An interesting read. Not as good as the Russian Concubine, but still good. I've read allot of fiction based during the rise of communism in China, so this book was interesting in that respect. It takes place in the Ural mountains and in the Siberian labor camps. The parallels to Chinese communism is close, but of course the Russians did it first. The forced labor of the former aristocratic class, the spying on neighbors, the starvation of the farmers, children so indoctrinated they'll snitch on their own parents; all the things that happened in Russia also happened in China. So, an interesting back drop to a fairly interesting story.
The characters were fairly well developed by the end of the book, and the women where survivor-strong. The author had you rooting for a happy ending. There's a surprising case of mistaken identity, but more surprising to me was the mystical gypsy stuff going on, and the fact the the main character finds out she's the 7th daughter of a 7th daughter - totally cool. I wasn't expecting anything as cool as that. To be totally hones, it almost seems like the author may have added it because the story was foundering, but it worked for me; I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff.
About the Book:
Davinsky Labor Camp, Siberia, 1933: Only two things in this wretched place keep Sofia from giving up hope: the prospect of freedom, and the stories told by her friend and fellow prisoner Anna, of a charmed childhood in Petrograd, and her fervent girlhood love for a passionate revolutionary named Vasily.
After a perilous escape, Sofia endures months of desolation and hardship. But, clinging to a promise she made to Anna, she subsists on the belief that someday she will track down Vasily. In a remote village, she’s nursed back to health by a Gypsy family, and there she finds more than refuge—she also finds Mikhail Pashin, who, her heart tells her, is Vasily in disguise. He’s everything she has ever wanted—but he belongs to Anna.
After coming this far, Sofia is tantalizingly close to freedom, family—even a future. All that stands in her way is the secret past that could endanger everything she has come to hold dear…
Friday, December 26, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Lost by Gregory Maguire
I never know what to think of Gregory Maguire's books. They're impossible to classify; are they fantasy, historical, mystery? Fairy tales with a modern twist, or modern stories with a fairy tale twist? And they all ways leave me with an uneasy feeling. "Lost" seemed to me to not have much momentum for much of the book. It picks up after Winnie becomes possessed by a 12th century spirit, but it almost happens too late in the book, so although really facinating, it's almost out of place in the story. I don't think I can recommend this book to any one other than a Gregory Maguire fan.
About the Book
Winifred Rudge, a bemused writer struggling to get beyond the runaway success of her mass-market astrology book, travels to London to jump-start her new novel about a woman who is being haunted by the ghost of Jack the Ripper. Upon her arrival, she finds that her stepcousin and old friend John Comestor has disappeared, and a ghostly presence seems to have taken over his home. Is the spirit Winnie's great-great-grandfather, who, family legend claims, was Charles Dickens's childhood inspiration for Ebenezer Scrooge? Could it be the ghostly remains of Jack the Ripper? Or a phantasm derived from a more arcane and insidious origin? Winnie begins to investigate and finds herself the unwilling audience for a drama of specters and shades -- some from her family's peculiar history and some from her own unvanquished past.
In the spirit of A. S. Byatt's Possession, with dark echoing overtones of A Christmas Carol, Lost presents a rich fictional world that will enrapture its readers.
About the Book
Winifred Rudge, a bemused writer struggling to get beyond the runaway success of her mass-market astrology book, travels to London to jump-start her new novel about a woman who is being haunted by the ghost of Jack the Ripper. Upon her arrival, she finds that her stepcousin and old friend John Comestor has disappeared, and a ghostly presence seems to have taken over his home. Is the spirit Winnie's great-great-grandfather, who, family legend claims, was Charles Dickens's childhood inspiration for Ebenezer Scrooge? Could it be the ghostly remains of Jack the Ripper? Or a phantasm derived from a more arcane and insidious origin? Winnie begins to investigate and finds herself the unwilling audience for a drama of specters and shades -- some from her family's peculiar history and some from her own unvanquished past.
In the spirit of A. S. Byatt's Possession, with dark echoing overtones of A Christmas Carol, Lost presents a rich fictional world that will enrapture its readers.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery
I LOVED this book. It's reminiscent of Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha - maybe not as spectacular, but as rich in detail. But instead of Geisha, it delves into the world of Tea. And it takes place in the late 19th century, and Geisha is in the early 20th - ok, so maybe they're not all that much alike. But I enjoyed reading this one just as much, and learned allot about Japanese culture at that time. It's not a quick read, but that was one of the things I liked about it. I felt I had a lot of time to savor the story and the characters.
This is one book that I could totally see as a screen play, as long as it was kept real. I can picture a tea ceremony, with the camera focusing in on each subtle gesture and movement: a flash of wrist, a movement of the whisk. It's such a choreographed art, that it seems it would fit well with the big screen - sort of making you focus on the subtleties. Which would probably make most tea masters roll over in their graves. The idea that you have to be cultured, civilized in a totally Japanese way to even appreciate it and notice these subtleties is what kept it as part of the upper class. Sort of like Yukako marketing her "tea sets" to westerners.
Yukako did a good job of balancing keeping her art form intact, yet still able to support herself making tea more accessible to others - especially women. I never realized geisha were excluded from tea ceremony - I always thought they were synonymous. But in fact, tea ceremony was a mans art, stemming from the time of the shoguns and samurai. During the late 19th century the caste system in Japan was breaking down, and tea ceremony would have gone by the wayside if people like Yukako weren't willing to bend tradition, unlike her father and her husband, who would have rather seen it disappear before they saw it "sullied".
