violence

One Book a Week-48: “The Buried Giant”, Kazuo Ishiguro

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This is not the easiest book to read in many ways. Its setting is not long after the death of mythical King Arthur. Main characters include an elderly couple who have left their home to search for their long lost son, an aged knight supposedly Sir Gawain, a dragon monster, a “gifted” older child, and a Saxon warrior. Some of them are Britons and some are Saxons, and in some cases they view each other as arch enemies. There is a monastery with both good and evil monks, a tunnel, lots of forests and mountains, rivers, and a lake where a boatman ferries people to an island–perhaps the residence of the afterlife. The potential symbolism is endless if the reader is into symbolism. The dragon monster has created an endless fog which dulls the long term memory of the humans. The elderly couple want to get rid of the monster so they can repair their memories, but will this really be a good thing. That is one of the main questions in the book. Most analyses of the symbolism say the buried giant is the dragon, but I think it is the buried memories of everyone, but especially the elderly couple, who are desperate to recover their memories.

One Book a Week-47: “A Pipe for February”, Charles H. Red Corn

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If you have read “Killers of the Flower Moon” and/or seen the movie, this is a must read. Published in 2002, this Osage novel details the daily life of John Grayeagle from his viewpoint. A young, oil wealthy Osage man at the time he tells his story, John was raised by his grandfather because his parents, like many other Osage, were killed under strange circumstances, in his parents’ case an odd car wreck. He is the cousin of Molly, a main character in “Killers of the Flower Moon”. Although he received a college education, spent months traveling in Europe, lives in an elegant house, and drives an expensive car, he still follows many of the Osage traditions, which he details as he talks about his life throughout the novel. The novel describes the murders (which officials usually claimed were accidents or suicides) from the Osage point of view. They knew something was going wrong but were having difficulty determining what they could do about it. They were suspicious of the guardians assigned them by the US government who thought they were too stupid to manage their oil wealth, yet were often stymied when they tried to gain control of their own affairs. This is their story.

The author, who died in 2017, was a prominent member of the Osage Nation, a member of the Peace Clan as is the novel’s main character. The novel’s Foreward is written by Martin Scorsese, who cowrote the screenplay for “Killers of the Flower Moon” and coproduced and directed the movie.

One Book a Week-46: “Road Fever”, Tim Cahill

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After reading two intense, somewhat depressing novels, I decided to read a lighter non-fiction work. An article I read mentioned a tale of two guys, Tim Cahill and Garry Sowerby, who drove a GMC Sierra pickup truck from Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska in less than 25 days. I like adventures and the best vehicle I ever owned was a Sierra 4 by 4 Off Road. I sold it to a former student when I moved. It was still going strong at over 300,000 miles.

In order to follow along on their adventure, I dug out my atlas and followed their trip through 13 countries, finding cities, little towns, rivers, mountains. When they traveled in 1987, the only place with no road was the Darien Gap on the border between Colombia and Panama–today still no road and now famous for all the migrants who labor through this dangerous, swampy, jungle area on foot on their way north. Since no road there, Tim and Garry had to load the truck onto a container ship in Cartagena and unload it in Panama. They also rode on the ship as passengers. This lead to their meeting some of the most colorful characters on their trip.

Along the way, they meet all sorts of people, e.g. sadistic police, kind employees of international GMC, a weird consulate employee, and helpful women, describe them and the landscape in detail. Procuring the right documents and proceeding across borders is sometimes easy and sometimes grueling, again described in detail. Of course, political leaders, ease of travel, etc. have changed in many places–I’ve been to or lived in five of the countries they traverse.

Want to explore new places, meet all sorts of folks?? Then this is the book for you and a fun read.

One Book a Week-45: “The Bluest Eye”, Toni Morrison

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“The Bluest Eye” is one of the most banned books in the US. Even here in California, some in my local school district tried to get it removed from the high school library. One school board member told me it had been on the shelves since it was first published and no one cared until this year. Why the controversy about this book?

Yes, there is incest and sexual assault, but this occurs near the end. My guess is that what really disturbs some is the stark details and honesty about how people treat each other, the brutality of racism and poverty, and even among people of the same race, the cruelty of discrimination based on how people look, their level of education, their origins. The main character is poor, unattractive, and unpopular. She comes to believe that if she just had blue eyes, all her problems would disappear. She even goes to a charlatan preacher whom she believes can make her eyes blue because others have told her he creates miracles.

The relentless truths detailed in this novel create a hard look at the effects of poverty and racism.

One Book a Week-44: “The Unsettled”, Ayana Mathis

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To say this novel is intense is an understatement. It begins with Toussaint, a 13 year old boy left to survive on his own then switches to Ava, his mother, who grew up on the road following her mother’s singing in Southern clubs until her mother settles down with Caro in a Black country Alabama town where all the Black people own acreage and are not only self sufficient but also sell their goods in many places. The nice life they have in this town changes suddenly when disaster occurs and her mom, Dutchess, goes into a prolonged mourning period. Eventually, Ava goes to college, obtains various jobs, wanders all over the country, and meets Cass, a doctor and Black Panther whose charisma draws people to him. He disappears, she and their son, Toussaint, wander from place to place as she goes from job to job. She marries, Cass reappears, and one bad event after another occurs.

