Ms. Hen reviews The Implacable Order of Things

The Implacable Order of Things

Jose Luis Peixoto

Anchor Books

2000

Translated from the Portuguese by Richard Zenith, 2007

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel because she found it in a used bookstore, and she liked the title. She had been curious about the word implacable, and what it means. It means relentless, or unstoppable, but is usually used in a negative way.

This novel is about a village where strange things happen. A giant rapes a woman, and she becomes pregnant, has an abortion, and the entire town talks about how she was the one that had an abortion. A shepherd is mocked by the giant. The Devil works in a store, and is around the village, and performs the wedding ceremonies. A pair of conjoined twins at the pinky live there, and one of them gets married to the cook, and she makes them artistic meals, which they cannot afford.

This novel reminds Ms. Hen of a lot of other books she has read, especially Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It has a subtle kind of magic realism, one that seems like it could be real. Ms. Hen couldn't help but be amazed by the ordinary way in which amazing events occurred in this novel.

Even though she likes this novel, she thinks it is very sad. The ending didn't make her cry, but if she was having a bad day, it would make her upset. It says in the book, "I think: perhaps suffering is tossed by handfuls over the multitudes, with most of it falling on some people and little or none on others." Ms. Hen thinks that this is a true statement. Some people get all the pain, while others don't seem to suffer at all.

A lot of chickens appear in this novel, which makes Ms. Hen happy. She has noticed that chickens are in a lot in novels about rural areas. Some were here, "It was Saturday, no one would dare say it, but the sun was gentle, the chickens walked more briskly in the street, the pigeons made wider circles in the sky." In this scene, everything was calm, but there is a premonition of the doom to come.

Ms. Hen enjoyed this novel. It is beautifully written, but she thinks it should not be read when one is very sad. It is also a pleasant book to read in the summer, since it is summer throughout the book, and the characters discuss how hot they are. It could be read sitting on a bench under a tree, next to a river with geese and swans and ducks in view.

 

Ms. Hen reviews Midsummer's Mayhem

 

Midsummer's Mayhem

Rajani LaRoccca

Yellow Jacket

2019

Ms. Hen decided to read this because she saw the author talk on a Ted Talk for the hospital where Ms. Hen works. The author talked about how weird she is, and how she embraces her weirdness. She is a doctor, and became a children's book writer. Ms. Hen likes to read middle grade fantasy sometimes, so she decided to read one of the author's books. Ms. Hen is also weird.

This novel is about a young girl named Mimi, who loves to bake. She is the youngest of the children in her family, and her three older siblings are talented: her sister Riya is a dancer, her brother Henry is an actor, and her sister Jules is a soccer player. Mimi's father is a food writer, but when he comes back from a trip, he mysteriously eats everything in sight, and cannot discern tastes.

Mimi misses her friend Emma who moved to Australia, but she makes friends with a boy named Vik in the woods who plays a song on an instrument like recorder that is nostalgic to her. A cafe in their town is running a baking contest, and Mimi wants to win. The woman who runs the bakery, Mrs. T., is mysterious, and turns down Mimi's first creation, and wants her to bake from her heart. Mimi bakes honeysuckle cookies and the the teenage boys who ate them fall in love with whoever is closest to them. Jules gets upset about this, and things happen that upset people. Mimi bakes amazing sounding things, with herbs that she finds in the forest. The forest turns into a different place with a banyan tree, wild boars, and a cobra.

Ms. Hen could find the similarities between this book and A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, which she has seen many times. The magic is subtle, but it's present; Mimi wants to win the contest, but she isn't aware of what it entails. She also doesn't know her powers. Ms. Hen was impressed that there were a few recipes at the end of this book. She doesn't think she'll bake them, but she wishes someone she knew would.

Ms. Hen has never been a person who bakes, but she admires people who have that passion. She doesn't normally like to spend a long time making something that is very unhealthy. However, last year, she became what she calls a "Covid baker." She baked on Saturdays, only in the winter, because she liked to eat things straight from the oven. She baked pumpkin loaf, cranberry orange loaf, and cupcakes.

Ms. Hen liked this book because it is a light read for the summer. Reading about baking made her hungry! She admires the author because she has a lot of books coming out this year. Ms. Hen thinks this book is charming, and she's happy she read it.