About the Book:
"When I was nine, in the city now called Kyoto, I changed my fate. I walked into the shrine through the red arch and struck the bell. I bowed twice. I clapped twice. I whispered to the foreign goddess and bowed again. And then I heard the shouts and the fire. What I asked for? Any life but this one." —The Teahouse Fire
The answer to Aurelia Bernard's prayer—made at a Shinto shrine in the Japanese city of Miyako—comes in the form of a fire that consumes her Uncle Charles, the last blood relative she will ever know. The fatherless daughter of a French woman raised in New York City, Aurelia lost her mother on the eve of their departure for Japan with her Catholic missionary uncle. Now orphaned from both her family and her culture, she seeks refuge in the Baishian teahouse, where she is befriended by a beautiful young girl named Yukako, daughter of the great tea master who heads the Shin family. Despite Aurelia's ignorance of their language and customs, the Shins take her into their household, giving her a new name, Urako, and introducing her to the ancient rites and rituals of Chado—the Way of Tea.
Ellis Avery's The Teahouse Fire offers an intimate window onto the dramatic social upheavals of late-nineteenth-century Japan, as an ancient Eastern culture attempts to remake itself in the image of the rapidly modernizing West. The story of Urako—born of one society, educated in another, forever an outsider to both—mirrors the story of Meiji-era Japan as a whole, seduced by the strange new ideas of a foreign world but still tied to the ways of the past. Urako learns the temae, or steps, of the tea ceremony from the Shins, whose family has taught the ritual to Japan's rulers for nearlythree centuries. At the same time, she is indoctrinated into the rigid social order of the day, where one's position in society is determined by birth and a woman's fate is determined by the wishes of her father and husband. But within a few years of Urako's arrival these ingrained traditions have begun to erode, bringing new hardships alongside new opportunities.
The Emperor declares the era one of Meiji, or "Enlightened Rule," and the centuries-old social order of Japan vanishes overnight. The old caste system—with the venerated samurai on top and the despised eta, or "unclean," as the lowest of the low—is abolished, and many fortunes reverse dramatically. The tea ceremony is declared an archaic "pastime" to be abandoned, and the imperial stipends that supported the Shins' tea school, and the families of its samurai pupils, are abruptly discontinued. At the same time, the new social mobility of the era raises ambitious members of the merchant caste to positions of power and wealth, so much so that Yukako is gladly offered in marriage to a bumbling former pupil, whose merchant family's affluence now far surpasses that of the young samurai she was once promised to—and whom she still loves.
But while the old traditions have been officially disavowed, there remains a craving amongst the newly elevated classes for the trappings of the old aristocracy. Seizing on this sentiment, Yukako revives her family's business by tossing aside old taboos and teaching the once male-dominated Chado rituals to the young girls in the nation's now-Westernized school system. As years and decades pass, Urako stays loyally by the side of her adopted "older sister," accepting her role as dutiful vassal while secretly nurturing her desire for more. And eventually Yukako's growing ambitions run aground, culminating in a heartbreaking evening tea ceremony that leaves both her relationship with Urako and their beloved Baishian teahouse in ashes.
ABOUT ELLIS AVERY
Ellis Avery studied Japanese tea ceremony for five years in New York and Kyoto, and now teaches creative writing at Columbia University. Her work has appeared in The Village Voice, Publishers Weekly, Kyoto Journal, LIT, and Pacific Reader, as well as onstage at New York's Expanded Arts Theater.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. "In the tea world there is a phrase, ichigo ichie. One moment, one meeting. Every moment is what it is...in the end, in the deepest sense, there are no mistakes." As with many aspects of the tea ceremony, this concept seems to speak to a broader truth about life in general. Does this idea tie in, in your mind, with the overall themes of the novel? Which characters best embody this ideal? Do you agree with their approach to life?
2. Although certain aspects of nineteenth century Japanese society—such as the caste system—are quite foreign to the Western world, the underlying constrictions seem similar: Urako's uncle creates a fictional dead husband for her mother in order to hide the shame of her out-of-wedlock pregnancy, much as characters like Aki and Hazu must hide the shame of their own parentage. In what other ways are similarities between Eastern and Western society evident in the novel? In what ways are those societies fundamentally different?
3. In the novel, Japanese names carry great significance—enough so that Koito's connection to Yukako's family and the Baishian tea house is revealed by analyzing the characters that make up their names. How is the Japanese way of naming different from the way it is done in Western societies? Do the differences say anything significant about the differences between each society as a whole?
4. When Urako is assaulted by Jiro, she mentally compares the experience to being menaced by her Uncle Charles years before. Do you think Aurelia is responsible for Uncle Charles's death? Do you think her apparent lack of guilt is justified?
5. The Teahouse Fire is filled with objects whose significance goes far beyond their function: Jiro's Lightning tea bowl, Yukako's final gift of a wastewater bowl made of wood salvaged from Baishian. Does Yukako's mass-marketing of tea wares dilute the meaning of such objects? Or, like Urako's Saint Claire medal, do objects gain their significance not through the care with which they were made, but through the meaning we attribute to them?
6. In many ways, Yukako's success in marketing her tea sets represents a surrender of traditional culture to the demands—and opportunities—of modern capitalism. How do you feel about this trade-off? Does the commercialization of the tea ceremony—or any tradition—erode its purity? Is the revising of ancient cultural practices to fit modern needs something to be mourned or celebrated?
7. Urako makes three prayers in the course of the novel. The first—any life but this one—is followed by the apparent death of her uncle; the second—make something happen... make him [Nao] leave—comes shortly before Kenji and Aki attempt suicide; and the last—to be happy—is made as Urako prepares to make a new life in America. What do Urako's prayers tell us about the evolution of her approach to life? What meaning do you place on the way those prayers are "answered"?
8. While it seems certain that Yukako started the fire in the Baishian teahouse, it remains unclear whether she did so intentionally. What do you think happened?
This is one book that I could totally see as a screen play, as long as it was kept real. I can picture a tea ceremony, with the camera focusing in on each subtle gesture and movement: a flash of wrist, a movement of the whisk. It's such a choreographed art, that it seems it would fit well with the big screen - sort of making you focus on the subtleties. Which would probably make most tea masters roll over in their graves. The idea that you have to be cultured, civilized in a totally Japanese way to even appreciate it and notice these subtleties is what kept it as part of the upper class. Sort of like Yukako marketing her "tea sets" to westerners.
