charbutton's books in 2010

The only plan for my 2010 reading is a vague promise to myself that I'll have a session on Caribbean literature at some point...probably when I've ploughed through the TBR list for a while.

And the idea of a PhD is starting to crawl it's way back into my head so maybe I'll have to divert to academic tomes at some point.

BOOK 1: Nine Black Women: An Anthology of Nineteenth-Century Writers from the United States, Canada, Bermuda and the Caribbean edited by Moira Ferguson

Nine Black Women features the writing of Elizabeth Hart Thwaites, Anne Hart Gilbert, Mary Price, Mary Seacole, Harriet Ann Jacobs, Harriet E. Adams Wilson, Jarena Lee, Nancy Gardner Prince and Mary Ann Shadd Cary, black women who had writing published in the 1800s. Many of them wrote about slavery and promoted abolition, some wrote religious texts that expressed their views, others wrote autobiographies telling of their battle to overcome prejudice and disadvantage.

While I struggled with the writing style of the time, particularly the very religious texts of the Harts, this is a fascinating glimpse of black women's lives, their strength and inspiring passion. Much of it is similar to the writing of white British women of the time - religion was often the path to education and gave women the chance to spread anti-slavery thoughts through religious tracts. But the women in this book also forged their own paths. Mary Seacole made her way independently to the Crimea and Mary Ann Shadd Cary became North America's first black female newspaper publisher, unfraid to hold very strong views about the emigration of America blacks to Africa and the Caribbean that were often contrary to those of celebrated activists such as Frederick Douglass.

Although this anthology was published in 1998, it still feels important to me. These women and their contemporaries were barely touched on during the Modern British Women's History masters course I followed a couple of years ago. Many of these women were still British, or had been until recently, and I think it's a serious omission that we didn't spend more time learning about them.

Nice review, Charlotte!

On Monday I bought Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands on a visit to the Museum in Docklands, and I'm looking forward to this as her travels from Jamaica to Panama to England to the Crimea look really interesting. I think Mary Seacole is fairly widely taught in schools nowadays, but my husband (who is a history teacher) hadn't heard of any of the other writers mentioned except (very vaguely) of Mary Price.

Hi Charlotte.
Just a quick fly-by-"hi".
belva

Hi belva, good to see you round these parts.

*starred* and looking forward to your reading/comments for 2010!
Nice review of Nine Black Women.

Char, when you get to your Caribbean literature jag, be sure to include some poetry by Nobel Laureate, Derek Walcott.

Murr, I have to admit that poetry really isn't my thing. I don't have the patience for it - I end up thinking 'why can't you just say what you mean in a straightforward way??'! It's a failing. But perhaps I should make 2010 the year that I start to get rid of my verse phobia? What do you like about Walcot's poetry?

BOOK 2: Kith and Kin by Stevie Davies

Mara grew up in Swansea, Wales, during the 1960s. It was a close-knit, often claustrophobic, community with a host of aunts, uncles and cousins and an immense pressure to conform and succeed. Many years later Mara moves back the area and is forced to confront her past and her relationships with her cousins Frankie and Aaron with whom she shared friendship, love, sex and grief.

Such a sad story. The job that brings Mara back to Swansea will help people with missing limbs who feel pain where their arm or leg used to be. The idea is to re-train their brains so they no longer feel pain and this is what Mara needs as well - to finally work through her grief, in essence to re-train her brain to accept the past and move on.

I was slightly critical in the 'What Are You Reading' thread when I had just started the book as I'm a bit fed up of reading stories about the friendship between two girls where the narrator is the quiet, envious one and the other is wild and gets her comeuppance. I think I did Kith and Kin a disservice. It was about much more than this.

Not only is it about Mara and her cousins but also about the area at the time. Having spent Christmas not far from Swansea with Mr charbutton's family, Davies portrayal of the area, of attitudes, of being under the constant observation of family members and neighbours feels completely authentic.
Which makes it sound like my in-laws are a nightmare. That's not what I meant to imply, honest! It's just there's something peculiarly South Welsh that Davies brings to the story.

BOOK 3: When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka

This book tells the story of a Japanese family interned in the US in 1942, the father separate from the mother and their two children, with the narrative coming from each of their perspectives in turn.

I like Otsuka's style of unfolding the tale. She doesn't ram home that the family are Japanese and what that means during the period, chosing to slowly include bits about the prejudice that developed after Pearl Harbour. She also doesn't provide names for any of the family members, reinforcing the idea that they were interned because of what they represented, not what they had done, and also reflecting the commonly-held thought that all 'Japs' were the same, individual identities were unimportant. I also enjoyed the unemotional writing which leaves the reader to think their own way through what internment might have been like.

While this is a work of historical fiction, internment isn't history. Guatanamo Bay and, in Britain, detention under the Terrorism Act and the skewing of stop and search towards those who 'look like terrorists', make When The Emperor Was Divine a relevant and thought-provoking novel.

>11 charbutton:: Excellent review. Now I wonder, did your recent reading of Schama inform your perspective on this novel?

Here she goes wit the questions already. Ai yo!

I love the lushness of the imagery, which matches the landscape of the Caribbean (I have never been there, but DW's poetry makes me imagine it's lush); I love the mixing of languages: high English literareeeeze with various Caribbean creoles and accents, his range of references and devotion to European culture, especially painting, his awareness of the history of the area and its peoples to start with.

Probably the best thing is to give an example.

From The Schooner Flight: a sailor leaves his girl in the early morning to start on a fishing trip:

In idle August, while the sea soft,
and leaves of brown islands stick to the rim
of this Carribean, I blow out the light
by the dreamless face of Maria Concepcion
to ship as a seaman on the schooner Flight.
Out in the yard turning gray in the dawn,
I stood like a stone and nothing else move
but the cold sea rippling like galvanize
and the nail holes of stars in the sky roof,
till a wind start to interfere with the trees.

If that's not just bloody fabulous, I don't know what is.

I need to move When the Emperor was Divine up on the list. Yours is the second recommendation from LT readers.

For a quick overview of a famous U.S. case challenging internment, this wikipedia link regarding Fred Korematsu is interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Korematsu

He worked his entire life to avoid anything like the camps happening again. I imagine he is very sad at the current state of affairs.

Some really interesting reading already! To go with When The Emperor Was Divine, have you seen Bad Day At Black Rock? An excellent noir-ish Western about a small town in the aftermath of the internments. (Can't say any more as I don't want to give away too much of the story).

Murr, I can see that it could be moving for other people, it just doesn't move me. I think I have a problem getting the rhythm of poetry and get caught up in that, missing the content. And I also don't understand why it needs to be a poem. Those words could be the beginning of a book or a short story.

I think it's going to be hard to shake off more than 20 years of poetryphobia!

>12 lauralkeet:, I'm not sure. Good question though, and I'll have a think about it.

>14 LisaCurcio: and 15, thanks for the info and links

>16 charbutton:: I think I suffer from poetryphobia as well. I wish I didn't ... and it may be my education is lacking in this area. But anyway, just wanted you to know you're not alone!

BOOK 4: We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

We Need to Talk About Kevin is a series of letters written by Eva Khatchadourian to her estranged husband in the aftermath of their son, Kevin, murdering nine of his classmates. In the letters Eva examines her life, marriage and her son's childhood in an effort to make sense of what has happened.

It's a difficult, engrossing, shocking, confusing story that is very cleverly written.

Through her letters Eva portrays herself as selfish and cold. She is very clear that she didn’t want to be a mother and is brutally honest about acts that many of us would want to put out of our minds forever. She provides an explanation for Kevin’s actions – it’s the mother’s fault. But of course Eva is the only narrator here so is she presenting herself in this way because she feels ultimately responsible and wants to be blamed? She does highlight to her husband ways in which she feels he mis-managed his relationship with Kevin but she certainly places herself as the villain.

Eva’s representation of Kevin is one-dimensional, he is the archetypal evil character. He's highly intelligent and has a preternatural understanding of human emotions that enables him to manipulate those around him. His emotional control, even in the first few years of his life, is amazing. I did struggle with this seemingly one-sided picture and have been doing a lot of thinking about why Shriver has presented two people that can be read as the bad mother and the bad child. I think she’s making a critique of society’s response to high school killings and our need for easy answers to a frighteningly complex situation.

There are so many parts to this story that I enjoyed (probably not the right word) and that intrigued me. Eva’s denial of her American-ness (she is of Armenian descent so can play the outsider, ridicules the values of fat, ignorant Americans and feels more at home in other countries) is undone by the fact that she has lived a very America story – founder of a successful business, rich, married, a mother, living in the suburbs, her son carries out a high school massacre. Her discussions of her fears about motherhood and the obvious difference in expectations between Eva and her husband reminded me of conversations I have had with friends who are mothers.

This hasn’t been an easy review to get written because the book is still buzzing around my head. So these are my initial thoughts.

Thanks for your comments, Char. This won the Orange Prize for Fiction a few years ago, right? I've picked this one up and put it down at least a couple of times in the recent past...I think I'll pass on it, for now.

We Need to Talk about Kevin was a book that still makes me think, less about Kevin or his actions, but about Eva and her attitudes to pretty much everything. Lionel Shriver spoke on BBC's radio 4 awhile back and stated that had she had children, it would have been irresponsible of her to write such a book. Anyway, I think it deserved to win the Orange Prize, even if her later works haven't had the same resonance (she still has years of writing ahead of her).

I read We Need To Talk about Kevin a few years ago and even now when people ask me if was good that's all I can say - yes, it was good. When I try to explain why it's really hard. I hated the three central characters (Mother, Father and Child) for different reasons, yet I felt sympathy for all three. I hated the crime, I saw it coming, yet I could not imagine as a mother how to voice it or prevent it. It's really strange. And for all that I really liked the book I wouldn't read it again - even for a good reason like for a book club etc.

I always imagined We Need to Talk About Kevin would read like a bad Jodi Picoult novel, but from everything that's being said here, I am getting the sense that's not the case. This might be one worth picking up, yes?

I've never read anything by Jodi Picoult, but We Need to Talk About Kevin would not fall into the Oprah/woman's book genre. It's too complex and raw for that - not to imply that Picoult is not complex, as I haven't read her, but WNTTAK would probably never be made into a movie starring Cameron Diaz.

Darryl - any particular reasons that you didn't got into it?

I haven't read Jodi Picoult either but WNTTAKcertainly doesn't fit with my idea of what I imagine a Picoult book to be!

I thought WNTTAK was excellent; I only managed half a page of Jodi Picoult. Does that help?

WNTTAK is not at all a Picoult (have read 3 of the latter).
Adding to the chorus re: WNTTAK, a very difficult book but excellent. And every time it comes up in an LT conversation, those who have read it need to talk about it. It packs a whallop.

Char, my comments weren't completely clear (and I had to look my post again myself to understand what I was trying to say!). What I meant to say is that I have picked up a copy at a bookstore several times in the past, but decided not to get it. I haven't purchased it or read it, though; your review swayed me away from getting it, but the comments from Rachel and Laura are making me think otherwise. I'll probably get it after all.

>24 RidgewayGirl:, "WNTTAK would probably never be made into a movie starring Cameron Diaz." - That pretty much tells me what I needed to know & is funny to boot!

Thanks all - Kevin is on the list!

BOOK 5: Tea with Mr Rochester by Frances Towers
(I own the Persephone edition, not the one shown above)

And now for something completely different...

Tea with Mr Rochester is a book of short stories which seem to all be set in the 1930s. Most of the stories involve a young girl in love, one is a ghost story.

If this book hadn't been given to me as a present it would go to the charity shop. None of the stories grabbed my attention; they seemed like longer stories with all the guts ripped out instead of carefully written tales that use the short format and deliver an impact. However, I'm the only LTer to give it a low rating, so don't let me put you off it!

I've read a couple of Picoult books (not voluntarily--choices were made by RL book club) and We Need To Talk About Kevin is infinitely superior. It is soul-searing, especially if you have kids, and doesn't try to come up with easy answers to the issues it raises.

BOOK 6: Close Company: Stories of Mothers and Daughters edited by Christine Park and Caroline Heaton

Another collection of short stories that were much more enjoyable than the previous book. Close Company is a good mix of writers I know, writers I've heard of and writers I don't know.

As the title suggests, all the stories are linked to the relationship between mother and duaghter, some more obviously than others. All the stories were enjoyable and well-written. Fay Weldon's piece has stayed with me the longest. It's a weekend in the life of a mother and is pretty much a list of the chores and services she is expected to provide for her family and the disparaging comments her husband regularly throws at her.

In fact, many of the stories would put a young woman off marriage for life and I wonder if that's a product of the time in which these stories were brought together. The collection was originally published in 1987 and, although they cover a long time period that includes late Victorian writers, there is a definite theme of disappointment in marriage. Would this be the focus now? Would a woman in 2010 write a story that focuses on what she is meant to provide for her man? I hope not.

The other clear theme - the expectations mothers and daughters impose on each other - is certainly still relevant!

BOOK 7: The Waitress Was New by Dominique Fabre

I shouldn't like this book. Nothing really happens and I don't get on with books in which nothing really happens. But this was great.

The narrator is Pierre, a bartender in his late fifties, who lives and works in the Parisien suburbs. We live with him (and it does feel like living with him) for a few days as his life starts to become unsettled. The owner of the cafe disappears, probably because he's having an affair with one of the waitresses, and if the place closes down Pierre will clearly be lost, not just financially.

We're with Pierre every inch of the way as he goes about his work, we are privy to his thoughts and observations about the people around him, his colleagues and the cafe regulars. I loved this - following his thoughts wherever they went. It felt completely authentic as he jumped between memories and avoided thoughts he didn't want to consider.

The book is only 115 small pages long but it is immediately engrossing and although there isn't space for grand descriptions of place and landscape I was instantly transported to a warm French cafe, watching the rain.

Many, many thanks to Darryl/kidzdoc for writing about this on his thread last year.

Great! I'm glad that you liked it, Char.

BOOK 8: Ruby's Spoon by Anna Lawrence Pietroni

Review to appear on Belletrista soon.

Not to belabor an 'old' discussion. But, having read two Picoult novels, I agree with those who have stated that Shriver's book is nothing like them. Shriver's book is much more clever in form and much more complex in content. It is a difficult book to read on any number of levels but it is disturbing and sometimes having our "easy answer" (as you note, Char) apple cart overturned is strangely exhilarating (if that is the right one). Another book which had a similar effect on me and left me conflicted and thinking for days, was Joyce Carol Oates' Rape a Love Story.

BOOK 9: Pastors and Masters by Ivy Compton-Burnett
LT Early Reviewers

This story is set around a group of people attached to a boys' day school. The school's founder and headmaster, Nicholas Herrick, drops in for prayers every morning but leaves the actually teaching to an under-qualified staff. Nicholas and his half-sister Emily have a small group of old friends and the majority of this short book (only 100 pages) recounts their conversations, and little else.

In her foreword to Pastors and Masters Sue Townsend described this as a difficult book to get into. She's not wrong! I just could not get a grip of it - it felt like trying to grasp a particularly slippery bar of soap! Only on a few occasions did I manage to fully concentrate on the text for more than 2 pages. I think part of the problem is that there are few 'stage directions', so I spent much of my time wondering how/when someone had entered or exited a room and going back over text to see if I'd missed something. Townsend refers to a black humour that saves the book, but I saw little of it.

