[Book Club] Shanghai Girls

by Lisa See

I'll be truthful, I know very little about Chinese history in the United States. I vaguely recall mistreatment over the building of railroads and Angel Island. I actually only learned about Angel Island because it was a small blurb in a ninth grade vocabulary book. You know, when they want to use the words you've learned in context, so they come up with paragraphs for you to find the words in. (Actually...how awesome would that job be?) I picked up Shanghai Girls from the leftover books one of the teachers leaving here left, mostly because the spine was pink, and I was curious about the mystery promised in the summary.

BASIC SUMMARY: The book spans the lives of two young women, Pearl and her younger sister, May, from their early adulthood in the thirties to middle age in California in the sixties. See takes us from the glory of Shanghai to the Japanese invasion to immigration to living through discrimination in the US. It's written more for young adults, and it's written more to showcase the long journey Pearl and May take than to focus on specific moments. After all, it covers about 20 years in roughly 300 pages. Gone with the Wind covers 10 years in 4x that amount. It's not necessarily a happy story either, but it's not totally tragic and there's hope within the moments that are. 

THOUGHTS: Because I have very little understanding of Chinese-American history, and I have no ancestors to ask, I found this book fascinating. See has very clearly studied her roots, and this book serves more to explain the C-A history than as anything else. In terms of knowledge, it's the perfect introduction to encourage more study. In terms of book hangovers and being emotionally rewarding, I did find it a little lacking. Although one might argue, the brisk pace and tonal neutrality from the narrator enhances the horror of the events, I did not find it to be so. Pearl explains family loss, forced marriage, rape, injustices, suicides, and so much more in such a brisk way that I didn't have a lot of time to absorb her emotions before a few years have passed and something else happens. 

Definitely read the book, though, and see for yourself. I'm also the kind of person that relishes long paragraphs spent observing minute moments.   

Fifty Shades of Grey the Book

Since I spent Valentine's Day this year in transit during my vacation, I will not be seeing the much talked about Fifty Shades of Grey movie. Don't worry, I'm not losing sleep over it. While I actually really like the actors they chose (I used to watch the sitcom Dakota Johnson starred on, "Ben and Kate," and I was very confused when Jamie Dornan was actually dead dead on "Once Upon a Time." Of course, Jennifer Ehle and Marcia Gay Harden are the bomb), and I'm holding out hope that this is a case where the movie far exceeds Fifty Shades of Grey the book, I still have ridiculous issue with the story. 

Frankly, I don't care about the BDSM talk, the erotic nature, or the controversy over whether its an abusive relationship or not. If you ask me, just because Ana starts out as a virgin in the first book, doesn't make her a totally innocent, totally naive young thing who gets taken advantage of by the good looking, domineering rich boy. In fact, one of the things I actually liked about the book was that the author took stalkerish things and called them out (lookin' at you Peeping Tom, Edward Cullen). No, no my main issue with the book is how poorly written it is, and how of all the erotica out there in the world both new and old, modern and historical, something so poorly written, so dependent of overly done stereotypes gets to be the center of controversy. Let's be honest, any flaws you might find in how the relationship is portrayed isn't on purpose, it's just bad writing. 

Listen, BDSM is an interesting subject, one not really meant for this blog, but, hey, if you ever wanna chat over tea about how it's becoming mainstream and whatnot, feel free to fly on over to Korea for coffee and let me know. Sex in general is a topic that's talked about quite frequently, and thought of more than people let on for a long time. You know you and your friends have discussed it to some varying degrees! However using that (and I guess Twilight, since this started out as fan fic) as your launching point is no excuse to produce such obvious plot arcs, trite characters, and terrible dialogue. 

Let's take our leads for example. Christian Grey is super rich and super powerful, enough that he can, you know, fly his own helicopter. He's older, but young enough that you're still into it. I'll buy the super rich thing because it's fiction, and part of the romance fantasy. What's trite to me is his back story. Abuse from a druggie mother and her pimp as a child has led him to the figure he is today, needing to control and dominate. REALLY? Because we haven't seen that character arc a thousand times before. Plus, if this book is attempting to bring about dialogue about how BDSM is a natural, normal practice, making your dom a dom because of his screwed up childhood is kind of feeding into the stereotypes surrounding BDSM. Shouldn't her editor have pointed this out? Also, I swear if a man I'm seeing ever says to me, "Laters, baby," I will puke on his shoes. There. is. nothing. sexy. about. that. phrase.

Ana Steele is probably even more of a walking stereotype that made me want to throw my Kindle across the room (except I was house sitting, and that'd just be rude). Ana lives in classic novels because she's an English Literature major. She doesn't own a laptop or a computer even though she's graduating in 2011 (which is the most anachronistic thing I've ever read); she's a virgin because guys in real life have never lived up to the Rochesters and Mr. Darcys of her coursework (but all of a sudden these guys spring up out of the woodwork...), and because of the above she has the docile, bookworm appearance of someone submissive. Wow, okay. This is the walking definition of a cliche. She's different from normal because she likes classic novels and made it through college with her standards high and virginity intact... Let me slam my head into my desk now. Not to mention, she's a pretty terrible English major if she's looking at Alex D'Urberville as anything more than a total rapist. Way to take one of my favorite books and drag into this mess. Pretty sure Thomas Hardy is banging is head against his coffin.

