Min Jin Lee's "Pachinko" Portrays Japanese 20thC Dominance over Koreans

"Pachinko," by Korean American writer Min Jin Lee (b S Korea 1968) is historic fiction that follows the threads of a Korean family from 1910-1989.  Pachinko refers to pinball gambling machine.  The pachinko "gambling" operations were one of the few business Koreans were able to run.  A few Koreans prospered greatly while many gambled away their meager earnings to these tampered machines.   The gangster image of the pachinko operators were stereotypical.  So too were the Japanese negative generalization of Koreans as criminal, lazy, filthy and aggressive.  Lee's family saga is a deceptively simple overlay to the overt hatred & oppression of Japanese towards Koreans in the 20thC.  The Japanese thought Koreans were worth so little, fit only for the dity, dangerous & demeaning task.  The novel begins in a 1910 in a peasant, fishing village.  Korea has been annexed by Japan for nearly 3 decades.  The matriach of the family is Sunja.  Sunja is the daughter of an arranged marriage between 2 impoverished families.  As a young woman she encounters the older, affluent Korean, Hansu in the village's marketplace. He will steer the course of the rest of her life.  Hansu's fortune stems from racketeering & pachinkos.  He's fluent in both Korean/Japanese & able to straddle successfully both societies.  He maintains a menacing authority figure.  Sunja was easily seduced & became pregnant by Hansu whose already married.  His offer to support her & the child are ignoble & unacceptable. Sunja is married by a Korean minister as a Christian act of magnanimity.  They return as a couple to Japan.  There, Sunja gives birth to Hansu's biological son, Noa. The novel highlights the reckoning of Eastern & Western religions & philosophies.  We also learn how Koreans were forced to live every day in the presence of those who refused to acknowledge their humanity.  Hansu didn't believe in nationalism or religion.  He believed in education, money & power.  So unravels 4 generations of a Korean family suppressed by the Japanese.  Life was a constant struggle for survival.  There were dire hardships, deprivations & devastations from WWII.  Hansu comes to the rescue of Sanju & Noa countless times. The soap opera plot enfolds spaning decades, revealing the loathing, oppression & maltreatment of Koreans by the Japanese.  Discrimination & persecution persisted after WWII Japan despite Japan no longer reigning Korea. Returning to an embattled Korea was not a safe option.  Koreans born & living in Japan were required to register as foreigners & remained subject to deportation.  Despite Noa's education & ethical behavior "He was a Korean, after all, and no matter how appealing his personality, unfortunately he belonged to a cunning and willy tribe."

Irish Author Patrick McCabe's "The Butcher Boy" Shortlisted for Man Booker Prize

Before starting "The Butcher Boy" note, this is an arduous read that is both revolting and sublime.  Patrick McCabe (b Ireland 1955) has twice been nominated for the Man Booker.  This aching tale of a deeply disturbed and destructive young man takes us inside the head of its protagonist, Francie Brady.  McCabe's writing captures the unique Irish cadence & social dynamics of an impoverished, small rural town where drunkeness is the norm.  Not everyone in town is down on their luck.  The Nugent family, has a son Phillip the same age as Francie.  They are among the elite who look down their noses on those below them on the pecking order.  Mrs Nugent is the chief hen of the haughty crowd.  She publicly shames Francie's mother after he & his best mate, Joe Purcell, steal Phillip Nugent's comics, calling the family filthy pigs.  It's clear early on that Mrs Nugent is Francie's nemesis.  The enmity Francie feels towards Mrs Nugent is fueled by every hard knock Francie gets in life.  True, Francie is also his own worst enemy and his abhorrent behavior we know will only end atrociously is countered by empathy we feel for him.   Francie is not without deep feelings for his alcoholic pa, clinically depressed ma and boyhood friend, Joe.  Joe & his parents prosper while Francie's own mental state deteriorate.  Nonetheless, its Joe's feelings of anathema & jealous towards the Nugents and neediness for affection that is not forthcoming from his folks or his friend that confound our growing attachment & repulsion towards him.  McCabe's brilliantly brutal novel is comparable to "Catcher in the Rye" & "A Girl is a Half-formed Thing" but even more intense & horrifying.   McCabe's scorching novel  evokes feelings of compassion & sorrow for Francie's misfortune and madness in spite of his heinous actions.   In Francie's world, "All the beautiful things of the world are lies.  They count for nothing in the end."

