Mori Ōgai (1862-1922) produced a wide range of works, from diaries, medical essays, aesthetics and literary criticism, to biographies, plays, Japanese and Chinese poetry, short stories, and novellas. He’s also a translator of contemporary European literature. In his final period of creative writing began in 1912, he turned to write almost exclusively in the genre of “historical literature”, which I guess what we often call now as historical fiction.

There are 10 short stories in the volume and after reading the short introduction for each story, I picked a piece called Gyogenki, a historical literature based on the Chinese Taoist nun and poetess Yü Hsüan-chi (I’m following the spelling in the book). Initially equally clueless about the great Chinese poetess as I was with Mori, I was intrigued by the brief summary of her life. She became a concubine of a wealthy man, got divorced, became a nun, had a lesbian relationship with another nun, then embraced a male lover, got insanely jealous over a maid, killed her, and was beheaded at the end. What a life!

Unfortunately the story felt pretty cut and dry, like reading a textbook. I can’t be sure if it’s the translation or not, but it didn’t make me want to continue reading the rest of the other stories in the book. Maybe I will eventually maybe I won’t, but I’m not rushing. I did enjoy reading the introduction about Mori at the beginning of the book and the short introductions for each of the short stories which honestly sound very interesting.

“Despite a lasting reputation in Japan, Mori Ōgai has yet to achieve any satisfactory reception in the West. Natsume Sōseki, the only writer of Ōgai’s generation to share his stature, has been widely translated and admired, but Ōgai remains a shadowy figure, austere, even obscure. It often happens, of course, that the work of certain writers cannot be sufficiently understood outside their own cultures. Some towering figures never earn anything like their rightful reputation through translation.” ~ The Historical Literature of Mori Ōgai: An Introduction

A bit sad. I guess there’s a reason why the book was withdrawn from Japanese Foundation Library. I know libraries usually withdraw books that have not been borrowed for a length of time. I’m glad I got to know a bit more about Mori-sensei and even tried his historical short fiction, even though I may not have “got it”. Who knows, maybe we’ll cross path again sometime in the future.

Check out the rest of the participants here. There are only a few of us this time!

First thing I noticed was how little I know about UK in general. I had to look up Edinburgh and The Brownies (thinking surely this is not brownies the chocolate cake?). Set in 1930s at an all-girl school, there are Miss Jean Brodie and her set of six girls–her “crème de la crème”.  As a teacher Miss Brodie is highly opinionated about what should be taught, what is important, and what’s worth learning, often straying off the school’s curriculum path, to the horror of the school’s principal. The girls, as such impressionable ages (starting since they’re 10), for better or for worse devouring everything that is passed by their favorite teacher.

A couple of techniques Spark used in the book that really stood out for me were flash-forward (the reader is often given a glimpse of the future) and repetition. Now I dislike repetition in book (which is why I didn’t like The Road) so I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. For such a short book however, it helped to distinguish the multitude of characters. For examples, one of the girls is repeatedly described as the one “famous for sex”, one has “small, almost non-existent eyes”, one likes Math, one is good at gymnastic, and one dies in the fire.

I liked the intricacies of the characters and their relationships. As a small book, it contains a lot of ideas and an array of intriguing characters. So though The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is not earth-shattering for me, it whet my appetite for Spark’s works and I will look out for more in the future.

I leave you with a passage that echoes what I often thought as a teenager.

“Supposing that passion struck upon them in the course of the evening and they were swept away into sexual intercourse? She saw the picture of it happening in her mind, and Sandy could not stand for this spoiling. She argued with herself, surely people have time to think, they have to stop to think while they are taking their clothes off, and if they stop to think, how can they be swept away?” ~ Sandy, p46

1961, 170 pp

First line
The boys, as they talked to the girls from Marcia Blaine School, stood on the far side of their bicycles holding the handlebars, which established a protective fence of bicycle between the sexes, and the impression that at any moment the boys were likely to be away.

Challenges/Projects
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, Read the Book See the Movie

Also reviewed by
Arukiyomi | Books 4 Breakfast | Suko’s Notebook | A Work in Progress (this and other Spark’s books)

The Movie (1969)

There was a gap of a couple of months between me reading the book and watching the movie. I didn’t feel much about the book so I didn’t have high expectation. But after somewhat of a slow start, the movie almost suddenly became really really good! And I was left really impressed at the end of the movie! Maggie Smith was amazing in this role, like she’s born for it, like the screenplay was written for her! Little wonder then that she won Oscar for Best Actress in 1970 for the role of Miss Jean Brodie. It was the perfect cast.

But wait, there’s more! The girl who played Sandy (one of Miss Jean Brodie’s girl) was just as amazing! Unlike movies these days where people are usually cast for much younger roles, the girls here seem to be at the right age, like they are in the book (okay, I checked that Pamela Franklin, the girl who played Sandy, was 18-19 during the movie, so she’s actually older, but still.) In any way, she totally blew me away. What a shame that she doesn’t play another prominent role after this film and seems to disappear into obscurity.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable movie. It stays true to the characters and to the spirit of the book. The Brodie set was minimized into four girls instead of six, and a couple of girls were combined, but I think it worked just as well. Since the movie emphasized some of the scenes, I got to understand the characters even better than when I was reading the book. Odd I know. It rarely happens that a movie is better or on par with the book, but I think this might be just one of those cases.

