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Why don't we as a society read more short stories? They're good for our short-attention span brains! And who doesn't like a story delivered quickly? When I was in college, I read comic books more than anything else because I COULD get a story in a quicker, easier fashion. My guess is that short stories are hard to talk about without giving away the ending, and also can be depressing. I'll try not to do the former and own up to the latter.
The Laws of Evening by Mary Yukari Waters
This collection, written by a half-Japanese/half-Irish-American woman, includes 11 stories, all of them pretty short (I think the largest one is 20 pages) centering around the ordinary Japanese citizen reaction before, during and after - mostly after - World War II. However, the emphasis is not so much on the horror of war, like, say, Grave of the Fireflies, but on the cultural and personal changes to one's life that follow. Broken marriages and families are a given, but loss to the west also means some loss of eastern traditions. In one of the most popular stories in the collection, "Aftermath," a mother has to deal with her son's growing interest in Western things being brought over from America by the soldiers. A packet of peanut butter can feel like an insult when its from the men who killed her husband.
Women usually take the center stage in these stories. Usually they are old, carrying around loss for all of their lives, such as the protagonist of the title story, "The Laws of Evening." Although some find a way to move beyond it and forge a new life in their final years, like the heroine of "Kami." Others find that the conflict between the old and new worlds happens in their own families, like in "The Way Love Works." A few stories are about men, though, such as the father-son story "Rationing," and "Mirror Studies," where a man from the WWII generation must deal with his slow loss of energy and inability to keep up in his career.
I watch a lot of anime, so reading this book was an interesting experience. I've never been to Japan, but I felt like she was showing me a bit of the real Japan, using terms that I had a familiarity with. Maybe this isn't unique and I just need to start reading more Haruki Murakami and Kenzubaro Oe, but I kind of felt like pieces of a puzzle - the honorifics, the food, Buddhism, Shintoism, the fireworks festivals, the media - were all smushed back together in a form I wasn't used to seeing them in. Just a personal feeling ... but it's kind of neat to hear someone use the word "ne" or call someone "-san" without going, "What does that mean?" I wonder if other anime fans who read this would feel the same way.
The writing is very good. I suppose it's minimalist, but I always felt like I could picture the scenes perfectly. The sight of the ginko trees, the sound of a woman's sandals against the rock in the driveways, the taste of the yams the Japanese re-fashioned to taste like rice. One of the reviewers in the book blurbs compared Waters' work to haiku. I feel like that's a little stereotypical. "She's Japanese -- she must write like a haiku!" But I can't deny that Waters has a good eye for precise detail. And I do think she's a lot more readable than, say, E. Annie Proulx, who also uses precise details but has a somewhat difficult style to follow.
The one stumbling block for people will probably be that these stories aren't stories so much as portraits/snapshots. Except for possibly "Rationing," you don't get the trajectory of someone's life, and any epiphanies the characters have are rather minor. They usually boil down to, "Well, my life has been changed by war. So I guess this is how it is. The End." I didn't find that very dissatisfying, though, because the portraits are so strong and the stories are so short, anyway. You don't have a whole lot of time to get super-attached and then disappointed.
So I recommend this, especially if you're into anime or Japanese culture. It'll be a nice change. And I originally found mine on a Borders bargain rack, so you may be able to find a copy cheap, too.
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
I put more stock in critics than the average person, I think. (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cyberweasel would say too much.) So when a critic says something about someone I really like, I occasionally like to see what they're saying. If I can see it, I'll usually just say, "Yeah, you got a point, but I still like it" and move on. Although sometimes I totally can't see what they're talking about, and it drives me NUTS: like the claim that Jhumpa Lahiri's stories are contrived.
I just ... I don't know. I read The Namesake last year and never felt like there was any moment where I could go, "Ha, I KNEW that would happen" or "Oh, how convenient."* I do think some situations work a little too well, (like the phone call trap in "Nobody's Business"). But ... I wouldn't go so far to say that her work is cliched.
Now, seeped in the culture of academia, that I can understand but ... who cares? So her subject matter is Indians and Indian-Americans in grad school. Like its a common subject matter. Come ON. Tell me you often say to yourself, "I'm sick of all these mother-fucking deshis going to mother-fucking grad school." Please.