Yukako did a good job of balancing keeping her art form intact, yet still able to support herself making tea more accessible to others - especially women. I never realized geisha were excluded from tea ceremony - I always thought they were synonymous. But in fact, tea ceremony was a mans art, stemming from the time of the shoguns and samurai. During the late 19th century the caste system in Japan was breaking down, and tea ceremony would have gone by the wayside if people like Yukako weren't willing to bend tradition, unlike her father and her husband, who would have rather seen it disappear before they saw it "sullied".
About the Book:
"When I was nine, in the city now called Kyoto, I changed my fate. I walked into the shrine through the red arch and struck the bell. I bowed twice. I clapped twice. I whispered to the foreign goddess and bowed again. And then I heard the shouts and the fire. What I asked for? Any life but this one." —The Teahouse Fire
The answer to Aurelia Bernard's prayer—made at a Shinto shrine in the Japanese city of Miyako—comes in the form of a fire that consumes her Uncle Charles, the last blood relative she will ever know. The fatherless daughter of a French woman raised in New York City, Aurelia lost her mother on the eve of their departure for Japan with her Catholic missionary uncle. Now orphaned from both her family and her culture, she seeks refuge in the Baishian teahouse, where she is befriended by a beautiful young girl named Yukako, daughter of the great tea master who heads the Shin family. Despite Aurelia's ignorance of their language and customs, the Shins take her into their household, giving her a new name, Urako, and introducing her to the ancient rites and rituals of Chado—the Way of Tea.
Ellis Avery's The Teahouse Fire offers an intimate window onto the dramatic social upheavals of late-nineteenth-century Japan, as an ancient Eastern culture attempts to remake itself in the image of the rapidly modernizing West. The story of Urako—born of one society, educated in another, forever an outsider to both—mirrors the story of Meiji-era Japan as a whole, seduced by the strange new ideas of a foreign world but still tied to the ways of the past. Urako learns the temae, or steps, of the tea ceremony from the Shins, whose family has taught the ritual to Japan's rulers for nearlythree centuries. At the same time, she is indoctrinated into the rigid social order of the day, where one's position in society is determined by birth and a woman's fate is determined by the wishes of her father and husband. But within a few years of Urako's arrival these ingrained traditions have begun to erode, bringing new hardships alongside new opportunities.
The Emperor declares the era one of Meiji, or "Enlightened Rule," and the centuries-old social order of Japan vanishes overnight. The old caste system—with the venerated samurai on top and the despised eta, or "unclean," as the lowest of the low—is abolished, and many fortunes reverse dramatically. The tea ceremony is declared an archaic "pastime" to be abandoned, and the imperial stipends that supported the Shins' tea school, and the families of its samurai pupils, are abruptly discontinued. At the same time, the new social mobility of the era raises ambitious members of the merchant caste to positions of power and wealth, so much so that Yukako is gladly offered in marriage to a bumbling former pupil, whose merchant family's affluence now far surpasses that of the young samurai she was once promised to—and whom she still loves.
But while the old traditions have been officially disavowed, there remains a craving amongst the newly elevated classes for the trappings of the old aristocracy. Seizing on this sentiment, Yukako revives her family's business by tossing aside old taboos and teaching the once male-dominated Chado rituals to the young girls in the nation's now-Westernized school system. As years and decades pass, Urako stays loyally by the side of her adopted "older sister," accepting her role as dutiful vassal while secretly nurturing her desire for more. And eventually Yukako's growing ambitions run aground, culminating in a heartbreaking evening tea ceremony that leaves both her relationship with Urako and their beloved Baishian teahouse in ashes.
ABOUT ELLIS AVERY
Ellis Avery studied Japanese tea ceremony for five years in New York and Kyoto, and now teaches creative writing at Columbia University. Her work has appeared in The Village Voice, Publishers Weekly, Kyoto Journal, LIT, and Pacific Reader, as well as onstage at New York's Expanded Arts Theater.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. "In the tea world there is a phrase, ichigo ichie. One moment, one meeting. Every moment is what it is...in the end, in the deepest sense, there are no mistakes." As with many aspects of the tea ceremony, this concept seems to speak to a broader truth about life in general. Does this idea tie in, in your mind, with the overall themes of the novel? Which characters best embody this ideal? Do you agree with their approach to life?
2. Although certain aspects of nineteenth century Japanese society—such as the caste system—are quite foreign to the Western world, the underlying constrictions seem similar: Urako's uncle creates a fictional dead husband for her mother in order to hide the shame of her out-of-wedlock pregnancy, much as characters like Aki and Hazu must hide the shame of their own parentage. In what other ways are similarities between Eastern and Western society evident in the novel? In what ways are those societies fundamentally different?
3. In the novel, Japanese names carry great significance—enough so that Koito's connection to Yukako's family and the Baishian tea house is revealed by analyzing the characters that make up their names. How is the Japanese way of naming different from the way it is done in Western societies? Do the differences say anything significant about the differences between each society as a whole?
4. When Urako is assaulted by Jiro, she mentally compares the experience to being menaced by her Uncle Charles years before. Do you think Aurelia is responsible for Uncle Charles's death? Do you think her apparent lack of guilt is justified?
5. The Teahouse Fire is filled with objects whose significance goes far beyond their function: Jiro's Lightning tea bowl, Yukako's final gift of a wastewater bowl made of wood salvaged from Baishian. Does Yukako's mass-marketing of tea wares dilute the meaning of such objects? Or, like Urako's Saint Claire medal, do objects gain their significance not through the care with which they were made, but through the meaning we attribute to them?
