Eliot Pattison: Beautiful Ghosts
It almost always takes me a little while to get into Eliot Pattison’s books, and I can figure out why. He sets you down right in the middle of something going on, so you start off a little confused. You can read each of his Inspector Shan Tao Yun books as a stand-alone, but it helps to have read them in order – as I have.
Even though I have read them in order, I still find myself disoriented each time I start a new book. New names, a new situation, and it takes a few pages to get back in the rhythm of thinking about things in a new way. Within thirty pages, I am in a new world, and I am totally addicted. When I am reading one of the Inspector Shan Tao Yun books, I can hardly wait to get back to the book. My household chores suffer, my projects suffer – even AdventureMan suffers, as I seek to return to Tibet, the Tibetan Monks and the world of Chinese bureaucracy.
One of the things I love in this book – we saw a hint of it in the last book I reviewed, Bone Mountain – is that the worst of the bad characters can have a hint of humanity, and develop a full-blown redemption, as we are watching happen with the prison warden, Captain Tan. The process continues in Beautiful Ghosts. In this book, Pattison strikes several additional chords – he combines a good mystery with art, art thefts, public art and a little bit of history, a family reunion, father-son problems, and a lot of action. I’m a happy reader.
In Beautiful Ghosts, a murder happens, but it is hard to understand, at first, who was murdered, why the murder was committed, where the murder was committed as well as who committed the murder. One answer leads to another, and ultimately, to long buried treasures and long kept secrets.
A great tickle, for me, is that in this book Inspector Shan Tao Yun goes to my home town, Seattle, which he finds very strange, and grey and rainy. Pattison describes Chan’s bewilderment at how Americans live, and as Chan leaves Seattle, he comments on how he has not seen the sunshine in his entire time visiting there, working in co-ordination with an FBI office trying to track down some missing and stolen Tibetan art pieces, stolen from the hidden monasteries by corrupt Chinese bureaucrats.
Shan still stood, studying the strange buildings and the dozens of people who were wandering in and out of the open doorways off the huge main hall. There were shops, he realized, dozens of shops, two floors of shops. When he looked toward Corbett, the American was already ten feet in front of him. Shan followed slowly, puzzling over everything in his path. Adolescents walked by, engaged in casual conversation, seemingly relaxed despite the brass rings and balls that for some reason pierced their faces. He looked away, his face flushing, as he saw several women standing in a window clothed only in underwear. He saw more, nearly identical women, in another window adorned in sweaters and realized they were remarkably lifelike mannequins. One of the sweaters was marked at a few cents less than three hundred dollars, more than most Tibetans made in a year.
“Why did you bring me here?” Shan asked, as Crobett led him into a coffee shop and ordered drinks for both of them. “This place of merchants.”
“I thought you’d want to see America,” Corbett said with an odd, awkward grin, gesturing to a table, then sobored. “And this is where Abigail worked, before getting the governess job. People here knew her, told me stories about her, made her real for me.”
. . . .
Shan began to marvel at the rain itself. Beijing was a dry place, most of Tibet a near desert. He had not experienced so much rain since he was a boy, living near the sea. There were many qualities of American rain, and many types of rain clouds. One moment they were in a driving rain, like a storm, the next in a shower, the next in a drizzle that was little more than a thick fog. Once the water came down so violently, in such a sudden wind, that it struck at the car horizontally. . . .
You learn so much reading Eliot Pattison, more than I can absorb! There are detailed art works, there are geographic features, there are Buddhist customs, there are bureaucratic networks, there are mysteries of Chinese history and dynasties. There are tribal customs and learning to think like Tibetan monks.
Eliot Pattison is a gifted and poetic writer. If you like mysteries that turn out to be very complicated and which teach you a lot about a culture you have never experienced (or would like to learn more about) I would suggest you start at the beginning. These are the books about Inspector Chan in chronological order:
Skull Mantra
Water Touching Stone
Bone Mountain
Beautiful Ghosts
#1 Entry: NWB – Great Kuwait Liberation Day Challenge
OK, OK, the rest of you might as well just give up. It will be really, really hard to find more adorable children than these celebrating Independence and liberation! Thank you, NWB!
