Completed: How Fiction Works

Kelly,

Have you ever had it happen that an unfortunate  (or fortunate) juxtaposition of reading material illuminates something interesting in a book?

In this case, I read this blog entry by Junot Diaz at the New Yorker, called MFA vs. POC. Diaz discusses just how unrelentingly *white* his experience was, and how the whole process grinds down men and women of color. You should read it if you haven't already.

A few days later, I picked up How Fiction Works. As you know, I had a moment of panic about only having read 2 books. Since I had started this one a few months ago, and it's pretty short, only about 200 pages, I figured it would be something I could knock off the list. It helps that I got stuck in the car dealership for a few hours on Saturday morning.

Here's the problem. I've got Junot Diaz in my brain, and it doesn't take me long to notice that every.single.author that Wood is discussing is a white man. At some point, it actually became comical. You're going to write a 200 page discussion about how fiction works, and every single example is a white guy? Come on!

By the way,  lest it seems I am exaggerating, I counted. Wood mentions or discusses 68 authors. Of those,  59 are men and 9 are women (and one of those is him reading Beatrix Potter to his daughter. I wish I was fucking kidding).  He discusses: 1 black author (Ralph Ellison); a few British authors that are ethnically non-white (VS Naipaul is from Trinidad, or Kazuo Ishiguro, who is Japanese);  one Latin American author, Roberto Bolano (Chile); and a few dudes from other European countries.

I mean, really? Honestly, it was so amazing that I started to marvel at the chuzpah of the entire enterprise.

As for the actual book. It was fine. It's organized into mini-chapters, some lasting only a paragraph, and none more than a few pages. Those chapters are loosely organized into bigger umbrella categories, such as narration, characters, language, etc.

Wood is a compelling writer himself, and he does nice work illustrating the power of the close read. When I read books like this, it's because I think it keeps me sharp as a teacher. Even though I teach 7th graders, I still find myself using a lot of what I  know to lay the path for their future as readers. Given that, there was one line that made me laugh out loud, "You have only to teach literature to realize that most young readers are poor noticers" (63). Heh. And I'm pretty sure he's talking about college kids! But, it is true, the things that seem so interesting and meaty in a text are the very things that kids are most likely to miss. They don't really attend to the details at all. I often point out that to kids, reading means something like I ran my eyes over all the words on the pages. I READ it. Only it is so apparent how much they miss. They are just learning about close reading, but it's all teacher-directed: HERE. LOOK AT THIS! I'm the Mama Bird, feeding them close-reading. It's actually kind of fun, but it is also difficult. You can see that some kids just get it, while others are going to need a few more years.

Anyways. I think the myopic look at literature presented in How Fiction Words would have become apparent either way; yet, it was still painful to see Diaz's point "In my workshop the default subject position of reading and writing—of Literature with a capital L—was white, straight and male" proven so ruthlessly. 

Jenny

Completed: A Problem From Hell

Kelly, 

I actually read this book a few months ago (time flies when you're incredibly busy), but haven't had a chance to write about it yet.

As you know, this was another of my depressing genocide reads. The best part about it was that I read it with my friend Marjorie on a reading schedule, and then we discussed in on Facebook. Because I'm lazy, I'm going to excerpt my major points here: 


1) The first time I tried this, I didn't make it any further than the first chapter, but I put it down after the prologue. There's something about the framing of it----despite the title, so I should have known better!---that I just found myself sort of annoyed by. I mean, I get it, we're Americans, the worlds policemen, yada yada...but clearly we actually don't do that great of a job of policing the world. So when she ends that prologue by talking about how genocide elsewhere is a product of American foreign policy failures, it just sat with me the wrong way. I would like to talk more about this. I don't necessarily think that I am a knee-jerk isolationist, but maybe I am!?! Why are we always the ones responsible for intervening? 

However, this time around, I pushed through and read more. The initial chapters were about a man named Lemkin who made it his life's work to pass international laws about genocide. I found his story quite interesting and ended up admiring, for the most part, his fortitude and insistence that something had to be done. It was hard to read. He was fighting all alone, and it was such an impossible task to be the lone voice in the wilderness. What an inspiring and ultimately tragic figure. 