I don't think it's a bad book by any means, it just isn't for me.

I'm sinking under the weight of real life deadlines and the daunting prospect of reading all of the LT messages that have accumulated over the past couple of weeks!

I wanted to record what I've read/am reading. Hopefully I can catch up on everything LT-related at the weekend.

True Deceiver by Tove Jansson - loved it. 5 stars.

Precious Bane by Mary Webb - loved it. 4 stars.

Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood - in progress. She isn't disappointing me.

>38 charbutton: Good to know about Precious Bane - I have that somewhere around here (probably under the Ws!)

Wow, I had to read Precious Bane a million years ago for school -- can't remember it at all, but maybe I will go dig up my old copy.

>39 avaland:, 40: it's on my Virago TBR with no immediate plans to read. But while I collect VMCs with wild abandon, LT recommendations are what inspire me to pull one off the shelf and actually read it. Since you liked this one, it has inched further up the pile.

Precious Bane is lovely -- go for it!

Finally, a chance to get these reviews written. I'm relying on my bad memory so they probably won't be an extensive as they might have been a couple of weeks ago.



BOOK 10: The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson
(book club - Christina's choice)

Set deep in a Swedish winter, Katri starts to insinuate herself into the life of Anna, the reclusive and rich old woman in the village, in order to bring her brother's dream to life. Katri manipulates Anna to the extent that she and Mats move in and Katri takes over all of Anna's business affairs, increasing Anna's wealth but squirreling away money to pay for Mats' new boat.

Anna is incredibly passive. She has her suspicions about Katri's behaviour and grows increasingly unsettled by the brother and sister's presence in her house but she does not confront this head on. Her attitude reminds me a bit of the 'heroines' of some of Jean Rhys's stories.

I loved this book. It was compelling and interesting but I don't think I quite got a grip of the characters and motivations of Katri and Anna. There's more for me discover the next time I read it.

BOOK 11: Precious Bane by Mary Webb

Although this image shows the Virago Modern Classic cover, I actually have a 1929 edition with an introduction by the Right Honourable Stanley Baldwin who was, or had just been, Prime Minister of the UK at the time of publication. I have this lovely book courtesy of ladycassilis through a VMC Secret Santa a couple of years ago.

Precious Bane is a story told by Prudence, a young woman living in rural Shropshire in the early 1800s. She works with her brother Gideon on the family farm which he inherited after a ceremony in which he took on the sins of his dead father in return for the property. Gideon has plans to marry the local mystic's daughter, buy a large house in the nearby town and associate with the squire and other dignitaries. But perhaps he wants it too much.

Prudence, by contrast, accepts her lot in life. She works hard to help her borther achieve his dreams and protects her mother from the worst of his temper. However Prudence is different from the other girls around her. She has a hare lip and knows that although she loves the weaver he will not want her. Also, she is taught to read and write, something highly unusual.

I was surprised to enjoy this story. I don't get on with tales of the countryside, but this was a lovely story. Prudence is the narrator and her words are well written. Webb uses local dialect and has Prudence explain the local customs and the countryside in such a way that I really felt that I learnt a lot about that way of life. Also I read Precious Bane at exactly the right time. I was visiting my parents who live in the sticks and had been listening to my Dad and his uncle reminisce about the time the pig got loose and how the lamb used to follow people to school!

BOOK 12: Spiderweb by Penelope Lively

I approached this book with some trepidation. I absolutely loved Lively's Moon Tiger - it was one of my favourite books of 2009. Could Spiderweb meet a similar standard? Happily it did.

Stella Brentwood has recently retired and moved to a cottage in Somerset. She has led an exciting life. An anthropologist, she has lived in exotic locations and had fabulous affairs, rejecting motherhood and never letting herself to be tied to a man. She's my kind of woman!

But what happens now that Stella's driving force, work, has been removed? On the face of it she continues to be the outsider looking on and observing rather than participating and as soon as anyone gets too close, she runs. But she also questions her approach to life, contrasting herself with Nadine her best friend at university who knew that all she wanted was marriage and children. Did Nadine have a more fulfilling life married to Richard, a civil servant who applies his ordred approach to all aspects of life? Perhaps but when Stella meets him, Richard implies that he and Nadine both envied her life. So there's no answer to which approach is best.

I have to say that I've really connected with the women who are the focus of Spiderweb and Moon Tiger. As they're both in their 60s, does that mean I'm old before my time?? I think it's because they are unapologetic about their choice to not have children and its comforting to me that it's possible not to regret making this choice despite what some people have said to me.

I wanted to note that in four of the past five books I have read, witches have been important. In all the stories, women who don't conform to the expected behaviour are given this label. Is there any equivalent for men? Why is the witch such an enduring label for women who are different, even now?

BOOK 13: The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

Another book approached warily in case a beloved author lets me down. In this case the answer wasn't as clear cut as Spiderweb.

As soon as I started The Year of the Flood it felt familiar and comforting, and I was contented. The trademark sly Atwood humour of The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake was there (beauty clinics are called Anooyoo) and the images that grab me. My favourite: 'Some bond held us together: not hard like bone, but slippery, like cartilage'.

The story of a post-apocalyptic society is familiar, originally used in Oryx and Crake, but is now told from the point of view of two women who were part of God's Gardeners, a religious sect devoted to nature. Their stories dovetail into those of Jimmy the Snowman and Crake from the previous book.

I did really enjoy The Year of the Flood. I need to explore Atwood's thoughts on nature and science to complement what I have taken from this book.

But...I don't understand why she felt the need to return to the same setting in a second story? I don't think The Year of the Flood added anything to my understanding of the society she describes or the horrors visited upon it. And the premise of a plague suddenly sweeping the planet has been used so often in books and films, and threatened in real life, that it now seems a bit banal. Which is frightening because the potential for this to happen is no less real.

Spiderweb sounds very interesting. I don't think I've read any of Penelope Lively's books for adults, but my mum really likes Moon Tiger and has been urging me to read it.

>44 charbutton:: great review; I think I'll add this to the list of VMCs I intend to read this year. Since I am unable to enjoy listening to your Dad and uncle, do you think it would be just as effective to stream a few episodes of The Archers before reading? :)

>45 charbutton:: Spiderweb sounds quite good! I also enjoyed Moon Tiger, and like you, felt connected with the main character. And btw, anyone who has dared to tell you that you will regret choices you've made is no good, in my book. Usually when people do that they just want to validate and feel better about their own choices.

>48 wandering_star:, I hadn't realised the she'd written childrens books until I bookmooched one by mistake.

>49 lauralkeet:, I think an Archers omnibus will put you in exactly the right frame of mind. Luckily there is no one in Precious Bane who is as annoying as Linda Snell!

I've realised that in my Spiderweb review I didn't mention that there's another story that runs alongside Stella's - that of a family living down the road. I'm not quite sure why Lively included this, but it reminded me a bit of We Need To Talk About Kevin.

Interesting comments on the Atwood, Char and Spiderweb sounds intriguing. The only Lively I've read is The Photograph which I was pretty tepid about (although I do have Moon Tiger around here someplace...).

>47 charbutton:, charbutton, that's kind of how I felt about The Year of the Flood - I didn't think it added anything to my understanding of the world she created in Oryx and Crake and it took some of the weight away from the story in the previous book, where it really seemed like Jimmy was the last man on earth.

Hi Charbutton, I was interested to read your review of Precious Bane. I grew up in Shropshire (although I always lived in the county town and I'm very much a townie) and attempted to read the book a few years ago. I struggled with the dialect and long, descriptive passages and cast it aside after 70 pages. Your review has made me think I should give it another chance...

Ha! Mary Webb! Charbutton/Rebeki, have you read Cold Comfort Farm? Stella Gibbons was satirizing Mary Webb, among others. I laughed so hard my sides hurt, even though I'd never read any Webb. (I also found shades of Thomas Hardy and Emily Bronte in there, and Gibbons satirizes D.H. Lawrence, too.)

A quote from Stella Gibbons: "The large agonised faces in Mary Webb's book annoyed me ... I did not believe people were any more despairing in Herefordshire sic than in Camden Town."

:-) Cold Comfort Farm is on my shelves, I'll have to dig it out!

BOOK 14: The Wake by Margot Glantz
(no touchstones)

Read for a Belletrista review so I shall restrict myself to saying that The Wake is complex and moving. Loved it.

>56 charbutton: oh goodie. I'll look forward to that review!

BOOK 15: A View From The Mangrove by Antonio Benitez-Rojo

A View From The Mangrove is a series of short stories that focus on several periods in Caribbean history. According to Benitez-Rojo, the stories are written in 'radically different' styles to reflect the historical complexity and ethnic and linguistic diversity of the Caribbean.

Really? I can see that he used varied narrative styles a couple of times but nothing felt radically different. In fact the first few stories are all about the early period of colonisation of the Caribbean and feel so similar in tone that I kept forgetting what events belonged to which story and couldn't keep my focus on any of them.

I also didn't feel like there was a real change of narrative view point. Female characters are obvious plot devices. Of course colonisation was a very male period of exploration and enterprise, particularly if you throw in the influence of the church, but the most prominent woman in a story is portrayed as manipulative and pushy. Others are victims or whores. The Caribs and slaves are also incidental characters - I would have enjoyed reading an interpretation of historical events from their side.

This reading did suffer from the fact that other things have been happen in my life so perhaps the book didn't get my full attention, but by the end of it I'd decided it didn't deserve that attention.

A disappointing start to my 2010 Caribbean reading.

BOOK 16: Passing by Nella Larsen
(book club - Hazel's choice)

Passing is the story of two women, estranged childhood friends whose lives come together again with fatal consequences. Irene is living the black middle-class dream - doctor husband, two sons, nice house in Harlem. Clare lives a as a white woman, hiding her true identity from her racist husband.

I'm undecided about whether I really liked Passing. I think I did. It certainly raises interesting questions about self-identity and how we label other people. Actually, the more I think about this, the more I like the book. Because it destroys the belief that lighter skin equals a happier, more successful life (an idea that still has currency more than 80 years after Passing was published). The lighter-skinned woman is unhappy and ultimately the loser. But then it also portrays the darker woman who lives in the black community as possibly the more horrible person (i.e. black = bad). Hmmm, I think I'm getting too hung up on this. Is Larsen showing that our assumptions about colour and related characteristics are ridiculous? Probably, because there are several references to eugenics and similar 'sciences' in the text.

I think my enjoyment of the story was limited by Irene being the narrator. She wasn't very likeable. I am much more interested to know more about Clare. She seems heedless of the dangers attached to her deception. Was she conscious of possible discovery every minute of every day? How could she live with that kind of tension? Perhaps ignoring the dangers was the only way to survive. Did she know her husband was racist before she married him? Maybe sleeping with the enemey was the best way to pass as white.

I'd like to know if Passing was read by many white people at the time of publication and whether they were shocked by Irene's very clear-headed statements about the voyeuristic nature of the white people who visited Harlem's night clubs.

I suppose the final thing to say is that Harlem of the late 20s and early 30s must have been an exciting place to be with lots of activism and artistic creativity. But of course, as a white woman I'd always be the voyeur that Larsen describes. That makes me think that Clare is a voyeur too. Although black and raised as such, she's attracted to the black community as something different to her own. Is it possible to not be a voyeur? I know that when I visit countries outside of the 'West', it worries me that I'm a typical white person looking for the exotic. Too much colonial guilt I think!

Anyway, this review is more like a series of random thoughts that have popped into my head. Sorry about that!

(much catching up here)

>47 charbutton: The trademark sly Atwood humour (...) (beauty clinics are called Anooyoo)
I'm trying to decrease my sub-vocalizing as I read, but how to do that without losing gems like this?

The Waitress Was New sounds like a good pick for March's novella read. And I'd finally added We Need to Talk About Kevin to my wishlist but this conversation moves it into my TBRs -- ordered it today!

Great "random thoughts" on Passing, they left me curious whether Clare was aware (in the 1920s) that her children's features might reveal her? (I wonder about that with today's plastic surgery; how surprised might husbands/wives be when the children show up?) It does seem a loss that the narrative doesn't open into Clare's experience. I liked Walter Mosley's Little Scarlet for its look at a woman who was passing in Watts-riot era Los Angeles.

Still, Passing looks interesting. I see a variety of pbk editions -- can anyone clarify the difference between, say, a Penguin Classic and a Modern Library Classic? I've had good experience with both, but the page counts here vary wildly (ML is twice the length of P).

I've read several reviews of Passing this month, because of a blog tour featuring the Harlem Renaissance. There seems to be a general dislike of Irene's character! But this does sound like a most interesting read.

BOOK 17: The Tent by Margaret Atwood

The Tent is a series of very short 'fictional essays', often only one or two pages long. They cover a vast range of topics than take in most aspects of life or death and display Atwood's humour and her interest in tale-telling.

I really enjoyed these essays, much more than I enjoy long short stories. I had a real sense of dropping into people's lives and into their thoughts and then quickly dropping out again; Atwood conveys so much with such few words.

My particular favourites:

Our Cat Enters Heaven - cat heaven turns out to be the same place as human hell

The Tent - about the impulse to write

The Heritage House - because Mr charbutton and I often argue over the merits of the heritage industry

BOOK 18: My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin

Written by Franklin at the tender age of 16 (16 for goodness' sake!), My Brilliant Career is the story of Sybylla Melvyn, a young woman growing up in the Australian bush. Her father, once a successful horse breeder, makes bad business decisions and ends up a drunk; her mother is struggling to cope with her husband and eight children. Sybylla dreams of a better life, one full of culture and intellectual conversation, and rejoices when she is invited to live with her more wealthy grandmother where she can read and play the piano.

Sybylla is a very unsympathetic heroine. She's self-absorbed, snobbish and melodramatic. She can be full of self-pity and is obsessed with her ugliness (as she perceives her appearance) and is a bit prone to martyrdom. Sybylla's life is full of the dramatic ups and downs of adolescence but she has very clear opinions about marriage and the role of women in Australian society. I think it is these characteristics that draw the reader in and make you want to find out what happens to her.

As might be expected from a novel written by a 16 year old, the writing style is much like Sybylla herself - often melodramatic and overblown - but I think this makes the first person narrative feel entirely authentic.

Thanks for those comments on My Brilliant Career. I bought that exact copy at the Oxfam shop in Oxford last summer (my first Virago!), but when I saw that it was written by a 16 year old, I buried it near the bottom of Mnt. TBR. But those bottom books have a way of somehow rising to the top.

BOOK 19: Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee

Jyoti lies in a small village in India. A very bright teenager who stays in school for years longer than her peers, she marries at the age of fifteen and is widowed two years later.

Jasmine is a young Indian woman working as an au pair for a professional couple in Queens. She's in love with the husband but hasn't realised it.

Jane lives with her husband and son in rural Iowa. They look like an unusual family to their neighbours. She is clearly some kind of foreigner, he is in a wheelchair after being shot and their son is an adopted refugee.

These three women are actually the same person. Jasmine is the story of Jyoti's life and love in India, her harrowing journey to America and her different lives in her new country.

Jasmine an enjoyable story that was perfect for a very rainy Sunday.

>64 charbutton:, 65: Oh my, I'll be reading My Brilliant Career this month for the "Women Unbound" challenge.

