Review: Bento Box in the Heartland

It seems I just can't get enough of food literature, because although today's offering is my third food-memoir this year, I have loved it every bit as much as the others. Savor this review, readers; it is the last before my wedding this weekend and a long honeymoon in the mountains.

Genre: nonfiction, food memoir

Plot: When author Linda Furiya was growing up in 1960s rural Indiana, her family was the only group of Asian Americans within 30 miles. Her unusual heritage brought about many struggles, but produced a story of family, culture, and most importantly, the food that shapes our identities.

Structure: Furiya's memoir is very loose; that is, it is organized on thematic rather than chronological lines. At the end of each chapter, to my delight, I found that Furiya chose to include a mouthwatering recipe she mentioned in the chapter.

Execution: There is definitly a Japanese aesthetic at play here. Furiya's stories are not happy, not exactly. There is an undertone of subtle sadness in every page, coloring every memory. Perhaps its because death marked her childhood frequently, and neither she nor her parents enjoyed a happy life. Although her early chapters were beautifully structured and had a nice roundness to them, toward the end they became both longer and more abrupt. One recipe was repeated twice, though through printer error or author's intention I do not know. Also, jumping around chronologically worked in terms of storytelling, but sometimes it left me very confused and aching to fill in the gaps. Overall, it lent a sense of privacy to her memoir I think was unintended, as if she was saying, "I will tell you this much but no more."

Theme: Japanese Americans, World War II, Japanese food, 1960s Americana

Read this if you enjoy Asian food at all, this will leave you itching to break out your sushi mats.

4 out of 5 stars

Other works:
Furiya, a newspaper columnist, also wrote about her time in China in her book How to Cook a Dragon.

If you liked this, you might also like:
Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love
Nicole Mones' The Last Chinese Chef
Katherine Darling's Under the Table

Review: Leonardo's Swans

You'd think that with less than a month until my wedding, I wouldn't have much time for reading but I've managed to find time here and there for it. And as often as I try to run away from it, I think historical fiction will always have a place in my heart; in fact, I'm afraid the majority of things I've read this year could be classified as such. Thankfully, Leonardo's Swans was one of the best of the genre! It was a delight to read.

Genre: novel, historical fiction

Plot: The story begins not exactly in media res but more like at the very end of the plot, with Isabella D'Este Gonzaga remarking to her dead sister Beatrice about how far they have both fallen in the days of French-occupied Milan. From there the story jumps back nearly 20 years, when both the girls are very much alive and competing with one another for attention, political clout, and art in the high Renaissance period of Italian art.

What makes this story jump off the page is its painstaking attention to political detail. Too many times--such as in the book that immediately jumped to mind when thinking of this title, The Birth of Venus--books about this time gloss over the intricacies of politics in favor of a "slice of life" look at the heroine's family/house/servants, etc. Not so with this book. These women are the most powerful in Italy at that time and are privy to all the secrets and intrigues of the politics of the day.

Also, I think it says much about author Karen Essex that even though she reveals how it all plays out in the end on the first page, she still manages to imbue her work with suspense and surprise.

Structure: This was actually a little sloppy in my opinion, and probably the one thing that keeps this book from achieving all 5 stars from me. First off, the chapter titles (which is always a tedious device to me anyway) were all, I assume, taken from Tarot cards. But without any explanation, this was just a guess on my part (and I assume on the part of my fellow readers). Second, these chapters were ENTIRELY too long, and had too many "breaks" within them. Third, there were these very random "excerpts" from Leonardo's notebook which REALLY bugged me. I have no way of knowing how authentic these excerpts are (although they seem to be legit), but more bothersome, they seem to have little if any bearing on the actual story. Instead of enhancing the plot, which is what a nicely placed quote can usually do in a book, these either blatantly repeated the story thus far or were completely unrelated. In short, these random little boxes didn't add to the book and I would have much preferred it to be written without them.

