Social Activism in ‘The Other Side of Truth’.

Posted by Fliss | Posted in Book Reviews | Posted on 30-03-2010

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My reading has been very restricted over the last couple of months as I am just coming to the end of a BA in literature, and most of my time is spent buried in either a course book, an essay, or a set text. The Other Side of Truth by Beverley Naidoo is the latter, read for my Children’s Literature course.

I really wasn’t sure that I would like this book, about two Nigerian siblings, Sade and Femi, who are sent to England by their father after their mother is killed by the Nigerian police. Even after reading the first few chapters, I probably would have abandoned the book if I hadn’t had to read it. It’s not that Naidoo’s writing is not good; in fact, it is excellent, beautifully descriptive, and true to the children’s voices. Similarly, nothing in the plot sticks out as particularly unlikely, or jarring.

What really made the book so hard for me to read was just the unrelenting horribleness of everything that happens to Sade and Femi, from the horrifying death by shooting of their mother, to their abandonment by the woman who was meant to be taking them to their uncle in London, and a mugging, witnessing an episode of vandalism, and the threat of deportation.

Despite this rather harrowing chain of events, though, the children eventually find a safe place to stay, only to discover that their father, who has followed them to England, has been arrested and detained, and now faces the threat of deportation. However, the novel moves on to become a very convincing portrayal of life in England for refugees, beautifully written and intensely moving. Despite the drama, perhaps even melodrama, The Other Side of Truth is incredibly moving.

It is not a pleasant read, nor is it an easy read, despite its categorisation as children’s literature, but it is beautiful, thought-provoking, and very well written. Furthermore, Naidoo, in the best traditions of social realism, avoids providing the reader with any pat answers, or a simplistic ‘happily ever after’ ending. Rather, she ends the book on a note of uncertainty and quiet optimism, and with the hard-won knowledge that the only way to gain justice in an unjust world is to stick to your principles, and, when the time calls for it, be willing to stand up for what you believe in.

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Belated Wednesday Waffling

Posted by Jenny | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 26-03-2010

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It doesn't bode well that, one week after I started it, I managed to not post a 'Weekly Wednesday Waffle', creating a feeling of doubt (and possibly derision?) around the first word of the phrase. 

The reason for my lacklustre performance is distressingly banal: I've been working hard. I'm even more thrilled than normal to be faced with the weekend, and don't get me started on the joy of the forthcoming long, Easter weekend! 
So, to get this show on the road, random.org has thrown up a new book for me to waffle about:
The lucky number is… 601!
Unfortunately, this is a slightly embarrassing one. Not the book itself, but my own relation to it; I bought it about five years ago, in my second year of University. It was part of a 'further reading' list for my module on the Philosophy of Law, as I recall.
I still think it looks very interesting! I still have not read it. 
Or rather, I've read parts of it, which I remember being interested by, but was swayed by reading list which was actually on my main list of course reading, which was also just that little bit more readable.
In more recent years, I've not necessarily forgotten about it, but I've just not really thought of it. So, sorry Frederick Schauer, I have been a poor excuse for a scholar. 
Now that I am thinking of this book, though, I remember what I was so interested in to start with. Obviously for anybody with an interest or stake in the legal system, the concept of a 'rule' is a central one. Even looking beyond that, there are rules which are not enshrined in law, but are of other kinds, varying in scope (they can be general, or specific to a particular group of people) and nature.
But what makes a rule, how do they come about, and how do they gain force and validity? To what extent must a rule be generally accepted, be normative? How do we use rules of different kinds in everyday life, as a guide to action or as constraining it?
There are lots of intriguing assumptions in the idea of a rule, and it would be fascinating to read Schauer's analysis. It's also been a while since I read something harking back to my law-student days. I don't know if this would be top of the list necessarily, but I don't think it should be far off. 

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Bad Company: Wilderness Tips by Margaret Atwood

Posted by Fliss | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 26-03-2010

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Wilderness Tips
Wilderness Tips
Margaret Atwood

It is a real testament to the power of Margaret Atwood's writing that she can create such compelling short stories, with barely a likeable character in sight.

The first and last short stories in this ten story collection, 'True Trash' and 'Hack Wednesday', are the only stories that seem to be missing adulterers, possible murderers, or just generally unlikeable characters; they are also two of my three favourite stories from the collection, along with 'Bog Man'.

