Book Review: 1Q84
25 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in New Release Reviews Tags: alternate realities, cults, fiction, japan, metaphysics, science fiction, sex
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (pub date 10/25/11)
I have never read Murakami until now, and I read somewhere that if you’re going to get into his writing, this is not the book to start with. Oops. It certainly seems that this is a divisive book. People either love it or hate it, and even some of Murakami’s diehard fans were disappointed with it, as was The New York Times.
This definitely has to be one of the strangest books I’ve ever read. I joked that it should have been called “WTF84.” Clearly, it isn’t for everyone. But if you have the patience and the imagination to stick with it, you may find it as peculiarly endearing as I did.
The plot of 1Q84 is almost impossible to describe concisely. It’s a metaphysical science fiction story with crime, sex, and romance thrown in. The title refers to an alternate reality set in the year 1984, and is a play on words; the words for ‘nine’ and ‘Q’ are homophones in the Japanese language. The two main characters are Aomame, a fitness instructor and part-time assassin, and Tengo, a math teacher and aspiring author. Gradually they come to believe that they have been transported to an alternate world, and end up in a strange plot involving a religious cult, a teenage writer, weird sex, murder, a sky with two moons, and a malevolent force referred to as “the Little People.”
It’s weird. Really weird. And my summary doesn’t do it justice. But as it says in the book, if you can’t understand it without an explanation, you can’t understand it with an explanation. It’s a book that has to be experienced to be understood. And if you look past the weirdness, you can see some very simple themes emerge in the writing, and that is what makes this book so interesting. Underneath the convoluted plot are themes of love, longing, and free will versus fate.
One common critique of 1Q84 is that it’s repetitive, that the characters say the same thing over and over. While it’s true that some lines are often repeated by different characters, I wouldn’t go so far as to call the book repetitious. What some call repetition I call variations on a theme. The book shows how each of the major characters reacts to the same strange events. Each character makes his or her own discovery in a different way.
At over nine hundred pages, this book requires some commitment to get through. But it’s incredibly imaginative, amazingly detailed, and quite a mental workout. It’s heavy on exposition and backstory, but the slow-building drama is worth it in the end. Again I’ll say that this book isn’t for everyone. But if you’re tired of quick and easy reads and are looking for something different, 1Q84 is about as different as literature can get.
Book Review: Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea
20 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in New Release Reviews Tags: coming of age, fiction, mother daughter relationship, new england
Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea by Morgan Callan Rogers (pub date 1/19/12)
This is a book about the meaning of the mother-daughter relationship, and the devastation felt when that relationship is lost. Set in beautiful coastal Maine during the 1960s, Red Ruby Heart is both a coming-of-age story and a story about the strength of the human spirit.
Twelve-year-old Florine has lived a pretty sheltered life in her rural Maine town. She has two loving parents, a doting grandmother, and a spirited best friend. The most drama she experienced in her young life so far was when she and her friends got into trouble for accidentally starting a fire at a neighbor’s summer home. Then things in Florine’s life begin to go wrong when her mother goes on a weekend getaway with a friend and fails to return. Her mother’s absense begins to affect her family in different ways, and Florine experiences a storm of emotions. She rages against the mother whom she sees as having abandoned her, yet is still pained by her love for her.
Red Ruby Heart is both tragic and uplifting. It’s the story of a girl forced to grow up early, set in a time period when a generation of women were growing up and reclaiming their independence. We are sad to see Florine enter into womanhood without her mother’s guidance, but feel her happiness and pain as she struggles to reclaim her identity without defining herself by her relationship with her mother. Rogers manages to capture the wide range of feelings that teenage girls experience (the joy, the heartbreak, the uncertainty) and creates a dynamic character that readers can sympathize with. The book concludes with a bittersweet ending that is both fitting and memorable.
There are a lot of coming-of-age stories out there, but this is one of the good ones. Though it will likely be classified as “chick lit,” I think this is a story that men and women can equally enjoy.
Early Review: The Ruins of Us
15 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in New Release Reviews Tags: fiction, islam, marriage, muslims, polygamy, saudi arabia
The Ruins of Us by Keija Parssinen (pub date 1/17/12)
What would you be willing to do to marry someone from another culture? Imagine changing your religion, learning a new language, and moving to another continent to be with the person you love.
