Finished the book. I tried to be very thoughtful in my review:
Darryl reads a book. It is endless, nothing concealed, no one
could survive. He reads, breathless, into the spaces between
words. Inapt metaphors and inept similes. Fragmented
sentences abound. Silence turns to words, and so on.
Taking drugs, the fire soon turns the ashes of the sun
into nonsense. Words shouted noiselessly. Flying above the
mountain, the ashes glitter like a train. The dust flies
recklessly, like a note from a broken guitar string.
Darryl spoke wordlessly the question he could not answer,
what the fuck?
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Week Three of Butterfly Burning
We are in week three of Butterfly Burning.
Mary and I are neck and neck at the end of chapter 3, and I have heard from a few others who are further along.
The feedback I have received from readers is that the language the author uses seems overly "flowery" or ornamental. My feeling at the end of chapter three is the author is painting as dark a word picture as she can of a subjugated people living in poverty and perhaps even slavery. That will determine the cultural context of any characters she presents going forward in the novel.
The author, Yvonne Vera, is one of Africa's most esteemed writers. Her themes include many controversial subjects including the travails of escaping colonialism, the people of Zimbabwe's suffering during civil war, the plight of women in Africa particularly incest and rape, and feminism.
Vera's work is richly praised with literary prizes from African, European, and western literary organizations, so her use of language and choice of topics is apparently conveying something important to these audiences.
I challenge our reading group to temporarily suspend negative judgement on the unfamiliar structure of language and imagery Vera uses to describe the culture and action in Butterfly Burning. Instead, read in the context of the cultural suffering and pain of her native Rhodesia and Zimbabwe, and consider whether the language she uses to express herself conveys something of her attitudes and perceptions, or brings us an improved understanding of her chosen literary subjects. There are two perceptions to consider when crafting any message, after all: the sender and the receiver. If we are going to read "the world" I think we should approach books originating outside the boundaries of our own western cultural experiences with an idea to both understanding the message that is being originated, and in determining whether there is value in the message that can be "brought home" so to speak, by improving our own attitudes and understanding.
There is, after all, cultural conflict here in our own neighborhoods, communities, and nation, along with rape, incest, and pain among the dispossessed in our own culture. Does Vera help us understand? Can we take anything from her work that would be actionable on our part toward improving ourselves? That would be the mark of a great literary work, if we happen to find that in Butterfly Burning.
On the other hand, the book could simply be over-wrought crap. Having that discussion is why we are in a reading club, after all.
Mary and I are neck and neck at the end of chapter 3, and I have heard from a few others who are further along.
The feedback I have received from readers is that the language the author uses seems overly "flowery" or ornamental. My feeling at the end of chapter three is the author is painting as dark a word picture as she can of a subjugated people living in poverty and perhaps even slavery. That will determine the cultural context of any characters she presents going forward in the novel.
The author, Yvonne Vera, is one of Africa's most esteemed writers. Her themes include many controversial subjects including the travails of escaping colonialism, the people of Zimbabwe's suffering during civil war, the plight of women in Africa particularly incest and rape, and feminism.
Vera's work is richly praised with literary prizes from African, European, and western literary organizations, so her use of language and choice of topics is apparently conveying something important to these audiences.
I challenge our reading group to temporarily suspend negative judgement on the unfamiliar structure of language and imagery Vera uses to describe the culture and action in Butterfly Burning. Instead, read in the context of the cultural suffering and pain of her native Rhodesia and Zimbabwe, and consider whether the language she uses to express herself conveys something of her attitudes and perceptions, or brings us an improved understanding of her chosen literary subjects. There are two perceptions to consider when crafting any message, after all: the sender and the receiver. If we are going to read "the world" I think we should approach books originating outside the boundaries of our own western cultural experiences with an idea to both understanding the message that is being originated, and in determining whether there is value in the message that can be "brought home" so to speak, by improving our own attitudes and understanding.
There is, after all, cultural conflict here in our own neighborhoods, communities, and nation, along with rape, incest, and pain among the dispossessed in our own culture. Does Vera help us understand? Can we take anything from her work that would be actionable on our part toward improving ourselves? That would be the mark of a great literary work, if we happen to find that in Butterfly Burning.
