Novel – Page 5 – …on the B.L.

Kintu

February 23, 2018 RaeAnna

Read: Yes
Length: 442
Quick Review: The Kintu clan is widespread throughout Uganda divided by diverse experiences yet united by the curse created centuries ago.

To be honest… I don’t really know how to review this novel. It’s big but not huge. It’s epic but completely accessible. It’s a great novel, but I don’t know how to describe it to you because I’m still processing it, and I think I will be for awhile. I know a lot about Nigerian history and culture because I’ve read quite a bit; Ugandan culture, history, and people are far less familiar, so I spent a good deal of time looking things up, which is good.

Makumbi is a Ugandan writer living in England writing in English. She is not writing for a Western audience, though. She isn’t diluting her culture in order to be published or well received or better understood. She’s writing for her people. For those of us who are not familiar with her culture, she draws us into her world and asks us to do a little work. It’s only fair.

Kintu has been heralded as the great Ugandan novel. I can’t say because I have no depth in Ugandan literature, but it is a great novel on its own.

Ugandan history is depicted through the Kintu clan beginning with Kintu Kidda a Ppookino in Buddu Province of Bugunda in th 1750’s. A curse is placed upon him and his descendants. In 2004, the novel follows key members of the family and how the curse affects them.

Makumbi writes about a myriad of topics, which are universally important, through the different family members in the Kintu clan. The culture represented is vastly different than that of which I grew up in or am familiar with, but it is incredibly engaging. She says her novel is not feminist, but it would be hard to read it as anything but. The female characters sparkle with strength and resilience, while the men voice opinions that strongly support equality. Twins are a running theme throughout the novel and are viewed in a way drastically different yet eerily similar to what I am familiar with.

One theme that is impossible to not notice is that of family. How family and familial history affect those around us and those who come after us in one way or another. Family is an important part of a person’s identity whether one is close to them or not. Knowing where one comes from is a way of knowing and finding oneself.

I really, really, really enjoyed this book. I don’t want to talk too much about it or give to much away because everything is so intricately interwoven. There are a lot of parts and aspects I would read with confusion because it didn’t feel like it belonged, but everything comes together in the most magical way.

Memorable Quotes
“A child was far more secure than waddling down the aisle with a wedding ring and a piece of paper.”
“”A sexually satisfied woman is a good wife, that’s all I’m saying.””
“Most people, she presumed, grew up dispensing bits of their lives over and over. Eventually their stories flowed easily.”
“Normally, silence washed things like that away, but this time it watered and the deed grew.”
“to have a mind was to be alive.”

Title: Kintu
Author: Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
Publisher: Transit Books
Copyright: 2017
ISBN: 9781945492013

Books

Homegoing

February 13, 2018 RaeAnna

Read: YES
Length: 300
Quick Review: Follow the descendants of two sisters, whose lives take different paths, through eras of great turmoil in Ghana and the US.

I rarely read a book that vibrates my heart, but this shook my soul. I knew it would be good because of all the hype both critical and popular, but I was thoroughly unprepared for the depth of Gyasi’s abilities. It is rare writers produce such a masterful work and even rarer it happens in their debut novel.

Beginning in Ghana there are two sisters who never meet, and their lives go in very different directions from an early age. One marries a white man and her descendants remain in Ghana for many generations; the other is sold into slavery in America.

Chapters are snapshots of lives for each generation alternating between the sisters’ descendants. The stories never have fulfillment or completion, but each has a depth allowing for an emotional connection to each person’s struggle. Each struggle the character goes through represents a similar struggle hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people experienced. The realness is palpable and heartbreaking and absolutely necessary.

Throughout the entire novel and each chapter there is an ominous air penetrating every corner of the narrative, but Gyasi is able to weave in tiny traces of hope, which is a human necessity to carry on through the darkest times.

Gyasi explores the history of the slave trade with roots in the Gold Coast and follows it through the history of Ghana as well as the history of America. Slavery, rape, murder, mining, Jim Crow, police, drugs, passing, so on and so forth.

It is an epic story of how people are formed and shaped by their pasts and their ancestors pasts. Every action cumulates and snowballs to create opportunities and circumstances which affect those who follow in our footsteps.

I absolutely cannot recommend this novel enough. Homegoing is phenomenal and important and entertaining and impactful. It’s a novel that will not leave you quietly.

Memorable Quotes
“He looked at her like her body was his shame.”
“the methods of gathering slaves had become so reckless, that many of the tribes had taken to marking their children’s faces so that they would be distinguishable.”
“watching this man she’s been told is her husband become the animal he’s been told he is.”
“They couldn’t tell one black face from another.”

Title: Homegoing
Author: Yaa Gyasi
Publisher: Vintage Books
Copyright: 2016
ISBN: 9781101971062

Books

A Week in Winter

December 18, 2017 RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 464
Quick Review How one woman’s dream brought a group of strangers together while they struggle through their own difficult situations.

