The Happy Marriage

Tahar Ben Jalloun; trans. André Naffis-Sahely

The Happy Marriage by Tahar Ben Jelloun, translated from the French by André Naffis-Sahely is in two parts. Part 1 unfolds from the perspective of a highly successful Moroccan Artist from an upper-class family in Fez. Part 2 unfolds in the first-person point of view of his wife, a young woman from a poor village in Morocco. The narrative chronicles the deterioration of their marriage from two entirely different perspectives.

The novel opens in the year 2000 in Casablanca with the artist having suffered a severe stroke leaving him semi-paralyzed and speechless. He is helpless, frustrated, and embarrassed by his condition. His narrative alternates between Morocco and France at different time periods. He recalls his life and the early days of his marriage in France when both he and his wife were initially very happy and very much in love. He flashes back to describing his affairs with a parade of women before and during his marriage, expressing no remorse for his philandering. He depicts his wife as totally irrational, borderline insane, and prone to bouts of physical and verbal abuse. As he regains movement and speech, he dictates his version of events to a writer friend.

Part 2 is in the first-person voice of his wife. She discovers the manuscript of her husband’s version of events and presents her side of the story which, not surprisingly, does not correspond with his version. She is a poor Berber village girl who endures both classism and racism from her husband’s family. After their first couple of years of marital bliss, her husband turns into an ogre. She describes him as controlling her with money, demeaning her in public, embarrassing her, flaunting his infidelities, and abandoning her with their children while he gallivants all over the world exhibiting his paintings.

Ben Jelloun captures a marriage in crisis through the contrasting views of his characters who reveal as much about themselves as they do about each other. Although he projects himself as the hapless victim of a tyrannical wife, the artist emerges as selfish, egotistical, and self-absorbed. He is oblivious to his wife’s needs, justifies his infidelities and secrets, and harbors patriarchal views of marriage. The wife, on the other hand, has a modern approach to marriage. Her expectations for loyalty, fidelity, honesty, equality, and mutual respect are thwarted by her husband’s behavior until, by her own admission, she turns into a nasty, vengeful, embittered, and vindictive human being. The children barely receive a mention in either version as if their welfare is incidental to the marital feud.

His exposure of the marriage through contradictory lenses enables Ben Jelloun to illustrate the conflicting tensions within race, class, and age disparity. But the fundamental conflict that undergirds all others is the clash between a traditional, patriarchal view of marriage with a modern view of marriage. The couple inhabit two different worlds. Ben Jelloun skillfully interrogates both perspectives leaving the reader to reflect on whether either perspective is reliable—if at all.

A thought-provoking novel.

A Long Petal of the Sea

Isabel Allende; trans. Nick Caistor and Amanda Hopkinson

A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende, translated from the Spanish by Nick Caistor and Amanda Hopkinson, is a family saga that begins in Spain just before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War and concludes decades later in Chile. The narrative focuses on two families, the Dalmaus and the Del Solars. Their lives intersect in unexpected ways with the full consequences becoming evident decades later.

When General Franco comes to power in Spain, the brutal bloodbath and killings begin, forcing thousands to make the difficult trek over the mountains to escape to France. Victor Dalmau, an army doctor, arranges for his mother and Roser, his pregnant sister-in-law, to escape while he stays behind to help the wounded and dying on the battlefield. Eventually, Victor escapes to France, and with the help of the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, he and Roser sail on the Winnipeg with other refugees to establish themselves in Chile. While in Chile, Victor has a brief affair with Ofelia Del Solar, the daughter of a prominent family.

Establishing themselves in Chile, Roser and Victor become contributing members of society. She is a prominent musician and Victor is a well-respected physician. But their lives are uprooted again after the military coup that establishes Pinochet as the iron-fisted ruler of Chile. They move to Venezuela with their son until it is safe for them to return to Chile. Spanning several decades, the novel concludes with Roser’s death and Victor, now in his eighties, reconnecting with events from his past.

Allende weaves the story of Franco under Spain and Chile under Pinochet throughout the narrative. Although these political events were initially treated as the backdrop, they assume greater prominence as the novel progresses. And that is when the novel begins to suffer from an excess of exposition—a mechanical telling of events in the form of “this happened, then this, then this.” The focus of the novel shifts from the characters to a narrative of the political upheavals in Spain and Chile. The characters recede into the background; the language becomes passive and prosaic; the pace slows considerably; the dialogue becomes stilted and perfunctory; and the story bogs down in a recounting of the political situation.

Allende discloses in the Acknowledgements she has a personal connection to the events and to the characters. She was inspired to tell their story and admits, “This book wrote itself, as if it had been dictated to me.” While Allende’s desire to tell the political events that impacted her friends and family deserves respect, the preponderance she allocated to the political situation in the narrative may have been better suited to a work of non-fiction. Her efforts to weave it in with the fictional narrative were not entirely successful and did not do justice to either of the narrative threads.

Recommended with reservations.

American Indian Women

Patrick Deval; trans. Jane-Marie Todd

American Indian Women by Patrick Deval, translated from the French by Jane-Marie Todd, brings to the forefront a group that has largely been neglected in historical and anthropological studies of American Indians. In this wide-ranging study, Deval relocates American Indian women from the margins to the center, highlighting the pivotal roles they played in the spiritual, political, and cultural lives of their communities. The study includes the role played by prominent American Indian women and others who are not so famous but who are no less worthy of respect and admiration.

Deval divides his exploration into different categories: women as guardians of tradition; their role in American Indian spirituality; their function in first encounters with the Spanish, the English, and the French; their contributions during the nineteenth-century and to the education of their children. He includes their portrayal in modern mass entertainment and Hollywood and concludes with their literary, artistic, and political efforts to resist the dominant culture’s efforts to erase their culture, traditions, and language.

