Quickies: Purple Hibiscus & Blasphemy

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Publisher/Year: Recorded Books, 2011 (book first published in 2003)
Format: Audiobook
Length: 10 hours, 53 minutes
Narrated by: Lisette Lecat
Source: Library

What it is: Kambali is a privileged, 15-year-old Nigerian girl growing up under the harsh rule of her abusive father, a well-respected man in their community. A brief stay at her aunt’s house shows her just how different life could be, but a military coup soon shatters her peaceful environment.

Why I read it: I had never read anything by Adichie (I know, I know), so I figured I should start at the beginning.

What I thought: I wanted to like this book more than I did. Parts of it were amazing. Adichie was wonderful at creating the tense atmosphere as a result of the domestic violence taking place inside Kambali’s home, and this fear extended to nearly every aspect of Kambali’s life, guiding her actions and shaping the way she interacted with others. At fifteen, she’s soft-spoken and naive about so many things that girls her age — even those less privileged — take for granted. But overall, I felt it dragged too much and was at times a chore to get back to. It probably didn’t help that the narrator was the slowest reader ever.

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Blasphemy by Sherman Alexie

Publisher/Year: Grove Press, 2012
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 480
Source: Library

What it is: A collection of old and new short stories, mostly dealing with male Native Americans from Spokane.

Why I read it: I’m an Alexie fan.

What I thought: Of all the Alexie books I’ve read (I think this was the fifth) this is definitely the one with the darkest undertone. About half of the stories had been previously published and I’d read several of them, but much of the newer material had an angrier and sadder edge to it. As with most of his books, his characters often face the some of the more common problems affecting Native American communities — mostly racism, alcoholism, depression and poverty — and the stories only show a tiny snippet of the characters’ lives. There were a few weak stories, but it was interesting to compare his older and newer work side by side.

The Good Earth

One of my long term reading goals is to get through all of the Pulitzer Prize winners in fiction, but Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth was on my to-read list since long before my Pulitzer project went into effect. I took my last road trip as an opportunity to finally delve into the audiobook, and I could kick myself for not having read this book sooner.

The Good Earth is set in rural China and follows the arc of Wang Lung’s life. It begins at the turn of the twentieth century with Wang Lung eagerly preparing for the arrival of his soon-to-be wife, O-lan. He and his father are poor farmers who have always kept their heads down and worked hard, living by their means and saving what little they had. Wang Lung’s father has arranged a marriage to a humble woman working as a house slave for a landowner, and O-lan’s arrival brings the hope of future sons and prosperity.

Over the years O-lan does her work dutifully and without complaint, and though their marriage is not one of love, she and Wang Lung treat each other with respect and work as a team. She does backbreaking work in the fields and bears Wang Lung sons, and the small family eventually begins to prosper. Even though they have good fortune, they are careful not to spend it frivolously. The ultimate goal is to buy land, and as they grow more prosperous, Wang Lung sets his sights on buying land from the great house of Hwang, where O-lan once worked as a slave. In his mind, all material objects can be lost, but a man with land will always have secure assets.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette

Bernadette has problems. Once a promising artist/architect who was into building “green” before green was a thing, Bernadette is now a wittily sarcastic Seattle mom who loathes the upper class suburban hellhole she’s stuck in. She loves her Microsoft hotshot husband and fifteen-year-old daughter, Bee, but she can’t be bothered to try and fit in with the other moms — the “gnats” — at Bee’s private school. In fact, she can’t be bothered to go out at all: growing increasingly anxious in public over the years, Bernadette has hired a personal assistant based in India to take care of most of her errands.

Then trouble strikes: Bee was promised anything she wanted if she got straight As in her classes. The intelligent young teen has no problem doing so, and her wish is to go to Antarctica. And if they’re going to go, they have to go soon: Christmastime in the United States coincides with summertime in Antarctica. Naturally, Bernadette’s anxiety shoots through the roof at the thought of interacting with other people and braving the choppy seas on a last-minute cruise to Antarctica. Throw a couple more wrenches in Bernadette’s life, and she just can’t take it anymore. She disappears.

Determined to find her mother, Bee sifts through countless correspondences and documents to see if her mother left any clues as to her whereabouts; these correspondences make up much of the book’s text. Bee is finally able to piece together a narrative of all the different events that played a role in her mother’s disappearance, but when it comes to her actually finding her mother, Bee hits a dead end. Still, while everyone else is ready to give up, Bee insists that there has to be a good reason behind her mother’s admittedly bizarre actions.

