A Pale View of Hills

A Pale View of Hills by Kazuko Ishiguro

Blog summary by Sharon

Better on the second reading
Interesting book on people and how they interact

Really liked the book but not maybe enjoyable. Very thought provoking. Stayed with me for a while. Meredith is saying that Sachiko is Etsuko !

Was this more than one person’s experience ? Jiro etc
To what extent does the war and the bomb play a part in this ?

Title is suggestive that this is all quite vague. You get a bit more of the picture but not really the whole picture.

Sachiko - damaged and making poor choices.

Sarah - quite a lot of ambiguity. He is troubled by the ending himself. Eerily and tense book. Didn’t warm to any of the characters. Reading a ghost story.
Japanese folklore and sad. Everyone is damaged in it. The dialogue being so ambiguous adds to it.
Is the sign of a good book that it lingers and we keep coming back to it in our imaginations ?

Sally - a bit like poetry. Father in law confronts the young educator. Show a divide of the generations. My reflections today...was like reading a rather long sad poem on these themes ...I wonder the significance of the daughter’s friend writing a poem about Etsuko with an old calendar image of the pale hills. I like to think the smiling wave at the end could suggest once retold/written for herself,  E found some peace with it all.

Meredith - Am still thinking about the book.
Is the story about Mariko upset seeing a mother drown her baby both a reflection on the despair at the time AND perhaps etsuko drowning her child? After all she was pregnant, this could be the child who drowns and then she takes Mariko to England and has Nikki...

Marty - loved the way it was written. A bit slow moving but that’s the style. Mariko - something is going to happen but ? Maybe he didn’t know how to end this first book ?

Lee - linear way. The way he wrote in English about the mannerism and life style is so spot on. Her relationship with the father in law so authentic. His argument about the classmate of Jiro   Old Japan vs the new Japan post war. Woman drowning her baby is horrifying and a symbol. There are so many stories of Japanese war brides - they don’t fit in. Did Mariko become Keiko and was adopted. Niki - an enigma.

Melissa - I’m sure this is the sign of a good book! And I just love the confidence of a work that is not all neat and tidy and wrapped up for us but rather creates space for the reader to bring so much of themselves to the story. Just thought to add other themes that remained with me after reading this book -

* the unreliability of memory (pale view)

* intergenerational misunderstanding - between the children, the parents and the grandparents… (then and always? But particularly between those who experienced the war and those who didn’t.) And the confusions in relation to the developing experience of equality between women and men, rich and poor.

* and of the point and purpose of looking forwards and backwards…
There is a repeated line throughout the book about there being no point in looking back - and yet often they are haunted by their past - and perhaps need to confront it…  This is symbolised in the irony of Etsuko being nervously pregnant in the past reflections with a frightening example in Mariko... and having tragically lost a child in the present reflections. Our children are our “future” and yet… is their future any better than their traumatic past…?

Eg. Excerpts from pg 111-112
Sachiko:  “How right you are Etsuko, we shouldn’t keep looking back to the past. The war destroyed many things for me, but I still have my daughter. As you say, we have to keep looking forward.”
“You know, “ I said, “it’s only in the last few days I’ve really thought about what it’s going to be like. To have a child, I mean. I don’t feel nearly so afraid now. I’m going to look forward to it. I’m going to be optimistic from now on.”

Sachiko…. “you have a lot to look forward to…. we must look forward to life…. there’s a lot to look forward to…”

I also found the book fascinating from a writer’s point of view - the mystery and inferences leaving space for the reader to decide, the spiral structure, the fluid method of taking the reader back and forth to the past and present, the subtlety and the incredible depth of tension underlying scenes that initially seemed superficial like the chess game or the gift of the binoculars during the day trip (pg 108 - excruciating).


8,8,8,6,8.5,8,8
Gently compelling, intriguing haunting and curious




Our next book is The Weekend by Charlotte Wood at Lee's on April 23, 2020

The Godmother by Hannelore Cayre

The Godmother by Hannelore Cayre

Blog written by Sharon

Patience Portefeux, 53 yr old translator from Arabic to French for the Ministry of Justice.
This novel sounds very french in the cadence of sentences because it is a translation.  Took a little getting used to.
What a character !  Bizarre neurological ailment - colours and shapes are linked to taste and feelings.(bimodal synaesthesia). and her relationship with her mother !
Very sobering the treatment her mother received in the nursing home.
It’s an almost implausible plot of how she ended up dealing drugs but I have to admit, the plot is quite clever.

I feel sorry for the cop fiancé though.  That scene where he discovered the Chamonix Oranges was priceless.

I like the Little Fireworks Collector photo with Audrey Hepburn.

6/5.5/5.5/6/ 5/ 7
There are better books out there

Wouldn’t recommend it to my friends

Our next book is A Pale View of Hills by Kazuko Ishiguro and will be at Sharon's on Thursday March 12, 2020.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Our last book of the year 2019 !
Blog written by Marty

Characters

Kya (Catherine Danielle Clark). The Marsh Girl
Tate (primary romantic interest)
Chase (considered the local hero)
Ma (mother)
Jodie (one of the brothers)
Pa (father)
Jumpin (local shop attendant and friend)
Mabel (his wife)

The book is a unique account of a young girl deserted by her entire family including her mother. Kya the main character cannot comprehend how a mother can leave a child ( even animals don't leave their young to fend for themselves). "this little piggy stayed home"

A truly hearty story of a small child left to care for herself (feed,cook,earn wash etc). With the help of her friend she learns to read and she educates herself through her incredible knowledge of the wild life and her affinity with the nature of the district.

