House on Mango Street

Esperanza hates her name and wishes she’s been called anything other than that but feels that its much better compared to her sister Magdalena. Narrated by Esperanza, the diary documents a year of Esperanza’s life in Mango street in Chicago, her views on her Mexican-American heritage, her family and friends. The author uses quite bold words in describing Esperanza’s observations on her friends, on growing up, on boys, on marriage and relationships. The 2nd half of the vignettes focus on Esperanza’s observation of the older women in her neighborhood, especially her older friend Sally who is considered a flirt and a beauty by the neighborhood boys and her desire to move out Mango Street and setup her own home.

Now wikipedia states that a Vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment providing a trenchant impression about a character, subject or even an object. In this novel, the vignettes are narrated by Esperanza and they focus on her brothers, parents, sister Nenny and her friends. These vignettes are amusing as well as grave conveying a far deeper meaning to the narrator’s thoughts. There are situations where you feel sorry for Esperanza and there are some that are bound to annoy you. As for me…I didn’t really enjoy this book at all since it wasn’t that catchy for me. I wasn’t aware that this was on the list of banned books till I read Eva’s review in A Striped Armchair. Read it only if you’d want to explore the works of Mexican-American authors.

Bluebeard’s Egg

I was drawn to Margaret Atwood‘s writing through through my friend V’s review of The Blind Assassin. And again I found Bluebeard’s Egg and Cat’s Eye at NPL.

Bluebeard’s Egg is a collection of stories with each story highlighting a mix of themes. As with Pearl S Buck’s books the themes center around family, marriage and relationships, sexuality, childhood memories and the protagonists’ current situations. And at times these come packaged with a WWI /WWII backdrop.

So what’s different in this collection you say? Here’s a crux of the stories I managed to read -

Significant moments in the Life of my Mother – Explores a young woman’s musings on her mother’s narration of her life and family especially those related to her father and grandfather.

Hurricane Hazel – Presents a very interesting take on relationships from the memories of a young lady as she narrates her first date and the aftermath of breaking up the relationship. This is just the beginning of a string of unsuccessful relationships.

Loulou – Loulou is a successful pottery artist who strangely houses & supports her ex-husband and lovers in addition to her current husband and believe it or not all happen to be poets. A fling with her accountant gives her a new perspective to her otherwise mundane life.

Bluebeard’s Egg – Sally muses over her relationship with her husband and best friend. Again the narration is centered around Sally marriage, her husband’s supposed indifference and dependence on her and then the focus shifts to Sally’s husband’s perspective which highlights that he is not as dumb as Sally assumes him to be. The theme of reminiscing about a relationship would’ve crossed every woman’s mind at some point in her marriage or relationship.

And there are many more stories…some of which were easy to get through while some required that I force myself to turn the pages. Short Stories are certainly interesting in the sense, the plot is short, quick and ends on either a happy/ sad/ mixed note…most often mixed though. But then unlike the novels or novellas you won’t know the characters that well to empathize with them a lot unless the story is a narrative. In the case of this particular set, the uniqueness lies with the diversity of themes portrayed here. The modulation of narration varies and so does the intensity of emotions portrayed through the narrations…happiness, loss, acceptance, of desire and dreaming for better life.

My favorite is “Significant Moments in the Life of my Mother”…a story that made me reminisce me of the childhood memories that my mom shared with me and still shares. We are continents apart and although we speak to each other on a daily basis, this book reminded me of all those days we chatted & laughed over cups of coffee or over lunches/dinners…thing I miss the most.

Verdict? Its a great book to read and acquire for your book collection. As always filed it away for future acquisition.

Fourteen Stories Pearl S. Buck

My introduction to Pearl S Buck’s novels came about through reading Peony. I was pretty impressed with Pearl Buck’s writing style and her treatment of characters and the storyline. So on my next trip to the NPL, I picked up Fourteen Stories, a set of short stories focusing on the lives of Asians in the post-war era both in China and US.

The titles are as follows -

A Certain Star, The Beauty, Enchantment, With a Delicate Air, Beyond Language, Parable of Plain People, The Commander and the Commissar, Begin to Live, The Engagement, Melissa, Gift of Laughter, Death and the Dawn, The Silver Butterfly and Francesca.

Each of these stories deal with a single or a combination of themes that tend to blend in. The protagonists come from various walks of life – a housewife, a young actress, an old couple, a soldier returning from war, a scientist to note a few. For instance, “The Beauty” focuses on a traditional Asian house wife who discovers that her path to happiness lies in creating a life for herself outside home…and that decision helps her win her husband’s wandering affections,  whereas the story “Beyond Language” shows a young soldier proficient in english leaving his wife for a more suave American who in turn makes him understand the value of marriage and respect between partners in a marriage. This theme of combining family and loyalty forms the crux of these set of stories.

Other concepts such as beauty, wisdom, courage, death, loss, joy and of course happiness are explored at length as well, but again these all gel with the central theme that I mentioned. And as with any short stories, doing a character description is quite complex and often makes the stories mundane..so I’ve deferred from doing any.

Family and marriage is the key factor that binds many Indian and South East Asian families. It was once a mechanism that also guarded families against adultery in at least a few cases. But with the new age, affairs are a commonplace and so are divorces. 90% of the books and movies center around broken hearts and adultery but none give a thought to depict how people can enter a meaningful and lasting relationship or even repair a breaking relationship.

This set of fourteen stories though present a hope that you can make it right…that you don’t have to loose the person you love to irrational decisions. They highlight the value of loyalty and of being there for the people you love the most. And this single theme sets this book apart from the rest and no matter how many decades pass by…I’m sure you won’t find many such books written.

The Best of Satyajit Ray

This book presents a collection of some of the best stories written by Satyajit Ray. Most of the stories have been translated by Satyajit Ray himself, while the newer ones have been translated by Gopa Majumdar.

Readers will encounter tales about a laughing dog, a carnivorous plant with an appetite for human flesh, an alien visit, memoir of a kleptomaniac to name a few. For people with a palate for unusual story lines and characters, this book can be an enthralling read.

On the whole, a great book to read.