Anyway, I can see some of the flaws, but I still like Jhumpa Lahiri. Maybe it's something about her writing, how small details push along the big story. And how it IS so recognizable. I don't like Alice Munro, but I have to admit that when you see a little bit of Munro's writing style you know it's her, and the same is true of Lahiri.
Also, for all the criticism of Lahiri's subject matter, none of the plots of the nine stories in this collection are much like the other. A couple on the brink of collapse; a Hindu, Indian, Bengali family hosting a Muslim, Pakistani-soon-to-be-Bangledesh, Bengali man for dinner during the war; a man hosting an Indian-American family on a tour of Calcutta; how a new tub leads to conflict among an apartment house in Calcutta; a woman's affair with an Indian man; a kid being babysat by a lonely Indian woman; a Hindu Indian couple moves into a house filled with corny Christian trinkets that the wife loves and husband hates; a woman in Calcutta besieged by an illness that seems to have no cure; and the story of how an Indian man learns to connect with America through an old lady. Give Lahiri credit -- that's a lot of ground to cover for someone with a supposedly narrow viewpoint.
Not all of them are successful, however. "A Real Durwan" and "The Treatment of Bibi Haldar" seem to veer into this sort of fable-esque storytelling. It's an interesting show of range, but I think her stories of ordinary people are better. The little boy in "Sexy" is also a bit too much of the wise child. But other than that, I did enjoy the stories. My favorite was "This Blessed House," the one about the couple in the house full of trinkets. As someone who once got mad at her atheist dad for bringing home a Catholic candle because he thought it was neat, I could relate to the husband's annoyance. I also liked "When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine" because it showed how something that can be a huge deal in others' worlds can be such a small deal to Americans (and it taught me about Bangladesh). "The Third and Final Continent" also had a happy ending, so YAY!
Anyway, if you don't like Jhumpa Lahiri, this won't convince you, but if you've never tried her before, I definitely recommend it. It's not perfect, but there's a lot to like about it.
* I don't think I have low standards for these things just because she's Indian and I feel some sort of white guilt, by the way. I hated what I read of The Kite Runner.
Oh and ... by the way, I did see The Dark Knight. Without going into any spoilers, Heath Ledger was amazing, Aaron Eckhart was amazing, Christian Bale is still the best Batman. But I do hope the people who ground their teeth over Iron Man's alleged sexism (which I disagree with, but I've already explained why) don't give The Dark Knight a free pass, because I think it was worse (not The Wicker Man remake worse, mind you, but it did annoy me) and I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone complain about it yet. Maybe they're all upset over Dr. Horrible but ... [sigh]. What a shame.
Okay, okay, spoiler. I can't help it.
Look, I get why Rachel had to die. Batman has no love interest, can never have a true love interest, etc. Since the romantic couplings in this movie didn't have much spark I don't think we're going to miss it, either. But it was cliched AND a real bummer, especially since Maggie Gyllenhaal can act circles and cartwheels and triple axels around Katie Holmes. The character basically got a huge upgrade - I thought the way she stood up to The Joker was very brave - before being unceremoniously exploded, and it seemed like some sort of cosmic cheat.
That the background dark-skinned lady cop wasn't Renee Montoya but a corrupt person to be ditched was also disappointing. As was the fact that the future Batgirl/Oracle (I HOPE!) had no lines and less screentime than her I'm-not-sure-if-he's-canon brother was disappointing as well.
Also, not related to sexism, but did that Jebediah Springfield ending make ANY sense at all, seriously? I felt like it was so tacked-on. The ending of the first Spider-Man movie made more emotional sense.
Watchmen trailer is growing on me, by the way.
The Laws of Evening by Mary Yukari Waters
This collection, written by a half-Japanese/half-Irish-American woman, includes 11 stories, all of them pretty short (I think the largest one is 20 pages) centering around the ordinary Japanese citizen reaction before, during and after - mostly after - World War II. However, the emphasis is not so much on the horror of war, like, say, Grave of the Fireflies, but on the cultural and personal changes to one's life that follow. Broken marriages and families are a given, but loss to the west also means some loss of eastern traditions. In one of the most popular stories in the collection, "Aftermath," a mother has to deal with her son's growing interest in Western things being brought over from America by the soldiers. A packet of peanut butter can feel like an insult when its from the men who killed her husband.