Just kidding – the children are adorable AND I want more entries!
Iraq’s National Museum Reopens
I heard yesterday that the Baghdad National Museum has re-opened only six years after the catastrophic looting that took place during the allied drive to topple Saddam Hussein.
You can read an article about it at BBC News. I have an excerpt below:
Iraq’s National Museum has reopened nearly six years after it was looted and vandalised in the aftermath of the 2003 US-led invasion.
Thousands of its antiquities were stolen at that time, and only about a quarter have since been retrieved.
Coalition forces had no orders to intervene, and stood by as Iraq’s priceless heritage was pillaged.
Many of the nation’s treasures were in the museum, and analysts decried its looting as scandalous.
Prime Minister Nouri Maliki was at the opening ceremony inside the museum, and described what had happened there as Iraq’s “dark age”.
“I’d like to offer my sincerest thanks to all the countries which stood by Iraq, whether through their contributions towards rebuilding this museum or returning the smuggled artefacts,” he said.
“We want to make our museum a place which will be at the forefront of international museums. There’s a long road ahead of us.”
The Great Kuwait National Holiday Challenge
We have a wonderful week coming up – Liberation Day and Kuwait Independence Day, back to back. If you haven’t already made the trip downtown to see all the fabulous lights, go for it. There is also a house along Highway 30 (Fehaheel Highway) with a HOUSE SIZED flag on it, and many many houses with huge flags – it is a stirring sight, seeing so much love of country demonstrated.
Your challenge for this week: Go forth and show us what you see. Show us the faces, show us the lights, show us the celebrations. Show us the “arda” (I might not have spelled it right, the war dance done with swords), show us the children, show us the hooligans. Show us the weary cops. Show us the multiple facets of Liberation Day/Kuwait Independence Day.
The prize, as usual, is recognition by your fellow photographers, and photography connoisseurs. We vote, but the voting can be heavily influenced by mass manipulation and politicking, so the photos we share, we share for the love of the challenge. If you haven’t played before, it is easy.
You send your photo or photo to me, Intlxpatr@aol.com, 550 pixels maximum in any direction, and I will print them with your name. At the end of the challenge – I am arbitrarily saying March 7th – I will post a poll and people can vote, but the major part of the fun is taking the photo and having your photos posted so your fans can make encouraging comments.
Show us what you see this week. 🙂
NonStomped Roses
Thanks be to God for a sweet husband. He knows I love white roses, and that’s what he got me, with one mischievous red red rose stuck right in the middle. 😉
There is a shop in Kuwait we love, Au Nom de la Rose, where the flowers are always fresh, and beautiful, and put together naturally. AdventureMan says on Valentine’s Day, they were SO busy, but that the man in front of him, holding a bouquet, was trying to get a discount.
(whine! whine! whine!) said the man in front of him.
“Sir! This is not Mubarakiyya! This is fixed price! And you have already paid, why are you asking now for a discount?” said the polite but very very busy and professional manager. LOL!
We asked the manager how she liked working in Kuwait. (I am telling you this because her response was so totally unexpected, and delightful.)
“I LOVE working here!” she said. “The woman I work for, who owns the store, is wonderful to work for. I love my job, and she trusts me.”
She also gets paid a decent wage, and she gets paid on time. This is one of the happiest women I have met in Kuwait.
Au Nom de la Rose has more than one location, but the one we go to is next to Chocolat, next to Tumbleweeds, in that stretch of stores and restaurants near Bida’a circle. Expensive. Worth every fils. 🙂
No sunrise today. I can’t even see the sea. Whatever this is socking us in today – fog? sand? it is not orange, but it is THICK.
The Doha Museum of Islamic Arts – first visit
It’s Friday afternoon, and I can hardly believe it. We are here. Now THIS is my idea of a romantic getaway – please! Keep your chocolates (although I do love chocolate!) and your roses, keep your long lingering dinners and fabulous wine, but take me someplace where I have really wanted to go, and I will be your slave forever. You da man, AdventureMan. You know how to win my heart. 🙂
It is a glorious day and the museum has just opened. There is a huge parking lot and little carts ferrying the older people and women with small children to the entrance, but it is a nice walk, not a hard walk. Families are streaming in, and (gasp!) admission is FREE! You have to go get a ticket; I guess maybe that is how they keep track of admission statistics, but this beautiful museum, floating out over the gulf, all white and clean and gorgeous, filled with priceless objects of art, it’s free? Amazing.