A Week in Winter was her last novel and published posthumously in 2012 after her death in the same year. Binchy has written a multitude of novels, but this is the first I have read. In my opinion, it’s a wonderful novel to end an already amazing literary career.

Binchy was Irish and wrote about her country in A Week in Winter. Chicky Starr is from a remote town, Stoneybridge, in west Ireland. After moving to New York City in her youth, she returns to Stoneybridge, where she turns an old house into a beautiful hotel, Stone House. The town believes her crazy, but a few devote their time and futures into the dream. The dream comes to fruition when a hodge-podge group of people stay during the opening week.

The book is divided into chapters focusing on individuals lives and the events which bring them to the house. The characters are flawed and looking for respite or wholeness or the hotel has simply happened upon them. The hotel becomes a beautifully silent and simultaneously powerful character supporting each character through their personal journeys. The characters come from all walks of life and several countries in Europe. Some lives intertwine with others in close or remote ways. Binchy does not strive to have her characters adored. Like people, she writes them with various characteristics, flaws, and, at times, no redeeming qualities.

This novel isn’t a Christmas story, but it is a winter story. The perfect companion for a chilly evening, a fire, and a mug of something warm, or if you live somewhere warm, it will make you crave a chilly winter.

Memorable Quotes
“And anyway, there’s more to life than just sex and kittens.”

Title: A Week in Winter
Author: Maeve Binchy
Publisher: Anchor Books (Random House)
Copyright: 2012
ISBN: 9780307475503

Books

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

October 20, 2017 RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 226
Quick Review A look into the psyche and thought process of a teen boy with Autism. He goes on an adventure to solve a mystery but solves a much larger one.

Christopher Boone is a fifteen year old boy living in Swindon, England; he is an autist. Late one night, he goes for a walk only to find his neighbor’s dog has been murdered. He loves dogs because they do not lie, so he is devastated by the murder. Christopher decides to solve the mystery of who killed the dog because detectives use logic and facts to solve problems, and he is very good at solving problems with facts and logic.

Mark Haddon does fantastic work creating a world inside the mind of an autistic boy allowing the outside world to better understand how autists perceive the world around them. Christopher is telling the story. He is unable to lie and is fairly impartial spectator in the world and even his own life. He is very logical preferring science, facts, and numbers to everything else. He prefers prime numbers, so the chapters are labelled with prime numbers instead of the more common numerical order.

This is an incredibly important novel because autism is a highly misunderstood part of society. Haddon is able to convey this through how Christopher views and interacts with the world around him and his comments on how people interact with him. Society does not view autists as capable contributors to the world, when in fact they can be if we took extra time and effort to understand and help them. Christopher is incredibly intelligent, but he functions differently in perceiving and interacting with social cues in the world. Christopher is demanding because of his autism, and that affects those around him. Haddon is not afraid to show the difficulties his caretakers go through emotionally to help him have a better life.

I think this book should be read far and wide because it raises awareness for a population that is under-served and misunderstood.

Memorable Quotes
“Also, dogs are faithful and they do not tell lies because they cannot talk.”
“…maths wasn’t like life because in life there are no straightforward answers at the end.”
“It is difficult to spot a rhetorical question.”

Title: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Author: Mark Haddon
Publisher: Vintage Books (Random House)
Copyright: 2003
ISBN: 9781400032716

Books

The Bookshop on the Corner

August 15, 2017 RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length
Quick Review A sweet story about a young librarian hitting a low point in her life decides to follow her dreams, which lead her to new places, a van, people, and even herself.

I liked this novel a lot more than I thought I would. I set the bar pretty low. I wouldn’t call it canonical, but I would call it entertaining and sweet.

From the very beginning, it is obvious Colgan loves to read. Her first words are the dedication different from most, the book is to all readers. The introduction spends eight pages describing all the best places and ways to read. She is a bookworm like the best of us. It becomes even clearer she has a passion for books because they are not only a central theme but become a character in their own right.

Nina Redmond is an introverted librarian in a big city who has devoted her life to books: reading them, acquiring them, and making sure the right book finds the right person. Nina finds herself jobless due to layoffs. Between friends joking she should and telling her she can’t, she finds her way to Scotland where she buys a bus renovating it into a mobile bookstore to bring books to those who have gone without for so long. Nina finds herself loving and becoming a part of her new home in spite of herself.

Nina starts out incredibly shy to the point of meekness in her actions and her thoughts. Throughout the novel she becomes more brazen and confident as she is met with obstacles beginning with friends telling her she can’t to sexism to being underestimated to a rude and sullen landlord. Nina finds her inner strength along her journey spreading warmth, kindness, and books.

When Nina first moves to Scotland, she has always had a book as a companion. She has spent her life reading and living within the worlds books provide, she has forgotten to inhabit the world she physically resides in. Leaving the city and entering a small town life, she is able to stop using books as a fortress against the constant barrage of noise, people, and activity. She becomes a part of something for the first time.

