The Garden of Evening Mists - #35

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I'm going to do something in this post that I have noticed no one else who has done a "proper" review that I have read of this book has done. In fact, two things. By proper I mean reviews that have been published in old school places like literary reviews, and book sections of newspapers. I tend to read a book then have a quick look around the web for other peoples thoughts. Today's scout disappointed me.

So here it is.
1. I am not going to spoil the book. Unlike every review I have read, I am not going to give away a plot twist or the end of the book. Seriously. Who thinks that's a good idea?
2. I'm going to get my facts right. Most reviews I have read spout all these fact of what happens in the book. I just read it and they are wrong. Did they even bother reading the book? Or just the blurb on the back and some Goodreads or Amazon reviews? Bah.

After that build up. I really enjoyed it. REALLY! The book is the story of a Supreme Court judge in  Malaysia who retires (first chapter, not a spoiler). She heads up to a house she owns in the Cameron Highlands, and meets up with an old friend who still lives in the area. We then get told the story of her now, mixed with the stories of her past. We learn about the area, her history, the history of the country and about the Garden of Evening Mists.

What I loved about this book was the sereneness. The calmness. The stillness. I expected that when we were being walked through a beautiful, sculpted Japanese garden with Taoist, Buddhist and Shinto elements. What I didn't expect was it to trickle out of the garden and into the other elements of the book. Even the more violent or destructive parts of the book. I found that to be quite a skill.

I enjoyed the book also as it gave me a peek at the Pacific element of WWII. I am a bit over the European war stories. But this was a part of the war that we were directly a part of in some instances, but we talk very little about. And this was told from the perspective of not only the Malaysian Chinese, but the Japanese as well. Both of these are sides we never hear here in Aus. Then also, the aftermath of the war, with the instability of Malaya before it became Malaysia. I find it astounding we have so many Malays and Malaysian Chinese in Australia, yet we are taught nothing about their history, even the modern stuff. Sometimes I wonder if this is not more relevant than some European history. Mind you, didn't learn a lot of that either.

I definitely recommend this as a read. I enjoyed the journey the book took me on. I liked that there was another character in the book that was the garden itself. I am wondering how much gardening advice I can take out of this book to apply to my own overgrown, chaotic garden to instill into it some of the tranquility this book gave me.

Midnight Robber - #34

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Sick of all those sci fi books where the entire universe seems to be painted with an Anglo-Western brush in an American accent? Then this is the book for you.

Midnight Robber is set in a world where it's not the Americans or the Euros or the Asians who have colonised. This is a world evolved from and is so obviously Caribbean. It is the story of a girl called Tan-Tan who lives in this technologically advanced world, but then her father commits a crime that results in him being sent to a parallel world. Tan-Tan sneaks off with him, not knowing  that means never coming back. It's the story of Tan-Tan in this other other world, dealing with not only a more primitive version of her world, but also the creatures and other species in it that come right out of her Anansi stories.

This book is fantastic. It takes a well known theme of colonised, technologically advanced, new worlds and throws it on it's head. It's world building is phenomenal in my mind. I bought it all. A world where people don't have to do hard labour anymore and look down on those who do. Implants in your head feeding you information. Sending criminals away to a different version of your world so you don't have to deal with them. The culture of the douen. The tie ins to all the Anansi mythology and stories (some of which my Trinidadian friend had just told us about at dinner the other day). Loved it.

Not only that, it's written in a form of Creole. I assume it's pretty anglicised so those of us outside of the Caribbean cultures (and no doubt Creole changes from island to island) can understand it. But it adds a whole new element to immersing you into that world. It's clever. Each part of the book starts with a folklore story as well, so you feel you are sitting around a fire being told a story by a wise woman.

Because of this language however, I would say that it took me a lot longer that normal to read the first third of the book. You can't skim this one. You have to think through the sentences. You have to flip the words round and make them fit. You have to think back to what "doux-doux" or "pickney" meant. This gets easier though, as you get used to the grammar being not quite how we use it, the rhythm of the language, and words that get used again and again fall into your own vocab (like the above). It gets faster as the story gets faster. You get whisked along with it.

But for me, the climax failed. I couldn't relate to Tan-Tan anymore. She became someone I couldn't understand or empathise with. She was so incredibly selfish. All the other characters I loved though and felt so strongly for them, but not Tan-Tan. Then the ending for me was disappointing. One because I thought it was a lame end for Tan-Tan's story. But mainly it forgot about all those other characters I fell in love with in the book. I once again thought I was on to a 5 star read and the last 70 or so pages failed me.