Rating: 8/10

ps: There was nudity in the film. How shocking is that for a classic film such as this?

“[Chang] tried , with little success, to break into the English-language fiction market… But the cultural and linguistic gaps were to wide to cross. As C. T. Hsia, one of her earliest and most perceptive advocates, remarked, mid-century American readers’ views of China were greatly influenced by writers like Pearl S. Buck, which left them unprepared for Chang’s melancholy incisiveness and insider’s perspective.”

Don’t you find it ironic that the real Chinese was less accepted? Once I started, I could sort of see why. While Buck concentrated on the poor rural life, Chang wrote about the middle to high class Chinese society. From Westerners perspective, the tale of misery from a third world country might be more exotic than the intricacies of ordinary Chinese life and relationships.

The first story, Aloeswood Incense: The First Brazier, quickly set an image in my head as Pride and Prejudice in Hong Kong. There are parties and courtships, and people are measuring someone’s worth from how much he/she owns or earns. But unlike P&P, it’s not a feel-good romantic story, a pattern that will follow throughout the rest of the book.

Chang’s stories may be about love, but it may be love you’re not familiar with. The stories are essentially–borrowing words from the Introduction–”anti-romance”. Every single character is calculative–a very Chinese trait I think. I likened it to watching a game of chess, or a game whose rules I’m not very familiar with, so it’s required of me to pay attention to details, to what is said between  the lines, to things they say and not say, to little gestures. I love the intricacies, the power play, and complexity of the relationships. This is almost unheard of for short story collection, but I loved all the stories in the book. The more I read the more I love Chang’s writing and the more I appreciate her skills in building these tales of life.

Chang wrote film scripts apart from short stories and novels, so it’s little wonder that her strength in this aspect shines through. Her writing is often cinematic, it’s almost like she wrote with a big screen in mind. Jasmine Tea, her second story in the book started with a cup of tea:

“This pot of jasmine tea that I’ve brewed for you may be somewhat bitter; this Hong Kong tale that I’m about to tall you may be, I’m afraid, just as bitter. Hong Kong is a splendid city, but a sad one too.

First pour yourself a cup of tea, but be careful–it’s hot! Blow on it gently. In the tea’s curling steam you can see… a Hong Kong public bus on a paved road, slowly driving down a hill. A passenger stands behind the driver, a big bunch of azaleas in his arms. The passenger leans against an open window, the azaleas stream out in a twiggy thicket, and the windowpane behind becomes a flat sheet of red.”

In Jasmine Tea, we follow a young man who grows up in family with little love. Frustrated with his own father and stepmother, he starts to contemplate having a different father. He indulges in possibilities if her dead mother had married another man. All leads to dire consequences. The story is probably my least favorite because it’s quite disturbing at the end.

Next is the title story, Love in a Fallen City, which was made into a movie with the same name in 1984, played by Chow Yun Fat (The King and I, Pirates of the Caribbean). I really wanted to see the movie, but it’s an old movie and it’s so hard to find with proper subtitle so I gave up looking. But I searched some clips on youtube and watched some to have a feel of the atmosphere during the time as I don’t think I’ve ever watched a Chinese or Hong Kong movie from this era. I was especially intrigued by the clothes. During the time of reading, I had a hard time imagining the clothes they were wearing, so it was nice to see the clips and learned what they actually might look like. The story itself is one that most resembles a love story, with a man and a woman who find love in each other in the middle of turbulence and chaos.

In The Golden Cangue, we are faced with the epitome of evil mother and mother-in-law. She’s a very strong character, but I almost couldn’t stand to read on. Several times I needed to close my eyes and take a deep breath before continuing. Do you know what cangue is? Google it and check it out. It often appears in Chinese movies and only now I know the name of it. The title has great meaning in connection with the story.

My favorite stories happened to be the last two: Sealed Off and Red Rose, White Rose. In Sealed Off, the city is sealed off for unexplained reason and everybody is stuck at where they are until city is “re-opened” again. Camera pans to a tram, to the people in it, then is focused to a man and a woman. Two people meet by chance, forced to interact by circumstances. From the footnote of Sealed Off:

The military situation that creates this interlude is presented very obliquely; all that we know is that the authorities have shut down, or condoned off, all or part of the city. The authorities, in this case, are probably the Japanese occupiers or (more likely) the Chinese puppet government that answered to them. Chang made a point of never directly referring to the political or military situation in Shanghai prior to the defeat of the Japanese, and thus she usually escaped censorship and was never thrown in prison (as did befall those of her associates who took a more aggressive stance).

Interesting insight into the political situation of that time. Chang left China when she was 32 and for the next three decades was a banned writer in her homeland, though still much loved by loyal readers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the overseas Chinese communities. Sealed Off is told to be one of the stories that impressed Hu Lancheng, an influential man of the time, that “he looked her up, swept her off her feet, and became her husband” (from the Introduction).

Last, another favorite of mine, is Red Rose, White Rose. It has such a great opening:

“There were two women in Zhenbao’s life: one he called his white rose, the other his red rose. One was a spotless wife, the other a passionate mistress. Isn’t that just how the average man describes a chaste widow’s devotion to her husband’s memory–as spotless, and passionate too?

Maybe every man has had two such women–at least two. Marry a red rose and eventually she’ll be a mosquito-blood streak smeared on the wall, while the white one is “moonlight in front of my bed.” Marry a white rose, and before long she’ll be a grain of sticky rice that’s gotten stuck to your clothes; the red one, by then, is a scarlet beauty mark just over your heart.”