"You Are Having a Good Time" 10 Short Stories by Amie Barrodale-Absurd,Bizarre Plausible Scenarios

Amie Barrodale's collection of 10 short stories are overflowing with unseemly, neurotic, self-destructive  & bizarre behaviors that are both peculiar & plausible.  "William Wei," the 1st story in this creative  collection.  Wei is a grandiose chauvinist who gets the tables turned on him by a woman who clandestinely & relentlessly pursues him.  When Wei becomes somewhat smitten the elusive vixen cunningly evades him.  Their quirky courtship contains the requiem drugs, sex & role playing.  Barrodale received the Paris Review Plimto Prize ('12) for this ironicaly ingratiating tale.  The ten taut stories are tethered together by a neurotic normalcy.  Each has its own bizarre & twisting plot within a credible world of craziness.  Dark truths & ugliness are pervasive with an undercurrent of random acts of kindness preventing the stories from becoming repugnant.   Barrodale's storytelling is addictive and  surprising.  Being told "you are having a good time" prepares the reader to anticipate some misery.  The outcomes are not horrific but events can be trying & anxiety producing.  There is a plethora of psychiatric professionals who treating multiples disorders & destructive behaviors:  eating too much or too little, self-loathing & narcism.  Different philosophies & customs are brusquely examined from Buddahism in Japan to Sikkim in India along with their unique customs & rituals.   "Night Report" stood out for considering adultery from different perspectives.  The story also contained circumspect coincidences in a ashram where Ema, the story's main character is both transfixed and disoriented by learning all the expected riturals.   A common theme of unconventionalities are revealed through dreamscapes or hallucinogens filling Barrodale's novel with a torrid, unexpected delights.

James Baldwin's Play "Blues for Mr Charlie" Resonates with Racial Hatred and White Supremacy

James Baldwin (b Amer 1924-87) is a literary giant & legendary social activist whose novels, essays & plays reflected the heinous racism & oppression of blacks in American in the early-mid 20th C.  Tragically, Baldwin's scorching depiction of racial brutalities & social injustice resound a prescient clarion alarm that clangs as disharmoniously today.  Baldwin's play is set in the south in the 1950's.  Richard Henry is a young black man just returning to his southern hometown where his father, Minister Meridian Henry and his grandmother live after spending several dismal years in New York city.  "Mr Charlie" is the label Meridian uses for "All white men;" a counter pejorative epithet to Uncle Toms.  Richard failed as a musician, struggled with drug addiction & spent time incarcerated.  He is nonetheless welcomed by his father, grandmother and former girlfriend, Juanita.   Richard is well received by most white folks in the community; Lyle, a local white store owner in particular.  Lyle & his family have lived in the same town as Richard's family for generations.  Lyle has maintained the same narrow minded bigoted views of his forefathers.  Lyle describes Richard to his friend Parnell as "…a northern nigger.  Went North and got ruined and come back here to make trouble."  Trouble erupts when Richard fails to submit Lyle's despicable white supremacist actions.  Richard's father attempts to mitigate tensions.  Meridian is only too aware "If you're a black man, with a black son, you have to forget all about white people and concentrate on trying to save your child."  Richard is found dead and Lyle stands trial for his murder but without trepidation for being found guilty.  On the stand, Juanita tells the court "They been killing all our men for years, for generations!  Our husbands, our fathers, our brothers and our sons!"  Susan, Lyle's wife takes the stand and commits perjury in his defense.  The verdict is unsettling but not surprising; a black man is murdered without retribution.   Baldwin, a writer of exceptional eloquence addressed racial injustice from the 1960's.  He attacked the systemic issues obstructing change and advancement.   "What is ghastly and really almost hopeless in our racial situation now is that the crimes we have committed are so great and so unspeakable that the acceptance of this knowledge would lead, literally, to madness.  The human being, then, in order to protect himself, closes his eyes, compulsively repeats his crimes, and enters a spiritual darkness which no one can describe."  (JB April, 1964)

Scotish Author Ali Smith's "Autumn" is a Novel that Shimmers & Warms the Heart

"Autumn" is the most recent novel by author, journalist & playwright Ali Smith (b. Scotland 1962.)  Smith was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Lit ('07.)   She's been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize multiple times.  In "Autumn," a girl's coming of age story, Smith enchantingly weaves poetry, philosophy & biopic figures with consummate grace.  Our heroine, Elisabeth is 9 when we first meet her & her single, erratic mother.  The contentious mother/daughter duo have just moved next door to an older, eccentric neighbor.  Elisabeth's mother prefers Elisabeth to shun Daniel Gluck; the dapper gentleman next door.  But, Elisabeth is a curious & precocious person with her own mindset.  She & Daniel form a bond that bridges the generation gap as the years pass.  Their mutual respect & fondness ripens overtime.  Smith's clever writing skews a linear time line.   We are transported in & out of Gluck's mystical trances in his waning years.  Smith enlightens the reader on fascinating, little known figures in the art & music world of London in the 1960's.  Nonetheless, the heart of the novel is driven by the growing attachment between these two interesting main characters & the odd lot of characters & curveball twists that pass over the plot.  "Autumn" is a lovely elegy to life's fleeting beauty & hope.  Smith pays homage to liteary legends Keats, Woolf & Thomas with her own sparkling interpretation.  Autumn is often a metaphor for seasons changing.  Smith's poignant novel reminds us we're here for a mere blink of the eyes.  The cornucopia of hope & human connection glimmers throughout, "We have to hope that the people who love us and who know us a little bit will in the end have seen us truly."  Smith uses Gluck's lyrics from one of his mostly forgotten songs:  "I will find her in the autumn.  Autumn kissed her.  Autumn mist/Summer brother autumn sister.  Autums gone so summers don't exist."  Rare are the works of art that burn so brightly in one's memory.

