By now books in our Library seem to know what it is that I am searching for. There is no other explanation for how this book jumped into my hands. True, there was the golden Pulitzer Prize sticker on the front page but still... It must be the dog eared look that did it.
It was surprising to find out that the 'March' of the title is not the month and not a parade event but Mr.March from Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. Yes, Geraldine Brooks has made this irreproachable book around the mostly absent father of the four delightful girls. Brooks is generously endowed with talent which is evident as soon as you read a few pages. Soon we shed all the inhibitions of reading about a known character because the story that evolves can stand very well on its own. We rarely meet the family except through the letters from Mr. March. He writes regularly from the war front (American Civil War) on the side of the Yankees where he serves as a Chaplain. It is is his second time in the South which he had traversed as a salesman in his youth. This time around however, things are different and circumstances more complicated. As the war progresses we move with March to learn of his past and how it changes his present relationships. Family endures and by the time we meet Mrs.March coming to take care of her invalid husband in the hospital we would have gone through a lifetime worth of experiences ourselves. A classic of a book where the literary environment created by the author is simply not to be missed.
A second book
BTW, I just finished Gentleman &Players by Joanne Harris. It is a riot of a read. A fun yet serious murder mystery woven around an old prep school called St. Oswalds. In this Kazuo Ishiguro'esque novel Harris relies on her British background and it has paid off. Please guys, if you are in for a light and fun read, look no further.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Irving Stone - Lust For Life
Irving Stone was a biographer of immortals. I had read Stone's Agony & Ecstasy on Michael Angelo a while back and was on my way into another round when this post in pareltank came to my attention. Thanks! Afterwards, I had to visit a neighborhood library to get a copy of 'Bridge To Terabithia' for my 4th grader's class project. (A wonderful book. Do read the book or watch the movie of the same name.) Wandering around I found 'Lust For Life' grinning at me from the shelves. Grabbed that along with some for my Kindergartner and we left happy customers.
Stone's ability to inhabit the people and events of the period that he writes about is uncanny. He must really love/respect his subjects to be able to do that. This is probably why he was able to portray Vincent Van Gogh's life so realistically. This painter strove to capture real life characters and places into his canvass. At the height of his painting days it was imperative for him to finish a painting the same day that a scene or people caught his imagination. Irving Stone succeeded very well in making the reader understand the agony of creation that goes on inside a painter's head. To be a true artist one should have no inhibitions in the expression of the art. Van Gogh's paintings were ridiculed for being childlike and for portraying a lower class of people. He lived during a time of renaissance in painting but people were just getting used to the Impressionists and Vincent's time was still in the future.
Van Gogh's story is never complete without that of his brother Theo Van Gogh. It was Theo who stood by this lunatic of a brother - to ordinary standards - when he wanted to take up painting around the tender age of 27. An age when most men were established and married. The world would not have heard of a Vincent Van Gogh if it was not for Theo's ardent financial and moral support. I'd like to watch the movie Vincent & Theo someday.
Van Gogh was born in Holland and was part of a well known family. His father's five brothers were all well known in politics and in the arts. Two of the Van Gogh brothers had controlling interest in art galleries in London, Paris, Brussels, The Hague etc.. Vincent's father was the least known Van Gogh but was the beloved and intelligent curate of a small parish. His parents wished their son would be like others but stood by him as much as they could in all the decisions he took. He started off as an art salesman in a London art-gallery owned by his uncle and namesake Vincent Van Gogh. He was doing well and was even thought to inherit the Van Gogh art kingdom some day. Unfortunately Vincent was a man of strong passions and an initial unrequited love pushed him off the path of normalcy and into his ultimate destiny. He left the gallery and wanting to become a curate which eventually lead him to the disparate lives of miners in utter poverty in the Borinage. True to character Vincent tried to do them justice by giving up all he had for their betterment but it was more than anything he could do. When Emile Zola wrote about miners in his book 'Germinal' he mentions having met many in the Borinage area who spoke highly of a Christ like Van Gogh who lived among them and loved them.
