I just finished reading, Boyfriends With Girlfriends, a new novel by Alex Sanchez. This was a really thoughtful read. I know Alex always takes great care with creating characters that are complex, but there was such a sweetness and and innocence -- and "rough around the edges" to the characters in BWG that I really appreciated.
I don't mean "rough" as in they were uncouth or obnoxious (although I did find Sergio's bravo a bit obnoxious at times), but "rough" as in 'unfinished' or 'still evolving.' Clearly this was the major theme in the novel. The teens were still exploring their own identities -- sexual identities, gender identities, family-role identities. The fundamental human issue of wanting to "fit" wanting to belong -- and not getting hurt was heavy on every page and yet the book isn't a heavy read.
I laughed right along with Allie when Lance worked himself into a tizzy about Sergio.
I held my breathe with Kimiko when she read the poem aloud about Allie.
I empathized with Sergio's mom's confusion as she struggled between loving her son and wanting him to be happy.
In all of these moments, Alex once again, helps the reader to explore the additional levels of questions, confusion, and need for communication and acceptance that GLBT teens (and adults) deserve.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
I finally got it! A Northern Light IS WORTH IT!
I admit...A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly was a hard one. It wasn't hard because I didn't understand it, it just didn't evoke a strong emotional response -- like other books I have read lately, such as The Breadwinner Trilogy, The Hunger Games or even others I have read that my students have read recently like Monster or The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.
It wasn't until I got through almost the first 200 pages that I started to feel fully engaged by Mattie and when I read pages 218-221 (the chapter titled malediction, which means "bad speaking, like a curse" pp. 220-2201) that I was FINALLY HOOKED as a reader.
This is a great example of why an adept reader's repertoire of reading practices must include the disposition of perseverance. Whether the reader is reading expository (informational) texts or narrative texts, the task sometimes requires patience and fortitude as well as remaining attentive to the information/story even if not naturally engaged by some sort of intrinsic motivation to read.
I certainly felt more obligated than interested in reading this book (for almost two-thirds of the reading). But once I got hooked, it was "hook, line, and sinker." I even got teary as I read pages 357-358 -- but I won't tell you why! You'll have to wait and see for yourself. :-)
It's interesting reading Groenke and Schreff's (pp. 36-37) rationale for why this is a book worthy of whole class instruction. Even though my appreciation and admiration for Mattie as the story progressed, I am still not sure if I would say without equivocation that "Donnelly's writing is breathtaking. Mattie's voice rings true to the time and her age." (Criterion 1 review, p. 36).
I do agree with Groenke and Schreff that the lines on p. 191 are heart-wrenching and deeply effected me as a reader. However, I am still wondering whether or not her voice "rings true." I certainly believe there are moments -- and again, I would argue that the evidence to support this claim comes more readily from the second half of the book -- but I guess I wasn't sure who Mattie was at the beginning and I didn't immediately believe that her voice/her character "rang true."
On the other hand, like I said, once I fell head over heels INTO the book and the story, I absolutely LOVED making the connections Mattie was making between her own voice/her own life, the lives of the characters in the novels/poetry she was reading, and the lives of those around her (including Grace -- whose life unfolds for us in the letters she gave to Mattie shortly before her death). At one point when I was reading, there was a line in the story that reminded me of a poem, by Marge Piercy, who was considered a radical feminist poem in the 50s and 60s -- one of the lesser known beat poets.
I went back to try and find the line and as I was re-reading those last 100 pages, I realized there were many passages that might have caused me to think about a stanza from a Marge Piercy poem, called For Strong Women. [click here to read the entire poem by Piercy] I've included one particular passage from A Northern Light alongside the stanza from Marge Piercy's poem:
I remember the first time I read Marge Piercy's poetry and I do think it affected me much like Mattie was affected by Elizabeth Baxter's first collection of poetry and by Emily Dickinson's poetry. The feminist awakening Mattie experiences -- when realizing what it means to own her own destiny, to refuse to give up her own dreams -- As Mattie says, "I wanted books and words, but I wanted someone to hold me too..." (p. 312) this was certainly an internal dilemma I struggled with earlier in life. I do think young women have moments where they ask themselves what does it mean to be a woman. Who am I, as a woman?
And, now, of course, I'm hearing Sojourner Truth in my head... "And Ain't I a Woman?"
It's funny, but through writing this reflection and reconsidering the fact that Groenke and Schreff profile A Northern Light in their chapter where they introduce critical theory, specifically feminist criticism, I think I have FINALLY pinpointed what was bothering me about this book. It wasn't the fact that Mattie wasn't a real character or that her voice didn't "ring true." Rather it was because I went into the book expecting Mattie to already have a feminist voice from the start of the novel. But, that (obviously! "duh, Dr. Jones!") wasn't the case. Donnelly used the traditional coming of age plot line to illustrate what a young woman in this time period would need to face, confront, and overcome in order to become a self-actualized individual or, as Miss Wilcox would say, "to find her real voice." (pp. 361-362).
