What's In A Name Challenge Wrap-Up

Challenge Blog: What's in a Name?

Books Read:

1. Book with a color in its title:

- The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison (finished 12 February 2008)

2. A Book with an animal in its title:

- Tears of the Giraffe - Alexander McCall Smith (finished 17 June 2008)

3. Book with a character's first name in its title:

- Sarah, Plain and Tall - Patricia MacLachlan (finished 28 January 2008)

4. Book with a place in its title:

- The News from Paraguay - Lily Tuck (finished 5 August 2008)

5. Book with a weather event in the title:

 Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See - (finished 27 April 2008)

6. Book with a plant in its title:

- The Birchbark House - Louise Erdrich (finished 8 April 2008)

Favorite: It would be a toss-up between The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and  Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith.

Least Favorite: Definitely The News from Paraguay. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.

New-to-me authors: Lily Tuck, Lisa See, and Louise Erdrich were all new to me.

The News from Paraguay - Lily Tuck

Title: The News From Paraguay

Author: Lily Tuck

Year: 2004

Pages: 248

Rating: 2 out of 5

First sentence: For him it began with a feather. 

The News From Paraguay chronicles the relationship between Francisco Solano, the future President and dictator from Paraguay, and the Irish courtesan Ella Lynch, who follows Francisco back to Paraguay, bearing and raising his children. The story is set amidst a backdrop of war and violence as Francisco, as President, declares war on virtually all the countries surrounding Paraguay.

There is not much to like about this book other than the first sentence. The story is disjointed, and jumps from character to character, never fully explaining anyone or anything. As historical fiction, it never gave me the feeling that the author really understood the time period and country she was talking about; the exploration into Paraguay's War of the Triple Alliance and its relationship with other South American countries, England, and the United States was superficial at best. Most of the scenes were almost immediately forgettable. I am amazed it won an award.

If you have read this book and would like your review listed here, just leave a comment with the link to your review!

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See

Title: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Author: Lisa See

Country: USA

Year: 2005

Pages: 269 pgs.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

First sentence: I am what they call in our village "one who has not yet died"--a widow, eighty years old.

See's historical novel takes place in a remote part of China during the 19th century - a time when all girls had there feet bound at the tender age of seven, marriages were arranged by the time they were ten, and women were confined to the upstairs room of their home for the majority of their life. We meet Lily, daughter of a farmer, and Snow Flower, who is the descendent of a wealthy, respected family. They are paired up as laotong, or "old sames" in a match meant to last a lifetime, a bond that is stronger than marriage. Communicating through nu shu, a secret women's language, Lily and Snow Flower send messages to each other on a fan, sharing their hopes and dreams.

It has taken me a long time to work out a review for this novel. One reason is my currently chaotic life as we prepare to pack up and move out-of-state. But I have also had a hard time putting into words what I feel about this book. On a purely entertainment level, it is a wonderful read. However, Lisa See's American perspective dominates the novel, and I felt she really didn't have a firm grasp of the culture and time period of 19th century Hunan China to write this story. It is not necessarily a book to read for insight into Chinese history and customs, as I fear it may be filled with inaccuracies. For that I would recommend Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang.

The Birchbark House - Louise Erdrich

Title: The Birchbark House

Author: Louise Erdrich

Year: 1999

Country: USA (Ojibwa)

Pages: 244

Rating: 4 out of 5

First sentence: The only person left alive on the island was a baby girl.

The Birchbark House takes place on an island in Lake Superior in the late 1800's. It follows one year in the life of a young Ojibwa girl, Omakayas. The novel is divided by season, starting with Omakayas' grandmother, Nokomis, building the summer birchbark house on the lakeshore. It then follows Omakayas and her family through the summer (fishing, harvesting the rice), fall (moving to the winter log cabin), winter (battling disease and hunger), and spring (harvesting maple sugar). The reader meets many delightful people along the way, Old Tallow, a strong-spirited, independent older woman who wears a coat woven from a variety of furs; LaPautre, who believes all of his dreams hold hidden meaning and visions; and Fishtail, a quiet, dignified young man.

When writing a story about complex experiences in children's literature, it is easy to oversimplify events, creating a novel that lacks authenticity. The Birchbark House does not succumb to this pitfall. Louise Erdrich, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwa, breaks through the stereotypes present in some other books set during this time period (Little House on the Prairie comes to mind) and delivers an eloquent and powerful story about one Ojibwa Native American family. We learn about the cultural and historical experiences of the Ojibwa (such as the devastating effect of smallpox, the relationship the Ojibwa have with animals and nature, and the difficulty of making it through a winter season without starving), but Erdrich emphasizes themes that cross race, ethnicity, and time: dealing with pesky siblings, coping with the death of a loved one, and searching for your own identity and place within your community. It is a book that would delight almost any age (the devastating death halfway through the novel causes me to hesitate recommending it as a read-aloud book for pre-readers).