Just brilliant.

This is the short story that was picked by Jeffrey Eugenides to be included in anthology he edited: My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead, whose short stories I’ve been reading and talking about here several times before.

Like Hong Kong the city, the recurrent theme in the book is fusion or clash between the East and the West. There are many mixed blood people make appearances or Chinese people who have spent a lot of time overseas. That and the progressive nature of the place and time, there bounds to be confusion and tension between the old and the new ways.

“Yanli rarely spoke or raised her head and always walked a little behind him. She knew very well that according to modern etiquette she should walk in front, left him help her put on her coat and wait on her, but she was uncomfortable exercising her new rights. She hesitated, and this made her seem even slower and more awkward.” ~ Red Rose, White Rose, p294

Love in a Fallen City contains 6 short stories, 4 of which are sort of novella length, and I think they worked really well for me exactly because of that. The short stories are not too short, so there’s time to develop the characters and the plot and there’s time for you to get immersed in them. They’re not perfect, as I found the dialogues sound a bit odd at times, but it’s understandable as Chinese is a very sharp and short language (though sing-songy), so it must be hell to translate to a wordy language like English. Then the behaviours of the characters can sometimes be very abrupt which I didn’t quite get. But all in all, what a great find. Thanks to Claire for picking this up, otherwise I may not have found it by myself. I will definitely look for more Chang’s works in the future. She is a gem of the East.

Chinese (1940s), English (1990s), Penguin Modern Classic (2007), 321 pp

Quotes

“No matter how amazing a woman is, she won’t be respected by her own sex unless she’s loved by a member of the opposite one. Women are petty this way.” ~ Love in a Fallen City, p127

“Basically a woman who was tricked by a man deserved to die, while a woman who tricked a man was a whore. If a woman tried to trick a man but failed then was tricked by him, that was whoredom twice over. Kill her, and you’d only dirty the knife.” ~ Love in a Fallen City, p152

“Even though status wasn’t something you could eat, losing it would be a pity.” ~ Love in a Fallen City, p153

“We were way too busy falling in love–how could we have found time to really love each other?” ~ Love in a Fallen City, p166

Challenges/Projects
China Challenge (book #5), Women Unbound (fiction #9), Reading the World

Also reviewed by
kiss a cloud | A Guy’s Moleskin Notebook | A Striped Armchair

ps: We are going to read Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima for our next group read in September. Would you join us?

Prior to reading, I knew there was a lawyer as main character and I was expecting court scenes. But there was no court scene until the second half of the book, which was a peak too short finished too soon for me. However, looking back, I don’t think the court scene or the lawyer were ever the main focus of the book. To Kill A Mockingbird is essentially a coming-of-age story.

The narrator of the book is 6 year-old Scout. We have the privileged to view everything from her eyes. She has an older brother Jem, and father she calls Atticus (mom died). The maternal role in the house is often held by Calpurnia, a black maid who’s been with the family for the longest time. There are a lot of characters coming into view soon after: neighbors, friends, teachers, extended family. It’s a small town so everybody knows everybody and everybody has their own role to fit into: doctor, sheriff, lawyer, newspaper editor, judge, reverend, field owner, and so on.

Later on we find out that Atticus is given the task to defend a black man in court for alleged rape of a white girl, so racism is obviously one of the main themes. But not only that, with inquisitive curious Scout, the book gets to question many things in the world. About poverty, school system, role of women and womanhood, justice, fairness (or the lack of them), and evils in the world.

I admit, during the reading of the book, I thought it was pretty flat. The first half of the book was mostly about two-three kids running amok in the neighborhood. It is well written book full of gentle humor and I enjoyed reading it but there were very few things that made me want to pick up the book once I put it down. I wondered if the greatness of the book is mostly for the Americans. It seems to be The American book if you want to know about Southern US in 1930s. Is it great for nostalgic reason for the Americans? Is it as great looking from foreigner’s point of view who has completely different background and history? I wasn’t convinced.

I watched the movie (more on that below) soon after reading the book and read other people’s reviews. I’m thinking there are a lot of elements contained in this one small book that it’s possible to not pay attention to them the first time around and get more out of succeeding reads. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the books seems to have high re-readability value. Also, the main characters are drawn very strong that I’m sure they will stay with me for a long time. I adored feisty Scout, moody Jem, and admired The Great Atticus. Which other book features a fist-fighting 6 year-old girl? She almost sounds too good to be true! Then there’s the role of Dill (Scout and Jem’s friend) who is based of Truman Capote, my favorite author (Lee and Capote were childhood friends. Lee went together with Capote for the research of Capote’s In Cold Blood). Therefore after much consideration, I’m giving To Kill A Mockingbird:

1960, 281 pp

It’s a worthy read. Definitely.

After finishing the book I just found out that there’s no better time for me to read it as this year is the 50th anniversary of To Kill A Mockingbird and there are celebrations all over. Both she is too fond of books and Capricious Reader are holding a month-long celebration in July. Have you read To Kill A Mockingbird? If you haven’t, there’s no better time than NOW :).

ps: Below is the Australian version of 50th anniversary of To Kill A Mockingbird by Random House. I like it!

First line
When he was nearly thirteen, my bother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.

