A Gesture Life

A Gesture Life, by Chang-Rae Lee

A Gesture Life is another book that was really hard to get into, but the patience paid off. If it hadn't been a book group selection, I might not have stuck with it.

Franklin Hata was a man who was difficult to admire or respect, because he seemed cold and heartless. His stilted relationship with his adopted daughter Sunny just made me sad. He had a chronic difficulty in relating to anyone on a deep, true level.

Presumably, this was because of his difficult experiences in the war and his obsession with K, a Korean "comfort woman." The storyline about the comfort women made me truly sick to my stomach. Apparently when Chang-Rae Lee began writing this novel, it was going to be all about comfort women, but he found that to be too heavy of a subject. His obsession with K reminded me of the foreign men I knew in Japan who were obsessed with Japanese women...many of them ended up marrying them and staying in Japan. They were drawn to them because they were less likely to challenge them than western women. They liked the way the Japanese women looked up to them. Often, these men would not have been classified as "catches" in the US or UK. These relationships were not very equal.

That is the relationship between Franklin and K. He thinks he loves her, but she only views him as one more man who is taking advantage of her. In his case, perhaps he can help her a little. But he means nothing to her.

I appreciated this book more after discussing it with my book group. Some of them liked it better than I did, and one of my friends observed that perhaps it was the way she had been raised, with more distant parenting. That could be.

It was beautifully written, but a little bit disappointing for me. I expected more, and I found it to be really sad.

Keeping the House

Keeping the House, by Ellen Baker

Each chapter in Ellen Baker's novel begins with an excerpt from a 1950s homemaking guide...about how women can keep their husbands happy. The central theme of Keeping the House is the pressure to be perfect that women faced in the early to mid-1900s.

Told through the lens of Dolly Magnuson, a homemaker who moves to Pine Rapids, Wisconsin in 1950 without any friends in the area, the book goes back to the late 1800s when Dolly begins visiting an abandoned mansion and uncovers the secrets of the family who inhabited it.

Dolly's unhappy in her marriage, just as Wilma Mickelson, the matriarch of the great house, was unhappy in hers. They also both feel stifled by the provincial attitudes of the people in the town. This sweeping novel illustrates the pressures women faced, trying to create a perfect house while sacrificing their own needs. It's homemaking before feminism.

I enjoyed the frequent references to Lutherans in Wisconsin. It was worth the read!

After Eli

After Eli, by Rebecca Rupp

In this thoughtful middle grade/young adult novel, young Danny struggles to cope with the death of his older brother, Eli, in Iraq. He's not getting much help from his angry father and vacant mother, who grew much more distant after Eli died. Eli had filled the gap of his parents' attention, and now not only was Eli gone, but his parents were even more far away.

Over the summer he befriends two unusual young people: the decidedly "uncool" but extremely smart Walter, and the beautiful, exotic Isabelle, who has quirky and creative younger twin siblings.

I actually found Isabelle to be annoying and pretentious. One Goodreads reviewer described her well as an irrelevant Manic Pixie Dream Girl (defined as "a fantasy figure who 'exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures.'” Walter and the twins offered more of an appeal for me.

My favorite parts of the book were Danny's memories of Eli, who was sarcastic and mischievous but loving, and Danny's friendship with Eli's high school friend and purple potato farmer and his girlfriend, who come to be like a family for him.

Rebecca Rupp approaches grief with a quiet, sensitive touch, and even though Danny chronicles the death of various people in his "Book of the Dead," the book was redemptive in the end.

Code Name Verity

Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein

I LOVED this book...in fact, it's my favorite so far in 2014. I would not have been drawn to the title, but it was my book group selection for the month.

The story is about "Verity," a female British spy, is captured in Nazi-occupied France, and her best friend Maddie, the pilot who flew her into France. The Nazis torture and interrogate Verity (or "Queenie"), and she writes about her friendship with Maddie and their training before and during the war. Slowly, the reader learns the pieces of her story...at least, what she is telling the Nazis.