64 & 67, I was surprised that I liked the book. I thought Sybylla would be too annoying. But I kept remembering how self-centred I was at that age and how prone I was to making sweeping statements about the state of the world and suddenly I understood her completely!

The sequel, My Career Goes Bung, is also excellent.

>68 charbutton:: oh, and I should say that one of my daughters is 17 and an aspiring writer. I wonder if the novel will have a familiar ring to it? Now I'm intrigued ...

BOOK 20: Chess by Stefan Zweig

This basis of this intense novella is a chess match aboard a cruise ship between the world grand master and an unknown but seemingly brilliant player. The man says he hasn't played chess for more than 20 years yet he knows all the moves to counter the champion. As the game goes on the unknown man becomes more and more agitated and seems to descend into a kind of madness. I won't explain more about how he learnt so many chess moves, but it's a harrowing story.

I played chess as a child but never quite got it. I think my feeble female mind just can't cope with the logic that is required. I'm much happier thinking about flowers and kittens.

BOOK 21: Assault on Paradise by Tatiana Lobo

To be reviewed for Belletrista. Probably not a book that I would have picked up myself, but I enjoyed it. The only problem was that every time the Inquisition was mentioned I couldn't help remembering the Monty Python sketch on the same subject!

>72 charbutton: "nobody expects..." and there is Mel Brooks' musical number in "The History of the World, part I"

>72 charbutton:: tee hee! "amongst our weaponry ... "

>73 avaland:, 74. Exactly!

BOOK 22: The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder

In 1714 the Bridge of San Luis Rey in Lima breaks, sending five people to their deaths. Brother Juniper, a local monk, wants to understand the meaning behind this event - was it God's plan or an accident? He investigates the lives of the five who died to see if they were deserving of death. Of course, the book evidence he compiles shows human beings who are much more complex than he expected. It's not a case of the good people being called to heaven and the bad people going to their destruction.

The original book was burned for being heretical (probably by the Inquisition!) but an unnamed narrator presents the stories to the reader from a secret copy of the book.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey is an interesting novella. I liked reading about the people who died and the thought of them walking across the bridge to move into the next part of the lives, but never making it, was sad. I think some of the philosophical points were lost on me though.

Oh, you must repost #76 to the novella thread!

>77 avaland:, will do along with...



BOOK 23: Fup by Jim Dodge

A lovely little story about an old man, his grandson and their duck, Fup. Funny and sad by turns with a bit of magic thrown in.

BOOK 24: Roman Fever by Edith Wharton

A enjoyable collection of short stories that span Wharton's career, bought to read when I was in Rome.

The tales focus on women in love, women marying, divorced women, women trying to escape from the constraints of society. I enjoyed them all although several did contain very predictable plot devices on which the stories had to be hung in order for them to work.

My favourite was Xingu, in which a group of women who consider themselves to be intellectual and at the forefront of modern thought are given their comeuppance.

BOOK 25: The Woman Who Shot Mussolini by Frances Stonor Saunders
(an LT Early Reviewer book)

On 7 April 1926, Violet Gibson attempted to assassinate Mussolini. Violet was a member of the Anglo-Irish upper class and a Catholic, who believed that she had to kill him to save the people of Italy. Despite attempts to link her actions to a wider conspiracy to destroy Il Duce Violet was eventually determined to be mad, was shipped back to Britain and spent the rest of her life shut away in an asylum for the well to do.

It's a fascinating story. However I found the first part of the book (about Violet's early life and the build up to the shooting) to be really weak and this coloured my enjoyment of the whole work. There's obviously a lack of primary source evidence about Violet, her life (we don't even know the name of her fiance) and the development of her mental health problems, so Stonor Saunders chooses to tell her story within the wider context of the early twentieth century, particularly instances of famous cases of mental illness and the struggle for Irish independence that Violet supported. Stonor Saunders goes to great lengths to name check people like Virgina Woolf, Zelda Fitzgerald, T S Eliot, Man Ray, Florence Nightingale, the Pankhursts, James Joyce and his mad daughter Lucia. But she doesn't then provide an analysis of these people's lives or explain how these have helped her achieve any understanding of Violet. I don't mind coming to my own conclusions but am also interested in how Stonor Saunders has come to hers.

Ultimately the constant quoting of other people's writing or lives made me feel distant from Violet as if I couldn't get to her through the crowd, which is probably similar to how Stonor Saunders felt. Violet didn't leave much evidence behind (unlike the writings of Woolf etc) and much of her story, and the woman herself, is unreachable. While I found the second part of the book, which deals with events after the shooting, interesting, that sense of distance from Violet remained and I came away feeling unsatisfied.

However it seems I feel differently to other reviewers. The Guardian calls it a highly intelligent book. There's a section where Stonor Saunders uses. Very breathless sentences to. Describe the excitement and. The vigour of the. 1920s. The Guardian describes this as 'jazzily syncopated'; I call it 'annoyingly affected'!

Char - thanks for the comments on Roman Fever by Wharton. I just read that story for class last week--we had lots of fun discussing it. I don't think I've read Wharton before, and I'm looking forward to reading more of her.

It was fun to read about assignations in the Colisseum and then visit it the next day!

BOOK 26: Brown by Franck Pavloff (no touchstone?)

Read for the novella theme this month, Brown might actually be too short to qualify!

The lives of the narrator and his friend Charlie start to come under threat as the government introduces new restrictive laws that focus on the colour brown. First only brown cats are allowed. Then dogs of any colour except brown are banned. Then people who used to own pets that weren't brown are visited by the Military Police.

Brown is a very short work that effectively depicts the absurdity of totalitarian states but also the frightening degree to which ordinary people comply with these regimes. Stories like this always make me worry that I would do exactly the same thing in their place.

Char, I did see your review of The Wilding when I posted mine and I do mostly agree with your comments, although, as you point out I probably liked the book better than you did (might have just been lucky timing). Did you read As Meat Loves Salt? If you haven't, please don't let this one steer you away from it.

You are certainly reading an interesting variety of books!

Well I guess variety is the spice of life!

I promise I won't turn away from As Meat Loves Salt if I come across it.

BOOK 27: The Aspern Papers by Henry James

Later today I'm taking a whole load of books to the local charity shop and to be honest I rushed through The Aspern Papers to get it read and off my shelf. It's not the best way to do a story justice, but in this case I don't think I would have liked the story more if I had taken my time.

The story is set in Venice. A literary historian blags his way into lodging in the home of an old woman who once had a relationship with a famous poet. The historian is convinced that she has valuable papers and letters relating to the poet and is determined to get his hands on them.

I can see that this story could have worked in the episodic format in which it was originally published, with the tension building over a number of weeks. However, I just found the whole premise unbelievable. I could not accept that the historian was prepared to go to such lengths to get hold of the documents. I guess the intense summer heat got to him. Or maybe the story is a damning indictment of arrogant, single-minded academics??

or a story about the obssesive pursuit of knowledge generally?

In my experience, Henry James is impossible to rush. He demands a slow thoughtful, savouring-the-words-and-the-spaces-between-them reading style. it's all in the nuance.

This is one of my favourite James novellas, with fabulous descriptions of a decaying Venice, atmospheric and haunting. Sorry you didn't enjoy it, char.

I definitely went into it with the wrong frame of mind - it's in a book with The Turn of The Screw which I also didn't enjoy so I think I already expected not to like it!

I can't decide how I feel about James. Portait of a Lady is one of my favourite books, I enjoyed What Daisy Knew, struggled with The Bostonians and can't get beyond the first fifty pages or so of The Golden Bowl. I've also got a few others of his on my shelves that I can't remember much about. Maybe I should have a little bit of a James-fest and give him the time he needs.

>79 charbutton:: Oh, I loved Roman Fever and Other Stories although mine was not that lovely VMC edition. Xingu was one of my favorites also. Like you, the stories inspired me to read more Wharton and I've thoroughly enjoyed doing so.

I have mixed experiences with Henry James too. The Aspern Papers actually sounds interesting though--but I agree James needs to be read slowly or he just doesn't work.

BOOK 28: The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome by Chris Scarre

I love maps. I mean I really love them. In a slightly scary way. I can spend hours and hours pouring over maps of places I don't know and will never go to.

So imagine my delight at finding The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome when I was in Rome last week. Not only does it provide a useful overview of the various periods of the Roman Empire but it also contains lots and lots of interesting maps! These don't just show the territorial expansion and contraction of the Empire but also battle maps, charts showing trade routes that stretched from Spain to China, plans of ancient cities like Carthage and Antioch and even a map showing the origin of the animals used in the ampitheatre entertainments.

I'm in heaven!

91 - I'm a map addict as well, and my husband loves Rome so this went straight on the wishlist.

I love maps. I mean I really love them. In a slightly scary way. I can spend hours and hours pouring over maps of places I don't know and will never go to.

Oh, I can relate to that! Absolutely!

>92 janemarieprice:, 93: add my name to the list of map lovers! You are not alone, char!

> 94, somehow I thought there might be some other map obsessives on LT!

91 and so on, there is a group:

http://www.librarything.com/groups/mapsandatlases

Robert

I'm another map lover! Off to check out the group.

Oh me, also! And my 90-year-old mom. She's asked me to get her a world atlas and a USA road atlas since she stopped traveling some years ago. My siblings frown and ask where she thinks she's going ... they don't appreciate how far a map can take you :)

I knew there would be lots of map geeks here! Thanks for the group link Robert.

Reviews to come soon...

The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano

Just dropping in to say that I found a copy of Spiderweb in a secondhand bookshop earlier today... I'm looking forward to reading it!

>100 wandering_star:, I hope you like it!

On a different subject, I've just seen the line up for the Hay Festival next month. Nadine Gordimer, Shaun Tan, Jeanette Winterson, Hilary Mantel, Philip Pulman, Brian Chikawa....damn I'm so gutted I won't be there. I'm seriously considering booking accommodation now for next year. Although Hay is the site of my most disappointing author event ever during which Margaret Atwood gave a totally disinterested interview. But I'm willing to give the festival another chance.

Right, my most recent Belletrista review has finally been written so I can post reviews here without feeling guilty...



BOOK 29: The Time Machine by H. G. Wells

It's been a few weeks since I finished this so it's all a bit hazy. I do know that it's a classic sci-fi work first published in 1895, in which a scientist invents a time machine and travels to the year 802,701. I enjoyed his gradual discoveries about earth at that time and the changes in thinking that are required as he discovers more about the two groups of beings on the planet. A gripping read.



BOOK 30: The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño

I've been mulling over how to review this book. I think the easiest way is to explain that it is split into three parts. In the first we follow Juan García Madero, a newcomer to the visceral realist group of poets in Mexico City during the 70s. His story culminates in him leaving the city in a hurry in the company of a prostitute and the two leaders of the poetry movement, Arturo Belano and Ulises Lima. The second part is a series of interviews with those people whose lives have intersected with Belano and Lima over the next two decades. The final part returns to the diary of García Madero as he, the prostitute and the poets go on a road trip across Mexico.

I think there's much I don't understand in this story and many allusions that I just don’t get. Is Ulises’ name a link to Ulysses? I think I need to read more about the book and Bolaño.

I did want to raise one issue though, that of the female characters and, consequently, the question of what in the text are the views of the writer and what is simply the writer writing about unpleasant people and their opinions. Denigration of women is common in the story, as would probably be expected from the time it is set in. For example, so and so is lying on the bed 'like a slut’. Violence during sex is at the instigation of women who like to be hit while doing it. One woman has a very strange smelling vagina; another has a strong smell from her mouth. Male impotence is mentioned but in passing without a big deal being made of it. My first reaction to this comments and characterisation is an instinctive disgust with the writer, but is that fair? Probably not! Was Bolaño a raging misogynist, or did he just write about typical men of the 70s?

BOOK 31: The Very Salt of Life: Welsh Women's Political Writings from Chartism to Suffrage edited by Jane Aaron and Ursula Masson

This book is exactly what it says in the title - a collection of writings (in English and Welsh, with translations) by Welsh women starting in the 1830s when women a large number of British women started to become publically politically active to the winning of the vote on equal terms with men in 1928.

It's a fascinating read for a number of reasons. It provides a context for the relationship between the Welsh and the English, which can still be difficult. In 1847 the British Government published a report about the state of education in Wales, a document that was overwhelmingly negative (if not outright racist) about the Welsh, the Welsh language and their nonconformist religious traditions. One of the first article in this book is a strident rebuttal to this report written by Jane Williams. She put forward a detailed analysis of the report highlighting the failings of the evidence it was based on. Her intelligent arguments and obvious idignation at this insult to her country are compelling.

This book also shows that while women were keen to have their voices heard and were becoming ever more confident about being politically active in public, their self-proclaimed reasons for doing this were couched in the accepted thought of the Victorian age. They colluded with the notion of women being the moral guardians of the nation and explained that the motivations for their activism were based in their natural womanly responsibilities. One writer notes 'it is your womanly duty to minister to the sick, therefore it is also your duty to raise your voice on behalf of the important Land Laws, Rural Reforms, and other Liberal measures that will prevent overcrowding, bad sanitation and consequent disease. It is your womanly duty to rescue the tempted and comfort the sorrow stricken...' The implication is that men did not have these duties so it was up to women to take on these issues, the argument that was often used to overcome protest from men (and from other women who believed that the woman's place was in the home). I can see why this method was useful but it I would have loved to see women talking about wanting power to make decisions rather than the flowery discussions of using their influence, based on female feelings, to change male decision-making.

The personal stories that appear later in the book are also very interesting, particularly those of women who participated in the Suffrage Pilgrimage, marching from various parts of Wales to London in 1913 to meet up with women from all over the country. Since finishing this book, and particularly in the context of the coming general election, I've been doing some thinking about political activism in this country and what would motivate me to get more involved.

BOOK 32: Women of the West edited by Cathy Luchetti in collaboration with Carol Olwell

Another collection of women's writings, Women of the West tells the stories of women who travelled across America in the 1800s to new lives in the West. This is a great book. I think what I like most about it is the breadth of experience that Luchetti has included - white women, black women, Indian women, European women, rich women, poor women, mothers, educators, business women, religious women. The sources used are mainly diaries, memoirs and letters which give vivid, personal accounts of the terrible hardships that many of these women experienced, the monotony of rural life, the strength they drew from their beliefs and the opportunitites that some of them were able to take.

The writings are accompanied by some wonderful photographs, not only of the writers themselves but also of the landscapes and communities of the West.

103 - Sounds very interesting. I've always been fascinated by the claim in that period that women should be allowed to vote because they are more morally upstanding. I've often wondered if these women actually believed that or (like good politicians) were just putting a spin on it.

ETA: I also added to my wishlist. I'm some part Welsh and have been wanting to learn more about the culture.

Women of the West sounds interesting, especially as I happen to live in "The West." I've added it to my ever-growing wishlist.

>105 janemarieprice:, I think they did believe it but that it was also the most persuasive argument they had to support the case for their political involvement. I also think that the concept of women's moral responsibilities that are expressed in these texts was very much a product of the middle-class women who wrote them and who were leading campaigns. They took on the role of educating and uplifting the working class and saw political power as a way of furthering these endeavours.

BOOK 33: Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny

The action in Lord of Light takes place on a planet where a non-technological human society is ruled by a range of Hindu gods that have fantastic powers. However, one of those gods decides that the deities suppression of human technology and discovery has to stop. He creates a new religion, Buddhism, and leads epic battles against the rest of heaven.