Awards
1961 Pulitzer Prize

Quotes

“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.” ~ p18

“… one must lie under certain circumstances and at all times when one can’t do anything about them.” ~ p128

Challenges/Projects
Book Awards IV (book #11), Read the Book, See the Movie (pair #5), 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, The Pulitzer

Also reviewed by
Rebecca Reads | Serendipity | Graasland | Booklust | The Reading Life

The Film

The black and white 1962 movie starring Gregory Peck won him Oscar for Best Actor. It also won Best Art Direction and Best Writing. Mary Badham who played Scout was nominated for Best Supporting Actress and the movie was nominated for more categories.

In short, I thought the movie was great. Of course there are a lot of things that got cut, but you’d expect that for book to movie adaptation. In the movie Atticus and the court scene seems to get the most attention, not Scout and her growing up. But the mood and the general atmosphere stay true to the book, and Atticus in the movie is exactly like what I imagined him to be.

I love the scene where all the black people in the court balconies wait until everybody has gone except Atticus downstairs, and stand up as a sign of respect. A great cinematic touch. What I was really disappointed to be cut off was the part where Scout and Jem went to Calpurnia’s church. It’s probably one of my favorite scenes in the book, that shows the tension between the black and the white. In the movie with the omission of the church scene the kids suddenly meet Reverend in the court, who comes out of nowhere with no background story ever told, so it felt really odd.

After watching the movie I just realized that I watched Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday before, in which he played with Audrey Hepburn, my movie heroine. Two great movies in a row. Nods for Gregory Peck.

Rating: 8/10

Also reviewed by
Ripple Effects (with pictures of the DVD set) | Rebecca Reads (who hated the movie)

As I assume the main plot of the book is no secret to most people, I’m going to write my thoughts with no worry of possible spoilers.

Pride and Prejudice is my very first Jane Austen and it took me some time to get used to her style. I found the beginning was very very slow. I didn’t care much for the characters and thought their conversations were inconsequential.

After what seemed like the longest 50 pages of my life, it started to flow, and the pace picked up after 70-80 pages. The rest got easier, which means I started to enjoy it as a novel, not just as a piece of classic that I felt the need to tackle.

I watched the movie adaptation with Keira Knightley years ago on the plane, but couldn’t remember anything about it. So I basically entered the book knowing almost nothing. Preconception that I had before reading: Darcy and Elizabeth hated each other, and only at the end that they realized they actually loved each other, ended with dramatic running and chasing Hollywood style.

Result: WRONG! Darcy takes interest in Elizabeth very early on in the book. What I believe as their very first flirt:

“‘I have been used to consider poetry as the food of love,’ said Darcy.

‘Of a fine, stout, healthy love it may.–Every thing nourishes what is strong already. But if it be only a slight, thin sort of inclination, I am convinced that one good sonnet will starve it entirely away.’ [Elizabeth]” ~ p40

Not to say that it is smooth for Darcy and Elizabeth at the beginning. Darcy is aloof and that pisses everybody off, including Lizzy.

“‘Nothing is more deceitful’, said Darcy, ‘than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast.’” ~ p43

Elizabeth felt very distant to me at first. I found it hard to connect to her. Only after the event between her friend Ms Lucas and Mr Collins did I started to feel for her, with her. I got her shock, her disdain, her defeat, and her hit of reality.

“‘I am not romantic, you know. I never was. I ask only a comfortable home; and considering Mr Collins’s character, connections, and situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness with him is as fair as most people can boast on entering the marriage state.’ [Charlotte]

It was a long time before she [Elizabeth] became at all reconciled to the idea of so unsuitable a match. The strangeness of Mr Collins’s making two offers of marriage within three days, was nothing in comparison of his being now accepted. She had always felt that Charlotte’s opinion of matrimony was not exactly like her own, but she could not have supposed it possible that when called into action, she would have sacrificed every better feeling to worldly advantage. Charlotte the wife of Mr Collins, was a most humiliating picture!–And to the pang of a friend disgracing herself and sunk in her esteem, was added to the distressing conviction that it was impossible for that friend to be tolerably happy in the lot she had chosen.” ~ p116, 117

I almost felt sorrowful at this point and wasn’t sure why. Then it hit me that something similar has happened to me in the past. Not to the extend of marriage of course, but it did involve a loser of a guy, a rejection on my behalf, a few days gap, and acceptance of a dear friend to the aforementioned guy (then her broken heart not long after).

“You shall not, for the sake of one individual, change the meaning of principle and integrity, nor endeavour to persuade yourself or me, that selfishness is prudence, and insensibility of danger, security for happiness.” ~ Elizabeth, p125

I saw Elizabeth as an idealist, a perfectionist–characteristics that I could relate with, and so I started to get a grip of her character.

“‘But that expression of “violently in love” is so hackneyed, so doubtful, so indefinite, that it gives me very little idea. It is as often applied to feelings which arise from an half-hour’s acquiantance, as to a real, strong attachment.’” ~ Mrs Gardiner, p129

Few characters can be as amusing as Mr Collins. He has the knack to insult people in dignified way! One of my favorite insults of his:

“‘Do not make yourself uneasy, my dear cousin, about your apparel. Lady Catherine is far from requiring that elegance of dress in us, which becomes herself and daughter. I would advise you merely to put on whatever of your clothes is superior to the rest, there is no occasion for anything more. Lady Catherine will not think the worse of you for being simply dressed. She likes to have the distinction of rank preserved.’” ~ Mr Collins, p146

It’s very hard for me to rate this book as it is, as I know that it is one of the most widely read books and is studied as a piece of literature at many schools. The language is no doubt articulate and classy. The plot however, is not my kind of story. The basic plot about the richest prideful guy in the county falling head over heels with a lively girl from a lower class seems to be too Cinderella-like, and especially overused in these modern days, though it might have been ground breaking at the time of writing in the 18th century. On the other hand, it was really insightful for me to learn people’s lifestyle during the time. The inheritance laws and marriage financial settlement always amuse me.