6. In many ways, Yukako's success in marketing her tea sets represents a surrender of traditional culture to the demands—and opportunities—of modern capitalism. How do you feel about this trade-off? Does the commercialization of the tea ceremony—or any tradition—erode its purity? Is the revising of ancient cultural practices to fit modern needs something to be mourned or celebrated?
7. Urako makes three prayers in the course of the novel. The first—any life but this one—is followed by the apparent death of her uncle; the second—make something happen... make him [Nao] leave—comes shortly before Kenji and Aki attempt suicide; and the last—to be happy—is made as Urako prepares to make a new life in America. What do Urako's prayers tell us about the evolution of her approach to life? What meaning do you place on the way those prayers are "answered"?
8. While it seems certain that Yukako started the fire in the Baishian teahouse, it remains unclear whether she did so intentionally. What do you think happened?
Saturday, November 29, 2008
The Yokota Officers Club by Sara Bird
I really enjoyed reading this book. Even though I've had a pretty stable past, I can still relate to Bernie's awkwardness in each new town/base she moves to, and her longing to be more like her sister who can make friends instantly. But she has a rich inner life to compensate. There are certain set of the population who the psychiatry field has dubbed "highly sensitive person - HSP" (about 20% of us are), and are just wired a little more tightly. Bernie fits this profile to a tee for an introverted HSP, and Kit for an extroverted HSP. Kit is able to pick up on social cues and use them to her advantage, while Bernie is simply overwhelmed by each new move and having to start over each time.
It was interesting how military families, their is insiders and outsiders. I've seen this in really big families, too, where siblings have an almost unspoken shared language. I also like how the author used smells through out her novel to invoke memories, even titleing most of the chapters after smells.
It's the mystery of Fumiko that provides the momentum for the story. No one wants to talk about her, yet she was a big part of the family for 4 years that they were stationed at Yokota - a long-time for a military family. When she starts to finally tell Bernie her story, it begins all the way during WWII, when the Japanese lost the war. It does provide an interesting perspective, from a native Japanese woman who lived through it and survived. The author manages to tell a story that brings great tragedy to life, but still has room for humor and happiness as well. All in all, it was well crafted story.
ABOUT THE BOOK
After a year away at college, military brat Bernadette Root has come "home"; to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, to spend the summer with her bizarre yet comforting clan. Ruled by a strict, regimented Air Force Major father, but grounded in their mother's particular brand of humor, Bernie's family was destined for military greatness during the glory days of the mid-'50s. But in Base life, where an unkempt lawn is cause for reassignment, one fateful misstep changed the Roots' world forever. Yet the family's silence cannot keep the wounds of the past from reemerging . . . nor can the memory fade of beloved Fumiko, the family's former maid, whose name is now verboten. And the secrets long ago covered up in classic military style–through elimination and denial–are now forcing their way to the surface for a return engagement.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Smells play a major role in The Yokota Officers Club. They are even used as titles for each chapter. What effect did they have on you as a reader?
2. The central image/metaphor of the book is the perfume factory. At the end of the book, Bernie says: "That honeysuckle is but one link in an endless limbic chain that contains all the smells of my family and of our life together." Then she goes on to name all the smells in the book, concluding that "each smell is a blossom that combines with all the other smells the same way real flowers would in a real perfume factory where the days of sunshine and growing, the days of storm and drought, the times of plenty, times of want, what the flowers got, what they didn't get, they're all squeezed together under preposterous pressure or boiled or tinctured or distilled into a few drops of a smell so beautiful it can make you remember everything." Do you agree with this metaphor of how family unity/memories are created?
3. Understanding what you do about Moe, Macon, Fumiko, and Bernie, is there anything any of them could have done to change their fate?
4. Are the pressures a military life puts on soldiers--particularly the kind of military life Macon Root had, involving highly classified, highly dangerous missions--compatible with being a warm and loving spouse? Parent?
5. Have you known any military families? How much did you know about their lives? Did the novel give you a greater appreciation of those lives?
6. It seems that military brats enjoyed their peripatetic childhoods in direct relation to how extroverted they were. The more outgoing they naturally were, the more they thrived on the constant moving. How do you think you would have fared as a military child? As a military wife?
7. Have you ever had an experience similar to the one Bernie had when you return to the scene of a childhood memory and find it strangely shrunken or diminished in some way? How is this idea of a diminution, of a degradation, of, in some cases, a fall from grace, carried out in other ways in the book? In Bernie's experience of Okinawa as contrasted with her memories of Japan? In Mace's career? In the military in general from World War II to the Vietnam War? In Moe's experience both with the military and with her marriage?
8. Did you ever reveal a secret as a child? What were the consequences? Can Bernie or any child of that age be held responsible for unkept secrets?
9. Moe and Mace seem to have come to a stalemate in their marriage. Who is responsible? What do you predict will happen to them? What do you think should happen?
10. Contrast the two mothers in the book, Moe and Fumiko's mother. How does each one react to the stresses placed upon her and her family by their respective countries?
11. One of the themes of the novel is silence, the silence of men flying reconnaissance missions, but more especially the silence of the women around them. How does each of these characters find her voice: Bernie? Moe? Fumiko?
12. This novel straddles the line between fiction and memoir. Does it take the best from each approach or the worst? What do you like and dislike about the two different approaches?
13. Did you believe that Mace and Fumiko had had an affair? Were you relieved that they hadn't?
14. Since Bernie could not have ever seen her father acting as Wingo's co-pilot, how is the crucial relationship they had in flight demonstrated?
15. Humor and tragedy collide throughout the novel. Do you prefer fiction that blends these parts of life or keeps them separate?
It was interesting how military families, their is insiders and outsiders. I've seen this in really big families, too, where siblings have an almost unspoken shared language. I also like how the author used smells through out her novel to invoke memories, even titleing most of the chapters after smells.
