姉妺 -

姉妺 by Fumi Kuroyanagi (畔柳 二美)

After reading "A Room's of One Own/Three Guineas", "姉妹" appears to be the perfect companion: it tells the story of a couple of sisters in Japan, an older, Keiko, reserved, Christian, with a very conservative view of things; and a younger one, Toshiko, the real hero, independent, always asking questions, and not very happy that, because she is a woman, she has not the same options as her younger brothers (she can only study 10 years instead of 17, she cannot be a career woman; etc.).

The story is set in Japan, close to the end of the Taishô era, and it is set in Hokkaido and a little town around a power plant. The heroes are Keiko and Toshiko, the two older sisters of a family of five siblings (the other younger boys). It is a very realistic novel, based on the author's life, and it is pretty easy to see so, as there are many little details that ring true. In that respect Kuroyanagi does a great job, because everything feels real and close to the reader. She develops the novel by telling little stories, where the two sisters life and character gets developed by little things and situations. All the stories last around four pages, and in them, Kuroyanagi introduces a topic (as the uncle that likes to party too much or the girls running from school to watch movies) and tells a little situation in a very easy writing style. If at the very beginning everything may sound very alien and distant, pretty soon the life of Keiko and Toshiko becomes very real. It shows clearly the limitations that money, social position or gender had in the Japan of the era (even if, ironically, in some respects, people seemed freer than nowadays; probably that is the image because things haven't changed so much as maybe they should have). Toshiko, but also Keiko, have to suffer because of being women, and Kuroyanagi does a great job on not hitting us in the head but of showing us how and how come this comes to happen. It is a very interesting novel, short, easy to read, and that will bring the reader to another era.

The best: the realist tone; the clash between worlds and views; both sisters are quite interesting; the plot doesn't get over-convoluted.

The worst: you have seen all of it a hundred times before, like the young rebel against the old-style older sisters; the Japanese can sometimes be difficult to understand because of some dialect.

Further Reading: well, you can get into reading more about women in Japan (very different, and set in modern Japan, but for example "グロテスク" (it has an English version, "Grotesque", that, sadly, is censored) by Natsuo Kirino or "モンスター" by Naoki Hyakuta) or women in general (like "A Room's of One Own/Three Guineas" by Virginia Woolf (non-fiction) or "A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen (fiction)). You can also read a Japanese novel set in the past, as the historical fiction tofu story, "あかね空" by Ichiriki Yamamoto). And, of course, "Infinite Jest" (no, really, it's really good; it just doesn't have anything to do with this book; or maybe everything has to do with "Infinite Jest".

7/10

(Japanese Original Version)

(with a short afterword by Ineko Sata)

Girl Divided by Willow Rose

An entertaining but shallow reading, "Girl Divided" is a book that you will be able to read in a couple of warm afternoons, right by your window, while you enjoy the peace and the singing of the birds.

Something, Jetta, the hero of the story, won't be able to.

Jetta was born the daughter of a couple of black parents in the USA. But, to the surprise of everyone, her body was half-black, half-white, a line in the middle separating both halves. And pretty soon both her parents are killed by white supremacists. Jetta is taken care by her grandmother, who protects and hides Jetta, believing her to be possessed or a demon. And when Jetta starts her teenage years, a war between white and the rest start, with concentration camps, killings, betrayals...

It all sounds interesting enough (and more than difficult to tackle). And Willow Rose does a great job in setting the premise of the story, of creating a world and in creating interesting characters. It is easy to see she knows how to write and she writes well, with an easy to read and engaging style. However, the same cannot be say about the plot, where we encounter a story that sometimes moves a little bit slowly and sometimes it advances brusquely. Because of that, the world that Rose has created suffers, and it is difficult to believe some of the situations. The book starts quite nicely but around midway decides to take an unnecessary turn for the Gaiman-esque that does zero favor to the story. Maybe is this, a little bit sudden, change of pace, which took me out of the story a little bit. It does not make the book bad, but it makes it feel a little bit of a disappointment.

It is also difficult to have a clear opinion on the author's decision to pit a world between white and the rest, but where the rest are called black and all the other persons of color disappear and become invisible. It is a decision which I cannot agree with, however it may be helpful for the author to simplify things; it is lazy and, in my opinion, a mistake. It would be better to create a more varied world, more like a rainbow. Also, because of all of that, the characters don't have a very clear arc, and some of their personal characteristics become diluted in the overall plot.

Entertaining reading, but it could have been way more.

"A Room of One's Own / Three Guineas"

It seems fit to start this page with Virginia Woolf. I hope this time I stuck to it and continue blogging about books. In the past I have shown myself to be easily distracted, so let's see how this time goes.

In any case, as I was saying, Virginia Woolf seems the best way to start a blog. And why? Because "A Room of One's Own" and "Three Guineas" are, probably, some of the best non-fiction work ever done in English. In particular "Three Guineas" is in a league of its own (it probably has its own room there).

