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
Amnesty International Report on Gaza
This is just an excerpt from a much longer article on Wired.com. You can read the entire article by clicking on the blue type.
Tracking Down Gaza War’s Deadly, Mysterious Cubes
By David Hambling February 24, 2009 | 11:21:49 AMCategories: Ammo And Munitions, Missiles, Sabras
An unidentified weapon packed with strange “cube shaped shrapnel” killed or wounded civilians in the recent Gaza war, according to a new report from Amnesty International.
Amnesty’s report on weapons used by both sides in Gaza finds much to condemn. The group is particularly hard on the U.S., having found numerous remains of American munitions — including white phosphorus shells from Pine Bluff Arsenal, and a Hellfire missile made in Orlando. Another weapon which bothers Amnesty is a mysterious munition, filled with cubic particles.
“Amnesty International delegates in Gaza also found evidence of the use of a new type of missile, seemingly launched from unmanned drones, which explodes large numbers of tiny sharp-edged metal cubes, each between 2 and 4 mm square in size. This purpose-made shrapnel can penetrate even thick metal doors and many were seen by Amnesty International’s delegates embedded deep in concrete walls. They appear designed to cause maximum injury…
LOL Catz Funny for Today
more animals
There is nothing so aggravating . . .
My son was telling me that I Can Has Cheezburger started with a bunch of people who once a week would publish funny cat photos, and they called it “Caturday.” Look at it now – an idea that lives on and on and on. It must be me, but I check it about once a week, and it always makes me laugh.
Recently, in the US, a kid posted a video of himself beating up the family cat. Bloggers were able to track him down, even though he had posted under a bogus name, and report him to the authorities in his home town. The cat (who is fine, by the way) has been taken from the home and is with a vet, looking to rehome him. My son says he is sure that cat will have many many offers. The kid, meanwhile, is meeting with the district attorneys.
Mistreating animals is a classic symptom of a person who will later abuse people. I wonder if there is hope that this young man can be rehabilitated? Who would think torturing a helpless animal is fun???
This is one hodgepodge of a post, isn’t it?
Some days, it just makes me happy to think there is a blogging community with a sense of community and responsibility.
Saudi Arabia: Valentine’s Day
I just love this photo, from today’s Al Watan
A Saudi man shows how members of the Saudi vice squad (Religious police) crush red roses with their feet as they enforce a law banning Valentine”s Day celebrations in the conservative kingdom at a flower shop in Riyadh. The Western version of Valentine”s Day ـ lovers raining flowers, chocolates and toys, all with a red theme, on each other ـ would be a challenge in Saudi Arabia at any time of the year. Strict Islamic religious rules keep men and women separate until they are married ـ and marriages are usually arranged by their families. There is no taking a girlfriend out to a coffee shop or restaurant: the cafes and restaurants all have separate sections, one for single men and the other for women and families. (AFP)
Last updated on Sunday 15/2/2009
GoogleEarth Map of Speed Cameras in Kuwait
From this morning’s mail, a most valuable tool for money-saving:
AdventureMan tells me in Doha, Qatar, there are now speed cameras everywhere, and the fines are HUGE. Like $2000 for speeding, and they have the picture to prove it. He also tells me the law is applied against everyone, from the highest to the lowest, so that there is a lot less speeding and weaving than we see in Kuwait. I wonder how it is going to work here?
I read in yesterday’s paper, in Jahra, a driver deliberately hit one of the cameras with his car! I wonder if the camera was able to capture the incident before its demise? (It said the culprit was arrested, I think.)
We were out in the Wild West last night (Fehaheel) and a police car was trying to get to a huge traffic snarl. He blurped and burbled, he shouted in his loudspeaker, and nobody let him in. There was no respect for the traffic police, no fear. People just looked after their own interests. Fortunately, it was all at a very low speed, as traffic was jammed tight. There WAS room to let the police car in, but nobody did. I wonder how it would have worked if he had a camera? Or started giving tickets?
Doesn’t Kuwait need a call-in, or e-mail in place where you can take photos of traffic things happening and report violators, like those guys who think they own the emergency lanes when traffic is backed up, or who think the handicapped spots are for them (one told me “but when there is no one parking there, anyone can use it!”) to use – it would be so nice to be able to take a photo and send it in to the authorities and to believe that something would be done about it.