Women usually take the center stage in these stories. Usually they are old, carrying around loss for all of their lives, such as the protagonist of the title story, "The Laws of Evening." Although some find a way to move beyond it and forge a new life in their final years, like the heroine of "Kami." Others find that the conflict between the old and new worlds happens in their own families, like in "The Way Love Works." A few stories are about men, though, such as the father-son story "Rationing," and "Mirror Studies," where a man from the WWII generation must deal with his slow loss of energy and inability to keep up in his career.
I watch a lot of anime, so reading this book was an interesting experience. I've never been to Japan, but I felt like she was showing me a bit of the real Japan, using terms that I had a familiarity with. Maybe this isn't unique and I just need to start reading more Haruki Murakami and Kenzubaro Oe, but I kind of felt like pieces of a puzzle - the honorifics, the food, Buddhism, Shintoism, the fireworks festivals, the media - were all smushed back together in a form I wasn't used to seeing them in. Just a personal feeling ... but it's kind of neat to hear someone use the word "ne" or call someone "-san" without going, "What does that mean?" I wonder if other anime fans who read this would feel the same way.
The writing is very good. I suppose it's minimalist, but I always felt like I could picture the scenes perfectly. The sight of the ginko trees, the sound of a woman's sandals against the rock in the driveways, the taste of the yams the Japanese re-fashioned to taste like rice. One of the reviewers in the book blurbs compared Waters' work to haiku. I feel like that's a little stereotypical. "She's Japanese -- she must write like a haiku!" But I can't deny that Waters has a good eye for precise detail. And I do think she's a lot more readable than, say, E. Annie Proulx, who also uses precise details but has a somewhat difficult style to follow.
The one stumbling block for people will probably be that these stories aren't stories so much as portraits/snapshots. Except for possibly "Rationing," you don't get the trajectory of someone's life, and any epiphanies the characters have are rather minor. They usually boil down to, "Well, my life has been changed by war. So I guess this is how it is. The End." I didn't find that very dissatisfying, though, because the portraits are so strong and the stories are so short, anyway. You don't have a whole lot of time to get super-attached and then disappointed.
So I recommend this, especially if you're into anime or Japanese culture. It'll be a nice change. And I originally found mine on a Borders bargain rack, so you may be able to find a copy cheap, too.
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
I put more stock in critics than the average person, I think. (
cyberweasel would say too much.) So when a critic says something about someone I really like, I occasionally like to see what they're saying. If I can see it, I'll usually just say, "Yeah, you got a point, but I still like it" and move on. Although sometimes I totally can't see what they're talking about, and it drives me NUTS: like the claim that Jhumpa Lahiri's stories are contrived.I just ... I don't know. I read The Namesake last year and never felt like there was any moment where I could go, "Ha, I KNEW that would happen" or "Oh, how convenient."* I do think some situations work a little too well, (like the phone call trap in "Nobody's Business"). But ... I wouldn't go so far to say that her work is cliched.
Now, seeped in the culture of academia, that I can understand but ... who cares? So her subject matter is Indians and Indian-Americans in grad school. Like its a common subject matter. Come ON. Tell me you often say to yourself, "I'm sick of all these mother-fucking deshis going to mother-fucking grad school." Please.
Anyway, I can see some of the flaws, but I still like Jhumpa Lahiri. Maybe it's something about her writing, how small details push along the big story. And how it IS so recognizable. I don't like Alice Munro, but I have to admit that when you see a little bit of Munro's writing style you know it's her, and the same is true of Lahiri.
Also, for all the criticism of Lahiri's subject matter, none of the plots of the nine stories in this collection are much like the other. A couple on the brink of collapse; a Hindu, Indian, Bengali family hosting a Muslim, Pakistani-soon-to-be-Bangledesh, Bengali man for dinner during the war; a man hosting an Indian-American family on a tour of Calcutta; how a new tub leads to conflict among an apartment house in Calcutta; a woman's affair with an Indian man; a kid being babysat by a lonely Indian woman; a Hindu Indian couple moves into a house filled with corny Christian trinkets that the wife loves and husband hates; a woman in Calcutta besieged by an illness that seems to have no cure; and the story of how an Indian man learns to connect with America through an old lady. Give Lahiri credit -- that's a lot of ground to cover for someone with a supposedly narrow viewpoint.
