I regret to not be able to keep my commitment of writing weekly, two posts for each book. Now is the time to write a year in review – a bit in advance. The first quarter of the year was instrumental in conceiving this project – thanks to the depressingly short days and bleak winter landscape where …
Phoenix
I have been holding this off for a while. In the previous post, I gave myself permission to expose my writer persona and admitted my fear as a mother in relation to Katherena Vermette’s debut The Break. If the previous post takes on a personal level, this post addresses its social context. It is imperative for everyone …
Holding Each Other Up
Métis author Katherena Vermette’s debut novel The Break is one of the most impactful contemporary novels that I have recently read. The book forces me to confront one of my worst fears as a mother, that a child could be brutally hurt. Utilizing shifting narratives, this novel approaches a sensitive topic with the right tone and sensitivity to express …
Storytellers
Following last week’s introduction to the Tonkatsu’s, here is a closer look into the stories that live within the household. A Japanese-Canadian family of mushroom growers in a small rural town, the members’ voices clashed in dissonance and disconnect. Through the eyes of Muriel, here is how she makes of her family. Impressions of her …
Tonkatsu
In the context of Chorus of Mushrooms by Japanese-Canadian author Hiromi Goto, I am devoting this post to investigating the adage, “You are what you eat”. The spotlight is on tonkatsu – deep fried pork cutlet drizzled with a dedicated tonkatsu sauce, served with rice, shredded cabbage salad, often with pickles and miso soup as well. Allow the following annotation if you …
Pippa and Céleste
The Life to Come, the sixth novel by Sri Lankan-Australian author Michelle de Krester won her second Miles Franklin award, Australia’s most significant literary prize. The novel is a satire of contemporary Australians on race, class, privilege, migration, and the curated story of oneself. The book consists of five sections, telling loosely connected stories of …
For The Time Being
This post attempts to unpack a Zen Buddhist concept uji that is the heart of Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being. A few readings of the book are not enough to fully grapple this concept, so this post at best pieces together several relevant interpretations and manifestations of uji in the text. “Uji” is the title of the …
Greatgrandma’s Supapawa!
Regarding Stories presents A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki this week. One of the most prominent characters has to be the greatgrandma, a 104-year-old Japanese Zen Buddhist nun named Jiko Yasutani. The title of this post honours greatgrandma Jiko’s lessons to her teenage greatgranddaughter, Naoko, affectionately known as Nao or Nattchan. Here is Nao recalling …
Rice, Toast, Bretel Butter
Food has become a staple in Regarding Stories. It is not hard to find food-related imagery in novels, which is probably due to my selection bias on books. The titles chosen so far are written by contemporary women writers about various forms of relocation and adaption. The authors and their fictive personas share in common …
Mothers
This week delves into Ru, a semi-biographical novel inspired by the author Kim Thúy’s exile from Vietnam to Canada. Winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction, CBC Canada Reads 2015, The Grand prix littéraire Archambault, the Prix du Grand Public Salon du Livre/La Presse, the Grand prix littéraire RTL-Lire (France), and the Mondello Prize …