In general, the whole first part, about the role of international law, and what it can and can't do was super interesting, which I didn't expect. After those chapters about the history of the UN treaty, the book shifts to a one-chapter-per-genocide model, covering Cambodia, Iraq, Rwanda, and Bosnia. Those chapters were interesting and depressing. I learned more about each conflict, but the whole thesis, that American foreign policy was slow to respond, was sort of difficult. Yes, we knew what was happening and did very little to solve it, until Kosovo, when we flew air strikes that helped stop the killings. 

But...it just was a weird take. Maybe because I didn't know enough, but it felt like sort of strange. The closest I can get to describing it would be this: a few years ago, a book came out that was about the American Civil War, but it was about how the British Empire responded and reacted to the war. I mean, that's pretty abstruse, right? You'd need to already know A LOT about the Civil War and ALSO about the British Empire in order to have a book like that make sense. And this book had the same feeling. I had the feeling while reading it that America was to blame for genocide in these countries, but that's patently ridiculous and honestly also full of hubris. How can it be that American foreign policy is to blame for bad shit happening *all over the world*? 

This book was a struggle. 
 
If you're remember, I also read Philip Gourevitch book about Rwanda, which I reviewed here. There was something in that book that really stuck with me, which I'll quote here, too: "Just as the state's police swear to prevent and punish murder, so the signers of the Genocide Convention swore to police a brave new world order...The authors and signers of the Genocide Convention knew perfectly well that they had not fought WWII to stop the Holocaust but rather...to contain fascist aggression. What made those victorious powers, which dominated the UN then even more than they do now, imagine they would act differently in the future?" (149).

As I read A Problem From Hell, I have found myself thinking of this idea time and time again. It's easy to say "never again" but the political will to actually stop genocide is missing. It was frustrating because in some chapters, she'd mention things the US could have done, but later, when they are tried, they almost never work! My take away was perhaps not what it should have been. I think it's supposed to be a call to action: we can make it better! But what I actually took away from it was something more like: complicated shit stays complicated no matter what we do. 

Jenny

PS. I'm having a moment of panic. It's MAY and I've only read 2 of my books (and abandoned a third). I need to get to it! I'm going to start reading one of these other ones right now. Maybe How Fiction Works, which I started a few weeks months ago and put down. 

Bracketology

Kelly,

Tomorrow is the big day! I have finished 12 of the 17, which isn't so bad. I also spent some time today filling out my brackets, mostly to enter into Kerry's ToB pool over at his blog, Hungry like the Woolf. 

It's always so tricky, the brackets. I used to do brackets for who I thought *would* win, but that was sort of boring. Now, I have a weird hybrid method. I always pick who I *want* to win in the first round; then, I try to be more pragmatic about who *would* win in later match-ups. Ultimately, this is probably the worst strategy, but I'm sticking with it.

Did you vote for a Zombie? I chose Long Division. I'd have to say that at this point, Long Division and A Tale for the Time Being are probably my favorites. I'm hoping to read The Son before it's first round match up on March 13. Then, I'll see which books advance into the further rounds. Of the remaining books that I have yet to read, I'm most interested in The Luminaries. 

I think the best news so far is that of all the first round match-ups, I have read at least one of the books. However, there also means there are only a few where I've read both of the first round books.

I'm excited for tomorrow!
Jenny

Kelly's Book 2.14: Detroit City is the Place to Be

Dear Jenny,

I'm still one post behind -- I have finished reading On Writing but I haven't written about it yet -- but I've just started this book, so I thought I would write the preview. I'm a wild woman, you know... I mix it up. (Also, maybe lazy... it's easier to write these preview posts than the re-caps.)

I think you recommended this book to me... I don't think that you had read it, but that you had read about it. And I bought it with our TBR winnings last year. So that's fun!

So far I have enjoyed some of the Detroit "insider knowledge" that makes me feel like an insider for already having it. For instance, Detroiters take a certain civic pride in knowing that there is, in fact, no place called "South Detroit" as referenced in Journey's song, "Don't Stop Believing." [2] (South Detroit? That would be Windsor.) And the term "party store" is explained in a footnote as "Our term for liquor stores in metropolitan Detroit" [23]. (I had not heard that term until I met Bill, but have since found that everyone here says it -- I always thought a "party store" was a place to buy buy streamers and balloons, but Detroiters know what *really* makes a party.) (Yup... It's booze.)

