'Brick Lane' by Monica Ali

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'Brick Lane' is one of these books that I'd heard a lot about before I bought it - it had a lot of good reviews, was turned into a film, inspired protests from the Bangladeshi community and provoked a minor contraversy regarding the authenticity of the author and whether it was reasonable for an Asian writer from a fairly western and assimilated background to write about first generation Bangladeshi immigrants.

And so I read it, and having done so I can see why so many people liked it - it is a well written, thoughtful, insightful book in which Ali is incredibly good at not creating bad guys, or cardboard cut outs, but a lot of different men and women trying to do their best. I also really enjoyed seeing the east end of London - which I know well - through immigrant eyes. It was really interesting to look at the city I live in in a different way. Some of the things she said also reminded me of how I felt about England when I came back after living in Nepal for six months - I remember how big and grey and concrete everything felt, and how everyone seemed to move so quickly and looked so big and doughy, and I had only been away from England for six months!

Yet for all that, 'Brick Lane' failed to connect with me. I think a big part of the problem for me was the sheer scale of the novel. It starts in the early 80s in Tower Hamlets, and runs through until the present day. That's an awful lot of time to cover, with the main character starting off as an 18 year old girl who has just arrived in England, and ending as a mature woman with two teenage daughters. I think that's an ambitious structure for a novel, and one which I think mostly worked, but did leave me feeling a little lost behind at times, as it jumped about.

I've just finished this book, and I'm still unsure if I enjoyed it. I didn't dislike it, and I'm sure a lot of people will really enjoy it. It just didn't satisfy me, and I felt at times as if I'd have got as much out of it by just dipping in and out, and picking out bits of the descriptions that appealed.

It isn't a bad book, but I think if I had my time again I'll move it to the back of my pile and save it for a slow and rainy day.

1. "Wild Seed" by Octavia E. Butler

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I had read one Octavia Butler book before, Kindred, and enjoyed it in a painful sort of way (it is not an easy book to read), so I decided to pick this one up.

Wild Seed, as several other reviews have said (it's a popular one!), is the story of Anyanwu, a shape-shifting, mostly-immortal woman. She is discovered by Doro, a truly immortal man, who jumps between bodies, killing a body's previous owner as he goes. Doro is building a people by finding others with special gifts and abilities, and wants Ayanwu as a "wild seed," someone with whom to breed his people to get children with ever more strong abilities. And what Doro wants, Doro gets. But Ayanwu has her own way of doing things...

This book was a difficult read for me because of how huge the power imbalance between Ayanwu and Doro is. Ayanwu is deeply and insidiously enslaved by Doro, and for the first third of the book, he thwarts her at every turn. Once she marries Doro's son Isaac, though, I found the book much more bearable. Isaac lifted a weight off of me in the same way he lifted one off of Anyanwu, by providing her freedom within her slavery and and a potential for her and Doro to eventually be equals. I absolutely loooooooved the ending. Nothing is completely solved, but Doro needs Ayanwu, and that concession is enough.

I would highly recommend this book. I could not put it down. The ideas in it are original and striking and intimately familiar.

01/50: Blonde Roots by Bernardine Evaristo

[bulliciosa.livejournal.com]

( Blonde Roots: Bernardine Evaristo )

Marjorie Liu: "Dirk & Steele" (paranormal romance) and "Hunter's Kiss" (urban fatnasy)

[sparkymonster.livejournal.com]

It's paranormal romance time! Marjorie Liu is one of my favorite finds from last year. She is an Asian-American author and a geek/fan. She mentions on her site that she has written fanfic. She attended Clarion East. in 2004. She loves poodles (and sometimes carries them in doggie backpack carriers). She is basically fantastic, and writes excellent paranormal romances. Her books consistently have POC in them who are interesting, fully fleshed out, and she never uses creepy food metaphors to describe them.

( This is a big review post of six of her books )

#11: "Show Way" by Jacqueline Woodson

[sweet-adelheid.livejournal.com]

Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson (Putnam, 1995)

I know there are historical questions about the validity or otherwise of the "Underground Railroad Quilt Code". But questions or not, this book tells a story that has clearly been handed down, generation to generation, mother to daughter and on again, through Jacqueline Woodson's family. Thus it is truth to that family, as much as any other truth.

The illustrations are beautiful, and so carefully thought out. A marvellous combination of paper drawings and fabric art: on at least two spreads combined in patchwork layouts. As you can tell from this, it's yet another book that uses my current favourite art form - collage: the needles and thread stuck in a piece of muslin on the first spread was the first of many highlights of the illustration for me. (Other books where similar artwork has recently impressed me include Memorial and The Lighthouse Girl.)

The absolute highlight art-wise is the Civil War spread: the fabric, marked with the borders of the states, ripped across at the Mason-Dixon line to show red fabic beneath the blue and gray.

Story-wise, I think it was the twins with their Show Way patches pinned to their dresses during the Civil Rights marches, keeping Fear at bay.

I actually found it difficult to classify this book: initially I had it in "fiction" because that's where "picture books" go in my head. But this is part of the development of the "genre": picture books aren't always fiction; nor are they always for children (See the furore over Requiem for a Beast and the CBA last year).

In general, I have so much love for this book. It's absolutely beautiful, and shows such depth of pride in Woodson's history. Hudson Talbott's illustrations are completely marvellous; and I really need to start hunting down my own copy.

Bay Area folks: Walter Mosley is coming!

[wild-irises.livejournal.com]

Here's the info on the new book.

And here's where he'll be tomorrow night. Sadly, I can't be there.

Tuesday, March 31
7:30 PM
Walter Mosley - The Long Fall
$10 advance, $13 door
First Congregational Church of Oakland
2501 Harrison St., Oakland, CA