By Vidruma Chaavali and Christy Clark
Not to be Overlooked introduces a variety of wonderful but lesser-known books to assist readers in finding their next great reads. This week’s column reviews The News of Her Death by Petina Gappah and The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh.
‘The News of Her Death’ by Petina Gappah (Sex and Death: Stories by Sarah Hall and Peter Hobbs)
Review by Vidruma Chaavali
‘The News of Her Death’ by Petina Gappah is a short story from the anthology Sex and Death: Stories by Sarah Hall and Peter Hobbs. Petina Gappah is a Zimbabwean writer. ‘The News of Her Death’ is focused on African culture and is based in Africa. Gappah uses a mixture of languages in this short story, specifically English and Shona (a language spoken in Zimbabwe). ‘The News of Her Death’ begins with Pepukai visiting her hairdresser Kindness’ salon in Harare only to realise that Kindness is “late,” which means dead. She agrees to have the hair done by another hairdresser in the same salon and, eventually, she becomes a part of the conversation about Kindness’ death.
The author introduces several characters in this short piece yet doesn’t leave the readers confused. She also separates each character through specific physical traits, which helps readers distinguish between them.
The short story covers themes such as feminism, gossip and cultural conversations. As the conversation in the text flows from one woman to another, there is a sense of humour and metaphorical violence where women are against each other. Petina Gappah uses dialogues with a subtext wherein the conversation between the characters conveys their personalities. Her narrative style has the ‘fly on the wall’ approach wherein the narrator, Pepukai, is not a part of the conversation, yet she is present.
‘The News of Her Death’ is a hidden gem from the anthology that deserves more recognition, and Petina Gappah’s unique voice brings a breath of fresh air to the literary world.
The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh
Review by Christy Clark
I began meditating many years ago, chiefly as a mechanism to shut the world out and to make things that little bit quieter, rather than for any religious reason. Whether meditating alone on my bedroom floor or amongst a group of twenty at university, I started to see meditation as a normal, routine part of my everyday life. As much as I wasn't devout with my practice, it was something I knew I could turn to when the opportunity arose when I had too much on my plate.
After leaving university, I realised that meditation wasn't really something personal to me; it was more an underdeveloped skill that I could do, but only to the outer limits of its potential. At this point, I began reading Thich Nhat Hanh's The Miracle of Mindfulness.
A Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Thich Nhat Hanh has written many books, meditations and other pieces of literature. The Miracle of Mindfulness is an edited version of a letter he wrote to a fellow Buddhist across the world in Vietnam in 1987. However, it has since been translated into many different languages.
From the book's perspective alone, it feels like Hanh addresses you directly, delivering a slight yet comprehensive account of the basics of mindfulness and how we might apply these to our everyday lives. Despite being written over thirty-five years ago, his enduring prose speaks to the modern experience, finding significance in everyday activities as mundane as washing the dishes or eating a tangerine.
In essence, he tells us to wash the dishes to wash the dishes or eat a tangerine to savour the taste, rather than blithely rushing onto the next thing, a lesson that has the potential to revitalise our lives completely. It's a masterclass in living in the moment, whatever that moment constitutes, and finding a self stripped of the layers, the self-judgement and the overactive mind.
I often hear people advocate therapy for all, claiming that it would benefit us both individually and collectively. I feel the same way about The Miracle of Mindfulness. Its value isn't in our comprehension, no matter how it might help us. In our lives, we might touch upon reading it, the way our altered behaviour might bring good to the world. The revelation that the simple act of reading a book might inspire change in many lives is enough to put this at the top of any reading list and support the statement that, at all costs, this must not be overlooked.