Reading ‘The Living Reed’ by Pearl S Buck triggered all this. More on the book later. (Note to self – starting the post after a month and a half with a promise of another is not such a bright idea).
Pearl S Buck lived for several decades in China and so we have reason to believe, most of her deceptions of the county and her people must be close to accurate. But Ms Buck on Korea? I’m not so sure of the authenticity of the facts presented . But, that should be alright, this is historical fiction. Or is it really alright? I am glad I thought of this now, after having read several books that fall into the said category.
Andrew Graham Dixon, a British art historian says –
The historical novel has always been a literary form at war with itself. The very term, implying a fiction somehow grounded in fact – a lie with obscure obligations to the truth – is suggestive of the contradictions of the genre.
It is not only him, many think, historical fiction is “history told as a story”. Actually, it is not! It is fiction. Some would say “fiction set in the past” which I find more acceptable but do not completely agree with.
Defining historical fiction is rather tricky. Multiple parameters here are subjective. There are many opinions on how far in the past must a novel be – for it to be classified historical rather than contemporary. Sir Walter Scott suggested that “historical” meant at least two generations in the past. More recent authors have suggested that 25 years would be a reasonable amount. Society of historical fiction says, the events in the book must have happened fifty or more years in the past, and one in which the author is writing from research rather than personal experience.
Whose past is it? The authors or the readers? Some argue, it is the authors past saying, “The author should never personally experience the era described “. This, for a good reason – most stories are not just vivid imaginations of the authors. They are in fact closely related either consciously or unconsciously to the views of the author on an event. The view is more often than not, more dramatic if the author lived during the era. This bias, tends to distort the presentation of the event.
Some would say, it is the reader’s past that differentiates contemporary and historical fiction. I have seen “The diary of a young girl” being categorized as historical fiction. Going by this, all biographies / autobiographies, at some point in the future, would be historical fiction. But if we go with the “author’s past” definition, some very important works that have been long categorized as historical fiction would no longer fall into this – works like story of Wenamun, The Good Earth, etc.
A more interesting question is – does the book not have some obligation to the truth? How much of truth must be there and how much fiction is allowed before the book is classified as fantasy? The answer depends on who you ask.
Sarah Johnson, Assistant Professor, Eastern Illinois University defines two historical fictions – one, “genre historical fiction” and another “literary historical fiction”
“Genre historical fiction,” by which I mean historical fiction that simply goes out to tell a good story, has always been popular with readers, if library circulation figures are anything to go by.
In this liberal definition, the inspiration is from historical facts which is not necessarily same as truth. To avoid taking off tangentially, lets just say, history is a body of material that has survived over time and political interests of people. This would let some books bordering between fanstasy and history sneek into historical fiction.
The goal of literary historical fiction is not to show readers exactly what life was like in a historical time period, although it may have that effect. Rather, authors who write literary historical center their tales not on the historical setting but on the plot, which may help us better understand the differences (or parallels) between then and now, and on characters who manage to transcend time and speak to us from their own perspective in a way that we, today, can understand. One definition of literary historical fiction is “fiction set in the past but which emphasizes themes that pertain back to the present.”
This, I think is the upper bound, as in the border between historical fiction and history text books. Most books I’ve read fall between the two bounds Sarah speaks of. As a reader of historical fiction, what I look for is, truth about established world events. Also, the author should not alter important facts about famous people without research and evidence. However, the author can fill in details where there are none to give flesh and blood to the story. For instance, we do not know what Tsu Hzi’s food habits were like. So, it is ok if the author says, she likes eating Chinese cabbage / sweet meats or even kimchee. But it is not ok if the author says, she liked pasta. There is a possibility she indeed liked pasta – but that claim requires evidence since it is not believable. I would not take kindly to an author that gets popular folktales/proverbs wrong. If someone has been reading historical fiction for sometime, they spot anachronisms fairly easily and it spoils the reading experience for them.
What I am not looking for is an accurate and dry account of the event(s). If that was what I was looking for, I would go read history. What I’m looking for is an account of the historical event from within the event – thru the eyes of the protagonist or people who might not have played an important role, but have lived in such times and have been impacted by the larger events. Inaccurate every day activities and people descriptions are entirely unacceptable since that is the story of the people, the spirit of the book – the reason for reading historical fiction. What I’m looking for is the truth of the spirit.