When he could not be a successful minister Vincent got depressed and unhappy. He spent days barely eating and always in the clutches of a fever that stayed with him ever since. One day the urge to bring to life the raw people around hit him and that was the beginning of the artist. Theo who was starting as an art dealer in Paris, stood by him in this with an understanding that defied norms. He promised to send Vincent a monthly allowance from his salary as Vincent had no other means of support. This was single most thing that let Vincent pursue his art in his own way. Unlike the existing norms Vincent was trying to capture the essence of true people - as he called it - into his canvass. He considered himself to be a peasant like his subjects. He lived in the outdoors or found models from real life such as laborers, and washerwomen when indoors. He spent every franc to pay the models and on painting supplies. This often left no money for food towards the last days of the month which in turn would bring the fever and the cycle will stat again.
He lived with his parents for a while in Etten and fell in love with a widowed cousin. This was not acceptable to the families but at least this time he had his painting to look forward to. He went to the Hague where he got some guidance from Mauve who was a maternal uncle through marriage. Here he lived with a woman Christine and her children for a year or two while trying to rescue her from street life. This was the only semblance of family life he had in his entire life. Running out of money does not conduit to a stable life and he was driven out of this life back to his father's new parish in Nuenen. There he painted prolifically while getting mildly frustrated in search of that painting that could ultimately satisfy the artist in him. He went out with easel and supplies in the morning and got back only in the evening. A routine he kept through the remaining years.
From Nuenen Theo took him to Paris where by now he was a successful art dealer. This is where Vincent met most of his friends and was introduced to Impressionism. Paintings used to be generally dark till then but the exposure to Impressionism gave Vincent a new perspective.Theo was well loved for taking the side of new artists against established gallery practices. He fought hard to give the Impressionists a display space in the walls when the art buying world had not woken up to them yet. Vincent made friends with Georges Seurat, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri Rousseau, Gauguin, Zola and the likes. He was very fond of Gauguin and they hit it off well.
Vincent developed his own style after at first futilely attempting to copy the impressionists. The time had come to settle down. From Paris he went to Arles which is a sun baked little town with olive trees and vineyards. Here he rented a small yellow house that he loved and started on his famous sunflowers. The scorching Arles sun could not stop his relentless pursuit to capture life with character on canvass. His most satisfactory and productive years were spent here. The grueling routine and the inevitable lack of food got to him and started his epileptic spells. It was around this time that Paul Gauguin came to live with him. They each harbored a solitary temperament which did not bode well for the relationship. It ended one day when Vincent cut off his ear while they were quarreling. Gauguin left and Vincent's doctor admitted him to a peaceful mental asylum in the countryside with Theo's permission. There at St. Remy's he painted the surroundings but the fire inside was slowly dying down. He also figured that the epileptic bouts came about once every three months. The waiting and the uncertainty of the attacks brought him further down but knowing an approximate time also gave him a certain amount of confidence. After a year, he went back to Paris to be near Theo who had married and had a child named Vincent. Theo placed him under the care of Dr. Gachet and Vincent chose a cheap place in Auvers where he stayed till his untimely death.
One page biographies will give you a vague idea of the person but Stone's book will make you a close acquaintance. At the end Stone mentions that almost all the events described are true based on his extensive research. It helped that Theo Van Gogh kept every single letter written to him by his brother. About 700 of them I believe. This is available as a book. Vincent died of self inflicted gun shot wounds in the arms of his brother at the age of 37. Theo died 6 months later. Theo's wife Johanna - herself the sister of a painter - loved Vincent as much and was instrumental in bringing Vincent's life and painting to public attention.
Needless to say, I am on quest to read all of Stone's books. Oh and don't forget to listen to Starry Starry Night.
