Gold Boy, Emerald Girl

cover page

I read this book awhile ago but couldn’t blog on it due to a blogger’s block that settled gradually and now refuses to budge. It was like entering this phase where I could only look at the topics just piling up but not get a single sentence out of my mind onto the paper. What’s even worse is I feel the block strongest whenever I attempted to complete my post on this title.

Gold Boy Emerald Girl dwells on the nondescript daily goings on in the lives of modern day China’s working-class men and women. The book as a whole deals with a combination of situations/emotions ranging from loneliness and despair to the characters’ never-ending quest for love and happiness while each story simply highlights one or more of these situations. The highlight of the book though is a short story titled “Kindness” which talks about Moyan, a 30 plus math teacher. Moyan goes through the emotions that are associated with being an adopted daughter and a biological orphan. Things don’t seem to get any better during her mandatory service in the army either. Emotions if any are displayed only during her schooling throwing me as a reader into a sense of despair for Moyan’s lack of reaction to the stimuli surrounding her.

The other stories presented are – A group of elderly widows start a detective agency out of boredom and also in hopes of helping women spy on their cheating husbands. An old teacher attempts to reach out to a perfect stranger who has been sued by his daughter for abandoning her and her mother. A happily married couple discover discontentment in their otherwise perfect marriage. And so on!

This book hits 2 major points at a high level – one is the clash between the modern and traditional values, and the other is how the emotions shape the thoughts leading to the trade-offs that people choose. I admire Yiyun Li for describing all these and much more in great detail weaving in plenty of thought to ponder upon. You can choose to analyze the stories in-depth or absorb it at face value. And if you’d like to know more about this book, do read Eva’s review for it helped me make the decision on adding/leaving this book to my TBR list. I believe that its definitely worth a read!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Src - Wikipedia

I was literally prowling through the library shelves to pick up books from my long piling TBR list and when I found this title, I was glad to add this to my already growing pile of books. I remember quite well the rather favorable reviews that filled up the many magazines and newspapers back in 2003 and so I didn’t give much thought to the blurb nor the cover page.

The story is narrated in first-person by an autistic 15 year old Christopher Francis Boone. When the story begins, we see Christopher living with his father Ed and narrating about his aspiration to become an astronaut. One night he discovers his neighbor’s poodle Wellington dead, murdered by a garden fork. Christopher then sets out to unearth the murderer’s identity but his attempts don’t yield much results owing to unwilling neighbors and a frustrated parent. Instead Christopher finds himself reluctantly befriending Mrs. Alexander, an old neighbor who seems to know more about his family especially about the disappearance of his mother. This friendship leads Christopher on an unplanned yet seemingly pleasant adventure of his own where he uncovers the whereabouts of the murderer as well as his mother. But this isn’t what made the story more interesting for me…the author throws in plenty of delightful scientific and mathematical facts and puzzles in every chapter as way of conversation. These facts not only serve to deviate you from the hunt but also make you ponder on their significance.

The narration is short, sweet, fast paced and simple. There is no mincing of words, no underlying context or intense analysis to break your head over. This simplicity resonates in the title font and the cover page design as well. Mark Haddon has infact, successfully created a most profound yet simple story making no mention of Autism. If it were not for the occasional behavioral problems that Christopher exhibits, as a layman you won’t even realize that Christopher is exhibiting symptoms typical to Aspergers Syndrome or Autism as it is commonly called.

What’s even more noteworthy is that although this book won the 2003 Whitbread Book of the Year and 2004 Boeke Prize for its uniqueness, the author has been criticized for not accurately describing the typical thought process associated with an autistic person. So if you are not specific about the thought process or if you are looking for a simple fiction or quick read then I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!

The Virgin Blue

Set in France, The Virgin Blue revolves around 2 protagonists – Ella Turner and her ancestor Isabel du Moulin or Isabel Tournier. Ella Turner is excited to settle in France and to the amusement of her husband, she embarks on a project to reconnect with her French relations. However, she begins to dream about the color blue, the shade worn by the virgin Mary.. In a parallel universe i.e. 16th century France, Isabel du Moulin or La Rousse is forced to give up her religion and marry the local bully Etienne Tournier, one of the descendants of the Huguenots clan. Its a tumultuous period as a wave of religious persecutions sweep across the country. The story switches between past and present like a pendulum clock showcasing Ella and Isabel’s lives, their personalities and similarities in their situations.

Chevalier’s meticulous research and knowledge of the old world shine through her articulate sketch of Isabel’s life, as she transports her readers instantly transported to France and to Isabel’s side, watching her go about her daily duties from the bylines. Turns out that the author’s inspiration came from her own family history – Tracy Chevalier is a descendant of the French Huguenots of the Cevennes region. She drew inspiration from her sister’s move to France, as represented by Ella Turner’s relocation. What followed is Chevalier’s own adventure which contributed the bulk of content for this book.