Ms. Hen reviews Rememberings

Rememberings

Sinead O'Connor

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

2021

Ms. Hen has been a fan of Sinead O'Connor since she was fifteen years old. She originally liked her because their names are almost the same, and people used to call her Sinead. Ms. Hen threatened to shave her head bald, but instead she cut her hair very short. That was a long time ago. She has not followed Sinead's career all through her life, but she was interested in reading her memoir.

The beginning of the book is about Sinead's childhood in Dublin, in which she describes her parents getting divorced, getting beaten by her mother, and her life as a juvenile delinquent. She writes about her need to steal anything that wasn't nailed down, including money from charity boxes that she carried around asking for money.

She also writes about the men in her life, and her experiences in the music business. A section of the book is on what all her songs are about, which Ms. Hen thinks is interesting, because when most people listen to music, they like to make it about themselves. Sinead writes about her time in rehab and being pursued by Dr. Phil. She also talks about her desire to become a health care assistant, because she was always treated kindly by them when she was in the hospital, which Ms. Hen thinks is beautiful.

This book is written in a rather haphazard way. The beginning of the book, about her childhood, is written in first person present tense, and it's similar to ANGELA'S ASHES or PADDY CLARKE HA HA HA by Roddy Doyle, about a dysfunctional Irish childhood. The other parts of the book are written like a straight narrative, and have a different voice than the first section. 

When she talks about the music business, she writes from a woman's point of view of how difficult it was being so young, and having older men in charge of her career. When she writes about her children, she writes with love.

Ms. Hen has knows that the people she admires: musicians, writers, actors, might not be what they appear to be to her. She has been a fan of Jim Morrison for a long time, but she thinks if she had ever got a chance to meet him, she probably wouldn't like him. She's not sure if she would like Sinead. She seems like a tough woman, and she knows they have things in common, but she's not sure if she would like her, because she thinks Sinead would either laugh at her or kick her butt, or maybe both.

This book is eye-opening, and fascinating. It's worth reading if a person is a fan, and it's a picture of a woman who has always tried to do what she wanted. She doesn't care what the world thinks of her, or what I think of her, she is going to live her life the way she wants, and neither you nor I can stop her.
 

Ms. Hen reviews The Bridegroom

 

The Bridegroom

Ha Jin

Vintage International

2000

Ms. Hen picked this book up at a used bookstore recently. She had read other books by Ha Jin and loved them, and she thought she would enjoy this as well. This collection of short stories did not disappoint her.

These stories are all about China after the Cultural Revolution. The story, "Alive," is about a man who travels for business, but gets caught in an earthquake, and loses his memory. He gets married to a woman he does not know because the authorities suggest that the people who survived marry each other, and take a lost child and make a family. The man regains his memory, and finds that the life he had is lost. In the title story, "The Bridegroom," the character's adopted daughter get married to a man who is gay. He is put into a psychiatric hospital, and the people attempt to force the homosexuality out of him.

The story, "Flame," is about a woman who regrets not marrying the man she loved when she was young because her mother wanted her to marry someone else. She learns her old flame is coming to visit, and she has anxiety, and wants to impress him. "After Cowboy Chicken Comes to Town," is about a Western style fast food restaurant, where Chinese people work. They learn about American business practices and are disgusted.

Ms. Hen thinks this is a fascinating collection. Each story is a snippet, or a window to another world, a strange world where she doesn't live, and will probably never go. The characters are propelled by the need to survive and the fear of not pleasing authorities. Also, a theme of poverty and injustice that runs through the collection.

This collection reminded Ms. Hen of DUBLINERS by James Joyce, in the way that it is about a place, and each story displays the dysfunctional but fascinating characters that live in the place. We walk around and look at these characters, and wonder why they do the things they do, and think the things they think. Ms. Hen learned a lot about the Chinese psyche from this book.

This book has lots of chickens in it, which made Ms. Hen happy. She especially liked the story, "After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town," because the story is primarily about fried chicken. At the end of the story, the workers in the restaurant find the manager at the beach, "When we approached it, we saw Peter stirring something in the fire with a trimmed branch. It was a pile of chicken, about twenty pieces. The air smelled of gasoline and burned meat." The workers learn about American waste, which horrifies them, because they would have loved to eat that chicken, or bring it home to their families.