Stone's ability to inhabit the people and events of the period that he writes about is uncanny. He must really love/respect his subjects to be able to do that. This is probably why he was able to portray Vincent Van Gogh's life so realistically. This painter strove to capture real life characters and places into his canvass. At the height of his painting days it was imperative for him to finish a painting the same day that a scene or people caught his imagination. Irving Stone succeeded very well in making the reader understand the agony of creation that goes on inside a painter's head. To be a true artist one should have no inhibitions in the expression of the art. Van Gogh's paintings were ridiculed for being childlike and for portraying a lower class of people. He lived during a time of renaissance in painting but people were just getting used to the Impressionists and Vincent's time was still in the future.
Van Gogh's story is never complete without that of his brother Theo Van Gogh. It was Theo who stood by this lunatic of a brother - to ordinary standards - when he wanted to take up painting around the tender age of 27. An age when most men were established and married. The world would not have heard of a Vincent Van Gogh if it was not for Theo's ardent financial and moral support. I'd like to watch the movie Vincent & Theo someday.
Van Gogh was born in Holland and was part of a well known family. His father's five brothers were all well known in politics and in the arts. Two of the Van Gogh brothers had controlling interest in art galleries in London, Paris, Brussels, The Hague etc.. Vincent's father was the least known Van Gogh but was the beloved and intelligent curate of a small parish. His parents wished their son would be like others but stood by him as much as they could in all the decisions he took. He started off as an art salesman in a London art-gallery owned by his uncle and namesake Vincent Van Gogh. He was doing well and was even thought to inherit the Van Gogh art kingdom some day. Unfortunately Vincent was a man of strong passions and an initial unrequited love pushed him off the path of normalcy and into his ultimate destiny. He left the gallery and wanting to become a curate which eventually lead him to the disparate lives of miners in utter poverty in the Borinage. True to character Vincent tried to do them justice by giving up all he had for their betterment but it was more than anything he could do. When Emile Zola wrote about miners in his book 'Germinal' he mentions having met many in the Borinage area who spoke highly of a Christ like Van Gogh who lived among them and loved them.
When he could not be a successful minister Vincent got depressed and unhappy. He spent days barely eating and always in the clutches of a fever that stayed with him ever since. One day the urge to bring to life the raw people around hit him and that was the beginning of the artist. Theo who was starting as an art dealer in Paris, stood by him in this with an understanding that defied norms. He promised to send Vincent a monthly allowance from his salary as Vincent had no other means of support. This was single most thing that let Vincent pursue his art in his own way. Unlike the existing norms Vincent was trying to capture the essence of true people - as he called it - into his canvass. He considered himself to be a peasant like his subjects. He lived in the outdoors or found models from real life such as laborers, and washerwomen when indoors. He spent every franc to pay the models and on painting supplies. This often left no money for food towards the last days of the month which in turn would bring the fever and the cycle will stat again.
He lived with his parents for a while in Etten and fell in love with a widowed cousin. This was not acceptable to the families but at least this time he had his painting to look forward to. He went to the Hague where he got some guidance from Mauve who was a maternal uncle through marriage. Here he lived with a woman Christine and her children for a year or two while trying to rescue her from street life. This was the only semblance of family life he had in his entire life. Running out of money does not conduit to a stable life and he was driven out of this life back to his father's new parish in Nuenen. There he painted prolifically while getting mildly frustrated in search of that painting that could ultimately satisfy the artist in him. He went out with easel and supplies in the morning and got back only in the evening. A routine he kept through the remaining years.
From Nuenen Theo took him to Paris where by now he was a successful art dealer. This is where Vincent met most of his friends and was introduced to Impressionism. Paintings used to be generally dark till then but the exposure to Impressionism gave Vincent a new perspective.Theo was well loved for taking the side of new artists against established gallery practices. He fought hard to give the Impressionists a display space in the walls when the art buying world had not woken up to them yet. Vincent made friends with Georges Seurat, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri Rousseau, Gauguin, Zola and the likes. He was very fond of Gauguin and they hit it off well.