We are looking to join / start up a PSB book club where we plan to read PSB books and also explore similar authors. Interested? Know any already existing book club that is similar? Please leave a comment or leave a mail at – DEE dot YES20 at GMAIL dot COM
You can join us at this Library Thing group
[Warning: This is an obsessive post on the most popular book of my favorite author who I think is brilliant and did not get her due.]
I know, I’ll not be able to do justice to a classic such as The Good Earth by Pearl S Buck. I should not even attempt. But, I cannot keep myself from trying. So, here goes –
More than 7 decades ago, this book won the Pulitzer Prize and then, helped Pearl S Buck win the Nobel Prize. The Good Earth reads like a song of the war, of china, of farmers (not peasants), of women and men, of marriage, of poverty and riches and, of birth and death. 
This, in a sense, is a rags to riches story of a farmer family. The book begins on the wedding day of Wang Lang, a poor Chinese farmer that lives with his old father – with O-Lan, a slave girl at the great house that he buys for himself. O-Lan is talented on many fronts – she is a good cook, clever at mending and stitching clothes. She is a hard worker on the farm and helps Wang Lang with the all the work and takes care of the home bringing a new life to the household in the figurative sense as well as, in the literal sense. O-Lan brings good fortune to the family. Wang Lang with the help of O-Lan reaps great harvests and even buys land from the Great House. O-Lan gives birth to two boys and then a couple of girls.
Drought strikes when the last girl is born and O-Lan kills her at birth and, Wang Lang leaves her out where a hungry dog watches knowing, it would eat her. They starve for many days and finally the family sells everything other than the land and move to a city in the south. The descriptions of sights, sounds and smells of a city with abundance in food and riches from the eyes of starved rural people works like magic. O-Lan teaches the children how to beg while Wang Lang pulls a rickshaw. They survive on the charitable one-cent meal of rice gruel.
When a food riot erupts, a mob breaks into a house of a rich man. Wang Lang and O-Lan steal the riches along with the mob. Then, they return to their land and Wang Lang buys an ox and other tools. He also hires people to work on his land. Good times return to the house hold with the birth of another son and a daughter. Wang Lang buys more land from the great house of Hwangs. He also sends his sons to schools when he realizes he is rich enough and his sons need not work on the land anymore. He takes a concubine – Lotus and becomes obsessed by her. Watering the land and smelling the earth help him come out of it. His elder son gets married and O-Lan dies. The second son also gets married and they move to the town. The youngest son runs away to become a soldier. At the end of the book, the two elder sons contemplate selling the land and Wang Lang is broken at the thought.
O-Lan is the real hero of the book and she has a major part to play in the well being of the family in good times and bad. Her strength and knowledge help the family survive in bad times and prosper in good times.
The feminism in the book is complex. There are various depections of Chinese women in this era. There are references to wife buying, female infanticide and foot binding among other things. When Wang Lang’s marital life is to begin, his father tells him:
“And what will we do with a pretty woman? We must have a woman who will tend the house and bear children as she works in the fields. A pretty woman will be forever thinking about clothes to go with her pretty face!”
When female children are born into the family, they are considered “not worth mentioning” and Wang Lang considers that the time of misfortune has started for him. O-Lan is back to the field helping Wang Lang with the work hours after she gives birth. In order to ward off evil spirits from their firstborn son, O-Lan and Wang Lung pretend thus:
“What a pity our child is a female whom no one could want and covered with smallpox as well! Let us pray it may die.”
The role of earth in the life of Wang Lang becomes clear soon after the book begins.
The kitchen was made from earthen bricks as the house was, great squares of earth dug up from their own fields, and thatched with straw from their own wheat. Out of their own earth had his grandfather in his youth fashioned also the oven, baked and black with many years of meal preparing.
When, Wang Lang learns that the house of Hwang’s is growing poor, he does not believe it but when he discoveres they are selling their land, he says:
“Sell their land! Then indeed are they growing poor. Land is one’s flesh and blood.”
When, Wang Lang’s cousin proposes that he sells his land to certain people from the town during the drought when there is no food for anyone to eat, he says
“I shall never sell the land! Bit by bit, I will dig up the fields and feed the earth itself to the children and when they die I will bury them in the land, and I and my wife and my old father, even he, we will die on the land that has given us birth.”
This is one of those books that people absolutely love or hate. I belong to the former category. I do not generally re-read books but I have read this one thrice.