Intlxpatr Has an NBK Account?
Also in my Intlxpatr mail this morning, LLLOOOLLL!
When I clicked on the “Update Now” type so that I could print their web address and encourage YOU to submit false data, their website did not even work.
Losers.
Beware. These scammers are out there. Some aren’t as stupid as these guys. Some can fool ya.
Dear valued Watani Online Bank member:
Due to concerns, for the safety and integrity of your Watani Online Bank
account we have issued this warning message.
It has come to our attention that your Watani account information needs to be
updated as part of our continuing
commitment to protect your account and to
reduce the instance of fraud on our website.
If you could please take 5-10 minutes
out of your online experience and update your personal records you will not run into
any future problems with the online service.
Once you have updated your account records your Watani account
service will not be interrupted
and will continue as normal.
To update your Online Banking records click on the following link:
Update Info
Thank You.
© Member FDIC Copyright 2008 Watani Financial Corporation1-800-Watani .
Kuwaiti Girl Raped and Abandoned in Desert
From the Arab Times
If YOU know anything about this, please tell someone. The young men who committed this crime must be stopped. What they did is unthinkable. They robbed a young woman of her privacy, and they robbed her of a future where she had never been raped.
Who could so such a thing? Who is not paying attention to what their sons are up to? Abducting women off the streets, even in front of their own homes – who brings up young men who would do this? Why so many at this time of the year?
Young Kuwaiti girl left in desert after gang rape, 10 men queried
KUWAIT CITY : In a shocking incident, a Kuwaiti girl in her 20s was raped and left unconscious in a desert area in Al-Jedaliyat near Doha.
Sources say a Kuwaiti man noticed the girl and called Operations Room which promptly dispatched securitymen and paramedics to the scene. She was then rushed to Intensive Care Unit of Sabah Hospital where doctors confirmed that she was raped.
Investigations revealed that the girl was a resident of Sabah Al-Salem area and a missing persons report was filed on her.
Securitymen combed the camping area where she was found and arrested tens of youths for investigation.
Sources suspect that the culprits are still out there. “Since no mobile phone was found near the girl and she is still unconscious, police don’t have any clue about the culprits,” they add.
Securitymen are keeping a watch in the area where she was found.
Ok To Marry 10 Year Old Girls – Saudi Arabia
This is just sad. I’m sorry, a ten year old girl is that – a girl. Any father knows that. She is precious and innocent, and still playing dolls and make believe. Few girls are even menstruating at 10. No girl, at 10, has the emotional and physical maturity to enter into a marriage. And this is the SENIOR Saudi Arabian cleric speaking? I’m sorry, this makes me sick to my stomach. It’s just wrong.
You don’t leave a ten year old alone – you get a babysitter. A ten year old belongs in school, a ten year old belongs with her mother.
This is from today’s Al Watan, right on the front page.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia”s most senior cleric was quoted Wednesday as saying it is permissible for 10ـyearـold girls to marry and those who think they’re too young are doing the girls an injustice.
The mufti”s comments showed the conservative clergy’s opposition to a drive by Saudi rights groups, including government ones, to define the age of marriage and put an end to the phenomenon of child marriages.
“It is wrong to say it’s not permitted to marry off girls who are 15 and younger,” Sheik AbdulـAziz AlـSheikh, the country”s grand mufti, was quoted as saying.
“A female who is 10 or 12 is marriageable and those who think she’s too young are wrong and are being unfair to her,” he said during a Monday lecture, according to the panـArab AlـHayat newspaper.
AlـSheikh”s comments come at a time when Saudi human rights groups have been pushing the government to put an end to marriages involving the very young and to define a minimum age for marriage. In the past few months, Saudi newspapers have highlighted several cases in which young girls were married off to much older men or very young boys.
Though the mufti’s pronouncements are respected and provide guidance, the government is not legally bound by them.
On Sunday, the governmentـrun Human Rights Commission condemned marriages of minor girls, saying such marriages are an “inhumane violation” and rob children of their rights.
The commission’s statement followed a ruling by a court in Oneiza in central Saudi Arabia last month that dismissed a divorce petition by the mother of an eightـyearـold girl whose father married her off to a man in his 50s.
Newspaper reports said the court argued that the mother did not have the right to file such a case on behalf of her daughter and said that the petition should be filed by the girl when she reaches puberty.
