The Dream King

I have not always been a fan of Neil Gaiman, but through my all time favorite author's co-book with him, namely the Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, I really fell in love with his unique and rich style. Neverwhere is one of my favorite fantasy books and I have read it a zillion of times, never getting bored with it. The richness of Neverwhere, I think, lies in the dialogue, much like in Good Omens, where the witty Demon is befriended by an Angel who sometimes bends the rules as well. Neverwhere didn't seem to have a clear audience in view, but probably attracted mostly young adult readers, and of course fans of the TV-series. Stardust was a sort of a hit among fantasy lovers, but it had a slightly childish story line that didn't quite seem to fit the context in my opinion. Something about the novel wasn't just quite that good, although the basic idea was cute and cuddly and all of that.

Gaimans next novels American Gods and Anansi Boys didn't exactly keep my boat floating either. In my view, they were written to attract more adult readers. And sure, Gaiman succeeded in getting a larger crowd and selling millions of copies. But the style he used in these two novels, was in my opinion, somewhat different from the earlier, witty style which was seen in Neverwhere. These two novels seemed to be just reporting what the characters did, everything revolving just around the story line, and not so much attention was left for the characters themselves, I think. Of course it's just my own thing, that I happen to like books which have rich characters.
When Coraline came out, I was quite suspicious about it at first. After all, it was a children's book. But boy was I amazed when I started reading it. Was this story really for children? What? Remember those button eyes of the Other Side "replicas"? They gave me such heebie-jeebies that one can only wonder what kind of kid wouldn't get nightmares from that book!
But the style of Coraline was absolutely wonderful. Although the story line is pure fantasy/horror, Gaiman is able to present the happenings in a way, that makes them seem somehow quite possible and even normal at points. He did an amazing job with this novel, without going over the top with the horror side, which happens quite often in this genre.

The latest novel from Gaiman is also one that can be found in the children's section, namely the Graveyard Book (I actually prefer the translated title Hautausmaan poika). It's about a boy who is raised in a Graveyard. By ghosts. And some other supernatural beings. And it all seems to make perfect sense when you read it! I mean, yeah, you wonder what's going to happen next, but you don't stop every other minute to rant about how this and that is impossible (like one might, when for example reading about glittering vampires...) After all, it's all natural to Bod who's been living in the Graveyard almost all his life and knows no other way of living, and since Gaiman is able to depict the story so well through Bod's point of view, the reader can just sit back and enjoy the ride.
The story line in itself is probably not groundbrakingly good. But it works. A lot of things in the book are actually left unexplained; if Bod doesn't know the answer, the reader most likely won't either. This might irritate some readers, but in my view it serves the feeling of normality you get while reading the book. You just go along going "Huh, so there's a portal in every graveyard" without really questioning it that much further.

Considering that the happenings of the book do mainly take part in a Graveyard, and therefore there's quite a lot of talking about how the ghosts died and so on, Gaiman is able to keep the style quite marry-go-round cheerful. Except for the parts where the mysterious murderer Jack appears. Then the atmosphere is gloomier than one might see suitable for a children's book. But the Graveyard and the "Real World" create an interesting juxtaposition of the two. Ghosts, for example, are normally seen as something, well... spooky. Scary, even bad. But here the Ghosts are the good guys and there are some much more lively beings than them, that represent the bad guys, and most of them walk in the "Real World" instead of the Graveyard. Interestingly enough, the Ghosts and the mysterious Silar who's doing his part in taking care of Bod, all try to keep Bod stay inside the boarders of the Graveyard, stating that it's safe there for him, but not outside in the world of the living. Which proves to be quite right.

Reading the Graveyard Book reminded me of Gaimans brilliance and made me want to read Neverwhere and Coraline again. That said, I'll start waiting for Gaimans next novel. And perhaps read Neverwhere for the zillionfirst time.

The Chimney Sweeper

First of all, I'm not the biggest fan of poetry. In fact, I used to dislike poetry, a lot. I hated doing poem analysis during high school. 

Yet I chose to study philology, which one might say, is a pretty odd (read: stupid) choice for someone, who hates poetry. Reading poetry is quite essential, if you want to pass your literature courses, which is pretty logical. I thought I'd just try to grin and bear it, get it over with doing as little as possible. But somehow along the way, I guess one could say I got brainwashed, I started actually liking some of the poems we needed to read to pass literature courses. I think it was actually Edgar Allan Poe's poems, which first aroused some interest in me. Thinking about it now, this isn't very surprising, after all, E. A. Poe is probably one of the most popular poets among people who like heavy metal, or other "dark" music. Anyhow, the more poems I read, the more I found myself starting to analyze the contents, getting excited when I thought I had discovered some hidden meanings or nuances. 

The poems of William Blake didn't quite open up to me as I first browsed through them, but I guess that's pretty normal when it comes to reading poetry. Reading poetry seems to require a certain mood, and I found it quite nicely put when a teacher once said that most people find the beauty in poetry only in their deepest hour of misery.