Vincent developed his own style after at first futilely attempting to copy the impressionists. The time had come to settle down. From Paris he went to Arles which is a sun baked little town with olive trees and vineyards. Here he rented a small yellow house that he loved and started on his famous sunflowers. The scorching Arles sun could not stop his relentless pursuit to capture life with character on canvass. His most satisfactory and productive years were spent here. The grueling routine and the inevitable lack of food got to him and started his epileptic spells. It was around this time that Paul Gauguin came to live with him. They each harbored a solitary temperament which did not bode well for the relationship. It ended one day when Vincent cut off his ear while they were quarreling. Gauguin left and Vincent's doctor admitted him to a peaceful mental asylum in the countryside with Theo's permission. There at St. Remy's he painted the surroundings but the fire inside was slowly dying down. He also figured that the epileptic bouts came about once every three months. The waiting and the uncertainty of the attacks brought him further down but knowing an approximate time also gave him a certain amount of confidence. After a year, he went back to Paris to be near Theo who had married and had a child named Vincent. Theo placed him under the care of Dr. Gachet and Vincent chose a cheap place in Auvers where he stayed till his untimely death.
One page biographies will give you a vague idea of the person but Stone's book will make you a close acquaintance. At the end Stone mentions that almost all the events described are true based on his extensive research. It helped that Theo Van Gogh kept every single letter written to him by his brother. About 700 of them I believe. This is available as a book. Vincent died of self inflicted gun shot wounds in the arms of his brother at the age of 37. Theo died 6 months later. Theo's wife Johanna - herself the sister of a painter - loved Vincent as much and was instrumental in bringing Vincent's life and painting to public attention.
Needless to say, I am on quest to read all of Stone's books. Oh and don't forget to listen to Starry Starry Night.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
HP - Look who is here!!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Intel's Andy Grove - Swimming Across (A Memoir)
It is rare to find a computer user who does not remember the famous 'Intel Inside' logo. During Andy Grove's tenure as Intel's CEO the company grew to its heights. Grove's earlier book Only The Paranoid Survive was well received in the business world. It offers great insights into redefining and conquering new markets while never sitting pretty with a measure of current success. Sounds tough but 'no pain no gain' is something anyone can agree on.
Swimming Across is a well written and highly readable memoir of this remarkable leader. My husband picked it up when he took the kids to Intel's Tech Museum as it was being offered for free there! Call me a snob but something about the 'free' froze me every time I tried to pick up the book to read. The presumption of a boring book was a high wall which I just couldn't jump over at least for a while. When I did I was quite taken aback by the simple and engaging style with which the book was written. The guy knows a thing or two about selling stuff I guess:-) I was taken with the book from the first page. It starts at his birthplace in Hungary (Budapest) at the age of three and goes through all those early years. The time that saw Hungary under Fascism, Nazi Germany and Stalin and the Soviet Red Army. He had me at 'I was born in Budapest':-) (Yup, loved Jerry Mcguire)
Grove talks of the war years under Nazi Germany when his father had to work in a labor battalion and he and his mother had to live as hideaways under non-Jewish sounding names. Fortunately although tortured and ravaged with illness, his father managed to return about 6 months after the war. Like son later, the father was a true soldier of spirits and went on to rebuild his life despite being under a slowly stifling Stalinist Russia. They had some semblance of a normal life for a while.
He tried his hand at journalism during school years and was successful. The country then being under the Soviets, he could not see much of a chance to succeed at it while also being true to the profession. Not to worry since he loved Physics and Chemistry too. Andy (born Andras Grof) takes us through his adolescent boyhood years with a self awareness that makes it a useful reading tool for parents. He was in his second year at the university as a Chemistry student when Hungarian Revolution hit the streets. He had to find a way out of the place if he was to keep from being rounded up and shuttled off.
