The Rose That Grew From Concrete, Tupac Shakur's Poetic Legacy Thrives

 Tupac Shakur untimely death (b. 1971-96) cannot silence his poetic genius.  His words leap off the page & pull at your heart strings.  His love poems are sonnets that soar with emotion.
The Power of a Smile for Renee
"The power of anger can rage inside until it tears you apart.  But the power of a smile, especially yours can heal a frozen heart."
Shakur's premonition of his early death is haunting:
In the Event of My Demise
"I will die before my time.  Because I feel the shadow's depth.  So much I wanted to accomplish before I reached my Death."
Shakur's rousing poems speak of love, pain, fear, strength, faith, heartbreak & injustice.
Lady Liberty Needs Glasses
"While justice is on a rampage for endangered surviving black males.  I mean really if anyone really valued life and cared about the masses, They'd take em both to Pen Optical and get 2 pair of glasses."
He boldly puts forth the plights of young black men: drugs, police brutality, incarcertation, & poverty.  He speaks of his devotion for his single mother and admiration for leaders & artists:  Mandela, Malcom X,  Huey Newton, and Van Gogh.
The Rose That Grew From Concrete is a compilation of Shakur's writings & drawings.  His powerful legacy will thrive, inspire & immortalize a galvanizing artist whose life was taken way too early.
Untitled
"Stregth is overcome by weakness.  Joy is overcome by pain.  The night is overcome by brightness and Love - it remains the same."  

Toby's Room By British author Pat Barker is Unpleasant & Substandard

British author, Pat Barker, has been awarded the Booker Prize winner (Ghost Road) and honored as  Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her brilliant legacy of work.  Her works mainly dealt  with the horrors of WWI & the aftermaths of trauma.  I read her Regeneration Trilogy & am in accord with British author Jonathan Coe (The Rain Before it Falls '08)  that her trilogy "is one of the few real masterpieces of late 20th C British fiction."  Her previous novel, Life Class '07, was lighter in subject matter; an art student in the years after WWI.  Her most recent novel, Toby's Room '12, refers to the brother of the herione, Elinor.  Elinor was an art student & a commissioned artist to draw soldiers wounded & disfigured in the war.  The novel concerns the horrors of war but it is centered on the incestuous relationship between Elinor & Toby.  When Toby is classified as MIA, Elinor becomes obsessed with learning what became of her brother. Two of her classmates, Paul & Neville, were stationed with Toby during the war.  Elinor is relentless in her pursuit of information regardless of Neville's gross facial disfigurement & Paul's devotion to her.  The mystique to discover what become of  Toby kept me engaged.  The hideous truth is that Toby was caught having a sexual liasion with a young stable hand & chose suicide rather than face a dishonorable discharge.  Barker is a masterful writer and I appreciate her contention, "…historical novels can be a backdoor into the present which is valuable."  However, I found the novel distasteful & would recommend her Regeneration Trilogy instead.

French novel, The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles is a Bunch of Crock

Pancol's novel The Yellow Eyes… was a huge hit in France when it was 1st published in '06.  The novel is as subtle & predicable as the crocodile in pursuit of Capt. Hook; you know what's coming and whose going to get their comeuppance.  Josephine is the noble, hardworking, devoted mother of 2 daughters.  Josephine romanticizes about life in the 12th C; a time of nobles, more than focusing on the present.  Josephine's philandering husband leaves her for a younger & more attractive woman.  He leaves France with his mistress to raise crocodiles in Africa; a foolhardy scheme (selling their hides which makes me scream.)  Plain Josephine's sister Iris (eye analogy) is gorgeous, conniving & attention grabbing.  Iris will eat up anything or anyone that gets in her way.  Hortense & Zoe are Josephine's 2 daughters.  Hortense is the glamorous sister who emulates her Aunt Iris' go for the kill modus operandi.   The fairer & comparer of the 2 sisters runs parallel between generations.  The mother of Josephine & Iris is the matriarch of family dysfunction.  There is a ridiculous subplot involving Josephine's best  friend leading a double life as a commoner and secretive daughter to the Queen of England.  Does the damsel in distress overcome all obstacles to find happiness.  This is a beach book better eaten by a croc than read - later alligator.