We decide to start with the Beyond Borders exhibit, a special collection of art that integrates Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions in an art collection. There are so many pieces that make me gasp in awe. I see one, and I can’t resist, the camera is out of my bag, I see others snapping photos with cell phones, but I know the rules . . . hmmm. But there is nothing posted here saying “no photos!” I ask the guard if I am allowed to take photos and he tells me “You are welcome, madame, all through the museum, you may take photos.”
I am in total shock. All through the museum? I can take photos?
Here is the piece that moved me so much that I gathered up the courage to ask. It is a Madonna, painted in Aleppo, Syria, I believe, and it has an Quranic sura written in her halo:
The museum is my oyster, and my battery is dead. I didn’t bring another. Some things happen for the best, and I tuck my camera back in my purse and AdventureMan and I try to absorb what the Doha Museum of Islamic Art has to offer.
It is an impossible task. There is SO much. Not everything is well documented, and then there are sections which are amazing. There is so much to learn, and so much beauty in this museum.
If I had to choose my favorite thing of all, it would be some tiles from Kashan. In an earlier post, commenter Daggero mentioned that the word for tile used in Kuwait is “kashi” and now I know that it comes from these tiles, made in Kashan around the 1300’s (Gregorian calendar) which were famed for their intricacy, their interlocking designs, and their high quality. There are also Iznik tiles in the museum, which are thought to be greatly influenced by these tiles from Kashan.
I had no idea, but the tiles just blow me away. I would love to create some tiled rooms back in my Seattle house, with reproductions of some of these amazing star shaped tiles. For me, that was the highlight of this trip. I know there will have to be many more – this museum is filled with treasures. Free – for all the people. And yes – the gift shop is awesome!
Romantic Getaway in Doha
AdventureMan whisked me away to Doha for a weekend, to visit friends and the new Islamic Museum. There is a new boutique hotel in the restored market area, the Hotel Souk Waqif – and this area is THE place to be at night. The hotel is only 17 exquisite rooms, beautifully furnished, great customer service, and has promotional rates going right now at the best time of the year to visit. It is surrounded by great restaurants, and has great views in three directions. The rooms are lush and richly furnished.
Update: The website for the Souk Waqif Hotel is up and running here: Hotel Souq Waqif
View from hotel 1
View 3 from hotel
This sign always cracks me up – in a parking lot near Electricity Street (Sharaa Kharaba)
Seattle Equivalent
My sister Sparkle sent me this photo in an e-mail, saying these are the Seattle equivalent to the perky electric palm trees Adventureman so loves. Thank you, Sparkle!
They are from a Seattle blog where they post a new photo of Seattle every day: Seattle Daily Blog Spot. Right now, they have some Valentine’s Day photos, interesting, and not what you would expect.
This is the photo that inspired Sparkle:
I have to admit, these are pretty cool. Do I want them in my yard? I think not. 🙂
Transition Sunrise
I was shocked when I looked at the five day forecast and saw that the high temperature for tomorrow is 80°F / 27°C. Holy smokes. Winter is over. 80° is about as hot as I can handle without A/C – around 80° in Florida, fleas eggs start hatching, and it is time to flea-proof the house. We don’t have the same problem with fleas here, probably due to the air conditioning, on most months of the year.
This morning’s sunrise is barely less murky than yesterday’s. The weather reporter says “light haze” but sometimes it says that in the middle of a heavy dust storm, so I don’t put a lot of credibility in what it says.
The days are getting perceptibly longer. In our neighborhood, when the meuzzin “chants” for the dawn prayers, it is not so hard to get up. We are blessed to have a tenor muezzin, who loves the morning call to prayer, and does it with great melodiousness and passion. It is a wonderful way to wake up.
Have a great day, Kuwait.
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