Execution: As I said, the plot was executed with perfect precision. You all may not know this, but at one time I was an art history major and so I was particularly attentive to the details of the paintings mentioned. On this count, Essex was clearly one of the most superior authors I've ever read. She described the works accurately and with an eye to the theoretical/esoteric discussions I was familiar with as an art history major, but did so with a natural air that never felt cumbersome. Also, her characters were fully realized and had great depth to them, which is always a good thing. I was especially pleased with her portrayal of Leonardo da Vinci, who fell somewhere between the benevolent grandfather of Ever After and the crazy conspirator of The Da Vinci Code (man I hate that book).

Now the title I have to disagree with, but that's a personal nit to pick I guess.

Theme: 15th century Italy, Leonardo da Vinci, Ludovico Sforza

Read this if you love art history or political novels (like Tom Clancy or Ian Fleming, I would imagine although big fans of theirs might disagree). Also, I imagine if you enjoyed Tasha Alexander's work you would like this, too.

4 out of 5 stars

Other works:
Stealing Athena
Kleopatra
Pharoah

If you liked this, you might also like:
Tasha Alexander's Emily Ashton novels
Sarah Dunants's The Birth of Venus
Robert Alexander's Rasputin's Daughter

Review: Bound

My last two reviews have mentioned one of my favorite childhood authors, Donna Jo Napoli. So on my latest library trip, I decided to pick up one of her books I haven't read, just for old time's sake. To my delight, it not only brought back all the good memories I associate with her wonderful work, but was a great story in its own right.

Genre: young adult fiction

Plot: Xing Xing lives as a second-daughter slave girl in Ming Dynasty (1368) China. Her young life has already been marked by the passing of both her beloved parents, and now she lives as a slave for her vicious stepmother and dim-witted half-sister. But Xing Xing is a clever girl, whose determination, virtue, and just a touch of magic, eventually enable her to escape her misfortunes.

Structure: The chapters were straightforward and quick-paced, allowing me to breeze through the 25 chapter within a day. Vivid and compelling, Napoli's greatest strength is her charm as a storyteller. She knows exactly how much detail to leave in, how much to leave out, and how to keep the pages turning. Although she used next to no reference to the Chinese language, the culture still shone through, striking the perfect balance between setting and story.

Execution: Napoli's prose is measured, but not lyrical. She writes with clarity and not much ornamentation, yet strangely this doesn't bother me the way simple prose usually does. I think her plot makes up for this by far, sweeping the reader off their feet too fast to realize the sentences are, for the most part, plain.

Napoli typically writes (or should I say, reimagines) fairy tales in modern ways, but I was so taken with this one that I didn't even figure out what she was basing it on until the very end (don't read the Theme section if you want to be surprised by it, too). And even then, I was still pretty surprised by the twists! Perhaps I'm just too smitten with an old favorite author, but I thought it was a marvelously executed attempt with spirit, zeal, and art.

Theme: Ming China, foot binding, Confucianism, and Cinderella

Read this if it's been too long since you've heard a good fairy tale

4 out of 5 stars

Other works:
For fun, I will provide an (*) around the books of hers that I've also read:
Alligator Bayou
* Beast
Breath
Crazy Jack
* Daughter of Venice
Fire in the Hills
For the Love of Venice
The Great God Pan
Hush: An Irish Princess' Tale
The King of Mulberry Street
* The Magic Circle
North
* Sirena
The Smile
* Song of the Magdalene
* Spinners
Stones in Water
* Zel

If you liked this, you might also like:
Lisa See's Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Peony in Love
Kara Dalkey's Little Sister, The Heavenward Path, and The Nightengale

Ironically, I will NOT recommend Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club because I hated that crap.

Review: Coraline

It's a good thing I went to the library yesterday, because I woke up this morning S-I-C-K. I think I've caught my annual summer cold. Thankfully I have a nurse for a mom, plenty of throat antiseptic, and the wonderful, horrible freedom of unemployment.