Not all of them are successful, however. "A Real Durwan" and "The Treatment of Bibi Haldar" seem to veer into this sort of fable-esque storytelling. It's an interesting show of range, but I think her stories of ordinary people are better. The little boy in "Sexy" is also a bit too much of the wise child. But other than that, I did enjoy the stories. My favorite was "This Blessed House," the one about the couple in the house full of trinkets. As someone who once got mad at her atheist dad for bringing home a Catholic candle because he thought it was neat, I could relate to the husband's annoyance. I also liked "When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine" because it showed how something that can be a huge deal in others' worlds can be such a small deal to Americans (and it taught me about Bangladesh). "The Third and Final Continent" also had a happy ending, so YAY!
Anyway, if you don't like Jhumpa Lahiri, this won't convince you, but if you've never tried her before, I definitely recommend it. It's not perfect, but there's a lot to like about it.
* I don't think I have low standards for these things just because she's Indian and I feel some sort of white guilt, by the way. I hated what I read of The Kite Runner.
Oh and ... by the way, I did see The Dark Knight. Without going into any spoilers, Heath Ledger was amazing, Aaron Eckhart was amazing, Christian Bale is still the best Batman. But I do hope the people who ground their teeth over Iron Man's alleged sexism (which I disagree with, but I've already explained why) don't give The Dark Knight a free pass, because I think it was worse (not The Wicker Man remake worse, mind you, but it did annoy me) and I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone complain about it yet. Maybe they're all upset over Dr. Horrible but ... [sigh]. What a shame.
Okay, okay, spoiler. I can't help it.
Look, I get why Rachel had to die. Batman has no love interest, can never have a true love interest, etc. Since the romantic couplings in this movie didn't have much spark I don't think we're going to miss it, either. But it was cliched AND a real bummer, especially since Maggie Gyllenhaal can act circles and cartwheels and triple axels around Katie Holmes. The character basically got a huge upgrade - I thought the way she stood up to The Joker was very brave - before being unceremoniously exploded, and it seemed like some sort of cosmic cheat.
That the background dark-skinned lady cop wasn't Renee Montoya but a corrupt person to be ditched was also disappointing. As was the fact that the future Batgirl/Oracle (I HOPE!) had no lines and less screentime than her I'm-not-sure-if-he's-canon brother was disappointing as well.
Also, not related to sexism, but did that Jebediah Springfield ending make ANY sense at all, seriously? I felt like it was so tacked-on. The ending of the first Spider-Man movie made more emotional sense.
Watchmen trailer is growing on me, by the way.
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Jebediah Springfield/Hans Sprungfeld... (good one, Becky) XD XD
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But in an idealized setting ... Catwoman CAN be gritty in the right context. The writer would basically have to strike a balance between allowing for the character's sly, bawdy sense of humor without taking it too far and making her a Julie Newmar/Eartha Kitt burlesque cartoon. The actress should also be strong and not an ingenue. (Someone more like ... well, Maggie Gyllenhaal than Katie Holmes.) The hardest part would be the plot. After the MASSIVE scope of The Dark Knight, which encompasses the mob and cross-continent conspiracy and local government corruption, it would be hard to move down to a character who is basically a quasi-vigilante jewel thief with a predilection toward NOT playing with others.
Although ... a meditation on Batman's the-vigilante-ends-justify-the-means-if-it's-good and Catwoman's the-vigilante-ends-justify-the-means-if-it's-me-and-you-know-you-want-me as an overall theme to hang a plot on could be good movie-making. And Rachel's death could lead the lonely Batman into temptation, especially now that Lucius is gone and his mentor had betrayed him ...
Yeah, if they're smarter than me (and that's not hard) they could make it work. But like I said, the Catwoman movie might have made the whole idea moot.
I actually think that making Robin non-campy will be Nolan's biggest challenge, if he chooses to accept it. I was wondering earlier if he might not.
Jebediah Springfield/Hans Sprungfeld... (good one, Becky) XD XD
Heh, thanks. I think the comparison is pretty obvious, though.
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I agree with you about anthologies, BTW. They're great for people with short attention spans or people who like to read, but don't have a lot of time. You can read one story and leave the book for days or weeks without losing track of any plot items or character knowledge that a longer read may require.
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Although that philosophy means I have multiple half-read short story books ... [gulp!]
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I have a stack of three anthologies I'm currently reading.