Only a Shadow Remained of Him

BURNT SHADOWS
Kamila Shamsie (Bloomsbury, 2009) ISBN: 978 1 4088 0087 4 14

If you’d like to (I’m not your real mom, I can’t make you), this video I’ve attached seems thematically appropriate. The song, a cover of Wishful Thinking’s Hiroshima by German band Puhdys–though it is of course about the wrong city–ran through my head a number of times as I read Burnt Shadows. Because this book is, amongst other things, about a nuclear world, the Cold War, and the constant two minutes to midnight. I’ve provided an original, literal and probably poor translation of the German lyrics, which are themselves a more poetic translation of the original English lyrics, below the video.

Only a shadow remains of him*, in Hiroshima
Silent as fire
But nobody knows, in Hiroshima,
Stone becomes a scream.
And it cries, “Remember well,
Or you will bring the embers** like here.”

Fly, my song, to Hiroshima
Fly to the shadow stones
And promise the man in Hiroshima
That it will never happen again
Because the world remembers*** well —
Or they will bring embers like Hiroshima****.

*This may also be “it”, ie, “the bomb”, which is a feminine noun, but changes in its dative form.
**The original word, “Glut” has a number of possible appropriate meanings, including “blaze”, “glow” or “fervour” as well.
***It’s possible there’s an imperative attached to the word “remember” that I’ve missed.
****The delivery of this line suggests a pun on here/Hiroshima.

Burnt Shadows, by Kamila Shamsie is a story about the world’s unluckiest woman. Hiroko Tanaka is caught up in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. After recovering from her injuries and accepting her grief, she finds her way after the war to an India on the cusp of Independence and Partition. Later, as the blurb reveals–so no spoilers here–she spends some time in Pakistan before managing to be present in New York in time for September 11. Crikey. Yet she survives it all and, truth be told, the story is not at all as melodramatic or contrived as it might sound.

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If You’re Lost and You Look then You Will Find Me

IN THE NIGHT OF TIME
Antonio Muñoz Molina (trans. Edith Grossman; Tuskar Rock, 2015) ISBN: 978 1 78125 463 9. RRP $35.99 In the Night of time

Antonio Muñoz Molina is a Spanish literary heavyweight who I, poor ignorant, had never heard of before reviewing this book.  In the Night of Time is his 23rd book, a tome of luscious long paragraphs* and reverie; of love and desire; and of Spain at the outbreak of the devastating civil war of the 1930s.

My familiarity with Spanish literature, it must be said, is virtually non-existent.  I’m also not particularly well-apprised of the history of Spain, with my familiarity of any kind ending with the reign of of Ferdinand and Isabella.  That’s a good 650-odd years of history there.  Shame on me.  But the point of all this is to say that I can’t really comment on a number of matters regarding Molina’s novel.  Is it historically accurate?  It… seems to be.  Where does it fit in terms of Spanish-language literary trends?  It kind of seems vaguely similar to some of the South American books I’ve read in the past?  So for that I apologise, guys.

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Diligence and Frugality

THE FOUR BOOKS

Yan Lianke (Text, 2015) ISBN: 9781922184487, RRP AU$29.99 The Four books

It’s been a while since I read a book that left me with the single thought, “what the fuck?”  Strange as it might sound, I don’t mean this in a negative way.  It’s good when a book provokes thought about what just happened and what it all means — to an extent.  The Four Books is one such book.  Set in a re-educational camp along the banks of the Yellow River during China’s Cultural Revolution, it certainly inspires the questions, “what did I just read?  What did the author want me to get from this?” in ways that benefit it.  I like the book more now than I did when I finished it, simply by virtue of having given it some consideration.

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Squeeze As Lovers Should — O Kiss

A STERKARM KISS

Susan Price (Scholastic, 2003) ISBN: 0 439 96865 8 A Sterkarm kiss

The memories I had of A Sterkarm Kiss, sequel to The Sterkarm Handshake, were hazy and unpleasant, rather like memories of a good night out tainted by a hangover.  Upon rereading, I have discovered that it is indeed an interesting but horrible book.  While just as well-written and more complexly plotted than its predecessor, this novel was rather unpleasant to read.  It is one of the most morally — uh, let’s say “grey” – – books I’ve read.  Yes, that includes the entire Song of Ice and Fire series.