Women performed multiple roles within their communities. They used their extensive knowledge of the plant world to feed their people, to heal illnesses, and to exert power in religious ceremonies. They served as warriors, guides, and interpreters. They were sought for their wisdom and knowledge and as purveyors and guardians of culture and tradition.

The study is wide in scope and intent on correcting many of the misconceptions harbored about American Indians in general and about American Indian women in particular. It is valuable as an educational tool. One of its greatest assets is its inclusion of a wealth of black and white photographs dating from the late nineteenth century to early twentieth century. The photographs are mainly of American Indian women. They are breath-taking. Some depict mother and child in a tender embrace; some show women performing various tasks; and some situate women in their natural environment. But the most moving are the close-ups of women’s faces which exude strength, wisdom, suffering, and fierce determination. These images are beautiful, mesmerizing, and haunting.

Highly recommended.

How It All Began

Penelope Lively

How it All Began by Penelope Lively is a delightful novel that illustrates how a single incident sets off a series of ramifications on the lives of characters linked together in a tapestry of interlocking threads.

The catalyst that precipitates the butterfly effect is the mugging and subsequent injury of Charlotte Rainsford, an elderly widow. Because Charlotte has broken her hip, she is obliged to move in temporarily with her daughter Rose and son-in-law Gerry. Her injury sets off a chain of events which include the discovery of an illicit love affair; an on-again, off-again divorce; a pompous, deluded, elderly academic dabbling in a T.V. series; the disastrous consequences of an upscale interior designer’s meeting with an ostensibly wealthy client; and the blossoming of a tender romance between a married woman and an immigrant. Along the way are the backstories of each of the characters.

Charlotte, the central character, is a charming, independent, retired teacher of literature with a passion for reading. Her injury affords her the opportunity to keenly observe her daughter’s marriage, comparing it with her own. To fill up her time while recuperating, Charlotte volunteers to teach an immigrant the fundamentals of reading. She draws him in by introducing him first to children’s stories and gradually working him up to more advanced stories as his reading skills improve. Their conversations about reading and the passion they share for stories were some of the most delightful aspects of the novel. Charlotte is witty, engaging, sensitive, perceptive, and compassionate. Her observations about life, marriage, children, and aging are astute. These observations intermittently weave in and out of the novel sandwiched between the events unfolding in the lives of the other characters.

What makes the story so delightful is Penelope Lively’s narrative voice. The tone is informal and engaging. Her wide range of characters are sympathetically drawn and well-developed, each speaking with a unique voice. Particularly successful are Lord Henry’s ego-inflated, out of touch and out of time prognostications. Lively moves nimbly between characters and flips back and forth in time with great ease. She has an astute eye for physical and emotional detail. She knows what to say and what to leave unsaid, trusting her reader to fill in the blanks. Her asides and commentary reflect her perceptive observations and insights concerning the quirks and foibles of human behavior. She does it all with a delightful sense of humor and in a language that is informal, upbeat, and engaging.  

An entertaining read that provides a light interlude to be sandwiched between more heavy reading.

Highly recommended.

An Imaginary Life

David Malouf

David Malouf’s An Imaginary Life envisions the life of the Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso in the first century CE after Emperor Augustus banishes him to Tomis, a desolate village bordering the Black Sea, on the outskirts of the Roman Empire, at the edge of civilization. Malouf imagines the author of Metamorphoses recounting his own experience with metamorphosis through his first-person voice.

Deprived of the comforts of a life of luxury in Rome, Ovid endures an existence stripped to its bare minimum at Tomis. He lives in a hut, relies on others to survive, and since none speak Latin, is bereft of speech until he learns to speak their language. He is painfully self-conscious of his status as an outsider, viewed with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity by the villagers.

Ovid’s transformations are gradual, internal, and experienced in separate stages. First, he learns the villagers’ language, joins them on their hunts, assists with net-making, and cultivates an appreciation for their lifestyle, recognizing it as one more grounded in reality than his previous life in Rome. He sheds his former identity and is born anew:

It is about to begin. All my life till now has been wasted. I had to enter the silence to find a password that would release me from my own life.

One day, Ovid sees a young feral boy in the distance. The boy is captured and brought back to the village where Ovid becomes his caregiver and teacher. He tries to tame the wildness out of the boy and teach him the ways of living among humans. But circumstances change and, in an ironic twist, the novel concludes with the boy as guide and Ovid as student.

In lyrical, luminous language, Malouf explores the boundary between civilization and nature. He uses Ovid as his vehicle to articulate a metamorphosis from an urbane existence to one of total immersion in the natural environment. Ovid learns from his feral companion to read and appreciate nature and to live in total harmony within it. His final transformation, a merger with the earth from where he sprang, is accepted with total peace and equanimity.

The narrative unfolds in a beautiful, poetic prose laced with mysticism and mythology. It includes flashbacks to Ovid’s childhood, recollections of dream sequences, and meditations on his life. From his initial assessment of living with barbarians, Ovid re-fashions himself twice over. By releasing his former self, he embraces his new identity, first as one of the villagers and then as a student of nature learning at the feet of a child master teacher.

The novel can be interpreted on multiple levels. It is an allegory, situating Australia at its center, and representing Ovid’s metamorphoses as a culture’s gradual acceptance of and appreciation for the indigenous people and their knowledge of the environment. It conveys the wisdom and re-prioritization that can come with aging. It is an account of the internal metamorphoses and life-altering experiences of the author of Metamorphoses. And, finally, it recounts a man’s quest for self and belonging.

Recommended.

The Book of Night Women

Marlon James

The Book of Night Women by Marlon James is a sweeping masterpiece set in a late eighteenth century Jamaican sugar plantation. The central character is a slave named Lilith.

