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)

“In had come out of the earth, this silver, out of his earth that he ploughed and turned and spent himself upon. He took his life from this earth; drop by drop by his sweat he wrung fruit from it and from the fruit, silver.” ~ p31

In The Good Earth we follow the story of Wang Lung, a mere farmer at first, who strives to become more successful with wisdom and hard work. The book starts on his marriage day. Far from being extravagant, he has to pick up the bride himself who is a slave in a rich man’s house. His wife O-Lan is a plain quiet woman.

“Words were to her things to be caught one by one and released with difficulty.” ~ p44

O-Lan knows how to utilize everything that comes her way in any situation. She was sold to the big house when she was small and therefore learns all important things she needs to survive. I don’t think it was mentioned enough, but Wang Lung is incredibly lucky to have O-Lan as his wife. Behind every successful man there’s a strong woman, according to a saying, and this couldn’t be more true for Wang Lung and O-Lan.

The language is very simple. It reminds me of language that people use for folktales. Hence The Good Earth read like a very long folktale to me. But I don’t think this is caused only by the language. Wang Lung’s story is like a story of Every Chinese-man so to speak. You start poor, you work hard, you take wife, you have sons and daughters, you take care of your elders, building better life along the way, then you die. The story of Wang Lung and his grown-up sons rang very true to me. My father said, it’s all about cycle. One generation works so hard to be rich, the second generation does everything they can to spend the fortune, and the third generation must again work very hard to pay the debts and clean the mess. I have not read the sequels to The Good Earth, but my guts tell me it is going in that direction.

I love how everything comes down to the earth. The title of the book can’t be more fitting. It was a simple and humble life. Your life depends on the mercy of the gods, who bring rain or drought according to their fancy. What you can control is the land. The land you can work on, you can cultivate. The land gives you life. I think this notion of the importance of land is ingrained so much in the Chinese blood that even for the current day generation, land is still the most precious of them all. Wang Lung says, buy land, people can’t take land away from you. Did I just hear my elders talking? Invest only in land.

The part when Wang Lung buys more and more land reminded me of my dad. My dad started poor as well. We lived in 2 bedrooms house in which my parents, my two brothers and I stayed in the same room until I started high school. By then with my parents’ business started to get a lot better. The debt of the house was paid off. When he got more money, he bought a house next to us. More money, then the house behind us. Then the house next to the one behind us. Our house became this mishmash of different style of short buildings on a huge chunk of land, with holes on the walls to get through from one house to another. My friends got all excited everytime they came by. It’s like walking in a house of maze, they said. People could literally get lost.

For my dad, it was all about the land. Building could be burnt down. Gold could be stolen. Value of money could diminish into nothing. But land stays.

Overall I found The Good Earth to be enjoyable and easy to read. Considering time of writing, it has one hell of historical value. Pearl S. Buck presented China and its people with a broad stroke that has succeeded in its intention to reach a wide audience–the world.

1931,  316 pp

Interesting Facts about The Good Earth

• The Good Earth is Buck’s second published novel, first being East Wind: West Wind, which was the one that had been rejected by many American publishers, on the old ground that people did not want to read about China.
• After The John Day Company has decided to publish East Wind: West Wind, Pearl S. Buck returned to Nanking and wrote The Good Earth in 3 months, typing it herself twice.
• When the film was made, The John Day Company did not permit the usual movie tie-in edition with photographs from the film. (Is that why until now we’ve never seen the motion-picture edition?)
• The reason for the decision above was particularly because the main actors were not Chinese nor had Chinese features.

First line
It was Wang Lung’s marriage day.

Awards
1932 Pulitzer Prize
1938 Nobel Prize for Literature (the author for body of work)

Challenges
China Challenge (book #4), Book Awards IV (book #5), Read the Book See the Movie (pair #3)

For the Book Group

The rest of this post is for us who have read the book, so there might be spoilers ahead. Beware!

I posted an invite to you all to read The Good Earth together with our Asian Book Group. It is my pick for the first quarter of the year. I was delighted to find that four of us in the group had not read the book and would love to as it is one pivotal book that showed China to the foreign world. I’d like to thank you if you decided to participate. Please drop by and let me know if you wrote up something. I’m going to list and update the links to all your reviews so you can visit each other.

Rather than taking some book group questions off somewhere else, I’m going to just throw a few Q&As up in the air. Feel free to throw your own back!

What do you think about the characters? Do you have strong feelings for them?

