Review of The Vine
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Review of The Vine
A Vine of Hope
The Vine
Adria Gunn
Review by Sreelatha Menon
You could call The Vine by Adria Gunn ``a collection of stories of hope from 47 people in 33 countries’’ as she describes it, or regard it as a rainbow tapestry woven in threads dipped in the different shades of the human consciousness and experience .
The book which took nearly three years to complete evolved from a Whatsapp chat group created by the writer putting together all the philanthropist contacts she knew….as the pandemic struck,…this group became active and started expanding…leading to many acts of human service across the world as a parallel microcosmic world of good hearted people in the group found ways to reach out to the needy during the pandemic.
Dalai Lama in his foreword sets the tone for the whole book as he asks the world to be motivated by a vivid sense of the oneness of humanity, not clinging to feelings of us and them.
Elaborating on this idea of oneness, the exiled political and spiritual leader of Tibet says that when you escape from a catastrophe you turn to the first person who approaches you without bothering if he is from your faith, language or nation. He calls for tweaking our education system to shift its focus from material goals and to include empathy and kindness.
One of the contributors to the book is Chaitanya Raj Singh Bhati the 20 something king of the erstwhile kingdom of Jaisalmer in India …Now actively pursuing humanitarian goals like setting up schools for girls and water conservation projects. He adds to the colourful array of actors on the world stage showcased by the book.
Andrew Jackson Young activist and associate of martin Luther king talks of his days trying to prevent a violent reaction to Ku Klux Klan provocations and concludes with the advice he learnt from his father: ``Don’t get mad get smart’’ and quotes self help guru Deepak Chopra saying that we are all spiritual beings who spend a short time in this physical world…hence bound by a common spirit.
Each contributor has a recipe for hope but not all may be universally appealing as for instance the suggestion of animal activist Jane Goodall that population control is the mantra to save the other species. Each contributor has a unique perspective. Indian spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar talks of the need to master one’s self, while, virologist Byron Martina talks of the rampant research apartheid, meaning the neglect of research in diseases that kill the poorer communities and how SARS, CoViD and such killers emerged as equalizers.
In terms of style, the quality varies. Since these are letters, Dunn leaves them in their original state. . So often there are sentences that are too long like this one: ``On March 15, 2022, only fourteen days after coming up with the idea, a team of thirteen volunteers, led by me driving one of the ambulances, took a convoy of six ambulances across Europe and successfully delivered these vehicles to an amazing organisation called Global Outreach Doctors that had paramedic responders waiting to risk their lives by driving these vehicles into Ukraine.’’
Or there are minor errors as in page 55: `` During the Art of Living, we are usually very democratic and act on consensus, but on this occasion I put my foot down. ‘’ Art of Living is an organization and the writer meant the AOL conference.
Here is an example of loose editing on page 23: ``The burial society was especially significant because everyone wanted to provide for a dignified burial for their loved ones, and my grandfather made a hugely successful business out of it.''
Many of them make for lucid reading as they tell a story/stories like the ones by Artist EL Seed, Pastor Brad Bandy or author Clare Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford who tells the story of her coming to terms with her personal tragedy.
The writers include architects, princes, musicians, environmentalists, mountaineers like Peter Hillary or journalists and talk about hope amidst adversities, be it the story of the creation of the NGO (children helping children) or Niños Ayudando Niños amidst the pandemic written by its young pre teen founder Leon Rocco Feldman Birigner or the stirring story of human survival from Rwanda by Eric Rutingabo Muhizi.
While it is heartwarming to read these stories, it may be difficult to take them at the same time or at a stretch as they tell different stories and each has a different mood and theme. The style of writing also differs as the writers are different and some not professional writers. So it is a book that is ideally to be taken in small portions at a time and can be read from any chapter starting in the middle or the end or anywhere one likes. As the writers are from ages ranging from 10 to 90, it is suitable for all age groups. It ranks high for its intention but could have read better with tighter editing.
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The Vine
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