Born into slavery, Lilith is singled out because of her green eyes. She is fortunate in that she is not required to perform the back-breaking task of working in the fields. As soon as she is old enough, Lilith becomes a house slave at the Montpelier Estate. There she interacts with other house slaves and is taken under the wing by Homer, the female head house slave. She experiences close-up the inhuman and demeaning treatment of slaves by slave-owners and overseers. She recognizes the hierarchy among slaves and sees how they are pitted against each other. Eventually, she becomes embroiled in a slave plot to rebel against the slaveowners.

In addition to describing the horrific conditions of slavery, this coming of age story shows Lilith struggling to understand herself and her identity as a woman and a slave. She feels torn between two cultures, aspiring to be recognized and treated as a desirable young woman but constantly being reminded of how she is perceived as nothing more than chattel. Her back is riddled with scars as a result of the frequent lashings she receives. She witnesses the unimaginable brutality perpetrated on slaves. She gravitates between hatred for slaveowners and a strong desire for acceptance, recognition, and love. Her feelings become increasingly conflicted when she finds herself developing a push and pull attachment to the Irish overseer who shows her tenderness and consideration.

The novel bristles with detailed and graphic description of unimaginable acts of physical and sexual violence. Frequent references to human body parts, especially female body parts, punctuate the narrative. Limbs are cut, torsos are lashed, flesh is burned, eyes are gouged, heads are severed, and every orifice of the human body is raped, tortured, or both. Marlon James does not sugar-coat the violence. His explicit descriptions are not for the faint-hearted.

What makes this novel an astounding achievement is the narrative voice, the identity of which remains a mystery until the end. The narrative unfolds in the rhythm, dialect, and syntax of Jamaican English. The dialogue is rendered realistically. James captures the ebb and flow of the vernacular so adroitly that one gets the sense of overhearing an actual conversation.

A narrative voice that is spell-binding; a cast of well-developed, strong, and highly complex female characters; description that immerses the reader in time and place; and an intricate plot that captivates from beginning to end—these are just some of the factors that make this a remarkable achievement.

Very highly recommended.

Sisters

Daisy Johnson

Sisters by Daisy Johnson is a haunting tale about the unnerving bond between two sisters, September and July. Born ten months apart, the sisters are in their teens when the novel opens. Their mother is taking them to their aunt’s secluded, ramshackle house in Yorkshire to escape from some ominous event hinted at throughout the novel but never fully revealed until the end.

September and July are as inseparable as twins joined at the hip. They fuel each other’s thoughts, finish each other’s sentences, and share each other’s sensory perceptions. September, the oldest, is abusive. She taunts July, pinches her, punches her, and demands complete submission. Prone to cruelty and a violent temper, September has complete control of July’s movements and activities. July acquiesces. She submerges her identity since she craves her sister’s love and approval. The two function independently of their mother who is severely depressed and spends most of her time locked away in her bedroom.

The novel unfolds primarily through July’s first-person point of view. Her jarring shifts in time and place and the fragmentary nature of her narrative mirror her seemingly fragmented mind and shifting mental states. Snatches of the past mingle with present-day events. She taunts the reader with glimpses of the ominous event that precipitated their hasty departure to Yorkshire. Above all, she exhibits an almost hypnotic obsession with September, allowing her to intrude on her thoughts and control her behavior while harboring feelings of intense love and hate mingled with fear.

The family’s tragic past is unveiled in bits and pieces that gradually fit together like a jagged puzzle. Daisy Johnson skillfully evokes a haunting, unsettling atmosphere that permeates the novel from beginning to end. The tension is palpable. A sense of foreboding threads its way throughout. Even the Yorkshire house, ironically named “Settle House,” is anything but settling. It is assigned a section in which it seemingly assumes the form of a living organism with its dark passages, closed doors, unidentified noises, and suggestion of harboring spirits of people long since dead.

This is a deftly executed narrative depicting social and psychological dysfunction, sibling rivalry, sibling love, family relationships, and the psychological trauma of separation. Although not as riveting as Everything Under, it is, nevertheless, a compelling read delivered by a talented author.

Highly recommended.

Pavilion of Women

Pearl S. Buck

Pavilion of Women by the 1938 Nobel Prize winner Pearl S. Buck takes place in 1940s China. The central character is Madame Wu, the elegant, competent, and beautiful mistress of the large Wu household. Married and the mother of four sons, Madame Wu is judicious, diplomatic, serene, loved, and respected by all. The novel opens on her fortieth birthday, a momentous occasion for her. She calmly announces her decision to end physical intimacy with her husband and choose a second wife for him to satisfy his carnal needs.

The announcement is greeted with shock and plummets the household in turmoil. Her husband is mystified by her decision and initially refuses her offer. But Madame Wu is adamant. With the help of the local marriage broker, she selects a young girl that meets her requirements and cements the deal. She then proceeds to arrange a marriage for her third son. She treats people as if they are pieces on a chess board, moving them at will. Her goal is to settle the affairs of her family so she can be relieved of responsibilities toward others and experience the freedom she has longed for throughout her marriage. But her plans go awry and her household falls apart.

Pearl Buck’s portrayal of Madame Wu is particularly effective. She depicts her as unflappable, elegant, beautiful, intelligent, and, above all, determined to fulfill her duty. But in spite of her serene exterior, Madame Wu is deeply unhappy and lonely. Although she has all the comforts of life, she has never connected with another human being until she meets Father André, her son’s tutor who happens to be a European renegade priest and to whom she bares her soul. He accuses her of selfishness, of badly misjudging male/female relations, and of treating young women as if they were nothing more than breeding vessels to be bought and sold. Falling in love for the first time in her life, Madame Wu experiences an epiphany and proceeds to rectify her past mistakes. She follows the example set by Father André by showing greater tolerance for human weakness and supporting the pursuit of freedom by others. 