I don't want to say much more about the book for fear of giving any details away. It did take me a bit of time to get into (I'm not terribly interested in flying airplanes--so the beginning bored me a bit at times), but it is SO WORTH PERSEVERING.

I finished it in the middle of the night before book group...and I found myself crying in the living room at 5:00 a.m. The book is not only beautifully written, but it's cleverly crafted. It's one of the few books I've read that makes me want to go right back and reread it now that I know the ending...it will stick with me for a long time.

I think next time I will listen to it so I can hear the English and Scottish accents. It's one of the few books I've read that has the word "gormless" in it (one of my English husband's favorite words, which I'd never heard before I met him).

Some have called it as a "love letter to female friendship," which is an excellent way to describe it. I do think it's one of the most beautiful homages to friendship I've ever read. This is one of my favorite lines from the book:

"It's like being in love, discovering your best friend."

Read it!

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, by Laura Hillenbrand

Louis Zamperini with his brother Pete

My sister and husband both read Unbroken for their respective book groups and loved it. I was looking forward to diving in, and it did not disappoint.

Unbroken is the true story of Louis Zamperini, destined to be the world's fastest miler. He spent his childhood getting into one scrape after another and seemed destined to be a failure until he discovered running. He participated in the 1936 Olympics (presided over by Hitler) but would be in his prime at the 1940 and 1944 Olympics. Sadly, the 1940 Games were cancelled, and he was otherwise occupied in 1944.

The photo that made me cry!
Zamperini greeting his mother
after returning from the war



When World War II broke out, Zamperini enlisted in the Army Air Forces and was stationed in Hawaii. While flying in a plane over the Pacific to rescue another plane that had not returned from a mission, Zamperini and his crewmates crash-landed in the ocean. Amazingly, he and the two other survivors floated on a life raft for 47 days--drinking rain water, eating raw fish and birds they caught with their hands, and telling stories to keep themselves sanee--before drifting to one of the Marshall islands, where they were captured by the Japanese.

This is nonfiction at its best: I learned about running, life in the army during World War II (and how many planes went down when they were not in combat), and survival in a brutal Japanese POW camp. Heavy on narrative and light on dialogue, the book drags for some readers (especially during the descriptions of the airplanes and combat flights), but I found the book to be completely gripping.

When Zamperini returns to the U.S., he suffers from alcoholism and post-traumatic stress disorder, which in those days was not talked about much less treated.

Of course, the most fascinating thing about the book is knowing that it's a true story and Louis Zamperini survived what seemed humanly impossible to endure...first while being lost at sea without food or water, somehow missing the circling and lunging sharks, and then while enduring brutal, horrific treatment at the hands of the Japanese guards, who believed it was shameful to be a POW and so took out their scorn in violent, inhumane ways.

After living in Japan and being welcomed by the Japanese people, it's hard to read about the brutality during the war. But Zamperini was able to forgive his Japanese captors and eventually returned to Japan, once to see his guards and extend an olive branch, and again to carry the torch at the Nagano Olympics.

Zamperini is in fact still alive and kicking, at age 95. Here is a short video about Zamperini:

Go read this book!! It will make you look at your life in new ways and stop you from taking things for granted.

The Book Thief

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

I read this for our May book group selection, and I loved it. I have been aware of this book for many years, and in fact we gave it to our friends' teenage daughter one Christmas. But it wasn't until one of our book group members highly recommended it AND both my sister and my husband read it for their book groups and also loved it, that I finally dug in.

It's the story of Liesel, a German girl living in a small town near Munich during World War II. It's about the Holocaust, of course, but more than anything it's about Liesel and her relationships with others, including a Jewish man who hides in her basement, her foster parents, and her best friend Rudy. This book is unique because it's not directly about the Jewish experience but rather about the Germans. It gives one a different perspective of a German child's experience of the war.

Liesel finds a way to transcend her difficult circumstances (she loses her family of origin) by finding herself in words, through the books she begins stealing. She doesn't steal very many books, but just enough to make her life more interesting.