My non-blogger friend Eeleng re-read the book when I told her about the book group reading. She mentioned that she hated Wang Lung. I can understand why, seeing it from modern eyes. But I think Wang Lung is just a byproduct of his time. The most appalling thing he’d done in the book I thought was when he got all obsessed about Lotus and took her as his mistress. I felt so much for O-Lan and the unfairness of it all. I was so mad at him for taking O-Lan’s pearls. He got so much money already. Why does he bother to take what little precious things that O-Lan has?!

Which scene was the most memorable for you?

Before this time around, I actually read the book about a couple of years ago, but didn’t finish it because it got too depressing. I stopped at the point when O-Lan gives birth for the third time and she has to eat a few beans to survive. I came into the book this time with the right mindset so I didn’t have much problem with all the hardness in the book. That scene though is still probably the one that will stay with me the longest.

How do you feel about the white American woman writing about China?

I normally do have a bit of skepticism and disapproval about author writing of a country or culture that is not her own. But reading Buck’s background about how she spent most of her lifetime in China, I think she should be as good as any Chinese writers to write about the people and the country. However my opinion is that the book is obviously targeted for foreigners. Would Chinese people appreciate the “mundane” life story of a Chinese farmer, whose life is probably not too dramatic in their eyes?

What do you think about the role of women in The Good Earth?

The absolute preference for daughters is quite maddening (though not surprising, since it’s one common topic for many old Chinese stories), but there seems to be a rather practical reason for it. These people had very hard life. Extreme poverty and starvation seem to be the norm. In their reality, girls would marry out and belong to another family. So the family must feed the girl until she’s of age for nothing, so to speak, while boys would stay with the family forever, supporting the elders until they die.

The Movie

The Good Earth the film was released in 1937, with non-Chinese casts for the main characters. I was utterly surprised when I found out about that fact. The movie won 2 Oscars in 1938 for Best Actress (Luise Rainer as O-Lan) and Best Cinematography. As always, awards pique my interest.

Fortunately The Good Earth is a black and white movie, and that sort of disguised the ethnicity of the main characters. But I couldn’t help to be very conscious that they were Caucasians and wished there would be a remake of the movie someday, with proper Chinese casts.

I paid attention to Luise Rainer because she won Best Actress. I’m not sure though if I liked her acting. She often showed this faraway look that made her look rather dumb. It’s a bit weird to say this, but I wish the actress playing O-Lan were uglier. Rainer was far from being ugly and that took away a lot of  the sadness of O-Lan depicted in the book.

Overall the movie made a good effort for what they had at the time, though again it was obviously targeted for foreigners. One awesome scene was when the locusts attacked the village people’s fields and they showed what looked like millions of crickets. Some characters’ roles were gone or diminished, like Wang-Lung last twin (non-existent), his uncle’s wife and son, and Cuckoo.

I’m not sure if you mind about spoilers for the movie. So I’ll keep it in white. Highlight the below paragraph to read.

Of course they just had to change the ending! Because that’s what Hollywood does. They change any story to become romantic and have a happy ending. The movie ends with O-Lan at her deathbed (probably a good decision since I too thought the book became less exciting after O-Lan died). Wang-Lung returns the two pearls that he took from O-Lan for Lotus the other day and claimed that he finally realized that she is the one. What the?

That’s one very crucial scene in the book where O-Lan moans with so much sadness for being born ugly and therefore is incapable for winning Wang Lung’s love. And at the very end Wang Lung cannot love O-Lan like he does Lotus even if he feels guilty about it. They just had to change that to lovey dovey ending, did they? *grumble*

Rating: 7/10

Gosh that was one long post. I’m not sure if you’re still here, but for me I can talk about this book for a long time. I hope you enjoyed the book and the read-along!

Participants’ Reviews

su[shu]
things mean a lot
eeleng chang
kiss a cloud
Absorbed in Words

For the next book we will read Love in a Fallen City by Eileen Chang (1920-1995), which is a collection of short stories. I heard of Eileen Chang when Lust, Caution made a huge hit in Asian cinemas in 2007. Love in a Fallen City itself was made into a movie in 1984, played by Chow Yun-Fat (remember Anna and the King? Or the Captain Sao Feng in Pirates of the Caribbean…) The book was picked by Claire and we’re going to post our thoughts in the last week of June. Hope to see you then!