I have no idea if the powers and characteristics attributed to Kali, Brahma, Vishnu etc are in keeping with Hindu tradition, but this was an enjoyable read that is an interetsing twist on the ideas about how the future human race will adapt to survive.

>108 charbutton:, Huh, that sounds kinda cool. Thanks for posting!

The start of my Carribean reading...



BOOK 34: Dancing to 'Almendra' by Mayra Montero

I hate leaving such a gap between finishing a book and reviewing. I'm already 7 books on from this so my memories of it are a bit hazy, to say the least.

Joaquin, a young Cuban journalist, gets mixed up with the local Mafia due to the death of a hippopotamus form Havana Zoo. Along the way his family falls apart, he falls in love with a one-armed woman and grows up a bit. I enjoyed the story and there were several interesting characters.



BOOK 35: The Orchid House by Phyllis Shand Allfrey

The Orchid House is the story of three sisters who return to their family home in Dominica. The sisters have very different characters and have gone on to lead very different lives, yet they all love their island home and they all love and are loved by one man, their childhood friend.

Phyllis Shand Allfrey was the founder of the Dominica Labour Party, was an MP, a Minister and a newspaper editor. Her background influenced the style and content of this book. The main narrator is Lally, the black nurse who has served the family for years and feels a motherly ownership of the women and their children. I wonder if it was important to Allfrey to give the black community a voice in literature. Also, one of the sisters is a Labour activist who tries to unionise the workers on the island. She is presented as poor, but happy, while her more wealthy sisters are not as content. Perhaps a deliberate promotion of the Labour cause?

BOOK 36: Killing Orders by Sara Paretsky

Either this one isn't as good as other V I Warshawski stories or the formula is wearing thin for me now.

Looking forward to the review of The Orchid House - I've just read and enjoyed her other published work, a book of short stories, so have been thinking I must get hold of a copy!

>112 wandering_star:, a bit of a thin review I'm afraid as I can't remember the detail! I did enjoy it though.

BOOK 37: Selected Poems by Simon Armitage

It was with great reluctance that I took on avaland's April challenge to read works by a living poet. As many of you know, poetry isn't my thing but I do feel that this is a prejudice that I should at least challenge even if I can't overcome it.

We have so little poetry on our shelves that the choice of poet was obvious - Simon Armitage. I have briefly met Simon when his band the Scaremongers headlined a gig organised by mr. charbutton, so I thought that connection would help make his writing more meaningful for me.

So what did I think? Well, I didn't hate the experience! I enjoyed a number of the poems. 'Five Eleven Ninety Nine' is about building and burning a fire; 'The Tyre' is about a tyre found by some kids on a moor. It became obvious that those I liked most were longer and more like a prose story. I still have problems absorbing and appreciating a short poem.

Armitage's writing feels very familiar, probably because he's writing about a time and a culture that I know and he often has a darker angle. I particularly liked this unpleasant image from 'A Painted Bird for Thomas Szasz':

I also saw him, once, in a covered precinct
Pissing himself through his pants onto concrete
and fumbling with the zip on his anorak.
He bothered me, and later I had to walk back
across where the dark circle of his stain had grown
and was still growing, slowly, outward, like a town.

I like the image of urban sprawl created by a victim of urban life.

My favourtie piece is an extract from 'Killing Time' in which high school students run amok throwing flowers at their peers and teachers in a parody of high school shooting sprees. They end by pinning flowers to themselves, leaving a trail of garlands and bouquets in their wake.

I've had some similar thoughts about the poetry challenge. I didn't read a collection by one poet, but in reading some anthologies I found I liked the more narrative ones. It's the internal monologue ones that drive me nuts.

BOOK 38: A River Called Time by Mia Couto

When his grandfather dies Mariano is called back to his home village to attend the funeral and take over the family's affairs which his grandfather has left him in charge of. But it seems that his grandfather isn't really dead. He is writing letters to Mariano that start to enlighten his grandson about the family and its secrets.

I'm undecided about this one. Again my memory of it isn't that reliable. I see that I gave it 3 stars so i did enjoy it, despite the magical/mystical aspects that I usually find difficult.

Sorry, that's a completely crap review, isn't it!

BOOK 39: That Mad Ache by Francoise Sagan

To be reviewed in a future issue of Belletrista.

This novel contains two of the most annoying characters I have ever come across. They both needed to be shaken until their teeth rattle!

After the novel is an essay by Douglas Hofstadter, the translator, which I have yet to read.

Book 40: The Brontes Went to Woolworths by Rachel Ferguson

I expected to hate this book. It's about the Carne household, a mother and three daughters living in 1920s London. They inhabit a strange fantasy world with a doll called Ironface who speaks French, a pierrot and various other odd characters. It feels fey and sweet. One of the photos on Google Image Search is of a very cute little dog sat next to the book. Enough said.

For the first 100 or so pages I just didn't get it. I didn't understand how it worked. If there are four people (including one adult and two nearly-adults) imagining a scene, how does everyone know what each character said? I got completely hung up on how the mechanics of it all!

But suddenly the story clicked. It's funny, with some parts making me nearly laugh out loud on the bus, something that's just not the done thing in London And it's sad, really sad. I came to understand that these fantasies were created to block out deep grief and loneliness.

these fantasies were created to block out deep grief and loneliness

Sounds interesting; the grief-hiding-beneath-the-narrative is what I found especially moving in A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and Bright Lights, Big City.

>119 detailmuse:, I'll check those two out.

BOOK 41: The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Is it possible to find two more unsympathetic characters in literature? Anthony Patch an unsociable, difficult boy, becomes an indolent man-about-town waiting to inherit a large fortune when his puritan uncle finally dies. Anthony marries Gloria Gilbert, a young beautiful, amoral woman who takes what she wants and has no understanding of consequence. Together they spend and drink their way into a haze where the only light is the prospect of Anthony's inheritance. I have to say that I took great delight in their descent into misery. They deserved it!

Beyond this, there are two ways of looking at this story. I don't know much about America at this time but assume that, like here in Britain, Anthony and Gloria would have been considered as dangers to the very fabric of American society. They represent the worst of the generation that come of age in the early 1910s and 20s, drunken, uncaring, inactive. They are the opposite of the active and vigorous American spirit, the spirit that is emphasised by their friends and acquaintances. Even Gloria's friend who prostitutes herself, or as near as, during the First World War could be said to be actively ensuring her own survival - Gloria just exists passively.

The blurb on the back cover suggests that this also the story of the Fitzgerald's themselves and 'the doomed life they were to lead together before their individual crack-ups.' (I love the use of the phrase 'crack-up' - an indication that my edition was published in an age much less sensitive to mental health problems!) I know little about the Fitzgeralds' lives but even a brief glance at a Wikipedia entry indicates that alcohol and financial ruin described in the book were reflected in real life.

Interesting review! I'll have to look out for that one--it sounds intriguing. I know as much about the Fitzgeralds as you have mentioned here--not a very happy family from the sounds of it. That's why this picture of them always makes me laugh (in kind of a sad way). Apparently this was their Christmas card picture from 1925:

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/2698749/Hulton-Archive

Can you imagine being that little girl in the picture? What did she have to say about this when she grew up?

114 and 115> There's some really interesting and wildly varied contemporary narrative poetry out there. I recommend: The Monkey's Mask by Dorothy Porter, an Australian murder mystery; Sonata Mulaticca by Rita Dove, a true tale of an African-European violinist in the 19th c; The Sugar Mile by Glyn Maxwell that juxtaposes 9/11 with the "Black Saturday" bombing of Canning Town that started the London Blitz; Anne's Carson's The Beauty of the Husband: A Fictional Essay in 29 Tangos; and of course, Derek Walcott's masterpiece Omeros.

Interesting reading to read about as always, Char.

Bloody hell, it's a long time since I ventured into the LT world. I've been a bit of a recluse for the last few weeks in lots of ways, but books have been my constant companions.

Anyway, here's what I've been reading...



Book 42: So He Takes The Dog by Jonathan Buckley
(book club - Mark's choice)

A man has a disagreement with his wife so to escape the atmosphere at home her takes his dog for a walk on the beach. This single act leads to the discovery of the dead body of Henry a local homeless man. The story's narrator is a local policeman involved in the investigation into Henry's death. It's quite a slow story and somewhat different to more formulaic detective in some ways - as we find out more about Henry's life, our understanding of him becomes more fragmented rather than reaching a nice cohesive conclusion. I liked the unfinished nature of Henry's story. However, in other ways this feels like a parody of detective fiction. Much of the plot is clearly signposted along the way and during the final chapter we revisit all of the other main characters and loose ends are nicely tied up.

The narrator is intriguing. Only once throughout the whole book does he refer to himself as 'I'. He's telling the story of his life as much as that of Henry and yet he remains distant and detached, not taking responsibility for his actions in the murder investigation or in his marriage until his wife forces him into using the personal pronoun. We follow him through an intimate and difficult period of his life and yet I don't feel like I know him at all. It's a bit unsettling.

BOOK 43: Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon

Published in 1930, this book described the rise and fall of 18 species of men over 2,000 million years, from the First Men to the Last Men. The story, if it can be called a story, is recounted by a Last Man who has transmitted it back into the past to be read by the First Men.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It was really hard to get through and incredibly boring. The rises and the falls are very similar. Man progresses, man is struck down (either by his own faults or some kind of disease/virus), man progresses, man is struck down and so on. The Martians invade, then they retreat - that was quite interesting. After each regression, man starts to develop again but often with new physical or mental attributes. Sometimes a species of man creates his own successors, sometimes they are the results of evolution.

Despite the repetition there were some interesting aspects which made me stop and think. It seems that man cannot do without religion in some form or other. Stapledon's prediction of a powerful China in competition with America certainly resonates. His faith that the League of Nations would have an influence on the world stage seems touchingly naive now. And his rampant anti-Americanism is amusing and also feels current!

BOOK 44: The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon

The Lonely Londoners tells the stories of men who arrived in London from the West Indies in the 1950s. They encounter overt and covert racism and end up in crappy jobs struggling to make ends meet, but they play hard often with the white women who seem to be particularly attracted to these exotic men.

I really enjoyed this book. It's a love story, about the love between Trinidadian Moses Aloetta and the city he has lived in for ten years. It's not always a happy relationship - the city is cold, unfriendly. As Moses points out, 'Nobody in London does really accept you. They tolerate you, yes, but you can't go in their house and eat or sit down and talk'. It's still like this and I don't think it will change. In my street there are people from the West Indies, Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, but do we mix? Not really, beyond a quick chat on the doorstep. It can be the loneliest place.

But it can also be the most wonderful place too. Moses asks: "What is it that a city have, that any place in the world have, that you get so much to like it you wouldn't leave it for anywhere else?". There are moments when being in London is spiritually uplifting.

There is much that doesn't change about London. One of the characters moans about the tube not running all night, something we still complain about! Immigrants still come to the city seeking out friends of friends who can help them start a new life, like Moses helps out numerous people from the islands. People settle here and add to the city's life, and others don't like that they come here at all. The media still plays on these fears as do the newspapers in Sam Selvon's story.

Despite the darker sides of life here, I do love this city.

BOOK 45: Reclaiming the F-Word: The New Feminist Movement by Catherine Redfern and Kristin Aune
(LT Early Reviewers)

Reclaiming the F-Word has three purposes. The first is to provoke women like me, armchair feminists, into taking action about the issues that concern them. The second is to make more young women aware that feminism isn't a dead issue, it is vital to today's world. And finally the authors want to remind second-wave feminists (those active in the 70s) that the activism of today isn't less valid than their struggles just because it seems less militant.

In the 1970s the women's liberation movement had a list of seven demands starting with equal pay now and ending with the right to freedom from violence and sexual coercion. Redfern and Aune put forward a new list of what feminists want. Depressingly, this list isn't that much different from that put together 40 years ago. Sexual freedom, an end to violence against women, equality at work and an end to cultural sexism are still relevant today. The point is made that while gains may have been made in terms of legislation, society still hasn't embraced feminism and gender equality.

As I said, I'm an armchair feminist. I have no hesitation in describing myself as a feminist but I don't take part in any activism. So how did this book affect me? It made me bloody angry at the injustices and discrimination that women are still subjected to. How can we accept that 80,000 rapes take place in the UK each year? Why do young women want to be a footballer's wife when they want to grow up? The authors helpfully provide examples of activism and what action women can take and I need to think about what I intend to do about these subjects that I care about deeply.

Having said that, I don't think this book is entirely successful. Each section feels a bit light, as if the authors didn't want to get bogged down in detail in case they frighten away newcomers to feminism. I also think that while the examples of activism are helpful, the successes of some of these activities aren't emphasised enough. It feels like there's a lot of blog-writing, facebook campaigns etc with little actually being changed.

I'd be really interested to know whether the people who read this book already consider themselves to be feminists. Are Redfen and Aune finding a new audience or are they just preaching to the converted?

BOOK 46: The Cat in the Coffin by Mariko Koike

To be reviewed for Belletrista.

BOOK 47: Journey Into The Past by Stefan Zweig
(touchstones a bit dodgy)

In Zweig's novella, Ludwig falls in love with the wife of his boss. He discovers that she loves him and they embark on what seems like it will be a passionate and destructive love affair. However, not long after their mutual declaration of affection, Ludwig is sent to work in Mexico for two years. They keep up an intense correspondence and the day of his return to Germany finally arrives. Unfortunately this coincides with the beginning of the First World War and he doesn't return until nine years later. The couple meet up again but will they be able to recapture the passion of so many years ago?

I know I enjoyed this when I read it, but I just can't remember any more than that. Not a good sign - either I didn't enjoy it enough for it to have a lasting impact or my memory's failing!

Char - interesting review of Reclaiming the F-word. Sounds like a good one to get from the library.

>128 charbutton: interesting review, Char. I suspect they are speaking mostly to the already converted but not active. Any book, whose title plays off the word 'feminism' in any way, is not apt to reach new readers, imo.

Would you consider reposting your review over on the Feminist Theory group? Nickelini and I have posted our recent related nonfiction reading over there also.

Nice review of The Lonely Londoners, Char; I read that in '08, I think, and also enjoyed it. Have you read anything else by Selvon?

>132 avaland:, yes, happy to repost the review Lois

>133 kidzdoc:, Thanks! I haven't read anything else be Selvon but will certainly be looking out for his other work. Any recommendations?

BOOK 48: Absolution Gap by Alastair Reynolds

The third book of a trilogy dealing with the struggle of a small band of humans, and variations of humans, to defeat the seemingly unstoppable Inhibitors who are destroying star system after star system.

It's enjoyable space opera that doesn't really hold up when thought about too deeply. But the books in the series have all been unputdownable escapist fun, which is exactly what I need from them. Absolution Gap does feel slightly more flawed than the first two in the series though, and I think the ending is really disappointing. I was all ready for the big show down with the Inhibitors but it doesn't quite happen. Oh well.

I'm amazed by how many of the books you mention are books I have read, own and/or want to own and read. I'm sorry you didn't like Tea With Mr Rochester - I was considering getting it next time I go to buy some Persephones.

>135 charbutton: What about it doesn't hold up? I haven't read Reynolds, but hubby read the first one not too long after it was published and was not as impressed as he was led to believe that he would be. I find it hard to make myself read straightforward SF these days, although I did enjoy McAuley's The Quiet War and Gardens of the Sun (the latter fairly recently).