The Ruins of Us is about a woman who has done just that. Rosalie is a beautiful American, born in Texas, who is married to a sheik named Abdullah. Rosalie left her life behind to live with Abdullah in Saudi Arabia, and quickly adapted to Saudi culture. She converted to Islam, learned Arabic, and dressed and acted as was expected of the women in Abdullah’s country. Together they raised two children, and enjoy the life of luxury that Abdullah’s wealth has provided. But Rosalie’s illusions of a happy life are quickly shattered when she inadvertently learns that Abdullah has taken a second wife, and had been keeping his other marriage a secret for two years.
Shaken and angry, Rosalie starts to reconsider her life with Abdullah and her place in Saudi culture. What is interesting about the book is that it also considers Abdullah’s perspective on the marriage. He is shown as a man who cares deeply for his wife, yet finds himself yearning for the person she was before they were married. It is an interesting paradox to think that he fell in love with Rosalie because she was not like Saudi women, while knowing deep down that she would have to adapt to Saudi culture in order to be accepted by his family, and later resenting her for it.
The turmoil in Rosalie and Abdullah’s marriage makes them too preoccupied to see its effects on their teenage children. Their daughter Mariam years to be a more modern woman, and begins pushing the boundaries of acceptable behavior for girls at her school. Their son Faisal takes the opposite approach; he falls in with a group of radical Muslim fundamentalists, and comes to hate his own American heritage.
This is a powerful debut novel. The characters are bold and dynamic. It is interesting to contemplate Rosalie’s character, a woman who prides herself on her independence and spirit, yet who chose to live in a country where she is not legally permitted to drive a car. Abdullah is not entirely unsympathetic; he loves his wife but is conflicted by what is acceptable in his culture and how it affects his marriage. This is a story about love and loyalty that is both well written and engaging. It’s a relevant and entertaining read from a great new author!
Early Review: Taft 2012
10 Jan 2012 1 Comment
in New Release Reviews Tags: 2012 election, fiction, politics, tafties
Taft 2012 by Jason Heller (pub date 1/17/12)
Quirk Books lives up to its name in this debut novel by Jason Heller! Taft 2012 is a “Rip Van Winkle” story of epic proportions, as big as the protagonist himself, William Howard Taft. (Sorry, I had to get at least one weight joke in there).
As the title suggests, Taft 2012 offers a what-if scenario in which former president Taft mysteriously disappears in 1912 after losing his re-election campaign (he actually died in 1930) and awakens in the present day. Confused to say the least, Taft finds himself having to catch up on a century’s worth of change and progress. His reappearance causes such a stir among the American people that he is quickly asked to run for President as a third-party candidate.
An absurd concept, yes, but this book surprised me. Most readers would likely assume that a man who lived a hundred years ago would be horrified at the current state of America. But the modern Taft embraces his new country and is accepting of the many social changes that have occurred since his time. Heller obviously did his homework on Taft’s politics, and he presents the new Taft much as he was when he was in office: fiscally conservative yet socially progressive, a moderate who followed the letter of the law. What Taft does not support is lying and back-stabbing; and unfortunately he sees as much of that in today’s politics as he did in 1912 politics.
Though a fast read, this is an interesting book with a wildly original story. Overall, it’s a fun and uplifting book. And I have to give credit to the author for suggesting that perhaps what America needs is not another Republican or Democrat, but something different altogether. The ideals expressed are so refreshing that if the real Taft did indeed come back, I’d probably vote for him too.
Neverwhere: A Blast From the Past
05 Jan 2012 2 Comments
in Backlist Reviews Tags: fantasy, fiction, london, science fiction, secret worlds
I got hooked on Neil Gaiman after reading Coraline. It was one of the books I wrote about in my grad school application essay. A few months later I read American Gods and my mind was officially blown. So I was thrilled when someone gave me a copy of his much earlier work Neverwhere for my birthday. It sat on my ”to-read” shelf for a few months, but so goes the life of a book blogger.
By now, the plot of Neverwhere is pretty well known. It has been a novel, a TV series, a comic book, and a stage play. Supposedly it is going to be adapted into a feature film, but if that’s true I’m willing to bet it languishes in Development Hell for a few years and never gets made (as did the fabled Preacher movie). But to give a quick recap, Neverwhere is set in modern day London, only what very few people know is that there are two Londons. There is London Above, the one we know, and London Below, a secret city populated by strange and often dangerous people and creatures. Our guide through this journey is Richard Mayhew, an average joe who discovers London Below when he gets swept up in a young woman’s quest to avenge her family’s murder.