I have other things to post, but I almost can’t wait to talk about this book! I read it sometime at the end of December during my vacation, brought over to January, so I’ll just count as my first book of 2010. And what a great start it was!

Waiting is written in English by Ha Jin, who moved to US from China in 1985. The story is of Lin Kong, an army officer in mid 1900s China, and two women in his life. One–his wife who was matched up by his parents but he never loved, lived in the village at countryside. Another is a female colleague who he falls in love, but could not marry, because his wife refuses divorce, year after year, until it goes on for 18 years.

While the concept of waiting might be foreign to our 21st century Westernized mind (who mostly also live in privileged circumstances), it is not uncommon for many Chinese stories. Waiting for the tides to turn, waiting for the wind to change, enduring, submitting to fate — it’s a very humbling thing to do if you think about it. It’s rather easy to pass judgement on why people don’t take action and do something to change their fates, but as I grow older, I find myself to be more willing to understand. After all, life is never easy, and I would never know what it feels like to live weighed down by centuries of suffocating customs.

I read this book straight after Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, so it’s hard for me not to make some comparisons. While I loved Snow Flower, there was always a feeling that it was China from the eyes of a foreigner and the characters were caricatures of Chinese people. With Waiting, the characters felt so much more real, like ordinary Chinese breathing and living somewhere. (As a note, Ha Jin was inspired to write the book by a true story that he heard about an army doctor in China who waited for 18 years to get a divorce to marry his long-time friend, a nurse. Source: Wiki)

I was expecting some sort of love story (because that’s the impression I got from the back cover and possibly some reviews), but I was getting so much more. Nothing is sugar-coated. Nothing is sweet. It’s all rather harsh reality, mixed with the complexities of human mind and reactions to bound circumstances. Really, it’s communist China around 1960s. In essence, it’s survival story. The love is not a glorified romantic thing. Chinese love is practical love.

I’m quite surprised to find that not everybody loved the book as much as I did. For me it’s such a poignant book and it speaks to me in many ways. It’s sad in a quiet way, it’s humbling, and it taught me so much about China, or to be more exact, about its people.

I highly recommend it for you who have any interest in China. I’m happy to say that I understand why Waiting has won so many awards. They can’t be more well-deserved.

1999, 308 pp

First line
Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu.

Awards
1999 National Book Award for Fiction
2000 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
Finalist of 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

Challenges
China Challenge (book #3), Book Awards IV (book #1), Women Unbound (book #4): for a glimpse into women’s lives in mid to late 1900s China, Pulitzer Prizes, Reading the World

Also reviewed by
Loved it! – Regular Rumination
Liked it somewhat – mrdes | American Bibliophile | Reading Matters | Book Bird Dog
Didn’t – A Striped Armchair | A Book A Week

I tried to find more reviews but there weren’t many. Let me know if you’ve posted your thoughts about it, especially if you liked it! :)

Middlesex is an epic tale of multi-generational family originated from Greece who later on migrated to America. It spans from 1920s Greece to Detroit in the mid to late 20th century to contemporary Berlin. The omniscient narrator — possibly the most lovable most interesting in fiction novels — is Callie, a girl, who later grows into Cal, a man, as a result of incestuous marriage of her grandparents.

Though weaved with history and cultural information, the story couldn’t be more intimate. Jeffrey Eugenides has a way to make even the most minor character matters, as if you know their deepest secrets while nobody else does and you feel so much for them. He definitely has become one of my favorite authors. His writing is exceptionally good. I was surprised of how so so well written it was. The imagery was vivid, cinematic. At a few points I felt like I was watching a movie (often ala Persepolis).

Middlesex is a story of immigrants, family, and coming-of-age of an intersex person. The main character who has a double role as the omniscient narrator was a new technique to me. Often the narrator has to keep some distance from the main storyline. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything like it. Cal tells us the intimate details of his grandparents’ secrets, his parents’ inner thoughts, and even her own birth:

“As sperm meets egg, I feel a jolt. There’s a loud sound, a sonic boom as my world cracks. I feel myself shift, already losing bits of my prenatal omniscience, tumbling toward the blank slate of personhood. … Again the sperm rams my capsule; and I realize I can’t put it off any longer. The lease on my terrific little apartment is finally up and I’m being evicted. So I raise one fist (male-typically) and begin to beat on the walls of my eggshell until it cracks. Then, slipperly as a yolk, I dive headfirst into the world.” ~ p211

The omniscient point of view is written perfectly. I have no idea how that could work, but it just does. The novel is funny, heartbreaking, unique, alive with pulses and blood running in its vein.