It's the mystery of Fumiko that provides the momentum for the story. No one wants to talk about her, yet she was a big part of the family for 4 years that they were stationed at Yokota - a long-time for a military family. When she starts to finally tell Bernie her story, it begins all the way during WWII, when the Japanese lost the war. It does provide an interesting perspective, from a native Japanese woman who lived through it and survived. The author manages to tell a story that brings great tragedy to life, but still has room for humor and happiness as well. All in all, it was well crafted story.
ABOUT THE BOOK
After a year away at college, military brat Bernadette Root has come "home"; to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, to spend the summer with her bizarre yet comforting clan. Ruled by a strict, regimented Air Force Major father, but grounded in their mother's particular brand of humor, Bernie's family was destined for military greatness during the glory days of the mid-'50s. But in Base life, where an unkempt lawn is cause for reassignment, one fateful misstep changed the Roots' world forever. Yet the family's silence cannot keep the wounds of the past from reemerging . . . nor can the memory fade of beloved Fumiko, the family's former maid, whose name is now verboten. And the secrets long ago covered up in classic military style–through elimination and denial–are now forcing their way to the surface for a return engagement.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Smells play a major role in The Yokota Officers Club. They are even used as titles for each chapter. What effect did they have on you as a reader?
2. The central image/metaphor of the book is the perfume factory. At the end of the book, Bernie says: "That honeysuckle is but one link in an endless limbic chain that contains all the smells of my family and of our life together." Then she goes on to name all the smells in the book, concluding that "each smell is a blossom that combines with all the other smells the same way real flowers would in a real perfume factory where the days of sunshine and growing, the days of storm and drought, the times of plenty, times of want, what the flowers got, what they didn't get, they're all squeezed together under preposterous pressure or boiled or tinctured or distilled into a few drops of a smell so beautiful it can make you remember everything." Do you agree with this metaphor of how family unity/memories are created?
3. Understanding what you do about Moe, Macon, Fumiko, and Bernie, is there anything any of them could have done to change their fate?
4. Are the pressures a military life puts on soldiers--particularly the kind of military life Macon Root had, involving highly classified, highly dangerous missions--compatible with being a warm and loving spouse? Parent?
5. Have you known any military families? How much did you know about their lives? Did the novel give you a greater appreciation of those lives?
6. It seems that military brats enjoyed their peripatetic childhoods in direct relation to how extroverted they were. The more outgoing they naturally were, the more they thrived on the constant moving. How do you think you would have fared as a military child? As a military wife?
7. Have you ever had an experience similar to the one Bernie had when you return to the scene of a childhood memory and find it strangely shrunken or diminished in some way? How is this idea of a diminution, of a degradation, of, in some cases, a fall from grace, carried out in other ways in the book? In Bernie's experience of Okinawa as contrasted with her memories of Japan? In Mace's career? In the military in general from World War II to the Vietnam War? In Moe's experience both with the military and with her marriage?
8. Did you ever reveal a secret as a child? What were the consequences? Can Bernie or any child of that age be held responsible for unkept secrets?
9. Moe and Mace seem to have come to a stalemate in their marriage. Who is responsible? What do you predict will happen to them? What do you think should happen?
10. Contrast the two mothers in the book, Moe and Fumiko's mother. How does each one react to the stresses placed upon her and her family by their respective countries?
11. One of the themes of the novel is silence, the silence of men flying reconnaissance missions, but more especially the silence of the women around them. How does each of these characters find her voice: Bernie? Moe? Fumiko?
12. This novel straddles the line between fiction and memoir. Does it take the best from each approach or the worst? What do you like and dislike about the two different approaches?
13. Did you believe that Mace and Fumiko had had an affair? Were you relieved that they hadn't?
14. Since Bernie could not have ever seen her father acting as Wingo's co-pilot, how is the crucial relationship they had in flight demonstrated?
15. Humor and tragedy collide throughout the novel. Do you prefer fiction that blends these parts of life or keeps them separate?
Saturday, November 22, 2008
The Pirates Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson
This book was a little hard to sink my teeth into for the 1st third of the book, but after that, I couldn't put it down. I was so fascinated by Errol Flynn and the whole Jamaican Hollywood "Royalty". He was such a wreck. It was like he couldn't help himself. He knew his life was a mess, and he wanted to change. Navy Island was even his way to start over, but he still couldn't get it together. He was such a slime to Ida - really to everyone he cared about. And that's the worse part - he probably really did care about Ida, and knew it was wrong to abandon her and his child, but he did it anyway.
The book was more about his illigetimate daughter, May, and her mother, Ida, growing up and not quite belonging. In May you could see Errol's wrecklessness, but she was able to curb that part of herself as she matured. I think the island probably grounded her, and gave her a sense of belonging. She didn't really fit in anywhere, even in Jamaica, neither white or black, rich but raised poor. But on Navy Island, and in the water, she belonged. This was an excellent story of a girl coming of age, and owning her past - her mother's story and how her mother was betrayed. I loved some of the other characters, like Oni, the wise grandmother up in the hills, always asking "are you a girl or a mongoose". And Karl, who ended up loving her as a daughter, even though he ended up betraying them as well. And Nigel, who was so sweet and wanted more, but did the right thing for May.
ABOUT THIS BOOK:
WINNER OF THE ESSENCE LITERARY AWARD IN FICTION
In 1946, Hollywood’s most famous swashbuckler, Errol Flynn, arrived in Jamaica in a storm-ravaged boat. After a long and celebrated career on the silver screen, Flynn spent the last years of his life on a small island off the Jamaican coast, where he fell in love with the people, the paradisiacal setting, and the privacy, and brought a touch of Tinseltown glamour to the West Indian community.
Based on those years, The Pirate’s Daughter imagines an affair between the aging matinee star and Ida, a beautiful local girl. Flynn’s affections are unpredictable but that doesn’t stop Ida from dreaming of a life with him, especially after the birth of their daughter, May.
Margaret Cezair-Thompson weaves stories of mothers and daughters, fathers and lovers, country and kin, into this compelling, dual-generational coming-of-age tale of two women struggling to find their way in a nation wrestling with its own independence.