I loved the way Liesel's foster father teaches her how to read (in the middle of the night), the rough way her foster mother calls everyone a "saumensch" and a "saukerl," the unrequited young love between Liesel and Rudy, the beautiful books Max creates for Liesel and her unconventional friendship with him, the stolen trips to the library of the mayor's wife, and the beautiful way words and music are woven through the book. In the midst of a society full of distrust for books and words, Liesel reads aloud from her books to all of the people gathered in the bomb shelters. My book group friends all liked the narrator being death, and especially found the last page to be beautiful.

This book is undeniably sad, but well written and beautiful at the same time.

Unbroken, a great book according to my husband!

Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand

I haven't read it yet, but my husband just finished this book and loved it. You can read his review here.

Words in the Dust: Beauty beyond the external

Words in the Dust, by Trent Reedy
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

My middle grade writer husband first recommended this book to me, and he told me I should read it because it's about a girl with a cleft lip.

As I've documented a few times on my other blog, I too had a cleft lip (and palate) because my mom had German measles when she was pregnant with me. I had a series of surgeries throughout childhood to correct both cleft lip and palate, in addition to ear tube surgeries (because of the frequent ear infections often associated with a cleft palate), oral surgery, and two jaw surgeries. I'm well aware of how lucky I was to be born when and where I was. A few years ago Mike and I made a Christmas donation to Interplast, an organization that corrects cleft lips in developing countries, to pay it forward.

But I've never read a book about a person with a cleft lip or palate, so of course I knew I must read this one. It's a middle grade novel, so written in a much simpler fashion than Cutting for Stone.

Zulaikah is a young Afghani girl who is taunted mercilessly by the neighborhood bullies because of her split lip and crooked teeth. (I, too, had horribly crooked teeth.) Her mother died during a Taliban raid, and her stepmother seems to dislike her. Her only consolation in life is her beloved sister, Zeynab. As frequent blog readers will know, I have a soft spot for books with positive sister relationships because of my own close relationship with my sister. When Zulaikah's sister is married off to a much-older man, her world seems to lose its meaning. But then the American military arranges for her cleft lip to be repaired, and the world seems brighter...but not for long. It's Afghanistan, and life is full of tragedies.

Even though I had my cleft lip and palate repaired as a young girl, I never felt as beautiful as other girls. I, too, was teased--either because of my scar or my crooked teeth, or because I was not like the other kids. Even now--at the age of 46--I sometimes catch children or even adults staring at my scar. Sometimes children ask me about it (which I would prefer over rude stares). That feeling of inadequacy and physical imperfection still haunts me when I think about it.

Zulaikah believes that the cleft lip surgery will make her beautiful like her sister, although she comes to realize that external beauty does not bring happiness.

Trent Reedy based this story on his own experiences as a National Guard soldier in Afghanistan (which you can read about on his web site). The book did not bring me to tears until I read the author's note, in which he shared his own interaction with an Afghani girl with a cleft lip.

One editorial error I noted: Zulaikah's plastic surgeon is named "Dr. Akamura," and he is described as a "compact Chinese man." However, Akamura is a Japanese name, not Chinese. (I wouldn't have known this myself before moving to Japan in my early 20s.)

In spite of her extremely difficult life, Zulaikah's savior comes in the form of a woman named Meena, who studied in a literary society with her mother. She finds hope in the form of ancient poetry, and she's able to imagine a better, more meaningful life for herself.

I highly recommend this book--for both young people and adults alike.

The Wedding Officer: Never judge a book by its cover

The Wedding Officer, by Anthony Capella

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

When I received this book via Paperbackswap.com, I was a bit dismayed by the cover. Except for a brief foray into Danielle Steele when I was in college, I DON'T DO ROMANCE. And the book cover definitely looks like romance, "women's" type of fiction. Blech.