>136 elkiedee:, my Mum really liked Tea With Mr Rochester so don't take my word for it, especially as I struggle with short stories.

And yes, I do live near Hackney, in Leyton.

>137 avaland:, everything's just a bit too conveniently solved. If you know Star Wars, it's like the bit when Luke is about to deposit his bombs into the Death Star and the Millennium Falcon suddenly swoops in to save the day.

BOOK 49: Enormous Changes At The Last Minute by Grace Paley

Do you ever find that you read page after page of a story and just don't get it?? That's my experience with this book. I just couldn't grasp what was happening or what the author was saying. These short stories are about women surviving in difficult circumstances, something that would usually interest me. Perhaps it's just a case of wrong book at the wrong time. They'll go back on my Virago shelf and I'll try them again at some point.

BOOK 50: The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

Following on from above, this is an example of a book that I left unfinished but having picked up to try again. I'm so glad I did!

Nothing much happens in The Summer Book. A grandmother and her grand-daughter spend the summer on a small island off the coast of Finland. They explore the island, inventing stories and making dens. Sometimes they are friends, sometimes they argue.

I think Jansson is showing how close childhood and old age can be. The woman and the child are both open about their emotions - they have few inhibitions and can be very moody and argumentative. Death and grief are also ever-present. The child's mother has died recently and she is can't stand the thought of other people leaving her. And of course the old woman is conscious of the approaching end of her life. I felt that both characters were beautifully written.

Bloody hell, it's been a long time since I did anything on LT. Here's what I've been reading...



BOOK 51: The Holiday by Stevie Smith

The Holiday is set in England in 1949 and tells the story of Celia who works in a government Ministry. She and her cousin, who she's secretly in love with, go to stay with their Uncle Heber for a holiday. And that's it really. The story's a bit slow for me and I drifted off during some of the long conversations between Celia and her cousin, but I did enjoy the discussions about what victory means for a country. There was a real sense that after the intense experience of the Second World War and the excitement of victory, it's not clear what remains, apart from some very damaged people.



BOOK 52: East of Eden by John Steinbeck
(book club)

We're discussing this at book club tomorrow night and I'm not sure what I have to say about it. It was like reading a very long soap opera, with one-dimensional characters that I didn't really care about. I did enjoy it though, it was very absorbing.



BOOK 53: The New Feminism by Natasha Walter

Published in 1998 as Britain came out of the long, dark years of Thatcherism, The New Feminism was written to reclaim feminism and show women that it was relevant to their lives and not just about man-hating lesbians.

Walter clearly had a bad experience in which she felt she was pushed away from feminism because she enjoyed sex with men and this colours her approach to the subject. She's very keen to rebut claims made by some of the more radical 1970s feminists like Germaine Greer and Gloria Steinem like the infamous 'all men are rapists'. Walter is vehement in her view that feminism should keep its nose out of people's bedrooms. Which would be fine if sex and sexuality weren't the very areas where misogyny and inequality continue to exist. I think she's right to point out that radical anti-male statements aren't helpful in engaging people in the feminist cause, but she doesn't explore the media's role in promoting this as the single narrative about a movement that was/is incredibly diverse.

The book is also very much a product of its time, not just because the Spice Girls' statements about girl power are often referenced! The focus is on material needs and wants which feels like a product of the individualistic materialistic 1980s and early 90s.

I have to admit that my hackles were raised for much of this book. I have marked numerous pages where Walter's statements provoked me, none more so than when she claims that Margaret Thatcher was an unsung feminist icon who did a lot to advance the cause of women. Really?? I don't remember universal free child care being introduced during her rule. I don't remember sexual violence against women disappearing between 1979 and 1990.

The sad thing is that 12 years on Reclaiming the F-Word, reviewed above, has to revisit many of the same subjects.



BOOK 54: The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

The beautiful Lily Bart moves in the best New York circles but, with no money and unmarried at the age of 29, she needs to marry. But when she gets a suitably rich man to the point of proposing she manages to fluff it and through naivety, possibly wilfull, she starts to become embroiled in events that lead to her ostracisation. Wharton effectively depicts the hypocrisy of high society in which a women's position is incredibly vulnerable to the vagaries of gossip and rumour in a world that only forgives bad behaviour if the perpetrator is wealthy.

Wharton is becoming one of my favourite writers.



BOOK 55: Derek Jarman's Garden by Derek Jarman

Derek Jarman's garden is beautiful and odd. In the mid-1980s he bought a fisherman's cottage on Dungeness, a bleak expanse of shingle on the English south coast with views of the sea, a lighthouse and a massive nuclear power station. I visited Dungeness as a child and was fascinated by how desolate and strange the place is.

A few years ago, I visited Dungeness again with friends and we included a trip to see Derek Jarman's garden. Jarman, a painter and film director who died in the 90s, created a garden of stones, native plants and sculptures of wood and metal. It fits the landscape perfectly.

This book contains Jarman's writing about his garden right up to the last year of his life, accompanied by pictures taken by a friend of Jarman and the garden. It gave me a real sense of him as a person and increased my enjoyment of seeing the garden in real life.



BOOK 56: In Love and Trouble by Alice Walker

In Love and Trouble is a collection of short stories that focus mainly on black women in the south of America.

I love Walker's writing. She can be brutal in portraying the suffering of women but she also shows the fortitude that women have to survive, endure and break out. She makes me sad and angry but also makes me laugh. She isn't afraid of laying bare society, both white and black communities, to show its strengths and its flaws.

The House of Mirth confirmed me as a member of the Edith Wharton fan club! And I love your comments on East of Eden. You've captured something I felt as well -- a book I enjoyed a lot, but the characters, well, not so much.

>142 lauralkeet:, I'll be interested to see what the other members of the book club made of it. Have you read any other Steinbeck? I read Of Mice and Men at school but all I remember about it is having to write an essay entitled 'Is Curly's wife a victim or a tart?'!

I have the Jarman book on my TBR pile too - my mum bought it for me after we made a trip to Dungeness. It's a remarkable landscape. (Did you have any snacks from the smokery?)

>143 charbutton:: I read The Grapes of Wrath first, and loved it. I've seen Of Mice and Men on stage but not read it. No essay required :)

I have a couple of his shorter works on my shelves but they haven't worked their way to the top of Mt. TBR. Yet.

>145 lauralkeet:, others at book club recommended The Grapes of Wrath too, I might have to give it a go.

Re. East of Eden, most people enjoyed it although agreeing that many of the characters are unrealistically good or bad. No one agreed with me that Lee was in love with Adam - I guess that just my pet theory! There was some agreement that Samuel might have represented God though.

BOOK 57: Stranger in the House: Women's Stories of Men Returning from the Second World War by Julie Summers

This book is exactly what it says in the title - women's stories of what happened when their men returned from the war, told from the point of view of mothers, wives and daughters. There are some heart-warming stories, tales of love surviving years of separation and trauma. There are also some very moving histories, particularly those about the long-lasting impact that imprisonment in Japanese prison of war camps had on men and repercussions for their families.

Not only did women have to cope with the physical and mental effects of the war on their partners, but very often they had to restrict their own lives and the independence they may have experienced during the war to care for these damaged men. Every story told by those interviewed by Summers involves a wife getting on with the lot she has been given whatever that means for the rest of her life. However, many of the men seem not to have realised what sacrifices were made for them or the difficult lives that women experienced while they were away at war. I suppose neither person could truly understand the other's experiences.

Summers also highlights the plight of women caught up in extramarital affairs during the war, how they could be ostracised and how men dealt with their wife's infidelity.

Summers writes with obvious warmth for the women who have told her their stories. It's an interesting and sometimes moving read. My only criticism is that I would have liked a bit more context about how society in general was coming to terms with the end of the war alongside the personal stories. She mentions the shockingly small pensions that war widows received and that a support group for these women wasn't formed until the 1970s, but I think I needed a bit more about the immediate post-war years, a time I know little about.

That's the end of my review but I wanted to note that reading this book made me think about the varied experiences of the second world war in my family. My Nan (aged 19) and Grandad (aged 17) married in 1944, only 2 months before my aunt was born! My Grandad, by his own accounts, had a great war - serving on HMS Belfast he got to see parts of the world he never dreamed of like China and Australia. My Nan grew up in Bow, East London, one of the areas worst hit by the Blitz and probably had more frightening and distressing experiences than my Grandad. Her brother, my great uncle Charlie, was a prisoner of war in Burma, something he never spoke about like many of the men in Julie Summers' book and I always wonder what horrors he must have seen.

I also got thinking about how British society today would deal with a similar situation. Would anyone sign up to protect their country? Would women be conscripted? Would my partner and I have the courage of our convictions and be conscientious objectors? All totally irrelevant I suppose as it's very unlikely that Britain would be at risk of a land invasion and the population would be less amenable to censorship, propaganda etc. But it's interesting to think about it.

BOOK 58: The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende

Right, that's it. Never again will I avoid a book or a writer because of my prejudice against magical realism. For too long it's prevented me from reading fantastic books like The House of Spirits.

This is a wonderful book. Told in parts by Esteban Trueba, from the diaries of his wife Clara and finally by his granddaughter, we follow the story of the women of the De Valle family which Esteban marries into. And what women they are. Strong, independent, mystical, brave. Esteban on the other hand is arrogrant, violent and pretty unpleasant although he starts to get older and weaker, I started to feel a bit more sympathy for him.

The story chronicles three generations of the family, alongside the development of the unnamed Latin American country in which they live as socialism/communism starts to become more popular and, later, a military coup takes place. We see the reluctance of the haves to give anything to the have nots, how the coup was wlecomed as a way of bringing stability and the brutality that regime actually brings.

I wish I'd written this review straight after finishing the book so I can properly do it justice. All I can say is that it's one of the bext books I've read in a long time.

(No Persephone cover image anywhere, so this is the book's end paper)

The Village by Marghanita Laski

Priory Dean is a small village, near to London. It is essentially rural but near enough to the city to start to be attractive for people who want to commute into the city. These people are not the kind that those who live in the Priory Hill area of the village would welcome. Priory Hill is where the better people live, those of the upper-middle class. They aren't necessarily wealthy, indeed some of them are in dire financial straits, but they consider themselves to be the moral leaders of the village. Unlike the working-class people who live down at Staion Road and how are mainly beyond the notice of the Priory Hill set.

The Village opens on the night that victory is declared in Europe in 1945. Wendy (from Priory Hill) and Edith (Station Road resident) meet up for their final night of duty at the Red Cross post. The war has brought these two very different women together across the class divide but the end of war leads to the resumption of their proper places - socially important woman and her 'char'.

The story continues and shows up the English class hypocrisies and the real nastiness of people concerned with retaining their place in society. The introduction of an American who doesn't understand the subtleties of this life emphasises these very English characteristics. Many of the characters are deeply unplesant, Wendy in particular, and Marghanita Laski does have some fun at their expense. This isn't a complex portrayal of the English rural middle classes in the immediate post-war years, but it feels very authentic!

BOOK 60: Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

While not set in her usual milieu of the New York upper class, Ethan Frome is a familiar Wharton story of love frustrated by the strictures of society. Farmer Ethan Frome falls for his wife's cousin who lives with them in rural New England. Mattie is young and fresh and lovely; his wife Zeena is constantly ill and demanding; Ethan is lonely, unloved and unappreciated. In this novella we join their story as this situation reaches it's sad conclusion.

I think the novella format didn't really work for me. I needed to follow the development of Ethan and Mattie's relationship over a longer period to buy into the idea of them throwing away everything on what felt to me like a whim. I guess I'm just not a romantic!

Char -- I love Edith Wharton, but I too find Ethan Frome the least satisfying of her books. There was, however, a harrowing Hallmark Hall of Fame production on TV when I was in school in the 1960s starring Julie Harris. I never could bring myself to see the remake as that production is seared on my memory.

The Village may be one of my next batch of Persephone purchases as it sounds really interesting - I read her To Bed With Grand Music about a woman in wartime and one of the things I wondered about that was how she would adapt afterwards. I've bought Stranger in the House with one of the two gift vouchers I received recently.

>152 elkiedee:, thanks for the info on her other books, I'll look them up.

I'm back from my holiday with 10 new and secondhand books - not bad for a week in a part of the world with a lack of good bookshops.

My holiday reading:



BOOK 61: Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
(Book club)

An enjoyable re-read. Wormold, a British ex-pat living in Havana, runs a branch of a vacuum cleaner supplier, has drinks every day with his only friend Dr Hasselbacher and worries that he doesn't have the money to give his attractive young daughter the future she deserves. One day a British gentleman appears in Havana and offers Wormold the chance to become a spy for Her Majesty's Government. What follows is farcical, absurd and very funny as Wormold becomes embroiled in what turns out to be a very dangerous situation.

The close connections between the British Secret Service and writers of fiction in real life (Ian Fleming for example) sharpen the satire and make me think that Wormold's experiences might not be that far away from the reality of the spying network in the mid-20th century!

Wormold himself is an interesting character, a passive man who just seems to take everything that's thrown at him and ends up in a much better position than before. But there's also a lot of unknowns about him. How did he end up in Cuba? What happened between him and his wife to make her run off?

Finally, all present at book club for the discussion about this book agreed that Wormold's daughter is a most aggravating and spoilt child!



BOOK 62: Bedelia by Vera Caspary

Charlie and Bedelia, an American couple living in the early 1900s, have a seemingly perfect life. After a whirlwind romance and marriage they have settled down into Charlie's large family home. He works hard to provide his gorgeous new wife with all the comforts she needs. Bedelia plays her part by keeping a beautiful, tasteful home.

However it's not long before dark shadows start to inflitrate this idyll. Bedelia gets caught out in telling some white lies. Then Charlie is struck down with what appears to be food poisoning but could be something more sinister...

...as this is a thriller I won't give any more away. Caspary's writing is engaging and I had trouble putting the book down. She gives the story a bit of a twist by introducing the character of Ellen, a journalist who is in love with but was rejected by Charlie. Ellen enables Caspary to consider other ways of living for women beyond marriage and motherhood which I think takes Bedelia beyond other femme fatale thrillers.

Bedelia is the second book I've read from the Feminist Press's Femmes Fatales series of re-issued pulp fiction written by women. I'll definitely be buying more in the series - perhaps the intriguingly-titled The G-String Murders next!



BOOK 63: Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat

Breath, Eyes Memory is a sad story about intergenerational cycles of pain and loss. As a young girl Sophie lives with her aunt Atie in Haiti, her mother having left many years before to live in America. When Sophie is 12 years old her mother sends for her. Sophie is devastated to leave her aunt and when she arrives in New York finds that her mother, Martine, is a tired woman, troubled by terrifying nightmares that Sophie finds out are the result of Martine being raped at 16, which led the Sophie being conceived.

The nightmares are also caused by memories of the painful violation that Martine was subjected to by her mother - a daily test to see if Martine's hymen was still intact and thereby proving her virginity. When Sophie begins a friendship with Joseph the older man who lives next door, Martine starts to test Sophie's virginity every day. This leads to physical and mental pain and humiliation for Sophie and she runs off with Joseph, not speaking to her mother for a number of years.

However Sophie finds the physical relationship with Joseph difficult because of her experiences and she runs away to Haiti with her young child. Martine is asked to come to the island by her mother for a reconciliation with Sophie.