Quickies: Shortcomings & Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk

Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine

Publisher/Year: Drawn and Quarterly, 2007
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 104
Source: Library

What it is: A graphic novel that explores the sticky issues of cultural identity. Ben Tanaka is a 30-year-old Japanese American who runs a movie house in Berkeley. His longtime girlfriend is Miko, who is also a Japanese American but embraces her culture way more than Ben does. Ben is a sarcastic pessimist who generally tends to “think white,” and all of this has driven a wedge in his relationship with Miko. Their relationship is left on shaky ground when Miko leaves for an extended period to New York, and Ben’s world is further thrown into a tailspin when his only friend, Alice, moves to New York as well.

Why I read to it: The book has been recommended in tons of places.

What I thought: It was my first Tomine encounter, and I immediately went and requested another of his books from the library. The black and white drawings are understated but powerful; there are moments in the book where the panels don’t have any dialogue, but the pictures speak volumes. (To get an idea: you know that recent Hurricane Sandy New Yorker cover? Tomine drew it). The book is split into three “chapters” that explore various — often uncomfortable — aspects of the role race plays in Ben’s romantic interests. As a whole the book is realistic and brutally honest, but it’s not without its humor. I loved it.

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Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain

Publisher/Year: Harper Audio, 2012
Format: Audiobook
Length: 11 hours, 39 minutes
Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
Source: Library, though I also received a printed ARC from the publisher

What it is: When Fox News films the Bravo Squad in action, bravely fighting Iraqi insurgents, the eight survivors become overnight heroes. Suddenly they’re a hot commodity: a film might be made about them, people stop them wherever they go, and they’re the guests of honor at the Dallas Cowboys’ Thanksgiving game, where they’re scheduled to make a special appearance with Destiny’s Child. Flashbacks aside, the events of the book all take place on that one day, told through the conflicted point of view of 19-year-old Specialist William Lynn.

Why I read it: The book had steadily built momentum through word of mouth. Then it was nominated for a National Book Award.

What I thought: This book has sat on my shelf pretty much all year, and I went back and forth on it — even with all the buzz — because contemporary war novels don’t really call out to me. Fountain ups the irony and dark humor to portray the circus-like theatrics of it all: the heroes (anti-heroes?) of the story get consumed by the military propaganda, media frenzy, and football madness of it all. It’s a story about a group of soldiers, yes, but the more important thing is the story it reflects about society. It’s not a bad book and I can see why people love it, but it’s not really my thing. I definitely recommend going the print route rather than the audiobook route, though.

The Keep

Twenty years after a terrifying childhood prank taken too far, cousins Danny and Howie meet again in Eastern Europe to renovate a crumbling medieval castle. The tables are now turned: the once-scrawny, awkward Howie — a childhood victim of his cousins’ bullying — is now a handsome millionaire, while Danny is thirty-something NYC hipster with a questionable past. Howie is now intent on turning the castle into a high-end, technology-free, spiritual retreat; he reaches out to his wayward cousin in part to patch up the rift stemming from that childhood event that changed both their lives.

Danny immediately hates it there, especially since there’s no cell phone reception. Everything is old and unsettling, and being around Howie so much dredges up old memories of what Danny did to him when they were younger. Howie, however, doesn’t even bring up the past; he’s freakishly positive about everything in life and insists that Danny has a special something, a magical intuition that will lead this fledgling business venture in the right direction. And he’s right. Skeptical though Danny may be, he knows that for everything to succeed, the need to get into the highest, most secure part of the castle: the keep. The problem is that the ancient matriarch of the family who owned the castle still lives there and has no intention of ever leaving; her family had owned the castle for centuries.

And here, unfortunately, is where the novel begins to unravel in a way that it never fully recovers from.

Quickies: Like Water for Chocolate and Chicano! the History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

Publisher/Year: Books on Tape, 1993
Format: Audiobook
Length: 5 hours, 56 minutes
Narrated by: Kate Reading
Source: Library

What it is: Set on a Mexican ranch at the turn of the century, Mama Elena keeps a tight leash on her daughters. Tita has it the worst; she is expected to spend the rest of her life cooking and caring for her cruel mother. When her chance at happiness arrives and she falls in love with a man named Pedro, her mother refuses to consent to their marriage, and instead arranges for another of her daughters to marry Pedro. As a skilled chef, Tita infuses magical realism into the story, pouring her emotions into the food she prepares, including the wedding food she is forced to prepare for her sister and Pedro.

Why I listened to it: It’s a classic, and I felt like the last person on the planet who had not read this book. This book was also banned in Tucson.

