Author: doranjenn@gmail.com (Page 3 of 6)

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok

When I say this is a timely story, I mean that a story about immigrants couldn’t be more appropriate for our country right now.  This beautifully told story from the immigrant child point of view is the perfect way to show the plight and process of coming to our country…legally.  And in spite of the legal route they took, it was still s struggle to come to this country.  It was still a struggle and the American Dream was not guaranteed nor was it instant.

This story is about two immigrants from Hong Kong, a young girl and her mother.  It is the retelling of their struggles in learning a new language, assimilating into a new country and culture, and the struggle to survive in a hostile environment.  These two ladies probably shouldn’t have thrived as they did but through their hard work and dedication to education, they were able to overcome the boundaries that few immigrants are able to cross successfully.

This story had an extremely grown-up point of view from its teenage narrator.  Due to the language barrier, Kim becomes the adult with the weight of success and survival on her shoulders.  Where or when Kim decides to take on the burden of getting herself and her mother out of poverty and servitude, is really only concurrent with their arrival in Brooklyn.  It seems that Kim’s mother was a great provider in Hong Kong even after her father’s death.  But the change in cultural and societal status, forces Kim and her mother to change roles.

I really felt that the author left me with more questions than answers in the end.  I realize it is loosely based on her own experiences but I really felt that she could have created a better life for Kim’s mother by cultivating her musical talents.  Couldn’t she have given private music lessons to make extra money?  I feel like the mother’s talent was highlighted and then quickly forgotten. I think more could have come from that and then maybe their struggle wouldn’t have been for so long and the burden would have been less on Kim.

Although this book was thought provoking and entertaining for 90% of the book, I found that the last chapter and Epilogue did not have the same tone as the rest of the novel.  I was disappointed in the ending.  Maybe it was the author’s choice to make the end disjointed but I felt that it was an injustice to the two main characters.  Maybe it was what happened in real life but it didn’t seem to stay true to the rest of the book.

Did you feel desperate for Kim and her mother to change their lot in life?

What (in your opinion) could Kim and her mother have done differently to change their living situation?

Why do you think the aunt was so cruel?  Was it jealousy or was it retaliation for forcing her to marry the American?

Why didn’t Kim’s mother fight back?  Do you feel that most immigrants don’t want to “rock the boat”?

Even though Kim and her mother were legally citizens of the U.S., why were they so afraid to go out on their own?  Why were they so dependent on the aunt to provide their housing and work?

What did you think if the book in its entirety?  How did you feel about the ending?

Do you feel that Kim was lucky in all the educational opportunities that came her way?  Or do you think it was simply her talent that gave her those opportunities?

What did you think about Kim’s “mistake”?  Were you disappointed?  What would you have done in her situation?  Was her mother’s reaction appropriate?

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

I passed this book a million times before I actually picked it up to read it.  It kept catching my eye but for some reason (perhaps the other 20 books sitting on my nightstand) I didn’t pick it up right away.  But, boy do I wish I had!

This will be a short review because (1) it was not part of my book club list; (2) I’m not sure its needs discussion other than to be in sheer admiration of a beautiful story; and (3) it was phenomenal and I could never do it justice!

So, what is this book about?  It is about a curmudgeon on the verge of killing himself.  He is rude, picky, daunting, intimidating, a bully and closed off from society.  He is a hermit who inflicts his beliefs on others.   So the fact that he wants to kill himself should make the reader happy, right?  Well, like an onion we begin to peel back the layers and it’s within those layers that we begin to see the man that is behind the curmudgeon mask.  You may not begin the story liking Ove but the more you understand him and the more you learn about him, you learn that he could be you.

Every event in our lives shapes who we become…our love, our family, our upbringing, our pets, our homes and our education.  We are what we absorb through life and Ove is no different.  His character is an introspective look at ourselves…who we are and who we can become.  What do we want to be in life and who do we want to be to other people?

This was an exceptional study in the human condition with the past and present selves meeting to form a whole person.  It is a beautiful account of a regular guy who begrudgingly is a good person.  A person who doesn’t want to help but helps anyway.  A person who does not want to like or love but does it anyway.  Isn’t that who we all are deep down?  Sometimes the things we don’t want to do, turn into the best things in our lives.

I hope that you’ll read this wonderful book and share with me what you took away from it.  Was it to never judge a book by its cover? Or was it that love exists inside of us all?

What was your take away?

The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens

Mysteries are not normally the genre of books I choose but this book really spoke to me.  I have always been fearful of being wrongfully accused of a crime and that is the premise for this story.  The title of the book was also a draw with the mystery of what is buried and that everyone has secrets that they bury with them.

I enjoyed the beginning that delved into the life of Carl Iverson, starting with him as a murderer.  The author focused on the fact that although we judge this man based on the one (alleged) act, he is more than just one moment in time.  Joe Talbert begins to unravel the life of Carl Iverson from beginning to end and shows the compassionate side of Carl, as well as the dependable and loyal side of Carl.  I shows the fact that a law abiding citizen was caught up in a crime and although he has served his time, he may not have committed the crime.

It is an unbelievable possibility that the dying Carl is an innocent man and has been imprisoned wrongfully for decades.  As Joe begins to research Carl’s history, he begins to understand the kind of man Carl is and that he may be incapable of committing this crime, despite the fact that he has admitted to being a killer and a murderer.  However, his guilt comes from Vietnam and not from the killing of the young girl. “I’ve always known I didn’t kill her.  And now you know.  That’s enough for me (page 190).”  It was tragic to know that he was innocent but had little time to be exonerated despite the evidence of his innocence.  “Clearing his name mattered more to him than he had allowed anyone to see, maybe even more than he himself understood (page 246).”