Colgan isn’t just writing about books. She is making astute observations on the changing world we live in. A recurring theme she touches on is how the job market is changing. In a very short amount of time, there is an emphasis on youth, media, technology, and extroversion. There is also less interest in paying people living wages or caring about the generations who have not yet caught up to the new world. Colgan drives home the fact that libraries and bookstores are disappearing at alarming rates.

I really enjoyed how Colgan made sure each character was different than what they appeared. She took the effort to make each character human. There was no evil. Every character had redeeming and less than admirable qualities. Colgan ensures each character’s faults can be understood because we all have our quirks, and there is always a reason for said quirks.

I enjoyed the emphasis of the novel was not on love or finding love. Romantic love was a part of the plot; however, it took a backseat to Nina’s search for herself. Romance was not even mentioned until page 87.

I found The Bookshop on the Corner to be evocative of Nina (coincidence!) George’s Little Paris Bookshop. They both have main characters owning nontraditional bookshops: a bus and a barge, respectively. Each character likes to think of themselves as a purveyor of more than books: a matchmaker or apothecary – setting each person up with the correct book at the correct time. Although the idea is not groundbreakingly original, I much preferred Colgan’s story. It focused less on love and more on books.

The only real downside of the story for me is the fact that Colgan made up book titles within the novel. I just think there are more than enough books currently in print or out of print that could have been name dropped instead of creating new ones. But I’m being nit-picky.

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan is not a book requiring a great deal of intense thought or deep contemplation. It is a lovely summer read or quiet afternoon read. It is a great novel to pick up when you want to follow along on a sweet story.

Memorable Quotes
“But sometimes she felt the world wasn’t built for people like her.”
“…she bought stationery the way other women bought lipsticks…”
“It’s like an entire generation has been thrown into a world they don’t understand and where nothing makes sense, and. they’ve just been told, tough luck, learn how to type or you can just starve to death.”
“There was a universe inside every human being every bit as big as the universe outside them.”
“Everyone’s love life went badly until the end.”

Title: The Bookshop on the Corner
Author: Jenny Colgan
Publisher: William Morrow Publishing (HarperCollins Publishers)
Copyright: 2016
ISBN: 9780062467256

Books

Herland

July 24, 2017 RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 147
Quick Review Written over a hundred years ago, this underappreciated utopian novel is a small powerful punch. It is still incredibly relevant in today’s society as a critique on gender and society.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman is best known for her short story “The Yellow Wallpaper.” She never shied away from the difficult subjects at a time when very few women even received an education.

Herland is the story of three young men, who have ventured on an exploratory expedition. Along their journey they find out about a country inhabited solely by women. They could not believe this to be true, so they took off to discover it for themselves.

The story is told in first person narrative by Vandyck Jennings observing the new country, the inhabitants, their ways and beliefs, and the reaction between the women and his counterparts. His travel companions are Terry Nicholson and Jeff Margrave. They are all very educated men embodying very different yet mainstream Western beliefs on the role women play in society and the home. Jeff believes women are purity anchoring society in goodness meant to be worshipped as delicate in body and mind. Terry believes women are objects to be possessed and controlled whose existence is solely for the pleasure and benefit of men, who are superior. Vandyck is in the middle choosing to look at Herland and the inhabitants through an educated lense but still preferring his homeland.

When the men arrive in Herland they can’t stop looking for the men believing women are incapable of surviving without men. They are taken as prisoners. The women learn all they can from the three men, who are the first men they’ve encountered in 2,000 years. Through their interaction the men learn and are shocked by the organized and intellectual abilities of the women.

Though it was written in 1915, it is still incredibly relevant in today’s society. In many ways society has not progressed much further from the three viewpoints embodied by the men. Women are still seen as delicate in need of protection, seductresses, or far too emotional to function in any capacity with a greater power and reach than mother and homemaker. Men, and even women, are still shocked and intimidated to find a successful, organized woman.

Gilman is able to tackle incredibly complex and difficult subjects in a mere hundred and twenty-two pages. She is able to tear down the traditional meaning of feminine and the meaning of motherhood. She shows women are equally capable, if not more, of organized and intellectual society. Gilman explores the meaning of society, gender, sex, and happiness.

Memorable Quotes
“They were inconveniently reasonable, those women.”
“These stalwart virgins had no men to fear and therefore no need of protection.”
“This led me very promptly to the conviction that those “feminine charms” we are so fond of are not feminine at all, but mere reflected masculinity – developed to please is because they had to please is, and in no way essential to the real fulfillment of their great process.”
“If, by any accident, you did harm any one of us, you would have to face a million mothers.”
“They aren’t human – they’re just a pack of Fe-Fe-Females!”
“There never was a woman yet that did not enjoy being MASTERED.”

Title: Herland
Author: Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Publisher: CreateSpace Publishing
Published: 1915
ISBN: 9781534848474