A few things I never quite understood:
What is Lady Catherine’s profession? How does she have so high of rank? I understand that it’s something to do with church. But what is it exactly?
Who determines how Mr Bennet should divide his inheritance? Why doesn’t he have any control over who he inherits his fortune to after he dies?
When does Mr Darcy actually propose to Elizabeth the second time? One of the most important event and I seem to have missed it. I was only aware of it when Lizzy tells Jane about it. How? Which sentence exactly?

I’m not sure if P&P made me fall in love with Jane Austen, but I quite enjoyed it and plan to read another book or two of hers. I have Emma in mind for my next Austen. How about you? Was P&P your first Austen? Did it make you a fan?

If you’re a long time fan of Austen, which book of hers is your favorite? Why?

I would love to watch the BBC 1995 adaptation as lots of people said it’s really really good. I have reserved the DVDs from the library, so more on that soon.

1813, 352 pp

First line
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

Challenges
Women Unbound (fiction #5), 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

The Read-along

I made a call to Pride and Prejudice first timers to read the book in February and a few people have expressed their interests. Let me know if you do end up reading it and I’ll link to your posts below. Or you could just drop a comment about your reading experience!

What happens to the Other P&P First Timers?

They finished it!

Vivienne @ Seredipity: “I really did love this book and will be over the moon to read more of Jane Austen’s books, though I have been told that this is the best of the bunch.”

another cookie crumbles: “I really did enjoy the book, although, maybe not the story in itself, if that makes sense? Again, I attribute that to me already knowing the way the plot would turn, and hence, missing out on the feel-good factor. Also, some of the romanticism and mushiness was a little much for me, but, I guess that was part and parcel of the nineteenth century, and maybe, in another lifetime, I was Elizabeth Bennet. Well, a girl can dream. :)“

David @ Absorbed in Words: “I should say, it is not the kind of story that should generally hold my interest. But it’s a fine piece. And the fact that the author was a woman impressed me immensely.”

Not yet, but going to! I hope.

Jackie @ Farm Lane Book Blog

Even Cthulhu, Satan, Dracula, and Darth Vader read it!

Thank you all for joining! I will update the links to your review once you post it! Let me know if I miss you!

Once I finished, I was thinking for a bit, does it have to be that long? The book is a tome at 609 pages and it took me 3.5 weeks to get through. But then I couldn’t think of anything that can or should be cut off. There are probably a couple of longish parts that we can do without, but it wouldn’t be The Woman in White. Moreover, I loved the writing so much that I just enjoyed the entire journey.

The novel is told in collection of journals and letters, so we had a few point of views. I don’t normally like the multiple POVs format, but this works very well, in very believable way. There’s a good reason why collection of the narrations comes together. I loved how the characters talk in such articulate, sleek way (why don’t we talk like that anymore?). They’re babbling in such grace that I could just read them on and on.

A bit of synopsis: A drawing teacher by the name Walter Hartright is offered a job to teach two ladies by the name Marian Halcombe and Laura Farlie who are half-sisters. Not long after, spark grows between Walter and Laura, which is quite a disaster since Laura is apparently engaged to another man — who is more of her stature, than poor Hartright. Oh, and of course there’s the woman in white whom Hartright meets at one night by pure accident and helps out of pity or curiosity. The woman is later discovered to have some connection with the two ladies’ family.

Laura is the typical weak beauty while Marian is strong and smart. I’m somewhat disappointed that the character Marian was made ugly by Collins [p28]. Why is that? If Marian was as pretty as Laura, would Hartright fall in love with the same woman? I couldn’t dismiss the thought for the entire book, which annoyingly made Hartright somewhat shallow in my eyes. Needless to say, I was never fond of Laura. She’s a perfect damsel in distress and so meek it’s frustrating. On the other hand, Marian is the perfect female heroine: intelligent, selfless, opinionated.

“Women can resist a man’s love, a man’s fame, a man’s personal appearance, and a man’s money, but they cannot resist a man’s tongue when he knows how to talk to them.” ~ Marian, p246

When Laura’s father died, she was left with her uncle, Frederick Fairlie, a lazy self-pitying man. There were very few times that a fictional character got so annoying that I could hardly continue a book. Mr Fairlie was one of them.

“Nothing, in my opinion, sets the odious selfishness of mankind in such a repulsively vivid light as the treatment, in all classes of society, which the Single people receive at the hands of the Married people. When you have once shown yourself too considerate and self-denying to add a family of your own to an already overcrowded population, you are vindictively marked out by your married friends, who have no similar consideration and no similar self-denial, as the recipient of half their conjugal troubles, and the born friend of all their children.” ~ Frederick Fairlie, p332

The Woman in White is in the genre of what is called Sensation Novel, which typically focuses on shocking subject matters, in this case: forgery, treachery, murder, insanity, theft, kidnapping, bigamy. It is probably my first experience reading Sensation Novel and I can definitely see the appeal.