What I thought: I feel like a bad Mexican for saying this, and I know I’m in a very small minority, but I think I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t like Esquivel’s writing. At all. It started a couple of years ago when I read Malinche (which I deemed one of my worst reads of 2010), but since that was my only encounter with Esquivel, I chalked it up to the book. But no, it’s Esquivel. I can see why people like her epic-style storytelling; her writing has a sweeping grandness to it. And I wanted to like Esquivel for writing about some of the problematic gender expectations in Mexican culture. But I just could not get on board with the message. The rest of this part is one big spoiler, so highlight the text to read it: Tita pines away for Pedro for her entire adult life, even though he marries her sister and royally screws her over. When they finally get a chance to be together, he dies (from happiness. UGH, what a douche.)…at which point, her life is no longer worth living, so she goes out with a bang. Please no.

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Chicano! the History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement by Francisco A. Rosales

Publisher/Year: Arte Publico Press, 1997
Format: Paperback
Pages: 304
Source: Library

What it is: A history textbook published to accompany a 1996 PBS documentary of the same name. The book focuses on the history of the U.S. – Mexico border, especially the important moments for Mexican Americans in California, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The book then builds up to the activism of the Chicano movement in the 1960s through the mid-1970s.

Why I read it: This  is one of the books that was banned in Tucson, Arizona, and I’m on a mission to read entire list of banned books.

What I thought: The book is very interesting, and I’d love to watch the documentary to see how the two complement each other. I already knew some of the things that Rosales covered, but there was a lot I didn’t know. I also loved getting to learn a little more about south Texas history, and think of some of the stories my grandfather used to tell me about his childhood and school experiences in the context of the book  (like being punished for speaking Spanish).

Rabbit is Rich

You know how sometimes you come across an artist — photographer, singer, filmmaker, author, whatever — who creates something offensive and abhorrent, who then gets all self-righteous like, “Don’t conflate the artist with the art,” but deep down you feel it that the person is really just an asshole using the I’m An Artiste and You Are a Philistine excuse to be an even bigger asshole? Yeah? Well. After two Rabbit books, a few short stories, a few interviews, and the synopsis of this book, no one will ever be able to convince me that two time Pulitzer Prize-winning Great Man of Literature John Updike wasn’t a big ol’ racist, misogynist asshole. Like, ever.

I’ve been listening to the Rabbit is Rich audiobook for the better part of a month and finally finished the last of the seventeen discs yesterday afternoon (which I immediately celebrated with this tweet). I don’t usually jump right into review writing when I finish a book — I like to let a book sit with me for a while, you know? — but this book. This book requires a different tactic. So just humor me: I decided to review the book immediately in case of the unlikely event that my hatred begins to dissipate, m’kay?

Rabbit is Rich is part of Updike’s Rabbit series, which follows Harry Angstrom through different parts of his life. I was first introduced to Harry in undergrad when I had to read the first book in the series Rabbit, Run. That book introduces Harry, aka “Rabbit,” at the height of his life: he’s a narcissistic basketball hotshot with his whole future ahead of him. Rabbit is Rich has him in middle age. He’s still narcissistic, but the great — and “great” is debatable here — Rabbit is now a cynical car salesman with a stale marriage and an college-aged son who’s well on his way to recreating his father’s idiotic mistakes. The series made Updike the poster boy of white, middle class, middle American, post-Cold War era realism.

Quickies: Miles from Nowhere & The Night Circus

Miles from Nowhere by Nami Mun

Publisher/Year: Riverhead, 2008
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 304
Source: Purchase

What it is: Set in the 1980s, a Korean immigrant named Joon is growing up in the Bronx. After her parents’ marriage falls apart and her father leaves, Joon’s mother falls into a deep depression exacerbated by mental illness. A young Joon is left to fend for herself, and at the age of thirteen she ultimately runs away to escape the fraught relationship she has with her mother. The book is told in fragments that chronicle many of her hardships over the next few years.

Why I read it: Find out here!

What I thought: First off, one of my roommates in grad school was a Korean named Joon, so I kept thinking about her even though she has no similarities to the book’s Joon! I miss her. Anyway. I loved this book. I didn’t know much about it when I first picked it up, but I was quickly swept away by Mun’s raw prose. It’s a small book (literally — the spine is like seven inches long and the font is nice and roomy), but the impact is powerful stuff. It’s tense and heartbreaking and unflinching in its realism. I’m happy I discovered this author.

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The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Publisher/Year: Random House Audio, 2011
Format: Audiobook
Length: 13 hours, 39 minutes
Narrated by: Jim Dale
Source: Library

What it is: Le Cirque des Rêves appears unannounced from one day to the next. It’s closed all day and open all night, and audiences are drawn to the unique performances that seem like pure magic. Two magicians are using the circus as their stage for a magic competition that they were each bound to as children, but neither competitor knows exactly what the competition entails; everything gets further complicated when the two magicians fall in love with each other.

Why I read it: I succumbed to the hype.

