Books - I Found 'The Professor' at Bargain Basement and gave it a Go

I had a dust/fur allergic reaction after we went back from Raub last weekend. It was quite bad, both my ears and throat were itchy, I was sneezing, mild headache and my nose were watery the whole day. Then I can't sleep at night, maybe due to the new coffee I drank that morning or maybe because it was the first day of my period (hormonal changes). Not exactly sure.

I woke up again at 2 am, decided to take an antihistamine pill, and waited for the sleepy effect. I managed to read another 2 chapters from the book that I found at Bargain Basement, IOI last week. It is The Professor by Faizal Tehrani, now my current read. This is my first attempt to read his work (or maybe second, I think I probably read one of his other books around 10 years back).

I have no problem with his choice of topic, as a reader, I read any books that I can possibly consume, but I have some problems with the reading experience itself. I don't usually share books that I'm not a fan of, but I guess I want to remember this one (for my own future note).

Several issues with the book :

• It felt like reading his travelogue. I usually find details like names, places, transits, transportation names, flight/bus codes, and prices of each and every food/drink - quite distracting. I'm more of a visual learner, so I rather have things explained visually than in names (because I can't imagine it, so it turned into white noise while reading). This is one of the examples :

I think there are a lot of unnecessary details that can be omitted for a better reading experience. There are many more pages like this. I was mostly lost in the details and forgot what was happening in this scene :

• Also, assuming the reason I felt like reading academic writing is because Suliza is a professor? It is a bit lengthy and boring, at times it can take paragraphs and paragraphs about a topic/issue that is written like in academic writing. 
• Here he writes from a female 'lesbian' scholar's POV and the main character is sexually active. As a woman kan, I don't think we think of sex as much as a man does and we don't usually look around and feel turned on just by imagining. We don't really function the same way as men. We aren't horny most of the time, so it annoyed me a bit. Or maybe it is just for me. 
• Suppose he wants to write that many sex scenes & sexual imagination, also as a representation of one of the minority groups in Malaysia. In that case, I wish he wrote it from a gay Muslim living in Malaysia instead because I don't think there's much of a voice from Suliza as a lesbian Muslim scholar here. Do they really feel represented here? 

I didn't like the reading experience because there were too many names and details that did not help with the story-telling other than a distraction for me, and also with the academic-writing style - I mean, I am no academician, do they naturally talk that way among each other? The mention of which law, which countries, which academic writings, which speaker, which activists, which talks, it bores me :F Seriously, too many names and unnecessary details.

I've been reading a lot of classics for the past 2 months and they don't bore me as much as this :F The issues were valid though, I just wish it was written differently.

Here's what Faisal Tehrani mentioned in an interview :

“My role is to write. As stories and ideas are permanent, I choose literature. Others must get involved too. All of us. Those who read my writing, for instance, must tell others about them.”

So here I'm sharing about my new current read while resting from the Herman Hesse assignment. My grogginess from the antihistamine last night stayed in me for the rest of the day. I felt groggy and mellow the whole day, and had to nap in the afternoon. Not a fan of the aftermath.

Note: I finished it after 2 weeks of forcing myself to finish up the book so that I could start on other books, and I finally did. But I didn't like the reading experience at all, it was really boring, had to force myself to read it instead of DNF it because I want to resell it back. Glad it was over. I hope he won't stumble upon this blog because I don't want him to read this post - I don't usually share my dislike for any books with people.