How To Stay Sane in An Age of Division

Written By Linda Malek
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How To Stay Sane in An Age of Division by @shafakelif

Reviewed by Linda
📘📘📘📘📘

In Elif’s latest work, the title alone speaks volumes. In a moment of panic and frustration at everything around me, I picked this up seeking refuge and some wisdom, which is always what I get from Elif regardless of the genre or the medium. An hour later I was relatively settled and understood not because I was preached to or spoon fed unrealistic positivity but I was given reasons, explanations and most importantly, resilience and resolution.

The most compelling part for me was the penultimate chapter on apathy, which Elif describes as “seemingly tranquil yet probably the most pernicious emotion...pervasive paralysis, lack of feeling and numbness” - and I couldn’t agree more.

There are just too many quote-worthy passages to share that I’d just end up copying and pasting the whole thing. This handbook is emotional and pleading but succinct and hopeful at the same time. It’s short and packs a punch so if you’re feeling to hear some real talk from a friend then give this a go.

Linda Malek

I've always had the urge to set up a forum and voice my thoughts after each read, but never had the confidence to do so alone. 18 months ago, I got my fellow book-loving friends involved and formed The Candid Book Club! Aside from having an exponentially growing to-read pile and deteriorating shortsightedness, we've been lucky to have been invited to publisher events and have attended several talks with our favourite authors (Thank you and long may they continue!) To take a break from the pressures of PhD Chemistry, Jess and I exchanged books all the time and in my youth, I was that kid with the first editions of Harry Potter having already read Gulliver’s travels and some Charles Dickens. At work, my desk is a library and luckily for me I sit next to another bookworm Jack who entertains all the photo-taking. I'm suffering from a chronic case of wanderlust (age-related crisis) so books which are set as far away from home as possible tend to float my boat: Middle East, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Asia...you name it. But if it's got anything to do with Egypt then I'm all over it. So you get the drift...I read all the time, everywhere (on the tube mostly), everyday, a book a week, and very quickly I'm onto the next! And then sometimes there is a book that stops me in my tracks, makes me want to swallow the pages whole, and have it next to me at all times, with some sentences staying with me forever: Shantaram by David Gregory Roberts, anything by Khaled Hosseini, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo (absolute gem of a woman), A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, The Good Immigrant edited by Nikesh Shuklaand and anything by Naguib Mahfouz.

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