Lisa See, the author best known, I think, for her book, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, has written another wonderful novel, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane that brings the world of China and its very diverse regions and populations to an American audience. This novel focuses on the remote mountains where families make their living tea farming.
When the story begins the village of the Akha hill tribe have kept to themselves, isolated by the mountains that surround them. They with their tribal customs unaware of the changing world around them. They grow and pick tea leaves which they travel to sell at market. But they live with their own rules and traditions among their village.
Li-yan, the only daughter in her family starts to question the way of life she is growing up in. She goes to school and her teacher encourages her to continue her education further than anyone in her family has before. She falls in love and defies her parents in an effort to marry the boy she thinks is right for her, even though her parents are against the marriage. Li-yan also defies Akha customs when she has a child out of wedlock and gives her away.
She goes off and learns all the aspects of tea planting, harvesting and making tea. As she learns and becomes successful she is able to bring her village into a more modern era. They become acquainted with ways of life in the larger cities of Shanghai and Guangzhou.
This is a novel about mother daughter relationships, family dynamics and rural Chinese customs and traditions that have lasted for generations. See has written an incredibly informative story that you can just hear the people speaking in your head as you read. The dialect and speech patterns are wonderful.
Bringing the story full circle with Li-yan's daughter being brought up in America and learning how to deal with not only being an adopted child, but adding in the stigma of being Chinese in an American family. See has delved into many interesting dilemmas that face modern teenagers.
So many subjects so artfully tackled in this novel. It starts off slowly but builds to a wonderful story.
Monday, August 28, 2017
Sunday, August 20, 2017
Closed Casket
Finally got around to reading the second of the Sophie Hannah versions of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. Sophie Hannah is the only mystery author who has been given permission to write as Poirot by the Christie family. So as I am reading I am trying to see if I have the same feeling as when I am actually reading a mystery written by the master of mystery.
The books are fun to read. They have very well concealed answers to the crime presented. They are set in the right time period and with a similar cast of characters. And, of course there is the satisfying ending with Poirot gathering all the members of the house who could be suspects, in a room, to reveal the killer and how and why he committed the crime. There is the pleasing feeling at the end that yes you as the reader was right there with Poirot and Police Inspector, following closely all the clues that were presented and almost quite sure of who the murderer was, with just a few new facts thrown in at the end to make the reason he or she committed the crime reasonable.
In this novel we are at a country house for the weekend. The elderly widow who has inherited the family fortune, and also in this case is a mystery author. Tonight at dinner she announces to the guests who have been invited that she is changing her will. Of course around the table are her children, her solisitors, other close friends and Hercule Poirot and Inspector Edward Catchpool.
The cast is set, the plot in motion and off we go to see if we can solve the crime that, of course, will be committed after this thunderous announcement.
Hannah has written a clever and entertaining mystery, I am going to go back and study Agatha Christie in much more depth to see if I think personally that she has lived up to the accolades she is gathering that say she is filling Agatha's shoes. Hannah said in an interview I read, that she is not trying to replicate Christie's style exactly. So she brought in a new narrator. She is looking to present a gift to Christie fans, " That’s what I want people to feel about this too: it’s a proper Poirot novel.”
I will be reading about Agatha Christie and rereading some of her early mysteries over the next few weeks. I will review what I find out.
The books are fun to read. They have very well concealed answers to the crime presented. They are set in the right time period and with a similar cast of characters. And, of course there is the satisfying ending with Poirot gathering all the members of the house who could be suspects, in a room, to reveal the killer and how and why he committed the crime. There is the pleasing feeling at the end that yes you as the reader was right there with Poirot and Police Inspector, following closely all the clues that were presented and almost quite sure of who the murderer was, with just a few new facts thrown in at the end to make the reason he or she committed the crime reasonable.
In this novel we are at a country house for the weekend. The elderly widow who has inherited the family fortune, and also in this case is a mystery author. Tonight at dinner she announces to the guests who have been invited that she is changing her will. Of course around the table are her children, her solisitors, other close friends and Hercule Poirot and Inspector Edward Catchpool.
The cast is set, the plot in motion and off we go to see if we can solve the crime that, of course, will be committed after this thunderous announcement.
Hannah has written a clever and entertaining mystery, I am going to go back and study Agatha Christie in much more depth to see if I think personally that she has lived up to the accolades she is gathering that say she is filling Agatha's shoes. Hannah said in an interview I read, that she is not trying to replicate Christie's style exactly. So she brought in a new narrator. She is looking to present a gift to Christie fans, " That’s what I want people to feel about this too: it’s a proper Poirot novel.”
I will be reading about Agatha Christie and rereading some of her early mysteries over the next few weeks. I will review what I find out.
Monday, August 14, 2017
Magpie Murders
OK this book has gone to the top of my favorite books of the summer! What a fun idea for writing a mystery. The mystery within the mystery novel. I will definitely go out and find some of Anthony Horowitz other stories to read. Of course I have loved every episode of Midsomer Murders on PBS for years, which he created, so I should not be surprised that he wrote such a creative novel.
