Unbroken

For our October book club Heather W chose Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand.  It's the story of Louis Zamperini how he went from a incorrigible delinquent as a boy to running in the Berlin Olympics as a teenager to fighting in WWII- crashing in the Pacific Ocean and surviving 47 days lost at sea only to become a prisoner of war.

This book is amazing!  I realized part way into it that Louie is only about two weeks older than my Grandma.  Which made it extra interesting for me.  It's crazy to think of all the things that both she and Louie have seen in their lifetimes.  And to think they will both be turning 95 this January - so inspiring!  In fact this whole book is inspiring - makes you put your own life in perspective.  Our book club all agreed that it was a really hard book to put down because it is so fascinating.  And Louie is so full of spirit and funny that you can't help but fall in love with him.  We also all agreed that pretty much once he's training for the Olympics is when this book gets hard to put down.  And despite all the terrible things that happen to him and others at the POW camps, the parts that we could not quit talking about was when he was with the sharks in the ocean!  Talk about nail biting moments!  I really can't say enough about this book.  You just need to request it from the library - or just buy it - and start reading now.

Plum Wine

About 10 years ago I took a creative writing class at NCSU and my instructor was Angela Davis-Gardner.  At some point during the semester she brought in a box and as she carefully pulled a stack of papers tied together with twine out of it, she excitedly told us that she had finished her book Plum Wine.  After completing the class my mom gave me two of her other novels Felice and Forms of Shelter as a gift, which I read and enjoyed.  But over the passing years I had forgotten about Plum Wine.  When I was in the library last week, they had a section of NC authors and there it was, right in front of me, telling me to read it. So naturally I checked it out and started reading it as soon as I got home.

It is the story of Barbara a young American woman teaching Literature at a women's college in Tokyo, Japan in the 1960s, during the Vietnam War.  She inherits a tansu chest from another teacher and dear friend, Michi, who has recently passed away.  The chest if filled with bottles of homemade plum wine that Michi and her mother made, dating back to 1930.  But the real story begins when she realizes there are letters wrapped around each bottle telling the stories of Michi and her mother and grandmother - telling the stories of their family and their survival of Hiroshima.

It is a beautiful story of love and loss.  And an unusual point of view - because in a way it is the Japanese point of view of WWII and Hiroshima as well as Vietnam, but it is the Japanese point of view told through and American woman in Japan.  So it's very interesting and intricate.  I loved this story and found myself easily lost in it.  And while reading it, I often thought of the class I took with her 10 years ago and how this novel gave me a new perspective of her, even more so than her other novels.  And it really made me want to start writing again...

The Diary of a Young Girl

So as I mentioned before I somehow made it to 35 having never read The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.  In high school I only had to read excerpts, and because I knew it would be sad I just never read it on my own.  So I decided now was the time and took the plunge.  And I am so glad I did.  Anne is sweet, endearing, and pretty funny.  I think I laughed more than I cried.  And lets face it, we all know how it's going to end so it takes the sting off it a little bit.  It's still exceptionally frustrating that they were caught so close to the end of it all though.  Now to mention that most of them died within days of their camp being liberated.  Aargh!  So frustrating!  That being said, I don't know if her diary would've had the same impact had she survived... not sure about that one though, something to think about.  All in all reading her diary really made me want to do more research into the lives of her father Otto (since he's the only family member who survived) as well as the two women who helped them - Bep Voskuigl, who lived until 1983 and Miep Gies, who lived until 2010.  (Can you believe she lived until 2010?)

So I read the definitive edition, which included passages that had never been published before and supposedly included her entire diary.  Having never read the other versions, I have no comparison - but I found her to be an average teenage girl full of angst and love and constantly trying to become the woman she wants to be.  Of course she was very much not the average teenager given her life and the things she had to go through - but at the same time she really was.  Which is probably one of the reasons everyone loves her so much.  I found myself relating to her in a lot of ways - and could really remember feeling similar when I was 14 and 15 years old.  Of course my life was easy by comparison - but the basic emotions of growing up and wanting to be independent, but still being so dependent at the same time were things I could really remember experiencing.  Anyway, if you like me had never read this book, all I have to say is go do it - now.  Very poignant and somewhat voyeuristic to be honest - but wonderful and definitely a must read.  Now I want to go reread a bunch of required reading from school...

The Kitchen God's Wife

Erika chose The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan for book club this month.  It is the story of Winnie, a Chinese born woman, as she tells it to her American-born daughter Pearl of her life in China in the 1930s and 40s.  It is wonderful and heartbreaking all at the same time.  Another story of the oppression of women for our book club, but this one, at least to me, was so much more terrible.  The things that Winnie lived through and overcame are both amazing and horrifying.  Just when you thought it couldn't get worse, it did.  But as she tells the story she warns Pearl that it will get worse, so although you are prepared - it's still terrible.  But among the tragedy there is such a sweet love story between Winnie and Pearl's father Jimmy - when you finally get to it.  As well as the bond between mother and daughter, that grows through the telling of the story.