And why are those two works so important? Because of their relevance to the world we live in. Many of the arguments Woolf uses are still very much relevant, and we still need to look on our own shortcomings and the mistakes we make if we want to change anything at all.

When I was doing some research into masculinities (the things one has to do in their life; kidding, it is actually very interesting) one name kept popping in many of the articles I was reading: Virginia Woolf. And one of her works: "Three Guineas". Curiously, I never got to read it while writing my essay, but when I found it in the library my hands took it before I had noticed.

And what can I say? It was the best decision I have taken in respect of a book since my never very obedient hands took "Dune" from a similar self almost twenty years ago. Because "Three Guineas" (and to a lesser extent "A Room of One's Own") are magnificent.

Let's start with a "A Room of One's Own". Here Woolf talks about the need of having your own space to be free and be able to develop your own ideas. She is talking about women writers, but it could be about anyone. Her line of thought is as follows: if you have to take care of others, cook for others, or if you don't have your own money to do with it as you wish then you are not independent, and even your ideas are imprisoned and become slaves to the one that holds the power over your life. It is pretty easy to see how having to depend economically on others will limit your freedom of speech and of thinking (let me use the word freedom here, even if Woolf pokes fun at it more than once). It is also easy to see how if you have to cook for others (who are not cooking), wash for others (who are not washing), etc. etc. you won't be able to write what those others who have so much free time on their hands can write (or travel, read, see...). It is a very interesting read, with lots of information, eye-opening and easy to follow.

But if "A Room of One's Own" does a great job in introducing the reader to those ideas, "Three Guineas" obliterates any discourse around power, masculinity-femininity and war (and much more) and now I understand why it was so important for me to read it. In here she relates patriarchy, power, nationalism, and much, way much more in a text with so much 'power' that will leave the reader breathless. It is relentless in its explanation of the 'civilized' world shortcomings and how easily we fall into believing that some things (that curiously give us power) are right and 'natural'. It is just impressive how she plays on dress codes, the relation between men, power and nationalism or how she points to us how similar are the laws, rules and words all that want to keep in power use (be them dictators or fathers). Ironically, her message of becoming an outsider seems to have been forgotten. She criticizes (and rightly so) how much money and interest is put into sports and awards and titles and how those things are things of men and power. However, instead of taking her advice we have done the opposite and now we have also awards, titles and women competitions. More than ever. Woolf is saying that we shouldn't compete so much. Instead, nowadays (in everyday life) there is more competition than ever (from likes on social networking to olympic games, including books or movies). And she warns of women playing the same role that men play, and that they should try a different way to do things. It seems no one was listening. That's why I wonder how she would react to words like "women also kick...". Maybe she would change it to "no one should kick nothing". I would, at least. But, hey, I am a pacifist.

Her style here is great, even if long-winded and repetitive and there is so much sarcasm (in the text and the notes) that can be felt from meters away. It is also very interesting to see Woolf's constant 'attacks' on the word 'feminism' and other words with power that seem to have a hard time to stop dominating the general discourse, becoming more important that what should be the center of attention. It should not be forgotten, of course, that she was not allowed to many of the things she criticizes, and that influences a discourse (she centers on topics close to her and there is not much talk about colonialism or England's role in violence; we had to wait to, for example, Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw to read about the double oppression non-white women suffer). Of course, this two stories where written way before second or third waves of feminism, before the work of bell hooks or others developed many of the ideas and shortcomings of the movement. In particular how the first waves had been particularly 'mono-colour'. Nevertheless it is something global, as the Japanese book I am reading right now: ”姉妹” ("Sisters"), show: the book talks about women in Japan and how a couple of sisters grow up. Many of the things Woolf talks about appear in the book (from the father being angry at her younger daughter wanting to do 'men's work' to the subtle ways control is exercised on the other. And it is surprising the way many of the topics Woolf touches seem to be still very relevant nowadays. It is hilarious (and scary) how much of what she says could be written today and no one would raise an eyebrow or be surprised. Of course, some of the vocabulary is date and it is also possible to feel some anger in her words, even if they are correct. 

The book also contains an introduction by Michèle Barrett, an excellent introduction that helps the reader to be acquainted with Woolf's world and work and it is not one of those black and white introduction that seem a love letter to the writer, but an in deep look that raises interesting questions.  

It had been years since I had had so much fun reading a book that also made me think. I am against the word 'compulsory' when it comes to anything (of course, we need to take some medicines, and sleep, etc., etc.), but if there was a list of text that should be read and talked about in school, "Three Guineas" (and to a lesser extent "A Room of One's Own") should be in it.

Bibliography: (Because, you know, some people need it; kidding, sometimes it helps to get more info)

Crenshaw, K. W. (1991) Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color, Stanford Law Review, 43 (6), 1241-1299.

Kuroyanagi, F. (1954) 姉妺. Tokyo: 偕成社.