Grove sets of on his life changing journey to America, the dreamland of many an immigrant before and since. He was lucky to have family in New York but it was his own persistence and willingness to work harder towards a higher level of Academics that got him where he is now. From wanting to be a Chemist to becoming a Chemical Engineer, he succeeded with flying colors. Together with wife Eva, he drives to California after Graduation and never looked back. The last chapter where he dealt with being a first time arrival in the US and of life in an American University sounded a lot like mine sans the refugee part and I enjoyed it much. His parents eventually migrated to America. From his first job in Fairchild Semiconductors, Grove went onto be a founding member of Intel - the largest maker semiconductors- its CEO and its Chairman.
He never returned to Hungary. But the idea of writing this memoir retelling his life there took root with the arrival of grand kids. I am so glad he did as the world would have missed a rare peek into this successful and intelligent personality. I'll keep the book lying around in the hopes that both my son and daughter will pick it up to read as they get older. My son did make me a sort of a bookmark/memento with a picture of this book on it! I was rather pleased:-)
I hope you too will make time to read this bestseller at some point. You will be as fascinated as I was to read all about the boy who later oversaw the deployment of Intel's microprocessors (computer brains) to computers across the world to the tune of 85% of the market share!! Not being a natural swimmer he took pains to master the art on his own in a small wild pond which was a harbringer of things to come. It makes this an aptly named book.See here for amazon reviews.
Swimming Across is a well written and highly readable memoir of this remarkable leader. My husband picked it up when he took the kids to Intel's Tech Museum as it was being offered for free there! Call me a snob but something about the 'free' froze me every time I tried to pick up the book to read. The presumption of a boring book was a high wall which I just couldn't jump over at least for a while. When I did I was quite taken aback by the simple and engaging style with which the book was written. The guy knows a thing or two about selling stuff I guess:-) I was taken with the book from the first page. It starts at his birthplace in Hungary (Budapest) at the age of three and goes through all those early years. The time that saw Hungary under Fascism, Nazi Germany and Stalin and the Soviet Red Army. He had me at 'I was born in Budapest':-) (Yup, loved Jerry Mcguire)
Grove talks of the war years under Nazi Germany when his father had to work in a labor battalion and he and his mother had to live as hideaways under non-Jewish sounding names. Fortunately although tortured and ravaged with illness, his father managed to return about 6 months after the war. Like son later, the father was a true soldier of spirits and went on to rebuild his life despite being under a slowly stifling Stalinist Russia. They had some semblance of a normal life for a while.
He tried his hand at journalism during school years and was successful. The country then being under the Soviets, he could not see much of a chance to succeed at it while also being true to the profession. Not to worry since he loved Physics and Chemistry too. Andy (born Andras Grof) takes us through his adolescent boyhood years with a self awareness that makes it a useful reading tool for parents. He was in his second year at the university as a Chemistry student when Hungarian Revolution hit the streets. He had to find a way out of the place if he was to keep from being rounded up and shuttled off.
Grove sets of on his life changing journey to America, the dreamland of many an immigrant before and since. He was lucky to have family in New York but it was his own persistence and willingness to work harder towards a higher level of Academics that got him where he is now. From wanting to be a Chemist to becoming a Chemical Engineer, he succeeded with flying colors. Together with wife Eva, he drives to California after Graduation and never looked back. The last chapter where he dealt with being a first time arrival in the US and of life in an American University sounded a lot like mine sans the refugee part and I enjoyed it much. His parents eventually migrated to America. From his first job in Fairchild Semiconductors, Grove went onto be a founding member of Intel - the largest maker semiconductors- its CEO and its Chairman.
