Summer That Reads

Fiction reveals truths that reality obscures. ~Jessamyn West

Summer is almost over. The sun sets earlier, the clouds fly heavier, and the grass glistens from early morning raindrops. Somehow I love fall better, but now I already miss long-noon-sunshine when we can swim till late or driving with no hurry or play outside all day. It’s like life seems longer, time goes slower.

Anyway, apart from all of that -and summer vacations, beaches, barbecuing, day trips, and other ‘summer stuff’- there are books I want to write about. There were actually about four and a half fictions/literature I’d read in these 3 months.

First is The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, which had an interesting way of narrating the story of a young girl with problematical background, but I eventually became bored. It’s simply because I could not relate to the setting of the story, which I later learned from Amazon, actually took place at the time of ‘Southern Gothic’ in 1960s. Well, guess I got nothing much left to say on this one.

The second is an easy mindless read of a pop-novel The Right Address by Carrie Karasyov and Jill Kargman. Along the way I always laughed almost vomit at these rich people of Park Avenue NY who got sooo much money almost-too-many that they have nothing else to do but gossiping, shopping, partying, social-climbing, and then some more gossiping. I know it’s always fun to imagine such lifestyle but there’s always a price on that: you might not be able to be just yourself. Too many masks to wear. After I finish I almost feel grateful being middle-class, although I must admit that these characters of women can be easily found in any classes of life. Uh-huh. Other than that, I think the writers purposely told the story in a chick-lit way that was shallow, mindless, and gossipy to create the exaggerating unsophisticated life of supposedly sophisticated people. There, don’t read it I’d say.

Then there is The Brethren from John Grisham. I always read Grisham’s books that involve lawyer, court, judge, and clients, whatever. Always fun and easy. Always flip through the pages till finish, and he’s good at this plot of thriller, slowly reaching its climax with, unfortunately, more and more predictable ending. Not as good as his other books but I’m still amazed how I missed this not-so-new one. Oh, by the way, the character Aaron Lake reminds me of ex- New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey who was actually a gay but getting married to achieve his political career. And from him I would know that there’s the term ‘gay-american’ which sounds like ‘asian-american’ or ‘hispanic-american’, like it’s some kind of new ethnic group in the US. Well, I’m way off the course now. Let’s move on.

The Conch Bearer by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni already reminded me of LOTR from the start. Especially this 12 year-old Anand that resembles the character of hobbit who had to bring the conch from Calcutta to the Himalayas. I love the wisdom and exotic Indian setting, with Hindi culture and ethnic food that almost made me drooling. The story itself mostly a kid fantasy that would fit middle-high school reading. But the wisdom…. That part would leave me speechless since it’s so related even with adults. With people who have lived many more years than kids but still searching for the classic wisdom of honesty, loyalty, and compassion. Which one would be the most important for you?

There is one special sentence in this book that really intrigued me “… in order to gain something great, one must release his hold on something else equally beloved.” I always thought that everything you have had never taken away from you, it just changed its substance. Some kind like the law of conservation of energy: energy can not be created or destroyed; it can only be changed from one form to another. Which lead me to think that every person already had his/her talent, even fate, but sometimes it changes to something else unpredictable. Like when you work extra hours with extra money but then you had to change your car tires (yup, extra money=new tires), or even give up an office job to home job such as raising a kid, or not being a lawyer but being a teacher. How can you tell that one is better than the other, that they are not equal? (Oh… please don’t take out that calculator). Or have ever thought that the more money you have it doesn’t mean your bank account becomes fatter???

Okay, so my last book this summer is a splendid book: House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III, which actually not new at all even already was being filmed. The characters are strong: Massoud Amir Behrani, a former colonel in the Iranian military under the Shah who was fleeing to the US and try to reach the American dream, his submissive wife Nadi, and Kathy Nicolo, a lost soul right after she lost her house; even I can understand the troubled mind of Deputy Sheriff Lester Burdon. The way the story told also interesting, making me put myself as an ‘I’ in the character and try to understand his/her way of thinking.

The story itself is remarkable, original and tragic at the same time, really different from any other books I’ve read about immigrant in the US. By the second part of the book, which I thought I might have speculated the ending, I actually could not guess at all until I reach the last page. And I got that kind of ‘hollow in your heart’ feeling after I finished. It’s like you can not absorb the meaning of it all right away. You feel sad and angry and empty at the same time. And you turn the back cover in slow motion, try to save the whole story in your mind before the book is really closed. This one is a four star.

I wish summer would span a little bit more time until I get my waiting list book: A Thousand Splendid Sun by Khaled Hosseini, which I really hope to get my five star. I fell in love with his first book which I had read nearly two years ago: Kite Runner and it actually will show up in a movie this fall. Well, I guess that’s why his second book becomes so popular I need ten more people to finish reading it before I can get it from the library. And so I start counting….