The tension between a traditional life-style and the influx of Western ideas and attitudes is brought to the forefront by the characters, their conflicts, and the choices they make. The characters are realistically portrayed and well-developed. The first half of the novel depicts life in the Wu household with great sensitivity and with an eye for detail that captures the intricacies of manners, behaviors, and traditions of Chinese upper-class society. The second half of the novel becomes more introspective, focusing on Madame Wu’s philosophical conversations with Father André as he exposes her to Western ideas. This section loses much of the vibrancy of the earlier section. The philosophical pronouncements seemed contrived. And the gradual intensification of Madame Wu’s feelings toward Father André and her constant self-examination tend to drag the narrative down.

In spite of these few shortcomings, the writing is excellent and immerses the reader in upper-class life in China of the 1940s.

Recommended.

The Memory Police

Yoko Ogawa; translated by Stephen Snyder

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa, translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder, unfolds in the first-person voice of a female aspiring novelist. She lives on an unnamed island where the population is kept under strict surveillance by the draconian Memory Police.

Objects randomly disappear from the island—birds, roses, photographs, calendars, books, etc. The inhabitants immediately incinerate all the disappeared objects they have in their possession in a ritual symbolizing collective memory erasure. The edict is enforced by the Memory Police who conduct unannounced searches in people’s homes to ferret out any trace of non-compliance. People accommodate and adapt, minimizing the disappearance as a minor inconvenience. Their memory of the disappeared object or of what life was like before its disappearance gradually fades with time. Individuals who cling to memories and hide disappeared objects are hunted down by the Memory Police and are disappeared without a trace.

The narrator is aware of the nearly daily disappearances and seems only slightly disturbed by the situation until her editor comes under suspicion. With the help of an old family friend, she hides her editor in a secret chamber under the floorboards in her house. The disappearances continue until, finally, human limbs disappear and all that remains of the narrator is her voice.

Interspersed throughout the novel are excerpts from the narrator’s story of a young typist who loses her voice and can only communicate by typing out the words. Her teacher eventually imprisons her, controlling every aspect of her life. She becomes totally reliant on him and is terrified of escaping her prison even when given the opportunity. This story within a story parallels the main events in that both the narrator and the character she creates are stripped of their individuality, simultaneously experiencing a loss of self and a loss of freedom.

The novel illustrates the premise that control of a population relies on mind manipulation far more than on physical incarceration. If people believe dissension results in torture and death, they will internalize their oppression by inhibiting their thinking, movements, and aspirations for fear of stepping out of line.

Told in simple, subdued, unemotional language, the narrative illustrates the vital role memory plays in fighting oppression, and the deleterious impact the collective erasure of a remembered past can have on freedom. One of the most insidious aspects of the situation is the collective amnesia that sets in and the complacency with which most of the inhabitants, including the narrator, handle each disappearance. Motivated by fear, they accommodate the disappearance and treat the gradual erosion of self and of freedom with equanimity. As their world shrinks, their capacity to experience the world shrinks until all that remains is a disembodied voice.

Highly recommended.

Just Call Me Superhero

Alina Bronsky; trans. by Tim Mohr

Alina Bronsky’s Just Call Me Superhero, translated from the German by Tim Mohr, is told through the strong narrative voice of seventeen-year-old Marek. It is a compelling coming-of-age story in which the narrator learns about self-acceptance and the value of human connection.

Marek’s face has been badly disfigured by an attack from a Rottweiler. His facial scars make it difficult for him to smile. He is very self-conscious about his looks, wears dark glasses to hide behind his disfigured face, and refuses to look at himself in the mirror. He disrespects his divorced mother, shows no sympathy for her, and addresses her by her first name. When his mother tricks him into a joining a support group for young people with disabilities, Marek more fully reveals his nature. He is cynical, resentful, self-absorbed, homophobic, insensitive, callous, irreverent, and tactless. He is also intelligent, observant, and very funny.

Referring to the support group as “the cripple group,” Marek coolly assesses each of its members, including the leader whom he facetiously dubs “The Guru.” His attention is immediately drawn to a young, beautiful woman in a wheel-chair. As much as he resents the group, he agrees to join them on a week-long bonding retreat organized by the Guru. But when he receives news of his father’s sudden death, Marek is forced to cut short the retreat to attend his father’s funeral.

Forced to help with the arrangements of his father’s funeral, Marek steps outside of himself and begins to show growth. He attends to the needs of his mother, young step-mother, and six-year-old step brother. He displays genuine concern for others, and is especially solicitous towards his mother and young step brother. He is shocked when his support group unexpectedly shows up to pay their respects. It slowly dawns on him that although people, including his young step-brother, may initially recoil at seeing his face, they ultimately move beyond his appearance and accept him for what he is and not for the way he looks. The novel concludes with Marek removing his dark glasses and looking at his reflection in the mirror.

The novel explores an age-old theme: how much of our identity is tied up with the way we look? Marek learns people may initially judge you by your physical appearance, but, ultimately, how you look withers in significance to how you treat others. Alina Bronsky gives the theme a refreshingly new treatment by injecting laugh out loud humor, vivid imagery, keen observations, nimble pacing, well-developed characters, and a narrator who comes to recognize who we are is defined by the love we show for others.

A compelling coming-of-age story and a delightful read.

Highly recommended.

Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers: Monstrosity, Patriarchy, and the Fear of Female Power

Sady Doyle

In Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers: Monstrosity, Patriarchy, and the Fear of Female Power, Sady Doyle examines the influence of patriarchy on culture and media; describes how patriarchal norms fuel attitudes toward women and women’s roles; and illustrates the way in which acts of violence against real women are intertwined with popular cultural depictions of women, with each feeding off one another and reinforcing one another. Doyle divides her feminist exploration into three parts: patriarchal strictures on daughters, wives, and mothers.

