Book 16: Gasa-Gasa Girl by Naomi Hirohara
I'm not generally a fan of mystery novels. They're formulaic, dripping with misogyny and racism and the fictional events rarely interest more their real counterparts. I will, however, read just about anything by Naomi Hirohara. Though The Summer of the Big Bachi and Gasa-Gasa Girl are formulaic in plot, Hirohara imbues every other aspect of the novel with a humanity both specific to southern Californian Japanese Americans and familiar to all.
The first indicator that this would be the case is the main protagonist, Mas Arai. Is he a private investigator? No. Is he a former police officer? No. Does he have any professional business whatsoever in crime? No. He's an aging gardener, bearing witness to seismic shifts in his profession, bearing widowerdom and bearing familial estrangement from one generation for being too Japanese, an estrangement he committed against another generation by emigrating. This may sound unfamiliar to many, but the alienation, comfort found in an almost tribal sub-population, economic anxiety and intergenerational struggles are as common as the 99%.
Another indicator that this was a literary mystery novel was the speech. So many authors who try to put Asian-American speech patterns into fictional characters fall on the wrong side of the believable/ching-chongery border. Even when the accents are passably portrayed (which is rare), the content never is. A Chinese immigrant, for instance, will almost never discuss their finances, but they'll talk your ear off about the deal they got that day on a pair of pants (look, name brand!). Hirohara has an unfair advantage in getting Japanese immigrant speech just right, of course, being Japanese American herself; but I pity the creative that doesn't make use of all of their advantages.
One thing that totally charmed me in The Summer of the Big Bachi was the setting. There are plenty of novels set in L.A., but few are as familiar with the odd corners outside of the Westside as I am. The places Hirohara depicts are neither ultra-dangerous nor safe above reproach and have all their subtleties in place. Gasa-Gasa Girl moved Mas Arai to New York, but Hirohara does make the New York places real in the same way.
Saturday, June 15, 2019
Thursday, June 6, 2019
2019, Book 15: I'm Judging You by Luvvie Ajayi
Book 13: Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler. Will say more about this with book 21, Parable of the Sower.
Book 14: Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin. Fantastic writing, though I wish I knew more about the specific events he's writing about. There was a global conference for black authors and the trends and issues of the time are not well-known to me, nor are the specific people referenced.
Book 15: I'm Judging You by Luvvie Ajayi.
Like so many other books by black authors, this seemed like it was written after the 2016 election, even though it was, in fact, written before. This particular one happened to be very shortly before, but it has become less and less of a surprise that marginalized people tend to see the cultural "surprises" much sooner than others, black women being amongst the most marginalized in America.
But don't get the idea that this book is all politics. This book is about life, the life of Luvvie Ajayi, but not in an autobiographical way. She talks about lots of things and politics and feminism play important roles in her life. It's not that she necessarily finds politics more interesting or is naturally drawn to power struggles (maybe she is, but it doesn't come off that way in the book). It's just that she's a black woman. All politics will affect black people more adversely than anyone else and all feminism will affect women far more than men.
The most important thing about this book is that Luvvie is funny. Whether she's talking about why jojoba oil is important for "black don't crack" or explaining why some of her girlfriends stay with unworthy men, she manages to tap into that part that everyone knows and notices, but no one seems to want to mention and turns the discomfort into laughter. I caught this one on audio-book and it's one of the few books I'd recommend in its non-paper form. It's not quite a stand-up bit, but a lot is added to this book by having Luvvie read it to you.
Book 14: Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin. Fantastic writing, though I wish I knew more about the specific events he's writing about. There was a global conference for black authors and the trends and issues of the time are not well-known to me, nor are the specific people referenced.
Book 15: I'm Judging You by Luvvie Ajayi.
Like so many other books by black authors, this seemed like it was written after the 2016 election, even though it was, in fact, written before. This particular one happened to be very shortly before, but it has become less and less of a surprise that marginalized people tend to see the cultural "surprises" much sooner than others, black women being amongst the most marginalized in America.
But don't get the idea that this book is all politics. This book is about life, the life of Luvvie Ajayi, but not in an autobiographical way. She talks about lots of things and politics and feminism play important roles in her life. It's not that she necessarily finds politics more interesting or is naturally drawn to power struggles (maybe she is, but it doesn't come off that way in the book). It's just that she's a black woman. All politics will affect black people more adversely than anyone else and all feminism will affect women far more than men.
The most important thing about this book is that Luvvie is funny. Whether she's talking about why jojoba oil is important for "black don't crack" or explaining why some of her girlfriends stay with unworthy men, she manages to tap into that part that everyone knows and notices, but no one seems to want to mention and turns the discomfort into laughter. I caught this one on audio-book and it's one of the few books I'd recommend in its non-paper form. It's not quite a stand-up bit, but a lot is added to this book by having Luvvie read it to you.
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