“Interpreter of Maladies”, Jhumpa Lahiri
After having traveled so much in April, May, and June, now I’m playing catch up with my reading! Lahiri’s collection of stories, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000, is a striking portrayal of not only what it’s like to live between two cultures, but also how those cultures effect each person when they are interacting with the second. Her stories are inflected with love, shame, denial, pride, and all the other emotions that make us human, stirring compassion for immigrants and the struggles they face as well as giving the reader a glimpse into another country’s lives.
“Becoming Madame Mao”, Anchee Min
Because of my job (VIPKD!) I have become interested in Chinese history, and after reading Chang’s “Wild Swans”, wanted to read more about the infamous Madame Mao, who interests me far more than Mao himself (women always do). While Mao was obsessed with power and self preservation, Madame Mao, who I will call by her name–Jiang Chang–had to deal with trying to survive the titan she had married. She is a complicated figure; after Mao’s death, the majority of people blamed her for the Cultural Revolution, which led to the torture and death of thousands of artists, writers, teachers, and otherwise normal citizens. But the is unfair, mainly because Jiang Chang was, like I previously said, only trying to survive. Mao was whimsical and violent, one never knew if one was in his favor or out of it, and she was always trying to remain on his better side. Min’s novel presents the human side of Jiang Chang in a compassionate way, exploring both her character and her past as explanations for why she did what she did.