As a backdrop to this story, we learn of unrest and violence in Haiti but I have to do a bit more thinking about how Danticat brings the domestic violence and this political violence together.

Despite the difficult and emotional story I really enjoyed this book. The writing is uncomplicated but evocative and Danticat doesn't flinch from showing how women are subjected to distress and pain because society demands proof of their purity. She explains the very different American and Haitian ways of dealing with trauma but the essential meesage is that the key to healing is about letting go and becoming libéré, free.



BOOK 64: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison is another writer who doesn't flinch from portraying the violence that women are subjected to, carry out or permit to happen as a result of patriarchy and racism.

The Bluest Eye was her first novel, published in 1970, and it deals with the experiences of several young girls in the post-Depression Midwest. Morrison tackles some very difficult issues in the story - incest, rape, domestic violence. She also writes about the dehumanisation of black people, the 'distaste' that is part of a 'total absence of human recognition - the glazed separateness' that makes a young black girl long for blue eyes instead of the brown ones she is stuck with. She is made aware that white equals good, black equals bad from an early age. What is the effect of this constant 'distaste' on a person? What is the effect on a whole community? Morrison writes about the hurt that black people inflict on each other but places this in the context of the constant racism and disadvantage that they experience every day, without using this is an excuse for her characters actions.



BOOK 65: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

As a Booker Prize winner, Wolf Hall has received hundreds and hundreds of reviews and much praise. I came to it feeling a little sceptical that a book could deserve such lavish plaudits and having not really enjoyed Beyond Black, the only other Mantel I have read.

I was very pleasantly surprised! Wolf Hall is one of the best books I've read for a long time. It follows the story of Thomas Cromwell, a blacksmith's son who raises to the highest position of power in the English Tudor court just below that of king. Cromwell becomes a vital advisor to Henry VIII during his separation from Catherine of Aragon, marriage to Anne Boleyn and break from the Roman Catholic church.

While the story is 650 pages long and is told from Cromwell's point of view, although in the third not the first person, I feel like I know very little about his character. To his contemporaries he is a mysterious man and to the reader he is equally inscrutable. A hard-headed man, not afraid to wield his power and able to bear a grudge for a long time, we catch brief glimpses of his grief at the death of his wife and daughters and his loyalty to his mentor Cardinal Wolsey. He also inspires great loyalty in his supporters. But at a time when strongly-held principles and beliefs were of vital importance (often leading to death or great power), Cromwell is strangely apolitical. (For Brits reading this, he feels a bit like a Tudor Peter Mandelson!). Mantel's skill as a writer is that although Cromwell manoevures himself into advantageous positions and is often brutal to his enemies, he is not unlikable.

BOOK 66: It Shouldn't Happen To A Vet by James Herriot

This book was part of a bundle of charity shop books given to me as a present from a friend. It's not something I would have chosen myself and I only read it because it came up as the next book on in my lucky dip.

It Shouldn't Happen To A Vet is Herriot's memoir of his time as a young vet working in the Yorkshire Dales during the 1930s. It's really just a series of anecdotes about being a vet (I now know more about bovine uterine prolapses than I ever thought possible) and about the hardiness and plain-speaking attitude of the bluff Yorkshire men who Herriot met through his work. There is some love interest as he has a series of unsuccessful dates with a local woman.

I didn't object to reading this but I found it a bit repetitive and boring.

BOOK 67: Medieval Women: A Social History of Women in England 450 - 1500 by Henrietta Leyser

Part of our holiday was spent in North Yorkshire, a place closely connected to Medieval times through the large number of religious houses that were established in the area, particularly the double monastery (where both nuns and monks lived) run by St Hilda at Whitby. So it seemed right to turn to Medieval Women to find out more about St Hilda and her contemporaries.

While Leyser does assume a certain amount of knowledge about the period, this was an interesting and informative read. Throughout the book she is keen to test assumptions that have been made by other historians about women's lives and the about the nature of the society in which they lived. For example, much is made about the legal changes brought in after the Norman Conquest of England that placed many restrictions on female ownership of property. This is often seen as a sign of the misogynist nature of the times, but Leyser points out that men were subjected to similarly restrictive changes so we need to be careful about labelling a society so decisively.

I also liked that Leyser includes information about peasant women and others at the lower end of the social scale. I'm sure much of the source material would have been about the aristocracy and it would have been easy to concentrate on where most data was available.

I have to admit, though, that towards the end I did drift off during the sections related to religion. God and the Church played such a significant role in life during the period under discussion that it's not surprising that much of the book is about religious women, but it's an area of little interest to me.

BOOK 68: The Gathering Night by Margaret Elphinstone
LT Early Reviewer book

The Gathering Night is set in the Mesolithic period in Scotland. It tells the story of the Auk people and the events that follow when a member of the Lynx people joins their tribe.

The story is enjoyable and the way Elphinstone tackles the language and culture of the period is interesting. The tale is told by the main characters as they sit around the fire of the Gathering Camp with their tribe and I think this helps keep a tight narrative; there aren't overly long descriptions of landscape of hunting scenes which would have turned me off. The gender aspects can feel a bit clunky, there are a lot of statements like 'women are always listening to what doesn't concern them' to ram home the idea to the reader that stereotypes might have been part of that society. But who I am to say that Mesolithic people didn't speak or think that way??

Overall I enjoyed reading it and I would suggest it to others but it doesn't need to be a permanent fixture on my shelf unlike other Elphinstone books such as Voyageurs or The Sea Road.

BOOK 69: Cry Wolf by Aileen La Tourette

Cry Wolf opens with Curie, a M-other and guru to a group of human-like creatures, seemingly innocent and in need of protection from the horrors of the world as it was before. During a class one of Curie's pupils suddenly displays a previously hidden intelligence and begins to ask questions about Curie's life. Curie resists giving this knowledge but finally relents and tells her story.

She begins with the four women she lived with. Together they decide, taking inspiration from Scheherazade, to stop the coming day of impending world destruction by working their way into nuclear bunkers and distracting the men there by telling them tales that will stop them pressing the red button. The next section of the book is each of their tales, each of which ends as lights start to flash and sirens start to sound.

Curie then goes back further in time to tell the story of her two mothers, Bee who is shot on the fences of Greenham Common and Lily Ghost who becomes her surrogate mother.

Finally we return to Curie and her friends who are seized by the military and shipped off to a desolate location and left to perish. There they meet the creatures who become Curie's disciples.

Hopefully with that synopsis I've saved you from having to read the book yourself. While there are interesting themes of story-telling, truth and deception I struggled with most of this book. The sudden relevation of her pupil's intelligence and Curie's decision to tell her story just seemed too contrived.

Also, as urania1 has noted in another Club Read thread, Curie's attitude to her charges in the first part of the book is really patronising, not what you'd expect from a feminist work. And I found the writing style too laboured. The blurb on the back describes La Tourette as having remarkable story-telling gifts, but for me it felt like she was trying too hard to create a sense of mystery and otherworldliness, particularly in the first part when a ritual festival/shag-fest takes place that I just couldn't engage with at all.

I've considered whether this like my usual reaction to anything mystical or magical realist, but I don't think so. I enjoyed couple of the women's stories (particularly the one where a girl has a large red tail), I just like any other parts!

I think my lasting impression is of a writer who was trying to write a book that would be remembered as a feminist classics of the 1980s. I'm sure I'm doing La Tourette a dis-service with that statement, but there you are.

68> Actually, there's a fair amount of archeological and anthropological evidence to indicate that Neolithic and Mesolithic people were pretty egalitarian -- see: The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe, The Chalice and the Blade, The Alphabet Versus the Goddess, etc.

>159 janeajones: - thanks for the references, I'll definitely have to do a bit more reading about this period.

BOOK 70: The Collected Short Stories by Jean Rhys

I've mentioned my adoration of Jean Rhys's writing on previous threads. I find her female characters fascinating and like her sparse writing style.

So I was delighted a couple of years ago to receive this collection from a Virago Secret Santa. Many of the stories are familiar to a Rhys devotee. The women often hover on the edge of destitution or a life in the shady demi-monde of London or Paris. Money, or an extreme lack of it, are common themes as are illness and exhaustion. Her stories encompass the role of women in society and what the concept of femininity meant to 1920s/30s Europe.

But sometimes Rhys surprises. Two stories stand out for their difference to the others: 'The Sidi' is set in a male prison; 'Let Them Call It Jazz' is written from the point of view of a Creole woman living in London who is a victim of the prejudices and injustices that early 20th century London held for non-white residents.

I enjoyed most of what I read and know that I'll be dipping in and out of this collection over the next few years.

BOOK 71: Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America & The World by Barbara Ehrenreich

Smile or Die is Ehrenreich's analysis of the positive thinking industry in America, inspired by the attitudes she encountered while she underwent treatment for breast cancer. When looking at internet support groups and the like and talking to others with the disease she found that there was an overwhelming belief in that a positive mental attitude is the only way that the cancer could be beaten - smile or die.

From there Ehrenreich looks at the massive money-spinning industry that has grown up around positive thinking, the reason this has developed (a reaction to Calvinism), the links to evangelical Christianity and how corporations have bought into the positive thinking mantras. She feels that the recent economic crisis came about because of collective positive thinking that did not allow anyone to point out the dangers of the misplaced optimism that fuelled, for example, the sub prime mortgage market.

If ever a book was written to reinforce the prejudices about America that some over this side of the pond have, this is it. Americans come off as really quite stupid and unable to think for themselves. And to be honest it feels like Ehrenreich feels that way herself for a lot of the time!

Seriously though, it was an interesting read and really quite scary at points.

As always with these kind of books I question how Ehrenreich thinks her audience is. People involved in the positive-thinking industry? Probably not. Ordinary people who might get caught up in, and lose their livelihoods as a result of, the positive thinking ethos? Maybe. American left-wingers and smug Europeans who laugh at the naive optimism of those over the pond? Most definitely!

The thought of having to shout joyfully at work or sit through interminable motivational speeches makes this cycnical Brit break out in a cold sweat. So American LTers, is that really what work is like in the US of A??

BOOK 72: Consequences by E. M. Delafield

Alexandra Clare grows up in a late Victorian household. Her parents are distant, her nurse hates her and she has a difficult relationship with her siblings. We follow Alex as she grows up, from a diffcult somewhat petulant childhood to a lonely and confusing adulthood.

Consequences is a really sad story about a girl who doesn't quite fit into her life. It's like she's living a beat behind everyone else. She goes to balls and dances with young men but can't quite work out what's expected from her and why she doesn't enjoy popularity and success.

The book is also a condemnation of the limited life that girls of Alex's status were expected to lead - school, 'coming out' into society, secure a husband. There was no space for people who didn't fit into this mould.

I went to put Smile or Die on my wishlist and found that I already had it there under its American name Bright-sided.

Robert

As always with these kind of books I question how Ehrenreich thinks her audience is. People involved in the positive-thinking industry? Probably not. Ordinary people who might get caught up in, and lose their livelihoods as a result of, the positive thinking ethos? Maybe. American left-wingers and smug Europeans who laugh at the naive optimism of those over the pond? Most definitely

I read that book a few months ago and had similar thoughts. She's seems to be preaching to the choir--I don't think the people who should read this book, like my annoyingly perky and sickening optimistic sister-in-law, are the ones that are reading it.

>164 Mr.Durick:, ah, I didn't realised that it had a different name.

>165 Nickelini:, If they did read it they would pity her and us for not opening ourselves up to the opportunities that positive thinking brings.

I forgot to include in the review that what frightened me most was the absolute focus on the individual. It's all about 'I' - getting the things I want and I deserve, making sure that I am successful etc - which of course is often to the detriment of other people's lives. As Ehrenreich points out the potential of collective social action as a means of making changes to lives is never mentioned as an option.

I have troubled myself over the question of the morality of desire. I would ask whether almost any desire can't in part be construed as selfish and as depriving someone else of something. I enter the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes and occasionally buy a lottery ticket when a friend is going to a state in which they are sold. I could really use the money, say, just to bring my house up to common livability standards.

I watched a video of one winner being notified. The reward team showed up at her house which had a for sale sign in front of it. The winner was being forced to sell but didn't want to move. Before they left, the reward team removed the sign. She couldn't have stayed in her house if I had won.

So it seems simple; it is not a theft to win a lottery or some such, but negative consequences can still follow.

I...I...I...

I will try, however, to remain optimistic.

Robert

>162 charbutton:, lol, not at my job char. Definitely not.

And then there's the dark side of that school of thought--if you're unsuccessful in any way, or struggling financially or emotionally, then it must be your own fault.

Ah yes, the dark side. We don't have to shout joyfully at work, but there are interminable "professional development" days and seminars with motivational "ed-expert" speakers on how to inspire students. I'm sure they're making 10 times the yearly salaries of the professors who actually do the teaching! Those who can do, those who know teach, and those who neither can nor know either administrate or "motivate."

#162 and following - this discussion reminds me of a podcast I listened to recently, one of the BBC World Service Forum programmes. One of the speakers was a ?bioethicist? called Julian Savulescu who was advocating making use of what we know about how the brain works to 'enhance' ourselves and our lives - people can be made more contented, or if one person in a couple is falling out of love they can take (or be given?) a dose of something which will revive their attachment to the other person. Thank heavens for AL Kennedy who provided a lovely, dry counter-point of view. There were also some interesting comments from the audience, for example about the pressure that this could create on people - if you can be 'normal', why would you choose not to be.

Sadly, since humans are not very good at making a distinction between 'can we do this' and 'should we do this', I expect that this will all be a reality one day.

Have just discovered the programme is still available to listen to, here.

BOOK 73: The Queen of Jhansi by Mahasweta Devi

A biography of the Queen of Jhansi, focusing on the 1857 Uprising in India. First published in 1956.

To be reviewed in a future issue of Belletrista.

BOOK 74: The Little Friend by Donna Tartt

The Little Friend opens with the mysterious death of Robin, a nine year old boy, who is found hanging from a tree. Twelve years later his death is still unexplained - it must be murder but no culprit has been found. During that time Robin's death has had a profound effect on his mother and his two sisters.

Harriet, a baby when Robin died, becomes interested in her brother's death and determines to find the murderer. The story follows her quest during a Mississippi summer.

Reading this book was a bit of an odd experience. Sometimes I got really into it, but often I felt indifferent about the characters. I can see that the story is interesting - Harriet's adventure becomes less about what happened to Robin and more about her coping with life, death and growing up - but I felt distant from it all. It might be that the story is so detailed; the book is over 550 pages and the plot unfolds very slowly. The introduction of the white trash family who Harriet believes are linked to Robin's death didn't do much for me either - I felt nothing for them.

I think it didn't help that the story felt similar in many ways to To Kill A Mockingbird - hot Southern summer, casual racism, people who are white trash. In both stories children live in houses with black housmaids who they feel close to but about whose home lives they know nothing. To me, Harriet feels like the character that Scout could have turned into if she didn't have Gem and Atticus in her family.

BOOK 75: Three Women by Marge Piercy

As the title suggests, this book revolves around three women. Suzanne is a lawyer and academic whose very neatly organised life that fits around her career. She has two grown up children: Rachel is training to be a rabbi; Elena...well Elena has always been a troublesome child. She gets sacked and has to move back in with Suzanne, disturbing her mother's peaceful home. The reader is soon told that Elena has been involved in a harrible, tragic event when she was growing up. While Suzanne has to adapt to having her child at home agaian, her mother, Beverly, suffers a stroke. Beverly, in her 70s, is a fierce political activist but now is a prisoner in her own body, forced to move in with her daughter while she tries to re-learn the skills she has known since childhood.