Reader's Guide:
1. Why does Oni, Ida’s grandmother, always ask Ida if she’s a mongoose or a girl? What is she? What does Oni mean when she says “Sometimes bird hafe learn how fe swim”? How does this saying apply to Ida? To May?
2. What kind of father is Eli Joseph? How does he support Ida? How does he fail her?
3. Why does Ida defy her mother and traditional Jamaica? What does Errol Flynn represent for her?
4. On page 200, Ida wonders if her only choices were “to be a sorry unwed mother or the well-cared-for wife of a man whom she admired but didn’t love.” Do you think she’s right? What were Esme’s choices?
5. What makes May feel like a stranger in her own community and country?
6. How is the racism Ida sees in New York different from that in Jamaica? What accounts for these differences?
7. Why does May resist when Ida tries to tell her about her father, Errol Flynn?
8. How does May’s single meeting with Errol Flynn affect her? How does it affect him? During this meeting, Flynn thinks of all the things he wanted to tell her. Later, when he waits for Ida at the wrong hotel bar, he wishes he could tell Ida several things. What do you think he wants to tell his daughter and her mother?
9. Though Errol Flynn is May’s biological father, many other men are more fatherly towards May. What characters in The Pirate’s Daughter help May come of age?
10. How can May love the land of Jamaica, but not the nation, as she asserts in her letter to Nigel on page 205? How does the landscape of Jamaica energize and empower her? How does the nation affect her?
11. What went wrong with Ian? Why is he with the gunmen when they attack Navy Island? Do you agree with May that their parents’ generation is to blame for the problems of the younger generation? Why or why not?
12. Why does Karl hide Errol’s treasure map from May? And on page 372, why does Karl emphasize that he stole what should have been May’s? What does he think he stole, other than a monetary inheritance?
13. How does Jamaica manifest as more than a setting? How does Cezair-Thompson present Jamaica as a character?
14. How does May’s Treasure Cove tell the story of her family and her country? What are the implications of the untitled manuscript she sends to Nigel?
The book was more about his illigetimate daughter, May, and her mother, Ida, growing up and not quite belonging. In May you could see Errol's wrecklessness, but she was able to curb that part of herself as she matured. I think the island probably grounded her, and gave her a sense of belonging. She didn't really fit in anywhere, even in Jamaica, neither white or black, rich but raised poor. But on Navy Island, and in the water, she belonged. This was an excellent story of a girl coming of age, and owning her past - her mother's story and how her mother was betrayed. I loved some of the other characters, like Oni, the wise grandmother up in the hills, always asking "are you a girl or a mongoose". And Karl, who ended up loving her as a daughter, even though he ended up betraying them as well. And Nigel, who was so sweet and wanted more, but did the right thing for May.
ABOUT THIS BOOK:
WINNER OF THE ESSENCE LITERARY AWARD IN FICTION
In 1946, Hollywood’s most famous swashbuckler, Errol Flynn, arrived in Jamaica in a storm-ravaged boat. After a long and celebrated career on the silver screen, Flynn spent the last years of his life on a small island off the Jamaican coast, where he fell in love with the people, the paradisiacal setting, and the privacy, and brought a touch of Tinseltown glamour to the West Indian community.
Based on those years, The Pirate’s Daughter imagines an affair between the aging matinee star and Ida, a beautiful local girl. Flynn’s affections are unpredictable but that doesn’t stop Ida from dreaming of a life with him, especially after the birth of their daughter, May.
Margaret Cezair-Thompson weaves stories of mothers and daughters, fathers and lovers, country and kin, into this compelling, dual-generational coming-of-age tale of two women struggling to find their way in a nation wrestling with its own independence.
Reader's Guide:
1. Why does Oni, Ida’s grandmother, always ask Ida if she’s a mongoose or a girl? What is she? What does Oni mean when she says “Sometimes bird hafe learn how fe swim”? How does this saying apply to Ida? To May?
2. What kind of father is Eli Joseph? How does he support Ida? How does he fail her?
3. Why does Ida defy her mother and traditional Jamaica? What does Errol Flynn represent for her?
4. On page 200, Ida wonders if her only choices were “to be a sorry unwed mother or the well-cared-for wife of a man whom she admired but didn’t love.” Do you think she’s right? What were Esme’s choices?
5. What makes May feel like a stranger in her own community and country?
6. How is the racism Ida sees in New York different from that in Jamaica? What accounts for these differences?
7. Why does May resist when Ida tries to tell her about her father, Errol Flynn?
8. How does May’s single meeting with Errol Flynn affect her? How does it affect him? During this meeting, Flynn thinks of all the things he wanted to tell her. Later, when he waits for Ida at the wrong hotel bar, he wishes he could tell Ida several things. What do you think he wants to tell his daughter and her mother?
9. Though Errol Flynn is May’s biological father, many other men are more fatherly towards May. What characters in The Pirate’s Daughter help May come of age?
10. How can May love the land of Jamaica, but not the nation, as she asserts in her letter to Nigel on page 205? How does the landscape of Jamaica energize and empower her? How does the nation affect her?
11. What went wrong with Ian? Why is he with the gunmen when they attack Navy Island? Do you agree with May that their parents’ generation is to blame for the problems of the younger generation? Why or why not?
12. Why does Karl hide Errol’s treasure map from May? And on page 372, why does Karl emphasize that he stole what should have been May’s? What does he think he stole, other than a monetary inheritance?
13. How does Jamaica manifest as more than a setting? How does Cezair-Thompson present Jamaica as a character?
14. How does May’s Treasure Cove tell the story of her family and her country? What are the implications of the untitled manuscript she sends to Nigel?
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Austenland by Shannon Hale
Kind of lame, but "fun" is the best review I can give this book. I can certainly relate to the love affair with Colin Firth/Mr Darcy, though. Sorry, Collin, but I'm married, too.
