Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
by Dai Sajie ( 戴思杰 )
International Fiction
208 Pages
published in 2000
Anchor Books
During China's Cultural Revolution, books were banned, children of well-off parents were sent off alone to work in the rural communities, and the government held a fear of anything that did not blatantly support the movement. It was a time of darkness throughout the country, and where regulations and impediments became more important than all else. This is the time period of which Dai Sajie writes in his novel, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. A story of love, of jealousy, and of children becoming men and women in this critical time frame in China's government.
In this novel, two city boys are sent to work in the fields in the country. While there they meet and fall for the tailor's daughter, who proves to be the jewel to be had. This little seamstress, who is more beautiful than any of the other girls (at least in the opinion of her suitors).All three of them, the seamstress, Luo and Ma (the narrator) become so obsessed with reading these forbidden books that they are willing to risk it all, for they could be severely punished for their attempts at obtaining any book which is not governmental propaganda.
The longer I waited to review Balzac and the Little Seamstress, the more it sunk in, the more I just really did love it. I really did. I bought this a year ago, mostly because the cover completely captivated me and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. It was actually even better that I expected, and you had better believe that I had height expectations. The simple and yet stout style of Dai Sijie is perfect for the book. He has written a superb gem here, the inside of the book is even better than the outside! I loved the main characters, the writing was just right and the story/plot couldn't have been any better. Seriously, it was just so good. Plus, it was about another country, and I love to read abroad!
If it could possibly get any better, it does. For all of us who are obsessed with books, it has a hidden special element of attraction. Can you even imagine if all books that were not written to glorify the current government were banned? What would become of us? I became completely entranced. This gets a full five chickens from me peeps, no doubt. So stop drooling over that beautiful cover and start drooling over the inside!
What would you do if books were banned? Can we even comprehend that here with all the freedoms we have?
Follow Me
Follow Me
by Joanna Scott
432 pages
Fiction
Little, Brown and Company
April 22, 2009
When a young girl longs to learn of her family, of her heritage she is in for an exciting narration from her grandmother (AKA Sally Werner). She makes the young girl promise to never tell another soul what she is going to tell her, as she has never told anyone herself. In her grandmother's words she pieces together the mystery of her father's choices, and mostly the choice he made to leave her, a choice she lives with daily. Her family secrets are what make up a history of hardship and difficulty, however at the same time she realizes that within her family's history fanciful legends and tales hold the same value as the truth. However when she is confronted with her father, a man she had never known because of his choice to (after a failed suicide attempt) leave both she and her mother for a better life, she learns that he has another story all together about her grandmother. But could the elaborate story that her grandmother entrusted to her may only be fiction after all?
Follow Me is an interesting portrayal of family difficulties, discrepancies in family history and more than anything the lives that become that history. Since lives are lived only by one person, and seen by others in a much different light than one intends, history of the living is difficult to nail down. Follow Me is a novel of mysteries, family secrets and after a full dose of half-truths and some lies, there is a family history that evolves.
My thoughts are scattered on this read. I did enjoy the writing, it was as fluid and practical as it was elegant. Joanna Scott is an amazing storyteller and an extremely gifted writer, the tale flows from her words with ease. The only problem was that sometimes it seemed like it was too at ease, too leisurely, and I wished to learn faster. I found it interesting, but felt myself lagging behind in the thrill of it. I didn't completely fall head-over-heels with Sally Werner either, who this story is really about. For me it was mostly that somehow I felt I needed to be guarded against her because her choices made me nervous, and when I was allowed to know her thoughts about herself they were so harsh- that it just made me distrust her. By far the biggest fault of the book, which may be my own, is that I just lacked that personal bond with the characters. I did enjoy this read though, just not as much as I had hoped when it started out.
When you don't connect with the characters, does it make it harder for you to fall in love with the book? Do you find it harder to connect with characters you feel consistently make the wrong choices?
Some other perspectives:
Peeking Between the Pages
Bermudaonion
My Friend Amy
S. Krishna's Books
Booking Mama
Caribou's Mom
Savvy Verse & Wit
The Cellist of Sarajevo
The Cellist of Sarajevo
by Steven Galloway
256 pages
Literary fiction
Riverhead Books
March 2009
Living is very different when your life is under constant threat, when each time you leave the house you run, knowing you are observed and are very much a walking target. In these situations life takes on a whole value. What is important enough to actually put your life in their hands for? Then you wonder when it became an act of bravery to cross the threshold of your door. This is the everyday life, the new normal for those in Sarajevo during the siege. The Cellist of Sarajevo is a novel based on a non-fictional siege, and a non-fictional well known local cellist, Vase Smailovic a who played Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor for twenty-two days as a tribute to those who had been killed while standing in line waiting to buy bread. During this twenty-two day period not only is Sarajevo the cellist's audience, but the audience extends far beyond the well guarded borders of even Sarajevo itself, the world is his audience.