This is a story of mother and son love, women who become ensnared with the wrong men, self sufficiency in spite of many obstacles, angry men, hope, and redemption. It is a story of this country.

One Book a Week-42: “Where There Is Fire”, John Manuel Arias

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Before and since my two trips to Costa Rica, I thought Costa Rica had miraculously escaped the Banana Republic fate of many other Central American countries. This historical novel enlightened me to just how wrong I’ve been and how some of this continues today–huge US agricultural corporations controlling much of the agriculture.

In the 1960s, large US corporations invaded Costa Rica and controlled large blocks of land to raise bananas and cause havoc among large segments of the population. To increase yields the American Fruit Company doused their giant, lucrative, banana plantations with Nemagon, a pesticide that causes cancer and sterility. The novel includes letters indicating that both this company and Dow, the producer of the pesticide, knew this, did nothing about it, did not inform workers (until they had no choice), and continued its use.

The novel contains the story of one family’s history who lived near the largest plantation, the father and grandfather who worked there, a devastating fire, and the effects of this company’s policies on several generations.

Note: As recently as last year, the BBC reported on the use of this pesticide and its effects on workers and people living near plantations where it is still being used. Online you can find numerous articles about how these practices (the American Fruit Company is now Chiquita) fueled neocolonial exploitation and drug cartels.

One Book a Week-41: “Woman of Light”, Kali Fajardo-Anstine

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This historical novel lead me to learn a lot about the history of the Denver area and nearby indigenous areas with regard to both Hispanic and other immigrants, e.g. Greek. I had no idea Denver was once such a racist place with the KKK marching in the streets and white men killing men of color over women and land.

The title comes from the nickname of the main character, Luz Lopez, luz being the Spanish word for light. The novel traces her family’s sad and unjust history from the indigenous areas of CO and NM where her family originated to their migration to Denver in search of work. Luz has special powers, reads tea leaves, initially works as a laundress, and lives with her aunt because her parents were both killed. Her brother, a snake charmer, has to leave town to save his life after white men beat him nearly to death because he dares to love a white woman. This is a book about survival, love, jealousy, hatred, joy, and the history of various indigenous and immigrant people in Colorado and New Mexico.

The author’s earlier book, “Sabrina and Corina”, a collection of stories, was a finalist for the National Book Award and won a number of other prizes.

One Book a Week-40: “Wifedom”, Anna Funder

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I found this new non-fiction book both fascinating and disturbing. Like Funder, I’ve always considered George Orwell (not his real name) a great writer and appreciate his insights into the methods used to gain power and control people plus the clever ways those who wield power draw masses under their influence.

After reading several biographies of Orwell, Funder began to wonder about his wife whom these authors barely mention. What Funder discovers is both enlightening and dismaying. Did Orwell love her or just use her as an editor and fancy typist? Did he even like women or just use them? Would “Animal Farm” and “1984” even have been written without her help? The subtitle of Funder’s work is “Mrs. Orwell’s Invisible Life”. Her real name was Eileen O’Shaughnessy. She married him in 1936.

What does it mean to be a writer” What does it mean to be a writer’s wife?

In many ways this work is a tribute to the unrecognized contributions of women though out time and everywhere.

Note: While reading about Orwell and his wife and family, the reader also learns about what it was like to live in the middle of nowhere in the English countryside without adequate heat and even sometimes a lack of food. It also details Orwell’s stay in Spain during the Spanish Civil War and his travels to France as a journalist toward end of WWII. He also suffered from TB about which he continually lied to everyone.

One Book a Week-34: “If I Survive You”, Jonathan Escoffery

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After reading about this book and its author in a recent issue of the Sunday “Los Angeles Times”, I saw it while wandering around the local library and checked it out. Although the author’s work has been published in various magazines, this is his first book.

This collection of short stories reads like a novel because the characters in the stories are either identical or related from Trelawny and his brother Delano to their ill-fated cousin, Cukie, all of whom are the descendants of Jamaican immigrants living in or near Miami, Florida. Sometimes excluded because they are Black, they face other challenges, e.g. Trelawny because people cannot figure out what he is ethnically or racially due to his complexion and hair, light and only somewhat curly. All struggle to discover who they are and where they belong, if anywhere.

While many of their experiences remain heart wrenching, Escoffery has the ability to also make their stories funny. I kept think of some works by Sherman Alexie whose stories are both horrifying and hilarious.

Note: The next three books will remain anonymous and no blogs about them because they are for a project and I cannot report about them. I will be blogging poems and essays about other topics.

One Book a Week-33: “Narrative of the Life of FREDERICK DOUGLAS, an American Slave”, Frederick Douglas

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Anyone who thinks slavery was useful to slaves needs to read this personal account. By the time Frederick Douglas was in his mid-20s, he had worked for several different people as a slave. Some of these people were decent given the circumstances and helped him learn to read. Others performed acts of abject cruelty. The latter far outnumbered the former. In the past I have read a number of slave narratives. However, he so eloquently describes the beatings, shootings, and other atrocities that it is horrifying to read. The fact that he endured so much at such an early age and became the famous abolitionist, orator, and writer later in life speaks to his remarkable intellectual abilities and emotional strength.