From Publishers Weekly:
Katherine Kellgren gives a marvelous performance in this entertaining chick lit/romance about 30-something Jane, who fantasizes about Jane Austen's heroes (particularly Mr. Darcy) while her real-life relationships flounder. She gets the tantalizing chance for a two-week holiday at an exclusive English estate where guests can experience Regency England, complete with Austenesque actors to romance them. Kellgren creates the perfect voice for each character-she's absolutely hilarious as Miss Charming, a 50-something Southern woman who tries desperately to put on a British accent and fails miserably; she's appropriately arrogant yet compelling as the attractive Mr. Nobly. As the boyishly charming Jasper, a gardener from Sheffield, Kellgren is more than up to the challenge of a very tricky accent to pull off. Kellgren brings wonderful acting to her performance, conveying Jane's conflicting emotions: thrilled at living out her fantasy while simultaneously embarrassed and self-conscious at being so silly and school-girlish. This is perfect summer beach listening for fans of chick lit, romance or Jane Austen. Simultaneous release with the Bloomsbury hardcover (Reviews, Feb. 12). (June)Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information
From Publishers Weekly:
Katherine Kellgren gives a marvelous performance in this entertaining chick lit/romance about 30-something Jane, who fantasizes about Jane Austen's heroes (particularly Mr. Darcy) while her real-life relationships flounder. She gets the tantalizing chance for a two-week holiday at an exclusive English estate where guests can experience Regency England, complete with Austenesque actors to romance them. Kellgren creates the perfect voice for each character-she's absolutely hilarious as Miss Charming, a 50-something Southern woman who tries desperately to put on a British accent and fails miserably; she's appropriately arrogant yet compelling as the attractive Mr. Nobly. As the boyishly charming Jasper, a gardener from Sheffield, Kellgren is more than up to the challenge of a very tricky accent to pull off. Kellgren brings wonderful acting to her performance, conveying Jane's conflicting emotions: thrilled at living out her fantasy while simultaneously embarrassed and self-conscious at being so silly and school-girlish. This is perfect summer beach listening for fans of chick lit, romance or Jane Austen. Simultaneous release with the Bloomsbury hardcover (Reviews, Feb. 12). (June)Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information
The Saffron Kitchen by Yasmin Crowther
This was an extremely well crafted story, with rich characters. Even the supporting characters had depth. It's one of those stories that makes you ache right along side the people, in this case Maryam and her daughter. It was a clash of cultures; not only of 2 extremely different countries - Iran and England, but the past and modern times as well. The author created a 'quiet' emotional turbulence that was transcribed well into words.
INTRODUCTION
Born to an Iranian mother and British father, Yasmin Crowther makes a unique and impressive debut onto the literary scene with her remarkable novel about culture, family, and identity. The Saffron Kitchen is a poignant and timely story about one woman’s struggle to belong to more than one world and how that pull between identities affects a family for generations to come.
Richmond Hill in London is a far cry from where Maryam Mazar was born and raised, the little village of Mazareh in Iran, but this affluent suburb is where she has lived for more than forty years. She has what seems a good and comfortable life, with a devoted husband, Edward, and loving daughter, Sara. But when Maryam’s last living sister dies and her twelve-year-old nephew, Saeed, comes from Iran to live with them, his arrival triggers a series of dramatic events, re-opening a wound that Maryam can no longer ignore. She decides there is only one way to heal: she must return home.
With her husband’s reluctant blessing, Maryam travels alone to Mazareh to face both the dreams and the demons of her past. Mazareh is in many ways a harsh place, with mud dwellings and little in the way of creature comforts. Yet when Maryam arrives, she begins to feel a sense of peace and wholeness, a connection with the earth, that has been missing for forty years. And perhaps most important, the first love of her life, Ali, her wealthy father’s former assistant, is here, awaiting her return. The healing has begun.
Maryam was a girl born before her time, independent and strong-willed, refusing to follow the traditional path for women: marriage and domestic life. Forced to leave Iran after her father disowned her for shaming the family through a misunderstood encounter with Ali, Maryam nevertheless has a powerful bond with this place and its people. But now she must decide if the life that includes her past will now become her future.
Back in London, both Sara and Edward are feeling confused and angry that Maryam seems to have no impending plans to return. How could she abandon her family? When Maryam writes and asks her to visit, Sara feels she must go. She arrives feeling bitter and resentful that her mother is acting as if their life in London is meaningless, especially when she sees Ali and her mother together. But as Maryam introduces Sara to the people and places of her childhood and finally reveals the shocking details of her forced departure, Sara begins to understand her mother in a way she never could before. In the end, Sara comes to accept that only by letting her mother go, can she finally get her mother back.
Exploring the themes of displacement and exile, of families struggling to embrace more than one culture, of longing and despair, The Saffron Kitchen is ultimately a love story, not only between a woman and a man, but of a woman for her homeland.
ABOUT YASMIN CROWTHER
Yasmin Crowther lives in London. She grew up in an Anglo-Iranian household. This is her first novel.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. The Middle East is very much in the news these days, and perhaps never before has it been more on the mind of Westerners. What issues did The Saffron Kitchen bring up for you, and did it change or influence your idea of Iran in any way?
2. Maryam says she hits Saeed to make him strong, just as her own father hit her as a girl. Do you believe this? Why or why not? Discuss the reasons you think Maryam feels so angry at Saeed. What does he represent to her? Why do you think some abused people grow up to continue that abuse, while others vow never to repeat the “sins of their fathers”?
3. When Maryam returns home (p. 28) after taking Sara to the hospital, she says to herself, “I should never have left.” What is she referring to? The hospital? Iran? And what does she mean by this? How does her statement foreshadow what happens in the rest of the novel?
4. What is the moral of the Gossemarbart story and how does it relate to Maryam’s own story? Discuss the symbolism of the stone woman and its significance in the novel.