Naples and Mount Vesuvius, the setting for this novel

So I was happily surprised to enjoy this book very much. Young British army captain James Gould is stationed in Naples, Italy, assigned as the "wedding officer," to discourage marriages between British soldiers and Italian women. In dire straits, most women in Naples could only find one way to make a living: by selling their bodies. Therefore, how would it look for upright Brits to be marrying prostitutes? Not good. Naive Gould approaches his job at first in a very black-and-white way, but eventually he comes to realize that truth and beauty, and in fact justice, often lie in the gray areas.

Women with their children in wartime Naples, Italy

Gould falls in love with extraordinarily talented chef Livia Pertini, who grew up at the base of Mount Vesuvius. After her family falls into ruin, she ends up taking a position as the cook for the British officers. Capella is not the first author to portray the stirrings of young love among the appetizing aromas and flavors of exquisitely prepared (and described) food. Livia was a wonderful character: spunky, passionate, brave, and wise.

As with all great historical fiction, I learned a great deal about that era and setting during World War II. I knew about Pompeii and had heard about Mount Vesuvius, but I did not know that it erupted during the allied occupation of Italy. In fact, I knew very little about Italy during the war.

The 1944 eruption of Mount Vesuvius

Apparently scientists say it's overdue for another eruption, but this time millions of people will be killed. Naples is only 6 miles away from the volcano.

Toward the end of the book, I found myself wondering whether Capella was a happy-ending or tragic-ending sort of guy. The plot could have gone either way. I won't spoil the ending by answering that for you.

Mockingjay: Real, or not real?

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This morning I finished Book #3 of the Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay. Suzanne Collins has crafted an amazing allegorical story, full of vivid imagery and memorable characters. As I mentioned in my review of Catching Fire, the world in these books is not as far from our modern-day world as we might think. We are the privileged ones in the Capitol, and the developing world produces much of our goods and services. Their compensation is unfair and their conditions are often untenable. We are aware of this yet we do little about it.

Some readers found Mockingjay to be a highly satisfying end to the series, while others were sorely disappointed. I found myself feeling greatly relieved to be finished with the series, as brilliant as it is. (This is why I gave it four stars rather than five--it's brilliant stuff but I reserve five stars for books that make me feel good.) I feel that way each time I read a dystopian book--with the exception of the Harry Potter series, they seem to be the types of fantasy novels I read (The Handmaid's Tale,The Left Hand of Darkness, The Road, etc.). I felt tainted and disturbed after reading each one of these books. They stick with me for days afterward. That's the point.

Many of the disappointed readers note that Katniss is not her feisty, fiery self in this final book. She seems to be broken and lacking in choices throughout the book. She's often on the edge of the action instead of in the middle of it. That's true...but I think her lack of choice--and her exhaustion--is exactly the point Collins is trying to make. She's still a child, and she's seen and experienced more horror and tragedy than any person should have to bear.

SPOILER ALERT

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Some reviewers have commented that Prim's and Finnick's deaths were too slapdash, and it's true--they were. However, that reflects the nature of war. Soldiers cannot take much time to mourn their loved ones lest they let their guard down and make themselves vulnerable.

President Coin's complicity in the violence and betrayal disillusioned me. I wanted to believe that the rebels were fighting against the evil, not seeking to continue it. And Plutarch chose to join the rebel cause for what, if not to fight for a higher, more noble cause? In the end, he is no better than those in the Capitol because he joins in Coin's plot.
When Katniss votes to let the Hunger Games continue, I was so disappointed in her. Then after she tricks everyone and kills Coin instead of Snow, it left me wondering whether this was a split-second decision or a calculated move. Collins illustrates the human tendency to perpetuate the violence a person suffers, just as abuse victims do.

Gale's choices did not surprise me in the end, although the love triangle was resolved passively for Katniss instead of her taking a stand and making a choice for Gale or Peeta. This is why some readers have said that Katniss didn't make active choices in this final book. Things happen to her (with a few exceptions) instead of her happening to things.

After all that death and destruction at the end, it was somewhat surprising to have a relatively "happy" ending, although Katniss will always be haunted by the Hunger Games. I'm a happy ending sort of person, so I liked the way it ended.


