1) What is the book? Maria, Maria 2) Who wrote it? Marytza K. Rubio 3) What is it about? Maria, Maria is a collection of short stories that are centered around the themes of magic, nature, and mythical animals. The stories feature wildly intriguing elements of magical realism and many feature heroines whose interaction with supernatural forces leads to new insights about regeneration and resurrection, life and death. Many of the stories deal with themes of ineffability and the realization of speculative worlds, as experienced through the lens of Mexican, Latin-American, and Caribbean cultures. 4) Why did I read it? I've always loved speculative fiction because I'm fascinated by any book that attempts to imagine possible futures or alternate realities that take the reader on a journey beyond the current horizons of the possible. Rubio's imagination was influenced largely by her upbringing in Santa Ana, California where the parrots, fruit trees, and lush gardens served as a geographical template for the kind of colorful terrain she wanted to depict in her fiction. This emphasis on lush nature and wild birds is contrasted in the stories with a focus on diabolical and macabre themes, resulting in a style that has been referred to as "tropi-gothic." The practice of brujeria, a form of witchcraft native to Latin American and Afro-Caribbean cultures, is a central motif throughout. Tarot, the magical significance of eggs, and a unique brand of Mexican-American mysticism also feature heavily. 5) What do I think? Maria, Maria is filled with fantastical imagery and literary invention. Although most of the stories take place in southern California, Rubio also takes the reader to locales such as Brazil and New Orleans. The title story of the collection is a powerful evocation of both Latinx and female agency, and Rubio's tales are filled with aunts, sisters, mothers, daughters, mermaids, vampires, and witches. The importance of familial and generational ties provides a genuinely moving emotional anchor to these supernatural flights of fancy, and even when the stories are exercises in sheer verbal brilliance, the boldness of Rubio's vision and her macabre humor transport the reader to new and exciting places. For readers who want to dip in and sample the stories, I would recommend beginning from either the beginning or the end. "Brujeria for Beginners," which begins the collection, is a brief and humorous introduction to this particular brand of witchcraft as if it were being introduced through the syllabus of a community college course. "Maria, Maria," the eponymous novella of the collection, caps the stories in a way that sees all of the previous themes coalesce. Following a family of Marias through generations, it handles themes of psychic powers, ancient technology, civilizational collapse, and self-discovery. You can place a hold on your copy of the book by clicking on the cover below:
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1. What is the book? Calling for a Blanket Dance 2. Who wrote it? Oscar Hokeah 3. What is it about? Blanket dances are performed at some tribal Pow Wows as a way to collect funds to aid traveling people and groups onward to the next Pow Wow or back home. This novel can be seen as a blanket dance for one character, Ever. Each chapter can be interpreted as a contribution by family members both close and estranged, chosen and fated, to sustain Ever on his life’s journey home. 4. Why did I read it? Some of my favorite novels have been written by Native American/tribal authors, including Leslie Marmon Silko’s Gardens in the Dunes, which talked thematically about the Ghost Dance, an important event in the lore of several tribes. Knowing nothing about blanket dances and having this information in reserve, I was curious if there were going to be any similarities between the two dances. Alas, they are as different as the individual tribes that make up the monolithic moniker “Native American.” Calling for a Blanket Dance does what I hoped it would; it lifts the veil of homogeneity and challenges easy tropes, sharing snapshots of the humanity of this tribal people. 5. What do I think? This book is a fine example of presenting a flawed and admirable protagonist, Ever, his story told through the voices of those who know him best. It celebrates his endurance through difficulties he experiences, directly and indirectly, from infancy. More than that, coming from an outsider’s perspective such as mine, it showcases the multifaceted complexities of a multicultural, mestizo people in the Mexican American, Kiowan, and Cherokee communities in Oklahoma in such a way that the many characters’ humanity makes them seem like family to myself. Familiar situations are given poignancy when experienced by the people who orbit Ever’s life across five decades. In one chapter from his grandfather Vincent’s perspective, Vincent tries to make amends with estranged family members, particularly his young grandsons, by instilling pride in their Kiowan heritage and culture. Another voice, Ever’s sister Yolanda, struggles with how best to address the knowledge she acquires of Ever’s new bride, Lonnie, being unfaithful and developing a drug addiction while Ever is serving in the military. Perhaps one of the most poignant turns the novel takes is when Leander is introduced. He is a troubled child who is given guidance and stability by Ever, due in part to Ever’s own history with familial instability and the anger and confusion it produces. Ever’s connection to Leander grows roots as he eventually adopts Leander as one of his children. You can place a hold on your copy of the book by clicking on the cover below: Guest review by Gabriel Fox 1. What is the book? Western Lane 2. Who wrote it? Chetna Maroo 3. What is it about? Western Lane is the coming-of-age tale of eleven-year-old Gopi and her two older sisters Mona (15) and Khush (13). When Gopi’s mother passes away, her father decides that his three daughters should acquire more discipline. Being an enthusiast for racket sports, he decides that the girls will begin a very intensive regimen of physical training and exercise to become great squash players. It is on the squash courts of the decaying country club Western Lane that the sisters are driven nearly every waking hour outside of school to hone their racket skills by an imperious task master. The subtle brutality with which the father drives his daughters to competition with each other leads an already grieving family to the brink. Yet as Mona and Khush fall away from squash out of physical and mental exhaustion, Gopi identifies herself ever more fiercely with the sport. What was once an unhealthy perfectionism imposed on her by a domineering parent turns into a means for Gopi to discover her own talents and process the death of her mother with both grace and cathartic ferocity. 