Since I felt like I couldn't get a good grip on the poems, I googled Blake a bit, and after reading about his thoughts on religion and world in general, I started over with his poems. And found them absolutely fascinating.

The Songs of Innocence and The Songs of Experience are poem collections, in which Blake published some his poems, that later grew to be hist most famous ones. The idea of the opposites, of Innocence and Experience, shares some qualities with John Milton's Paradise and Fall, viewing things from different perspectives. Many of the poems in The Songs of Innocence have their more gruesome counterparts in The Songs of Experience, like Blake's well known The Lamb vs. The Tyger.

I'm not exactly sure, what it was, that made me fall in love with the two poems, both called The Chimney Sweeper (One published in The Songs of Innocence, the other in The Songs of Experience). Perhaps it was the way Blake was able to capture the cruelty of the Chimney Sweepers' lives in such beautiful lines. Or perhaps it was the quite obvious critique on society. Or perhaps the back then fresh critique on God himself. Regardless what it was that startled me at first, I found myself reading these two poems over and over again, researching the historical situation discussed in them and trying to put everything in to some context. 

The Chimney Sweeper: (From: The Songs of Experience)

A little black thing among the snow,
Crying "'weep! 'weep!" in notes of woe!
"Where are thy father and mother, say?"
"They are both gone up to the church to pray.


"Because I was happy upon the heath,
And smiled among the winter's snow,
They clothed me in the clothes of death,
And taught me to sing the notes of woe.


"And because I am happy and dance and sing,
They think they have done me no injury,
And are gone to praise God and his Priest and King,
Who make up a heaven of our misery."

By William Blake.

Chimney Sweepers were usually young small boys, because they'd fit very well into the chimneys. Now isn't that a good reason for child labor or what? Of course it was then the poorest of the poor, who sold their children to the sweeping business, most of the time having no other choice; if you have no money to feed all your children and you know that some if not all will perish from starvation, why not sell one or two for the benefit of the others. This of course sounds atrociously cruel. But if you really think about the situation poor people used to find themselves in... Well, I guess history has taught us many times, that there is no greater power for inhumanities than hunger. And perhaps mental illnesses.

Blake and many other romantic poets wrote about the social and political situation, the discomfort of the lower classes in England, in hope of getting things to change. And they did. One can probably not say that it was because of this and that poem, that the child labor was pronounced illegal. But one can with great certainty say, that for example Blake's Chimney Sweeper played a role in raising the issue, making upper classes aware of the problem, helping them see the cruelty of what was happening. I have always found literature a great tool for opening the eyes of those, who for some reason do not realize what or to what extinct things are wrong in our society, or the world in general. Therefore I myself love to read books about foreign cultures and their struggling. It is perhaps a cliche, but reading does broaden your horizon, and I don't think it can ever be too broad.

Blake illustrated many of his poems, above a picture 

of the original Chimney Sweeper from Songs of Experience.

Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

I started reading Lisa See's novels about two years ago, I think, falling in love immediately with her style and accurate descriptions of life in China. I have always had a great interest for cultures, especially the ones, that are quite different from the western style. I have enjoyed reading biographies and fiction novels of the lives of not only Chinese, but also of those, who live in the mid-East.

Lisa See is a very thorough writer and she has studied the history and culture of China, doing loads of research for her books which gives her novels a unique touch of realism. Although her novels are fictional, there's always an almost biographical sense that the stories she shares with us are true. And it's not even a far cry, since as Lisa See tells us in her Acknowledgements; some of her characters are in deed based on real people, either historical or individuals who she has met and interviewed during her research trips to China.

WARNING: Plot revelations (quite minor ones, though)

Dreams of Joy is a sequel to Shanghai Girls, where the life of two sisters working as Beautiful Girls in Shanghai in the 1930's is followed. The sisters, Pearl and May enjoyed life to it's fullest, partying and having fanciful dinners, until the Second Sino-Japanese War causes their lives to change dramatically. Their father, who has gambled all his wealth, tells them that in order to repay his debts he must sell the girls as wives to suitors who have travelled from Los Angeles to find Chinese brides. Through many struggles the sisters are able to escape to the USA. May however is pregnant, and due to their situation, the sisters think, it's better if Pearl is claimed as the mother, and Pearl's paper son-husband the father. The child is named Joy.

Dreams of Joy begins right where Shanghai Girls ended. The secrets of the family are revealed to Joy, which has dramatic consequences. Joy's assumed father, Sam, has hanged himself since the American authorities got a lead of him being a communist. The relationship between Joy and her parents (and also grandparents) is described as fairly traditional (at least traditional according to Chinese customs) but also very loving. Therefore, when Joy finds out that her assumed mom and aunt have actually deceived her in the worst way, by lying to her about which one is her real birth mother, Joy finds herself feeling that she no longer belongs in LA’s Chinatown.

Joy had been going to a college in Chicago, where she had met other Chinese students. There Joy learned more about the communism in China, which her family had always regarded negatively. Believing strongly that Communism is the ideal set for a state, and longing to find his birth father, Joy embarks on her journey to the People's Republic of China.