For those of you who have not read the book, please beware of spoiler below. (Highlight to read)

** SPOILER warning **

I just have to mention that it’s interesting that nobody was murdered as part of the mystery. I thought, SURELY somebody must have killed somebody! The crime felt so mild compared to what we have these days! (real life or in books)

** END of SPOILER **

In conclusion, I am very impressed. It’s readable, enjoyable classic. If only more classics are this enjoyable to read. I would love to read more Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone sounds great too. Interestingly his life story sounds almost as interesting as his stories! What with the two mistresses he never married and their children.

1859-1860, 609 pp

For Wilkie Collins tour, 5 of us have chosen to read The Woman in White: Reviews by Lola, Fizzy Thoughts, just add books, Book Gazing. Check out the rest of the tour for more Collins!

This week of the tour:

December 8, 2009 - It’s All About Books Review: Hide and Seek
December 9, 2009 – Me!
December 10, 2009 - Linus’s Blanket General: An Overview of Wilkie Collins

Challenges
I’m going to count this book for Women Unbound Challenge as I think it’s a pretty good book to get a glimpse of women’s roles and social status in 1800s England. The marriage settlement was most interesting to me.

1% Well-Read (book #10), Women Unbound (book #1), 1001 Books Before You Die, Wilkie-Collins Mini Challenge (Did I just sneakily slip in another challenge?)

The book is told in alternate chapters between the main story of you the Reader, and the chapters of books you are reading. In some bizarre out-of-this-world circumstances, trying to look for the right complete book, you keep getting different books, and unfinished ones at that.

The main story is very hard to summarize. It’s about books, readers, authors, publishing industry, translations, and banned books. There’s this passage at the first chapter that I’d love to share:

“In the shop window you have promptly identified the cover with the title you were looking for. Following this visual trail, you have forced your way through the shop past the thick barricade of Books You Haven’t Read, which were frowning at you from the tables and shelves, trying to cow you. But you know you must never allow yourself to be awed, that among them there extend for acres and acres the Books You Needn’t Read, the Books Made For Purposes Other Than Reading, Books Read Even Before You Open Them Since They Belong To The Category Of Books Read Before Being Written. And thus you pass the outer girdle of ramparts, but then you are attacked by the infantry of the Books That If You Had More Than One Life You Would Certainly Also Read But Unfortunately Your Days Are Numbered. With a rapid maneuver you bypass them and move into the phalanxes of the Books You Mean To Read But There Are Others You Must Read First, the Books Too Expensive Now And You’ll Wait Till They’re Remaindered, the Books ditto When They Come Out In Paperback, Books You Can Borrow From Somebody, Books That Everybody’s Read So It’s As If You Had Read Them, Too. Eluding these assaults, you come up beneath the towers of the fortress, where other troops are holding out:
the Books You’ve Been Planning To Read For Ages,
the Books You’ve Been Hunting For Years Without Success,
the Books Dealing With Something You’re Working On At The Moment,
the Books You Want To Own So They’ll Be Handy Just In Case,
the Books You Could Put Aside Maybe To Read This Summer,
the Books You Need To Go With Other Books On Your Shelves,
the Books That Fill You With Sudden, Inexplicable Curiosity, Not Easily Justified.

Now you have been able to reduce the countless embattled troops to an array that is, to be sure, very large but still calculable in a finite number; but this relative relief is then undermined by the ambush of the Books Read Long Ago Which It’s Now Time To Reread and the Books You’ve Always Pretended To Have Read And Now It’s Time To Sit Down And Really Read Them.” ~ p 5-6

I believe a lot of you understand the experience above :)

There are some great parts and the idea of the book itself is just brilliant, but after a while I found it very exhausting to read as it opens a new chapter of a different book on and on. The book is only 254 pages but it took me ages to finish and it felt super long. The problem for me is, I find about the first quarter of any book is usually the most tiring, takes the most energy, and is probably least interesting — while for some people it’s probably the most exciting part. Therefore I found it exhausting to enter a new story, in fact a dozen of them, in one book. It probably works better for people who are fan of short stories. I admit that near the end I couldn’t pretend to care about the fragments of the stories that the Reader was reading anymore and started to speed read, as I know I wouldn’t see the end of them.

On the note of the translation, I have suspicion that the translation is not great. It’s often read like a technical book and quite dry at times.

I would recommend the book for people who like quirky books and short stories. I would like to read more Calvino’s in the future. Any that you’d highly recommend?

1979 (Italian) – 1981 (English), 254 pp

First line
“You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino’s new novel, If on a winter’s night a traveler.”

Last line
And you say, “Just a moment, I’ve almost finished If on a winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino.”

Challenge
Lost in Translation (book #5), Orbis Terrarum 2009 (book #10), (Another) 1% Well-Read (book #9), 1001 Books Before You Die, Reading the World

Also reviewed by
Liked it! – A Striped Armchair | Bending Bookshelf | Shelf Love | 3000 Books | A Guy’s Moleskin Notebook | books i done read | A Damned Conjuror | Booknotes by Lisa | Life and Times of a “New” New Yorker
Unsure? – Things Mean A Lot (probably the closest to my opinion)

*SPOILERS below* (Thought I’m not gonna bother to avoid spoilers this time)

I had the advantage of reading Dracula (or so I thought). I knew almost absolutely nothing about it, because I never watched the movie based on the book. Oh of course I knew he sucks blood. I knew there were Count Dracula, a castle, and a woman (women?). But that’s about it.

