A Pleasant Surprise in Mississippi

We had a wonderful lively discussion on Mudbound's flowing narrative of multiple stories culminating into a powerful ending that leaves you reflecting on the injustice of what life was in Mississippi in the 1940s.

Reading the voice of each character helped us to compare the strong ones from the weak ones. We all agreed that Florence outshone herself by being a powerful woman who set her own terms in her personal life as well as for work. Jamie rose as one of the weakest, as he seem to lead a path of destruction, destroying all of those who came across his way under the guise of his charm. He never seem to grasp the consequences of any of his actions and was too absorbed in his own demons.

Pappy was the most despicable character and it was good to know from the start that he wouldn't be living on in the book. Laura was the kind of character we could feel sorry for as she was a victim of her times and had no say in the destination of her life. But she disappointed us in certain parts of the book, especially when it came to her racist ways. Henry was an interesting character, as he showed some good qualities and yet, he seemed to follow the norm of having blacks separated from whites.

The discussion got interesting when we discussed human nature and how people obey what society dictates, as in the case of Mudbound where blacks were slaves, and how relevant that still seems to be the case today in other countries. The ending seem to be a favorite part in the book because the author kept it real and didn't glamourize the story. It was a great page-turner and we all appreciate getting to know each character through their own voice.

Learning about Mississippi times

In June we're going to be meeting up to read the book Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

Here's a summary of her book:

It is 1946 in the Mississippi Delta, where Memphis-bred Laura McAllan is struggling to adjust to farm life, rear her daughters with a modicum of manners and gentility, and be the wife her land-loving husband, Henry, wants her to be. It is an uphill battle every day. Things started badly when Henry's trusting nature resulted in the family being done out of a nice house in town, thus relegating them to a shack on their property. In addition, Henry's father, Pappy, a sour, mean-spirited devil of a man, moves in with them.

The real heart of the story, however, is the friendship between Jamie, Henry's too-charming brother, and Ronsel Jackson, son of sharecroppers who live on the McAllan farm. They have both returned from the war changed men: Jamie has developed a deep love for alcohol and has recurring nightmares; Ronsel, after fighting valiantly for his country and being seen as a man by the world outside the South, is now back to being just another black "boy."

We'll be meeting on Sunday June 28 at 2pm in the Lower Haight neighborhood.

Meeting Emma Goldman

This month I forgot to put the post for our book club meeting, where we read the book "Living my Life" by Emma Goldman.

Here's a summary of the book:

In Living My Life, Emma Goldman, called "Red Emma" or "The Anarchist Queen" by the United States government and other detractors, describes her philosophical and political journey through her life. We witness the politicization of this young Russian immigrant as she arrives in the United States in 1886, begins her first job in a sweat-shop, and becomes inflamed by the Haymarket labor riots of 1887. Over the next forty years of her life as an anarchist, she wends her way through the labyrinth of American, Russian, and European radical politics.

Living My Life is a graphic description of the labor movement in the United States; of the bitterly-fought battles and ensuing jail terms over free speech, free love, the right to birth control; and of day-by-day political and personal life in Russia immediately following the 1917 revolution. Emma Goldman applies the same unrelenting scrutiny to her political actions and the actions and philosophies of governments as she does to her love affairs and friendships. The power of this book lies in the personal nature of her narrative - in the daily accounts of the friendships, love affairs, doubts, and joys of Emma and her revolutionary colleagues - overlaid on the canvas of major world events.

It was a great discussion getting to know this incredible fearless woman who shared with us her personal feelings of each experience she had since getting involved in activism and anarchism in the late 1890s.

South Africa - where systemic racism is a recent history

It was a great opportunity to read this book right before my big trip to South Africa, especially because I was going to spend a week in Johannesburg visiting one of IDEX (International Development Exchange) partners in this city called Positive Women's Network (PWN). PWN works with HIV/AIDS women in several townships around Johannesburg that were mentioned in this book.

I love how this story really provides a typical example of how screwed up apartheid was in South Africa and how it deeply impacted people there in ways that have confused their identity for the rest of their lives.