At any rate, the first on my reading list (and #41 in my overall count this year!) was Coraline by Neil Gaiman. I did not see the movie (I do not have fond associations with stop-motion claymation, and there were plenty of other good movies I wanted to see at the time), but I thought I had pretty much figured it out from the trailer. I was very wrong, and greatly underestimated Gaiman's command of the English language. It turned out to be quite the delicious, if horrifying, treat.

Genre: novel, children's

Plot: Coraline is an adventurous young girl who one day wanders into a mysterious door in her home, and gets caught up in a dream-world somewhat akin to what I think a Tim Burton and Lewis Carroll collaboration would be like.

The plot was deceptively simple, and yet--like Gaiman's prose itself--the more you pondered it, the greater it seemed to get. It is easy to summarize, but very well crafted. Equally, the villains don't seem particularly gruesome, but somehow they are still pretty scary.

Structure: The thirteen short chapters were well paced; I finished it in about 2 hours. After so many books with prologues, epilogues, etc. etc., it was refreshing to get just a straight-forward narrative structure.

Execution: This is my first encounter with Gaiman, but I'm quite impressed. His prose reminded me greatly of C. S. Lewis (an all-time favorite author), in that what was said had a charming sort of polish to it, the kind that generates a quiet smile or amusing smirk. It was also very similar to the Alice in Wonderland series, only with more deliberately creepy elements.

I think in this instance, a sample is well-justified. Here was on my my favorite passages:
"Miss Spink and Miss Forcible made a point of telling Coraline how dangerous the well was, and they warned her to be sure she kept away from it. So Coraline set off to explore for it, so that she knew where it was, to keep away from it properly."

Theme: England, children's fantasy/horror

Read this if you're in the mood for children's horror. I know that sounds stupid, but that's really the best way I can describe this. Besides, I'm sick remember?

4 out of 5 stars

Other works:
Gaiman is an amazingly proficient author with awards in SEVERAL fields. I will here only focus on his other novels:
Neverwhere
Stardust
American Gods
Anansi Boys
The Graveyard Book

If you liked this, you might also like:
Kipling's The Jungle Book
Carroll's aforementioned Alice in Wonderland
Lewis' classic The Chronicles of Narnia

Review: St. Patrick of Ireland

First, some non-review related stuff:

* I'm going to Chicago for two weeks! Woo hoo! Unfortunately I probably won't get to see much of the city itself, since my fiance and I are going there for training with our jobs. But, I'm probably going to have limited if any Internet access between now and June 11. I hope no one forgets me while I'm gone!

* I got to be a guest poster on The Domestic Scientist!! How cool is that? You can check it out here

* So far this year, I've read 37 books! Wow! This is the first year I've ever kept track, though, so I have no idea if that is as good as it sounds for me or not.

Ok, on to the review!
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If I had no discipline whatsoever, I would totally live off of historical fiction alone. However, since I have a fairly wide range of interests, I deliberately challenge myself to try and read a good variety of books. Thus I found myself wandering the biography section of my local library and came across this slim volume. Little did I know I was in for a hugely rewarding treat. To quote the author, "everyone had heard of St. Patrick, of course, but the man most people know is little more than an icon who drove the snakes out of Ireland. This lack of knowledge about the real Patrick is truly regrettable, because he has such an amazing story to tell: a tale of slavery and brutality, pain and self-doubt, sorrow and constant struggle, but ultimately of perserverance, hope, and faith. His letters, in the end, remain as a remarkable gift from an extraordinary man."

Genre: non-fiction, biography

Plot: Freeman strives to once and for all tell the true story of St. Patrick, piecing together what we can from his two extant letters and filling in the gap with his vast knowledge of the British Isles in the 5th century. The result is a hugely fascinating tale focusing on one man, but expanding to include centuries of history and Irish culture. He also includes the whole texts of these letters at the end for the benefit of his readers, an unprecedented move in academic writing, a field that too often leaves much to the layperson's imagination.

Structure: Freeman composes his work around Patrick's probable chronology, beginning with the earliest things we know of him and working his way until his most likely time of death. Freeman also adds chapters about three critical forces in Patrick's ministry--kings, druids, and women--and two other chapters about the context and content of his two letters.