What I thought: Meh. I think part of that meh is that the audiobook narrator was miscast (even though he’s really, really talented); not to sound ageist, but he sounded too old for this particular narrative and its mostly-youthful characters. But a lot of that meh is the last half of the book; the first half builds an interesting story, but by the end I was going, “is that it?” I do have to hand it to Morgenstern, though: her imagery is amazing. I wasn’t terribly wowed by the book, but I can’t wait to see the visuals they create in the film adaptation. (I just said some sacrilege, I know. Sorry.)

Little Women

Little Women was the July selection for the Year of Feminist Classics reading project, so this post less review-y and more of a response to a larger online conversation going on at the YoFC blog — beware of spoilers!

Up until a couple of weeks ago, I’m pretty sure I was one of the few people on earth who had never read Louisa May Alcott’s classic, Little Women. A lot of people read it as children — or at least as teenagers — and it’s assigned reading in many classrooms. But me? Nope. I managed to make it through my first three decades of life without ever having touched the book, with only vague memories of the Winona Ryder film adaptation as my cultural reference.

Little Women is the the coming of age story of the four young March sisters; Mr. March is a chaplain who is off somewhere serving in the Civil War, so it’s up to his wife to run the household and raise their four daughters to become upstanding young women. As the Year of Feminist Classics book introductory post points out, the book can be looked at from a couple of angles: is it a feminist-minded book about female independence, or does its message instead advocate conformity to traditional gender roles? I think the case can be made for both angles and I think Little Women is a combination of both, though I’m also leaning more towards the conformity message.

The biggest thing the book has going for it in terms of female independence is the headstrong Jo March, the sister who hates everything having to do with learning to be a proper woman. She never wants to get married and would much prefer to create her own financial independence by being a writer. She’s already gotten the ball rolling by selling some of her writing, and this early success in her young life will undoubtedly giver her more confidence to become a successful writer in the future. Being independent, unafraid to speak your mind, and going for what makes you happy in life: those are feminist-minded messages if I ever saw them.

Quickies: On Beauty & This Beautiful Life

On Beauty by Zadie Smith

Publisher/Year: Penguin, 2006
Format: Paperback
Pages: 464
Source: Purchase

What it is: Steeped in the world of New England academia, the book follows the Belsey family. Howard Belsey is a professor who has cheated on his wife. Their three grown children are each harboring their own secrets, but everyone’s lives crash together with the appearance of the Kipps family, which is headed by Howard’s professional nemesis,  Monty Kipps.

Why I read it: It’s been on my TBR list for ages. I bought the book years ago at a library sale and it’s been sitting on my shelves ever since.

What I thought: I can’t believe I’m about to say this because I totally judge people who list it as a reason for not liking a book, but none of the characters are likeable. NONE! And that’s usually not a problem for me — in fact, I welcome insufferable / asinine / depraved / crude / rude assholes to my bookshelves! — so long as the characters are well-developed and bring something to the story. Sadly, all of On Beauty‘s characters feel like caricatures and the dialogue often sounds stilted and contrived. The clunky handling of race and class never sat right with me either (Howard Belsey is a white Englishman, his wife is black, their children are multiracial, and the Kipps family is Trinidadian). Is Zadie Smith a talented author? Absolutely. Parts of the book are gorgeous and insightful and lyrical. Other parts have just the right touch of humor at the perfect moment. But as a whole, the book was a chore. I know the book has won countless accolades, but honestly? I don’t get it.

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This Beautiful Life by Helen Schulman

Publisher/Year: Blackstone Audio, 2011
Format: Audiobook
Length: 7 hours, 34 minutes
Narrated by: Hillary Huber
Source: Library

What it is: A novel about a New York family imploding after the teenage son is discovered at the center of a massive school scandal; he forwards a sexually explicit video made for him by another student, and the video goes viral.

Why I read it: It sounded like an interesting concept. The media periodically likes to scare the public about the evils of social networking and sexting (I hate that word!), and I was curious to see how the subject might be confronted in literature.

What I thought: This was a really uneven book for me. I think Schulman did a commendable job of exploring the complicated world of teen sexuality and the confusion that can be involved in it. I also liked that there was no “bad guy.” The girl who makes and sends the video isn’t painted as the school slut, and once the video goes viral, Schulman takes pains to illustrate a wide spectrum of student reactions. Nor is the boy who receives and forwards the video a cruel person; he makes a naive mistake and also has to deal with the consequences of his actions. Ultimately, however, the book is kind of annoying. I think a big part of that can be attributed to the audiobook narrator, who inexplicably voices everyone with a sarcastic tone. The adult characters’ actions also annoyed me; the boy’s parents, particularly the mother, are completely useless. It was frustrating.