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The Jade Peony: Being Chinese in Vancouver

The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

In preparation for our trip to Vancouver, BC, last summer, I looked up books about Vancouver. Wayson Choy was one of the most frequently mentioned authors. I find that Canadian authors are not very widely read in the U.S., and I've found many Canadian gems.

The novel is divided into three sections, each telling the unique perspective of three siblings growing up in the Chinatown of Vancouver. It touches on many issues of race, family, rivalry, the battle between the old ways and the new ways, discrimination, war, and homosexuality.

I found many parts of the novel interesting (for example, the young girl's unique friendship with an older, disfigured Chinese man, or the affair between the Chinese girl and the Japanese boy), but it dragged in other parts. In some sections Choy included far too many characters for the reader to follow. I didn't get the same feeling of place as I did in reading Vancouver.

I have Choy's autobiography out of the library, but I'm not sure whether I'll read it just yet. This book didn't grip me enough as it could have.



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Small Wars: Family and military strife in Cyprus in the 1950s

Small Wars by Sadie Jones

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Englishwoman Clara marries soldier Hal, knowing what will be expected of her as a military wife. She follows him to his posting in Cyprus, along with her two small daughters.

Many years ago, a friend of ours spent a year in Cyprus and had an amazing experience. What she told us is the extent of my knowledge about the country, before reading this book.

In the 1950s, Cypriots were rebelling against British rule. Clara gets caught in the middle of this civil crisis, as Hal witnesses some life-changing, very disturbing actions by his men.

I found it frustrating that the author used a number of acronyms and abbreviations in her book, which are most likely unknown and not understood by the reader.

The characters felt distant--from each other as well as from the reader--which I suspect was intentional. It was a "very proper British marriage," with not a lot of lively conversation taking place, but clearly fondness for each other.

Overall, it was an interesting read.



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Plum Wine: One of my favorites

Plum Wine: A Novel by Angela Davis-Gardner

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I loved this story of an American teaching in Japan in the 70s, whose surrogate Japanese mother dies and leaves her a tansu chest full of plum wine and messages about her life in Hiroshima. Beautiful, evocative story.



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Everything Is Illuminated: Seeking answers in the past

Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I am looking forward to reading a chronological novel next. This one was a bit hard to follow, and I'm glad I stuck with it.

A young man returns to the Ukraine to find the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis. I especially appreciated the story of friendship between Jonathan and Alex.



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A Thousand Splendid Suns: Loved it!

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Magnificent! I enjoyed this one even more than The Kite Runner. It was as difficult to read as The Kite Runner at times, but the story of women's friendship was beautiful. I loved it!!



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The Zookeeper's Wife: Polish zookeeper and wife save hundreds of Jews

The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


FANTASTIC story of a zookeeper and his wife, who shelter and save hundreds of Jews during WWII in Warsaw. Amazing writing by naturalist Diane Ackerman, and illuminating detail about war-era Polish life.



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Beside a Burning Sea: Another great one by John Shors

Beside a Burning Sea by John Shors

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. John Shors is the perfect writer for me, because his books (so far) are based in Asia and have strong female protagonists (which both appeal to me very much!).

I would give Beside a Burning Sea four-and-a-half stars, but that's not possible on goodreads. I didn't love it quite as much as Beneath a Marble Sky--mostly because in that book I learned so much about Indian history and the building of the Taj Mahal. But I couldn't put this book down and was desperate to discover whether everyone would make it off the island alive.

The story begins on the hospital ship Benevolence in the middle of World War II. Benevolence gets shot down by a torpedo, and nine survivors make it to an uninhabited nearby island. Seven Americans, one Fijian boy, and one Japanese soldier...and one traitor and villain among them.

I had two very minor criticisms of the book. 1. The main Japanese character, Akira, spoke near-perfect English (he was an English professor before he became a soldier). After teaching English to Japanese adults who had been studying the language for years, I found his conversational skills a bit too perfect for reality. 2. The traitor/villain could speak Japanese because he grew up in Japan, but the U.S. military never learned that about him? But neither of these issues affected my overall enjoyment of the story.