“Emotions, in my experience, aren’t covered by single words. I don’t believe in “sadness”, “joy”, or “regret”. Maybe the best proof that the language is patriarchal is that it oversimplifies feeling. I’d like to have at my disposal complicated hybrid emotions, Germanic traincar constructions like, say, “the happiness that attends disaster.” Or: “the disappointment of sleeping with one’s fantasy.” I’d like to show how “intimations of mortality brought on by aging family members” connects with “the hatred of mirrors that begins in middle age.” I’d like to have a word for “the sadness inspired by failing restaurants” as well as for “the excitement of getting a room with a minibar.” I’ve never had the right word to describe my life, and now that I’ve entered my story, I need them more than ever.” ~ p217

I can’t imagine anyone not liking the book. It’s an absolute masterpiece, in originality and writing. Admittedly it is quite long, but it’s definitely a journey worth taking.

2002, 529 pp

Watch the ABC First Tuesday Book Club on Middlesex episode (August 2009, 8 mins 27 secs)
Why Cal’s brother is nicknamed Chapter Eleven

First line
I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974.

Last line
I lost track after a while, happy to be home, weeping for my father, and thinking about what was next.

Memorable Quotes

“No one to love: no love. No love: no babies. No babies: no one to love.” ~ p35

“We Greeks get married in circles, to impress upon ourselves the essential matrimonial facts: that to be happy you have to find variety in repetition; that to go forward you have to come back where you began.” ~ p68

“Pregnancy humbles the husbands. After an initial rush of male pride, they quickly recognized the minor role that nature had assigned them in the drama of reproduction, and quietly withdrew into a baffled reserve, catalysts to an explosion they couldn’t explain.” ~ p109

“… the tiniest bit of truth made credible the greatest lies.” ~ p418

Awards
2003 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
New York Times Editors’ Choice – Best Book of 2002
Nominated for 2003 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction

Also reviewed by

Save Ophelia | Farm Lane Books Blog | Caribousmom | Books for Breakfast | Trish’s Reading Nook | Incurable Logophilia | Stephanie’s Written World | Shelf Love | Books and other Stuff | Devourer of Books | Reading Matters | Rat’s Reading | My Random Acts of Reading | Lesley’s Book Nook | I’m Booking It | reading comes from writing | The Book Brothel | Bold. Blue. Adventure. | books i done read | So Many Precious Books, So Little Time | And here’s how it happened | Arukiyomi

The story in The Color Purple is told through a series of diary entries and letters. Somehow this worked well for me, since I could have short attention span sometimes, and reading diary entry or letter means it’s hardly longer than 2-3 pages at a time. The narrator, Celie, is a black woman who lives in 1930s in Southern United States. Since the diary entries are all Celie’s, the book is practically told in dialect, something that resembles “broken English”. It took some pages getting used to, but I got it pretty soon.

Celie is a poor uneducated woman who, at fourteen, repeatedly raped by a man she calls Pa and impregnated twice. The children were taken away from her and she was forced into marriage with a man who’s equally abusive. The only person she loves, her sister names Nettie, was separated from her. Later on the letters in the books are recorded from both Celie and Nettie, even though each doesn’t know if the other would read it.

The Color Purple discusses issues of degradation, poverty, sexism, racism, abuse, lesbianism (things in book that usually get banned..) But also about friendship, God, hope, and empowerment. I’m most interested in the relationships of the women in the book. From wife, mistress, ex-wife, girlfriend, step mom/daughter, sister, to nanny. The men are mostly portrayed as abusive, and therefore these women have at least something in common so they stick together and watch each other, even though it sometimes doesn’t start very smooth at the beginning.

I like the narration, how it feels so honest and down-to-earth, because the narrator, well, is a simple person. I get to like the simplicity of Celie’s observation of the world, her opinions and views about things, how she just hopes for the best and does everything she can to survive. The book is not at all heavy, but it’s touching and heartbreaking. I teared up at the end.

I think The Color Purple is a very important book. It touches on important issues without being preachy. It opens your eyes to ways of people’s lives that you may not be familiar about. At the end of the book, you’d feel that you are privileged to be allowed a glimpse into these amazing people’s lives. That they’re really alive somewhere, flesh and blood, and not just characters in a fiction book, which brings me to share the interesting dedication from Alice Walker at the beginning of the book:

To the Spirit:
Without whose assistance
Neither this book
Nor I
Would have been
Written

and at the end:

I thank everybody in this book for coming.
A. W., author and medium

She’s a medium, really? I would have believed her. The characters were so real, it is as if they were coming as spirits to her.