On the other hand, the book could simply be over-wrought crap. Having that discussion is why we are in a reading club, after all.
Friday, May 9, 2014
Discussion of "Sound of the Mountain"
We met 8 May to discuss Sound of the Mountain.
In attendance were:
Dave & Mary
Darryl & Barbara
Wendall & Shelia
Alice
Susanna
Catherine
Prior to the meeting, we listened to some Hang music, which most of us who were here early for the meeting found very interesting. YouTube videos with different artists and play styles abound.
At the last meeting, Darryl offered to present a poetry reading to start this meeting off, but circumstances interfered with the implementation of that idea, so we will have the poetry reading next meeting. If members enjoy that as a start to the meeting, we may pass the baton amongst the willing members, having one member select and read a poem to start each meeting, we will see how that goes.
Four of us finished the book, with the rest of us somewhere between pages 50 and 100. Of those who finished, one person read it as an e-book, three read a physical book. This book was a little harder to come by in print format, so several folks reading in print format could not start it until late in the 4-week reading schedule.
The prevalent feeling we expressed about the book is "Nothing really happens". A couple members said they kept waiting for the "story to start".
In general, it was a pretty lively discussion, with lots of unanswered questions about the significance of various things in the book, including the Noh masks, the dog(s), the various plants and flowers, the "mountain", even what the sound of the mountain was.
This book did not have a reading group guide/questions. It's not clear whether that is a factor in how few of us completed the book. One member did employ the Cliffs Notes to gain a better understanding of the story and it's literary devices.
We spent some time talking about the direction we want to go in the group for reading. Barbara suggested we find a novel that paints a picture of our American society and culture, as a juxtaposition to the portrayal of Japanese society, culture, etc. in Sound of the Mountain. Several "Great American Novels" were considered for reading list inclusion, including those of Steinbeck, Fitzgerald, Gardner (and others I don't recall right at the moment). The group members were asked to consider what books we might add to the candidates list that would illustrate American society and culture, and email suggestions to Dave for inclusion in the list. A couple members conjectured a book about American culture, written by an immigrant, might be very interesting for the perspective it offers.
Folks generally feel there should be more breadth to the candidates list, so we have more to choose from when we vote. Guns, Germs, and Steel enjoys popular support as a selection, but several members wanted to hold off on that until summer when they have more time to spend on what may be a "homework assignment" type read. We seem to agree this is not a "Novels Only" club. We seem to agree we want to select things that are outside our individual comfort zones, things we would not necessarily choose for ourselves.
After some discussion of the Dead White Males problem, and the somewhat vociferous rejection by some members of several works by women that were added to the list recently, we selected "Butterfly Burning" as the next club read. This book is very short at a mere 144 pages, and some members have schedule conflicts in early June, so we settled on May 29th (3 weeks away) for the next meeting. Hopefully that will allow us to tackle something that presents a greater challenge, perhaps Guns, Germs, and Steel, or a biography for example the Biography of John Adams by David McCullough, which I will add to the candidates list this weekend.
Catherine provided links to a couple "around the world" reading blogs and lists that folks might check out, see if anything from these lists sounds interesting:
A Year of Reading the World
Around the World in 80 Books
A good time was had by all, and we sorely missed those who could not make it.
In attendance were:
Dave & Mary
Darryl & Barbara
Wendall & Shelia
Alice
Susanna
Catherine
Prior to the meeting, we listened to some Hang music, which most of us who were here early for the meeting found very interesting. YouTube videos with different artists and play styles abound.
At the last meeting, Darryl offered to present a poetry reading to start this meeting off, but circumstances interfered with the implementation of that idea, so we will have the poetry reading next meeting. If members enjoy that as a start to the meeting, we may pass the baton amongst the willing members, having one member select and read a poem to start each meeting, we will see how that goes.
Four of us finished the book, with the rest of us somewhere between pages 50 and 100. Of those who finished, one person read it as an e-book, three read a physical book. This book was a little harder to come by in print format, so several folks reading in print format could not start it until late in the 4-week reading schedule.