Ah, and one last note. The pacing of this series is terrible and makes the lead couple seem like a bunch of horny adolescents who think 24 hours is like 24 years. They fight, and he can't even make it a week without chasing her down? (Not to mention that sex scene that will thankfully not be in the movie, gross) Furthermore, the time lapse between the first and second book is three days, but by the dramatic descriptions used, you'd think it was three years. Let's get real here.

All in all, I'm a total hater of this book because it hides horrible writing and plot behind a controversial topic that deserves to be discussed more. If you want your kicks so be it. I will credit James that she can write some hot sex scenes that make running on the treadmill go by a little faster, but its like she put all her ability in those few scenes and then forgot how to write for the rest of them. Kudos to her, though, for making it onto the NYT Bestseller list and getting her book made into a movie franchise with a soundtrack including Beyonce. I can hate on quality, but I can admire what she's achieved. If you want some erotica that's a bit better written and has significantly better plot lines and character development, may I point you towards Bertrice Small. Her book, Love Slave, sparked my interest in Arabic Spain.

What do you think? Am I being too harsh? Are you a fan of the books/franchise? 

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Happy October!

Ah, October is upon us. Autumn may officially start in late September, but when people think of all things quintessentially fall (pumpkins, colored leaves, cable knit, hot cups of tea, hayrides) it's October. Additionally, I've noticed a particular quote, "I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers," has been making its rounds via social media. This quote will probably be stored in Buzzfeed's growing list of "Things White Girls Will Do in the Fall," but I highly approve of its growing popularity. My reason is simply this: anything that can remind me of Anne Shirley and L.M. Montgomery's beautiful novels gives me inexplicable joy and happiness. I like to think that the strong influence of L.M. and Louisa May Alcott in my pubescent years provides a balance between wanting to be that chick in a Chanel suit on Wall Street (which is an extreme I'll never pursue) and wanting to make homemade everything and live on Prince Edward Island. I read the Anne series a little later in life (i.e. late middle school), and I fell head over heels in love. Anne was my kindred spirit, and I still remember so many little things L.M. wrote throughout the novels that I love to revisit. She dreamed the way I dreamed, and I loved being taken on the journey from her later childhood to later adulthood. I squealed when Gilbert was finally permanent in her life, I cringed at her embarrassing follies, and I sobbed when her son died in the last book. I never really had a "best" friend, person, or kindred spirit the way I saw, but in those rough years of early adolescence, characters like Anne were the best friends I lacked in reality (that sounds a lot more pathetic than it actually was, I promise!).

So, in honor of Annie and her new found fame in October, here are some of my other favorite quotes/phrases from the book

"Some people are naturally good, you know, and others are not. I'm one of the others." 

"It's been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will." 

"Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?"

"One can't stay sad for long in such an interesting world, can one?"

"Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world."

"Life is worth living as long as there's a laugh in it."

"Dreams don’t often come true, do they? Wouldn’t it be nice if they did?" 

 "If you can’t be cheerful, be as cheerful as you can."

 "Well, anyway, when I grow up, I'm always going to talk to little girls as if they were, too, and I'll never laugh when they use big words."

 "You mayn't get the things themselves; but nothing can prevent you from having the fun of looking forward to them."

"She makes me love her and I like people who make me love them. It saves me so much trouble making myself love them." 

"It's good advice, but I expect it will be hard to follow; good advice is apt to be, I think."

 "I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. It would be terrible if we just skipped from September to November, wouldn't it? Look at these maple branches. Don't they give you a thrill--several thrills?"

"Good night, dear Lake of Shining Waters. I always say good night to the things I love, just as I would to people. I think they like it. That water looks as if it was smiling at me."

"But I just went to work and imagined that I had on the most beautiful pale blue silk dress — because when you are imagining you might as well imagine something worth while…"

"All the Beyond was hers, with its possibilities lurking rosily in the oncoming years — each year a rose of promise to be woven into an immortal chaplet."

"Look at that sea, girls--all silver and shadow and vision of things not seen. We couldn't enjoy its loveliness any more if we had millions of dollars and ropes of diamonds."

"I read in a book once that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but I've never been able to believe it. I don't believe a rose WOULD be as nice if it was called a thistle or a skunk cabbage."

"It is ever so much easier to be good if your clothes are fashionable." 

"We pay a price for everything we get or take in this world; and although ambitions are well worth having, they are not to be cheaply won, but exact their dues of work and self denial, anxiety and discouragement."

"It's nicer to think dear, pretty thoughts and keep them in one's heart, like treasures. I don't like to have them laughed at or wondered over." 

 Happy October, Everyone!

It's Coming! (Stop and Smell the Pages)

So, exciting, exciting news! The anthology with which I have been helping publish in my internship with the Literary House is officially complete! While it won't receive an official release until October 2014, I can tell you it's been printed, and it's beautiful:

You can read about my experience and my love of proofreading here!