Wilderness Tips is not a happy book, and, despite the lucid narratives, it is not an easy read. I took these stories one at a time, sometimes only reading a couple of pages at a time, and the book repaid this tenfold.

Short stories are often considered to be second-rate compared to longer fiction, and certainly a short story is much less forgiving of even the smallest mistakes in narrative or style, but Atwood's stories here are as intriguing, original, and as perfectly wrought as any one of her longer narratives.

Wilderness Tips is a book that's been on my bookshelf for a few years now, but I'm so glad that I read it, and the rest of the unread Atwood books in my library have definitely gone on my to read pile as of now.

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Review: We Don't Need Another Wave

Posted by Jenny | Posted in Reading Challenges | Posted on 22-03-2010

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We Don't Need Another Wave: Dispatches from the Next Generation of Feminists
We Don’t Need Another Wave: Dispatches from the Next Generation of Feminists

A present from one of my awesome feminist friends, We Don’t Need Another Wave: Dispatches from the Next Generation of Feminists was a book of pieces by young feminists on a variety of issues. Mostly drawn from personal experience and political awareness, as well as particular experiences and events, as a whole it’s vibrant and challenging.
It was pleasing to see the range of pieces included and the diversity of the writers. As such, a lot of the writing was really thought-provoking and challenged me to think about issues in new ways and from a broad range of perspectives.
It’s unsettling but necessary to read about things that you might not have considered, opinions that challenge your own world-view and beliefs. And it’s important to recognise your own privilege and the limits of your experience. I’m a woman and a feminist, but I’m also white, cisgender, able-bodied, heterosexual, educated, and while not well enough off to follow the paths of my choosing I have access to the necessities and a quite a few of the comforts of life. I have a lot of privilege, and need to make time to hear the voices of others and actually listen to what they have to say. There’s plenty of comment on the intersections between sexism and racism, classism, heterosexism… and just about every other ‘ism’ you can think of in here. A necessary part of feminist debate.
My feminism has always been quite ‘academic’, quite theory-driven, and that’s definitely not what this book is. So while it’s not necessarily something that I would have picked up, I think I actually gained a lot from it, and I’m really glad that I did read it.
One of the things that this book really rammed home for me (not that I actually needed it, because I was already well aware, but it’s an important point to make) is that feminism is alive and well. There have been cries from various quarters that young women just don’t care about feminism, but any claims of that nature are clearly being pretty selective in what they look at. The feminist blogosphere is thriving – judging from my Google Reader, it could even be said to be somewhat prolific – and there are plenty of groups of feminists of all ages that I’ve been part of, even if just on the sidelines, and I say from my experience that there are some awesome young people taking an active part.
And not to mention the large number of people who aren’t in groups as such but kick ass regardless. Just looking at the Million Women Rise march recently, there were lots of women from all over the country, and one of the powerful things about it was seeing women of all ages (every wave likes a good protest!) join together.
The writers in this volume act out their feminism – and other politics – in lots of different ways, but they’re all acting on it. Awesome.
Something to say, Alphonse?

Blimey, two challenge books down in one week? Whatever next? Lightning striking twice?

Anyway, all this talk of feminism makes me think that this book is just perfect for the Women Unbound challenge, which makes 3 out of 5. That’s more than any other challenge yet.

Somebody likes a bit of feminism, eh?

That I do, Alphonse! That I do!

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Review: If on a Winter's Night a Traveller