The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison

Title: The Bluest Eye

Author: Toni Morrison

Country: USA

Year: 1970

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Pages: 216

First sentence: Quiet as it's kept, there were no marigolds in the fall of 1941.

The Bluest Eye embodies why I usually give an author a second chance if I did not like the first of their books I pick up. I read Song of Solomon a few years ago, and was not very impressed. Something about Toni Morrison stuck with me, however, and I vowed to give her another chance someday. With this, her first novel, she has completely won me over.

Told mainly from the perspective of Claudia and her sister Frieda, The Bluest Eye is a story about their friend Pecola, a young black girl growing up in Lorain, Ohio in 1941. By the second sentence of the novel, the reader has a glimpse of the direction the novel is set to go: 

We thought, at the time, that it was because Pecola was having her father's baby that the marigolds did not grow. (p. 1) 

What follows is a heart-breaking story about the slow destruction of one girl's hope in life.

What Pecola hopes for, wishes for more than anything, is blue eyes. Immersed in a culture that placed a higher value on lighter skin--even amongst the African-American community--Pecola's poverty, unruly hair, and dark skin leave her open to ridicule by her peers:

It was their contempt for their own blackness that gave the first insult its teeth. They seemed to have taken all of their smoothly cultivated ignorance, their exquisitely learned self-hatred, their elaborately designed hopelessness and sucked it all up into a fiery cone of scorn that had burned for ages in the hollows of their minds--cooled--and spilled over lips of outrage, consuming whatever was in its path. (p. 65)

Pecola is ignored by teachers in the classroom. On the playground and in the streets she is taunted and spat upon by other young children. When she encounters that "higher class" of black person (lighter skin, educated, polished), she is viewed as follows:

She had seen this little girl all of  her life. Hanging out of windows over saloons in Mobile, crawling over the porches of shotgun houses on the edge of town, sitting in bus stations holding paper bags and crying to mothers who kept saying "Shet up!" Hair uncombed, dresses falling apart, shoes untied and caked with dirt. They had stared at her with great uncomprehending eyes. Eyes that questioned nothing and asked everything. Unblinking and unabashed, they stared up at her. The end of the world lay in their eyes, and the beginning, and all the waste in between. (p.92)

This is a story about many things. Race relations in the 1940's. Child abuse. Bullying. The theme that struck the most resonant chord with me the treatise on beauty; why and how a young, innocent child can be considered ugly by her whole community. The last paragraph of the novel--I won't share it here, after all, it is the last paragraph--will haunt my mind for a long time to come.

Sarah, Plain and Tall - Patricia MacLachlan

Title: Sarah, Plain and Tall
Author: Patricia MacLachlan
Country: USA
Year: 1985
Rating: 3.5 of 5
Pages: 64

First sentence: "Did Mama sing every day?" asked Caleb.

In the late 19th century, a farmer and his two children on the great Plains puts in an advertisement for a wife. When Sarah replies, and arrives from Maine, Anna and Caleb do everything they can to convince her to stay, despite her homesickness for her family and the sea.

This is the premise of Sarah, Plain and Tall, a story about acceptance, loss and love. The story did not capture my emotions in the same way that other Newbery winners have in the past. I found the characters to be a bit one-dimensional and flat. It was hard to get past the "mail-order bride" vibe that ranckled my inner feminist. However, the story is not that simple, and is sweetly seen from the eyes of Anna and Caleb. To them, their whole world is resting on Sarah's decision whether to leave or stay. It is a nice story for young kids.

What's In A Name Challenge

From: All 0f 2008
Host: Words by Annie

The challenge is to read one book for each category below. As with most of my upcoming challenges, I am leaving myself a lot of options...and room to change.

1. A book with a color in its title:
- The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison (finished 12 February 2008)
- Red Poppies - Alai
- Blue Latitudes -Tony Horwitz
- The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne

2. A book with an animal in its title:

- Tears of the Giraffe - Alexander McCall Smith (finished 17 June 2008)
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
- Some Tame Gazelle - Barbara Pym
- The Way to the Cats - Yehoshua Kenaz
- The Horse Whisperer - Nicholas Evans - DNF

3. A book with a character's first name in its title:
- Rebecca - Daphne de Maurier
- Sarah, Plain and Tall - Patricia MacLachlan (finished 28 January 2008)
- Esperanza Rising - Pam Munoz Ryan

4. A book with a place in its title:
-Istanbul - Orhan Pamuk
- The News from Paraguay - Lily Tuck (finished 5 August 2008)
- The Bookseller of Kabul - Asne Seierstad

5. A book with a weather event in the title:
- The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Luiz Zafon
- The Character of Rain - Amelie Nothomb
- Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See - (finished 27 April 2008)

- A High Wind in Jamaica - Richard Hughes

6. A book with a plant in its title:
- The Birchbark House - Louise Erdrich (finished 8 April 2008)
- The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco