Three Daughters of Eve

This was a really quick read, pa=][/l[.lp[l'.[]
=[]'.\l;'\


\\\\
tly= \                       (thanks for the contribution Little One!)

partly because the Little One occasionally let me read whilst she entertained herself, but also because the short chapters meant that I could pick it up, read for ten minutes and then put it down again.  That's not to say that it is badly written, not at all. I really enjoyed this and wanted to finish it as quickly as I could because I was gripped and wanted to find out what happened to the characters. I think that this is the best of Elif Shafak's books that I have read so far.

The story mainly follows Peri, a Turkish woman who in 2016 is traveling to a posh dinner party in Istanbul with her daughter. Whilst sitting in a traffic jam (a common occurrence in Istanbul) her handbag is pinched by a homeless man, and in the chase that ensues a photo falls out of her handbag. It shows Peri in Oxford in the early 2000s with two other women, Shirin and Mona, and their professor. The book jumps from the 1980s, exploring Peri's childhood in Istanbul (ironically her timeline kind of follows mine, which may explain a lot about why I like the book so much), the 2000s when she starts university and the current day. Throughout the novel is a discussion of philosophy and spirituality. It explores her mothers conversion to religion and the decision to wear a headscarf, in contrast to her father, a staunch nationalist and muslim by culture and birth rather than practise. Peri is stuck in the middle, trying to work out what she believes. In Oxford she joins a class on God where her views are challenged by an outgoing professor with unconventional teaching methods, and the two women in the picture, fellow students Shirin, the make up loving, short skirt wearing Muslim by culture only and Mona, a woman of faith who chose to wear the headscarf. It is an exploration of Turkey, a State of nationalism which is becoming more religious, an exploration of being a woman in a Muslim environment and being a Muslim in a secular or Christian environment.

The Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club follows the story of two or possibly three generations of Chinese-Americans. The older generation arrived in America after the war and set up home in California. They brought up their kids trying to instill in them the best of Chinese ways and the best of American ways, although this slowly builds up a distance between the generations because of the conflicts within the two ways of life. The older generation set up the Joy Luck Club, a group of 4 women who meet to play mahjong and converse. The story follows on after the death of the founding member. Her daughter is invited to take her place at the table and is told that her deceased mother's two daughters who she had had to abandon in China during the war, have been found. The book jumps around from character to character in each chapter and jumps around in terms of timings too. As a result you can begin to understand the clash of cultures and customs a little more. The superstitions of the older generations do not fit well with the younger generation who want nothing more than to blend in with their American peers. The older generation want their children to prosper and have given up a lot in order to make a life in the States, yet want their children to respect and adhere to customs that seem out of place in a modern American world. 

It is an interesting read and can be eye opening in terms of gaining an understanding of what it is like to be a third culture kid and forging that third way, amalgamating your parent's customs and those of the native peers to make your own culture.

Orlando

I've wanted to try reading Virginia Woolf again for a while, and I bought my copy of Orlando from "Monk's House", the former home of Virginia Woolf (now owned by the National Trust) several years ago. It's a lovely house, small but with character, but what a gorgeous garden. Once when we went there, we spent ages playing lawn bowls and it was just such a relaxing afternoon. They also have her little summer house there which she used to write in, and where she left in order to commit suicide. Seemed a little morbid to have that association with such a peaceful and beautiful setting.

Anyway, back to Orlando. This took me a little while to read but I think that was just exhaustion making it difficult to concentrate. Orlando is written as a biography, but is obviously a fiction. The author is all knowing and all seeing, so right from the off you question the reliability of the narrator, especially as one of the first stories involves kissing the hand of Queen Elizabeth I, and yet the book is written in the early 1900s. It follows the life of Orlando and he (then she) lives throughout several centuries of change. It was a controversial book in its time, but somehow slipped through the net of censorship. It explores sexuality, love, being female in a man's world (I was typing feminism and then changed my mind) and body image. The book is dotted with images of Zita Sackville-West playing the role of Orlando. At the time I didn't really get what all the fuss was about, I preferred Mrs Dalloway as a novel and I struggled with that one too. With a little bit of distance more and more of the scenes from the novel have been playing in my mind, so I guess it had more of an effect on me than I had thought.