Pearl S Buck won the Nobel Prize, as per Nobel Foundation, “for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces”. However, some would argue, her depiction of China in the book is not entirely authentic. I understand the argument. At the same time, I strongly believe that Pearl S Buck is a brilliant author that did not get her due. Good Earth is her most popular book and I urge people who liked or did not like this book, to go on and explore her other writings. I would recommend Imperial Woman and Dragon Seed, to begin with.
The language of threads, a sequel to The women of Silk is the story of Pei, a Chinese woman that escaped to Hong Kong when the Japanese attacked China during World War II. Much like its prequel, the tone of this book is – gentle, quiet and yet intense. This is the second book by Ms Tsukiyama that I’ve read and I can say, I like her writing.
After reaching Hong Kong, with Ji Shen, a 14 year orphan in her custody, Pei finds boarding at the house run by silk sisters. With one of the sister’s help, she also finds work as a domestic help at the house of an affluent Chinese family. She stays with her employers while Ji Shen, her only family in the big city is at the boardinghouse. Ji Shen grudgingly goes to the school much against her own will as Pei wants Ji Shen to be educated and to settle down. Unfortunately, Pei is wrongly accused of stealing a Pearl necklace (actually stolen by the jealous Fong) and is fired from her Job.
Later she lands a Job as a domestic help with Caroline, a British expatriate and a widow. Caroline allows Pei to bring along Ji Shen and the three women go on to build a great bond. The worlds of Pei and Caroline are far apart. The part of the book where Ji Shen and Pei adjust into Caroline’s world is particularly interesting. While Ji Shen enjoys the morning music that Caroline plays and gladly accepts her way of life, Pei takes her time overcoming her fears and learning the differences in expectations from a domestic help in an English household and a Chinese household. The cultural differences allow for the development of a great bond as the three characters learn about each other.
Once the Japanese take over Hong Kong, Ji Shen and Pei are forced to part with Caroline. While Caroline is taken away to a camp by the beach, Ji Shen and Pei are left to look after themselves in the war-torn city. Caroline leaves behind her Jewelery and money for the girls. The girls visit Caroline each month until her last days.
Meanwhile, Pei reunites with a silk sister and her best friend Lin’s brother, who help Pei start up a store that mends clothes – something she learnt from her mother. Pei is very skillful at the art of mending tears, worn out embroidery, etc . She knows ‘the language of threads’. The business flourishes as the war ends.
Ji Shen’s death from delivering a child sets back Pei. She moves on and lives to grow old, and to go back to the silk house many years later, to see the silk house where she grew up working as a young girl, and to later reunite with her blood sister.
I liked this book better than the prequel, The women of silk. The characters in this one, especially Pei’s character is much more developed than it was in the prequel. Pei has multiple threads running in her life – Ji Shen, earning a living, attachment to the long lost friend – Lin, memories of her family, the war, etc. All these bring out a very real character. I find the nature of Pei’s character, especially the strength she shows when facing all the difficulties in a city where she knew no one – very appealing.
I generally would buy books at local stores like Odyssey, Galgotia, etc. They have a far-from-extensive catalog – at least the branches close to my home. The books I want to read are not always best-sellers and it is difficult find some of such books at these stores. Annual Delhi Book Fair or the biennial International Book Fair in Delhi are very good places to buy books. But when you want to read something, you cant wait an year/two – can you? Obviously, Amazon has an extensive catalog and I always found any title I was looking for here. However, Shipping books to India from Amazon (from US based vendors) is expensive. We do have some big online stores that are based in India – the ones like indiatimes shopping and rediff shopping. Steer clear of these! First off, navigating these sites is a pain. I can take the pain (for lack of an alternate) if I knew, I’ll get my book. From my experience, that is only a wishful possibility. These guys take the payment even when they don’t have the book and getting a refund is a nightmare!
When I desperately want a book not available at the local book stores, I begin looking for people I know who would be traveling from US to India soon and see if they are kind enough to carry my shipment from Amazon – which is the only option unless you are willing to pay for the international shipment.
Recently, I heard about this website – 
and tried it. I am happy, it is reliable and cost-effective. In the last couple of months, I got 8 books shipped (6 local + 2 imported) and each one of them arrived in the promised time and in a very good condition in a rain-proof packing inside a thick cardboard box. I got most of these books at better prices than those at the local bookstores! They don’t charge for shipping if your book costs more than 100 rupees which means – almost always! They have an extensive catalog and ship these books themselves as opposed to asking third-party merchants (who actually have books) to ship them.