It wasn't until I got through almost the first 200 pages that I started to feel fully engaged by Mattie and when I read pages 218-221 (the chapter titled malediction, which means "bad speaking, like a curse" pp. 220-2201) that I was FINALLY HOOKED as a reader.
This is a great example of why an adept reader's repertoire of reading practices must include the disposition of perseverance. Whether the reader is reading expository (informational) texts or narrative texts, the task sometimes requires patience and fortitude as well as remaining attentive to the information/story even if not naturally engaged by some sort of intrinsic motivation to read.
I certainly felt more obligated than interested in reading this book (for almost two-thirds of the reading). But once I got hooked, it was "hook, line, and sinker." I even got teary as I read pages 357-358 -- but I won't tell you why! You'll have to wait and see for yourself. :-)
It's interesting reading Groenke and Schreff's (pp. 36-37) rationale for why this is a book worthy of whole class instruction. Even though my appreciation and admiration for Mattie as the story progressed, I am still not sure if I would say without equivocation that "Donnelly's writing is breathtaking. Mattie's voice rings true to the time and her age." (Criterion 1 review, p. 36).
I do agree with Groenke and Schreff that the lines on p. 191 are heart-wrenching and deeply effected me as a reader. However, I am still wondering whether or not her voice "rings true." I certainly believe there are moments -- and again, I would argue that the evidence to support this claim comes more readily from the second half of the book -- but I guess I wasn't sure who Mattie was at the beginning and I didn't immediately believe that her voice/her character "rang true."
On the other hand, like I said, once I fell head over heels INTO the book and the story, I absolutely LOVED making the connections Mattie was making between her own voice/her own life, the lives of the characters in the novels/poetry she was reading, and the lives of those around her (including Grace -- whose life unfolds for us in the letters she gave to Mattie shortly before her death). At one point when I was reading, there was a line in the story that reminded me of a poem, by Marge Piercy, who was considered a radical feminist poem in the 50s and 60s -- one of the lesser known beat poets.
I went back to try and find the line and as I was re-reading those last 100 pages, I realized there were many passages that might have caused me to think about a stanza from a Marge Piercy poem, called For Strong Women. [click here to read the entire poem by Piercy] I've included one particular passage from A Northern Light alongside the stanza from Marge Piercy's poem:
A Northern Light | For Strong Women by Marge Piercy |
…A farmer an put an evener on his team’s yoke to compensate for the weaker horse by shifting some of the lad to the stronger one. But you can’t put an evener on two people’s hearts or their souls. I wished I could just up and go to New York City. I wished I was as strong as Weaver was. I wished I was as fearless. But I was not. (Donnelly, p. 313) | A strong woman is a woman determined to do something others are determined not to be done. She is pushing up on the bottom of a lead coffin lid. She is trying to raise a manhole cover with her head, she is trying to butt her way through a steel wall. Her head hurts. People waiting for the hole to be made say, hurry, you’re so strong. (M. Piercy, 1989, Circles on the Water: Selected Poems of Marge Piercy, p. 257) by Marge Piercy |
I remember the first time I read Marge Piercy's poetry and I do think it affected me much like Mattie was affected by Elizabeth Baxter's first collection of poetry and by Emily Dickinson's poetry. The feminist awakening Mattie experiences -- when realizing what it means to own her own destiny, to refuse to give up her own dreams -- As Mattie says, "I wanted books and words, but I wanted someone to hold me too..." (p. 312) this was certainly an internal dilemma I struggled with earlier in life. I do think young women have moments where they ask themselves what does it mean to be a woman. Who am I, as a woman?
And, now, of course, I'm hearing Sojourner Truth in my head... "And Ain't I a Woman?"
It's funny, but through writing this reflection and reconsidering the fact that Groenke and Schreff profile A Northern Light in their chapter where they introduce critical theory, specifically feminist criticism, I think I have FINALLY pinpointed what was bothering me about this book. It wasn't the fact that Mattie wasn't a real character or that her voice didn't "ring true." Rather it was because I went into the book expecting Mattie to already have a feminist voice from the start of the novel. But, that (obviously! "duh, Dr. Jones!") wasn't the case. Donnelly used the traditional coming of age plot line to illustrate what a young woman in this time period would need to face, confront, and overcome in order to become a self-actualized individual or, as Miss Wilcox would say, "to find her real voice." (pp. 361-362).
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Mud City (Part III of The Breadwinner Trilogy)
Oh my goodness! If you thought The Breadwinner Part I was a page turner, JUST WAIT until you get to Part III. Mud City picks up right at the same place as Parvana's Journey begins, but Mud City is the story of what happens to Shauzia after Parvana leaves with her father.
