Austen, Again!

I was recently browsing for a novel to listen to in my car, and upon seeing a CD version of Karen Joy Fowler’s “The Jane Austen Book Club” (Putnam’s, 2004; recording by Listen & Live Audio, 2007), I decided to re-experience the novel in audio. I first read it when it came out six years ago, and enjoyed it; I enjoyed it again these past couple of weeks listening while driving. Readers know that I am interested in anything by, about, or connected to Austen. There are some good “offshoot” novels, and of course much good scholarship and other information, along with many unfortunate adaptations, sequels, prequels, mysteries, etc. that basically exploit Austen fans’ insatiable desire for “more Austen,” even ersatz Austen. I have read many of these, both the good and sometimes the bad ones. In the case of “The Jane Austen Book Club,” Fowler uses Austen’s work imaginatively, both offering tribute to Austen and showing how Austen’s work still connects with and illuminates people’s lives. The premise of the book is that a group of six characters, living in the Davis/Sacramento area of California, agrees to form a book club to read and discuss Austen’s six completed novels. The six meetings over six months provide the structure of the book, but there is also much interspersed information about each character’s background, history, and current happenings and concerns, as well as about how the characters interact with each other. The book does not purport to be scholarly, and the club members are not scholars; in fact, for some of them, this is the first time they have read Austen, or at least read all of Austen. At the club meetings and elsewhere, some perceptive comments are made and insights shared; there are some rather humorous and sometimes off-track comments as well. What the book portrays best is the jumble of human life and how readers’ enjoyment of and appreciation of literature mixes in naturally and sometimes unpredictably with their lives. This novel is especially delightful for Austen fans, but a prior knowledge of Austen’s work is not necessary in order to enjoy “The Jane Austen Book Club.”

Another Immigrant Story: "Quiet as They Come"

I thank my friend Sarah for recommending (in a comment on my 12/17/10 blog entry) the book “Quiet as They Come” (Ig Publishing, 2010), by Angie Chau. This collection of interconnected stories about members of an extended Vietnamese-American immigrant family and their friends takes place here in San Francisco, which of course adds to its interest for me. But its main strength is its powerful portrayal of the histories and current lives of these immigrants, many of whom –- often with great difficulty and in great danger -- left Vietnam during or after the “American War” (what those of us living in the U.S. then called “The Vietnam War,” the difference in labeling signifying a huge difference in perspective), some as “boat people” who saw and experienced horrifying events. In the U.S., the characters struggle to survive, to adapt, to fit in, yet to keep their own culture. There are of course, as there are with so many immigrants from various countries, tensions and problems between the older and younger generations; the older ones want to keep the old ways, and to protect their children, and the youth want to go out into the world, explore, rebel against their parents and the old ways, and collect experiences – all the things that almost all young people want to do. Chau is particularly good at depicting this generational divide. She is also good at showing a whole spectrum of characters and experiences, not just those that portray the difficulties of immigrant life; although the latter are of course very important to show, writing only about those would be unidimensional and would leave out the complex humanity and experiences of these characters. Some of the characters in these stories are beaten down and defeated; some are optimistic; some are feisty. All are beautifully and revealingly drawn. Many of the stories are heartbreaking. Yet there is hope as well. One of my favorite characters is Viet, who had a PhD in philosophy and a law degree in Vietnam, where he was a professor; in the United States he struggles to get and keep jobs with much less status and that do not at all recognize or utilize his intellectual and academic background. Yet despite hardships and setbacks, he retains his dignity. Then there is the energetic and somewhat free-spirited teenaged Sophia, finding her own way with verve despite some stumbles. Reading this book so soon after reading (and writing about here on 12/28/10) Gish Jen’s novel “World and Town,” with its Cambodian family as main characters, has reminded me yet again of the increasingly diverse mixture of immigrants that has complicated and enriched the texture of all of our lives in the United States today. I am grateful to authors such as Chau and Jen who bring us their careful, thoughtful, well-written, and engaging portrayals of these new participants in American life.

On this New Year's Day, 2011, I wish readers of this blog all the very best -- including much good reading -- for the coming year!

"Miss Kansas City"

Joan Frank, a San Francisco Bay Area resident, has written four works of fiction. (She has also written at least one book of nonfiction.) I wrote about three of them on 7/6/10 and 7/11/10. Now I have read the fourth one (the second one to be published), “Miss Kansas City” (University of Michigan Press, 2006); this novel won a literary prize from the University of Michigan. (I also feel a slight connection to the book through its publisher, which is the publisher of my most recent book as well, although my book is academic rather than fiction.) This novel shares some characteristics with Frank’s other three books of fiction (one novel and two short story collections): much of it takes place in the San Francisco area (of which Frank writes wonderful descriptions, including a lovely one of the swirling fog patterns just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, something which I see almost every day on my way to work); the main characters are mostly female; the characters tend to be damaged or at least bruised by life, as well as lonely; and the characters are often aimless and unsure of what to do next, and often don’t live up to their potential. In “Miss Kansas City,” a woman in her late twenties, Alex, has moved to the SF Bay Area and taken a respectable but dull job editing software manuals. She makes no friends, but gets involved with a successful married man, and in classic fashion, wants and dreams of much more from the relationship than he ever considers giving; this is obviously a situation with no happy ending possible. Other characters include Skip, the excessively good-looking receptionist at the company where Alex works, and Mort, Alex's nervous and repressed boss there. Both of these men are gay but closeted, at least at the company. Then there is Alex’s sister Maddie, who lives back east and is both supportive of and worried about Alex; she has her own problems at home with her husband. The sisters are forever affected by and bonded by their sad childhood experiences. An important theme in this novel is the tension between the human need for solitude and the equally human need for connection with others. Despite much sadness and depression all around, the ending of “Miss Kansas City” is, mercifully, cautiously positive.