This isn’t your average “down the rabbit hole” story…more like Alice in Wonderland on crank. Gaiman’s story is engaging, satirical, and at times pretty scary. While I enjoyed American Gods more, it’s almost unfair to say that since they are such different kinds of stories. American Gods was just epic. But if you enjoy fantasy and science fiction in the same vein as Doctor Who, it’s pretty safe to say that you’ll enjoy Neverwhere. If you’ve heard of it but never made the time to read it, now is as good a time as any to start. And I’m looking forward to reading Anansi Boys sometime in the near future!
2011 in review
01 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
Thanks for making Chicks Dig Books a success! Here are my stats for 2011. Here’s hoping that 2012 will be even better!
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 3,300 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 55 trips to carry that many people.
Book Review: The Buddha in the Attic
31 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in New Release Reviews Tags: fiction, historical fiction, immigration, japanese internment camps, japanese women, picture brides
The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka (pub date 8/23/11)
This went on my Christmas list after I heard it was nominated for the 2011 National Book Award. I read it all in one day, and can honestly say that it was every bit deserving of the nomination.
The Buddha in the Attic is a historical fiction book, written from the perspective of the thousands of Japanese women who came to America pre-World War II. They came to America as “picture brides,” leaving behind their lives in Japan to marry men they had never met in person, in the hope that they would have better lives in their new homeland.
In eight brief chapters, Otsuka tells us the cruel fate of most of these women. Many of them found that their husbands were not the men they claimed to be, and most of them were put to work as field laborers or maids. Despite their best efforts to assimilate into American culture, they found themselves feared by most of their neighbors. Their children would grow up resentful of them, and would shun their Japanese heritage in favor of American culture. And after Pearl Harbor, many of them were forced to leave their homes.
This book is proof that big things do some in small packages. Though only 129 pages and a small trim size, it contains a fury of emotion. Otsuka’s understated prose style, reminiscent of a Greek chorus, allows her subjects’ voices to shine without ever being preachy. In this book, she has given names to the nameless and brought to light the experiences of a group of all but forgotten women. If you’re interested in history or women’s issues, this is an absolute must-read.
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
26 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Backlist Reviews Tags: 19th century China, chinese women, fiction, footbinding, historical fiction, women's relationships
Happy Holidays to everyone out in blogland! I have a great lineup of new release titles to review in January, and I’m counting the days until the 2012 BEA so I can bring you the latest on upcoming books. But in the meantime, here is another backlist title that I read last week and really enjoyed:
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
Originally published in 2005, this book has been a favorite of book clubs for years and was recently made into a film. Due to its success, the novel was reprinted in 2011. It’s a story about the personal and often complicated relationships women have with each other, and what can happen when those relationships are tested.
While the story is set in 19th century China, specifically in the Hunan province, it’s a story that modern women can relate to quite easily. Lisa See based her book on the concept of nu shu, an old form of secret writing created by women for the purposes of clandestine communication. Chinese women in this time period would write coded messages on fans or embroider them on handkerchiefs, and send them to their closest friends. Through these communications, women could vent their most personal feelings about the joys and hardships in their lives, without being found out by their husbands.
Lily and Snow Flower are two such women who use nu shu to write to each other in private. They are laotong, (“old sames”), meaning they were matched by their families into an arranged friendship and swore an oath to remain friends for life. Lily and Snow Flower experience all the major events in their lives at the same time: footbinding, arranged marriages, the birth of children, and also sickness and hardship. Through their nu shu writing, they manage to keep in touch with each other over the years. But as is still often the case with modern women, a misunderstanding between the two characters threatens to end their friendship forever.
The primary plot kept my attention, but what I really enjoyed about this book was the glimpse into 19th century Chinese family politics. Reading about how poorly women were treated (even in wealthy families) was both disheartening and fascinating. In Chinese society, a daughter was referred to as a “useless branch,” and a woman’s worth was measured by the number of sons she could produce. A woman wasn’t even considered a member of her in-laws’ family until she had a baby (which had better be a boy); until then she was treated like an inconvenient guest in her husband’s home. Lisa See included a lot of detail about family relationships and traditions, and she spared no detail in her description of the footbinding ritual (that chapter turned my stomach).
Though the story takes place nearly two hundred years in the past, this is a story that 20th century women can relate to. We’ve all had longtime friendships that we try to preserve, we’ve all tried to find ways to communicate with female friends without our parents or husbands knowing, and we’ve all had petty misunderstandings with our friends. The concepts of friendship and loyalty are timeless, and that’s why this book is so appealing. I would encourage you to read the book before seeing the film, as films often do not do justice to their source material.