Through exploring these women's lives and their often fraught relationships, Piercy explores a number of issues including caring for the elderly and the American healthcare system. I think the main point though is her focus on gender relationships; through these three women plus Rachel and Suzanne's friend Marta Piercy is asking a series of questions. To what extent a woman should compromise her needs for a man? Do we use relationships to disguise what is wrong in our lives? And at the end of the day, do sexual relationships mean anything? Beverly has great sex over the years it is still the women in her life, her family, who care for her right to the end.

I find Piercy's work a bit hit and miss and Three Women isn't my all-time favourite by her but it was a book that gave me pause for thought.

I'm just catching up here. I liked what you had to say in #156, the book about medieval women.

>162 charbutton: I read this also a while back and enjoyed it for its cultural commentary. While I was aware of most of the individual things she talks about, I might not have connected the dots as she has, stepping back to see the larger cultural trends. America, as I believe she notes, has always been an optimistic culture, but, as she points out, a relentless optimism can prevent someone from dealing with the truth.

I've never worked in the corporate culture that is so fond of the team-building rah-rah mentioned, but I love the satire of Despair, Inc which has a line of "Demotivator" posters which make fun of the motivational rah-rah stuff. It's so much more up my alley.

Oh, and thanks for the review on the Piercy. I'm just never going to get to all the books I want to get to, so its nice to live one vicariously through you.

Thanks for the Despair Inc link - their posters are great!

BOOK 76: Spring Flowers, Spring Frost by Ismail Kadare

I've put off reviewing this because I don't really know what to say about it. The story is set in a small Albanian village a few years after the fall of the Communist regime as the country starts to come to terms with the changes this entails.

The main character is Mark, an artist who lives in the village. He is our observer of these changes, as blood feuds and old traditions again come to prominence. On the surface not much happens apart from a bank robbery (which wouldn't have happened under the authoritarian government), the rumour that secret state archives are hidden in the village and Mark's girlfriend's family's involvement in a feud. Intertwined with these threads are myths and Mark's dreams that comment on the current state of affairs.

I think this was the wrong book at the wrong time for me. Everytime I picked it up I was tired and couldn't keep track of what was happening, particularly when dreams are told as part of the 'real life' action. I think I need to try again when I'm in a better state of mind for it.

Sorry, that's not much of a review!

BOOK 77: A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid

A Small Place is a frank and often scathing collection of essays that analyse the impact of British rule, American influence and tourism on the island of Antigua, Jamaica Kincaid's birthplace.

The first essay is addressed directly to those who visit the island for a holiday. It's sarcastic and has a sly wit, talking directly to the tourist, reassuring them that it's OK if you don't think too deeply about the problems you can see in Antigua, you're on holiday after all. Through this conversational reassurance, she shines a light on the social and political issues of the island, the continuing neagtive impact of colonialism and the ineptitudes of the governments that have followed the granting of self-rule - exactly the things that a thoughful visitor should take notice of. It's a clever way of making this white British reader laugh at the studipity of other Western travellers who don't notice the reality behind the facade of a sun-drenched paradise, but then fill me with guilt that although I think I'm a responsible, politically-conscious backpacker I probably look exactly these ignorant travellers to the people whose country I'm visiting.

Kincaid then goes on to write about the Antigua she grew up in, with its streets named after English 'maritime criminals' such as Horatio Nelson and the branch of Barclays Bank (founded by slave-traders), and the casual racism and cultural oppression of the British - making Queen Victoria's birthday an official holiday, for example. But she isn't afraid of criticising her fellow country people: 'We didn't say to ourselves, Hasn't this extremely unappealing person been dead for years and years? Instead, we were happy for a holiday.'

In the third essay, Kincaid sharpens this focus on the Antiguans themselves, asking 'Is the Antigua I see before me, self-ruled, a worse place than when it was dominated by the bad-minded English?'. She uses the image of her local library, damaged in an earthquake in 1974 and still left unrepaired at the time of writing in 1988, as a symbol of the political indifference and wekaness.

A Small Place was an uncomfortable read - exactly what Kincaid must have set out to achieve - but it isn't preachy or boring. It's the kind of book that a large part of the British and American populations (especially politicians) should be made to read.

BOOK 78: The Kingdom of This World by Alejo Carpentier
(touchstones not working)

Set before, during and after the slave revolt of the 1780s that led to Haiti's independence from French colonial rule, The Kingdom of This World shows us the corruption and violence of colonial and post-colonial rule through the eyes of an old slave, Ti Noël.

I struggled to get into this book. I think something about the tone just didn't work for me. I'll have to put it back on my shelf and and give another read at some point. However, I did find the character of Henri Christophe interesting - chef under colonail rule who sets up a Haitian Versailles after the revolt, complete with court dress and servants.

I'm reading The Black Jacobins at the moment to get a greater understanding of this period of Haitian history.

BOOK 79: Harare North by Brian Chikwava

Harare North, aka London, is the new home of an unnamed young man from Zimbabwe. Escaping the trouble he's got into because of his activities as a member of Mugabe's youth militia, the man intends to stay in the UK long enough to earn the £5,000 he needs to pay back people at home. He claims asylum on arrival, gets taken to a detention centre and is later released into the care of his cousin with a few pounds in his pocket. It's immediately clear that he is not welcome in his cousin's house so he hooks up with his childhood friend Shingi who has been is living in a squat in Brixton, south London.

Harare North is the story of this young man and his journey through the underbelly of London life. The young man is an unreliable and unlikeable narrator but he is fascinating. The observations about British life as seen by a new arrival, which have been tackled by many other writers, feel fresh, interesting and funny. For example, the narrator believes that pubs with names like The Queen's Head and The Kings Arms are commemorations of a British propensity for dismembering royalty!

This is also a domestic story; much of the action plays out in houses, perhaps a nod to the fact that the lives of people awaiting asylum approval are circumscribed by the prohibition on them seeking work. And food is really important from the very first page with the description of the 'white ice-cold sun hanging in the sky like frozen pizza base'. Family also feature prominently, particularly those left behind who send requests for money and gifts in the belief that their son must be making his fortune in Harare North.

It's a great debut novel - I can't wait to read what Chikwava writes next.

Good review of Harare North, which I also enjoyed, and I'll have to look for The Black Jacobins. I read a biography of Toussaint L'Ouverture by Madison Smartt Bell, which I found interesting but not as readable as I would have liked (from someone who is, after all, a novelist) and would like to learn more.

I'm struggling a bit with The Black Jacobins, I must admit. I'm struggling to remember who everyone is as the action moves between France and Haiti.

I was reading it on the bus the other night and the woman sitting next to me was also reading a book about Haitian history, which led to the first proper conversation I've ever had with a stranger on a London bus.

Nice reviews of A Small Place and Harare North, Char; I also "enjoyed" both books. I'm eager to read your review of The Black Jacobins.

>183 kidzdoc:, I'm 100 pages in and feel like I need some kind of diagram to remember who all the revolutionaries are in France and San Domingo!

BOOK 80: The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel

Wow. I mean, just, like, wow.

The characters in a comic strip she has written for more than 20 years, Alison Bechdel's Dykes to Watch Out For are complicated women. They are political, gay, loving, selfish, funny, hurtful, seriously intelligent, sexual, sexy, annoying, bi, good parents, not so good parents, drag kings and above all friends.

Bechdel's affectionate mocking of the east coast, left-wing, lentil eating lesbian community is always funny and often sad as the main characters grow from their politically feisty young selves into adulthood and the opportunities and responsibilities that presents.

I can't believe how much I grew to love these women (and their associated men friends, children, fuck buddies and parents), considering they actually say and think in much fewer words than characters in a novel. Having finished this book this afternoon I feel a bit bereft.

....I should add about how funny the little touches are in the illustrations. Newspaper headlines, posters, book title etc all bring a little something extra whether a sly comment on the action or the political situation at the time the strip was written.

And the characters' rants about the Bush presidencies has particular resonance for me at the moment. Every time the news is on Mr Charbutton shouts obscenities at any mention of the new British Government!

That's it. I've seen this recommended enough places now that it has to go on the wishlist.

You interest me in A Small Place. And I knew I recognized the author Alison Bechdel -- your "wow" moves her memoir Fun Home to the top of the wishlist.

I hope you both enjoy Bechdel's work!

BOOK 81: The Essential Nawal el Saadawi: A Reader edited by Adele Newson Horst
LT Early Reviewers book

This is a collection of the essays, article, speeches, drama, fiction and poetry of the Egyptian feminist writer Nawal el Saadawi. She is a passionate and courageous advocate of women's rights, having been imprisoned, threatened with death and taken to court numerous times on charges of apostasy as a result of her writing on Islam and Egyptian society.

El Saadawi's main contention is that the oppression of women in the Arab world isn't just a religious issue - the global capitalist system and the neo-colonialism of the 'West', particuarly the United States, both play an important part in ensuring that women are continually subjected to economic and political repression. That's not to say that that she isn't critical of Islam or, rather, interpretations of Islam, but el Saadawi wants people to understand that they can't just dismiss what happens in North Africa and the Middle East as an Islamic problem.

The patriarchal oppression of women is a theme that flows through all the forms of el Saadawi's writing contained in this collection. Motherhood is also important. While she acknowledges the role of mothers in perpetuating this oppression (through the practice of female genital mutilation, for example), el Saadawi is keen to reclaim motherhood from the male-dominated Egyptian culture. She and her daughter have both faced charges in court because they wanted children to be able to take their mother's name not just their father's.

As always with this kind of book, I do wonder who el Saadawi intends her audience to be. Of course her writing appeals to me, I'm a left-wing feminist. But how does she reach women in a rural Egyptian village like the one she grew up in? How does her writing influence these women's lives?

Despite these reservations, I'd definitely recommend people to read this collection and any writing by Nawal el Saadawi. Her work is intellectual and always passionate. She's an important force for change.

BOOK 82: The Black Jacobins by CLR James

The Black Jacobins is CLR James' analysis of the slave revolt on the Caribbean island of San Domingo which led to the foundation of an independent Haiti in the early 1800s. Published in 1938, James focuses on the role of the slave leaders who lead their people to freedom, the main figure being Toussaint L'Ouverture. He opens up a period of history that had hitherto only been approached by white historians, with the aim of illumninating the leadership and vision of L'Ouverture and others who were influenced by the noble ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity that fired the French Revolution. He wrote with the idea of inspiring similar aspirations in early 20th century African nations still under the cosh of colonial rule.

It was a really interesting read about a part of history I knew nothing about (I wasn't even aware of the unsavoury role the British played; I find it difficult that Britain's colonial past is rarely taught in detail at school). I have to admit that my knowledge of the French Revolution is also pretty poor so I did find if hard to keep track of who the key players were - they change as different factions come to the fore.

One of the things this book really made me think about is how the telling of history depends on the person telling it. Not a blinding insight of course but it really struck me that James' overriding purpose of stressing the agency of the slaves can detract from, for example, the movement for the abolition of slavery that took place in Britain. At one point he says that the efforts of the abolitionists didn't really make an impact and that there were other reasons for a change in British policy. However, I'm sure women's historians would argue that the efforts of middle-class women in boycotting West Indian goods, writing pamphlets and other activities were instrumental in ending slavery. There's no right or wrong answer, just different ways of interpreting the information that's available to us.

What cannot be denied is the enormous suffering that slaves were subjected to by the plantation owners and although James does talk about this, and about the massacres that took place on both sides, much of his work concentrates on the 'political' aspects of the revolution and the relationships between the various protagonists. What I didn't get from him was a sense of what the ten year struggle for freedom was like for those slaves who weren't leaders or soldiers. But perhaps this side of the events isn't available to us, given that historians mostly have to rely on written, official documents.

Very interesting review; thanks. I recently bought this book after you mentioned it earlier, and am looking forward to reading it, although I'm not sure when, as I think it will provide an interesting contrast to the biography of Toussaint L'Ouverture I read a few years ago.

>192 rebeccanyc:, thanks! It would be interetsing to know if there are differences in the interpretation of L'Ouverture's character and actions. James presents him as a great soldier and strategists but believes that his vision had limitations and it needed another man (whose name I don't have to hand) to take the revolution to the conclusion of independence.

I'd like to find a book that takes the story beyond the establishment of independence and explains how the country faired under self-rule and how things got the point of Haiti being the poorest country in the world.

BOOK 83: Blindness by Jose Saramago

Blindness is a disturbing, distressing, fantastic book. The story opens with a man driving in his car. He stops at the traffic light blinks and is suddenly blind. It's an odd kind of blindness - an unwavering bright white light rather than the all-encompassing darkness that might be expected.

As the story unfolds those people who come into contact with this man also fal blind - his wife, his opthalmologist, even the kind citizen who drives the blind man home...then steals his car. As this odd epidemic takes wider hold, the government acts to quarantine those 'infected' and those at risk of infection. We follow what happens to those who are incarcerated into a disused asylum, including those people just mentioned.

What happens next is the breakdown of all social nicieties and human dignity. The asylum inmates commit and are subjected to humiliating and nauseating acts. There's one particular scene that nearly brought me to tears. Then there is a fire and the blind escape from the asylum into the outside world.

The story is narrated by friendly, sympathetic unknown person (although towards the end of the book there is a hint about who this might be). This person is telling us about horrific things, but kind of calms you by saying 'It's OK, that's the way people are, what are you going to do?'. I felt at times like I was watching a film or a play, engrossed in the action but always aware at some level that I was an observer, drawn away slightly by the narrator's comments. I actually liked this - I don't know if I could have finished the story without these brief respites from the grip of the action.

I also really enjoying the very vivid and smelly reality that Saramago describes. There is excrement, rotting corpses, vomit, blood. It is very very grim. It's so unlike the very clean 'end of the world' scenarios that Hollywood presents to us. Am I the only one who, when watching 'The Day After Tomorrow', wondered where people would go to the toilet if trapped in one room for days on end??

Just to let you know that the review above and the one to appear below are written on a train and I can't refer to the texts - apologies if I have any facts about the stories slightly wrong!

BOOK 84: The Hopkins Manuscript by R C Sherriff

Hmmm, two 'end of the world' books in a row - probably not the most cheerful week of reading!

The Hopkins Manscript is a document discovered hundreds of years after the moon crashes into the earth in the late 1940s. It's written by Edgar Hopkins, an Englishman who lived through the event and it's aftermath. A single, retired schoolmaster and prize-winning chicken breeder, Hopkins finds a purpose in life through the impending disaster.

RC Sherriff's book is enjoyable mainly because Hopkins is such a pompous bore for most of the story and his foibles are very amusing! I think the science doesn't stand up to scrutiny, but as a book written in the late 30s, I think The Hopkins Manuscript provides an interesting reflection of British concerns at the time - class issues, the threat from Europe and beyond, concerns about the future of the Empire.

#193, I am so bad at remembering the details of books that I can't completely answer your question, but the Madison Smartt Bell biography of Touissaint that I read really presented him "warts and all." There were definitely things that he did -- perhaps necessary? -- that seemed quite shocking, and there is some mystery about his motivation and his eventual capture by the French. I would imagine that by titling his book The Black Jacobins, James was making an implicit reference to some of the excesses of the French revolution.

