November 3rd: Little Princes by Conor Grennan

[Maxine MagicFox]

[negzee]

I feel bad that I haven't said anything in this thread yet. Hopefully I'll have time tonight to sit down and type something out.

[Kinokokao]

We pretty much all hate you, negzee.

(incidentally and off topic, I made a "butler" themed display at work and one of the books I put on it is The Remains of the Day!)

@Maxine

I thought that was very eloquent. I'm not trying to be critical of Conor, but rather the story.

I suppose this is why I generally dislike memoirs such as this book; they're a little hard to critique like you would a novel. I'm having to readjust certain expectations. For example, if this were a fictional book, we'd very much need some explanations -- however, it is not, and that's fine. It's less about his personal journey and more about the kids themselves and what he did.

I think the book s great for drawing attention to NGN and other organizations out there. I'm gonna fully admit to not having heard anything before regarding Nepal's civil war or child trafficking. I'm glad the proceeds are benefiting the children, and I'm glad there are organizations other there helping them.

[Maxine MagicFox]

[beekee]

Reeeeaaaallly late to the party.
I don't think I had a favorite kid but here are some memorable points.

Raju - "Namaste-my-name-is-Raju." So freaking adorable. I want to squeeze his cheeks.

Amita - Not only does she have a cool name but yes, that picture of her in the book was so soulful. It's heartbreaking to imagine all the day-to-day loss and drudgery in the lives of children being trafficked or abandoned in places like these. Can you even picture as a kid having to go out and gather water for your parents?

Bishnu - Speaking of, poor little servant boy. ;__; I'm so glad they found him eventually.

Jagrit - "You are looking very fat today, sir." I can see why Connor loved Jagrit so much. I also appear to have something of a soft spot for smart-alecs. The scene where he found out his parents were alive was unfair it was so moving.

Priya - I also felt terrible at the part where she tries to explain to Raju why there are no pictures of their parents. That's why Connor's reaction was so warming, making special time for them with tea and stories. <3

Santosh - What a clever little nugget. He was key in some of the funniest scenes. By the way, I think that "kind of potato" dish they were eating was a food made from sweet potato starch. I've seen someone eating it before and the description in the book sounds just like it.

I'm guessing that Connor didn't have that many direct experiences with the girls, considering how few of them there were. And he hinted at this a bit when he talked about Liz getting along with them better.

@Kino: I think that books generally do better not to have prologues. Sometimes a prologue is simply Chapter Zero or Chapter One but called something different, and these tend to be the best prologues.

[Kinokokao]

@prologues

off topic, but I'm also gonna say that the prologue to Melusine is unnecessary. The only prologues I can think of which actually serve some purpose are the ones in the Song of Ice and Fire, which could have been labeled "chapter 1" and gone over just a nicely.

@Priya

fffff that scene was so awful.

I also really loved the scene where the boys were playing with that spinning-toss toy, and accidentally knocked the spider at Farid and Connor, so the boys assumed that foreigners were just really terrified of the toy. It was moments like that where I thought the book really shined. I liked the humor bits the best :3

[negzee]

SOOOOO..... LAAAAAAAATE

Deepest apologies.

But yeah, the following notes have been saved as a forum post draft for a long while. I just couldn't find a way to not turn it into some kind of anti-Conor/religion rant. Since it's time to discuss the next book now, I am going to leave those notes here mostly as-is, with a few other bits:

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- there was a lot of culture shock and surprise and disgust and whatnot that was expressed where I'm like "really? are you that sheltered?" I don't consider myself all that worldly but damn why are you so surprised at some of this stuff, Conor.
- Conor tries too hard to construct colourful descriptions of scenes everywhere. they are sometimes quite amusing but more often they just get tiring to read.
- hated Conor at first, developing a tolerance for him over the course of the book. On balance, I guess he's fine, but by the end he still retains some attitudes that baffle me for someone who's been through what he has, and he's oddly hypocritical about things that are just... i dunno. (omg just eat the damn root you whiny bitch. and Farid too, in one very surprising instance.)
- didn't care for the romance between Conor and Liz which seemed at least in part like an excuse to talk about his finding religion. and in some places it feels especially out of place, like when pushing forward against expert advice and being generally difficult and inconsiderate to everyone who would be helping him to make it back from Humla, with Liz, of all things, as a primary motivation... and he was just oddly obsessed in general with Liz in the latter half of the book. his priorities and reasoning were inscrutable at times. I get that it's all part of his story, but geez.
- far more interested in the children, their general situation in Nepal, and Nepalese culture and political climate
- expected Sandra to have a role past the first couple of chapters. odd that she is not mentioned after the first chapter.
- Conor's one of those people I hate for being rash and headstrong and who let their emotions overcome them, but do admire his tenacity and his heart at the same time. But these types of stories always bother a part of my brain that doesn't like "you can do anything if you set your mind to it" and "it'll all work out somehow" attitudes and hero antics. Conor had a lot of determination, but what really got him through it all was an absolutely ridiculous amount of dumb luck.
- I strongly disliked how Conor thought of and treated the govt guy who really did most of the work in getting the kids back.
- the book raised my awareness a bit about stuff going on in Nepal, which is good.

- staying away from religion talk... but I believe it's theism, not deism as suggested in this thread, if he prays to something that might be listening and can act on those prayers

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I know all that was pretty negative, but trust me when I say I really did enjoy the book. It was touching and informative. And I love the kids. And you know, I bet if I read it again I'd be able to come away with a somewhat better understanding and opinion of Conor.

As for the prologue, I agree with others here that it would have been better left out. I was anxious the entire way through to get to the part in the prologue, and was rather let down when I hit the end and realized I had read right past it.

[Kinokokao]

negzee, we seem to be in absolute agreement!

My only deviation from your bullet-points would be docking him for the colorful descriptions; I might not have always found them hilarious, but I never found them tiring. I found some of the description sluggish and dull, especially whenever he's not in Nepal.

Also, there's no reason we shouldn't add to these discussions even though we've moved on to the next book... I just figure the older threads would be "de-prioritized" in a sense.

I think the problem with a memoir is that it depends very heavily on liking the author...