I have lived in the Detroit area for almost two years (time flies, eh?) and honestly have no idea how the city could pull itself out of its mess, but this author claims he's going to look beyond what's gone wrong (a common topic for books and articles) and shine a light on how the future could be better. I look forward to reading that. And, of course, I'll keep ya posted.

love,
kelly

Jenny's book 2.14: A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide

Kelly,

A quick ToB X update before I talk about my February book. I'm feeling pretty good about my progress so far. I have read 10 so far and have started another, The People in the Trees. I am hoping to finish that and at least one of the longer ones before the official start of the tournament in March. I was making pretty good progress and moving a lot of the shorter books off the decks, but now I have several of the longer ones left. My grad school class has geared up, and I ended up doing a lot of work for that last week. Either way, not a bad place to be a few weeks before we even start. I'm happy.

Of course, then I realized, I still have to make some time for my February book. It seemed like a good idea to have a non-fiction read for this month with all the other novels I've been working on, but I put less non-fiction titles on my list this year, too. They tend to be longer and more demanding, and I wanted to make sure I had a manageable list with all that's going on this year.

Here's where the serendipitous nature of the internet comes in. One of my old friends from California, Marjorie, retired from our school in Oakland and moved back to Michigan. At some point, we found each other on Facebook. I've been to see her once (it's on the way to your house, actually!) because it's right over the border into Michigan and only about 90 minutes away. Heck! I've driven 90 minutes and not left the Chicago city limits, why not take a quick jaunt to Michigan? I need to do that again one day. Anyways, Marjorie is a former history teacher and counselor. At one point, she posted a Goodreads list that said she wanted to list one of my TBR books, A Problem from Hell: America in the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power. My strange fascination with the terrible things people do to each other continues.

 I asked Marjorie if now was a good time for her to read it, and now we're reading it together. We set up a reading schedule and will discuss it on Facebook every week. This is a good plan for me for a couple of reasons. Obviously, having a schedule and a time to talk about the books is appealing. It's a pretty manageable bite, about 125 pages a week for four weeks. More importantly, I think it will be great to talk about it with a history teacher. I bet she will have some illuminating ideas about the book and the historical context.

I'll get back to you on A Problem from Hell in early March, but if you want you can also read our discussion on FB as we go along. Originally, we talked about a Wednesday discussion day, but we are a little late this week and so my first post just went live this morning.

How's your TBR pile doing so far in 2014?
Jenny

Completed: Purple Hibiscus

Kelly,

I had a rare two-fer yesterday: I finished up the last 50 pages a ToBX book, The Tuner of Silences; then I started and completed my replacement January book, Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. 

As you know, my intended January book was Snow, but I was struggling with it. It was one of those books where the main character mostly wanders around and interacts with people, and sometimes those people tell their own stories, and then there's more wandering around. I found myself wanting something to happen! But I feel bad about it. I do know that they way a story gets told is different in other cultures, but in this case, I just wasn't in the right space. Usually, I will abandon books that aren't working for me, but I try to finish TBR books. I'm glad you encouraged me to move on. I wasn't enjoying it. And, I LOVED Purple Hibiscus. 

Funny story about Purple Hibiscus, which is written by the author of one of our 2013 favorites, Americanah. Last year, the chair of the English department was looking for new books for their global lit class for 10th graders. She asked me (because I read all. the. books.) if I knew of any books written by a non-Western author, set in another country, ideally featuring a female protagonist, and appropriate for early high school. In other words, the needle in the literary haystack. I thought about it for a minute and suggested they try Purple Hibiscus, which I had just bought but hadn't yet read. They ended up choosing it! Hah--I feel like one of my primary services to the upper school English department is my extensive book knowledge. 

Then last summer we both read and loved Americanah. Purple Hibiscus was on my TBR list, so I thought I should prioritize it, but my copy was making the rounds of the upper school English teachers. It fell off my radar again.  After Beyonce sampled Adichie on her new album (which is great, by the way) I decided to read it in December but I couldn't find it. Just last week when you encouraged me to quit Snow, I saw it in Darrell's car and actually said "A-ha!" out loud. Finally, the timing was right!