4. Why did I read it? I read Western Lane because I was curious as to how Maroo would use the sport of squash as a symbolic matrix with which to deal with more serious thematic material about childhood, memory, unhealthy family dynamics, and the acquisition of a positive self-image. I knew nothing about squash or racket sports more generally before I read the novel, but that did not turn out to be an obstacle to understanding and enjoyment! Maroo explains the workings of the squash court in a way that helps the reader to understand the sport's dynamics without distracting from the main thread of the story. I haven’t read many novels that use athleticism and sport as a primary theme, so this was a new and enjoyable experience. 5. What do I think? I would recommend Western Lane to readers who are looking for novels pertaining to squash, adolescent identity formation, British-Indian cultural identity, family dysfunction, childhood, the processing of loss, or who are just looking for a brief but engrossing afternoon’s reading. Despite the challenges and hardships faced by Gopi and her sisters, this is a novel that ultimately focuses on the hard-fought battle to regain agency for oneself and turn the hardships that are forced upon us to our own advantage. Maroo’s prose is spare, but forceful. The staccato-like precision of each sentence is an extension of the “clean hit” or “pistol-like shot” of the squash courts. Despite this, there is a tremendous amount of nuanced observation and emotional insight that the reader is allowed to perceive at the margins of the text. Volleys and serves, the T, the service line, pivoting, ghosting, backhanding – every aspect of squash is utilized as a metaphorical reflection of the sisters’ inner emotional experience and their relation to an imperious father figure. One aspect of Western Lane that I found particularly intriguing was a slightly unsettling menace of paranormality that encroaches at the periphery of our attention without ever really fully explaining itself. Slightly bizarre occurrences make themselves known throughout: implied mother-daughter telepathy, a maimed and feral dog named Fourth Avenue who appears to communicate silently with the sisters, and the decomposing squalor of the club itself. These saturate the novel with an unusual psychic intensity that is indicative of both the external and internal states of the characters. It is the careful way in which Maroo slowly threads Gopi’s ultimately positive story out of these sinister elements that gives the novel a sense of ultimately satisfying resolution and uplift. By turns tender, eerie, visceral, and life-affirming - Western Lane is an unorthodox bildungsroman that will attract readers looking for something touching and sui generis. You can place a hold on your copy of the book by clicking on the cover below: Guest review by Hannah Krull 1. What is the book?
The Sorrows of Others 2. Who wrote it? Ada Zhang 3. What is it about? Through a series of short stories, Ada Zhang explores the human condition through careful treatment of love, violence, social change, and diaspora. Highlighting relationships between immigrant families and their homelands, traditions, and foods, Zhang asks critical questions about the process of moving between being an insider and an outsider. What happens when we leave home, and what happens when we stay? What selves do we meet and shed in the process of becoming? 4. Why did I read it? I read The Sorrows of Others because I was interested in the philosophical and emotional dimensions by which Ada Zhang analyzes otherwise commonplace interactions and family dynamics. As the beautiful cover illustrates, hinting at Zhang’s writing which lies just inside the jacket – though the paths of our lives often come with isolation and separation, there are critical moments in which our paths cross and weave together. 5. What do I think? Zhang tells each story in a unique voice and from a variety of subjects, cultivating a cast of characters who navigate growing distant from friends, healing from the tragic loss of a sibling, learning family history that paints loved ones in a poor light, and struggling to be authentic in a world that operates on a different set of values. Though each story grapples with loneliness and isolation, moments can be found in each telling that provide a glimmer of hope into an otherwise somber account of human experience. I appreciated Zhang’s treatment of each character, relatable in their humanity even when moving through a world which I personally have little connection to – set in China and the United States, this collection is a beautiful rendering of Chinese immigrant and outsider experiences which asks important questions from the inside - ones that rarely make it through into popular culture. Zhang’s writing, amplified by the organization of the book, encourages an identification with each figure – even despite their at times unlikable and frustrating inner monologues which the reader is privy to. The Sorrows of Others by Ada Zhang is a short read which can easily be picked up and set down, as each story is largely self-contained. Were Zhang’s debut a film, I would find myself searching for someone, maybe Yeye or Xiao Ann, in the background of other stories, questioning whether they were just a moment away from their paths crossing like the cobalt and salmon lines snaking their way across the front cover. You can place a hold on your copy of the book by clicking on the cover below: 1. What is the book?
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AuthorHello! My name is Tom, and I am a librarian here at the Niagara Falls Public Library. Welcome to a recurring blog post that comes out the 5th of every month, where I answer five questions about a book in our collection. Archives
October 2023
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