There are some minor things flipkart needs to set right though. You can search for books using their ISBN, Name, Author, etc – if you know what you are looking for. But if you do not know what you are looking for and are browsing books by genre – it is a bad experience. Primarily because, the classification is not very good and then the UI is bad too. Moreover, they don’t seem to have tag-metadata on books to make their search better. For instance, search for “world-war fiction” or “romance” and you’ll get books with those words in the title though that is clearly not what you are looking for.
Despite the minor issues, I’m pleased with the service at flipkart!
I am happy to be back – two years, a pregnancy and a baby later. It beats me how people take care of twins – leave alone sextuplets and then sextuplets after twins! I learnt a lot of things though, could not read much. I am slowly getting back to reading – not entirely uninterrupted 
.
In the last couple of months, I’ve read the whole of The Good Earth trilogy and then the sequel to Women of silk – The Langugage of Threads and some more. Thats reviews for a bunch of books due! I guess, I should pick up more titles by Gail Tsukiyama. I seem to like these books.
I’m also discovering books set in Pakistan. If you have pointers to writers/books – please ping me. Speaking of pointers, I leave you with a forwarded e-mail on this:
The title of this post could very well have been one word – Back. The rest of the words only serve the purpose of creating a dramatic setting.
The many praises and reviews got me to read this book. Gail Tsukiyama’s first novel, Women of the Silk deserves all those praises. It is a moving, quiet and yet intense coming-of-age novel of a young Chinese woman, who is sold to a house of silk by her poor parents.
Pei is born as one of the many daughters, into a patriarchal family, dominated by her father. She tries to have as much fun as she can in the constrained household. Pei is the most talkative, curious and opinionated girl among her sisters and according to a fortune teller, the “non-marrying” one. Another girl child is born into the family and Pei’s mother is sorry and father, displeased. Soon, she sees the death of the little baby. Her father determines Pei’s fate and leaves her at a silk house run by a warm, motherly woman, Auntie Yee. The arrangement is that, she would work at a silk factory, stay at the silk house and her family would get most of Pei’s salary.
She meets many girls of similar fate at the silk house. In fact, many poor families keep a girl child aside for silk work so that, she could provide for the family in difficult times. Failed marriages and aversion to arranged marriage also lead some girls to this place. These girls live together, work hard, earn good money, make strong bonds with one another and look forward to retiring as spinsters at an early age.
The effect of war with Japan begins to touch the village and the silk house. It results in the death of some girls and Auntie Yee at the silk house. Pei visits her parent’s house for the first time after she was left at the silk house. She forgives them and re-bonds with her mother. After many tragedies, Pei takes the brave step of escaping to Hong Kong in search of a new life.
The characters in the book have gentle, quiet charm. The author takes you through the personal losses Pei faces and you begin empathizing with her and her friends at the silk house. As the pages go by, the story picks up pace and Pei’s drama and her universe engulf you. Even after having read a bunch of books set in China, this one strikes me as exotic.
The Kite Runner is an exceptional first novel by Khaled Hosseini. The single thread that runs thru the entire book is the story of the friendship between Amir and Hassan. As the first few pages unfold, you see that there are multiple layers of this friendship – of friends, of master and servant, of the cowardly betrayer and the brave protector.
Hassan is the son of Ali, Amir’s father’s servant. He cooks Amir’s breakfast daily. Then Amir is driven to school in the family Mustang while Hassan stays back to cook and clean. He is a loyal friend to the lonely Amir whose mother is dead and father is busy. He protects his friend from the local bullies. Amir reads Hassan heroic Afghani folk tales and they make a great team in the Kite fighting competitions. Hassan is the best Kite Runner in the region – he can tell where is falling kite is going to land.
On a winter evening, when Hassan runs the prestigious last kite to fall in the tournament, he is brutalized by some teenage bullies and Amir’s cowardice stops him from protecting his friend. This incident would haunt Amir for the rest of his life. Due to the guilt, Amir is unable to look Hassan in the eye and leads Ali to leave his home of 40 years along with Hassan. Soon after this, there is political unrest and a civil war breaks. Amir sees more cruelty before he and his father (Baba), seek political asylum in United States of America.