In a nation that is being torn apart, what will make those in the city stop and see that there still is anything worth living for? Society is not buildings, it is not libraries, or community halls-those are the shells that societies leave behind, the remnants and evidence that the people were there working together. Society is a community, the relationships held between people, and an understanding of an acceptable way to treat one another. When that society is under attack, a new normal emerges for its civilians, a new acceptable way to interact with others which is more an instinct than an interaction. When society as we know it falls apart and there are no longer any rules to how we should act, it is from within us that our actions arise. Those actions will prove a person to be a man or woman of courage and heart, or a human who only lives to protect itself.
The Cellist plays, and it is not he that is the focus in this novel, but those he impacts, his audience. There are three main characters which the narrator follows on their daily routine and of which the reader learns their thoughts and fears. Music, as all forms of art, inspires people to continue on, to hope for a future in a better world, and even to remember the past. Every day during the twenty-two day tribute, the Cellist was giving an outdoor concert- the notes rising amongst the broken buildings, the burnt down libraries, and mending the dreams and hearts of the broken people. And yet, that is just the starting point of this novel- it is what those three characters do with the hope that has been given them that caries the musical notes beyond just the listeners who were inspired.
This is the second book that I have read about the conflict in Sarajevo. I also read and reviewed Sarajevo Marlboro by Miljenko Jergovic . Check that out too.
Powell's Books Event:
Steven Galloway author of The Cellist of Sarajevo
I could not believe my luck when I saw that Steven Galloway was to be at Powell's Books! I was so blessed to go to that event last night. Brad (B) and I both got to go up and enjoy the full experience. We both knew that meeting the author could actually scar our already high opinion of the book somewhat, if the person who wrote the book is arrogant and rude, it does make it harder to love the book just as much. Don't you agree? However it was not an issue, as we came away delighted that he was an amazing person as well as writer, he was funny, clever, and very sweet. Like my grandma would have said " he had a good head on his shoulders!", and I am a believer in good heads. :) It was also really, super fun to meet up with Ali from Worducopia at the reading and chat a bit afterwords, but I thought she was in some of the pictures, but she seems to have escaped out of them! I'll get her next time.
My favourite quote from the author Steven Galloway was when telling us how he has a short attention span and it really freaks publishers out because they never know what to expect, he remarks, "You know, I wish I could write a good sexy werewolf novel. That is where the money is! I apologize though, if any of you are sexy werewolves that was not meant to offend". Yes, we were all laughing!
I got so shy when I met the author that all I could do was say, "My-favourite-character-was-Arrow. I-am-a-book-reviewer-and-really-loved-your-book!" Seriously, somebody HELP ME! I need to take boldness pills for next time.
Author Website: Steven Galloway
Miles from Nowhere
Miles from Nowhere
by Nami Mun
304 pages
fiction
Riverhead Books
Challenges: Orbis Terarrum, South Korea
Joon sees herself as a regular Korean girl until her father leaves her mother, then her mom ignores her- to the extent of not talking to her, acknowledging her and pretending to be dead. Obviously a cry for help that a very young girl can only handle for so long. Joon goes to find her dad and try to get him to return, he turns her down as greener pastures seem to be calling his name. Soon after that, out of desperation Joon runs away. Her life on the streets goes from dark to darker and then when you think it couldn't get any worse it goes to darkest.
There is plenty of sexual stuff, drugs, well really substance abuse of every type is discussed and abused in this book. Drug activity is high, very high, talk of shooting this, smoking that, cutting, being high, and all this as a young teen. Each time the reader can see the surface and almost feels allowed to come to breathe air, Joon dives down deeper to the despair of the reader.
Well, I don't know what that description does for you, but if you don't like reading the description, don't read Miles from Nowhere. However to its defense, it is different than any book that I have been able to finish to this day. Several times I just couldn't handle the intensity of its graphic nature and had to skip a page, but I kept coming back because Nami Mun is an amazing writer, really she is great, almost humorous at times.
I would love to read a lighter book by her, and really hope she chooses to go that route next time, more cultural and less mental illness-teen pregnancy-suicideish. Yes, so I did think her writing was very good, however not good enough for me to feel that I can recommend this with a clean conscience. I can't. I just say sit this one out and wait on what she brings to the table next time. That is my opinion anyway.
How do you do with books that carry too much gore for their own good? Have you had some that you think really excellent writing, but you just can't bring yourself to recommend them for their content?
Make sure you enter my current giveaway!!
Blonde Roots
Blonde Roots
by Bernardine Evaristo
288 pages
Riverhead Hardcover
January 2009
The premise is that back in the day of slavery ships and wealthy slave owners, the roles were reversed. African's owned lands in Ambrosia where European indentured servants were transported (yes, middle passage and all). Europeans take on the exact role that Africans really did have in history. They are viewed as being dumb, ugly, savage-like, and not having human ties to their offspring.