The novel is about a 15 year old girl in Nigeria, Kambili. She comes from a very wealthy and devoutly Catholic family. Her father owns a newspaper and several factories. She seems to have everything. However, Kambili's home is quiet and full of fear. Her father is obsessed with his vision of what it means to be a good Christian, and he's willing to beat obedience into his wife, son, and daughter. The story takes a turn with Kambili and her brother, Jaja, are allowed to visit their Aunt Ifeoma, a university professor who lives a few hours away. Suddenly, they see what it's like to live in a household full of light and laughter. 

I definitely enjoyed the book. It was a super fast and easy read, and although it's clear that Kambili's father is physically abusive, with a few notable (and upsetting) exceptions those scenes happen mostly off stage. We see the aftermath and the terrible toll the abuse has on the family, but this is not a book that feels the need to give long, in-depth descriptions of abuse. I think that's partly a feature of Kambili's first person narration. She doesn't know how to understand her father's abusive nature, and so she turns away from it. She loves him and she loves God, there's a part of her that does feel he is "right" even if she doesn't understand it.

There are other things about Eugene (that's the Dad) that make him a pretty interesting character. He's clearly a symbol of a certain type of African, one who embraces his colonizers. No one is more devout. He trusts the white priests over the Nigerian ones, and he prefers to speak English in a crisp British accent and frowns upon those who speak the native language, Igbo. His Catholicism is so rigid that he has cut off his father for being a heathen and refusing to convert. Eugene won't allow his children to see their grandfather for more than 15 minutes at a time or eat or drink anything from his home. He fears that the old, "heathen" ways will corrupt his children and perfect family.

The best parts of the book are with Aunty Ifeoma. Her home is poor, but she listens and teaches her children to question rather than to blindly obey. Kambili and especially Jaja change after spending more time with their family. It's a nice coming-of-age story.

I guess I'd say that I have 2 minor complaints. One, Kambili develops a crush on a Nigerian priest when she's with her aunt. Honestly, it just seemed super creepy and had an uncomfortable Thornbirds vibe to it. Ew. (By the way, I only watched part of that clip. It's *HIGH-LARIOUS*). At one point, her cousin makes fun of her crush and says, "Oh, all the girls in church have crushes on him. Even some of the married women. People have crushes on priests all the time, you know. It's exciting to have to deal with God as a rival" (220). I must say, that's a pretty funny line and probably has some truth in it. But still. Descriptions of the legs, arms, and chest of a priest? No thanks. LUCKILY, nothing happens, but it still was just kind of weird. I guess, given her religious upbringing, it makes a sort of sense. Meh.

Finally, there's sort of a shocking event at the very end that seems a little forced; and the way it plays out is very different from the rest of the book. In real life, sudden and surprising events do happen. But in a book, it's hard not to think the author was like, "How am I going to end this thing?" It wasn't terrible. We've discussed before how hard it is to stick the landing. It was a solid read and it was thought-provoking. I'd recommend it.

Jenny

Kelly's Book 1.14: On Writing

Dear Jenny,

Does this feel like déjà vu? Didn't I already post a preview of my Book 1.14? Yup. But there has been a change of plans!

After reading one chapter of Don't Know Much About History, I knew that I couldn't do it all in one month. Conveniently, it's got 12 chapters so I'll read one per month and tell you all about it in December (or maybe do some mini-reports along the way... depends on how I'm feeling).

I didn't like the unsettled feeling that I would have all year if the numbers of my books did not correspond with the actual month numbers (Yeah, yeah. I've got my issues.), so DKMAH will be my 12.14 book and this post is about my new 1.14: On Writing by Stephen King.

When I first heard about this book, I wasn't that interested because I'm not a writer (of fiction) (I am, of course, a writer of blog posts) (and emails and comments and... oh, you know!) but it turns out that the book is also a memoir (it actually says so right in the subtitle: On Writing: a Memoir of the Craft) and I am interested in Stephen King, so I picked it up.

My favorite King novels have been the non-horror ones (like 11/22/63 and Joyland -- so good!) and I am totally amazed by his ability to create memorable characters (I still think about the crew from It and I read that book over 25 years ago). I, myself, could not invent a completely made-up story to save my life (seriously -- making up a story? Can. Not. Do. It.) so I am pretty curious to get into the head of a guy who not only can do this, but often does it spectacularly.

I also thought this would be a good one to read with the ToB coming up, since there is usually a lot of discussion about authors and writing during the book-y talk, so it seems like it might be pertinent.

love,
kelly