Not to reveal too much, I will not give a complete summary of the plot. Instead, let us consider the major themes in this novel, which in my opinion are: love (a reoccurring theme in Lisa's novels), idealism/communism, family (also a common theme for Lisa), famine.

In her usual prompt way, Lisa describes the situation in China in the 1950's, when China was under the control of the infamous Chairman Mao Zedong. Since the novel is written partly from the perspective of Joy, and partly from the perspective of Pearl, her mother who follows her path to China to save her only child, we get two opposite looks on the situation. Joy, as an idealistic communist, has come to China not only to find her father, but to help rebuild the People's Republic of China. As a great believer in communism, Joy sees everything through communism glasses, whereas Pearl is a reborn Christian, who having lived in the USA for long had learned to share the western ideals of democracy.

The Great Leap Forward is still regarded as Mao's greatest failure. During this period an estimate of 16-46 million Chinese died, some slaughtered by the government as rightists, some due to sickness caused by the inhuman circumstances of living especially in the Communes, and many due to famine. Joy lives, works and marries into a Commune, at first seeing the Green Dragon Village as an ideal commune, although the water causes her to suffer from severe diarrhea. The people of the village work in the fields, six days a week, often 10-14 hours a day. At the beginning everything does seem to go well; there's enough food for everyone, they have a lot of activities to fill their free time with, and the people, the comrades, seem very united in spirit.

However, as the Great Leap Forwards proceeds, problems of communism and Mao's leading strategies start to come to light. Due to new sowing techniques instructed by the leaders and drought, there is not enough food for everyone. Most of what has been sown, is sent away to the cities. What is left, is regulated by the Brigade Leader, who of course sees to it, that he gets enough food. The famine in China during the Great Leap Forward got so bad, that people resorted to the most desperate actions.

One might ask, why other countries didn't come to help. Lisa See answers this question in her novel by stating that the stories of runaway Chinese weren't taken seriously. So once again, it was easier to look the other way and pretend that nothing terrible was happening. This only reminded me of the fact, that there are still a lot things going on that we are not told about, one might point out the situation in North Korea for example. Or even China as it is today; censorship is still pretty harsh there.

See also discusses the question, why the peasants and others didn't rise to repel (like Germans didn't during WWII*). One big reason of course was the manipulation done by Mao through various propaganda acts. Most Chinese probably at least in the beginning were in favour of communism, seeing it as a great counterblast for the feudalism. As it became clear to them, how wrong things had gone with Mao’s plans, it was already too late: they were starving and too scared, since Mao executed most rightist elements, sending most of them to labor camps, from where there was no return.

This novel stirred up a lot of thoughts and emotions in me. Most of all I felt great sadness towards humankind in general; how is it possible that this kind of things keep on happening time after time, even today. Don’t we ever learn? It also made me think about the question, whether another state is allowed to force democracy on another state. Of course we westerns think that democracy is the best, but so thought the Christians too as they forced their religion on everyone else through blood and tears. Who are we to say, that other countries should embrace democracy, considering the wars and other inhumanities we’ve had here?

It also amazes me that China is still a Communist state. Even more, my jaw dropped as I read what a Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping said in the 1970’s, when most of the effects of the Great Leap Forward were already clear: “Mao was 70 percent correct and 30 percent wrong”. I mean, what the heck? Do millions and millions of people dying of hunger really fit into 30 percent? I can admit, that the basic idea of communism is in a way pretty idealistic, but since there seems to be no way to realize them purely, with everyone really working equally much as equals… Well, we’ve seen what happens then.

All in all, Dreams of Joy became my number one favourite novel from Lisa See (shared position with Snow Flower and the Secret Fan) for its unbelievably touching descriptions of life in the People’s Republic of China and did what a great politically coloured book should do: made me actually think about politics, about what’s right and wrong.

*I do know there were quite many repel organizations that tried to stop the Nazis, but their members were still too few considering how many could have tried to prevent the happenings during WWII, since not all 60 million Germans were Nazis to their hearts.

Everybody else is doing it, so why can't I?

Last night I got into bed early (around midnight) and opened a book, as usual. Normally I read for about 30-60 minutes before falling asleep. Last night, however, the book I read, was one of those that you just can't stop reading; I bet you know the kind I'm talking about. It launched in me, once again, an almost desperate need to discuss my readings with someone.

But the problem with talking about books is that usually your friends aren't reading the same books as you, at least not at the same time. And if you lend them the "Best book ever!!!", it might take them awhile to read them, and then your own feelings regarding the master piece might have already faded.

Of course I could join a book club of some sorts, where people come together to discuss books. But since my reading habits have evolved to be really manifold, I somehow don't feel like joining a club, since most clubs read only books of some specific category.

So I came up with a very "original" thought. Why not a blog about books? I bet there are many already being written in the whirlwinds of the endless internet, some probably a lot better than this one will be, and I can't even promise to bring anything new to the table. But then again, I'll write mostly for myself, at most hoping to get good recommendations and evoke some conversation.

With these words I welcome all of you friends and strangers to read my scribbles. Enjoy, or critisize, whichever floats your boat.