#219 The Ice Man- Haruki Murakami

#219 The Ice Man- Haruki Murakami

Murakami has such a unique style, it’s hard to get a finger on sometimes, but seeking its meaning is the adventure his writing offers. His work is mysterious, symbolic, metaphorical, and above all beautiful. In a lot of his work this mystery comes in the form of singular characters, particular, odd, leaning towards the preternatural. Thus is the existence of the Ice Man.

The narrator marries this Ice Man. She is marrying the past, her past. “Ice contains to future, just the past, sealed away.”

Although she enjoys her marriage—they are comfortable, successful, and happy—she becomes unfulfilled and wishes to travel and see more of the world. She feels trapped by the coldness of the past. It is unchanging, dead.

“I’m frozen inside the ice…It’s such a weird feeling. With each passing moment I’m becoming part of the past. There is no future for me, just the past steadily accumulating. Everybody is watching this happening to me. They’re watching the past, watching as I slip further and further away.”

They travel to a place she believes her husband would feel comfortable, the south pole. This concession is her end, she has relied to far on the past, and can no longer hope for a future.

“The outrageous weight of the eternal past had grabbed us and wasn’t about to let go. We’d never be able to shake free.”

Rating: 9-8-9-8 Total= 34

#218 The Arrangers of Marriage- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

#218 The Arrangers of Marriage- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

A young Nigerian woman has just married. It was an arranged marriage to a Nigerian man who has lived in America for many years. When they arrive in her new Brooklyn home, she is surprised at the reality of her new life. And she is surprised at her husbands need to Americanize her.

“You don’t understand how it works in this country. If you want to get anywhere you have to be as mainstream as possible. If not, you will be left by the roadside.”

“Look at the people who shop here; they are the ones who immigrate and continue to act as if they are back in their countries…They will never move forward unless they adapt to America. They will always be doomed to supermarkets like this.”

Even their names are changed. Chinanza Okafor becomes Agatha Bell, and Ofodile Emeka Udenwa becomes Dave Bell. Although she finds it strange that in her building is a young woman that after visiting Tanzania decided to rename herself from her African roots: “A black American had chosen as African, name while my husband made me change mine to an English one.”

Culture shock, entitlement, independence, cultural value…all themes found in this entire collection.

Notable Passage: lacking in dignity, about this place, this open space of too many tables and too much food.”

Rating: 8-8-8-8 Total=32

#217 The Sugar-Tit- Carolyn Cooke

#217 The Sugar-Tit- Carolyn Cooke

Jack and Giddy lived in proper New England society. Right about there is usually where I start to lose interest in such stories. However, this one kept me interested. It wasn’t about the society as much as the strong and noble spirit of Giddy.

She had a healthy and rightful disdain for the men in her life: “Since she could remember, Giddy had washed out handkerchiefs full of stuff from men’s noses. First het father’s nose, then Jack’s”

“Most of the ailanthuses had been chopped down years ago because their blossoms stank and fouled the old cisterns on the roofs. But it turned out the flowers of the female had no scent; the rankness was in the males.”

As for Jack himself, “He was a wild inconsolable, enthusiast.” Always working on some outlandish business scheme like selling crayons to children in England. He wasn’t loveless and like everyone else, adored Giddy, but he was a philanderer and loved someone else. But in society life, you let such things go, unsaid. And so, she was a dutiful wife and he the tragic husband:

“He looked at her tragically, to remind her (she supposed) that he was a tragic man, a failure in business, and unfaithful;  none of his passions were perfectly requited.”

He had a Grecian heart, but he “Lived to suffer.” These qualities that her father believed made him undeserving of his daughter later made him like his son-in-law better than Giddy herself. She outlasts them all, however, stoic, loyal and hopeful.

Rating: 8-7-7-8 Total= 30

#216 Sleepy- Anton Chekhov

#216 Sleepy- Anton Chekhov

The Masters are asleep and the thirteen year-old nanny, Varka, is tending to their child. She is exhausted, cannot keep her eyes open, but she must. The child needs care and if she sleeps, the masters will beat her. All night, she falls into half awake half dreamlike states, never getting enough. When the morning comes, even without sleep, she is expected to work:

-Varka, light the stove.

-Varka, set up the samovar.

-Varka, clean the master’s galoshes.

-Varka, wash the front steps.

-Varka, run and fetch the bottles of beer.

-Varka, rock the baby.

Night after day after night, reality is a myth. The baby is the enemy and must go. Then she can get sleep. Chekhov does a great job creating tension and anxiety. You really feel tired and angry and want this poor girl to get some rest.

Rating: 7-8-9-7 Total= 31

#215 Along the Frontage Road- Michael Chabon

#215 Along the Frontage Road- Michael Chabon

What first appears to be just a nice easy tale about a Father-Son pumpkin picking outing turns out to be something much deeper, layered and complicated like most things father-son related.

There's something quaint and gentle about this story, but there is also something profoundly sorrowful too. The nostalgia that the father feels isn’t just of his childhood, but of regret from the recent past. He is solid and secure for his son, but he is also bitter and regretful.

“I don’t mean to imply that we have somehow rendered the world untrustworthy of our children’s trust and attention. I don’t believe that, though sometimes I do feel that very implication lodged like a chip of black ice in my heart.”

Rating: 8-8-9-8 Total= 33