He never returned to Hungary. But the idea of writing this memoir retelling his life there took root with the arrival of grand kids. I am so glad he did as the world would have missed a rare peek into this successful and intelligent personality. I'll keep the book lying around in the hopes that both my son and daughter will pick it up to read as they get older. My son did make me a sort of a bookmark/memento with a picture of this book on it! I was rather pleased:-)
I hope you too will make time to read this bestseller at some point. You will be as fascinated as I was to read all about the boy who later oversaw the deployment of Intel's microprocessors (computer brains) to computers across the world to the tune of 85% of the market share!! Not being a natural swimmer he took pains to master the art on his own in a small wild pond which was a harbringer of things to come. It makes this an aptly named book.See here for amazon reviews.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Elizabeth Maguire's The Open Door
Reading the preface, I wasn't quite sure that this is about a real woman author but later research showed it to be true. When you are done reading you are not sure who to applaud the most, the astute author who laid out such a lively picture of this independent American author ahead of her time or the character herself. Either way it is a good book to read. Compact in size and easy to finish too!
Elizabeth Maguire has taken great resources from within herself to make the book come alive. She had to feel a lot of empathy for Constance Fenimore Woolson to be able to write her thoughts and actions out so well. Woolson's platonic relationship with acclaimed author Henry James is a main thread in the book. Woolson herself had accomplished fame and money by colorful writings of the local American lives that she was so familiar with. James cannot take it that Fenimore - as he calls her - probably made more money than him in the writing business. He knows his is the superior work which Woolson accepts without contest, yet he cannot get over his jealousy at her financial success.
The story begins with the death of Woolson's mother who was under her care. Finally free of this loving but stifling bond, Woolson takes off for Europe never to return. One reason for the trip was to meet and befriend her favorite author Henry James. Once she caught up with him, they became rather fast friends. For the rest of her life, she did everything she could to keep this friendship out of jeopardy. She was afflicted with the depression that had plagued her father and in the end succumbed to its clutches. Reading about Woolson through Maguire, one gets the feeling that she really could not help it especially at that time when even the smallest of women's afflictions was dismissed as nothing serious by vaguely condescending male doctors. She did find some good physicians to help with the persistant ear problem that eventually denied her even the mere enjoyment of music. Throughout it all one can feel the will power and discipline that enabled her to have the life that she wanted regardless of the scant medical help. This hope inspiring and is recognised as such I believe. It was interesting to read about the time when James wrote The Portrait Of A Lady as that was a book I had liked much. Here is the Amazon review on Open Door.
Elizabeth Maguire has taken great resources from within herself to make the book come alive. She had to feel a lot of empathy for Constance Fenimore Woolson to be able to write her thoughts and actions out so well. Woolson's platonic relationship with acclaimed author Henry James is a main thread in the book. Woolson herself had accomplished fame and money by colorful writings of the local American lives that she was so familiar with. James cannot take it that Fenimore - as he calls her - probably made more money than him in the writing business. He knows his is the superior work which Woolson accepts without contest, yet he cannot get over his jealousy at her financial success.
The story begins with the death of Woolson's mother who was under her care. Finally free of this loving but stifling bond, Woolson takes off for Europe never to return. One reason for the trip was to meet and befriend her favorite author Henry James. Once she caught up with him, they became rather fast friends. For the rest of her life, she did everything she could to keep this friendship out of jeopardy. She was afflicted with the depression that had plagued her father and in the end succumbed to its clutches. Reading about Woolson through Maguire, one gets the feeling that she really could not help it especially at that time when even the smallest of women's afflictions was dismissed as nothing serious by vaguely condescending male doctors. She did find some good physicians to help with the persistant ear problem that eventually denied her even the mere enjoyment of music. Throughout it all one can feel the will power and discipline that enabled her to have the life that she wanted regardless of the scant medical help. This hope inspiring and is recognised as such I believe. It was interesting to read about the time when James wrote The Portrait Of A Lady as that was a book I had liked much. Here is the Amazon review on Open Door.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Cold Sassy Tree By Olive Ann Burns
It is while reading Olive Ann Burns' Cold Sassy Tree that I came to permanently discard that dream of writing a book one day. Guess anyone who read books will eventually toy with the idea of writing one and I thought I had it in me to write just one such book. Luckily for you that wish is gone for good:-)
Mrs. Burns wrote Cold Sassy in her later years and the sequel Leaving Cold Sassy was published posthumously from a partially completed manuscript. I own both books and consider them good acquisitions. Burns describes her efforts at writing a book in the sequel. In fact half of it is a reminiscence about the author's life by friend and editor Katrina Kenison. This brought to surface the practicalities of such an effort and I understood that I simply am not up to the task. Luckily for me google came along with this perfect spot where I can 'publish' what I write if that is what I think it is or keep a journal if that is how one looks at it. Nice setup. Eh?
