Literature

"Not the [book] which we have read, but that to which we return, with the greatest pleasure, possesses the genuine power, and claims the name of essential [literature]."
Coleridge

Based on this quote, I consider Jane Austen to be essential literature.

Rebecca

Another book off the BBC list.  I have now read 61.  It seems to me as though I have read this before, but I don't remember, and I don't think so.  I was familiar with the story and have seen the movie, so the book didn't really hold much surprise or suspense, but it was fun.  I suppose in a way it could be considered a romance, but it is also a mystery.  

The unnamed narrator, the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter, is haunted by the memory of Rebecca, Maxim's first wife, even though she never knew her.  Upon their marriage, Maxim takes his new bride home to Manderley, where they hope to begin a new life together.  But Rebecca's shadow falls over everything they do.  The narrator feels that she is not as good as Rebecca, that she is always being compared to her.  She eventually comes to learn of Rebecca's true character and the real nature of her relationship to her husband, but at a tragic cost to her and Maxim.  

At the conclusion of the book, I was left wondering why, as a couple, Maxim and his wife are leading such a nomadic existence, when there is really nothing preventing them from having a stable life someplace other than Manderley.  At the very end of the book Manderley is burning, and I can understand them not wanting to stay there.  But why not buy a little place somewhere else in England, or even abroad.  Why live in a string of hotels all the rest of their days, never putting down roots.  Makes no sense to me.  I was left unsatisfied in that regard.  Otherwise, I agree with the cover that this book is "a classic tale of romantic suspense."

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is an interesting read.  I chose to read it because it is on the BBC list of books everyone should have read and most people probably haven't, so it meets a new year's resolution.  The narrator is Christopher, a fifteen year old with autism.  While up late in the night, he finds his across the street neighbor's dog stabbed to death with a pitchfork.  He decides to find out who did it, in true detective style, and to write a book about it.  Mark Haddon, the author, worked for many years with autistic people, and I found Christopher's voice very convincing.  I believed I was reading the words of an autistic boy.  

The story itself is both funny and sad.  My heart hurt for Christopher in many instances.  I appreciate a writer who can make me feel deeply for a character, and I think Haddon was very successful in making me what to more about Christopher and to want good things for him.  The novel is short (226 pages) and a quick read, but engaging and moving, too.  

A word of warning--there is a fair amount of profanity in the book.  That aside, the book is quite good.  And just as a bit of humor, one of the blurbs on the back of the book describes it as, "Moving. . . . Think of The Sound and the Fury crossed with The Catcher in the Rye and one of Oliver Sack's real-life stories."  I need to look up Oliver Sack (I don't know who he is), I haven't read Catcher in the Rye (that I remember), and I'm not reading The Sound and the Fury at Kent's "suggestion." but I think The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is both convincing and readable.  

The Help

I read The Help for my book group this month.  It is about southern women in the 60s and the maids that work for them.  Yesterday was book group and I only picked this up to begin reading a week ago, but I finished it quickly.  It is a fast read, mostly because I think it is a well-told story.  We had a lively discussion about many different topics; the book brings up issues about both whites and blacks.

I have read several negative reviews about the book, all of which were written by black women.  Most of the reviews, however, have been very favorable, and people like it enough that it has remained on the NY Times Best Seller List for over a year.  I, too, liked it, but I wanted more.  I liked the characters, although I agree with the negative reviews which have said they were fairly stock characters, somewhat stereo-typical.  I enjoy the sense of the south Stockett shared in her writing.  I was able to catch a glimpse of a past era and culture I have no personal experience with.

My favorite quote from the book: "We are just two people.  Not that much separates us.  Not nearly as much as I'd thought."

One review I read complained that Stockett did not actually speak to anyone who had been a maid during this period, and that as a white woman, she couldn't possibly understand what it was like, even though Stockett grew up with a black maid.  Considering that the book is about a white woman wanting to capture the voices of black maids, I found it ironic that Stockett did not do the same in order to give her work greater authenticity.  

I was pleasantly surprised, however, to find that Stockett did consider firsthand narratives, actual Primary source material.  At the end of the book, in the acknowledgements, she thanks Susan Tucker, the author of the book Telling Memories Among Southern Women, "whose beautiful oral accounts of domestics and white employers took [her] back to a time and place that is long gone."  I was intrigued by this short note and the book, so I had my mom check it out of the BYU library for me.  It is a scholarly work of recorded interviews of women who worked as black maids and also of those who had black maids.  I began reading this one last week and will post on that when I am through.