The prevalent feeling we expressed about the book is "Nothing really happens". A couple members said they kept waiting for the "story to start".
In general, it was a pretty lively discussion, with lots of unanswered questions about the significance of various things in the book, including the Noh masks, the dog(s), the various plants and flowers, the "mountain", even what the sound of the mountain was.
This book did not have a reading group guide/questions. It's not clear whether that is a factor in how few of us completed the book. One member did employ the Cliffs Notes to gain a better understanding of the story and it's literary devices.
We spent some time talking about the direction we want to go in the group for reading. Barbara suggested we find a novel that paints a picture of our American society and culture, as a juxtaposition to the portrayal of Japanese society, culture, etc. in Sound of the Mountain. Several "Great American Novels" were considered for reading list inclusion, including those of Steinbeck, Fitzgerald, Gardner (and others I don't recall right at the moment). The group members were asked to consider what books we might add to the candidates list that would illustrate American society and culture, and email suggestions to Dave for inclusion in the list. A couple members conjectured a book about American culture, written by an immigrant, might be very interesting for the perspective it offers.
Folks generally feel there should be more breadth to the candidates list, so we have more to choose from when we vote. Guns, Germs, and Steel enjoys popular support as a selection, but several members wanted to hold off on that until summer when they have more time to spend on what may be a "homework assignment" type read. We seem to agree this is not a "Novels Only" club. We seem to agree we want to select things that are outside our individual comfort zones, things we would not necessarily choose for ourselves.
After some discussion of the Dead White Males problem, and the somewhat vociferous rejection by some members of several works by women that were added to the list recently, we selected "Butterfly Burning" as the next club read. This book is very short at a mere 144 pages, and some members have schedule conflicts in early June, so we settled on May 29th (3 weeks away) for the next meeting. Hopefully that will allow us to tackle something that presents a greater challenge, perhaps Guns, Germs, and Steel, or a biography for example the Biography of John Adams by David McCullough, which I will add to the candidates list this weekend.
Catherine provided links to a couple "around the world" reading blogs and lists that folks might check out, see if anything from these lists sounds interesting:
A Year of Reading the World
Around the World in 80 Books
A good time was had by all, and we sorely missed those who could not make it.
Friday, May 2, 2014
Week Four of Sound of the Mountain
We are in the final week of Sound of the Mountain.
Our meeting is scheduled for next Thursday, 8 May, at 7PM.
Mary is over half-way through the book, Jack and Jeremy are somewhere around a third through it, I haven't heard from others.
How is everyone else doing?
There are a couple of relationships that are juxtaposed to one another in the book, Im thinking of these pairs:
I'm very much interested in hearing what folks think about this novel, and about whether we want to read around the globe or read "closer to home".
With this entry, we've read from England, America, Columbia, and Japan. Should we keep working around the globe? Should we try some non-fiction?
I would like folks to shoot me comments about your reading experiences with Sound of the Mountain, or about how you feel about the club selections so far, and where you might like to see the club selections going in the future.
Our meeting is scheduled for next Thursday, 8 May, at 7PM.
Mary is over half-way through the book, Jack and Jeremy are somewhere around a third through it, I haven't heard from others.
How is everyone else doing?
There are a couple of relationships that are juxtaposed to one another in the book, Im thinking of these pairs:
- Shingo and his son, regarding "success"
- Kikuko and the mistress, regarding their pregnancies
- Shingo's son and daughter, regarding their relationships with their spouses, and how Shingo sees/interacts with their spouses
- What do the different flowers and trees signify to Shingo?
- Is the relationship between Shingo and Kikuko inappropriate?
- Why the dog? why the snake? why the birds? do these mean anything?
I'm very much interested in hearing what folks think about this novel, and about whether we want to read around the globe or read "closer to home".
With this entry, we've read from England, America, Columbia, and Japan. Should we keep working around the globe? Should we try some non-fiction?
I would like folks to shoot me comments about your reading experiences with Sound of the Mountain, or about how you feel about the club selections so far, and where you might like to see the club selections going in the future.
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