So I was quite excited to start the book with a bang. Dropped right off Count Dracula’s castle! Spooky, eerie, we’re meeting the Count in person, and the pace was just right! I was never left too long in suspension. I thought, this is great!

It went for 4 chapters (out of 27) before reader is transported to correspondence between two women, gossiping about their men and suitors. I was devastated! WHY are we here? There’s so much excitement back there in Transylvania! BRING ME BACK TO THE CASTLE! *rolling and wailing on the floor*

Then it went on and on and on and it never picked up the pace again.

I’m glad that I read it, because it’s the root of something that is part of our culture. For example, I just learned that Van Helsing is originated from Dracula. Before that I thought he was some sort of a super hero, like Fantastic Four.

The language was quite easy to read, which I was very happy about as well. Though sometimes the characters sounded funny to me. As in funny that made me chuckle. Imagine trapped in such situation and talk like “Oh, my God, what have we done to have this terror upon us!”

So dramatic it’s funny.

The book is told via a collection of journals and letters by the main characters. And that probably what made it tedious for me. Today Lucy looks well. Next day. Today Lucy looks not so well. Next day. Today Lucy looks better. Next day. Today Lucy looks worse again.

Then after her death, everybody starts to call her “poor Lucy” like poor is her first name. Poor Lucy.

I lost the urge to finish it after a while because I could see the end from miles and miles away, the whole trip got kinda boring. I’ll say, compress chapter 5 to 26 to half, then it may work better. I’m not sure if it’s just me. I just felt very impatient throughout the whole book.

1897, 444 pp

First line
Left Munich at 8.35 p.m. on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6.46, but train was an hour late.

I read Dracula in participation of Dueling Monsters Read-a-long hosted by Fizzy Thoughts for the month of October. (Gosh, October is such a busy month!) It’s a great closure to spooky October and the R.I.P. Challenge! I’m happy that I finished the book :)

Thanks for hosting softdrink! (wish I could just call you Fizzy) You can visit her site in the next couple of days for recap of everyone’s thoughts! (ETA: Fizzy’s wrap-up)

Also reviewed by
Liked it! — Fizzy Thoughts | Subliminal Intervention | Book-o-rama | su[shu]
Didn’t. – Rebecca Reads |  | Farm Lane Books Blog

Challenges
R.I.P. IV (book #5), 1% Well-Read (book #8), Herding Cats II (book #1), 1001 Books Before You Die (book #26)

I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their house pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.

Their faithful Friend and Servant,
C.D

One fine day I finished my book on the way to work and had nothing to read on the way back — serious problem, because one way trip took me almost an hour.

I was in panic mode for a while before I got an idea to print out a few pages of a free book from the net. I was looking for something short and could fit into any of my challenges. A Christmas Carol was pretty much the only one that sprang to mind (as a bonus it counts for at least three of my challenges!).

I read the first chapter and decided to continue the rest with audio-book performed by Patrick Stewart, as recommended by Sarah Miller. She said the audio book is abridged but it’s one of the best she ever listened to. Believe it or not, I had NEVER tried audio book before. About time. It worked perfectly since it’s short and Patrick Stewart delivered the atmosphere and mood very well.

Reading or listening however, I had a hard time not to picture it as comical. I watched the Disney adaption of it when I was small and that was the only version of A Christmas Carol that I knew for the longest time. It doesn’t help that the main character’s named Scrooge. For me any Scrooge is Scrooge McDuck, especially when he’s stingy and grumpy.

From this short story, I could tell that Dicken’s is not easy one to read. I found the use of the language or words were quite odd. Or maybe just old.

I watched the Disney short of Mickey’s Christmas Carol after finishing the book and enjoyed it immensely. Who plays Ebeneizer Scrooge better than his namesake, Scrooge McDuck? He’s perfect! All the characters cast really well. Mickey as the poor clerk, Donald as the nephew (nephew! What a coincidence!), and Goofy as Marley – Scrooge’s dead partner (not generally scary, but Goofy can be anything if he wants to). Jiminy Cricket is the Ghost of Christmas Past, Willie the Giant (from Mickey and the Beanstalk) as the Ghost of Christmas Present, and evil Pete as the Ghost of Christmas Future. Daisy Duck plays Scrooge’s youth love and Minnie Mouse as Mickey’s wife (with mini Mickey as Tiny Tim).

I imagine that if I read the story by itself, I may have not liked the fact that the moral lessons are too ‘in your face’. That’s why the cartoon works perfectly as the medium, because the whole thing is comical — the premise, the characters, the ghosts.

The short is nominated for Oscar in 1984 for Best Animated Short Film.

This book and movie would be my first entry for Disney Literature Challenge. Following Sarah’s lead, I’ll give my verdict for each battle.

Disney Literature Challenge Round 1

Disney vs. Dickens
on A Christmas Carol

*drum roll*

.

.

.

This time I can easily give my vote to Disney.

Please. No crying. There will be more battles to come!

Score
Disney – 1 vs. Authors – 0

Ratings
Book: (1843, 88 pp)
Movie: 9/10 (1983, 26 min)

First line
Marley was dead: to begin with.