The decoding of the diary was a good little twist but makes me wonder that the simplicity of it would make it easy to solve at the time of the trial.  There were a few loose ends left in the story and there were several simple things that really gave away the criminal before the story unfolded.  There was no reason to arrest Carl other than the fact that the crime happened on his property.  The premise and justification for his guilt was weak and there were no other avenues searched for answers to the crime.

I enjoyed the telling of Carl’s story through the interview process.  I felt that the crime was being unraveled from the stories being told from all sides.  I feel that the ending did not give enough weight to Carl Iverson and had changed its focus from the dying man to the young Joe, who solves the case.  I would have preferred a full circle ending to the story of Carl Iverson.  I think that the novel was good but could have used better “mysterious” hints and clues.

What was your opinion of the title?  Did it sum up the story?  Did the novel live up to the title?

What did you think of the crime committed?

Did you figure out the culprit before the book divulged it?

What did you think of the mystery?  Was it complex enough or too simple?

How did you feel about the Joe Talbert storyline?

Did you feel that something was missing from the story?

Do you enjoy the mystery genre?

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Another wonderful story based on one of my current fascinations with WWII historical fiction.  This story, as seen through the eyes of a young French blind girl and an intelligent German orphan boy, is centered on pivotal life choices before, during and after the war with radios and a cursed gem at its root.  It is historical but it gives such an insight to the struggles of two people who are forced to be part of a war they do not want to be part of.  It is true account of two innocent lives torn apart by the war and by events beyond their control.

Unlike most stories about WWII, this is not an account of the Jewish struggle of the war but it is an in-depth view of the war through people who did not want to be part of it and knew that it was wrong.  Werner is an orphan who sees the Reich as his only way out of the coal mines that killed his father and left him in an orphanage.  He has big dreams and knows that he is capable of great things.  Like Volkeimer said: “what you could have been.”  His intelligence kept him sheltered to the worst crimes of the war.  He was involved in uncovering Nazi opposition radio frequencies but he was never the one to put an end to their lives, until Von Rumpel threatens Marie-Laure but it remains unclear how he kills him.  Werner recalls Dr. Hauptmann saying: “A scientist’s work is determined by two things: his interests and those of his time” and “Everything has led to this (page 338).”  His desire to learn, his desire to be free of his fathers fate all led to his arrival at Saint-Malo.  Through the eyes of Werner, especially after he has seen death in war (the young girl shot in the head) he starts to think that the light does not exist.  “So really children, mathematically, all of light is invisible.” (page 369)  Werner sees that there is no hope, no light…until he meets Marie-Laure.

And in clear opposition, the story revolves around a young blind girl who can only know what is happening by what she is told.  She cannot witness with her eyes what has happened to her father, to Paris, to her uncle Etienne or Marie Marnec. She is the innocent bystander of this story and yet she is the keeper of the greatest secret.  The curse of the stone is what keeps her alive but is it also what kills those around her?  I feel like the symbolism of the curse was to drive the story but I didn’t feel like it was truly affecting her.

The “Sea of Flames” gemstone and curse is actually based on the Delhi Sapphire which was thought to have brought bad luck and tragedy to its possessors.  It was such a great vehicle that drove the story line through the lives of the main characters.  It really took on its own weight in the story and guided the symbolism of tragedy, lust, envy and misfortune.  With the war as its backdrop, it brought to light the truest personality traits of the main characters as they progressed in the story line.  It brought out the worst and delivered the tragedy that its legend promised.

The puzzle boxes and city models were so much a part of this story, as much as the Sea of Flames.  It was the incubator, the treasure chest and the protector of the stories.  They were also a lifeline for Marie-Laure.  They were her way of “reading” her way through her life.  It was the closest thing to a Braille map.  Her father knew that this would be her saving grace and only way to survive the world as it fell apart…even without him.  By creating these boxes and models, “he made her feel as if every step she took was important (page 403)” and gave her confidence in her step.  The same confidence that Werner saw in her as he followed her on the street.

I read the book title at the beginning and thought little of it but after reading the book, I think that it alludes to the good things that happen around us that are not visible to us.  If we saw things like Marie-Laure saw them, we would never see the wrong in them only the “light”.  Although there are many bad things that happen in this book, there are the good things too and I think the title tells us to focus on the good to get us through the bad.

One of my favorite lines from this book is when Marie-Laure realizes she has lost time.  There are no more church bells, no one to tell her if its day or night.  “Time is a slippery thing: lose hold of it once, and its string might sail out of your hands forever (page 376).”  Time is fleeting…we must not disregard it.

A beautifully woven tale and another wonderful story about survival and the depths of surviving.  Humanity is strong and its will is stronger.  We have a desire to live…that cannot be diminished.

What do feel is the light we cannot see?

What is the title alluding to?

What was the importance of the radio broadcasts before they were resistance messages?

Is the “Sea of Flames” cursed?  Is it to blame for the tragedy in Marie-Laure’s life?

Did the story tell a tale of WWII in a romanticized way?  Did it leave out too much of the gory details or was it just enough?

How does it compare to The Storyteller or The Boy in the Striped Pajamas?  Was it a WWII story that you enjoyed?

Interesting articles about Saint-Malo:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Malo

http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v02/v02p301_Beck.html

http://www.brittanytourism.com/discover-our-destinations/saint-malo-mont-saint-michel-bay/unmissable-sites/saint-malo#

Background of the Delhi Sapphire, on which the Sea of Flames is based:

http://www.gemselect.com/help/newsletter/newsletter-mar-12.php