It was sad, but I am so glad I read it. I am going to read more of Nalo Hopkinson's stuff as others who have said the same as me have recommended other reads of hers. I wanted a different sci-fi with an immersive world, and that's what I got. I wanted to start reading more books that had won awards like the Hugo, and I can see why it was shortlisted (it lost to a Harry Potter and was against a Song of Ice and Fire book. Tough competition). And it threw me into a culture I didn't know much about. And when it comes down to it, that's why I'm doing this challenge.

From the Mouth of the Whale - #33

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This book is beautifully written. It's lyrical. It picks you up and carries you along. You are swept through streams of consciousness and through herbal medicinal books, and then through third person narrative. You switch from one to the other seamlessly. It's a masterpiece in that regard.

But I am left with one overwhelming question.

What the fuck was that all about?

I mean I get it. It's the story of Jonás the Learned and his exile. It's about the amazing things he does or witnesses before he is accused of sorcery  It is about his weird magic realism visions. It's about his wonderfully patient wife. It's about him going to Denmark. But... what's the point?

I dislike getting to the end of the book and being thoroughly confused. It's the awkward break up conversation. "It's not you, it's me. I just don't think I can see this going any where." The book is as silent as my exes on the receiving end of the speech. Which could be a credit to my exes. But you just burble to fill in the space. In the end you just convince the other person they are better off without you or your understanding, because you have just revealed yourself as being slightly insane and they feel like they have dodged a bullet. "Why doesn't this girl just shut up?!?"

But I don't like that it my reading. The book that is cute and charming enough to get you to snog it while you're a little bit drunk, and then wake up thinking "What the hell did I just do? Please tell me it's not lying next to me." The book that tells your these epic sagas and then gets to the punchline and tells you "Oh I would tell you the point but it's too existential for you." (which is an "excuse" I was given by a staff member turning up 5 hours late for a shift (shifts were 4 hours long)).

See. This makes me grumpy. It conjures up images of break ups, drunken snogs with pretty, vapid boys and horrible prats who think they are all higher plain but are just fuckwits. It takes you on a pretty journey and I don't get the conclusion. If there is one. And I just don't know why I was taken on the journey.

I really do wonder if it is a cultural thing. Do I not get it coz I'm not Icelandic or even Scandinavian? I'd hope not but I may be right. I will read another of his books. I hope it is just this book, and it is the longest of them all. But I am prepared to be completely confused again. I'm not saying don't read it, just in case it is really me.

What's with the Rainbow?

So to get all political on your arse (like that's never happened before... piffle). I believe that if you love somebody, it doesn't matter what race, creed, gender, colour or sex you are. You should be able to commit to each other in a loving relationship in front of your friends and family if you wish. Not everyone likes the idea of marriage, that's cool, I'm in a relationship with one of them. I'm also not saying a religious organisation should have to perform over unions they do not agree with.

What I think is that a relationship between two people who love each other should be able to have that recognised if they wish.

At the moment I live in a country that seems to be governed by conservatives who are more scared of what the evangelicals in their electorates think than the majority of Australians. I live in a country where an atheist PM (of the debatable "left" party) in a defacto relationship is terrified of the conservative vote. It does my head in.

This is why I have a big rainbow here. It's to say while I personally am not same sex attracted, my family members and friends who are and who want to get married, should be able to. And I will protest, and demonstrate, until they are able to. This is a wonderful thing. Two people willing to stand in front of everyone they know and commit themselves to each other is great. And this rainbow is declaring my support for this cause, and at the end of the month there will be a snapshot of all the websites who display this rainbow and be sent to the Australian Government. Follow the rainbow to see other sites who support this, add the code yourself, or dismiss it (it shouldn't show up again for you, yay for no spam). I don't mind, but this is what it is about.

And those of you who have quibbles, or just want a good rational debate, you should listen to this conservative pollie from New Zealand the other day when they debated, and passed, their own marriage equality bill.

Ender's Game

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Alright. I read it. Our relationship can survive to be fought over normal relationship matters now, not the fact I haven't read his favourite book.

There was a threat made earlier this year that after all these years of not reading Lexx's favourite book, the crunch time was coming that he may leave me if I did not. I decided it was prudent to read the book, and not see how much of this threat was jest and how much truth was behind it.

I put it off honestly as I don't do spaceships. I just have an aversion to them. I don't know why, but it may have something to do with the fact my darling brother watched Star Wars and Return of the Jedi everyday for over 6 years. He would have watched The Empire Strikes Back too but we "lost" it at some point (I may need to thank my parents for this fact). So I procrastinated and read many other interesting things. I also put it off when I found out Orson Scott Card is a complete nutter and a rabid homophobe. But I finally picked it up.