Execution and Style: One of this book's greatest strengths is its ability to flow, seamlessly, from one topic to the next in the author's clear but strangely moving prose. He strives to capture as much as he can about the ancient world but in a very precise, controlled way; likewise, he is dismissive but polite about the supernatural elements of Patrick's life. In short, he is definitive but accessible, knowledgeable but brief.

Theme: 5th century British Isles, the early Irish church, St. Patrick (of course) and many other well-known characters (such as Palladius, Pope Celestine, etc.) connected with him.

Read This If: you are interested in the medieval church, interested in St. Patrick, or just looking for a different sort of biography. It's a good mental exercise without being dry or terse.

4 out of 5 stars.

Other Works:
Julius Caesar: A Biography
The Philosopher and the Druids: Journey Among the Ancient Celts

If you liked this, you might also like:
Roland H. Bainton's seminal biography of Martin Luther, Here I Stand

Double Feature! Review: The Piano Teacher

Your eyes do not deceive you, children -- this is the second update this week! To what do you owe this joy?

A few things. First, I've got a huge library stack that I'm trying to get through quickly. Second, I'm going to be in Chicago for two weeks at the end of the month, and I highly doubt I'll be able to do much updating then. So I think if I just spoil you all you'll forgive me for being sparse.

Now then, on to the topic of this review. This book was another Barnes&Noble find that I eventually procured at the library, and like so many others of this genre, it took me completely by surprise.

Genre: historical fiction novel

Plot: Claire is a new bride in a new country (a phenomenon I myself will soon experience!). It's the 1950s, it's Hong Kong, and life is quite different from what Claire expected. She finds herself employed as a piano teacher to a wealthy local family, and is soon caught up in the aftermath of events that occurred during the Japanese occupancy in World War II. At the same time, Claire begins on a journey that will transform her from mousy and conventional into the exotic, independent woman she longs to be.

Structure: If I had to summarize it in one word, it would be jolting. Although the narration is consistently third-person, and is technically divided into three parts, the stability ends there. The story is told out of chronological order, jumping between the 1940s and the early 1950s. The author utilizes this in creating a superb air of suspense, and sometimes using it to lend an otherwise unimportant scene a foreboding, haunting aspect. This unique approach to storytelling is by far the author's greatest strength, and when combined with the rather unique setting (I've never read any other book about this particular time and place) makes this novel really stand out in my mind.

Oh, and there's also this huge plot twist.

Execution: Lee is very subtle; so subtle, in fact, that sometimes your forget how good she really is. She manages to describe just enough details to transport you, in Elizabeth Gilbert's words, "out of time, out of place, into a world you can feel on your very skin." And yet she does so without bogging us down in details. She focuses more on little moments, quiet revelations and gestures, for a lot of the novel's emotional punches. The best thing about her prose is that she writes almost the bare minimum, leaving--like all good Greek tragedies--a lot to the reader to imply or imagine. Strangely, the absence adds a richness that is hard to imitate.

Theme: Hong Kong in the 1940s and 50s, war, love, and also a missing treasure collection. It's almost like the plot of an Indiana Jones movie if it were written without Indiana Jones in mind.

Read this if you like historical fiction, or if you're in the mood for a quiet, but none the less exciting, thrill

4 out of 5 stars

Other works:
This is the author's first work. While poking around her website, though, I found her favorite books list! I think I'll be adding most of these to my own list, too.

If you liked this, you might also like:
Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

Review: The Sex Lives of Cannibals

I have seriously been trying to write this review for three days. Who knew being unemployed would be so time consuming?

A few weeks ago I posted an author alert on J. Maarten Troost. When I saw my local library this volume, I almost tripped over several small children trying to get it to the check out desk. This light, uproariously funny, and just plain weird travel memoir was well worth risking a few lawsuits over, as it recounts the adventures of one post-graduate loafer and his aid-working, beguiling girlfriend as they adapt to life on The Republic of Kiribati. Don't worry if you've never heard of it before; you're not stupid, it's just that small.