5. “Your father was kind to us before his death,” Hassan tells Maryam upon her return (p. 116). Was there any good in this man? Was he a product of his time and traditions? What makes a man like Maryam’s father turn out the way he does in contrast with a man like Doctor Ahlavi?
6. Sara and Saeed form a strong connection with one another. Talk about the things they have in common, the things that make them different, and how they might derive comfort from one another.
7. Farnoosh, Hassan’s unmarried daughter, says to Maryam, “You think [having your family is] enough? When you leave yours behind? Please don’t patronize me” (p. 128). Can you explain Farnoosh’s point of view? Do you see Maryam as selfish? Why or why not?
8. “For each freedom we choose, we must give up another,” Maryam says (p. 128). What does she mean in terms of her own life? Do you agree or disagree, and why?
9. What do you think Maryam wants for Sara? Does Sara have a right to be angry at her mother? How would you feel, as a daughter or son, if your mother left you to return to the place of her birth?
10. Where does Maryam’s love for Iran end and her love for Ali begin? Are they separate?
Discuss how the author uses the color saffron as a symbol throughout the novel. What does it represent, to Maryam, to Sara, to Saeed?
11. Think about the different worlds to which you belong. Consider the transitions between these worlds and discuss how navigating these transitions affects your life.
INTRODUCTION
Born to an Iranian mother and British father, Yasmin Crowther makes a unique and impressive debut onto the literary scene with her remarkable novel about culture, family, and identity. The Saffron Kitchen is a poignant and timely story about one woman’s struggle to belong to more than one world and how that pull between identities affects a family for generations to come.
Richmond Hill in London is a far cry from where Maryam Mazar was born and raised, the little village of Mazareh in Iran, but this affluent suburb is where she has lived for more than forty years. She has what seems a good and comfortable life, with a devoted husband, Edward, and loving daughter, Sara. But when Maryam’s last living sister dies and her twelve-year-old nephew, Saeed, comes from Iran to live with them, his arrival triggers a series of dramatic events, re-opening a wound that Maryam can no longer ignore. She decides there is only one way to heal: she must return home.
With her husband’s reluctant blessing, Maryam travels alone to Mazareh to face both the dreams and the demons of her past. Mazareh is in many ways a harsh place, with mud dwellings and little in the way of creature comforts. Yet when Maryam arrives, she begins to feel a sense of peace and wholeness, a connection with the earth, that has been missing for forty years. And perhaps most important, the first love of her life, Ali, her wealthy father’s former assistant, is here, awaiting her return. The healing has begun.
Maryam was a girl born before her time, independent and strong-willed, refusing to follow the traditional path for women: marriage and domestic life. Forced to leave Iran after her father disowned her for shaming the family through a misunderstood encounter with Ali, Maryam nevertheless has a powerful bond with this place and its people. But now she must decide if the life that includes her past will now become her future.
Back in London, both Sara and Edward are feeling confused and angry that Maryam seems to have no impending plans to return. How could she abandon her family? When Maryam writes and asks her to visit, Sara feels she must go. She arrives feeling bitter and resentful that her mother is acting as if their life in London is meaningless, especially when she sees Ali and her mother together. But as Maryam introduces Sara to the people and places of her childhood and finally reveals the shocking details of her forced departure, Sara begins to understand her mother in a way she never could before. In the end, Sara comes to accept that only by letting her mother go, can she finally get her mother back.
Exploring the themes of displacement and exile, of families struggling to embrace more than one culture, of longing and despair, The Saffron Kitchen is ultimately a love story, not only between a woman and a man, but of a woman for her homeland.
ABOUT YASMIN CROWTHER
Yasmin Crowther lives in London. She grew up in an Anglo-Iranian household. This is her first novel.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. The Middle East is very much in the news these days, and perhaps never before has it been more on the mind of Westerners. What issues did The Saffron Kitchen bring up for you, and did it change or influence your idea of Iran in any way?
2. Maryam says she hits Saeed to make him strong, just as her own father hit her as a girl. Do you believe this? Why or why not? Discuss the reasons you think Maryam feels so angry at Saeed. What does he represent to her? Why do you think some abused people grow up to continue that abuse, while others vow never to repeat the “sins of their fathers”?
3. When Maryam returns home (p. 28) after taking Sara to the hospital, she says to herself, “I should never have left.” What is she referring to? The hospital? Iran? And what does she mean by this? How does her statement foreshadow what happens in the rest of the novel?
4. What is the moral of the Gossemarbart story and how does it relate to Maryam’s own story? Discuss the symbolism of the stone woman and its significance in the novel.
5. “Your father was kind to us before his death,” Hassan tells Maryam upon her return (p. 116). Was there any good in this man? Was he a product of his time and traditions? What makes a man like Maryam’s father turn out the way he does in contrast with a man like Doctor Ahlavi?
6. Sara and Saeed form a strong connection with one another. Talk about the things they have in common, the things that make them different, and how they might derive comfort from one another.
7. Farnoosh, Hassan’s unmarried daughter, says to Maryam, “You think [having your family is] enough? When you leave yours behind? Please don’t patronize me” (p. 128). Can you explain Farnoosh’s point of view? Do you see Maryam as selfish? Why or why not?
8. “For each freedom we choose, we must give up another,” Maryam says (p. 128). What does she mean in terms of her own life? Do you agree or disagree, and why?
9. What do you think Maryam wants for Sara? Does Sara have a right to be angry at her mother? How would you feel, as a daughter or son, if your mother left you to return to the place of her birth?
10. Where does Maryam’s love for Iran end and her love for Ali begin? Are they separate?
Discuss how the author uses the color saffron as a symbol throughout the novel. What does it represent, to Maryam, to Sara, to Saeed?
11. Think about the different worlds to which you belong. Consider the transitions between these worlds and discuss how navigating these transitions affects your life.
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