"This idea undermining [the film] Girlhood, that saying I feel for you to a woman unlike yourself means you somehow share in her experience, is one of
"This idea undermining [the film] Girlhood, that saying I feel for you to a woman unlike yourself means you somehow share in her experience, is one of the pitfalls that plagues mainstream feminism. It signals to women of color that their stories are only worth telling if a white person can understand them, and therefore that a white person’s emotions and responses are of greater importance than the stories themselves. We cannot come together if we do not recognize our differences first. These differences are best articulated when women of color occupy the center of the discourse while white women remain silent, actively listen, and do not try to reinforce supremacy by inserting themselves in the middle of the discussion."
I read Nguyen's The Sympathizer last fall and it was an instant surprise favorite; the setting, the tone and the unique perspectivA rounded 4.5 stars.
I read Nguyen's The Sympathizer last fall and it was an instant surprise favorite; the setting, the tone and the unique perspective quickly drew me in. After a breathless one day read and a rousing discussion with my local library group, I immediately came home to put this book of short stories on my to-read list as well. And now it's here in my hot little hands!
The first chapter, Black-Eyed Women is about ghosts, real and metaphorical. It was an excellent way to open The Refugees, giving us the theme that permeated each successive story
... I would remember vividly [...] my feeling that while some people are haunted by the dead, others are haunted by the living.
There were so many lines I wanted to keep and savor and share, but they all work within the context of each story, rather than outside it. The experiences cannot be summarized by a single sentence, not even fictional ones.
His descriptive text is sparse, but Nguyen still manages to set me where ever he wants. I can feel the tropical heat of Vietnam seeping through the pages of his words.
In addition to 2017's Book Riot challenge, I have a soft goal of working on my existing read around the world list. This is my choice for Haiti.
Each In addition to 2017's Book Riot challenge, I have a soft goal of working on my existing read around the world list. This is my choice for Haiti.
Each story left me wanting to know more; each was connected by the bones of one another, through families and history and blood. The first story was my favorite, if not the most arresting (that way lies with Between the Pool and the Gardenias, a dead baby and a delusional woman). Children of the Sea is a back and forth story between a young man and woman, in love and separated. He is fleeing across the ocean into exile from President Duvalier's personal paramilitary force (Tonton Macoute) while she is left behind with her family. They write to each other with no way to send the letters and the story that unfolds is beautiful as it is tragic.
Hers is the more overtly horrifying, expounding on the variety of ways the Macoute terrify the country ("they have this thing now that they do. if they come into a house and there is a son and a mother there, they hold a gun to their heads. they make the son sleep with his mother. if there is a daughter and father, they do the same thing.") His is dreamy, filled with the razor-sharp dangers of long, unprepared voyages at sea. ("Since there are no mirrors, we look at each other's faces to see how frail and sick we are starting to look.")
We hear of them later, in passing, in other stories. It is not a happy ending.
This was a gorgeous collection, filled with love and pain and tragedy and what it means, for Danticat at the very least, to be Haitian....more