Doyle provides a historical perspective going all the way back to Aristotle and his claim that women are deviant males. She traces the concept through the ages and includes Freud’s contribution that women are traumatized because they don’t have a penis. Doyle argues the patriarchal projection of women as monsters, deficient, and deviant ultimately stems from fear of the power of women and their capacity to reproduce. Labeling women as monsters represents the extreme and violent lengths patriarchy is willing to go to punish women for daring to disrupt or undermine patriarchal control.

The real-life crimes Doyle describes are of women murdered, persecuted, tortured, dismembered, and flayed. The examples horrify. Some women suffered from mental illness; some were driven to madness; and some were murdered simply because they were strong, independent women who refused to cower down to their husbands. Her analysis of horror movies depicting pubescent girls was particularly insightful. She argues the male lens portrays young girls transitioning to womanhood as something other than human, as demonic, possessed by the devil, ineffable, and spewing all manner of filth from every orifice of their bodies. Her analysis of The Exorcist analyzes scenes from the movie in terms of cultural revulsion at menstruation and a girl’s sexual awakening.

In spite of some of the deeply alarming content, Doyle avoids saturating her book with doom and gloom. She lightens the tone by injecting humor and sarcasm where appropriate and is not averse to poking fun at herself. Her research is impressive, as is her ability to synthesize the experiences of real-life women with fictional portrayals in movies and books depicting woman as monster. The scope of her analysis is wide, stretching all the way from Shelley’s Frankenstein to Jurassic Park. She concludes with a call to action for all women to celebrate and embrace the monster within. An extensive resource guide, notes, and index are included at the end of the book.

Although prone to the occasional hyperbole, the work is highly recommended for its contribution to feminist scholarship. It will appeal to those interested in understanding how popular culture serves to reflect and reinforce patriarchal norms which are designed to oppress women and restrict their choices.

Island of a Thousand Mirrors

Nayomi Munaweera

Island of a Thousand Mirrors by Nayomi Munaweera tells the story of the Sri Lankan civil war which raged from 1983-2009, claiming over 80,000 lives. The events leading up to and including the civil war between the Sinhalas and Tamils unfold in the voices of two young women on opposite sides of the ethnic divide.

Part 1 of the novel focuses on Yasodhara and her Sinhala family. Yasodhara describes the beauty of pre-war Sri Lanka with its pristine beaches, unpolluted ocean, abundant fish, colorful sunsets, succulent fruits, and aromatic foods. This section, with its immersive description of the lush landscape, also introduces her grandparents, parents, and sister. Yasodhara has an eye for detail and exhibits a delightful sense of humor as she highlights her family’s quirks and foibles. With tensions increasing between the Sinhalas and Tamils leading up to the civil war, Yasodhara’s family use their resources and contacts to leave Sri Lanka for Los Angeles.

Part 2 opens with the first-person voice of a young Tamil woman, Saraswathi. It then alternates between her voice and the voice of Yasodhara. Saraswathi’s dreams of becoming a teacher are shattered when she is brutally raped by army personnel who then abandon her for dead. She staggers home only to be told her “spoiled” woman status leaves her no option but to join the Tamil insurgency. She is indoctrinated by the Tamil Tigers and demonstrates her prowess in becoming a killing machine with a lust for revenge, butchering government forces and innocent civilians with no compunction. Her path collides with Yasodhara and her sister who have returned to Sri Lanka to work with orphaned children. The consequences are devastating.

The novel has many strengths. It immerses the reader in the culture, prejudices, and tensions evident in Sri Lankan families both before and during the war. It is a powerful illustration of the universal brutality of all wars with each side perpetrating horrendous atrocities while claiming the moral high ground. It shows the impact on innocent civilians who are brutalized by one side or the other, their young forcibly recruited to join the ranks of fighters and their women used as instruments of war. Fighters on both sides are so brutalized they de-humanize the enemy, maiming and killing at random. And those who survive the horror suffer internal scars that may never heal. Through her graphic description of the violence and devastating impact of civil war, Munaweera demonstrates a universal truth about war: it is brutal and it brutalizes.

The novel’s greatest strength lies in its diction, rhythmic language, and immersive detail. The sights, sounds, smells, and atmosphere of Sri Lanka are evoked in lyrical, vivid prose. One can almost bite into the succulent mangoes, luxuriate in the warmth of the ocean, and feel the languid summer heat. The natural beauty of this tropical island, captured in breathtaking imagery, is later contrasted with the horror of corpses and mutilated limbs situated on full display in villages to terrorize the population. The immigrant experience of adjusting to life in America is realistically reflected in the struggles with outsider status as well as in the initial bewilderment and humorous observations on cultural differences. The characters are well-developed and authentic. Both Yasodhara and Saraswathi are portrayed with sympathy and depicted as caught up in circumstances completely beyond their control.

This is a powerful and deeply moving novel unfolding in exquisite, captivating language. It evokes the lush beauty of Sri Lanka skillfully contrasting it with the brutality of war on a people and its land.

Highly recommended and well deserving of the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize for the Asian Region.

Fifteen Dogs

André Alexis

Fifteen Dogs: An Apologue by André Alexis is a fable about dogs that begins with a wager between Hermes and Apollo. Apollo is convinced that any animal given human consciousness would be even more unhappy than humans. Hermes disagrees. The wager is later modified to specify happiness or unhappiness at the moment of death. The two gods bestow human consciousness on fifteen dogs who happen to be staying overnight at a Toronto veterinary clinic. The fifteen dogs escape from the clinic. Their fate is observed by the two gods as if it were a spectator sport.

