Author: J. D. Vance
J.D. Vance could not have picked a better time to write his novel. He opens with the statement which I paraphrase as “So much of America’s white working class are hill people, and they are not doing well.” The numerous postmortems of the 2016 Presidential Elections has made this abundantly clear; so much so that many political pundits are eager to read “The Hillbilly Elegy” to see if it gives them some special insight that they can use in the next election.
JD is prescient In saying that "Bad neighborhoods no longer plague only urban ghettos; the bad neighborhoods have spread to the suburbs". In today's Wall Street Journal I read that rural America is the new inner city. They profile Canton in rural Ohio that once had factories for train cabooses and axles for commercial trucks. Many of these have since closed down and opioid abuse is driving up crane in these neighborhoods. It looks very much like the Middletown that JD Vance describes in his book.
The book is a personal story of J.D. Vance’s dysfunctional family that traces its roots back to the Appalachian region in Kentucky. You get a first hand account of how precarious their lives are and they are one step away from falling afoul of the law, or turning homeless. As he points out several times, it’s a miracle that he got a college education and broke free from the shackles that hold back most of his fellow Appalachians.
I love this quote which I'm sure is taken from somewhere else "The road to hell, however, is paved with good intentions". This captures well the behavior of JDs extended family. There are many nuggets of information that caught me by surprise like the fact that "in the middle of the Bible belt, active church attendance is actually quite low."
Read this book to get a first-hand view of the Americans that swayed the 2016 Presidential Election.
Author: V. S. Naipaul
Other than Rabindranath Tagore, V.S. Naipaul is the only other person of Indian origin who has won the Nobel Prize for literature. He was born in Trinidad and his early novels are set in Trinidad and Tobago. Since I myself am of Indian descent and have spent a larger portion of my life in the United States, I am always curious to learn how Indians have assimilated in their adopted countries. My knowledge of the West Indies is limited to their Reggae Music and World Class Cricket team, and this book offered me the chance to sample a highly acclaimed author as well as learn something about Indians abroad.
From a quick search on the internet, I learned that “A House for Mr. Biswas” is based on his father’s life and it was one of the books that catapulted V.S. Naipaul to fame on the international circuit. A few pages into the book, I marveled at the impeccable prose and even though the book weighs in at 576 pages, it is a pleasure to read. The main character modeled after Naipaul’s father, is Mohan Biswas, who is quirky and interesting right from his birth. The local astrologer predicts that he will bring disaster to his family and Mohan lives up to this expectation repeatedly. A good portion of the book chronicles Mohan’s interaction and exasperation with his wife’s extended family, the Tulsi clan and the different houses they inhabited along the way.
Mohan makes several attempts to escape from the clutches of his in-laws but is largely unsuccessful. Most of the characters in the novel are of Indian origin, so I am guessing that Indians in Trinidad kept mostly to themselves. It is interesting to note that even though they had little to no connection with India, they hung on to some of the religious traditions. Notably, the caste system was very much in play and Mohan is eager to point out that Mohan's parents and the Tulsi’s were brahmins, and some of them were trained to perform the religious ceremonies. The disdain with which they treated
In one of his many forays living away from the Tulsi’s, Mr Biswas is banished to live in the plantation. You get a sense of his depressing life living in a shack overseeing the workers in the plantation. What is surprising, however, is that there is hardly any description of the life of the workers. Instead we get the full treatment of the materials required to build a house on the cheap. If it was not clear from the title, let me warn you that the houses that Mohan lived in are meticulously described and are clearly the subject of interest.
Author: Haruki Murakami
Toru Watanabe is what I would describe as a westernized Japanese college student. He has a passion for western culture and music and comes across as an intellectual loner. Some say that Murakami based this book on his own experience growing up in Japan.
The story begins with the tragic suicide of his close friend Kizuki, whose girlfriend Naoko develops a close friendship with Toru. The ebbs and flows of their friendship are what make the bulk of the novel. In between Toru encounters many interesting youthful characters that are beautifully fleshed out by Murakami. He has a gift for narration that makes me remember these supporting characters several months after I have read the book. There’s Midori who is a vivacious, outgoing classmate who has a boyfriend but is intrigued by Toru. There’s his other classmate Nagasawa who also has a girlfriend, but is a master at picking up girls and one-night stands. There are some other intriguing characters that are hard to describe unless you are Murakami.
I can see why he is such a celebrated author and adored by fans in Japan and the rest of the world. Apparently, Murakami became such a celebrity in Japan after the publication of Norwegian Wood that he had to flee the country to Europe and America for his own safety and sanity. He returned only in 1995 and continued his prolific writing.
He has a very pleasant writing style that is wonderful to read. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and will be reading more of him.
Author: Alec Ash
I have read a few books on China, but nothing like this one. From a book on Genghis Khan to a book on a Journey through China’s Farms and Factories, the theme has mostly been explaining how China got to be the way it is today. This book, on the other hand, is trying to say where China is headed and it examines the lives of six young Chinese people, all of whom were born after 1980.
There’s Dahai, whose father was in the military and grew up in the Hubei province. Xaioxaio was born in the Heilongjiang province and is a dreamer who owns a small business. Fred is the most learned, having earned her PhD degree and is a Communist Party Official’s daughter. Snail is a country boy who picks up an internet gaming addiction during his adolescent years. Lucifer is from Hebei province and aspires to be a rock superstar and finally Mia who is a fashionista and a punk rebel, from the the Xinjiang province.
The diversity in upbringing, experience and outlook of the six protagonists is amazing and highlights how there is no “one China” culture that the propaganda wants us to believe. While there are many differences, there are many things that are unique to China that will seem very odd to us. For example, there is a common belief that “If it wasn’t online it wasn’t true.” This is quite a contrast to my perspective in the US, where I don’t believe anything online unless it comes from a reputable institution that I am aware of. Another interesting twist is that "the political spectrum is reversed in China: the left is conservative and the right is liberal”.
The book is riveting and entertaining as you watch the struggle of the young Chinese from six different perspectives. Interestingly, there isn’t one that is super-successful, which I am sure there are plenty of examples. Most likely they weren’t too willing subjects for this novel.