While the story’s backdrop is an amalgamation of many events that occurred in the 16th century France, the most noteworthy are: The St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. There is one another aspect that is subtly described through Isabel’s life, that of the Human sacrifice…the later part of the story does constantly refer to the hearth of the house often throwing sinister hints of what lies beneath the hearth. More info can be found on the author’s website. Another theme that is a constant in the current fiction is that of relationships – marriage, adultery or finding love again. Having come across this theme in quite a number of books this year, I couldn’t help being annoyed by Ella’s demeanor at times probably when it came to the disastrous turn her relationship takes. As for Isabel, she could’ve chosen to reject the Tourniers or even flee from them but it doesn’t appear to be so. Instead she appears to have adhered to the family principles and suffered both mentally and physically for her choices. Again Chevalier has portrayed 2 extremities of the spectrum – A woman with a loving husband chooses a rustic life in France with a French dude whereas her ancestor chooses a life of fear, unhappiness and despair in order not to retain the sanctity of her marriage.

Setting aside these facts, I can only say that this book was a fast paced read for I completed it in a day. The Virgin Blue is well worth adding to your library for its unique blend of history and fiction not to mention a powerful story.

Angels and Insects

This 2 part novella by A.S. Byatt focuses on 2 different entities or beings that are subject of much contemplation amongst the human societies. In the first novella titled Morpho Eugenia, the narrator William Adamson is a naturalist who returns to England to recoup his losses after a shipwreck. He is warmly welcomed by Sir Harald Alabaster, a vicar and an amateur naturalist who offers shelter and employment. Adamson is drawn instantly to Eugenia, the eldest daughter of Sir Harald who seems to be grieving her dead fiance and is often described as being solemn.

Gradually Adamson befriends Eugenia and soon they are married with 5 children in succession. One fine morning however, Adamson uncovers a disturbing secret which changes his course of life and that of his adopted family. Byatt draws a parallel  between the human and the insect society and in particular, draws attention to the social order that exists between the queen and the servants while comparing the similarities between the drones and the men. There are also plenty of references to Darwin and his theories on evolution.

The 2nd novella titled The Conjugal Angel centers around a medium Emily and her dead fiance Hallam who is also a poet. While the novella by literary standards may be a beautifully written piece exploring human emotions and their fear of the supernatural in detail, the writing style frankly didn’t hold my attention for beyond 20 pages. I gave up half way through due to the boredom that settled on me. This particular novella is sure to appeal to readers with a flair for poetry and those who understand the history of poetry.

Of the 2, I rate Morpho Eugenia as being the better one since it not only deals with different subjects but also provides fascinating insights into the insect world at just the right intervals. The story has sufficient essence in it to capture the imagination of the readers without demanding too much analysis on part of the readers. As for the author, this book just serves as a reminder of Byatt’s creativity and flair for using regular elements in the most unusual fashion in her tales.

Cat Among the Pigeons

Cat Among the Pigeons is probably my most favorite of the Hercule Poirot series. Yes I’ve read Miss Marple’s Murder at the Vicarage but that didn’t make as great an impression as this title did. And just yesterday, I finally got to watch the movie as well although the deviation in the plot was a tad bit of a disappointment.

Set against the backdrop of Meadowbank school the revolution at Ramat lays heavy upon this plot. The ruler of Ramat and his friend/confidant Bob Rawlinson are murdered by the rebels. Rumors are abound that the jewels of Ramat have reached Meadowbank through Jennifer Sutcliff, Rawlinson’s niece. Cut onto Meadownbank, the scene opens with the summer term where Miss Bulstrode and her teachers are busy welcoming new and old students. The atmosphere though is rife with an implied sense of doom. As term starts, Jennifer Sutcliff confides in Julia Upjohn her best friend and tennis partner about the robbery at her home. While Julia suspects that this maybe due to the Sutcliffs’ association with the Ramat events, Jennifer dismisses it as usual. This is soon followed by a murder at Meadowbank where the Sports Pavilion is ransacked and its sports mistress is murdered. The school’s image takes a further hit with the occurrence of 2 more murders involving the deputy headmistress and the french mistress . Julia pieces together the events and reaches out to Poirot for help. The question becomes – who is the cat among the pigeons?

As always Ms. Christie has woven a beautiful plot with its unique set of characters making this story unlike any other. The difference truly lies in the fact that she picked something as innocent as a school and its students everyday humdrum and turned it into a atmosphere befitting a crime scene. The participants are not the usual aristocracy or the police but regular students who are caught in the middle yet make it out alive. My favorite character apart from Poirot here is Julia Upjohn – her quickness for grasping the kinks in a situation, her knowledge of the general and foreign affairs coupled with her quick wittedness and common sense makes one believe that she is a detective in making. On the whole a brilliant novel worth a re-read and a special place in the private collection!