As I mentioned there are multiple stories happening at the same time within this book. When we start reading with book editor, Susan Ryeland, the newest manuscript from the publisher's most popular author, Alan Conway, we are reading a fun and intriguing mystery story being spun. Then when Ryland reaches the end of her wine and the end of the chapters she has been sent, she realizes that something is amiss. She becomes a detective as she tries to figure out where things have gone wrong.
I will not give away any of the plot of this book, it is so much fun to read for yourself. I will say though that the writing style of this author is so incredible, that I took notes for future use when I will teach others about mystery novels. Horowitz has written some wonderful explanations of how a mystery novel works, how the detective thinks, and why readers are so fond of the genre of the mystery novel. Horowitz writes, "In a whodunit, when a detective hears that Sir Somebody Smith has been stabbed thirty-six times on a train or decapitated, they accept it as a quite natural occurrence.
....There are hundreds and hundreds of murders in books and television. It would be hard for narrative fiction to survive without them. And yet, there are almost non in real life, unless you happen to live in the wrong area."
Horowitz asks the reader, "Why is it that we have such a need for murder mystery and what is it that attracts us - the crime or the solution?" I think he has really captured something special in this book.
As I mentioned there are multiple stories happening at the same time within this book. When we start reading with book editor, Susan Ryeland, the newest manuscript from the publisher's most popular author, Alan Conway, we are reading a fun and intriguing mystery story being spun. Then when Ryland reaches the end of her wine and the end of the chapters she has been sent, she realizes that something is amiss. She becomes a detective as she tries to figure out where things have gone wrong.
I will not give away any of the plot of this book, it is so much fun to read for yourself. I will say though that the writing style of this author is so incredible, that I took notes for future use when I will teach others about mystery novels. Horowitz has written some wonderful explanations of how a mystery novel works, how the detective thinks, and why readers are so fond of the genre of the mystery novel. Horowitz writes, "In a whodunit, when a detective hears that Sir Somebody Smith has been stabbed thirty-six times on a train or decapitated, they accept it as a quite natural occurrence.
....There are hundreds and hundreds of murders in books and television. It would be hard for narrative fiction to survive without them. And yet, there are almost non in real life, unless you happen to live in the wrong area."
Horowitz asks the reader, "Why is it that we have such a need for murder mystery and what is it that attracts us - the crime or the solution?" I think he has really captured something special in this book.
Thursday, August 10, 2017
a piece of the world
Orphan Train was a fabulous book by Christina Baker Kline. There was so much to learn about a time period in American history that was little understood. Now she has outdone herself with her newest novel, based on the real life of Christina Olson, the muse for 30 years of famous painter, Andrew Wyeth.
This is just on the level of a novel an incredible story. Beautifully expressed through Christina's eyes, her life and debilitating disease are laid bare in cool facts without too much emotion. Christina for the most part accepted her lot in life and made the most of it. There are times when she brings the reader to the edge of tears for a woman who never found true love, but just at that point Christina either, does something to push people and the reader away, or shows her strength of character and the reader is not given the opportunity to feel sorry for her.
I can never look at the painting of "Christina's World" the same way again. Now one must look up close and examine the grass, the colors, the house and the woman who is reaching out toward what she was wanted the most, "a normal life". Both Christina and Andrew Wyeth had hard childhoods and both had a limp. Both had hard relationships with their fathers. Andrew says to Christina at one point, "It's brave to resist the pull of the familiar. To be selfish about your own needs. I wrestle with that everyday." They each had strong ideas of what they wanted out of life and worked hard to live the life they wanted on their own terms.
This is just on the level of a novel an incredible story. Beautifully expressed through Christina's eyes, her life and debilitating disease are laid bare in cool facts without too much emotion. Christina for the most part accepted her lot in life and made the most of it. There are times when she brings the reader to the edge of tears for a woman who never found true love, but just at that point Christina either, does something to push people and the reader away, or shows her strength of character and the reader is not given the opportunity to feel sorry for her.
I can never look at the painting of "Christina's World" the same way again. Now one must look up close and examine the grass, the colors, the house and the woman who is reaching out toward what she was wanted the most, "a normal life". Both Christina and Andrew Wyeth had hard childhoods and both had a limp. Both had hard relationships with their fathers. Andrew says to Christina at one point, "It's brave to resist the pull of the familiar. To be selfish about your own needs. I wrestle with that everyday." They each had strong ideas of what they wanted out of life and worked hard to live the life they wanted on their own terms.
The Lost Letter
I am always wondering if I will find some old letter or diary that will give me a connection to my past or a world I am connected to that I never knew existed. How exciting it seems it might be when cleaning out your parents home, to find some old memories that will give you incite into who your parents were before they were those old grown-ups who told you what to do.
Or when we were renovating our house, I hoped I would find some old papers hidden in the attic or a wall that would lead to someone's personal lost story. Jillian Cantor has found a way to write a wonderful sweet and historic story of the Holocaust and one family's journey out of Austria woven from a stamp collection.