The Color Purple is one of the most frequently challenged book according to ALA because of its explicit content. It’s no. 6 in the top 10 of most challenged book of 2007 with reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language. I’m reading this for Banned Book challenge 2009 (and other challenges). Just a note from me, I don’t think the book is over-the-top sexually explicit apart from the very first page. It’s sort of started like an explosion, but calmed down more after that. And now that I think about it, there wasn’t any offensive language that I could remember of. It’s just that I can easily think of other books that contain more sexual content and offensive language that are not banned. I guess people are wary about the whole topic more than anything else.

Memorable Quotes

“But it ain’t easy, trying to do without God. Even if you know he ain’t there, trying to do without him is a strain.” ~ Celie, p174

“… have you ever found God in a church? I never did. I just found a bunch of folks hoping for him to show. Any God I ever felt in a church I brought in with me. And I think all the other folks did too. They come to church to share God, not find God.” ~ Shug, p174

“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.” ~ Shug, p177

“People think pleasing God is all God care about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back. … It always making little surprises and springing them on us when us least expect.” ~ Shug, p177

“Not if it make us crazy. It hard enough to git by without being a fool.” ~ Sofia, on Reefer, p198

“Now. Is this life or not? I be so calm. If she come, I be happy. If she don’t, I be content. And then I figure this the lesson I was suppose to learn.” ~ Celie, p257

Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Pages: 261
Publication year: 1982

Awards
1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and National Book Award

First line
You better not never tell nobody but God.

Last line
Matter of fact, I think this the youngest us ever felt.

Also reviewed by

The Hidden Side of Leaf (quotes) | Jenny’s Books | Things Mean A Lot | Arukiyomi | It’s all about me (time) | Care’s Online Book Club (forethoughts) | 1morechapter | Caribousmom | Orpheus Sings the Guitar Electric | Kristina’s Favorites

The Complete Maus is a memoir presented as a graphic novel. The complete story was published in 2 volumes: Part I: My Father Bleeds History in 1986 and Part II: And Here My Troubles Began in 1991. It recounts the struggle of Spiegelman’s father to survive the holocaust and also the troubled relationships between the author and his father. It draws largely based on the father’s recollections of his experiences.

The characters were drawn as half-animals (with animal head and some characteristics, but with human body). The jews are depicted as mice (hence the title, which is “mouse” in German), the Germans as cats, the Poles as pigs, Americans as dogs, and other minor animals. This choice feels so surprisingly natural that I can’t imagine it be done in any other way. The very few simple lines show the expressions very well. Even though all the (same) animals look pretty much similar apart from their clothes, I never lost track of who is whom. Love love love the arts. Spiegelman must be a genious.

I’m also very fond of the parts that show Spiegelman’s relationship with his father. How the war had affected so much, even to generations after the direct victim. How I wish to hear his mother’s side of the story. I found it completely ironic that the mother committed suicide after surviving a holocaust with no note. It was soo very very sad when at the end of the book, upon finding each other again, the father said “We were both very happy, and lived happy, happy ever after.” What an irony :(

At first I found the way they talked was kinda funny, and thought it was a translation mistake. I think it was done on purpose to show the way the father talk English (which is of course not his first language). After a while I started to find it adorable and I could really imagine a real person talking like that. The father was really smart. He survived by being smart. Of course there was a whole lot of luck involved. But he was first resourceful and strong, pysically and mentally. I found all of his little ‘survival techniques’ very interesting.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough. This is not just ‘another’ Holocaust story (which I kinda thought at the beginning). It’s not. It shows things from different views. It’s detailed but not graphically violent. It’s simple but it really strikes you all on the right spots. It’s personal, it’s heartbreaking, and but not overly melancholy. The book is a masterpiece. Nuff said.