So Mrs. Burns deserves the credit for showing me the light and google's blogger deserves the credit for giving me closure. Seriously, we are talking about a true classic here. This book will be read by many more generations after other books have been read and discarded. It is a sweet and simple account of small-town Southern life in the post civil war era America. It revolves around young Will Tweedy and his strong and colorful Granpa Blakeslee and the family and people that surround them. Read here for a summary of each of the chapters. The google link in the first sentence will let you read a whole lot of pages from the book. Read here for amazon reviews. Fictitious Cold Sassy town was named for a tree of the same name that stood on the road leading into the town. When townfolk felt they needed a new name Granpa Blakeslee will hear none of it. The book is replete with such stories and more. Read here for a complete summary.
Mrs. Burns wrote Cold Sassy in her later years and the sequel Leaving Cold Sassy was published posthumously from a partially completed manuscript. I own both books and consider them good acquisitions. Burns describes her efforts at writing a book in the sequel. In fact half of it is a reminiscence about the author's life by friend and editor Katrina Kenison. This brought to surface the practicalities of such an effort and I understood that I simply am not up to the task. Luckily for me google came along with this perfect spot where I can 'publish' what I write if that is what I think it is or keep a journal if that is how one looks at it. Nice setup. Eh?
So Mrs. Burns deserves the credit for showing me the light and google's blogger deserves the credit for giving me closure. Seriously, we are talking about a true classic here. This book will be read by many more generations after other books have been read and discarded. It is a sweet and simple account of small-town Southern life in the post civil war era America. It revolves around young Will Tweedy and his strong and colorful Granpa Blakeslee and the family and people that surround them. Read here for a summary of each of the chapters. The google link in the first sentence will let you read a whole lot of pages from the book. Read here for amazon reviews. Fictitious Cold Sassy town was named for a tree of the same name that stood on the road leading into the town. When townfolk felt they needed a new name Granpa Blakeslee will hear none of it. The book is replete with such stories and more. Read here for a complete summary.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Syringa Tree By Pamela Gien
It seems good things come in two's. It was only a few weeks back that I watched the wonderful German film Nowhere In Africa based on a book by Stephanie Zweig . It was autobiographical. And now this gem of a book also happen to be based in Africa. It is fictional but since Pamela Gien was raised in South Africa it has autobiographical elements strewn throughout. This is one of the best books/ new finds that I have had recently. The language is elegant and captivating. I ransacked my brains to give an example of an equivalent style and it dawned on me that finally I have found someone who writes like the cherished Malayalam writer Lalithambika Antharjanam. The Syringa Tree started out as a play starring Gien which she converted later into a full fledged novel.
Every line is a treat. Allow me to quote, "In the fleeting African spring, over before you can say Jack Robinson, rude August days of 1964 had already burned away the the first blossoms. Giving all things new and delicate no moment to shine. The syringa buds that survived this sudden heat burst in seconds into full clusters of shooting lilac stars, hanging heavy and fragrant too soon. In the blink of an eye, it was summer again. My mother hoped this would bring rain in fantastic thunderstorms with displays of afternoon lightning that would send whimpering dogs scurrying under beds. Rain would relieve and settle us." I didn't skip a single sentence for fear of losing the simple enjoyment of words regardless of where the story was.
