Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal - Book Review

I've always believed in the power of reading books because of how much I've gained from them. Books educate you, enlighten you, humble you while also entertaining you. They expose you to a world of things and ways of lives outside of your bubble. They transport you to different countries, cities, even centuries without you ever having to leave the comfort of your room. It is the cheapest way to travel the world and the only known way to time-travel. Reading widens your perceptions and shows you things you didn't know existed, it shines light on things that you knew existed but never had the chance to learn about. Reading is for the curious-minded, actually strike that, reading is for everyone. It is an escape route for some, while being a gateway to others. It can actually be anything what you want it to be.

This book was written by Jeanette Winterson who loves poetry, books and everything to do with them. She finds companionship in them, and her undying love for the language, it's power and it's beauty is the fabric on which she writes. The book is a sort of an autobiography, talking about her growing up days, her mother and what it means to be an adopted child. Now adoption of a child is a common occurrence and the problems that may stem from it are fairly predictable. Or so I thought. Nothing is simple when it comes to humans, is it? We are the oddest creatures on the planet equipped with every (metaphorical) brick needed to build a happy life, who instead prefer to wall ourselves and others with hatred, cruelty and misery.

This book was a burden (to the heart) to read because of how saddening it was, which also makes it that much important that I read it. It pushed my boundaries and made me realise how lucky I was to have had a happy childhood. It reminded me of my privileges and made me swear to never take any kind of love I have in my life, for granted. I am not a poetry lover but reading about how the author relates to poetry and finds it liberating makes me wish I was smart enough to understand it too (That and my recent watching of Dead Poets Society).

"All of us, when in deep trauma, find we hesitate, we stammer; there are long pauses in our speech. The thing is stuck. We get our language back through the language of others. We can turn to the poem. We can open the book. Somebody has been there for us and deep-dived the words."