But this past summer I ran into my old English teacher and promised I'd send her a list of some of my faves, which I finally just did. So I figured I'd add it here. It's not as long as the original list I'd made, but these are the books that come first to mind, that I guess I most enjoyed.
A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
This tends to make people's "best books of all time" list. It's about four people during the Emergency period under Indira Gandhi, whose storylines eventually intertwine. It's very touching. Sad, but not horrifyingly sad--the characters retain a lot of optimism. Mistry's Indian-Canadian.
The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver (the one book on this list by a white person)
A more recent book, and so good. About a young overweight fantasy-loving geek who loves women, but they're not interested in him. And the curse on his family. They're Dominican-Americans, so part of the book takes place in the Dominican, and part in the Dominican-American community. This one's funny, and creatively narrated.
Not the best book on this list, but written by a Nigerian, who's still in Nigeria, about Nigeria--which can be hard to find! It's about a young man who gets swept up in the world of the people who run those email scams. The first half gets slow, but the second half is just so interesting, to get this perspective on these scammers.
Was a big hit in Egypt (by an Egyptian), about various Egyptian characters living in this building. I was only really drawn to one of the characters, so wasn't my fave--but when a book's a big hit and controversy in its home country, then it's worth a read.
I had trouble getting into it at first, but then really enjoyed. Written by a young Saudi woman, about four young Saudi women. So... you get to hear about this part of society from an insider for once, rather than westerner impressions. It also caused a stink in its home country.
About a girl named Aya and her friends, in a village in the Ivory Coast. Super entertaining. (The author is from the Ivory Coast, and moved to France when she was 12.) Most have been translated into English.
3 comments:
I hadn't read your post about The Help, thanks for the link. Since it was so long ago, I'm commenting here instead of there. I appreciate your thoughts-- I read it and enjoyed it, but there was something nagging bothering me about it that I couldn't quite put my finger on, and you did a great job describing what it was. It was a very poor choice to have the black women "need" a white woman to tell their stories. It would have been a much better, more empowering, and more accurate story if they had been able to do it without her.
but I disagree with part of your argument, too. Because there were some non-racist white people in the South. It isn't dishonest to present them in a novel. And I disagree that white people feel good about themselves after reading books like The Help. Or at least not all of them, anyway-- the ones that do are probably not going to be too terribly sensitive about racism anyway. I personally felt sick to my stomach at the way the South was in the 50s and 60s. I was only two at the time the novel starts, but I was old enough by the time the civil rights movement picked up momentum to remember that it really was that bad, and it really felt that impossible to change it.
So, yeah, it's racism lite. But I don't think that a book like that ends up undermining efforts to end racism, which is what your argument implies. I think it brings awareness to a whole group of people who would (probably) not have picked up a book that was more horrific. Possibly including me-- I put off reading it for over a year because I was sure that it would be full of lynchings and burnings and all the other horrors that I KNOW about, and feel sick about, but don't want to read about.
anyway. just my two cents.
oh, good grief, I didn't realize how long that was until I posted it. Sorry.
And btw, I do agree that it is "better" to read a book that's by a person who actually knows what they're talking about-- there's just that one bit of your argument that I disagree with.
Long comments are fine! :-) Thanks for them!
I think what critics mean when they say something is made to made white people feel better about themselves, is that when you read the book (a) you can identify with this good white protagonist and feel like "Ya that's the person I would be in that setting" and (b) you can feel superior to the white racists. So the book reaffirms your Goodness.
As opposed to something that's maybe more morally ambiguous, or complex, or without a white saviour person.
Or so the thinking goes.
Also, I didn't mean to imply there weren't any non-racist white people in that time and place. :-) I certainly think there are good people of all kinds, in all times and places! Yay! But the main media more often presents white people saving everyone, than non-white people. I think they think we won't be able to identify with a protagonist who doesn't have our skin color. Whereas people of color have to do it all the time, if they want to consume ANY media.
Hmm. It's all very interesting...
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