Writers of Color 50 Books Challenge

33: Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour by Bryan Lee O'Malley

The sixth and final instalment of the Scott Pilgrim series is just as deliriously funny and clever as the first five, but with an added zing of metafictional deconstruction: turns out, the fact that Scott is a ditzy, self-centred manchild is not an oversight on O'Malley's part. It's the point, and the manner in which this fact is examined and played with and explained and overturned in this climactic volume is an utter delight. Marvellous.

34: Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi

In which a man decides to die, and does so, over eight days, while his wife and brother and children try to persuade him to live. This is good work which I enjoyed, up to a point, but I can't help comparing it to Satrapi's Persepolis and Embroideries, and I don't think it comes off well in the comparison. Although the storytelling and characterisation and observation are as thoughtful and well-executed as before, the art seems a little less polished, not quite as assured. It's always attractive and it never interferes with the story, but it's not as good a standard as I know Satrapi is capable of, which is disappointing.

35: Love Water by Venio Tachibana (with illustrations by Tooko Miyagi)

This is a BL/yaoi novel from Juné Manga's light novel line. To be honest, I've read quite a few of the novels from that line, and I only wrote up the first two I read for this comm. The others I passed by because they were so inconsequential and generic (when they weren't offensive) that I couldn't be bothered writing about them. Love Water is written to a rather higher standard. It's not a genre-transcender by any means -- if you don't like romance novels or BL in particular, Love Water's not likely to change your mind. But as an example of the genre, I found it very effective; atmospheric and emotionally intense, with gorgeous illustrations and a plot that made sense; and it's a lot better-written than most. (And better translated, too, though there are a few irritating glitches -- I suspect that the love interest's "flocked coat" is actually a frock coat. Easy mistake to make if you're not well up on 19th-century European men's fashions.)

I actually kind of want to gush like an overexcited teenager about this novel, because I loved it. But I will restrain myself! I will just say that it is about a beautiful young man who works in a brothel (but not as a prostitute) in Meiji-era Osaka and falls in love with a rich and handsome young entrepreneur; and if you like this sort of thing, this is very much the sort of thing you'll like.

11: Scott Pilgrim Vs The Universe by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Graphic novel; number five in the Scott Pilgrim series. I wrote this up on my comics blog.

12: Village of Stone by Xiaolu Guo

An earlier work by the author of A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary For Lovers, which I adored. This is a very different kind of novel: short, stark and painful, though ultimately optimistic. The protagonist, Coral, remembers her early life in a remote fishing village: raised by her grandparents in the absence of her parents, she was left to her own devices a great deal, and suffered terrible sexual abuse at a young age. The harshness of life in the Village of Stone is expertly portrayed, as is the effect all of that suffering has on Coral herself. Coral is a survivor; she's strong; but she's wounded, and gives the impression of not wanting to feel too much or think too deeply, lest she jar the wounded places inside her.

The style is rather different from A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary For Lovers, probably because this novel was originally written in Chinese and translated by Cindy Carter, but also, I think, because the subject matter is different and requires a sparser, more pared-back style. It's difficult to read sometimes because the events described are so unpleasant, but an excellent novel and well worth the effort.

(I've found this interview with Guo about the novel. Hey, she makes films too! That's something to look out for 12films_poc.)