Reading Wednesday
Oct. 30th, 2013 04:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhWhat did you just finish?
On Sal Mal Lane by Ru Freeman. Set in the 80s on Sri Lanka, this novel is the story of the four young children of a relatively well-off, normal family, living on a relatively well-off, normal street. Most of the plot has to do with their small, personal lives- crushes and cricket and bullies and piano lessons- but constantly in the background is the building tension that will eventually culminate in civil war. Oh, this was devastating. The families that live along the titular lane begin as casually diverse- Sinhalese and Tamil, Buddhist and Catholic and Hindu and Muslim- but slowly break down into prejudice and then fear and then violence and death, and no individual's good intentions are enough to prevent that downfall.
I had a few qualms with some of the writing, particularly that it was occasionally too obvious that Freeman was writing for an audience unfamiliar with the details of this history; there would be a list of names or political parties or dates that took things out of the realm of believable fiction. On the other hand... this book completely broke my heart. It reminded me a lot of Barbara Kingfisher's The Poisonwood Bible, another novel using the personal story of children to talk about a country's turmoil (the Belgian Congo, in that case).
Also, I got to meet the author and she signed my book for me! She was very nice.
Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold. AH SO GOOD. I really adore the world-building in this book: playing with the genetics of plants and animals as a form of art; the layered robes and poetry and perfumers reminiscent of Heian Japan; the force-field bubbles as a sci-fi version of purdah; the almost caste system of haut vs ghem; the face-paint; the ba class, who are not really eunuchs but clearly filling that role. I would read so much set on Cetaganda, though unfortunately I think this is the only book that is. Maybe? I am pretty much entirely unspoiled for this series.
I also love Ivan (OMG THE SCENE WITH THE IMPOTENCE DRUG) and many of the (presumably) one-off characters: Rian and Pel and Yenaro.
What are you currently reading?
Quarantine by Rahul Mehta. Short stories about gay Indian and Indian-American men.
Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold. I'm sort of cheating by counting this as a "book" rather than a "short story", but whatever. The edition I have collects "The Mountains of Mourning", "Labyrinth" (both which I already read) and "Borders of Infinity" itself.
On Sal Mal Lane by Ru Freeman. Set in the 80s on Sri Lanka, this novel is the story of the four young children of a relatively well-off, normal family, living on a relatively well-off, normal street. Most of the plot has to do with their small, personal lives- crushes and cricket and bullies and piano lessons- but constantly in the background is the building tension that will eventually culminate in civil war. Oh, this was devastating. The families that live along the titular lane begin as casually diverse- Sinhalese and Tamil, Buddhist and Catholic and Hindu and Muslim- but slowly break down into prejudice and then fear and then violence and death, and no individual's good intentions are enough to prevent that downfall.
I had a few qualms with some of the writing, particularly that it was occasionally too obvious that Freeman was writing for an audience unfamiliar with the details of this history; there would be a list of names or political parties or dates that took things out of the realm of believable fiction. On the other hand... this book completely broke my heart. It reminded me a lot of Barbara Kingfisher's The Poisonwood Bible, another novel using the personal story of children to talk about a country's turmoil (the Belgian Congo, in that case).
Also, I got to meet the author and she signed my book for me! She was very nice.
Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold. AH SO GOOD. I really adore the world-building in this book: playing with the genetics of plants and animals as a form of art; the layered robes and poetry and perfumers reminiscent of Heian Japan; the force-field bubbles as a sci-fi version of purdah; the almost caste system of haut vs ghem; the face-paint; the ba class, who are not really eunuchs but clearly filling that role. I would read so much set on Cetaganda, though unfortunately I think this is the only book that is. Maybe? I am pretty much entirely unspoiled for this series.
I also love Ivan (OMG THE SCENE WITH THE IMPOTENCE DRUG) and many of the (presumably) one-off characters: Rian and Pel and Yenaro.
What are you currently reading?
Quarantine by Rahul Mehta. Short stories about gay Indian and Indian-American men.
Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold. I'm sort of cheating by counting this as a "book" rather than a "short story", but whatever. The edition I have collects "The Mountains of Mourning", "Labyrinth" (both which I already read) and "Borders of Infinity" itself.
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no subject
Date: 2013-10-30 11:17 pm (UTC)I'm very very glad you enjoyed this book! And I'm particularly glad you enjoyed the world-building - I got kind of confused by some of it but I really loved the way gender and haut vs. ghem combined. I really love seeing new perspecives through your recaps! (GREAT point about force-field bubbles. ♥)
no subject
Date: 2013-10-31 07:11 pm (UTC)The world-building isn't entirely explained, but because Miles is an outsider who doesn't know that much, it works. I just like all the little bits we see. Through all the series, I really like how here and there you can see connections to real cultures, but it's never as simple as barrayar = Russia or Cetaganda = China or anything like that.