Around the World discussion

Not behind, really, I'm not

lessee


in the land of israel--israel
lessons from paraguay--paraguay
walking the bible--israel/egypt
sputnik's sweetheart--japan
carmelo--mexico
the bad girl--peru
the tortoise, the tower...--england
the dew breakers--haiti
oscar wao--dominican republic
bury me standing--albania/eastern europe
behind the beautiful forevers--india
snow--turkey
suite francaise--france
reading lolita in tehran--iran

Well, let's see--bury me standing was intereresting and gave me a better understanding of the Romani culture. (I happened to be reading American gypsy alongside--which made it even more interesting, especially because there were contradictions in the books.). I felt that it avoided some of the long standing stereotypes of gypsies that could have been addressed. Sometimes--often--it was dry. Also rambling.

Suite francaise--loved it. A hard starter for me, but finally sank into the story. it was an intimate story of people during world war II without trying overtly to address the bigger issues of the war like so many war books do. (the undertones are of her personal feelings toward a country that ultimately betrayed her.). The main characters are human beings with moments of greatness, flaws, illogical actions in the first part/book. The love story in the second part was beautifully done, but not finished-neither in plot nor polish. It was hard to read this without prejudice knowing the backstory and knowing it was not a finished book.

Beautiful forevers--it was a simple book told to the author by several people in a slum. The story itself was what you would expect, but boo's respect/ recognition for the inhabitants shone throughout. Although big questions are begged from the story, she doesn't try to address those herself, but allows the stories to speak for themselves. As I have traveled in India and have seen the slums firsthand, I was really interested in reading this. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't find that superior overtone that so often comes in books about "issues".

Judy wrote: "I liked Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey for the same reason. It really opened my eyes to the gypsy side of the story. Suite Française is sitting on my bookshelves begging to be read..."

judy--
i just saw this, but thought i would answer. nemirovsky was writing suite francaise from france and had planned for 5 novellas. she finished the first three novellas before she was sent to auschtwist, where she died. makes the story more poignant for sure. included in the publication are copious notes for the other books. (don't read the appendices first!)