Everyone in the book club enjoyed it and we talked a lot about the hardships they experienced, and how eye-opening it was read about the war from the Chinese perspective.  I also found this book interesting because I had read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See which is about women in 19th century China, when girl's feet were bound and feudal marriages where the only way.  And then comparing that to The Kitchen God's Wife and how they were moving away from feudal marriages especially after the war, and then on to thinking about how China is today.  It's just fascinating to me to think about so much change in a relatively short amount of time.  But despite the changes, and despite the fact that Winnie was a radical in so many ways, she still loves and embraces her customs and culture and teaches them to her children.

Although I struggled through the first chapter that was in Pearl's point of view, as soon as Winnie was telling her story I was hooked and I really enjoyed the rest of the book.  And in the end when the book returns to Pearl's point of view I liked her better, because I think hearing her mother's story made her a more likable, relatable person.  I think it was a great book for book club and would readily recommend it to others.  I haven't read anything else by Amy Tan but I heard that The Joy Luck Club is better, so I will have to read that one sometime.

Like Water for Chocolate

In May my book club read Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances,and Home Remedies by Laura Esquivel. I was actually the one who chose the book this month - since I had never read it, but always wanted to, I picked it. Every month people joke that they are sure that when it's their turn to pick the book they are going to pick the 'sex' book. But have no fear ladies because I picked the sex book! Well to be honest, although it was very much about sex, I think it was more about passion and repression. Set in turn-of-the-century Mexico Like Water for Chocolate tells the story of Tita, the youngest daughter of Mama Elena, owner of the de la Garza ranch. Tita falls in love with Pedro, but Mama Elena will not allow them to marry, since family tradition dictates that the youngest daughter remain at home to care for her mother. Instead, Mama Elena orchestrates the marriage of Pedro to Tita's eldest sister Rosaura. Tita is forced to make the wedding dinner and the cake for her sister's wedding, and she pours her emotions into the task. And so as the guests eat the cake they are filled with her sorrow and all burst into tears. As the story goes on Tita continues to cook her emotions into the food - resulting in a lot of mayhem. Including her sister Gertrudis being so filled with a hot passion and desire that she evaporates water, sets the shower stall on fire, and ends up working in a brothel just to quench the passion Tita's food ignited. Tita's unrequited love for Pedro survives the Mexican Revolution, the births of Rosaura and Pedro's children, even a proposal of marriage from Dr. John.
 

It was interesting discussing this book at book club, as I was reading it at first I wasn't sure if there would be that much to talk about. But there really was a lot of depth to the characters and the story. In general, I think, we all liked it. I would recommend it to others for their book clubs. But it definitely isn't a book that I will reread. I think I just find the story too frustrating! I take for granted the freedoms I have as a woman in this day and age and so it's hard to tolerate reading about such a level of repression. But not only that - just stupid decisions! I think Pedro was an idiot and he never should have agreed to marry Rosaura, even if he saw it as his only way to stay close to Tita. I'm sorry but marrying my sister is not that way to stay close to me. And Rosaura! What kind of sister are you knowingly marrying your sister's love?? I know that it was a different time and they were all trying to do what their parents and tradition expected of them. But wouldn't it have been better if Pedro had a little more backbone and just took Tita off and eloped? I know that when Gertrudis ran off Mama Elena disowned her and said that she was dead. But who cares about that. Mama Elena was a two-faced beast - especially once we found out her shady back story, you'd think she would have more compassion. Ultimately of the three sisters Gertrudis was my favorite. Despite the fact that she broke tradition and was disowned, she seemed to have an amazing life. She married the man she loved and she was a strong, powerful woman in a time that women were extremely oppressed. Everyone in my book club loved Gertrudis. She was such a renegade.

In the end, Tita does manage to break the bonds of tradition, if not for herself, then for future generations. However I found the ending slightly unsettling, especially when she was eating the candles to capture the heat. It was a very Romeo and Juliet sort of ending. And the last chapter skipped so far ahead in the story that it threw me off for a minute. But I did love that Rosaura's daughter, Esperenza was able to get married despite the tradition of youngest daughters taking care of their mothers, and in fact she married Dr. John's son. I really did love Dr. John and although I knew that Tita had all that passion for Pedro, I couldn't help pulling for Dr. John. I loved how he saved her and brought her calm, and I wanted her to want that for herself. But that's life, we don't always get what we want. And that's pretty much how this story went. Though it had a warning to all - once you do get what you want be careful not to let it take you over.