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Feb. 7th, 2010 12:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
furyofvissarionTalking to the Moon - Noel Alumit. I can't even express how much I love this novel. In addition to what I said about it last time, what struck me on this re-read was what an indictment of the US health care system it is, given the role that worrying about how his family will pay for his hospital stay plays in Jory's health.
Teaching Asian America: Diversity & the Problem of Community - Edited by Lane Ryo Hirabayashi. Is Asian American studies now a legitimate academic pursuit? Should the field stay rooted in progressive politics & in training activists to go out & work in the community? Who is an Asian American, anyway? And how do you teach all of this in just one short semester (or even shorter quarter)? These are the sorts of questions that are addressed in this important anthology. There are no easy answers, of course, but the book left me with more questions, which I think is the way it should be.
Flygirl - Sherri L. Smith. Ida Mae Jones wants to fly. Her late father often let her fly his plane, & she does some crop dusting for farmers in her small Louisiana town. But aside from that, opportunities for a black woman in the 1940s are scarce. That is, until she hears about WASP: the Women Airforce Service Pilots, whose duties include ferrying planes and pulling targets for male combat troops to practice on. Ida Mae realizes that her only chance to join them is to pass as white, which she does with much trepidation, & soon she leaves home to go to Sweetwater, Texas, for training.
I enjoyed this book tremendously. Ida Mae's agony about whether to try to pass, & what it costs her emotionally to do so, is well conveyed, as well as her love for flight & the thrills she experiences as she progresses through training. The pilot program's acronym is unintentionally hilarious, as Ida Mae repeatedly says things like, "I'm going to be a WASP!" The novel isn't rose-tinted; bad things happen, & Ida Mae has to make tough choices, & the army is a condescending & dangerous place for young women, even if they are perceived as white. The ending was realistic, as well. I liked that Smith left the issue of how Ida Mae's friends (& potential suitors) would react to her as a black woman open: that it wasn't a feel-good novel where everyone gets along & learns to overcome their biases.
Small Island - Andrea Levy. Hortense & Gilbert Joseph are Jamaican immigrants to England after World War II. Queenie Bligh is their landlady, & Bernard Bligh her husband, who's been missing since the war. Despite believing that England is their mother country, and despite service in the armed forces during the war, Jamaicans are not receiving much of a welcome in England--to put it mildly.
The novel switches between the viewpoints of all 4 main characters (I wished at times that their voices were a bit more distinct from each other), & between the present day & the past. I found it difficult to get into the book initially because Hortense is such an unbearable snob: preening over her light skin, feeling too good (as a teacher) to associate with the likes of landladies, etc. I knew she would receive a severe reality check once she arrived in England, & also that her snobbish attitudes were quite ordinary for the time & place, but I still found it hard to climb into the story at first because of her.
Nevertheless, the book did draw me in. Levy demonstrates the ways in which skin color, race, class, & nationality all interact in different ways (for example, Gilbert's experience with US troops during the war, in which a distinction is made between "bad" US African Americans & Jamaicans--but not always). She makes everyone sympathetic--except, to me, Bernard. I suppose we could look at him as a bewildered, threatened white guy, who's just panicking because what he knows & sees around him in his beloved country is changing--but no. He's a racist asshole & I don't have any sympathy for him.
The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness. In the New World settlement of Prentisstown, Todd Hewitt is the last boy. In less than a month he'll become a man among men--only men, in Prentisstown, after an alien virus killed all the women. The other notable thing about Prentisstown is that everyone can read each other's minds: everyone's thoughts & feelings are projected outwards in a neverending cloud of Noise. But one day Todd stumbles upon a patch of land that is free from Noise, & this makes him a fugitive. This was a quick, thrilling read; you figure out before Todd does that everything he's been told growing up is a lie, but his unravelling of the truth is an exciting, frightening ride. The one thing that was utterly, depressingly predictable was that of course the cute talking dog dies painfully (highlight to read spoiler text). Sigh. Anyway--well worth reading, & I can definitely see why this won the Tiptree.