Blonde Roots follows one Englishwoman (Doris) who is kidnapped from her family of cabbage farmers while playing outside with her siblings. She is taken to Ambrosia and only dreams of getting back home. She is torn from her family and displaced into slavery and the bonds and ties that brings. Half way through the book (or part way) we hear the story for a little while from the perspective of the slave owner, Bwana and then back to Doris, the slave for the conclusion.
Bernardine Evaristo wrote this portrayal in a modern way, using modern slang and things that would not have existed at all then, which is acutally something I partially appreciated. The writing is interesting, and the concept is stunning. The idea of the novel is strong, but in my opinion not well executed. I felt it horribly lacking in power. I never felt connected to Doris, the other slaves or the slave owners...and I wanted that! I didn't care really if they even made it that is how much I just felt her writing fell flat thus not allowing me to form emotional bonds with the characters.
One thing that I did find interesting is that over and over I had to remind myself that the slaves where Europeans! Whenever I am reading a book I have an image in my mind of the characters and what is happening. In Blonde Roots I kept realising that in my mind's eye I kept reversing the roles to the way that they actually were. I felt bad at first that I kept switching it back and didn't know if that would make me look horrid to confess that on here. I thought about it and really came to understand that my mind just was stuck in a rut, as it is really hard for me to imagine the roles reversed! And yet, that is the way it could have been!
There were many good things about this book, but as I am an avid lover of good character development and well formed plots....I can't say I feel that Bernadine Evaristo ended up giving her novel the potential that it had in concept. I felt immensely confused and disconnected against my own will.
What do you think of the concept, doesn't it sound like a great book from the outside!?!
Other reader views:
Kittling Books
At Home with Books
(Have you reviewed it? let me know!)
The Misadventures of Oliver Booth
The Misadventures of Oliver Booth: Life in the Lap of Luxury
by David Desmond
224 pages
Fiction, Humor
Yearly Count:12
Oliver Booth craves wealth, acknowledgment and prestige yet he goes about it in all the wrong ways. The more he scams and tries to pry up into the world that he admires the more it detests him and his slyness. He is the arrogant owner of a supposedly high-quality shop filled with "hecho en Mexico" reproductions. His luck goes from bad to worse when one of the bigshots- Margaret Van Buren sends him and his new assistant to France to purchase some furniture for her guest house. Booth's arrogance even when he has no clue of the language, culture or area get him into even bigger trouble. All his problems are not without the meddling of his assistant, who more than anyone would like to see him fail.
Oliver Booth is not a character with good qualities, and then when his assistant enters the scene I had high hopes for him. Once I saw that his only intent was getting whatever he could claw away from Booth in order to impress their boss Mrs. Van Buren I lost hope. I need at least one person in the book to look at and admire, this one was just a rat race. As much as I know that is probably more realistic, this didn't do it for me. I was expecting more depth than this gave, more depth of character, more depth of something and it was not there.
In parts it was funny, but soon bashing on Oliver Booth's weight wasn't humorous anymore. I started to feel worse for him because it seemed that everyone wanted to tear him down. It distressed me more than made me laugh. I understand that he got what was coming, but it was too much to watch. Not my cup 'o tea.
Was it yours? Tell me about it.
Other Reviews:
Ramya's Bookshelf
Bermuda Onion's Weblog
The Book Nook
Book Chatter and Other Stuff
Bitter Sweets
Bitter Sweets
by Roopa Farooki
Pages: 372
International Fiction
A tale of a family who's only facts are interwoven with deceit and false pretensions. Starting out with the lies told in order to become an actress, the grandmother in this story fills her lips with words that are not true in order to capture he ticket out of the country. Once this one ancestor allows lies to be such a central aspect of her life, she not only impacts her own life, but the life of her deceived husband and passes it on in different forms to the generations that follow. A history of falseness is all that the future generations have to live up to. Love, loss, change and growth are themes of Roopa Farooki's Bitter Sweets novel. A family's story through three generations of learned deception and what it takes to break free from the expectation to cover-up and pretend-- to lie.
No matter how much lying the characters are doing to each other, the truth stood stronger and spoke louder than any lie. This was a great interesting, fun read and was so good. I have read some reviews that said it was superficial, I don't agree. I felt the author did an excellent work with her characters, settings and working in beautiful and timeless themes. This is the story of an Indian family, that is split between two nations but could be the story of so many as the daily lives they lead are very easy to relate to. I did enjoy this book thoroughly.
Roopa Farooki brings up questions of love, true love and arraigned marriages, however in this book truth is the strongest theme. Where would your family be without truth? She brings up and interesting concept, that truth can sometimes be told at the expense of hurting our loved one only to selfishly clear our own conscience. I loved reading Bitter Sweets, it was interesting to see how things took place.
What do you think? Is it truth at all costs or does it depend? It seems to me that truth may hurt for an instant, but mending is on its way....while lies form a web of guilt and pain that smothers love. What are your thoughts? Farooki portrays the Indian culture as valuing appearance over honesty, I would say the same is true in many parts of America (if not all). What do you think, does our culture value appearance over truth? Which wins here politeness or honesty?
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