I read this short piece on Book Riot, and immediately felt like I needed to read Kitchen, so I went to see if I could find a copy at the local half price books, and there it was. So, now I’m reading it!
There was a time in my life when I almost exclusively read literary fiction. This is obviously not that time and so I’m both a little surprised and thrilled that the Asian Lit Bingo challenge got me to read two works of literary fiction in (a little more than) a month. Rainbirds was the second of these novels. It is set in Japan and follows Ren Ishida as he goes to the small city of Akakawa to take care of his sister’s affairs following her unexpected and untimely death. Keiko, you see, was murdered.
The novel is a slow burn. Ren decides to stay in Akakawa after he’s asked to take over his sister’s position at a cram school. He is finishing up his time at university, having submitted his thesis for his Masters degree in English literature at a university in Tokyo. He even moves into her unconventional living situation. His sister had been living rent-free in the home of a wealthy politician in exchange for bringing his catatonic wife lunch and reading to her every day. The story moves back and forth between Ren’s memories of growing up with his sister, who was almost a decade older than him, and the present-time narrative of Ren putting his sister to rest while trying to figure out how she died.
As Ren gets to know people in Akakawa, so do we. They are an interesting cast of characters. These side narratives help to build a picture of the city and also of Keiko’s life prior to her death. Ren discovers that he didn’t know his sister as well as he thought he had.
This novel was not what I expected it to be. After reading a few reviews before selecting it, I expected something more fast-paced and centered on the murder. But, this novel was slower and took was through many little mysteries to eventually weave a heartbreaking picture of this young man coming to terms with a tremendous loss. I am so glad that I picked this up, even if it broke my heart.
The audio book was read by David Shih and he did a wonderful job.
French Concession by Xiao Bai is a complex novel that interleaves a number of different storylines told by different narrators who all live or work inside the French Concession in 1930s Shanghai. The novel begins with an assassination and from there follows a communist cell, some police officers in the French political section, an arms dealer, a newspaper photographer turned double agent, Shanghai police, and some Western speculators and diplomats trying to make their fortune. In the main storyline, the novel follows the communist cell, the arms dealer, and the cops as the one attempts to cause trouble in the Concession, one attempts to run their business, and the other attempts to stop the first two. According to documents at the end of the novel, this story is based on real happenings in Shanghai and came about when the author started trying to piece together documents that had been not well archived over the years.
It took me awhile to get into the story, possibly because of all of the different narrators and storylines. There are some storylines that are secondary to the main story, and I had a hard time at first trying to figure out how they fit. However, the novel begins with a list of characters and a brief description of who they are in relation to each other, and that helped me get into the story. Once I got into it, I kept reading into wee hours of the morning, because I wanted to know what happened.
One of the things that this novel does really well, in part because of all of the secondary stories, is its sense of place. You definitely get the feeling of a place that is full of people, all with their own agendas, trying to make their way in a bustling city. This was also helped on by an occasional map being included. Shanghai, and the French Concession, in part because it is a place that is created by the people that live in it, is a character in this novel. And, it was great. I originally bought it because I read a description that called it a noir novel. I was expecting it to be more pulpy. It is noir, for sure, following the suspects, the victims and the perpetrators of the crimes in the novel. But, it is much more complicated than a pulp novel and it required a lot more concentration. So, if you wanted something light to read at the end of the day, this is not for you.
If you enjoy novels that are told from multiple perspectives, give you a sense of a historical time and place, or are noir, then I totally recommend this novel.
Rainbirds by Clarissa Goenawan is narrated by David Shih. I’m excited to add this to the list of books that I am reading for the Asian Lit Bingo Challenge!
So, at the beginning of the month, I accepted the Asian Lit Bingo Challenge from Lit Celebrasian because it sounded fun and it meant I had an excuse to read some books I’ve been wanting to read. It took me forever to get the ball rolling, which is pretty typical for me, I’m not going to lie. And, now, with three days remaining, I’m here to give a little update.
