I got back from Virginia on Sunday evening and immediately lamented the fact that I was home again. I did nothing but read and eat excellent meals. We had duck, steak and lamb! How is that for being carnivorous? I started to read Purple Hibiscus on the plane ride down and finished it on Friday. It made me cry. Such a simple but emotional book. At first, I wondered how this book had gotten nominated with such great and complex books as Cloud Atlas and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. But that was just me underestimating the power of Aidichie’s prose. Not to sound like a cliche, but everything was both spare and lyrical. Aidichie writes the story of Kambili Achike, a 15 year old Nigerian girl growing up in the privileged household of her powerful but brutal father. The political unrest and personal struggles become one and the same, as Kambili’s father is the editor of a newspaper that prints the hard truth. There is so much unspoken in the family, much the way Aidichie leaves things unsaid and lets the reader draw the picture. When Kambili and her brother Jaja get the chance to stay with their liberal aunt Ifeoma, a widowed university professor, they catch a glimpse of life outside the walls they have constructed. The book is beautiful and heart-breaking.
Having finished Purple Hibiscus, I decided to continue with the make-you-feel-terrible books and started Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains, which details Paul Farmer’s struggles in Haiti. The problem I found with this book was that I was in constant disbelief. Farmer’s good works make put me on the defensive since the only good I do is click the Hunger Site everyday (and the other 5 clickable sites there). I give some money to charity each year, but I don’t make that much. It made me re-examine how I see the world, how someone can change things, even in just a small part of the world. It may not change everything, but making at least one person’s life better should be worth the trouble. Kidder does not make Paul Farmer out like a sanctimonius prig. Rather, he is a hard-headed and can be exasperating. But his personal commitment to Haiti is awe-inspiring. He started a complex health facility in one of the poorest parts of Haiti and gave free medical care to anyone who needs it. In the book, you find him making house calls that require 10 hour hikes. The foundation he began Partners in Health (Zanmi Lasante in Creole) has grown considerably in size and has also become extremely influential around the world with their ground-breaking treatment of TB and AIDS. His program for TB in Haiti has a better success rate than those in urban America. And Farmer does not give up the house calls nor his dedication to his patients as PIH’s influence grew as you might expect. His ‘road map’ for decency remains unaltered. He travels more than you can think possible, flying from Haiti to Russia to Peru all within 48 hours. Kidder’s portrait is tremendous and I found myself unable to put this book down.
I finished Mountains Beyond Mountains on Saturday and was left with nothing to read. Luckily, Mr. Bookdwarf’s (heh) mother gave me a copy of Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress to read. This book is the story of 2 urban Chinese youths as they are sent to the country for ‘re-education’ in the 70s. Forced to carry buckets of excrement up and down mountains, they find solace in the secret stash of western novels they steal from another city boy. After the 2 previous books, I found this slight novel easy to consume and not particlularly deep. Enjoyable and light fare, the simple tale gives the reader a good insight into the Cultural Revolution and the impact it had on the people.
So, these are the books I read on my vacation. I plan on starting Birds Without Wings today and I am also reading Ordinary Wolves by Seth Kanter. Phew. Hope y’all had a good long weekend.