 

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La Belle Dame Sans Merci

THE STERKARM HANDSHAKE

Susan Price (Scholastic, 1998) ISBN: 0590543016 220px-The_Sterkarm_Handshake_cover

The Sterkarm Handshake is yet another book I read in high school and always intended to buy, but never got around to it until quite recently.  I remembered the novel as unusual and not popular, though at the time it felt it had been written for me — a tale specifically for a small subset of nerdy high-schoolers who liked history, historical linguistics, and time travel.  But I returned to the books, for The Sterkarm Handshake is the first of a duology, knowing they were also rather flawed.  I was interested to find out, as an adult reader with the benefit of historical hindsight, why these books did not succeed.  To the best of my knowledge, neither book in the duology is in print any longer.

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I Miss The Rains Down In Africa

THE POISONWOOD BIBLE

Barbara Kingsolver (Harper, 1998) ISBN: 0-06-017540-0 the poisonwood bible

Ah, Africa.  Africa, Africa, Africa.  Having re-viewed Binyavanga Wainana’s How to Write About Africa (which I have tried linking to, but cannot make it work–sorry!), I’m somewhat more satisfied that The Poisonwood Bible at least doesn’t commit the most egregious of authorial crimes against the continent.  And being aware that the book was written more than 15 years ago, for a white American audience, I should perhaps try to be more forgiving.  Nonetheless, this novel seriously rubbed me the wrong way.  I wanted to like it.  I wanted to love it, because it had been recommended me so many times by people whose opinions I trust.  I felt certain I would love it.  What a bitter betrayal.

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From Little Things Big Things Grow

The Miniaturist

THE MINIATURIST

Jessie Burton    ISBN: 9781447250920     Published July 2014

Never judge a book by its cover – that’s the old saying, right? I’ll let you into a little secret… shh… come closer… I judge books by their covers. I know, I know, it’s terrible. It’s atrocious. It’s unforgiveable. But come now, you do too, don’t you? Just a little? Surely some of you must, otherwise why else would publishers go so out of their way to replicate the “feel” of a successful book cover to sell similar books? I don’t blame them. I’m a sucker for aesthetics and if I’ve associated a cover with a story I’ve enjoyed, of course I’ll be attracted to a similar looking book. I’ve veered slightly from where I was going with this, suffice to say The Miniaturist has a pretty cover and I fell for it. Mainly it was the ruff. I mean, who hasn’t spent their formative years wishing the full-sized ruff would come back into vogue one day? No? Just me then.

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Existing In Heaven And Earth

BRILLIANCE OF THE MOON

Lian Hearn (Hodder, 2004, ISBN: 0-7336-1564-3)

Brilliance of the Moon is the last in Lian Hearn’s original Tales of the Otori trilogy.  It takes place shortly after the conclusion of Grass for his Pillow.  Takeo and Kaede have married in secret, against the wishes of their protector, the warlord Arai Zenko.  Otori and Tribe forces both threaten Takeo and he is forced to flee with Kaede to Maruyama.  Events conspire against them and the pair, after setting up their ambitious plans for the future, are separated.

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The Spring Rain Is A Thread Of Pearls*

GRASS FOR HIS PILLOW

Lian Hearn (Hodder, 2003) ISBN: 0 7336 1563 5

Taking up directly after the events of Across the Nightingale Floor, Grass for his Pillow finds Kaede in a state of hypnotic sleep and Takeo working for the ninja-like Tribe which has claimed him for their own.  Neither is now happy with their lot.  Takeo has sworn himself to the Tribe, as well as to an up-and-coming warlord, but desires only to honour Otori Shigeru’s wishes that he should claim leadership of the Otori clan.  Kaede, meanwhile, longs for Takeo.  She is certain he will return to her, yet has her own doubts. Continue reading

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    • Only a Shadow Remained of Him

      BURNT SHADOWS Kamila Shamsie (Bloomsbury, 2009) ISBN: 978 1 4088 0087 4 14 If you’d like to (I’m not your real mom, I can’t make you), this video I’ve attached seems thematically appropriate. The song, a cover of Wishful Thinking’s Hiroshima by German band Puhdys–though it is of course about the … Continue reading