The early part gives some description of her relationship with Pa before he leaves her totally isolated.

Most felt the book was well structured and neatly put together..some found the flashbacks were sometimes confusing when referring to the murder and subsequent trial. Part narrated in the 50s and story in the 60's.
The introduction of "who done it?" if it was a murder added intrigue to the story even though no attempt was made to describe how Chase may have met his death. "It was a mystery wrapped in glorious lyrical prose".

Was the verdict a surprise considering the village folk's attitude was prejudiced against Kya (the marsh girl).
When Tate found the shell necklace (that would have been the primary exhibit). After Kya's death did one feel perhaps justice was served?
"Was it sweet revenge?"

The majority of our book club (those that read the book) thoroughly enjoyed "Where the Crawdads Sings".
The language and description was delightful.
It was compelling reading even if at times not totally believable.
But it is a NOVEL (Fiction)

"Most of what she knew, she'd learned from the wild. Nature had nurtured, tutored and protected her when no one else would. If consequences resulted from her behaving differently, then they too were functions of life's fundamental core."

The author Delia Owens obviously has immense botanical and biological knowledge of the wild life in that marsh area.

I personally loved the quaint romantic courting touch of Tate leaving a feather for Kya

Crawdads refers to a type of crayfish in that area.


Score 8.5.

Wishing everyone a very Happy Holiday season and all the best for 2020!

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton
Book chosen by Melissa

When Breath Becomes Air by P Kalanithi

When Breath Becomes Air by P Kalanithi
Book chosen by Sally

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Normal People by Sally Rooney
Book chosen by Robyn


Sharon's observations :

I started to listen to this book on Audible which was a good thing because I am not sure I would have persevered !  Somehow the narration made the young people seem more sympathetic with the Irish accent.

The way the book is written is sometimes confusing as the dialogue is sometimes a dialogue and sometimes not...

Th main character of Marianne is really sad.  I find it a surprise that Connell is the one to seek professional help after Rob’s suicide while Marianne is really the one who needs help.  What a family !!

I was surprised at the ending but maybe shouldn’t have been because Marianne will never believe she deserves the happiness she has found with Connell. 

I rate this novel 6/10.  It is a disturbing read about damaged young people. Nothing “normal” at all !

Educated by Tara Westover

Educated by Tara Westover
Book chosen by Megan

Lee's comments :
What to say about Educated, firstly I didn’t like it, even as a true story, autobiography, memoir what ever, all of the characters including the author were so unappealing and I couldn’t relate to any of them, obviously because I am not a Mormon nor am I religious or have had a religious upbringing. I can’t abide fundamentalism in any religion and the people that are brainwashed by it. I found Tara’s story horrific and the dangers her stupid parents exposed her to were just unbelievable. Her mother at first seemed to be protective even though she was under the spell of the demonic father, but later completely sides with his crazy fanaticism and rejects her daughter and I assume her other two sons who have sought out an education while favouring a psychopathic monster in Shawn. The level of family abuse is shocking and the back woods mentality of these fundamentalist Mormons seems so stereotypical of the worst of red neck Americans. End of Days and all that. Another cult involving innocent family members. I am glad I was raised by cynical parents.

I found it so hard to understand and accept that Tara couldn’t/wouldn’t leave the family after all her study and discovering a new life in Cambridge and Harvard. Is this the depth of her brainwashing? Abusers have such a strong hold over their victims, whether it be in an abusive marriage or in a parent-child relationship and the conflict the victims feel in their desire for reconciliation in spite of knowing the reasons they should leave. We see this in so many recent books we have read, from The Girl on a Train, and Unbreakable, to Big Little Lies. It was challenging to accept that she could become so intellectual and committed to research in such a short space of time and still yearn for her mad family. Even though she finally walks away from them. And could she find her answers in 19th century philosophers?

In spite of all this I kept on reading, wondering in a somewhat sadistic way, what horrific act either Shawn or the father would inflict on Tara next. And what a clever girl she was, good at singing; did she play the piano too, can’t remember; the star of the local theatre; brilliant at maths and algebra and even taught herself calculus, all in the shadow of Bucks Peak. All a bit hard to believe. And her mother the homeopath, finally makes a mint from her herbal remedies! And the badly burnt disfigured father can continue building barns and whatever with his claw hands. Again I had to really stretch the limits of my imagination. Ever since reading The Power of One I really dislike this type of ‘made good’ self admiring memoir. By writing, is this the catharsis the author seeks. Sure Tara has her moments, in fact months, of self doubt and finally has a nervous breakdown complete with panic attacks.
For me the opening description of the mountain was the most rewarding part of the book. And the most poignant line was that of the seven siblings, three had achieved academic success and four were basically uneducated. And all of this happening in the last two decades. But I guess that is Trump’s America.
A rating: 6 for the writing, 5 for the narrative.

Tinman by Sarah Winman

Tinman by Sarah Winman
Book chosen by Sarah