The Boat, Nam Le

I really enjoyed reading The Boat. What I appreciated the most was the ability of Nam Le to include so much detail and description in each story. I felt that unlike the other short story collections we read this one really gave us a full background, character portrayals, and multiple plotlines. His use of description of the setting was so impeccable that without even telling where the story took place we would have been able to figure it out. His ability to intertwine individual aspects of the plot within each other really made each story interesting and fulfilling. For instance in Tehran Calling, Sarah’s relationship with Paul, paralleled by her relationship with Pavlon gave the story depth and made it more than just what is structured as one chapter in the book. Going back to what we said in class today about portraying violence and atrocity in literature and comparing The Pink Intuition’s use of blunt detail to Nam Le’s use of storytelling, I really feel as Nam Le’s technique was more effective because it hooked his reader into a web of drama, relationships, and serious problems that tapped on our emotions and made us somehow, relate it to our own lives, not necessarily because of the problems themselves as more worldly but because they are surrounded by emotion. In The Pink Institution the emotion that the characters felt was displayed in their actions but not necessarily through the words of the author which although had a powerful effect, did nothing for us since most of us do not attempt suicide, or take the same paths of actions the characters in the Pink Institution did. While emotions are universal, actions are individual.

Going back to the first story, I realized after the class discussion, that not only did his dad burn his story which signifies that he can’t turn experience into words, but he also keeps referring to the fact that he was mad at his dad because of what he didn’t know at the time but found out later. On page 28 he says, “If I had known then what I knew later, I wouldn’t have said the things I did.” I wonder if maybe this means he wrote a different novel and then realized this and then from there wrote The Boat? It would be interesting to read into that line.

I also noticed that Nam Le changed some things in each story but also kept the structure the same. For instance in Cartagena he took out all quotation marks and used Spanish language, keeping the words, grammar and sentence structure parallel with the lives of the characters. In Hiroshima father, mother, brother, etc. were all capitalized which is representative of the lives of the characters in the sense that their parents and family played a different role in the lives of people in Japan and earned more respect. In the story that takes place in Australia the dialect changed again. Words such as mate were substituted for friend and mum for mom. One thing I found that was common to all the stories however was that he jumped between past and present, in most cases without any real transition or warning. This was effective since he didn’t really have much space for transition, but I also thought it took away from some of each story since before I figured out the pattern in each individual story I was often confused. Another common aspect to each story was the lack of an ending. I also found this effective for the author's purposes but I personally didn’t like it since I was left with all these questions that had been answered would have made a bigger impact on me.

The Role of Sex in The Pink Institution

The most striking thing about novel to me was that in four generations, there did not seem to be any change in the situations of the people. Their environment may have been changing but the same sense of desperation, poverty and perversion surrounded them. There was a loss of innocence that came with just being a part of this family. The patriarch of the family evoked the image of Frank Henrickson on HBO’s Big Love; a mean, violent and perverse old man. There is also an absence of dignity that prevalent throughout the novel.

The role of sex and the way characters interact with each other sexually in this novel illustrates the perverse nature of their environment and the loss of innocence. It seems that nothing is off limits or sacred, even Billie asks his wife to have sex with his cousin to make him straight, the narrator is forced to play make out games with their cousin, Billie is involved in homosexual acts with the neighbor while he wife is in a drunken stupor. The children are exposed to all sorts of sexual acts and no one seems embarrassed or bothered by these things that are going on around them. It just all seemed so bizarre that no one ever spoke up or showed any signs of being bothered except when the little girl ran away from her grandfather and was terrified to eat dinner with him. Also, the incestuous behavior was also shocking and I wondered what drives people to do this? Maybe if your family members were the last people on earth but there were clearly other people in the town; is this just the cultural norm that is being bred? It is so easy for parents to pass bad habits on to their children and I think this accounts for the sad state of affairs that took place in this family and continued through all the generations. 