In Memory of My Father, a Great Reader

My wonderful father, Dr. John Vandrick, died seven years ago today, December 30th. During this holiday season, at Thanksgiving and again just a few days ago on Christmas Day, I was very happy to be with my family: my husband, daughter, mother, two of my three brothers (the third lives too far away to join us every year) and their wives and children. But as we sat around the dinner table for these holidays, we all missed my beloved father, who used to sit at the head of the table and carve and serve the turkey, and who used to be “Santa” handing out gifts around the Christmas tree. He was a very good man and a very good father, and I remember and miss him for so many reasons, but here I will focus on our shared love of reading. My dad read a lot. I remember him sitting at his desk in his study, reading medical books. I remember him sitting in various armchairs in various living rooms over the years, reading a wide variety of fiction and nonfiction. I remember how he ordered many books through book clubs and catalogues, and I remember the multiple bookcases, large and small, full of books on many topics, in almost every room in every house he lived in. I remember our conversations about books. I remember that when I recommended a book, he would actually find and read it. I remember exchanging books at Christmas and for birthdays. I remember how he would carefully read and comment on my own published articles and books. I know that if he were still alive, he would read this blog and give me interested and encouraging responses. Most of all, I remember how he enjoyed reading, and was always so interested in what he learned from what he read. In reading, as in so many other areas, he was a great role model.

Family History: My Daughter Interviews Judith Viorst

When my daughter M. was ten years old (she is now in her 20s), she was asked by the local children’s newspaper to interview the author Judith Viorst. Viorst is the author of many children’s books, the most famous of which is “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” as well as of nonfiction, poetry, and journalism for adults. I took M. to the hotel in downtown San Francisco where Viorst was staying, and sat in a corner of the room during the interview. I noted that Viorst was crisp and matter-of-fact with adults (the newspaper staff), but was warm, gracious, and encouraging with my daughter. She even gave M. her phone number to call in case she had further questions; M. never took her up on the offer, but it was a kind gesture. The interview went well, with Viorst giving thoughtful, generous answers to M.’s questions. It was published the following month. Naturally, as a doting mom, I kept a copy of the interview, and have just now dug it out from my files and enjoyed re-reading it. Meeting and interviewing Viorst, and then seeing her interview in print, was an exciting experience for M. It was also good for her, as it is for all children, to see that an actual, real person wrote the books she had been reading and had had read to her. Thank you, Judith Viorst, for providing this experience for my daughter! And I am glad to see, on checking online, that Viorst is still writing and publishing; her most recent book, one on turning eighty years old, was published this year.

"World and Town"

Gish Jen’s fiction is a perfect example of the increasing multiculturalization of American literature; her novels and short stories are (mostly) about immigrant families, and families of mixed ethnic and religious backgrounds. Her fiction closely observes the everyday lives, issues, problems, and tensions of such families and their members. It also explores the benefits and pleasures of discovering the differences and the similarities in those of other cultures than one’s own. Jen writes seriously about serious situations, but there is always a wryness, a sense of humor underlying and informing her fiction. In her latest novel, “World and Town” (Knopf, 2010), her wonderful and completely nonstereotyped, unpredictable main character is a sixtyish woman named Hattie, whose parents were a white missionary mother and a Chinese father; Hattie grew up both in China and in the U.S., and lived her adult life in the U.S. Both her husband and her best friend have recently died, and she has moved to the outskirts of a small town, where her neighbors are a Cambodian family of recent refugees. She becomes involved with their family problems as well as their successes. She also tries to figure out how she feels about the reappearance in her life of a lover from her youth. Jen’s multiple and various characters are entirely original, unlike those in any other novel I have read recently, yet very understandable and (mostly!) sympathetic. The issues explored in the novel are current, yet the novel never feels like an “issue” novel. The book also has much to show us about small towns and about community. “World and Town” manages to be heartwarming without at all veering into sentimentality. Highly recommended.

Short Hiatus for the Holidays

StephanieVandrickReads will go on a short hiatus (perhaps 4 days) for Christmas. I wish my readers very happy holidays! And I thank you for reading this blog and allowing me to share my book-related thoughts and experiences with you this past year.