For 6 year old Lizzy Grace, South Africa is her own land and so she does not understand why it is not really so in the eyes of different kinds of people. Afrikaners think of her family as not belonging anywhere being made up of a little bit of the Afrikaner, some Jewishness and some Catholicism. The blacks with whom they live together in harmony imagines them to soon be going back to their own homes across the sea despite her parents being born in South Africa. More than her own mother whom she seems to understand very well, it is Salamina, her black nanny who has Lizzy's heart. She considers Salamina's daughter Moliseng to be her own little sister and in the end related events drive her out of Africa and into US. There is a (spoiler link ->) murder in the book and I have never before been so affected by the murder of a character. Such is Pamela Gien's gift of mingling words and emotions in the gentlest of manners to draw the reader into her book. The syringa tree is not indigenous to Africa but grew roots in its soil and is the solace of Lizzy's loved but insecure childhood. She nested in its branches whenever bothered by daily events . Salamina, The Syringa Tree and her Mother completes a cozy triangle of motherly love for Lizzy in this story.
Sweet Moliseng is so endearing as a baby and a toddler that just like Lizzy we end up anxiously awaiting her dramatic entrances. The little speck held the heart of the Grace household. Dr. Grace is a hero for both Lizzy and the reader as he does all he can for the changing South Africa hurtling towards Apartheid and its ensuing evils. Little brother John, Grandparents and neighbor girl Loeska makes up the rest of her world. A world which is enchanted and threatening at the same time in a way unique to South Africa. What can I say... Every character is portrayed so well that I just love all of them!! It feels a travesty to call them characters as they feel like acquaintances rather. I hope there will be more stories from Pamela Gien. This book is a keeper without doubt and one for the home rather than the Library. Read here for more on the book from the author and here for more on the book from other readers.
Every line is a treat. Allow me to quote, "In the fleeting African spring, over before you can say Jack Robinson, rude August days of 1964 had already burned away the the first blossoms. Giving all things new and delicate no moment to shine. The syringa buds that survived this sudden heat burst in seconds into full clusters of shooting lilac stars, hanging heavy and fragrant too soon. In the blink of an eye, it was summer again. My mother hoped this would bring rain in fantastic thunderstorms with displays of afternoon lightning that would send whimpering dogs scurrying under beds. Rain would relieve and settle us." I didn't skip a single sentence for fear of losing the simple enjoyment of words regardless of where the story was.
For 6 year old Lizzy Grace, South Africa is her own land and so she does not understand why it is not really so in the eyes of different kinds of people. Afrikaners think of her family as not belonging anywhere being made up of a little bit of the Afrikaner, some Jewishness and some Catholicism. The blacks with whom they live together in harmony imagines them to soon be going back to their own homes across the sea despite her parents being born in South Africa. More than her own mother whom she seems to understand very well, it is Salamina, her black nanny who has Lizzy's heart. She considers Salamina's daughter Moliseng to be her own little sister and in the end related events drive her out of Africa and into US. There is a (spoiler link ->) murder in the book and I have never before been so affected by the murder of a character. Such is Pamela Gien's gift of mingling words and emotions in the gentlest of manners to draw the reader into her book. The syringa tree is not indigenous to Africa but grew roots in its soil and is the solace of Lizzy's loved but insecure childhood. She nested in its branches whenever bothered by daily events . Salamina, The Syringa Tree and her Mother completes a cozy triangle of motherly love for Lizzy in this story.
Sweet Moliseng is so endearing as a baby and a toddler that just like Lizzy we end up anxiously awaiting her dramatic entrances. The little speck held the heart of the Grace household. Dr. Grace is a hero for both Lizzy and the reader as he does all he can for the changing South Africa hurtling towards Apartheid and its ensuing evils. Little brother John, Grandparents and neighbor girl Loeska makes up the rest of her world. A world which is enchanted and threatening at the same time in a way unique to South Africa. What can I say... Every character is portrayed so well that I just love all of them!! It feels a travesty to call them characters as they feel like acquaintances rather. I hope there will be more stories from Pamela Gien. This book is a keeper without doubt and one for the home rather than the Library. Read here for more on the book from the author and here for more on the book from other readers.
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