Genre: travelogue/memoir

Plot: Unlike most travel books, which set out to have some spiritual truth revealed to the author while describing the grandeur of Italy at great lengths, this one cuts the bull and strives to tell it like it is. Sort of. With a lot of humorous, I hope that's an exaggeration but I think it probably isn't anecdotes. While there are no profound epiphanies about the state of man, there are some rather insightful thoughts here and there between rants about La Macarena.

Structure: A first person narration segmented into tongue-in-cheek paragraph-titled chapters, of which I believe there was 20. Mostly these focused on grouping a few anecdotes together, which provided both a unifying structure and a brevity feeling to the overall work.

Execution and Style: A little crass and a lot sarcastic, it's sort of what you'd expect if Dennis Leary had to write a travel magazine. A lot of historical/literary allusions, and a lot of cynicism make it appealing to intellectualists, but a lot of almost slap-stick funny anecdotes make it palatable to the masses.

Theme: the pacific islands, traveling, travel humor, la macarena

Read This If: you need a good laugh while recovering from that sunburn on the beach last week, or if you wondered what Gilligan's Island would be like with pot.

4 out of 5 stars.

Other Works:
Lost on Planet China
Getting Stoned with Savages


If you liked this, you might also like:
Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love (it is more serious, but it has funny moments)

Review: Moloka'i

Years ago, as was my habit then, I was wandering about aimlessly in Barnes & Noble while waiting on an appointment when I came across Moloka'i by Alan Brennert. I was intrigued and liked the first chapter, but when I put it back on the shelf for all intents and purposes it became lost to me. I would try fruitlessly to search for "hawaiian books about leprosy with a big pink flower on the cover" without any luck. It wasn't until the middle of a sermon illustration at my church when someone mentioned "Molokai" that it clicked, and I have to say, the book was well worth the wait. It follows the life of Rachel Kalama, a young Hawaiian girl living at the turn of the 19th century diagnosed with Hansen's disease and sent to live on the infamous leper colony, Kaulapapa. But there's plenty in this vast novel about the regular routines of life, friends, family, World War II and racism.

Genre: Novel

Plot: the plot was quite good for its "slice of life" genre of historical fiction; deep characterization was sprinkled with some unexpected twists to make it a satisfying, though somewhat linear, read. In other words, it was good the first time around, but not really worth rereading. I do praise him particularly for having tackled so vast a subject (one person's whole life) in an engaging, quick way. This was not a Ken Follett novel, but nor was it focused on a small portion of her life, either. Equally, he chose to write about both the grief and the joy of life, and struck a pleasant balance between the two.

Structure: The story is centered on Rachel Kalama, from roughly age 7 until the end of her life; with such a large scope, the chapters would have been unwiedly but Brennert wisely chose instead to tell a few significant scenes from a group of years. The overall effect was a large collection of colorful anecdotes woven together, such as when grandparents tell stories of their own lives. It was a pleasing touch, especially with the highlights of Hawaiian legend and political/historical details added to really enhance the narration.

Execution and Style: Brennert was a competent, capable storyteller; he was neither overly grandiose as some would be tempted to revert to in describing the Hawaiian backdrop, but nor was he particularly innovative. He did treat the descriptions of the medical victims with both candor and tenderness, which is one of his greatest strengths. We are told of their plight but in a way that is neither demeaning nor superficial. He sprinkled in a few native Hawaiian words which could have been a major pitfall, but he executed the device well enough.

Theme: Hawaii, especially Hawaii right before it became a United State; leprosy; World War II (Pearl Harbor, Japanese internment camps); Hawaiian mythology

Read This If: you're not afraid of a tear-jerking historical fiction, or ever wondered what Magnum, P.I. would be like with less cheese and more medical traumas.

4 out of 5 stars.

Other Works:
Honolulu
Kindred Spirits
Time and Chance

If you liked this, you might also like:
John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath
Kathleen Tyau's Makai
Kiana Davenport's House of Many Gods
Yoshiko Uchida's Picture Bride