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[furyofvissarion]

But Still, Like Air, I'll Rise: New Asian American Plays - Edited by Velina Hasu Houston. The anthology's title comes from a Maya Angelou poem (excerpted at the front of the book). This is a collection of 11 plays, widely varying in quality but with some strong ones. What I liked was that, for the most part, things are complicated. The reader is torn between sympathy for Yasako, a Japanese housewife living unwillingly in the US, and horror as she tries to kill herself & her young daughter & insists this was a way to save them both, in Houston's "Kokoro." Elizabeth Wong's "Kimchee & Chitlins" examines the explosive relations between Korean storeowners & black residents in Brooklyn, in a way that (I think) makes it clear that there isn't a simple victim-antagonist dynamic. "Junk Bonds," by Lucy Wang, is a disturbingly fascinating look at bond traders & how racism & sexism intertwine to impact on the youngest member of a team--an Asian American woman--as well as on what happens when the company is bought by a Japanese one. David Henry Hwang's "Bondage" takes place in an S&M parlor & is a clever, uneasy look at racial dynamics, stereotypes, & desire.

Frangipani - Celestine Hitiura Vaite. This charming, light novel follows the life of Materena Mahi, a professional cleaner in Tahiti, through rocky days with her husband, the growth of her children, & Materena coming into her own with a career that allows her to escape cleaning, which she sees as a respectable job but one she's tired of after 20 years. Materena's voice is conversational & funny, & the story, while touching on important issues like sexism, independence from France, & class, still maintains a breezy, upbeat tone. Sophie Kinsella blurbs the book on the front cover, & I guess in a way it's Tahitian chick lit. Anyway, very enjoyable, & should I stumble upon the other books featuring Materena (I think there are at least 2?), I'll certainly read them.

Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, a New Urban World - Robert Neuwirth. A generally interesting & compelling look at squatters. Not the radical punk rawkers in the US or the UK, which I am somewhat more likely to run into stuff about, but people in Nairobi, Rio de Janeiro, Mumbai, & Istanbul most prominently. In Rio de Janeiro squatters can own businesses, get cable, & live in relative comfort; in Nairobi, this seems next to impossible. In Mumbai, while some squatters have attained a measure of independence & stability, many haven't. In Istanbul most are still subject to government interference, but there's a curious law that theoretically protects people's dwellings if they are built after dark. Neuwirth does talk some about squatting in the US; somehow, in talking about pioneers & land claims, he utterly fails to bring up the irony of racing to squat on land that the US was itself squatting on & had stolen from its original inhabitants.

A Wizard Alone - Diane Duane. Re-read. I can't really judge how accurate Duane's portrayal of autism is in this novel, but I like how she made an autistic wizard the center of the story & tied in his condition with his power & magic. Though possibly there are some slightly dodgy things about it--I need to think about it more.

No Humans Involved - Kelley Armstrong. Another re-read--I was struggling through Orientalism at the time & needed some fluff to counterbalance it! I still love this one, though the creepy humans really freak me out (& I hate that the evil magic just happens to be based on African magic, wtf). I love Jaime Vegas b/c I can identify w/feeling like you're the crappy stupid one among all your cool friends, ha ha! Also hot sexytimes w/Jeremy the werewolf pack leader.

Personal Demon - Kelley Armstrong. Another re-read, another one of my favorite Armstrong books. The exoticization of Hope pisses me off, but otherwise I enjoy this book, mostly because I love the complicated & slightly dodgy relationship between Hope & Karl.

Kitty's House of Horrors - Carrie Vaughn. Oh yeah, yet another re-read. Still breaking the oh-shit-o-meter, still w/an unbelievable body count, still awesome.

Orientalism - Edward W. Said. A difficult read; I've read so much more about what this book says but felt I should read the original. It's very academic, & Said layers on the references to lots of philosophers & thinkers & big names that clearly you should know in order to understand fully the points he's making; he does put in lots of quotes & descriptions, but there's a dense layer of assumption as to what kind of intellectual background readers will have, I think. Anyway, Said's point is that the Orient (by which he means mostly the Middle East but also including Asia, especially in later portions of the book) as a construct exists so that Orientalists can have something to interpret & explain to the West. Orientalism means asserting that your explanation of Orientals is correct, that Orientals can't explain themselves to you (whether because they're too stupid, too dishonest, or what), & that you can define the Orient in a conclusive, limiting manner. That you can know the Orient, that it is stable enough as a category, & comprehensible enough, that you the Orientalist could--& should--explain it. And this explanation justifies, of course, racism & colonialism. These are incredibly important points, & I think Said's ideas are very sharp. I just don't know if I was the audience expected.

Banana Bottom - Claude McKay. It's the early part of the 20th century; Bita Plant, a young black woman, has just returned to Jamaica after several years being educated in England. Her sojourn there was due to the Craigs, a white English missionary couple who took her into their home after Bita was raped as an adolescent. On returning to Jamaica, she is expected to marry a promising young man who's set to take over the local church after the Craigs. Bita's expected to be proper & well-behaved. But she begins to chafe against all these restraints & becomes more interested in returning to the culture of her childhood. There were parts I really liked about this book, about Bita's journey to decolonize herself & the effects of racism & imperialism on people & a country. I felt uneasy, though, that Bita's rape seemed to exist mostly to move the plot forward & give her an excuse to be taken in for civilizing by white people. At one point Bita says that she never felt any resentment towards her rapist, which seemed to me to be pushing it a bit.

Wish I Was Here - Jackie Kay. Exquisite collection of short stories. The decay & decline of relationships, many of them between women, is a major theme here; Kay's sharp observations of how love forms & falls apart can be gut-wrenching. The standout for me was, without a doubt, "My Daughter the Fox," a poignant piece in which a human woman, to her surprise, gives birth to a baby fox. She becomes ostracized from her family & friends but refuses to give up her beautiful daughter. It's online here (PDF), but the collection as a whole is recommended, too.

Comments

[bluhairedmonky.livejournal.com]

Wish I Was Here sounds excellent. I always find an interesting book with your reviews - thanks!