Rating: 5 out of 5
Pages: 296
Publication year: 1986 (part I: My Father Bleeds History), 1991 (part II: And Here My Troubles Began)

Awards
1992 Pulitzer Prize, Special Awards and Citations – Letters
1992 Eisner Award Best Graphic Album: Reprint (Maus II)
1992 Harvey Award – Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work (Maus II)

Also reviewed by

Maw Books Blog | Caribousmom | Rebecca Reads | Educating Petunia | Things Mean A Lot | The Hidden Side of Leaf | Nothing of Importance | Bold. Blue. Adventure. | Rhinoa’s Ramblings | In Spring it is the Dawn | 1morechapter Maus I Maus II | A Life in Books | An Adventure in Reading | Thoughts of Joy Maus I Maus II | Book Nut | Books I Done Read (the only negative review :) | Out of the Blue | The Indextrious Reader | Cynical Optimism | Booknotes by Lisa | A Fondness for Reading (Maus I) | Historical Tapestry | where troubles melt like lemon drops | Regular Rumination (Maus I)

This is the first full book of short stories collection that I’ve read. I’m not so sure yet if I like short stories. They’re okay, but most of the time, they’re just too short. When the stories started, I kept thinking how they would end. Because they end in about 20-30 pages, which is very quick. I guess short stories are good to magnify particular problems or issues.

In this book, Lahiri wrote about lives of Indians in exile: immigrants, American born with Indian heritage, refugees. There are 9 stories in total.

A Temporary Matter is about a couple who struggle to cope with the death of their just-born baby. They can’t seem to communicate with each other anymore, until one day at home they’re having blackout for an hour everyday for a week long, and “forced” to be in each other’s company (since there’s nothing to do during blackout).

When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine talks a little bit about the Partition of India, seeing from a 10 years old point of view.

Interpreter of Maladies tells a story about an American-born Indian family who go on holiday to India, from their guide’s point of view.

A Real Durwan is about an old woman who’s the victim of the Partition (according to her) and stays at an apartment as a durwan (sort of like a guard). On a side note, I don’t understand how you can store your life saving at the end of your sari and anyone could just tug it to steal it.

Sexy is about how the word sexy is interpreted by a little boy :). I kinda like this one.

Mrs. Sen’s is about a woman who left India because of her husband’s work, being frustrated and homesick. Told from a boy who she babysits.

This Blessed House is a story about a newly married couple by arranged marriage who start finding all Christian stuff around their house, left by the old owners. I kinda miss the point of the whole story here.

The Treatment of Bibi Haldar is about a woman who suffers from random seizure. I’m not sure if she’s a bit retarded too or not. This is one of the more interesting stories, even if slightly sad.

The Third and Final Continent is about a guy who migrated from India to UK then US. Again, there’s arranged marriage.

Pages: 198
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 [Pretty Good]

Awards
2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
1999 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award

Quotes

“In those moments Mr. Kapasi used to believe that all was right with the world, that all strugles were rewarded, that all of life’s mistakes made sense in the end.” ~ Interpreter of Maladies p56

“I know my achievement is quite ordinary. I am not the only man to seek his fortune far from home, and certainly I am not the first. Still there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination.” ~ Third and Final Continent p198

Love love the last quote. It’s just so close to home. I too have survived 3 continents :)

The Road is awarded Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2007, James Tait Black Prize in 2006, and a finalist for the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction.

I was sorely disappointed with this book. I read it by the recommendation of a colleague, and many other people who quoted that this was their best book of the year. What I found was a book that left me all cold, and to be honest, bored. There are a lot of repetitions, from storyline (walk, cold, find food, sleep in cold, walk some more, repeat) to use of words (dark, gray, ash, black, silence, cold, repeat). The author also omitted a lot of punctuations for god knows why.

The setting is post-apocalyptic world. Survived a father and his son (and some other people they met along the way). Why it happened and why they survived are never explained. The author instead described this apocalyptic world endlessly and repeatedly, using repeated words over and over. I got all excited every time someone talked, but the spikes went away all too quickly, because there was nothing much ever happened.

The book is short, but I couldn’t finish it quickly because at several points it could be too depressing, and depressingly boring. At several points it literally bored me to tears. The book can’t even be considered as philosophical (something people might expect from topics like post-apocalyptic world). There’s little discussion about anything. It’s just full of plain hard facts, very descriptive novel. The only thing that I assume made it standout among all others is the fact that the author picked a unique subject matter. It could’ve been a very good book had it been developed more or differently. This one though, left me all flat, didn’t stir me one bit.

Ratings: 3 out of 5
Interesting subject matter. It has a lot of potential to be a very good book, but falls short for me.

terrible » poor » mediocre » okay » good » very good » excellent » superb

First line
When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he’d reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him.

Last line
In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery.

Quotes
“You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget.” ~ p12

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