Amir starts school and his Baba works at a gas station. On weekends, they sell junk at the local flee market where most sellers are Afghans. This weekend event, for most former lawyers, doctors and the like, is also a place to socialize with other Afghans. They recreate for themselves, a mini Afghanistan of the pre-revolution times – with lively get-togethers, humor, kebobs and Afghani and Hindi music. Amir settles into America and into a happy but childless marriage. His cowardice continues to haunt him and he worries about Hassan.
Amir visits Pakistan to see his father’s dying friend and discovers about Hassan’s tragic death and more. He sheds his cowardice and visits the Afghanistan, torn apart by war and finds his penitence.
Khaled Hosseini’s prose is a pleasure to read and it creates images of all that being described. In his depiction of the Afghanistan of 1970’s, before the attack by Russians and take over by Taliban, Khaled shows Afghanistan of warmth, charm and humor much like most good childhood memories. This is in stark contrast with the one depicted now – with fear, brutality, blood shed and inhumanity. Khaled’s depiction of the Afghani community in California is also very lively.
The Kite Runner is touching and dramatic. Infact, I’ve read no Bollywood movie scripts – but I guess, this is how they would read.
I’ve bought Khaled Hosseini’s second Novel – A Thousand Splendid Sons. Thanks to J for recommending both books.
Throw together a shopaholic like Rebecca Bloomwood (Becky) and a wedding together and thats a great potential for good chick lit. This books exploits the potentia well.
Shopaholic Ties the Knot by Shophie Kinsella is the third book of the Shopaholic series and is set in New York. Boyfriend Luke Brandon joins Becky to set up the second branch of Brandon Communications at New York. At her best friend Suze’s wedding, Luke pop’s the question in the most romatic way ever and before she realizes it, Becky finds herself in the middle of cake tasting, grooming, shopping for the wedding dress and other such bridal activities. Wedding preparations are in full swing and she only has some minor details to figure out – like which continent to get married in. Yes, two weeks to the wedding and the preparations are at a fairly advanced stage on either side of the Atlantic scheduled for the same day. Luke’s mother, Elinor has planned a sophisticated plaza wedding with the theme, Snow White and Becky’s mother has planned a good wedding at a local church inviting people Becky cares about. Becky cannot say no to Elinor’s bash else she’ll be sued and she does not have the heart to say no to her mother’s bash. This is the problem Becky tries to get out of in the rest of the book.
The letters from Becky’s bank manager (in response to her’s) are much more hilarious in this book than the previous ones. There are some good take aways from this book – for instance, accidental spilling of tomato ketchup is a good way to hide certain critical words/numbers in your credit card bill. Again, a good feel-good book.
Three daughters of Madame Liang, published first in 1969 is one of the last pieces of Pearl S Buck’s work. I’ve read more than half a dozen of her pieces of work and, this one is as lucid, as deceptively simple and yet deep as others.
Through the book, Three daughters of Madame Liang, Pearl S Buck takes you into the story of a family, the family of Madame Liang. After her husband takes a concubine, because she could produce no son, Madame Liang leaves him. She sets out on her own and opens a gourmet restaurant in Shanghai. In the times of great turmoil, when good food is scarce, her restaurant survives by providing the best food to the Who’s who of People’s Republic. She, prudently keeps her opinions of the Republic to herself and lives in constant fear. She sends her three daughters – Grace, Mercy and Joy to a much safer world – America.
Grace, the eldest of them is summoned by the government to serve the nation. She returns to immerse herself into her service as a doctor and studying ancient Chinese medicine to compare it with the modern medicine in which she was trained. Grace falls in love with Liu Pang, a young physician despite knowing, he is narrow minded and has been brainwashed into communism. She adapts herself to new China.
Mercy, the younger daughter, a musician convinces her husband John Sung, a rocket scientist to return to China for self-fulfillment. They flee from America. Though, a communist China does not have any use of a musician, she could make use of the services of Mercy’s husband. But John sung refuses to create weapons and gets himself into trouble. Mercy’s experience with new China, forces her to escape.
The bitter sweet chemistry between Grace and Mercy, motivated by their changing loyalties to China is interesting. Madame Liang is deeply saddened by the two sisters growing apart but resigns since she could not live their lives for them.
Joy, the youngest daughter stays in America, never to return. She finds love in a fellow Chinese artist and settles down.
Pearl Buck paints a picture of Cultural Revolution through the very personal accounts and view points of people in Madame Liang’s family. The story is fast paced and the book, un-put-downable.
