Day: December 19, 2022

Movie review: Rickshaw Girl

Rickshaw Girl is available to stream now. Photo: Amazon

Mitali Perkins writes novels for young people, including “You Bring the Distant Near,” (nominated for the National Book Award) “Rickshaw Girl,” (NYPL best 100 Book for children in the past 100 years), “Bamboo People,” (ALA Top 10 YA novel) and “Tiger Boy.” (South Asia Book Award winner) Her newest is “The Story of Us,” a picture book from Beaming Books, and a nonfiction book for adults, “Steeped in Stories: Timeless Children’s Novels to Refresh our Tired Souls,” published by Broadleaf. “Rickshaw Girl” is the critically acclaimed story of a young, artistic Bangladeshi girl who bravely defies tradition in order to support her family through hard times. It was adapted into an award-winning film and is available for streaming on Amazon Video and Apple iTunes, from Filmhub and Sleeperwave Films. (Rickshaw Girl, 2022)

In the movie adaptation, Novera Rahman portrays the teenage Naima who, after her father, a rickshaw driver, gets sick and cannot work, is determined to do whatever it takes to help out the family. She is a talented artist and her father encourages her gift but it is not financially rewarding. His rickshaw is repossessed because he has been unable to report to work and her mother loses her job when she is accused of stealing a cellphone. When Naima’s mother dashes her dreams of being an artist, it sends the frustrated teen off to the big city, determined to earn money for the family’s survival. At first she gets a job as a housekeeper but the conditions are so bad she leaves after one day. Out of options, she disguises herself as a boy to get a job as a rickshaw driver using the skills her father taught her. Her creative drive has her sneaking every opportunity to paint and her vivid artwork comes to life in beautifully animated form, along with hope that her emergence as an artist will be her true salvation.

Life’s harsh reality can be tough on anyone, especially children and teenagers. Rickshaw Girl does an exemplary job of combining the grittiness of the big city with the beauty of Naima’s paintings, which proves that beauty can be found in the most desolate of places. This coming of age movie touches on the topics of family pride, female empowerment, and self esteem/respect while sharing the Bangladeshi culture. While it is reminiscent of Mulan, friendship, hardships, and familial responsibilities are elements of the human condition that are similar across cultures and languages. Most importantly, it stresses the importance of never giving up on your dreams, even if you have to temporarily set them aside. It is a positive, uplifting movie recommended for teenagers and adults alike.

** Thank you to October Coast for an advanced screening. 

Upcoming book release: ‘The Ghost in Her’ by Anika Savoy

Anika Savoy’s ‘The Ghost in Her’ will be released January 3, 2023. Photo: Amazon

Anika Savoy is an award-winning author and attorney who has always felt a supernatural pull. A healthy skeptic, she cannot deny her near-death experience and the shift it made in her life and writing. She attended McGill University and graduated with distinction in 1988 with a B.A. in English Literature. While at McGill, she won several creative writing contests. Thereafter, she wrote three historical romance novels. In 1998, Anika changed course and pursued her lifelong dream of becoming an attorney. She graduated from University of Cincinnati, College of Law with Dean’s Honors in 2001 and practiced law for almost 20 years. Now, Anika returns to her first love: writing historical romances. She strives to add paranormal elements that take readers into a fairy tale universe where ghosts and witches exist, and happy endings abound. In “The Ghost In Her,” the first in Anika Savoy’s Ungilded Series, she delivers a paranormal historical romance book that revolves around themes of class disparity and feminism. “The Ghost in Her, Ungilded: Book One,” will be released January 3, 2023 and is available for pre-order on Amazon and other fine retailers. (Anika Savoy, 2022)

“The Ghost in Her” – introduces readers to Maggie O’Connor, who comes from a long line of Irish female seers. She does not want to see ghosts, but there is nothing she can do to stop them from following her around New York City in the late 1800s. When her sister’s baby is kidnapped, she and her employer’s handsome son race to rescue the child. First, however, Maggie must escape from the madhouse she is sentenced to on Blackwell Island. Will the ghosts help her win in a battle where the obstacles seem insurmountable?

“The first book of Anika Savoy’s Ungilded Series, ‘The Ghost in Her,’ is a dark, immersive fairy tale, dusted with Gothic whimsy. It is a story for the romantic and the history buff, a rich page-turner that forces us to consider the ongoing social ills that, to this day, continue to haunt us.” Mike Robinson, award-winning author of The Enigma of Twilight Falls Trilogy

Savoy is an avid explorer and researcher. She spent time on Blackwell Island, known as Roosevelt Island today, investigating the location of the former asylum, as well as researching the Bowery of New York, and exploring her own family’s history for inspiration. Elements of the supernatural, Gothic horror, and mystery make the book a genre-bender that promises to entice fans of Harper Lin’s Southern Sleuth Series or Christina Skye’s Draycott Abbey Series.

“I’ve always had an interest in the supernatural. While I’m a healthy skeptic, I can’t deny the real otherworldly encounters I’ve had, including a near-death experience. This is what has fueled my writing, and what I hope helps deliver a plausible reading adventure to people in my new Ungilded Series.” – Anika Savoy

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