Posted by Jenny | Posted in Reading Challenges | Posted on 20-03-2010

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It’s not often I read a book that messes with my mind from the first page. This book did that, and continued with the mind-games until The End. I kind of liked it.
Actually, I liked Italo Calvino’s If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller very much indeed. I’ve encountered the word “eccentric” applied to it, which feels somewhat like an understatement.
In one sense, it’s quite an intellectual book, discussing reading and the place of literature (and censorship) and the difficulty of narration, and uses lots of long words, but as much as it takes delight in its own book-smarts (heh heh) it’s also unfailingly playful, and this was what captured me.
The gist of it is that of a long-suffering reader who just can’t seem to catch a break and finish a book, due to misprints, thefts, and – ultimately – an international counterfeiting enterprise. The idea of the unreliable narrator is taken to its limits, flaunted in front of the reader (the reader being me, not The Reader in the book), and then sidles off as another first chapter of another fake story takes the stage.
It’s perhaps an easy book to get frustrated with, but to fall back into it, go with the flow, and enjoy the undercurrents of humour and the overarching plot – really, there is one! – is a fantastic reading experience, if not my usual one. In a way you just have to stretch out and meander through each false start and twist-and-turn, and enjoy the connections, the fragmentation, before finally being satisfied by the bizarre whole. It is, when it comes down to it, wonderfully written.
In the hands of a more po-faced writer, this could have been an absolutely unbearable enterprise. I hate books where the entirety of it is a gimmicky idea with no real substance underlying it; it just makes me cranky. What’s the point? Italo Calvino managed to keep me intrigued and entertained, and when I mention (again) that the book is amusing, don’t mistake that for a statement that the book is trivial or inconsequential; it’s certainly not that. There’s a fine brain that’s gone into work crafting this, and I enjoyed every bit of it.
Alphonse says:

“And let’s not forget that other benefit of this here book: it counts for the Bibliophilic Books Challenge! It’s been roundly neglected so far this year, but at least once you got started you got started in style, eh?

Books about books, whatever next.

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Introducing: Weekly Wednesday Waffling

Posted by Jenny | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 17-03-2010

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After having a browse through my books, on LibraryThing, I realised a couple of things. One is that I have quite a lot of books. Not as many as some, but I'm still 24, I've got time. The second thing that occurred to me is that I have a pretty good memory for when and where I acquired my books and the general stories behind me picking them up.

So I thought it might be quite interesting to do a little experiment! Entirely scientific, obviously. (Go away, Ben Goldacre, I know I'm not doing it right.) I call it 'Weekly Wednesday Waffling', for want of a better name, and because it alliterates.
Each week I'm going to use a random number generator to select one of my books from LibraryThing. I'll post the book here and talk about it in some way, shape, or form. I may or may not have read the books I post, but that's not really the idea; instead of reviewing, call it 'the story of a bookshelf', if you like. Which you probably don't, because that's kind of a lame name. Let's move on!
The first number… 113!
The Outsider
The Outsider
Albert Camus

And as quickly as that, Albert Camus' The Outsider takes the stand.
I picked it up in January 2007, in my third year of university, and it was the first book by Camus that I picked up (I've since read, and very much enjoyed, The Plague).
Only, there was a bit of a snag.
Unfortunately, the year before, I'd taken a module called 'Law and Literature', which was an interesting enough course, but it was by taking this that I blighted my future Camus-related happiness. 
We were set a variety of reading one week, and among the photocopies was an extract from The Outsider. I was quite interested by this, as I wanted to read it at some point; I assumed we'd been given the first chapter, or something towards the beginning, which would surely serve to whet my appetite for the full book.
It was after I'd dutifully finished my reading that I realised that I'd managed to read the last chapter of the book. This was our sadistically chosen course reading!* 
So now The Outsider was effectively spoilered for me by over-zealous education, and I didn't have the heart to read the full book until I'd forgotten the impact of that one chapter. 
Picking up the story of me-and-The-Outsider, though, I've realised that I pretty much have reached that point. I can't remember what I was so upset about all those years (four, count 'em) ago. This is one of the benefits of having a truly appalling memory for plot details; it's hard to spoiler things for me on a permanent basis. 
So you can probably expect to see this being read in the not too distant future!
* Oh fine, the lecturer probably wasn't being intentionally cruel. I suppose it might be time to forgive, if not forget.

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My First Graphic Novel

Posted by Jenny | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 16-03-2010

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And lo! It begins! I'd been thinking about reading a graphic novel for a while, partly because I loved the film of Persepolis and thought the book would be even better, and partly because there seemed to be a lot of people whose opinions I listen to who have enjoyed a graphic novel or two (or lots).