[Book Club] An Intellectual Heartbreaker

NEVER LET ME GO

Kazuo Ishiguro

I've been wanting to read this book for quite a while. I'm not ashamed to say I only learned about it because of the movie staring Keira, Michelle, and Andrew. For some reason or another, I never quite got around to buy or borrowing the book from the library. Well, earlier this semester when I was picking up a book for class, I got to wandering the shelves and looking at all the novels needed for different English classes, and I stumbled across the very book I'd had on my "To-Read" List for ages. I picked it up and in a week or so later, I was beginning to be late for class or other engagements because I needed to keep reading. It wasn't a particularly suspenseful book, but it was the kind of book where you wanted to know how the characters went from point A to point B and why. 

Basically, Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth grow up in the idyllic boarding school of Hailsham where they are told repeatedly just how special they are. They experience classic trials and tribulations of friendship, not fitting in, dating, and more but there is an underlying twist to the whole plot. From terms like "carer" and "completion" and "donations," you get a sense that something is off until Ishiguro slowly reveals the true nature of the characters and Hailsham. 

Definitely a fantastic read! Pick it up and don't be silly like me and wait for forever. Ishiguro is a genius.

[Book Club] Good Movie, Good Book

WARM BODIES

by Isaac Marion

So I saw the movie, Warm Bodies, first. I love, love, love Nicholas Hoult--not just because he's British and bears a striking resemblance to the guy I had a ginormous crush on in my early high school years--, and my friend texted me and asked me to go last minute. I had never seen the trailer and didn't even know what I was going to watch, so I was extremely and pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it. Also, Nora, Julie's best friend, is none other than ANALEIGH TIPTON. Loved her on ANTM, and, like I promised four years ago, I've been keeping tabs on her career. She's been making a calm entrance into the acting world, and I'm so excited to be seeing her in some of the bigger movies (she was also in Crazy, Stupid, Love!) with a substantial role.

Anyhow, back to the book review. I got the book on my Kindle Fire, and I just finished it recently now that I've had time for free reading. It's a really clever book, and it's totally commercial fiction (which, I don't care, I love). There's a lot of Romeo & Juliet allusions (the names for one), and there's a lot of interesting commentary on the way our generation and society as a whole is in danger of becoming. R is an intelligent zombie with a lot of thoughts and opinions. You get a lot of the story fleshed out in the novel that you don't get as much of in the movie. This is going in my book club purely for its really interesting observations on how zombies came to be and how the cure is eventually found. My favorite quote:

"Peel off these dusty wool blankets of apathy and antipathy and cynical desiccation. I want life in all it's stupid sticky rawness."

[Book Club] A "Lighter" Read

...for those beach days...or four a.m. obsessed readers

THE SHADOW IN THE WIND

(Org: La sombra del viento)

By Carlos Ruiz Zafón 

So roughly freshman year the guy lent me this book because he thought I might like it. I left it on my dorm desk for about half a month while schoolwork and the likes got the better of me. It took a while to open it up, but when I did, I was suckered in to the mystery of it all. I found myself up at three or four a.m. reading it, needing to know the answers, and finally being amazed by the twists and turns. It's obviously not a literary kind of book, but it's what my friend calls, intelligent commercial fiction. You'll be left with a book hangover by the end of it, I swear.

It takes place in Barcelona, Spain during the Franco regime, and it follows the life of Daniel Sempere after he gets a book from the Cemetery of Forgotten Books called The Shadow of the Wind by a mysterious Julian Carax. His obsession with the book and its seemingly nonexistent author is what leads him down a spiral of mystery and danger. My favorite part is that his life during this mirrors Julian's. And, best of all, it's a coming-of-age tale, and you can see it interspersed through the mystery.

Seriously, one of my favorite books. The TWIST is crazy, and the writing, even for a translation, is sublime. I'm currently making my way through the original version.

{Book Club} The Book Everyone Should Read...

...especially you ladies.

HALF THE SKY
Turning Oppression in Opportunity for Women Worldwide

by Sheryl W. Dunn, Nichalos D. Kristof

Everyone at my college who takes Intro to World Politics is required to read Half the Sky. And just about everyone I have talked to discovers they like it. I read it for the same reason, and I fell in love. It's not just a diatribe about the pitfalls of gender inequality worldwide. It does not just pinpoint one specific issue. It doesn't demonize men, and it is not an annoyingly feminist book by any means. Neither is it a boring or difficult read.

No, this book is the start of an answer. It describes issues women worldwide face--discrimination, maternal health (or lack-thereof), rape, genital mutilation, sexual slavery, and human sex trafficking. The list goes on. It also highlights success stories (and discusses the stories that are not so successful) and portrays these strong women who emerged from their hell to be future leaders. It shows you how women can change the world. It's so ridiculously inspirational, you'll probably at least tear up at one point. I did, and I shed not a single tear watching Up or The Notebook. 

So if you want to figure out a way to get involved, or even just be better educated about women, pick up this book NOW. Seriously, everyone should read it.

By the way, if you really are that lazy about reading or seriously don't have the time, there is a documentary out and about. Grab some popcorn and rent it for an evening!