Once in South Africa, I realized how privilege it is right now to still meet people who have first-hand experience in what apartheid was like, as they activism against apartheid remains strong and vibrant. The book does do a good job of introducing what apartheid experience was for a family and the complexities of the insensitive system.

I hope everyone gets a chance to experience South Africa, as it reminds us what humanity has been capable to do and the need to learn these lessons for the next generation.

The story of an apartheid child

Now for our next book for March we'll be reading When She was White: The True Story of a Family divided by Race by Judith Stone.

Here's a summary of the book:

The Sandra Laing case made international news as an example of South Africa's apartheid at its nuttiest, when, in 1966, the nine-year-old Laing, who was significantly darker than her white-skinned parents, was reclassified as Coloured and expelled from the white school she was attending. At 11, she was classified white again, and at 26, through her own efforts, became Coloured again. Laing had a hard life, especially after she ran away from home at 14 with the first of a succession of married black men.

Although an anti-apartheid poster child outside of South Africa, Laing's memory so often fails her that Stone's book becomes an exercise in recovered memory, coupled with a reliance upon the remote expertise of various "lawyers, historians, geneticists, sociologists, psychologists, and some of the South-African journalists who'd covered her story over the years." Stone is at her most successful in eliciting recollections of misery and family strife. She fills in the blanks with "official documents, government records, newspaper archives, and interviews" with Laing's friends, family and other community members. But Laing is, unfortunately, too frail a vessel upon which to hang all this, along with digressive minilectures on genetics, history, anthropology and economics.

We'll be meeting near the Bernal Heights area on Sunday March 22, 2009. After this book club event, there will be a break for the month of April and we'll return to our next event in May.

*Get your book with a 15% discount at BookSmith in the Haight district when you say you're a WOW book club member*

Knowing a Woman's Perspective in the Darfur Conflict

We had an incredible although quite ironic time meeting up at our local teahouse to discuss Halima's story of survival from her childhood in Darfur to her exile in England.

Halima gave us a more insightful look into what Darfur's lifestyle was like before the infamous conflict that we hear about today in the news. Being a member of Zaghawa tribe, we learn about her daily life with her family and the rare encouragement of her father to support her education, recognizing her potential. We can feel the ethnic tensions more predominantly when she goes to school and when she starts getting trained to become a doctor.

Although Halima has us accompany her in the most excruciatingly painful experiences (ie female circumsicion and gang rape), it brings us closer to what has been the experiences of many women from Darfur.

One would have thought that leaving Darfur would have made her life easier and again, Halima gives us another aspect to her story, her immigration story of adjusting to a new country and becoming a new type of minority.

A Memoir of Survival in Sudan

Our next WOW book for our February discussion is Tears of the Desert: A Memoir of Survival in Darfur by Halima Bashir with the support of Damien Lewis, a journalist.

Here's a summary of the book:

Writing with BBC correspondent Damien Lewis, Halima Bashir, a physician and refugee living in London, offers a vivid personal portrait of life in the Darfur region of Sudan before the catastrophe. Doted on by her father, who bucked tradition to give his daughter an education, and feisty grandmother, who bequeathed a fierce independence, Bashir grew up in the vibrant culture of a close-knit Darfur village.

She anticipated a bright future after medical school, but tensions between Sudan's Arab-dominated Islamist dictatorship and black African communities like her Zaghawa tribe finally exploded into conflict.

Please join us for a great discussion on Sunday February 22 at 2pm at The Secret Garden Tea House (Inner Sunset neighborhood).

Please let me know by Monday February 9, if you'll be able to attend this book club discussion to make reservations at the Tea House.

Note: If you're interested in watching a Darfur-related movie after the book club, Katherine and Justine will be hosting a movie night around 4pm (specific time will be determined) at Katherine's house, near the Tea House.

*Remember: you get a 15% discount at BookSmith, when you purchase your book and say you're a WOW Book Club member* - Support your local bookstore!