The Namesake: Outstanding Modern Literature
21 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Backlist Reviews Tags: family, fathers and sons, fiction, immigration, indian culture, massachusetts
My series on popular backlist titles continues with The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, published in 2004.
This was a treasure that I picked up at my grad school’s library sale. I got this plus two other paperbacks for $1.00. Their loss, my win. There is no shortage of praise for this novel, and I don’t think I can say anything about it that hasn’t been said before. All I can say is that I wish I had read it years ago.
The Namesake is the story of a man’s relationship with his name. The American-born son of Indian immigrants, Gogol Ganguli receives his birth name by accident. A mix-up with his extended family and a misunderstanding of Bangladeshi culture result in his pet name becoming his legal name. The book describes what Gogol’s name means to him at different periods in his life. As a child it is a comfort to him, and he resists whenever anyone tries to call him by a different name. As an adolescent it is a burden, and in his mind singles him out for ridicule since it is neither American nor Bangladeshi. it isn’t until he reaches adulthood that Gogol truly understands why his parents chose the name, and he comes to gain a deeper understanding of how his family have shaped the man he was to become.
This is a rich, beautiful, and rewarding story. Even if you can’t personally relate to the immigrant experience, you may still find something in this book that resonates with you. Gogol reminded me of my husband, who also dislikes his birth name and wants his friends to call him by a chosen nickname. The book also explores the meaning and intimacy of a pet name, something that I had always taken for granted but now have a better appreciation for. Rarely do I call my husband by his name, even his nickname; instead I usually call him by a private pet name reserved only for me. His legal name, (his “good” name as it is called in the book) is only for work and for public functions. Think about how you interract with your significant other and you will understand what I mean. But with all of these various names, my husband is still the same person, no matter what he is called. Through the events of his life, Gogol also makes this discovery.
I won’t go on and on about how amazing this book is, because the world already knows. All I can say is that if you have heard of it but haven’t gotten around to reading it yet, please read it. You may find that you can relate to it the way I did. It really is a modern classic, and you won’t soon forget it.
The Hunger Games: Worth the Hype!
16 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Backlist Reviews Tags: combat, dystopian, fiction, totalitarianism, YA
There are a lot of books published in recent years that I just had not had the opportunity to read until now. I seem to be one of those people who doesn’t pay attention to trends and ends up discovering great books and TV shows after they were already popular. Oh well, it’s who I am. But having recently purchased some best-selling books from the mid 2000s at my grad school’s library sale and having asked for some books for Christmas, I thought it might be fun to write about my impressions of these books. I’m calling it my “I’ve been meaning to read that” series.
First up is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, published in 2008. I admit I was skeptical at first because of all the hype surrounding it. A few years ago I tried reading the Twilight series just to see what all the fuss was about and ended up quitting after the third book. Plus I hadn’t read a YA book since Shatter Me, and we all know how I felt about that…the horror. But my wise cousin-in-law (is that a word?) convinced me to give The Hunger Games a try.
**SPOILERS**
I finished it in three days, and found it to be pretty darn awesome! Though the book doesn’t contain profanity, sex, or gore, I was surprised at the intensity of some of the violence. For anyone who doesn’t know, the basic premise is that a totalitarian government forces the citizens of each of its twelve districts to offer up a “tribute” of one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to complete in a deathmatch called the Hunger Games. Kind of like The Running Man for teenagers, but in some ways a lot darker. Suzanne Collins pulls no punches in describing how brutal The Capitol is. Under their rule, starving farmers are beaten for eating their own crops, and those who commit treason have their tongues cut and are forced to work as unpaid servants. It’s subtle details like these that really made the setting seem real to me. And the description of the violence inside the arena is graphic enough to make an impression, but not so over-the-top that it reads like a Bret Easton Ellis book.
The setting and story are great, and the characters are equally good. The protagonist, Katniss, is a strong and intelligent girl, but Collins takes the time to also show the readers her vulnerability. The book as all the themes that make for a great story: love, self-sacrifice, individuality, and defiance. It’s a gripping story full of ups and downs and plenty of surprises. And yes, I cried when Rue died. I’m not made of stone!
So while the concept has been done before, The Hunger Games is worth the hype and a great read that I think even non YA fans can enjoy. It contains everything that Shatter Me sorely lacks (a plot, conflict, intelligible writing). And with the very talented Jennifer Lawrence (rent Winter’s Bone and you’ll see what I mean) cast as Katniss in the upcoming film adaptation, I’m looking forward to seeing the movie as well.