Almost Dead - Charlie Huston. Noir about vampire clans jockeying for territory in NYC. A decent enough read, but after about halfway I was ready for it to be done, & I don't think I'll particularly remember this book in a month or so.
Teaching Asian America: Diversity & the Problem of Community - Edited by Lane Ryo Hirabayashi. Is Asian American studies now a legitimate academic pursuit? Should the field stay rooted in progressive politics & in training activists to go out & work in the community? Who is an Asian American, anyway? And how do you teach all of this in just one short semester (or even shorter quarter)? These are the sorts of questions that are addressed in this important anthology. There are no easy answers, of course, but the book left me with more questions, which I think is the way it should be.
Flygirl - Sherri L. Smith. Ida Mae Jones wants to fly. Her late father often let her fly his plane, & she does some crop dusting for farmers in her small Louisiana town. But aside from that, opportunities for a black woman in the 1940s are scarce. That is, until she hears about WASP: the Women Airforce Service Pilots, whose duties include ferrying planes and pulling targets for male combat troops to practice on. Ida Mae realizes that her only chance to join them is to pass as white, which she does with much trepidation, & soon she leaves home to go to Sweetwater, Texas, for training.
I enjoyed this book tremendously. Ida Mae's agony about whether to try to pass, & what it costs her emotionally to do so, is well conveyed, as well as her love for flight & the thrills she experiences as she progresses through training. The pilot program's acronym is unintentionally hilarious, as Ida Mae repeatedly says things like, "I'm going to be a WASP!" The novel isn't rose-tinted; bad things happen, & Ida Mae has to make tough choices, & the army is a condescending & dangerous place for young women, even if they are perceived as white. The ending was realistic, as well. I liked that Smith left the issue of how Ida Mae's friends (& potential suitors) would react to her as a black woman open: that it wasn't a feel-good novel where everyone gets along & learns to overcome their biases.
Small Island - Andrea Levy. Hortense & Gilbert Joseph are Jamaican immigrants to England after World War II. Queenie Bligh is their landlady, & Bernard Bligh her husband, who's been missing since the war. Despite believing that England is their mother country, and despite service in the armed forces during the war, Jamaicans are not receiving much of a welcome in England--to put it mildly.
The novel switches between the viewpoints of all 4 main characters (I wished at times that their voices were a bit more distinct from each other), & between the present day & the past. I found it difficult to get into the book initially because Hortense is such an unbearable snob: preening over her light skin, feeling too good (as a teacher) to associate with the likes of landladies, etc. I knew she would receive a severe reality check once she arrived in England, & also that her snobbish attitudes were quite ordinary for the time & place, but I still found it hard to climb into the story at first because of her.
Nevertheless, the book did draw me in. Levy demonstrates the ways in which skin color, race, class, & nationality all interact in different ways (for example, Gilbert's experience with US troops during the war, in which a distinction is made between "bad" US African Americans & Jamaicans--but not always). She makes everyone sympathetic--except, to me, Bernard. I suppose we could look at him as a bewildered, threatened white guy, who's just panicking because what he knows & sees around him in his beloved country is changing--but no. He's a racist asshole & I don't have any sympathy for him.
The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness. In the New World settlement of Prentisstown, Todd Hewitt is the last boy. In less than a month he'll become a man among men--only men, in Prentisstown, after an alien virus killed all the women. The other notable thing about Prentisstown is that everyone can read each other's minds: everyone's thoughts & feelings are projected outwards in a neverending cloud of Noise. But one day Todd stumbles upon a patch of land that is free from Noise, & this makes him a fugitive. This was a quick, thrilling read; you figure out before Todd does that everything he's been told growing up is a lie, but his unravelling of the truth is an exciting, frightening ride. The one thing that was utterly, depressingly predictable was that of course the cute talking dog dies painfully (highlight to read spoiler text). Sigh. Anyway--well worth reading, & I can definitely see why this won the Tiptree.
Almost Dead - Charlie Huston. Noir about vampire clans jockeying for territory in NYC. A decent enough read, but after about halfway I was ready for it to be done, & I don't think I'll particularly remember this book in a month or so.
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Date: 2010-02-07 04:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 10:08 pm (UTC)