crutches, will never be able to do.  Sofia imagines a boy who will love her for herself - Moonboy - the boy who appears in the night.  Then suddenly Rosa falls ill, and Sofia is afraid for her.  Their mother puts her faith in African magic, but it's Sofia who must help Rosa face the reality of AIDS, and the difficult road ahead.