Going back and forth between 1938 and 1989, Cantor intersperses two stories. The love story of Kristoff, a young apprentice to the famous stamp Jewish stamp engraver, and his daughter Elena.
When the war reaches their small town and starts to affect their lives, Kristoff and Elena must make some very dangerous and important decisions. While in 1989, Katie Nelson is cleaning out her father's house, after putting him a nursing home. He is suffering from a failing memory. Katie brings his stamp collection to Benjamin, a stamp appraiser, to find out if her father really had ever found the "gem" he was searching for. Thus starts the journey that takes Benjamin and Katie across the world to find out the story behind an Austrian stamp placed on an old love letter in her dad's collection.
This is a new and beautiful way to learn about another piece of the history of the Second World War. It also bring us to the contemporary historic bringing down of the Berlin Wall and the reuniting of East and West Germany.
Or when we were renovating our house, I hoped I would find some old papers hidden in the attic or a wall that would lead to someone's personal lost story. Jillian Cantor has found a way to write a wonderful sweet and historic story of the Holocaust and one family's journey out of Austria woven from a stamp collection.
Going back and forth between 1938 and 1989, Cantor intersperses two stories. The love story of Kristoff, a young apprentice to the famous stamp Jewish stamp engraver, and his daughter Elena.
When the war reaches their small town and starts to affect their lives, Kristoff and Elena must make some very dangerous and important decisions. While in 1989, Katie Nelson is cleaning out her father's house, after putting him a nursing home. He is suffering from a failing memory. Katie brings his stamp collection to Benjamin, a stamp appraiser, to find out if her father really had ever found the "gem" he was searching for. Thus starts the journey that takes Benjamin and Katie across the world to find out the story behind an Austrian stamp placed on an old love letter in her dad's collection.
This is a new and beautiful way to learn about another piece of the history of the Second World War. It also bring us to the contemporary historic bringing down of the Berlin Wall and the reuniting of East and West Germany.
Monday, August 7, 2017
Poetry Will Save Your Life
Jill Bialosky has found a creative way to write about her personal experiences and make them interesting to a wider audience. If you are a poetry enthusiast, you will enjoy reading her memoir, Poetry Will Save Your Life.
I must admit that poetry has never really spoken to me, so there a few poems that I have learned over the years, mainly for school assignments that I recognized in this book. There are a few that brought back fond memories of my mother, because she did like poems and Robert Louis Stevenson, who is ddquoted int his book was one of her favorites. "My Shadow" and "The Swing" were poems my mother loved to recite to me when I was a child.
Bialosky writes each chapter in this book about different stages and experiences in her life. In each instance she uses a poet and their poetry to relate to her frame of mind and emotions in those circumstances. It is interesting that there is a poet and poems to fit all different situations in life. When you are happy or sad, about marriage and loss of a pregnancy and even suicide. Though looking at the book as a whole, there are more poems about the unhappy experiences in life than the happy ones, or do we just look for something to fulfill us when we are down?
Growing up Jewish Bialosky even can relate to the psalms and poems of Jewish poets for inspiration and soloace. She quotes Psalm 23, "The Lord Is My Shepard..." which we are all so familiar with and the Israeli poet, Yehuda Amichai, who as a child immigrated from Germany under Hitler's regime, to Palestine with his Orthodox family. His poetry including, My child blossoms sadly", "carries the anguished reverberations of history and politics", says Jill Bialosky.
Though we do not share the same favorite poets, Bialosky says in an interview that her favorites are Robert Frost, Sylvia Plath, and Wallace Stevens, this was an interesting quick book to read. If you are moved by the poems she has chosen you may even enjoy it in a more personal way than I did.
I must admit that poetry has never really spoken to me, so there a few poems that I have learned over the years, mainly for school assignments that I recognized in this book. There are a few that brought back fond memories of my mother, because she did like poems and Robert Louis Stevenson, who is ddquoted int his book was one of her favorites. "My Shadow" and "The Swing" were poems my mother loved to recite to me when I was a child.
Bialosky writes each chapter in this book about different stages and experiences in her life. In each instance she uses a poet and their poetry to relate to her frame of mind and emotions in those circumstances. It is interesting that there is a poet and poems to fit all different situations in life. When you are happy or sad, about marriage and loss of a pregnancy and even suicide. Though looking at the book as a whole, there are more poems about the unhappy experiences in life than the happy ones, or do we just look for something to fulfill us when we are down?
Growing up Jewish Bialosky even can relate to the psalms and poems of Jewish poets for inspiration and soloace. She quotes Psalm 23, "The Lord Is My Shepard..." which we are all so familiar with and the Israeli poet, Yehuda Amichai, who as a child immigrated from Germany under Hitler's regime, to Palestine with his Orthodox family. His poetry including, My child blossoms sadly", "carries the anguished reverberations of history and politics", says Jill Bialosky.
Though we do not share the same favorite poets, Bialosky says in an interview that her favorites are Robert Frost, Sylvia Plath, and Wallace Stevens, this was an interesting quick book to read. If you are moved by the poems she has chosen you may even enjoy it in a more personal way than I did.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)