We follow each dog as he/she tries to adjust to a newly developed consciousness and self-awareness. Before long, a fight for supremacy ensues. Some dogs reject their new ways of seeing and speaking and want to return to their doggy consciousness. They brutally murder those who oppose them. One dog becomes a poet and manages to escape their wrath. Another becomes devious and conniving, carefully engineering the deaths of the remaining dogs before he dies a painful death of poison. In the end, the poet is the lone survivor. Deprived of vision and hearing and suffering from an aging body with multiple ailments, he experiences an epiphany before being put to sleep on the cold, metal slab in the veterinary clinic. He recognizes the value of the gift he was given. He has a final vision of his beloved master and his spirit soars with happiness as he takes his final breath. Hermes wins the wager.

The novel has echoes of Animal Farm and The Lord of the Flies. The premise is interesting, but the execution is disappointing. The dogs fail to engage the reader. Their characterizations are not fully developed; their motivations are never adequately explained. Why did some choose to reject their new consciousness? Why were they so adamantly determined to crush opposition? Why did one suddenly experience a spiritual awakening but only after he had torn his former comrades to shreds?

The novel raises some interesting questions. Can we resist the pressure to abandon our individuality and conform to group behavior? To what extent are we willing to sacrifice principles in order to survive? Once we have familiarized ourselves with a different culture, can we ever view our own culture in quite the same way and/or retreat to the way life used to be? Is violence part of our human nature? Does the acquisition of knowledge necessarily alienate us from our community? Does knowledge come at too steep a price? These and other questions are dangled but never fully explored or explained.

There should be some internal logic to an allegory. It should have some correspondence to what it is ostensibly allegorizing, in this case whether human consciousness and human language is a blessing or a curse. But this novel failed in its exploration of these weighty issues. Instead, it presents us with haphazard events in which dogs run around helter skelter, behaving in ways that are erratic and inexplicable.

If the intention was to provide an insightful commentary on human behavior by using a fable about dogs as its vehicle, it simply failed to deliver. The book has won awards, but it just didn’t do much for this reader.

The Translator

Leila Aboulela

The Translator by Leila Aboulela is the love story of Sammar, a young Sudanese widow, and a Scottish professor.

The novel opens a few years after the death of Sammar’s husband, a student at an Aberdeen university. After taking his body back to Khartoum for burial and leaving their young son with her mother-in-law, Sammar has returned to Aberdeen. She supports herself by working as an Arabic translator at the University. She grieves for her husband, is isolated and lonely. She gradually emerges from her shell and finds herself attracted to Rae, a Scottish professor specializing in Islam. The two work closely together, their friendship developing into love. The situation is complicated since Sammar is a devout Muslim and will not marry outside her faith. Torn between the dictates of her faith and her love for Rae, Sammar decides to sacrifice her chance for love. She returns to Khartoum, reconciled to her fate as a lonely widow. It is only after she gives up hope of ever finding love that her prayers are answered, her patience rewarded.

Sammar is a complex character, not without her faults. She exhibits little remorse for leaving her son with his grandmother. She seldom thinks of him, treating him as a nuisance she has happily discarded. She lashes out at Rae when he rejects her conditional proposal of marriage. Her self-awareness comes to fruition when she later recognizes the selfishness of her motives and prays for forgiveness. Some of the most moving passages are those that describe the peace and solace she derives when reciting the Qur’an, fasting during the month of Ramadan, and bowing down in prayer. Ultimately, she shows a great deal of courage in relinquishing her job and returning to an uncertain future in Khartoum all because she does not want to deviate from her faith. It is refreshing to see a female character who remains true to herself and her beliefs, one who refuses to sacrifice her identity for love and marriage.

Sammar’s fluctuating feelings are conveyed with delicacy, alternating seamlessly between her memories of the past and her current situation. She illustrates the immigrant experience of being caught between two worlds, epitomized in the contrast between the grey, cold, and lonely landscape of Aberdeen with the color, warmth, vitality, and community of the Khartoum she remembers.

Aboulela’s style is elegant and understated. Her language is rhythmic and poetic; her words subtle and restrained. This is a quiet, tender love story minus the hoopla and fuss. It is the story of two people from two very different cultures and lifestyles who gradually draw closer together to become one.

A beautiful story told in language that flows with grace, lucidity, and elegance.

Highly recommended.

The Mercies

Kiran Millwood Hargrave

The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave is based on the 1620 witch trials in Vardo, a remote Norwegian coastal village. It tells the story of two women, Maren Bergensdatter who lives on the island and Ursula (Ursa), a young woman from Bergen.

The novel opens with Maren and the women on the island witnessing a freak storm at sea which drowns most of the village men out on their fishing boats. Maren loses her brother, father, and fiancé. Left to fend for themselves on the island and facing starvation, the women learn to be self-sufficient, assuming the roles once filled by their men. But a schism develops among the women between those who view traditional systems of belief and healing as the work of witches and those who willingly embrace both the indigenous and Christian traditions.

The focus shifts to Ursa in Bergen as she is about to marry Absalom Cornet. Woefully unequipped for marriage or home-making, Ursa leaves her father and sister and moves to Vardo with her husband. There she interacts with the women and develops a close relationship with Maren who teaches her the skills of cooking, sewing, and maintaining a home. Meanwhile, Ursa’s husband has been sent to the island for the sole purpose of eradicating it of alleged practitioners of witchcraft. In his obsession to catch the culprits, Absalom solicits and encourages women to testify against their neighbors. The community is torn apart. Women are tortured, put on trial, and executed on the flimsiest of evidence. And Ursa’s abhorrence of her husband’s activities, coupled with her desire to protect Maren, cause her to oppose her husband with violence.

Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s writing is immersive, plunging the reader in the sights, sounds, smells, and activities of life on Vardo. The setting is palpable and rich with vivid detail. The characters are well-developed, complex, and fraught with anxiety. Their daily chores for survival in a hostile climate and taxing setting are depicted with credible detail and contribute to the overwhelming feeling of an impending disaster. The outcome is predictably bleak.