I have help.  I have a Peruvian woman named Blanca who cleans my house for me.  She only comes once a week, but I find that I am encountering complications in our relationship.  I pay her for four hours of work at my house, and for four hours of work at my in-laws, and she only works three and a half for me and far less for my in-laws.  Sometimes she isn't even at George and Merlynn's house for two hours.  I need to talk to her about working more or being paid less, and I don't want to do it.  

I like Blanca.  She is widow with two teenage daughters, one who has major emotional problems.  She works hard to provide for them and I know she struggles to make ends meet.  I have made an effort to find her work, and feel good that many of my neighbors have begun using Blanca to clean their homes, thus providing her with increased income.  We have all that we need and more.  We have been incredibly blessed and I want to be able to help others and share the bounties I enjoy.  In this case, however, I feel somewhat like I am being taken advantage of.  I know that Blanca must look at my situation--large and lovely home, husband who works to provide for us--and think that I should be able to pay her what I pay her and more.  I am rich in her eyes.  And yet I'm not.  We are careful with our money and I don't want Blanca to think I owe her something because I have more than she does.  I will need to talk to her when she comes next Monday to clean the toilets so I don't have to.  I want to be kind, I am grateful to be able to afford a house cleaner, but Blanca works for me and I want something more from her.  I am going to pray about how to talk to her so that neither of us come away feeling that we are misunderstood.  Wish me luck!

The Ladies Auxiliary

I picked up this book because it was on a friend's book club list.  It tells the story of a tight-knit Jewish community in Memphis.  Who knew there were Jews in Memphis?  A single mom and Jewish convert moves into the neighborhood and unknowingly stirs things up.  Batsheva is religious (think devout), but she has an unknown past, is an outsider, and does things differently.  She makes the other women in the community look at themselves and their lives, their religious practice and devotion, and she makes them nervous.  Although technically one of them, her differences are enough to make her the target of ill feelings when the protective wall the women have built around themselves begins to crumble.

Although I am not Jewish, I do live in a community that is predominantly Mormon.  My daily activities and interactions are largely among those of my own faith, and my close friendships have been forged through mutual church activity.  For many women living in Provo, I'm sure this is typical.  I think most women would say that their social networks are also their church networks.  

I do, however, have an across the street neighbor, Kristie, who no longer attends the Mormon church; she and her husband are not active.  In fact, they attend another church altogether.  They have three children including a daughter, Maia, just a year older than Brandt.  When the weather is nice and I am outside with my kids, Kristie is frequently out with hers, too.  We will sit in one of our driveways and talk as the children race and ride up and down the street.  I like talking to her, I am comfortable with her, and I enjoy the time we spend together watching our children and being outdoors.  And yet I never do anything with her socially.  We have never gone to lunch or been swimming at my parent's house.  I don't think to invite her when I think of gathering friends for an activity.  I ask myself why and only come with the lame-o answer that we don't go to church together and so I don't think about her.  

Because we don't go to church together, I should  think about her.  She is surrounded by Mormons and technically is one herself.  And yet I'm fairly sure that Kristie probably doesn't feel that she has many friends to do things with.  Every woman knows how important other women friends are, and after reading this book, I think I will make a greater effort to be more friend-like to Kristie, not just friendly.

You Talkin' To Me?

I like being a mom, and I am glad I am a stay-at-home-mom.  I love my children and I am grateful for the things they teach me.  I do have one, huge, major complaint about my children, however.  They ignore me.  I will ask them to do something, and they will look at me like I am speaking Tagalog, or Finnish, or some other foreign language, and walk away, completely ignoring me.  It makes me insane.  INSANE!!!!  I want to rush up to them, grab them, and shake them.  I don't, but I sure want to.

I have tried to employ the same tactic with them, completely ignoring them when they ignore me, but they are impervious.  Brandt must have asked me 26 times the other day if he could have a mint.  He was relentless.  He just kept asking and asking and asking.  He was even pretty nice about it, but he just went on and on and on.  So I finally gave him one just to get him to shut up.  Children require iron will, and I fear, in this regard, I am weak.