The thing was, where was I supposed to start? I read your standard text-on-a-page novels all the time, I know where I stand with them and I have an idea of what I'm going to like or not like. Throw a few pictures in there and it's a whole different ball game, surely. Cue a whole bunch of flailing. It would have all been much easier, and resolved far sooner, had I just bought Persepolis. Which I still intend to do at some point. I'm trying to buy fewer books, though, as I'm quite conscious of the fact that I already have plenty to read. 
Dilemma!
So I got my act together and picked up one of Josh's books. Upon being assured that it was good, I decided that here was as good a place as any to begin. 
The Complete Maus
The Complete Maus
Art Spiegelman

Reading The Complete Maus was a different reading experience for me. I couldn't just whoosh through the words, but looking too long at the pictures could jolt me out of the narrative. After a couple of pages I decided it was best not to overthink it and just absorbed it, pictures and all. 
I may be one of the last people in the world to read the graphic novel about the holocaust in which different nationalities/races are portrayed as different animals, but I'm glad I got round to it in the end.
It's pretty spectacular. I found the portrayal of the author's relationship with his father, Vladek Spiegelman (a survivor of Auschwitz) very well done. To me it seemed as though there was quite a contrast between the pages in which the focus is upon Vladek during the war, and those that are set in the modern day.
As presented by Art from his father's reminiscences, the Vladek during the war was resourceful, deeply committed to his wife, and showed kindness towards others. While it's Vladek's 'voice' so to speak, the presentation of it by his son feels supportive, appreciative of Vladek and his actions. When switching to the present, that image becomes complicated by the author's frustration with a man who can also be difficult, fussy, and even racist. It's this contrast which, more than anything else, helps the reader to understand the complexities of their relationship and Art's feelings for his father. 
It's all beautifully done. While obviously much of the content is serious, and distressing, it's not heavy-handed, and there are some wonderful moments of humour. This particularly got me during the later part of the book, when at times I was laughing on one page and wincing from the next. And despite the choice to use animals to represent the characters, which worked so well, they are all distinctly human, which is if anything further reinforced by the Art's depiction of his musings over how to draw his own wife.
It's a great book, and I'm glad to have come across it. I am sure there will be more graphic novels to come!
(This doesn't count towards any of my challenges, but it was worth it.)

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Reading Through a Feminist Lens (a.k.a. Everybody Hates Sophists!)

Posted by Jenny | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 14-03-2010

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When I was at university, one of my lecturers talked about her course, Feminist Perspectives on Law, and said that we should try to read things, see things, with a feminist consciousness. What I notice more and more – and is fairly inescapable when you are hooked up to the feminist blogosphere – is that once you've started to do this, it's very hard to go back. To not see things that maybe you wouldn't have thought about as problematic before, maybe that you don't even really want to notice. I value being able to read critically and others who do so, but it can sometimes be jarring. 
So, I've been reading, as you might be able to tell! I've been reading Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics (hence length of time since my last review) and then (to recover), Diana Wynne Jones' latest offering, Enchanted Glass.
The latter was not my favourite of her books, by a reasonably-sized margin. I still enjoyed it for the most part, the story was engaging and as a whole it was, as usual, A Ripping Yarn. If I had a kitten, it would have dived right in there, if you get my drift. Yet with my feminist hat on, there were just a few bits that I couldn't control myself from wincing at – two women fighting around in a room, pulling hair, finishing with one calling the other a "trollop," for example – and finding a tad tedious. Some of the language around gender (and disability) I found just a bit troubling. There was a very specific narrative voice to the novel, which might explain some instances of this, but doesn't stop my immediate reaction, which I'm not sure was wrong. Anyway, it's still fun enough, but it's probably not one I'll be returning to when I next need a children's-fantasy-novel kick.
The Nicomachean Ethics, if I'm going to continue with the yarn theme, was more like a confusing muddle of it that I attempted to detangle. Not that his thoughts are muddled, I'm sure he thought them very clearly, but my brain isn't always as lucid, particularly not on my way home from work on a crowded train. I appreciate that this is not optimal for reading Aristotle. It is naturally a thought-provoking tome, but one of the things that I found interesting about it was the specificity of some of the comments of morality. Given the background of it all, it wasn't exactly a shock to me that women were generally seen as morally inferior, but his approach and view on morality raised, for me, interesting notions of morality and masculinity and citizenship. Much of the specifics of what was seen as optimal behaviour in the book were perhaps quite culturally-defined. A lot of those passages would be seen as quite questionable in a different social and cultural environment (such as our own), as appropriate ways for men to behave, and as what is required of citizens within a political sphere. 
I don't have any conclusions and I'm quite aware that I'm rambling; I just wanted to touch on how it was interesting to go from reading contemporary accounts of citizenship and masculinity, and then read Aristotle. 
Also, that dude really didn't like sophists, huh?
P.S. I've also read my first graphic novel, but I think that deserves its own post – on another day. 