Ms. Hen thinks this collection of short stories is brilliant, not just because it shows a different part of the world and how unique it is, but it shows how people suffer, and get through their pain. Suffering is inevitable, and Ms. Hen is not sure if that was the motivation of the author, but she knows that it is true, especially now, with the world the way it is.

Ms. Hen Reviews If I Had Your Face

 

If I Had Your Face

Frances Cha

Corycian Content

2020

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel because it was recommended to her. She didn't know what it was about, but when she started reading, she became fascinated by the stories of the young women and their lives in Seoul, South Korea. She could not put this book down.

This novel is told from different viewpoints of four young women in South Korea, Ara, Kyuiri, Miho, and Wonna, who live in an inexpensive apartment in a neighborhood with lots of bars. Kyuri is a beautiful room salon girl, who entertains men and drinks with them. Ara is a mute hairdresser, who had lived in an orphanage with her friend Sujin, who is bent on becoming a room salon girl. Miho is an artist who lived with Ara and Sujin in the orphanage; she had lived in New York, and she has a rich boyfriend. Wonna is the married woman who lives upstairs, and observes the girls coming and going.

Sujin gets advice from Kyuri about where to get plastic surgery so she can become a room salon girl. She gets the surgery, but it takes a long time for her to heal. Ara is obsessed with a pop band, but when she meets them in person, it does not go as she planned. Kyuri works in a room salon of "ten percent" girls, that is the prettiest ten percent in the city. Miho creates art inspired by her friend in New York, Ruby, but she won't let her boyfriend see it, because Ruby is his ex-girlfriend, and she thinks it might upset him.

Ms. Hen thought this novel was fascinating. She believes it's one of those works that's a window - that is a window to another world, that people would not necessarily see unless they were in that world. Ms. Hen pities the young women who think they need plastic surgery to be more beautiful. She thinks that when someone is young, they shouldn't need plastic surgery. And the room salons! The young women are glorified prostitutes, but this is considered a desirable life for some, because they make a lot of money.

Almost all the men in this novel are dastardly. It makes one wonder why the young women are so obsessed with looking good - Ms. Hen thinks it's because they are shallow, and only care about looks. There is no feminism in this world - an unmarried woman approaching forty is never taken seriously. Ms. Hen is glad she doesn't live in this society, but she does find it compelling.

Miho is contemplating her life, and she remembers, "In America, one of my professors said once that the best art comes from an unbearable life - if you live through it, that is." Ms. Hen likes this philosophy, and she adheres to it. Happy people aren't brilliant, that's what Ms. Hen thinks. And people with perfect lives could never create anything worthwhile.

All throughout the novel, the girls are eating chicken, which Ms. Hen adores. They get drunk and order chicken wings late at night. In the last chapter, the girls are sitting with Wonna and she says, " 'The baby always demands fried chicken at 1 am.' " The girls agree, and they order the chicken. Ms. Hen likes that this is the last image of the novel.

Ms. Hen read this novel in three days, which is unusual for her. She usually takes a week or so to read a book, but this was so good, she could not put it down. Reading about how difficult other people's lives are on the opposite end of the world enlightens Ms. Hen. Life is hard everywhere, and it's always refreshing to learn about it from a different perspective.

Ms. Hen reviews The Autobiography of Alice B.Toklas

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

Gertrude Stein

Vintage Books

1933

Ms. Hen decided to buy this book because she was browsing in a used bookstore, and found this. She had heard of Gertrude Stein from many places, including Hemingway's A MOVABLE FEAST, and Ms. Hen was curious about her writing. She also remembers Kathy Bates' portrayal of her in the film MIDNIGHT IN PARIS.

This novel is an autobiography of sorts about Stein's partner, Alice B. Toklas. In the beginning of the book, Toklas describes her young life, and how she eventually arrived in Paris. She describes the salon that Stein has on Saturday evenings, and how she sat with "the wives of geniuses." Stein was like the genius, and Toklas was her wife.