Here are some things I loved about the book:

--The haikus that began each chapter (divided into days), which reflected what was going on at that stage of the book

--Shors' writing of Akira's appreciation of beauty, particular natural beauty, which was reminiscent of the Japanese aesthetic and appreciation for the natural world

--The interracial romances and deep, abiding friendships developed during the story

--The wide diversity of characters developed

--The strong female characters

--The rapid pace of the story and the tensions created between the characters

Overall, I would give it two thumbs up! I look forward to Shors' next novel, which will take place in modern-day Saigon.

One final note about Shors: I have been very impressed upon reading about Shors' creative methods for getting his books better known. After Beneath a Marble Sky was published, he included his e-mail address at the end of the book and encouraged book groups to contact him. He talked (via phone or in person) to over 1,000 book groups! I'm sure that really helped a great deal to get the word out...and no doubt helped to get Amy Tan's endorsement on the front of this new novel!



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The Glory Cloak: One of my favorites!

The Glory Cloak: A Novel of Louisa May Alcott and Clara Barton by Patricia O'Brien

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I discovered this book because a woman I interviewed for a job in Honolulu brought the book to the interview (to read while she was waiting). I asked her about it, and she recommended it. Then we ended up not hiring her--and she sent me the book with a thank you note--sign of a true book lover!!

I loved this book! Delicious historical fiction loosely based on the lives of Louisa May Alcott and Clara Barton. A beautiful story of women's friendship in the time of war and trials.



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The Language of Threads: Women silk workers in China (Part 2)

The Language of Threads by Gail Tsukiyama

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Last year I got the opportunity to hear Tsukiyama speak at a banquet for the Willamette Writers in Portland. She is half Japanese-American and half Chinese-American, and most of her books center around Japan or China. After hearing her speak, I read her first novel, Women of the Silk (about women who worked in the silk factories in China) and loved it. The Language of Threads picks up where Women of the Silk left off.

I can see that Tsukiyama's writing has only improved in the interval between the two books. The Language of Threads is the continuing story of former silk worker, Pei, as she escapes to Hong Kong and endures WWII under the Japanese occupation. She continues to form strong friendships and thrive in the midst of the chaos around her.

Pei's story is unusual in literature about China for two reasons: (1) women rely on each other more than they rely on men...it's a hopeful story about women sticking together through turmoil, and (2) the books have positive male characters (as well as negative). I also find it interesting to consider Tsukiyama's ethnic background, 1/2 Chinese and 1/2 Japanese, and wonder about her own inner turmoil as she writes about what her Japanese ancestry did to her Chinese ancestry around the time of the war.

Well worth the time! If you read this one, I strongly enourage you to read Women of the Silk first.



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Dragon House: New beginnings in Vietnam

Dragon House by John Shors

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Shors has written about India (Beneath a Marble Sky), World War II and the Japanese (Beneath a Burning Sea), and now about street children in Vietnam. I very much enjoyed this book, although I think I enjoyed the first two books of his I read better. They were both more ambitious and sweeping.

Shors brought Vietnam, one of the few Asian countries I haven't visited, to life for me. He paints a compassionate picture of the neglected children on the street and two broken Americans who arrive in Vietnam to open a center for street children.

My one regret about this book was that it starts out with Iris, but as the plot changes we get to know the least about Iris out of all of the central characters in the book. I would have liked to know more about her, what made her tick, and what shaped her into the woman she is today.

This book's plot and style were less complex than Schors' first two, and the writing style was much simpler. At times, some of the authors' emphasis on things (such as mentioning Noah's prosthesis constantly) got tiresome...much like I got annoyed with JK Rowling when she referred to Voldemort's voice as "high and cold" every time Voldemort appeared.

The book prompted me to search Google Images for photos of Vietnam--Ho Chi Minh City and Halong Bay in particular. Schors illustrates how family and love stretch broader than our blood relatives--across generations and across cultural and language divides. I found the story to be heartwarming. If you are interested in southeast Asia, you would enjoy this book. I'm looking forward to Schors' next book.

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