Narrative Structure in the Pink Institution

Selah Saterstrom’s Pink Institution is very provocative in its ability to test various literary boundaries. The most obvious of these boundaries is pure structure. Saterstrom experiments with several different styles in each chapter which forces the reader to challenge their idea of what is actually entailed in a “book” or “novel.” The class discussion began to shift towards this but never had the opportunity to fully address many of the issues that are encompassed within this challenge. My main concern can be summed up as this: How effective is a challenge of this nature and what were Saterstrom’s main objectives in using these different structures?

In terms of the efficacy of the unique narrative structure, a lot needs to be addressed. Has she gone too far with her challenge? It seems that there was a good mix of people who enjoyed this new type of novel and those that had difficulty following it. Within this “novel,” there are definitely several powerful messages surrounding Southern culture and family history. She definitely manages to convey these ideas in the guise of incomplete sentences, seemingly random spaces, and pictures through the book. The issue becomes whether or not people choose to internalize the issues she brings forward or if they are too put off by the structure to truly feel impacted. Saterstrom had to expect to lose a certain amount of readers by breaking literary tradition but it is an interesting to consider whether she is losing more than she would expect. This brings us back to the idea of identifying what her objectives were in writing this type of novel.

Aside from considering what size audience Saterstrom was attempting to reach with this structure, it is important to try to discern what else she might have been trying to achieve in the context of the story. The short vignettes that she utilizes create an effect of reading someone’s memories. This was also touched upon in class but merits further expansion. This idea of memories is furthered by the titles given to them in the second part of the book. For instance, “Spiderland” is a childhood name for a place that she uses to label the short story about. The stories tend to cover particular events then simply cut off, much like memories. The before and after of each story do not matter. It is the actual event that is told that is impactful on the storyteller’s life. The reader does not feel obligated to connect all of the stories she tells. This is simply one explanation for one type of structure. Do the other styles tie in to this or do they have a different purpose? Saterstrom has definitely created a story that should be easily discussed due to its uniqueness so it will be interesting to hear people’s opinions about some of the questions that have been posed.

The Pink Institution

I really enjoyed Selah Saterstrom’s The Pink Institution. At first, like many of you mentioned in class, I was confused and bothered by the seemingly random style of writing. But soon I came to realize that the way she wrote her stories--not just her diction and prose, but also the way the words were laid out across the pages--was similar to a work of art. Not to mention, of course, the haunting pictures included before each section (I’m especially thinking of the pictures of the little girl, facing forward and backward). The way Saterstrom described (or did not describe) certain situations and memories was poignant but concise, reflecting the way someone would actually remember or learn about the past.

Surprisingly, I found that this book displayed more emotion than any of the others we have read thus far. Most of the other books offered insight to characters’ feelings and emotions, but The Pink Institution seemed void of any inside thoughts from any of the characters. However, through the characters’ actions in The Pink Institution, I think it is obvious that this set of characters has more realistic emotions. For example, in Never Let Me Go, after Kathy realizes that she and Tommy cannot get their donations delayed, she gives up, and lets life take its course. But in The Pink Institution, when Aza doesn’t like the way her life is going, she tries to commit suicide (multiple times). Although suicide does not seem like the best way to deal with things, it does show that Aza cares how awful her life is, and wants to do something to stop the pain she is experiencing.

The entire time I was reading this book, I couldn’t help but relate it to The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. The House of the Spirits tells the story of the Trueba family, over 3 or 4 generations. The story takes place in a Latin American country going through a revolution. One of the most prominent resemblances between the two books was the fact that they told stories over a few generations, mostly told from the female perspective. Both books also take place in countries which have just gone through major trauma--The Pink Institution takes place in the southern United States after the Civil War, and The House of the Spirits takes place in a Latin American country, which is still in the throes of a revolution. Another parallel I saw between the books was a general awareness of the supernatural. Magic realism is a reoccurring element throughout The House of the Spirits, while it shows up every once in a while in The Pink Institution, especially when Willie sees Death. If any of you have read The House of the Spirits, I’d be interested to hear your comparisons.