Last line
And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!

Also reviewed by
Rebecca Reads | Aneca’s World | Dreadlock Girl | Book Nut | Vulpes Libris | One Persons Journey Through A World of Books | Bobbi’s Book Nook | MariReads (audio book – Jim Dale) | at home with books (Mickey’s Christmas Carol) | 5 Minutes for Books (The Muppet Christmas Carol)

Did I miss yours?

ps: I’m going to save The Muppet Christmas Carol for this Christmas.

Challenges
R.I.P. IV (book #3), (Another) 1% Well-Read (book #7), The Spice of Life (book #3), 1001 Books Before You Die (book #25), Disney Literature Challenge (book #1)

Holly is all charm — the type that men want but can’t have, free as a bird. Along the story I could feel Fred, there’s a want and need to get closer to her, but never could. Breakfast at Tiffany’s IS Holly. We get a glimpse of her captivating life and adorable personality, but couldn’t get more. There’s a sense of loss when she’s distanced.

The thin ice that she and Fred play on was interesting — friendship though not without a doze of attraction and jealousy, but I wouldn’t go as far as calling it romantic like the back cover states.

Quote

“Perhaps, like most of us in a foreign country, he was incapable of placing people, selecting a frame for their picture, as he would at home; therefore all Americans had to be judged in a pretty equal light, and on this basis his companions appeared to be tolerable examples of local colour and national character.” ~ Fred on a foreigner, p54

Truman Capote could be my next favorite author, though for me it’s mainly for the next three short stories that come with the book I was reading. For the first time in the longest time, I actually enjoyed short stories.

House of Flowers
Ottilie is the favorite girl of the bar she’s working at, until one day a young man captures her heart. They get married in two days and she moves to his house. Unfortunately he has an evil mother who bothers her to no end. I thought the story as a whole was a bit odd, because it’s 3/4 love story and 1/4 creepy story, complete with witchcraft. Pretty good short story for the RIP Challenge.

A Diamon Guitar
The theme is freakishly similar with the movie Shawshank Redemption which I just watched in the same week: story of two inmates. Mr Schaeffer is an old resident of the prison to where Tico Feo is sent to. They grow to become close friends. Some days Tico Feo starts to put some ideas to Mr Schaeffer that escaping to freedom is better than to merely accept their life in prison.

A Christmas Memory
This is my favorite short story of the lot! A Christmas Memory tells a gentle relationship between a 7 year-old boy and a 60ish woman. Bound by circumstances, they live together and take much joy in each other’s company, baking fruitcakes and gathering flowers and herbs.

Please, somebody make animated short out of this story! I could picture it in my head so much it’s not funny. If I didn’t read the book at a public bus stop, I would cry a few tears over this odd couple.

IT’S SO GOOD! SO GOOD! To add to my gush, this story is autobiographical. I never imagined I would ever find a 5 STARS SHORT STORY!

I read that A Christmas Memory has also been made into a short movie (non-cartoon), which I might check out later. But I’m worried that it might ruin my perfect experience of this cute little story. Anyhoo, let me disrupt this review a bit by showing you a short by Disney/Pixar of The Little Match Girl. I imagine something with this style would be a perfect medium to adapt the story.

Overall rating for the book:

1958, 157 pp

First line
I am always drawn back to places where I have lived, the houses and their neighbourhoods.

Last line
African hut or whatever, I hope Holly has, too.

Challenges
(Another) 1% Well-Read Challenge (book #6)
The Spice of Life Challenge (book #2)
Orbis Terrarum Challenge 2009 (book #9 1/2)
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die Challenge (book #24)

Also reviewed by
Reading and Ruminations | Shelf Love | Life and Times of a “New” New Yorker | Life is a Patchwork Quilt | In Spring it is the Dawn | book-a-rama | Reading Matters | The Bluestocking Society | Ready When You Are, C.B. | Ticket to Anywhere | Orpheus Sings the Guitar Electric | 5 Minutes for Books | Nonsuch Book | casual dread | Books for Breakfast | The Magic Lasso | katrina’s reads

Did I miss yours?

The Guardian Digested Classics of Breakfast at Tiffany’s (not recommended. Go read the book!)

The Movie

The book and the movie is different in a good way. I’d say each has its own merits. But this is one of those rare cases where I think the movie adaption could actually surpass the book, even though the relationship between the main characters and the ending were changed! I loved Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly. Gorgeous, captivating, vulnerable. She was perfect. Unlike the book, yes, you can call the movie romantic.

Apart from the changes I mentioned above, “Fred” is portrayed as someone who accepts money for companionship (did I just say gigolo in a very nice way?), which I found oddly forced to balance Holly. Talking about accepting money for companionship, some people blatantly label Holly as prostitute. I refuse to label her that. She’s a much more complex character, both in personality and in ‘profession’, which is what makes her so iconic and memorable.

Below is the trailer to the movie. Beware that there are some spoilers in it. (Why people put spoilers in trailer I would never understand.)

I loved Audrey Hepburn! Did I say I loved her? I really want to watch her other movies now! Do you have any to recommend?

1961, 115 min
Rating: 8/10

The Guardian – Breakfast at Tiffany’s: When Audrey Hepburn won Marilyn Monroe’s role (great article!)

Have you read Capote before? What do you think of his works?

Have you watched the movie? Which one did you like more?