A section of the book is about The Great War, when a lot of people left Paris, and they did not have their Saturday evenings. Coal was scarce, and Stein would not wait in line to get it for free, because she said she had no need to get it free. She was a driver for the American Fund for French Wounded, and she drove around France and gave soldiers rides to where they needed to go. After the war, their lives returned to the way it was, and Stein worked hard to get published.

Ms. Hen wanted to like this novel, but it was tedious. The sections about the parties went on and on, and the women met all these people, and they became good friends with them. The people who were their friends were interesting: Picasso, Matisse, Hemingway, T.S. Eliot, and the list goes on. There's only so much Ms. Hen can read about fascinating people these women met. It sounds like they had a lot of fun, but Ms. Hen thinks it's boring to read about people meeting talented artists over and over again.

Also, what Ms. Hen thinks is remarkable, is that there is no mention of the relationship between the two women. They were lovers, but that is not mentioned in the book at all. Ms. Hen thinks this is deliberate on Stein's part because it would not have been as successful if this were the case. This book was Stein's biggest success, after it came out, she toured the United States, and became a celebrity writer.

Even though Ms. Hen was disappointed in this novel, she thinks it's an important artifact about history. Stein writes about the world that she and Toklas knew, which is completely different from the way the world is now, obviously. But this book is so close to them, it's about all their friends, and the good life they had. Ms. Hen thinks it was successful because people in the United States wanted to know about the fascinating lives of artists in Paris at the time. They did live amazing lives, but Ms. Hen still thinks this is a difficult book to read, but she read the whole thing. Sometimes, when she's not interested, she doesn't finish a book, but even though it was hard, she did, because even though it was painful, she was still curious.

 

Ms. Hen reviews The Company She Keeps

 

The Company She Keeps

Mary McCarthy

Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc

1942

Ms. Hen picked this book up at a used bookstore recently because she liked the author's name, and she has a memory of seeing her memoir, MEMOIRS OF A CATHOLIC GIRLHOOD somewhere around, possibly in her house. She thinks that book is one that her aunt would have brought to her family's house, because it's a title she would have liked.

This is a novel in stories, about a young bohemian woman in the 1930s who lives in New York, and works at various jobs, and has a few husbands and lovers. In the story, "Cruel and Barbarous Treatment," the woman, yet unnamed, has an affair on her husband, and she fears spinsterhood if she leaves him and her lover does not marry her. In "Rogue's Gallery," Margaret works for an art gallery, whose owner is stingy, and manages money badly, and makes most of his money from miniature portraits of dogs.

In "The Man in the Brooks Brothers Shirt," Meg is on her way to Portland, Oregon, and she gets drunk, and has a regrettable affair with an older man. In "The Genial Host," Meg describes the host of a party, who conducts his events like an artist, but tries to control her. "Portrait of the Intellectual as a Yale Man," is about a young man who has an affair with Meg, told through his point of view. "Ghostly Father, I Confess," is about Meg at her analyst reliving her family history and where it has brought her.

This novel reminds Ms. Hen of a couple of books, LADY CHATTERLY'S LOVER, which was a scandal in its day, similar to this one, and LOLITA, because it is risque, but droll and descriptive. Ms. Hen read that when this novel came out, an alarm went out, because in the story, "The Man in the Brooks Brother Shirt," is about a young woman having sex with a man she does not know, which was outrageous at the time, especially written by a woman. 

Ms. Hen liked this book because she thinks it's a window to the past, to the way the world used to be, especially relations between men and women. Ms. Hen thought the first story, "Cruel and Barbarous Treatment," was ridiculous because the young woman thought that she would end up alone if she left her husband, and her lover did not marry her. She liked the next story better, and they got better after that.

Ms. Hen understands that this novel is semi-autobiographical, and the writer said she did have an affair with a man on a train going west. Ms. Hen thinks this is interesting that she would expose herself like that, and brave. Women didn't do those things back then.

Ms. Hen recommends this novel if you want to be angry about the way women used to be treated, but want to learn about it. The last story, "Ghostly Father, I Confess," is about the woman being treated badly by her husband and her analyst, and they tell her that she is hysterical. This would not happen these days, thankfully, because Ms. Hen likes to think women are treated with more respect by therapists. We have come a long way, but not long enough.