It was a good read. I don't think it was fantastic, but I wonder what I would have thought as a young adult. But I did enjoy it a lot more than I was expecting.

First of all though, I had problems with believing Ender was the age he was. I had a very hard time suspending that belief. Once he ages, it was easier, but it was still slightly unbelievable. I mentioned this and got a long lecture about how they were genetically engineered kids and such. But still. I like some believability in my genetically engineered geniuses.

The bit I loved about the book the most I can't talk about. It's annoying but it all happened in the spoiler part of the book. To summarise as best I can though, the twist is great. I gasped audibly when it came. And the last 10 pages I left last night, as it was late and I was tired, and I wish I hadn't at all. I am so glad it ended where and how it did.

I believe I will enjoy Speaker for the Dead more. It's apparently more philosophical and political than Ender's battles and strategy. I read today that Speaker was actually the story he wanted to write, but he needed the back story and it got complicated.

I'm glad it did as I liked Ender. Really liked, he's a great protagonist. You can understand him, you understand his decisions, and above all you emphasise with him immensely. I liked Bean (he was good for a giggle) and some of the others, but no one as much as Ender. I recommend it highly. But just don't buy it new. Borrow it, secondhand bookshop it, whatever. And if you have to read one book to possibly save your relationship, there are millions of worse things to read ;)

Day Watch

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In October I read Night Watch, for a Kazakhstan/Russian read. I picked up the sequel, Day Watch, as I enjoyed it so much. This book follows on, but instead of focusing on the Night Watch, it, as the name suggests focuses on the Day Watch. However I found this slightly not the case, as the stories frequently flick from the Day Watch agent's perspective to that of previously met Night Watch agents. Where as you felt in Night Watch that he liked his characters, does not seem to feel that way about the Day Watch and seems to keep running back to the previous characters he prefers more.

I noted the technology being dated a lot more in this book. I know they were walking around Moscow with minidisc players in the last book, but I viewed it as a quirk. However the running to their desktops to open Netscape to start searching made me laugh. Mental note to self, if ever I write a book, don't mention operating systems or search engines. In a few years they seem ridiculously out of date.

But it was still fun, just not as much. But you get taken further than Moscow in this volume, passing into the Crimea, Ukraine and Prague. I still will read the other two though. I still love the style of writing, the Russian tone. Cannot get enough of it.

Toppler - Northern Lights

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I've had this book on my radar for a while. An old friend of mine recommended it to Lexx and I as an "atheist Narnia". Now, I loved Narnia. Was completely and totally in love with it. My old copies of the books are falling apart, especially Prince Caspian which was my Mum's before mine. And I remember reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as one of my first "grown up" books at aged 6. So this recommendation was a winner for me.

I picked up the book expecting to be able to read it in 24 hours for the last Toppler YLTO held a couple of weekends ago. I has assumed it was a kids book. I do think now it still is a kids book, but one which is not dumbed down for kids. If there was a word that perfectly fitted what Philip Pullman wanted to say, he used it. Who cares if kids don't know the word sardonic. They either learn from the book, or if they are really interested they'll pull down a dictionary or more likely Google (not sure how many houses besides ours has a giant dictionary anymore), or god forbid, ask their parental units. It was not Harry Potter writing, this was seriouz biznezz.

Which was great, but wasn't achievable on my Sunday. But the story was enjoyable, fun and full of adventures. It was also dark, scary, descriptive and had a bit of death in it. I was a bit shocked every time these kind of things happened. Lexx just looked at me and said "I told you it was different." It's true, he did. But you know, since when did I pay attention?

The main thing to note is that I still consider it a kids book. There is always hope in the book. And to me, that is what makes kids books so much easier to handle that adult books. There is always hope that good will prevail. It's not as in your face in this book as most others, but you still feel it. And that's important for kids. Bad stuff happens, but you should always hope.

Otherwise, witches, ghosties, talking bears, gypsies, animal familiars, magic, parallel universes. What's not to love?! The one thing I can't work out is my real surname is rather similar to the main baddie's name. Never mentioned before, by anyone. It's not a common sound either, so I was surprised. And a little chuffed that someone in a book nearly had the same name as me. Trust me, this is a big deal.

I don't know why there is a big hoo ha about how it's all anti-God. It's not. There baddies are an institution that has evolved from the church. It's anti that establishment, for free thinking, and so on. But the first book wasn't a challenge to Christianity (not sure where the others go). Mind you, the people that claim these things probably think that if a caterpillar looks at them funny it's challenging Christianity, so I won't think about it too hard

So read it. Read the sequels, as I am planning to. Read it to your kids, or let them discover it for themselves. Although if you do choose it as a bedtime story, choose your ending points well. And always remind the kidlets there is hope.