Responding to a question about parents who force their underage daughters to marry, the mufti said: “We hear a lot about the marriage of underage girls in the media, and we should know that Islamic law has not brought injustice to women.”
The mufti said a good upbringing will make a girl capable of carrying out her duties as a wife and that those who say women should not marry before the age of 25 are following a “bad path.”
“Our mothers and before them, our grandmothers, married when they were barely 12,” said AlـSheikh, according to AlـHayat.
There are no statistics to show how many marriages involving children are performed in Saudi Arabia every year. And it’s also not clear whether these unions are on the rise or whether people are hearing about them more now because of the prevalence of media outlets and easy access to the Internet.
Activists say the girls are given away in return for hefty dowries or as a result of longـstanding custom in which a father promises his infant daughters and sons to cousins out of a belief that marriage will protect them from illicit relationships. ـAP
Last updated on Thursday 15/1/2009
I have a friend who says the mufti needs to come back in his next life as a young girl in Saudi Arabia. I think it might give his thought processes some clarity.
NBK Scam Letter
This is a total hoot. Like I really have an account under the name “Intlxpatr”. My friends, if you get this letter, do not click on the blue type and go to the website which will LOOK a lot like NBK, but will not be NBK. DO NOT give them any information, none! If you have the slightest doubt, go to your bank directly, but do not give these identity thieves any information!
From: info@update.com
Dear valued Watani Online Bank member:
Due to the number of incorrect login attempts, your Watani Online Bank Account has been locked for your security.
This has been done to secure your accounts and to protect your private information.
In case the login attempts were not done by you..
At Watani Online Bank we care about your security .
So, for your protection we are proactively notifying you of this activity.
If you did not trigger this lockout, follow this link to Log on to your Watani Online Account:
Click here to unlock your online account
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
We apologize for any inconvenience.
Thank you for using Watani Online Bank !
Rape, Abduction and Sorcery
I’ve always loved reading the newspaper, but even more so in other countries, where things are seen differently. These two items are from the Arab Times
11 out of 30 youths held in rape of 2 Asian women
KUWAIT CITY : Police have arrested 11 Bedoun youths out of the thirty who had kidnapped two Asian women near a commercial complex in Jahra and sexually assaulted them for four days in a camp in Mutla’a area.
It was reported that the two victims managed to escape after the four-day ordeal and reported the incident to a night patrol team who informed the Jahra police.
The police then raided the camp and arrested the eleven suspects and referred them to North Jahra Police Station. A case was registered.
Sorceress held: Police have arrested an unidentified Iraqi sorceress and referred her to the concerned authorities, reports Al-Dar daily.
The arrest came following a complaint filed by an unidentified Kuwaiti man who told police the woman had cheated by selling him a magic charm for KD 230. He also told police he had been wearing the charm for three months and failed to get what he aspired for.
Acting on this information police set a trap for the sorceress and caught her in the act while selling a charm worth KD 300 to a police agent. Armed with a search and arrest warrant, police then raided the apartment and confiscated various kinds of tools used by the suspect in black magic.
During interrogations she admitted to the charge and said her clientele includes well-known personalities and female university students. She also said she has until now ‘earned’ KD 85,000 from her ‘work’.
It has also been reported many people, particularly those who believe in her power, intervened in vain to secure her release.
By Mezyad Al-Saeedi
Special to the Arab Times
First, I cannot imagine the horror of being abducted, held in a remote location, and raped by up to 30 different men. The worst fear, of course, is whether you will live through it. Some victims don’t. Wouldn’t you think the names of these young rapists would be published so that women could be protected from marrying them? Imagine, being married to a man who rapes women . . . it would be a little bit of hell on earth.
Secondly – the first guy spent over $800 on a charm and then waited three months for it to work. In the interest of full disclosure, I sure would like to know what the charm was supposed to do? The police officer who entrapped the sorceress was going to pay over $1000 for her magic. That she claims she has earned 85,000 KD per year – that is around $325,000, that’s some serious income for some sorcery.
They are very good at obtaining confessions in Kuwait.
I can’t remember the last time I heard of someone being arrested for sorcery in my home town. There are similar sorts, people who con the elderly, people who prey on the deepest fears and hopes of others, but rarely are they accused of anything but fraud and theft.
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