Darryl/kidzdoc has, I believe, read more about Haiti and than I have, and could perhaps recommend something that would give insight into its history, but I know people who believe that Haiti was both "punished" for successfully accomplishing a revolution of enslaved black people and exploited, especially by the US.

BOOK 85: Northern Lights by Philip Pullman

Northern Lights is the first of three books is set in an alternative universe where things are a little bit different to our own. Lyra Belacqua lives in an Oxford College, looked after by the scholars. She is fearless, adventurous and a bit naughty. She overhears her uncle, the dashing Lord Asriel, talking about Dust, something that appears to threaten her world. This is the start of a big adventure which takes Lyra to the far north, a world of giant bears and witches. As with all these stories, there is something mysterious about Lyra. We are told she has a destiny and she is of vital importance to the world.

While I might be about 15 years late in reading this book, I have seen the excellent stage play of the His Dark Materials trilogy so could remember the basics of the story. Reading the fictional Lord Asriel certainly can't match a real-life Timothy Dalton in that role!

I have the other two books on my shelves but I'm not sure I'll read them. It's a bit like my reaction to the Harry Potter series - I've spent some time in that world and enjoyed it, but don't feel the need to visit again. Perhaps I'll pick gthem up when I need a comfortable read.

But I would definitely encourage any young people of my acquaintance to read the books. Lyra is a great heroine and I like that very grown up issues such as having lovers and the questioning of faith are tackled.

>199 charbutton:: I read all three several years ago and while they are well-written, I tired of them by the third book. I still think the first is the best. You have my permission to stop there :)

I have the other two books on my shelves but I'm not sure I'll read them. It's a bit like my reaction to the Harry Potter series - I've spent some time in that world and enjoyed it, but don't feel the need to visit again. Perhaps I'll pick gthem up when I need a comfortable read.

I felt that way about the series too. It's not that I don't want to read the next two, it's just that I have so many other books that look more interesting.

BOOK 86: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

A re-read as part of my vague focus on Caribbean authors.

Wide Sargasso Sea is a kind of prequel to Jane Eyre, telling the story of the first Mrs Rochester. It's very atmospheric - a heady mix of heat, fragrances, love, sex, jealousy and madness. Add in colonialism and racism and it's quite a story!

Wide Sargasso Sea was written about 30 years after Rhys' other books and on the surface it feels very different. But actually Antoinette, the first Mrs R, is very much a Rhys character. She's quite passive and seems to have no understanding of how her behaviour appears to others. And her destiny depends on that of a man.

OK, so I'm not doing it justice here. All I can say is that it's a great story.

BOOK 87: We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson
(book club - Hazel's choice)

The narrator, Merricat, lives with her older sister and her uncle. Six years before all the other family members were posioned. Her sister, Constance, was acquitted of the crime but there is still the mystery of how the arsenic got into the sugar bowl.

Constance rarely ventures out of the house and uncle Julian is an invalid so Merricat has to venture into town for supplies, braving the verbal abuse of the townsfolk who believe that Constance committed the murders.

We Have Always... was an OK read. I didn't really engage that much with the characters and when the 'reveal' comes, it's not a surprise. The first part of the book seems very similar to the concept of The Woman in White - I'm sure this is coincidental, unless Jackson wanted to replicate a gothic story.

BOOK 88: The Heavens May Fall by Unity Dow

Unity Dow is Botswana's first female High Court Judge and in this book she has stuck closely to the profession she knows.

Naledi Chaba is a lawyer working for a children's centre, dealing with cases of divorce, rape and domestic violence. A single woman in a man's world, she struggles against the prejudices of the patriarchal, European-influenced legal code that is often in conflict with the customs of the country and which seems to always work in favour of men.

This could have been a good read except that Dow's writing is really heavy-handed and clunky. In the first two pages we know pretty much all there is to know about the story. Naledi obviously CARES, otherwise why hasn't she taken some high-flying legal job? And we know straight away that she's trying to balance being a serious career woman with wanting to wear high heels and paint her nails. Everything is heavily signposted, laving nothing for the reader to find out about Naledi. And the only mystery of the book isn't actually very mysterious or interesting!

It doesn't help that much of the story is Naledi telling us about case after case that she has worked on to illustrate how woemn are treated in Botswana and the inequalities that exist. Valid issues, of course, but most of the book feels like reading a series of case studies from Dow's career. Which possibly would be more interesting than reading about Naledi's life.

BOOK 89: The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi by Arthur Japin

A work of fiction based on the real-life story of two African princes taken to 18th century Holland.

Kwasi and his cousin, Kwame, were taken away from their childhood home as part of a trade deal Kwasi's father entered into with the Dutch. The two princes were brought up to have a good, Christian education and became friends with members of the Dutch royal family. Kwame returned to Africa; Kwasi ended up as owner of a coffee plantation in Java.

Based on the few facts that are available about the lives of Kwasi and Kwame, Japin focuses the story on how these two boys dealt with growing up as black children in a white country (it's not clear which parts of the tale are based on documentary evidence and which parts are fiction). Kwame remains determinedly different, refusing to ignore the slights he receives because of his skin colour. Kwasi takes the path of least resistance, laughing off insults and often debasing himself in order to be accepted. In the end neither approach leads to happiness.

The book drags a bit towards the end, but it was thought-provoking in terms of debate in the UK about whether multi-culturalism works and what concepts such as like acceptance, tolerance and assimilation mean.

BOOK 90: Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

The world of Shades of Grey is Earth, but not as we know it. Society is arranged into strict social hierarchies determined by the strength of a person's colour perception. Those who see extraordinarily vibrant reds, purples, blues and yellows are at the top of the pile. Greys, who only see muted tones, are at the bottom. Life is lived according to a complex system of rules set down long ago, and if you contravene these rules you get sent for Reboot.

The plot of Shades of Grey feels very familiar. A young man, about to reach the point of initiation into the adult world, starts to question the system. His inquisitiveness gets him into more and more trouble... It's not the most original story but is interesting enough to keep the reader engaged.

But what I enjoyed most is the colour-based world that Fforde has created. Every little part of life is different to what we know. Spoons are hard to come by, Loganberry jam is a valuable commodity and the idea of people placing high importance on the work of someone called Simply Red is very funny! I was worried that the joke would wear thin over 400 pages, but it didn't.

But there is a sense that the whole thing is one big joke. I get the feeling that Fforde is poking fun at the sci-fi/alternative universe genre. Or maybe I'm wrong. Perhaps 'Brunswick and DeMauve will return' in the next two books as the final page states.

BOOK 91: Blue Aubergine by Miral al-Tahawy

I'm not quite sure what to write about Blue Aubergine. It's a book that requires time and space, not one that should be read on bus and tube journeys so I don't feel like I can do it justice.

The book tells the life of Nada, who looks like a blue aubergine when she is born. The story is told in three parts, but there are many switches between different times in Nada's life. That, and the changes of narrative voice, were a bit confuddling when reading the book on the way to work!

What I have gathered is that Nada's life is governed by a patriarchal approach, both at the level of politics and social values, but also at the micro level of family relationships. Mothers, fathers, grandmothers and aunts, perpetuate the oppression of women that is explicit in the political regime. Daughters are caught between this patriarchy and 'Westernised' culture, oppressed by the expectations of both ways of living.

I feel like there's much more I can get from this book and al-Tahawy's distinctive writing style, if only I can find some quiet time in which to read it!

BOOK 92: Novel on Yellow Paper by Stevie Smith

I didn't really get this book at all. Pompey, a young woman working in British civil service in the mid 1930s, decides to write a novel in which she lays down all of her thoughts for the reader. So there's no plot as such, just a meandering along with Pompey's thoughts from sex and marriage, to the German character, to stories she hears at parties. She throws in a lot of quotes from poetry, Greek classics and sayings in French and German (which did make me think about who Smith assumed her readers would be - nicely brought and well-educated women I suppose). There aren't any chapters and little sense of timings, so by the end I felt like I had spent a few hours with a very boring person who is intent on telling me their life story and never asks me about myself.

BOOK 93: Bluebeard's Egg by Margaret Atwood

A collection of short stories by my favourite author, a lot of them about women and their relationships. Many of the women seem on the threshold of making a decision about changing their lives or their men but don't quite manage it.

I really enjoyed these stories, and love pretty much anything Atwood writes, but I realised that I find it hard to explain why. I know that all of her books and stories absorb my attention, to the point that I resent having to stop reading them when the train gets to my station.

I think she makes the women she writes about so real; I feel like there's a truth to her writing. She doesn't tell a story in an explicitly feminist way (except The Handmaid's Tale, I guess) but she subtly addresses key feminist issues such as power and relationships.

And there's something about the words she chooses that are funny and surprising, that appeals to me.

Sorry, this isn't much of a review. But I wanted to try to explore why I love Atwood. It frustrates me that I can't put this into a coherent analysis!

I read Scott Pilgrim vs. The World vol. 1 but it was on an i-phone and I just can't bring myself to count it as a proper read!

#209 - I can't always express why Atwood is one of my favourite authors either. Maybe it is because she can write anything - I love her poetry, her short stories and sketches, her novels, even her non-fiction. It's not often that an author has that wide of a range, and I generally dislike authors who are also poets, as I find their novels lacking substance in plot and character, but beautiful in terms of writing. Atwood is fantastic at having a distinctive style that is across all genres, but also knowing the difference between poetry and prose.

I agree with your statement that the women she creates seem real - I almost always relate to them in some way. Her early stuff can be a bit much for me sometimes, but her later novels are spectacular. Longer novels don't usually hold my attention, but I can devour 500+ pages of Atwood any day.

>211 Cait86:, yes, that's definitely part of it. There is always something I can relate to in some way.

>209 charbutton: In interviews Atwood has said that feminism was not her intent in Handmaid's Tale. I might have quoted the appropriate bit on the Handmaid's thread in the Atwoodians group. The interview might be in Waltzing Again: New & Selected Conversations with Margaret Atwood - a book well worth it's price if you are a big Atwood fan.

I'd like to read Bluebeard's Egg again.

>213 avaland:, hmmmm, does she reject the feminist label as she's rejected the sci-fi one for the H Tale??

No, I don't think so but I think she wanted to express her intentions.

Real life is getting in the way of LT at the moment but luckily I'm still getting loads of reading done. I'll try and write mini-reviews of these when I get some creative energy back.

BOOK 94: Arrival of the Snake-Woman by Olive Senior - to be reviewed in the next issue of Belletrista

BOOK 95: Death at Intervals by Jose Saramago

BOOK 96: Cancer Vixen by Marisa Acocella Marchetto

BOOK 97: The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci

BOOK 98: Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

BOOK 99: The Fish Can Sing by Halldor Laxness

BOOK 100: Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan - graphic novel, to be reviewed in the next issue of Belletrista

BOOK 101: Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

>216 charbutton: Did you like Perdido and the Laxness? I meant to read the latter before the Iceland trip but...

I'll read all of your reviews, but I'm really looking forward to your take on The Fish Can Sing. Of course Independent People is Laxness's masterwork, but he certainly, it seems to me, maintains his reputation in The Fish Can Sing.

Robert

>216 charbutton:-217, Also wondering if you liked Perdido Street Station. The boy bought it and I'm wondering if I should pick it up.

Hope you loved Cold Comfort Farm as much as I did! It's a great book for when real life gets in the way!

Edited to correct touchstone.

>217 avaland: & 218 - I don't feel like I can pass comment on the book. It was completely the wrong read at the wrong time. It's a quiet book that requires some thought when what I really needed was something light and brainless. Sorry that I can't give you more than that!

>217 avaland: & 219 - I picked up Perdido Street Station hoping it would provide the 'something light and brainless', which it did but not in a good way. I think with these kinds of books the story needs to really grip me so I can ignore the formulaic nature of the story-telling. Unfortunately, the story wasn't good enough for me to overlook the predictable nature of the plot. And Mieville has a very annoying habit of periodically dropping in a large and complicated word that jars with the rest of the text.

> 220 - it wasn't any way near as funny as I expected!

BOOK 102: Carry On, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse

This is the first Jeeves book I've read although I have seen many of the Fry and Laurie TV series and have listened to several radio dramatisations. Because of this, I knew all of stories although i still enjoyed them.

In the radio adaptations, Michael Horden plays Jeeves in a slightly sinister way and that has given me a whole new view on what I now see as a shadowy, manipulative character who deploys a frightening level of control on all aspects of Bertie Wooster's life, from his choice of tie to his matrimonial plans. Jeeves makes my blood run cold, which I think isn't quite the effect Wodehouse would have wanted!

BOOK 103: Eleanor of Aquitaine: By the Wrath of God, Queen of England by Alison Weir

Eleanor of Aquitaine lived through the violent and turbulent years of the 12th century when England and France were constantly at daggers drawn, Christian Europe went on crusades to rescue the Holy Land from the Infidel and princes plotted the downfall of their fathers.

Eleanor is an almost mythical figure about whom many legends have developed, often related to her promiscuity and power. From what little information the primary sources tell us, we know that she was beautiful, intelligent and indeed powerful. Originally married to Louis VII of France, this marriage was annulled and she became the wife of Henry II of England.

Later she separated from Henry and encouraged her sons to rebel against their father, an action which led Henry to hold her under house arrest for a number of years. When her sons Richard and then John became King, Eleanor played a crucial role in managing their domains. She lived until the age of 82 and was still active politically into her late seventies.

This biography attempts to unpick some of the myths that are attached to Eleanor. While it's an interesting read, it is also frustrating because there is so little evidence about the reality of Eleanor's life. She often only appears in financial or legal documents and for many years of her life we don't even know whereabouts she was living. Of course this isn't the fault of Alison Weir's writing or research; it's because women, even very important women like Eleanor, were of little consequence to the men who wrote the contemporary documents. Unfortunately it means that this much of this book isn't a biography of Eleanor; it's a history of Western Europe in the Middle Ages in which Eleanor is one of many protagonists.

The final two books read in 2010 (assuming I don't spend all of today reading!)...



BOOK 104: The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman

The Maus books are graphic novels depicting the life of Art Spiegelman's father during the Second World War. He was a Polish Jew who ended up in Auschwitz. He was one of the surviviors but, as becomes clear, he carried the effects of that indescribable experience throughout his life.

Despite having no personal connection with the Holocaust, I find anything relating to it incredibly upsetting so this was a difficult read. My mood was much lower than usual during the time I was reading it. Seeing pictures of such horror right there on the page is perhaps more distressing than a descriptive passage which can be skipped.

Spiegelman chose to depict the Jews as mice and the Germans as cats. I think that's because of the way cats toy their prey before they kill it. But is there also something about the helplessness of the European Jewish communities in the face of a much larger, more powerful creature? Also, cats and mice are eternal enemies. Is Spiegelman saying that the Holocaust was inevitable because of the anti-semitism that has always existed in Europe?

BOOK 105: How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez

Just some quick thoughts so I can get this finished for the end of 2010!

I really enjoyed The Garcia Girls and read it all in one day. It's not the most complicated story but is an interesting tale of the difficulties of four sisters who are moved from a priviledged but restricted life in the Dominician Republic to New York because of their father's political activities. Told in reverse chronology, we see the difficulties that both parents and daughters experience as the children grow up in a society that has very different expectations and norms from that they left behind.