I’m not sure if I’m going to make it. I listened to When Dimple Met Rishi and Girl in Translation. They were both wonderful books that worked well in the audio format and I’m glad I listened to them. French Concession has taken me a little while to get into. It has been my before-bed book and it has been a heavier read than I usually pick for that time of day. I’m a third of the way through and I’m really into it now, but its slow-going. I have Running through Sprinklers by Michelle Kim all queued up for when I finish reading French Concession. I believe that counts as a multiracial/multiethnic Asian MC and I’m thinking I might listen to Rainbirds by Clarissa Goenawan or maybe Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao for comtemporary with Asian MC.
I also started Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses this month, but I don’t know where I’d put that on this chart. I also am not sure audiobook is the best format for Rushdie’s writing. I’ll have to keep listening and see.
Even if the month runs out before I finish the challenge, I’m going to keep at it. The books I’ve found all sound really good and I’m looking forward to reading or listening to them.
The process of looking for books for this challenge was made incredibly easy because of Lit Celebrasian’s monthly posts on New Releases by Asian Authors. An incredible amount of time and effort must go into curating these posts and they are excellent. They provide a synopsis of the book as well as information about reading level, release date and who is represented in the text. They’ve been an excellent way to find new authors and works I might not have otherwise seen. So, if you’re looking for something new to read, you should stop by their blog and have a look!
This book was so stinkin’ cute! This story follows Dimple, ready to concur her first year of Stanford and get going on her life as a app/web developer. But, she still has to wait for the summer to be over. She’d like to spend that time at Insomnia Con, a summer learning experience where she can learn to develop an app with a partner. If she wins the Con, she’ll get to meet her hero, Jenny Lindt, who will also partner with her to finish the app and get it out into the market. She’s so stoked when her parents agree that she should go. Really, though, she should have seen that they had an ulterior motive.
Rishi is excited to meet the woman that his parents want to arrange for him to marry. He assumes that this lady knows what’s up, so he goes to Insomnia Con, requests to work with her as her partner on the app and… is surprised to find out that not everyone has been as forthcoming as his parents were. Even though he couldn’t give a toss about web development, he’s still determined to make it work, even volunteering his art skills for Dimple’s app.
Will it work? Will it all end in a disastrous pile of flames? Will they win? Does Dimple meet her hero? You should read it and find out. Or, listen to it, like I did. The book is narrated by Sneha Mathan and Vikas Adam and they did an excellent job. I recommend this, especially if you like light stories with well developed, complex characters. So good.
Unrelated, thanks to this book I feel like those four semesters of Hindi I took in college have finally found a use. Listening to the audio book, I was so happy to understand that bits and pieces of Hindi in the text. I still remember some words! Amazing! I was also pleased as punch to occasionally provide an explanation of something for my Mom, who was also listening to this with me. But, no worries if that isn’t something you have in your background. These small bits of text add to the story and they won’t create a stumbling block for you and your understanding. I don’t know what it’s like to grow up in a bilingual household, because I didn’t, so it is really neat to find fictional representations of what that might look like.
This is the second book I finished for the Asian Lit Bingo Challenge!
Girl in Translation is the story of Kimberly Chang, an immigrant to the US from Hong Kong. It follows her from when she arrives in the States until after her high school graduation. In the novel, we follow her story as she works to balance school and her life helping her Mother with factory work after school. We see her struggle to fit in with the American students while also maintaining her home culture. We see her survive, push through, and thrive.
It is really great novel. I enjoyed listening to it. The audio book is read by Grayce Wey and I really liked how Wey used accent to change from inner to outer monologue. (And, I may have been imagining this, but I also liked that her accent got mellower as the novel went on.)
I read this as part of the #AsianLitBingo Challenge. Lit Celebrasian did a character interview with Kimberly Chang over on their blog and it is a lot of fun! You can check it out here!
I’m slow-going on picking books for Bingo, but I’m going to get there. I’m pretty excited to get into this one about a Chinese-American immigrant!
My first book up for the Asian Lit Bingo challenge is French Concession by Xiao Bai. This is a noir thriller set in 1931. Picking the books for the challenge, I wanted to start with my tbr stack. I have loads of books that I’ve bought because they looked good. It was about time I found an excuse to pick one or two of them up. I’ve had this on my eReader for a few years (it is a little embarrassing to admit that) so I’m excited to have a reason to start reading it!
2 Women, So Many Books 