Repetition in Interpreter of Maladies

One common theme throughout Lahiri's stories was repetition. Characters would go through certain actions in an almost religious manner. This can be seen in A Temporary Matter with the confessions that Shoba and Shukumar shared; every night the lights would go out and they would follow the same routine (which is interesting because this new routine was in a way an escape from the monotonous routine of their now empty life together). In When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine, the repetition consists of him coming over for dinner every night, watching the news, and also the young girl eating the candy every night in an almost ceremonious way. Repetition creates comfort for the characters in that story; it almost breeds a sense of security.
However, repetition tends to lead to disaster in many of the stories.
In Mrs. Sen's her daily chopping routine somehow seems very tragic and it almost seems like she is trying to work out the pain of her immigrant position and alienation in the United States by keeping herself busy with a knife that is symbolically attached to India. Her repetitive attempts at driving end the connection with the narrator because of her crash, and this creates a very sad moment in the story that only the reader can interpret (the child narrator is somewhat sad but does not seem to understand the weight of his connection with Mrs. Sen, and the mother is very indifferent to her).
One of the most interesting stories which deals with repetition is Sexy. Miranda and Dev start out their relationship in a very intimate way, and slowly week after week, there seems to be less wonder and romance associated with Dev's visits, and they undergo a deterioration which is very disheartening. Miranda's desperation for Dev's weekly visit at first seems slightly exciting, but quickly turns pathetic, and when she ends the repetition and stops asking him to come over, it is almost like a load is lifted. Repetition and monotony are so interesting in this novel because sometimes they lead to destruction, deterioration, and devastation, while sometimes they craft a real, meaningful relationship (Mr. Pirzada)

The Third and Final Continent

I enjoyed following nJunot Diaz' Drown with Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies. Though both collections address the dynamic of the American experience for foreigners or individuals with foreign backgrounds, the styles of the two authors could not be more different. The fact that both collections are so highly acclaimed illustrates the salience of this topic in modern America; as the United States becomes more and more diverse, the clash of different cultures and the search for individual identity through heritage have become increasingly pertinent. However, the conclusions of the two compilations provide two very different perspectives on the ultimate result of the immigrant experience in America. 

Although many of the stories in Interpreter of Maladies finish with the same general sense of discontent and ambiguity that characterized the stories in Drown, the final story of Lahiri's collection, "The Third and Final Continent," actually ends triumphantly. This in itself was a shock. I'm used to working hard to reach hopeful readings of renown literature; it was refreshing to have the author actually spell one out herself. However, Drown could have arguably had this same conclusion if "No Face" was the final story rather than the penultimate one. After our class discussion on Diaz' work, I had the impression that his perspective of the immigrant experience does not end on such a high note, hence his choice to end the compilation with "Negocios." Lahiri's choice, on the other hand, to conclude her compilation with "The Third and Final Continent" provides a different view of the immigrant experience. With the narrator encouraging his son that "there is no obstacle he cannot conquer," his family's achievement is proof that it is possible to find happiness three continents away from home. It is interesting to note how powerful the order of the stories is in determining the ultimate tone and message of the collection.

interpreter of maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

In my opinion, Lahiri's Interpreter of maladies was thought provoking and detailed, but  I did not enjoy reading it as much as the previous compilations. I feel that this is because I could not really find a connection between each of the short stories. There were several overarching themes that continued to present themselves in each story, but each short story seemed to be a completely separate entity from the previous. Some themes that popped up throughout the stories were infidelity, cross-cultural roles, and the search for belonging (with someone or in a particular place). I feel that the notion of wanting to belong to a particular group or place is an important theme that should be considered. From experience and stories of friends, it is common to feel out of place or uneasy in a new setting, such as moving from India to America or any other country. Therefore, it is important to notice how this plays into each short story, and how the characters handle themselves in these situations.  

I found it interesting that even though each short story focused on narrower factors such as infidelity or love relations, almost all of the short stories revolved around or included some notion of cross-cultural differences between the Indian culture and the American culture. It seemed as though it was extremely important to layout and clearly define the lines that separated each culture. By doing so, this helped the readers understand how important culture is in different societies, and how different they can be interpreted amongst socially diverse groups. 

Overall, Lahiri's compilation of short stories was interesting, but the it did not keep me fully engaged throughout the entire book. After a while, some of the plot lines began to run together, which made it difficult for me to stay alert and attached to the reading.