The women’s burgeoning independence and self-reliance after the death of their men comes to a screeching halt with the arrival of Absalom and his cohorts. Hiding behind Christian ideals, their real aim is to trample on women’s independence and restore male hegemony and female subordination. They are aided in their pernicious efforts by women who align themselves with male authority figures either out of fear of persecution or because they have internalized female subordination.

This is a well-researched and impressive work of historical fiction highlighting a period in history in which attempts are made to snuff out women’s voice and agency.  

Recommended.

Wilding: Returning Nature to Our Farm

Isabella Tree

Wilding: Returning Nature to our Farm by Isabella Tree is the story of the Knepp experiment of returning a 3,500-acre Sussex farm back to nature.

The estate, inherited by Tree’s husband, Charlie Burrell, had been in his family for centuries. The land was intensively farmed until doing so no longer became economically viable. That is when Isabella and Charlie decided to adopt a non-interventionist policy to the land and allow nature to take its course. Much to their amazement, nature rebounded with a flourish. Slowly but surely, the land experienced an astonishing increase in diversity of plants and wildlife, including birds whose numbers had previously been on the decline. The experiment yielded new understandings of the habitats of species of animals and birds and proposed new approaches to conservation while challenging some long-held assumptions.

Tree charts the gradual and considered steps they took to re-wild their land. She describes local opposition to their experiment, even citing some community letters of complaint. She bemoans governmental bureaucracy that denied them financial support in a timely manner. But through it all, there is celebration. The land is now home to a veritable cornucopia of flora and fauna. Nightingales, turtle doves, peregrine falcons, and purple emperor butterflies have settled in to breed; rare water violets have popped up on their pond and purple orchids on their land.

Tree and her husband visited re-wilding areas across Europe and sought the advice of experts in the field. The work of environmentalists and conservationists are cited. Tree includes historical and geographical information on various species. Some of the passages are overly technical with descriptions that are, perhaps, more detailed than necessary. Once the experiment was underway, her repeated efforts to justify it became tedious. But in spite of these minor drawbacks, the book was inspirational and educational. The chapters on the return of the nightingale and the turtle dove to the English countryside were heart-warming. And the chapter explaining the capacity of nature-managed soil to trap carbon has significant ramifications for the alleviation of global warming.

Knepp farm illustrates the interconnectedness and interdependence of all living organisms where even something as lowly as the earth worm has a valuable role to play in soil restoration. Tree is at pains to argue the economic, environmental, physical, and mental health benefits to rewilding. She wants to rid us of our biases against the appearance of a nature allowed to roam freely. She makes an impassioned plea for thinking holistically about land and advocates building systems that work with nature instead of against it. Her arguments are compelling and must be taken seriously if we ever hope to reverse the deleterious impact of the impoverishment of our natural environment.

Highly recommended.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo

Christy Lefteri

The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri is the emotionally compelling story of a Syrian refugee couple as they undertake the perilous journey from Aleppo to England to escape the Syrian civil war.

The story unfolds in the first-person narrative of Nuri Ibrahim. Together with his cousin Mustafa, Nuri runs a successful beekeeping farm in Aleppo. The only thing that exceeds his passion for bees is his passion for his wife, Afra, and their young son, Sami. With the outbreak of civil war, their lives are turned upside down. People are snuffed out by bombs and by gun-toting militias who roam the streets, raping, pillaging, and killing at will. Tragedy strikes when Mustafa’s son is killed. Mustafa escapes Aleppo to join his wife and daughter in England. When Nuri and Afra’s son is killed by a bomb, Afra loses her eyesight as a result of the explosion. Initially Afra refuses to leave Aleppo in spite of the escalating danger. But when Nuri’s life is threatened, she agrees to leave. They embark on their hazardous journey to England to join Mustafa.

The chapters alternate between the present and flashbacks of the past. The novel opens with Nuri and Afra in a B & B in England awaiting their asylum application. The flashbacks of the past include their simple, happy lives in Aleppo before the outbreak of the civil war; Nuri’s partnership with his cousin on the bee farm; memories of his son; his nightmares, dreams, and hallucinations; the journey to Turkey; the boat trip to Greece; the refugee camps; and the arrival in England.

The journey is fraught with danger every step of the way. Nuri and Afra rely on smugglers to transport them from one country to the next. They encounter refugees from the Middle East, Iran, and Africa, many of whom are broken and traumatized by their experiences. As the story unfolds, it becomes evident Afra’s loss of vision is psychosomatically induced by the trauma of her son’s death, and Nuri suffers from hallucinations and post-traumatic stress disorder.  

Her work as a volunteer at a UNICEF-supported refugee center in Athens in 2016 and 2017 sensitized Christy Lefteri to the plight of refugees and gave her first-hand knowledge of their lives and experiences. Her emotionally gripping novel furnishes a human face behind the statistics of refugees flooding Europe to escape the horrors of civil war and persecution. Lefteri has produced a well-crafted story and told it simply and elegantly. Her characters are authentic and rendered with compassion and sensitivity. Nuri and Afra’s experiences and the experience of their fellow refugees are heart-wrenching. Although the uplifting, hopeful conclusion is gratifying, one is left wondering if and how a people’s invisible scars can ever fully heal after experiencing such trauma.

A compelling novel of courage and the fierce determination to survive against all conceivable odds.

Highly recommended.

Quixote: The Novel and the World

Ilan Stavans

If you love Cervantes’ Don Quixote, you will enjoy Quixote: The Novel and the World by Ilan Stavans as a delightful companion to Cervantes’ masterpiece. Stavans divides his exploration into two parts: Section 1 focuses on the novel; Section 2 focuses on its reception, contribution, adaptation, and influence on Western literature.

