11) Continental Drift and 12) The Woman Warrior

11)  Continental Drift by Libby Purves      

I surmised from reading the blurb that this book was going to be a bit predictable, . And yes it was...to a certain extent....there were definitely some things that I didn't see coming.
Eva's beautifully sad naivety, Henry's optimism, Philip's disappointment and Diana's submission all go to make this a quite interesting read. All together it is a story of hope, of better things waiting just around the corner, or even in front of your nose.

P.S. It also includes the a quote from Tennyson, "Let the great world spin"...it's like she knew what I'd just been reading!

               

12) The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston

This is a strange book, the narrative flitting in and out of Kingston's and her mother's lives, getting caught up in moments of drama, and moments of everyday family life. There is no clear narrative structure, as the book consists of several "episodes" at varying points in both women's lives, mixed in with Chinese folk-lore. However I am left feeling that there has been character development, or should I say "discovery"; rather than finding out more about the characters as each colour of the narrative is brushed onto the canvas of the story, instead it is like peeling an onion; as each layer is lifted we discover the things in the characters' past that makes them who they are.

Strange as it was, I really enjoyed peering through Kingston's character's eyes and those of her mother, and discovering the mindset of Chinese immigrants in America in the 20th century, under the shadow of the Chinese Revolution. The obsession with "ghosts" is new to me; both non-Chinese people who are classified as ghosts, and "real" ghosts, who have to be banished with smoke and fire. And yet, for a narrative so concerned with ghosts, it still feels very real; not translucent but solid and vibrant and waiting to be discovered.