This was the most fascinating reading experience I've had in quite a while.
The Pillow Book is more than 1000 years old, written by a lady of the courThis was the most fascinating reading experience I've had in quite a while.
The Pillow Book is more than 1000 years old, written by a lady of the court at the time of Heian culture in Japan. It features stories (from her life, from her reading, that's she's heard), bits of poetry, moments of especially brilliant wit, descriptions of fashion and etiquette, and - my favorite - lists. Some of the lists are just names of things, like mountains or cities or rivers. But many of them are very specific and smart, funny or both. They show how very much is still the same, all these generations later, on the other side of the world.
For example: "Things that create the appearance of deep emotion - The sound of your voice when you're constantly blowing your runny nose as you talk. Plucking your eyebrows."
It's a silly list, but these are smart observations that hold true still today. I was so surprised at the ongoing connections I was able to find with Sei, and how much she felt like a friend by the end.
There's plenty here that was completely obscure (culturally, historically) to me too - and some that even translators and historians aren't sure about. But what a gift to modernity that this writing survived.
A few more moments that made me smile:
"It's very pleasing when someone you don't know well mentions an old poem or story that you haven't heard of, and then it comes up again in conversation with someone else. If you come across it later in something you're reading, there the delightful moment when you cry, 'Oh is that where it comes from!', and you enjoy recalling the person's mention of it."
"Everything that cries in the night is wonderful. With the exception, of course, of babies."
The story is intense and triggering reading, but has its moments of triumph to round it out. The characters are larger than life, which isn't my thingThe story is intense and triggering reading, but has its moments of triumph to round it out. The characters are larger than life, which isn't my thing but if you like vivid and symbolic characters, they are very much here.
What really worked for me was that this book is masterfully and playfully structured. Each chapter title is a simple noun (gold, salt, mud, meat, wind...) that features in the chapter, both physically and symbolically. And the chapter titles repeat, twice, thrice, or more. The way we understand these nouns, as part of life as a Chinese immigrant in the frontier west but also what they represent in the stories of Lucy and her family, twists and changes.
On top of this deceptively simple word-work, the story moves back and forth in time and has near-magical elements that leave the reader wondering how much Lucy, as our narrator, is missing or misunderstanding.
The novel also has an immersive sense of place - the wind, the dust, the mud, the gold fever, the racism, the abuse, the sibling connection - it's all palpable. Even with so many dark and tragic scenes, this is still somehow a story of adventure and the search for belonging. ...more
Really fantastic stories about what makes a place home, strong (but realistically imperfect) women, mixed race identities, surviving poverty and violeReally fantastic stories about what makes a place home, strong (but realistically imperfect) women, mixed race identities, surviving poverty and violence, and what it means to make your own way in the world in the face of a friend or sister or other foil who sees life very differently.
I was hooked on every story, but my favorite two were Ghost Sickness, and Tomi....more
I'm a little broken after reading this. The story is full of tragedy and darkness, but there's so much sympathy here for the characters, even in the fI'm a little broken after reading this. The story is full of tragedy and darkness, but there's so much sympathy here for the characters, even in the face of little mercy. Bone and her family do the best they can with what they know and have. It's often harmful, but mostly not meant so, with the clear exception of Daddy Glen.
The culture around the Boatwrights is pretty ugly - hatred of others, violence, desperate lack of resources and support, no attention to mental health, racism, etc. I wanted to scream at how the doctor and cop treat Bone towards the end of the novel. Not because it's poorly done or didn't feel real. It's the opposite, which makes it all the more frustrating and terrifying.
Dorothy Allison pulls no punches in this book. There is brutal, graphic violence. But she handles it deftly and manages to avoid any sense of voyeurism. Bone, Raylene, and even Anney are left their dignity....more
Loading...