If you thought life was hard for Parvana as her story unfolds in Part I and Part II, wait until you see what Shauzia must face in order to find a way out of Afghanistan to Paris and those "fields of purple flowers."
I found my heart wrenching even tighter than it did when reading Parvana's story because, while Parvana always managed to have some sort of "family" with her as she struggled to reunite with her biological family, Shauzia was very much on her own.
There are many incidents in the book that I could re-examine to explain to you how they affected me as a reader, but I would like to focus on one specific moment that continue to haunt me.
The first is an exchange between Mrs. Weera and Shauzia in the refugee camp. Shauzia is frustrated because Mrs. Weera has kept her so busy, she hasn't been able to find work to make some money:
"Mrs. Weera! " Shauzia shouted. "I need to be paid."
Mrs Weera came back. "Which is it? Want or need?...
I will not back down this time, Shauzia vowed to herself. "I told you my plans when I first came here. I told you I'd need to earn some money, but you've kept me so busy with your little jobs, I haven't had time to look for real work."
"I would have thought bringing comfort to your fellow Afghans in a refugee camp would be considered enough real work for a lifetime."
"A lifetime!" Shauzia exclaimed in horror. "You expect me to do this for a lifetime? I didn't leave Afghanistan just to live in the mud!" She flung her arms at the mud walls surrounding the Widows' Compound, knowing that on the other side of them in the regular part of the refugee camp were more mud walls. Maybe the whole world was mud walls now, and she'd never get away from them. (The Breadwinner Trilogy, Mud City, pp. 313-314).
Undergirding this fight between Shauzia and Mrs. Weeza seems to be the cultural tension between the "rights/priorities of the group" versus the "rights/priorities of the individual." Shauzia's struggle seems doubly challenging, not only because she is a young female Afghan refugee, but also because she so desperately wants to make her own destiny. I don't begrudge Mrs. Weeza for her zealousness towards taking care of her fellow Afghan women, but her overbearing righteousness -- and unwillingness to appreciate the dreams of a young Afghan woman who wants to be free -- is frustrating at times.
The funny thing is I think they are both right. I think it is right to feel responsible for the others in your community and I also think it is right to want to leave the community to do things for oneself. I am sure this is my own American values interplaying here, but for Mrs. Weeza to say that this should be Shauzia's LIFE work is taking it too far. Especially when Shauzia see that kind of life as "a world of walls" that would never end.
If you thought life was hard for Parvana as her story unfolds in Part I and Part II, wait until you see what Shauzia must face in order to find a way out of Afghanistan to Paris and those "fields of purple flowers."
I found my heart wrenching even tighter than it did when reading Parvana's story because, while Parvana always managed to have some sort of "family" with her as she struggled to reunite with her biological family, Shauzia was very much on her own.
There are many incidents in the book that I could re-examine to explain to you how they affected me as a reader, but I would like to focus on one specific moment that continue to haunt me.
The first is an exchange between Mrs. Weera and Shauzia in the refugee camp. Shauzia is frustrated because Mrs. Weera has kept her so busy, she hasn't been able to find work to make some money:
"Mrs. Weera! " Shauzia shouted. "I need to be paid."
Mrs Weera came back. "Which is it? Want or need?...
I will not back down this time, Shauzia vowed to herself. "I told you my plans when I first came here. I told you I'd need to earn some money, but you've kept me so busy with your little jobs, I haven't had time to look for real work."
"I would have thought bringing comfort to your fellow Afghans in a refugee camp would be considered enough real work for a lifetime."
"A lifetime!" Shauzia exclaimed in horror. "You expect me to do this for a lifetime? I didn't leave Afghanistan just to live in the mud!" She flung her arms at the mud walls surrounding the Widows' Compound, knowing that on the other side of them in the regular part of the refugee camp were more mud walls. Maybe the whole world was mud walls now, and she'd never get away from them. (The Breadwinner Trilogy, Mud City, pp. 313-314).
Undergirding this fight between Shauzia and Mrs. Weeza seems to be the cultural tension between the "rights/priorities of the group" versus the "rights/priorities of the individual." Shauzia's struggle seems doubly challenging, not only because she is a young female Afghan refugee, but also because she so desperately wants to make her own destiny. I don't begrudge Mrs. Weeza for her zealousness towards taking care of her fellow Afghan women, but her overbearing righteousness -- and unwillingness to appreciate the dreams of a young Afghan woman who wants to be free -- is frustrating at times.
The funny thing is I think they are both right. I think it is right to feel responsible for the others in your community and I also think it is right to want to leave the community to do things for oneself. I am sure this is my own American values interplaying here, but for Mrs. Weeza to say that this should be Shauzia's LIFE work is taking it too far. Especially when Shauzia see that kind of life as "a world of walls" that would never end.
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