Comments on: Sunday Salon: Lazy Week

By: mee

mee — Mon, 04 May 2009 00:30:28 +0000

debnance: Yes I can see where you’re coming from.

Jackie: I read one of the interview with Shamsie and it mentioned the fact about how she’s never been to Japan, and that’s how I knew. The interviewer asked about how she managed to do it. She said she’s done a lot of research. I’m sure she has. I’m just wondering why she chose to pick a Japanese, out of all things that she’s probably more familiar about. But hey, the setting changed pretty quickly to India, so perhaps the Japanese-thing wouldn’t be too much of a problem further on. I’ll have to go on and see.

Frances: I’m not sure how much I usually would notice it apart from this book, but I usually do a bit of quick research first on the author whose book I’m gonna read. So that would give me a bit of background of the author. Especially if they have interesting/unusual names :)

Nymeth: Thanks! Yes I believe it can be done too, but I’m interested in the reasons to why she did it. I think I’ll know the further I read on.

Suko: Thanks! I think it’s not a big problem if the foreign locale just takes a small part of the story, but what if it takes a huge part? It also depends on how far away it is from where the author lives I guess (in terms of geography, culture, etc).

Julie: Yes, that’s spot on! I want to know the reason why they chose to do so. That could be an interesting story in itself.

By: Julie

Julie — Sun, 03 May 2009 22:37:00 +0000

What a great question! If a writer sets a novel in a culture or environment outside his or her experience, okay, but I want to know why. Such a book needs a foreword or afterword explaining the author’s decision. I am reminded of the book Magic Street by Orson Scott Card. It’s set in an inner-city black neighborhood in Los Angeles; the author is a privileged white Mormon from Utah. Card does, in fact, explain his choice and his research at the end, and that made a huge difference to me.

By: Suko

Suko — Sun, 03 May 2009 21:18:54 +0000

You raise an interesting question. To me, what’s important is authenticity. If a writer has done his or her research, then sometimes it doesn’t matter if that person has not lived in or visited the locale.

Congrats on your awards, Mee! You will need a special “wall” to display them.

By: Nymeth

Nymeth — Sun, 03 May 2009 19:56:46 +0000

You raise a good point. I’m not 100% sure of where I stand on the whole cultural appropriation issue, but it’s something I do find myself thinking about sometimes. Do we have the right to speak for a culture we know little about? Can someone with no direct contact with a culture ever represent it fairly? I don’t know… I think it can be done, but it takes care, humility and a lot of respect. And of course, huge amounts of research.

Congrats on your awards! You deserve them.

By: Frances

Frances — Sun, 03 May 2009 17:32:57 +0000

Don’t know that it would bother me that the author has never been to the locale about which he/she writes as fiction is sometimes just flights of fancy anyway. As long as the world presented was accurate if intended in that way. As you suggest, I probably would not event notice to start with.

Today I am reading the new Laurie King book The Language of Bees, and hosting a book giveaway for The Crimes of Paris. Happy reading!

By: Jackie (Farm Lane Books)

Jackie (Farm Lane Books) — Sun, 03 May 2009 16:51:24 +0000

I finished reading Burnt Shadows last week and I actually thought that the Japanese girl was one of the best characters in the book. I was unaware that the author hadn’t been to Japan, but I didn’t think this was the major problem with the book. It was trying to set the book in so many different places/over such a long time frame that I didn’t like so much. There are a lot of good sections in the book though.

I look forward to reading your opinions on the whole book if you manage to finish it.

By: debnance

debnance — Sun, 03 May 2009 14:42:13 +0000

A novel seems so much richer when the author has first hand experiences and uses these to write her story. I get upset when I read books by an author who is outside a culture and attempts to write about that culture….often the culture comes across as exactly like the author’s culture, with a few key elements pasted on. It comes across as false to me.