Paul Beatty's Booker Prize Winning Novel "The Sellout"-Beatty is the Baldwin of the 21st C

Paul Beatty's (b Amer 1962) Booker Prize winning novel "The Sellout" (2016) is a socially, comedic commentary awash in controversy.  Awarding the Booker Prize to an American writer for the 1st time is in itself contentious.  The Booker prize has been awarded to authors of the UK, Ireland and the Commonwealth nations.  Literary feathers have been ruffled by the broadening scope of candidates eligible.  Some maintain this dilutes the distinctive British sensibilities of its heritage & others argue the awarding of this prestigious award may diminish notice of merging writers in lieu of literary heavy- weights.  "The Sellout" is a masterpiece. It's sharp, brilliant, courageous & comedic.  Beatty's writing is comparable in style & intent to James Baldwin & Ralph Ellison.   Ironically, a brouhaha is stirred by Beatty, the 1st American to be bestowed the Booker is notorious for the fact that he is American and not that he is the 1st African-American to receive the honor.  Marlon James (b Jamaica 1970) received the Booker Prize in 2015 for his brilliant novel "A Brief History of 7 Killings," about Bob Marley.  Noted: James' race is black; i.e. Beatty is not the 1st black person to win the Booker.  "The Sellout" is essentially a provocative & perverse look at race in America today with its pervasive issues of racial stereotypes & limitations still lingering in American culture. "Here race is still all-consuming…"   Beatty makes the point "…in this {American} culture 'race' is especially hard to talk about…"  The novel's narrator is a black farmer in an agrarian  Los Angeles ghetto previously known as Dickens that he's dedicated to re-establishing & re-invigorating.  Our hero is called by labels given him;  Master and Sellout.  Sellout is an ingenious farmer & mastermind who devises a plan to restore his community through segregation.  The segregated school in his district for "colored only" is challenged & taken all the way to the Supreme Court; satirizing the efficacy of white supremacy in an  outlandish, irreverent  means that is inventive and irrefutably "a slap in the face of anyone who's ever stood for equality and justice.  It's a racist joke…" To describe "The Sellout" as a hilarious parody is a gross injustice.  The irony brandishes pain & shame at social injustice.  To call Beatty's work anything less than exceptional, insightful and a work of a genius would fall far short.  NYC is voting on 1 of 5 novels to read citywide.  My vote unequivocally goes to "The Sellout" which everyone should be reading & discussing.

Alice Hoffman's "Faithful" is True to Form but Not For Me

Alice Hoffman (b Amer 1952) is a prolific writer of books for children, Y/A & novels of the romantic, magical/mystical genre.  I've read 2 of Hoffman's best-selling novels "Practical Magic" (1995); made into a movie starring Sandra Bullock & Nicole Kidman and "Here on Earth" 1997; an Oprah Bookclub selection.  Mildly entertaining, it reads like a light palate cleanser between more literary bookends.  I would put these novels into the beach read genre.  It had been a long dry spell between the last work I read by Hoffman & "Faithful."  The novel captivated me at the start with a near fatal car accident.   Helene & Shelby (the book's outstanding central character) are best friends, vivacious, beautiful and popular high school students until tragedy strikes.  Shelby was driving with Helene next to her when the car skidded crushing Helene.  Shelby physically heals but Helene is left in a permanent vegetative state.  The anguish & trauma cause Shelby to suffer a mental breakdown for which she is institutionalized.  While at the hospital, Shelby is sexually abused and driven further into depression.  Miraculously, Hoffman imbues Shelby with fallibilities we empathize and strengths we admire.  This was a magical coup whipped up by Hoffman's crafty writing.  Shelby shaves her heads and does horrific things to herself as penance.  At her most desolate, high school classmate Ben Mink, becomes her steadfast companion.  Together, the two get stoned and roam the empty streets late at night.  The plot meanders into NYC where the two live together.  Mink moves forward with his life while Shelby resides in self-loathing.  The saving grace for Shelby comes from mysterious postcards left for her with "fortune cookie proverbs" and her strong love for animals.  There are other likable characters with whom Shelby unwittingly but gratefully grows strongly attached.  Devoted Hoffman fans will not be disappointed by "Faithful."  Three times is not a charm for me to realize Alice Hoffman's magical, romance novels are not my cup of tea.  There SHALL BE no more Hoffman books read by me.