Stavans explores Don Quixote from all angles. He includes biographical information on Cervantes and the publishing history of the novel. He engages in literary criticism, character analysis, and compares translations. He discusses the many literary and artistic expressions it has influenced. He cites prominent writers and artists throughout the centuries who engaged with the novel, many of whom gushed in their praise of it. There is analysis, facts, and opinions. Stavans also delves into the fundamentals by exploring the various spellings of “Quixote” and their significance. The novel’s impact on the Spanish language and culture are also explored as are the various adaptations in visual arts, musicals, operas, ballets, and movies.

The thread running throughout is Stavans unabashed passion for the masterpiece. His gushing enthusiasm is reflected in his willingness to go wherever the novel or its offshoots take him. The organization of his book is somewhat haphazard as Stavans jumps around and changes direction at a breathless pace. But throughout this very personal exploration, Stavans is informative, entertaining, and serves a veritable feast for lovers of Cervantes’ Don Quixote.

Recommended.

Nervous Conditions

Tsitsi Dangarembga

Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga is a coming of age story of Tambudzai, a young girl from a rural village in Zimbabwe. The narrative unfolds in her voice as she witnesses social injustices and the conflicts of living in a postcolonial environment.

Tambudzai (Tambu) is a precocious young girl who wants more from life than the one circumscribed for the women in her culture. She resents her brother’s entitlement to an education while hers is initially denied because she is female. With her brother’s unexpected death, the educational opportunities for Tambu are flung wide open. She attends school, succeeding beyond expectation. The novel ends with her obtaining a scholarship to a prestigious Catholic high school. Tambu’s awakening to the injustices perpetrated on women is gradual. It comes about as a result of observing the lives of four women—her mother, her uncle’s wife, her aunt, and her young cousin.

Tambu’s mother has internalized her oppression and tries to transmit it to her daughter. She is adamantly opposed to Tambu pursuing her education. Tambu resents the opposition and is initially convinced her mother only wants her to conform to restrictive societal expectations. She later recognizes her mother may have been trying to protect her from disappointment. She acknowledges the wisdom in her mother’s words—a western education will alienate a person from family and culture.

Maiguru is married to Tambu’s uncle, Babamukuru, the patriarch of the family. Maiguru is an educated woman with a Master’s degree, an accomplishment so ignored by her community that Tambu does not learn of it until late in the novel. Maiguru has no opportunity to use her education and is denied a voice. She flutters and fusses over her husband, catering to his every need, soothing his temper to maintain peace in the family, and obeying his every whim while tolerating his family’s snide remarks aimed at putting her down. When her frustration reaches its limit, she temporarily walks out on her husband.

Lucia, Tambu’s aunt, is an unmarried woman who has had multiple sex partners. Because she is single, she is viewed with suspicion by women in the community. But unlike her married counterparts whose role is to be subservient to their husbands, the unattached Lucia has the freedom to behave as she pleases. Her voice is loud and unabashed. She is intelligent and is skilled at manipulating men, including Babamukuru, to get what she wants.

Nyasha, Tambu’s cousin and the daughter of Maiguru and Babamukuru, experiences an identity crisis. Having lived for a while in England with her parents, she has adopted western ways and attitudes. She rebels against the gender stratification and gender oppression she encounters within her family circle. Her frustration with the cultural restrictions place on women eventually leads to her eating disorder and nervous breakdown.

Dangarembga skillfully portrays the nervous conditions of each of these women to illustrate how the interlocking circles of oppression of race, gender, and class are manifested and internalized in their lives. On the one hand, obtaining a western education opens possibilities otherwise denied; on the other hand, a western education leads to alienation from one’s own culture. Factor in systemic racism and gender discrimination and the situation becomes more complex.

Dangarembga doesn’t provide any answers or easy solutions. Her novel illustrates the complexity of the problems through the voice of a sensitive, intelligent, and impressionable young girl who struggles with systemic racism, gender stratification, exploitation, and oppression. Although Tambu may be unaware of it, her struggle is universal in nature.

Highly recommended.

Unbowed: A Memoir

Wangari Maathai

Unbowed: A Memoir by Wangari Maathai, the winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, begins with Maathai’s childhood and charts her growth into adulthood where she becomes increasingly politicized and involved in a variety of causes. It concludes with her election as a member of Kenya’s parliament. Her journey is fraught with challenges and obstacles. Her persistence and fierce determination to do what is right and to take on the powerful forces that oppose her is nothing short of heroic.

Unlike the majority of girls at the time, Maathai was fortunate to receive an education. After finishing high school in Kenya, she went on to earn her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the United States. She later went on to earn a Ph.D., becoming the first women to do so in East and Central Africa.

Maathai credits her experience in America with increasing her political awareness. Upon her return to Kenya, she establishes the Green Belt Movement, which implemented a program of planting trees to combat the deleterious effect on the land and its people of deforestation and soil erosion. She recognized the connection between deforestation, clean water supplies, poverty, famine, and peace, seeing them as interlocking issues under the umbrella of social justice and gender equity. She valiantly and publicly opposed land-grabbing by the Moi government—the appropriation of public lands for private, economic benefit. She stood in line with women whose sons and husbands were illegally incarcerated and tortured by the corrupt Moi government. Through it all, she endured insults, incarceration, physical violence, abuse, threats, and ostracization. But she persevered, undeterred.

The memoir moves from her personal life as a child to her political activism and her involvement in environmental advocacy and causes of social justice and equity, especially gender equity. She becomes adept at using the media to further her goals and empower grassroots activists. She is at pains to explain how and why she got involved in various causes. She also goes to great lengths to express gratitude to her supporters in Kenya and to stress the pivotal role played by the international community in her success.

In simple, unadorned language, Maathai conveys her strong sense of justice and her passion and commitment for speaking out against injustice wherever she finds it. Her lasting impact continues to be felt throughout Africa and the rest of the world.

An inspiring memoir of an inspiring, courageous woman.

Highly recommended.