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A. S. Byatt and Electric Sheep

Posted by Fliss | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 13-03-2010

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Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?: The novel which became 'Blade Runner' (S.F. Masterworks)
Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?: The novel which became ‘Blade Runner’ (S.F. Masterworks)
Philip K. Dick

This week has been taken up with reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, the book that became Blade Runner, as the cover proclaims. To start off, I'm not a massive fan of sci-fi books, and I generally get quite depressed when reading post-apocalyptic, dystopian texts, but I actually quite enjoyed this novel.

There are the usual elements of sci-fi within the book- the laser-guns, hovercars, and, obviously, the eponymous androids- but Dick actually poses some very serious philosophical questions about the nature of life, the idea of genetic "purity", and the purposes of religious faith.

The central protagonist, Rick Deckard, is not a simplistic, gun-toting cowboy figure, but someone who, at the beginning of the book, genuinely believes that he is morally justified in his "retiring" of renegade androids as a bounty hunter, but who is brought to question, through the events of the plot, whether his job is genuinely right, or even necessary to society. Despite this, Dick shies away from simplistic answers, and allows the reader to make up their own mind.

Electric Sheep isn't a long book, however, no matter how complicated the issues it deals with, and part of my spare time was spent watching Mark Lawson interview A. S. Byatt on BBC Four. I've previously read interviews with Byatt, but I had never seen her interviewed on television before, and it was incredibly interesting, not only in terms of what she was saying about her writing practices and her life, but also how she came across on camera.

Whether reading about her or watching her on television, it is clear that Byatt is a fiercely intellectual person, but what I think fails to come across on paper is Byatt's warmth and humour. I could never have imagined her laughing so regularly, and making jokes at her own expense, if I hadn't seen it for myself. She came across as a genuinely lovely person, and my interest in her writing has also been renewed. I'd recommend watching it if you get the chance; it's available here until the 18th of March.  

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Feminism on BBC4.

Posted by Fliss | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 09-03-2010

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There were a couple of really interesting documentaries on BBC 4 last night. The first, which was actually the first of a three part documentary series, was 'Women+Libbers'. The programme focussed on "second-wave" feminists, now in their sixties and seventies, and it was really nice to see such a wide range of women chosen for the documentary; the only thing that most of them seemed to have in common was their joy in being alive, and their regular laughter. It was certainly nice to see someone breaking away from the TV prejudice of 'all feminists are joyless, dried up sticks'.

There was a nice mix of English and American feminists, showing how the movement developed in both countries, although they tended to be primarily heterosexual, and, as far as I could tell, mainly middle class, which was perhaps a little disappointing. Also, the documentary maker, Vanessa Engle, seemed to focus on a relatively small range of issues that the movement dealt with, such as women leaving the home environment, equality in the workplace, and sexual liberation, and I think that not dealing with issues of sexual or domestic violence in any significant way kind of limited the scope of the programme.

Still, it was nice to see some familiar names, such as Kate Millet, Sheila Rowbotham, and Susan Brownmiller, as well as being introduced to some new names, like Ann Oakley and Marilyn French.

The next programme in the series is about feminism and motherhood, and, I have to say, I'm not so sure that I will enjoy that so much; yes, I accept that, for some women, the issue of maternity pay, and how staying at home with their children, or not, as a feminist is a big decision, but, at the moment, I don't take a major interest in the issue, and I find the amount of backbiting stay-at-home mothers are subjected to within certain feminist circles really annoying, and counterproductive. However, the next documentary will hopefully introduce me to some of the issues I am not aware of, so I will definitely be watching it.

The other programme was a documentary on Greenham Common which was also really interesting, and again, the depiction of women activists and feminists within the documentary was really positive. It was also good to actually find out more about the protest itself, specifically how it began. Beyond that, though, I think it's really good that BBC4 is putting on these documentaries in the first place, and taking such a positive stance towards feminists into the bargain. Usually, feminism doesn't appear in the conventional media at all, unless it's someone declaring feminism dead, or too outdated to do any good.

It's good to see, therefore, that the BBC is willing to take a more upbeat, responsible stance to the feminist movement, and I hope this short women's season isn't the end of their good work on this issue.

Here's the link to the BBC blog, with more information on the programmes coming up, but don't look at the comments, because there's nothing good there.

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