Megha Majumdar’s ‘A Burning’ was my first time reading a book set in contemporary India. I’ve visited the country twice in the past and loved experiencing its culture on both occasions. However, this book felt like it really took me to parts of Indian society I’d previously had very little knowledge or awareness about. The story starts with a narrative by Jivan, who has been arrested for assisting with terrorist activity. She’s an ordinary girl who just happened to once post somewhat anti-government material on Facebook. This is later used as ‘evidence’ of her oppressive attitude, and the trigger for her involvement with terrorists. Her life in prison, her trials,…
#TheDutchHouse was such an interesting book that hooked me straight into the story of an unfortunate life of a family and a house.The characters were all so powerful, but at the same time, I thought every one of them was super unlikable!!! After finishing this book, I cannot stop imagining how the house would look like, and the portrait of Maeve… How do we consider people’s relationships with their house, such as the bonds and emotion with the physical structure and how it will become part of the history of the old buildings all around it… Participating in the #Readalong has always been fun, but especially for this one, exchanging the ideas of…
Reading this book reminded me a lot about The Great Gatsby. It had a similar subtle flamboyant feel in the setting of the story. The personality of very noble and sophisticated gentleman made me so impressed by the elegance of his lifestyle and ways of thinking. どことなくグレート・ギャツビーを思い起こさせる一冊でした。華やかでキラキラした世界。そして主人公であるジェントルマンのエレガントなふるまいやライフスタイルが、なんだか読んでいて心地よかった。 It had a good essence of the historical background of Moscow around 1920s. Because the main character the gentleman is under the house arrest at the Metropol hotel, the story did not really mention anything about the world outside of the hotel. This seclusion from the outer society and how people react to this situation were well described in this book. 1920年代のロシア、モスクワが舞台ですが、主人公がホテルに自宅軟禁されているという設定のため、歴史背景描写は必要最低限。それなのに効果的に時代の空気を感じさせます。軟禁状態にあるという状況と、それをどのように感じ日々を過ごすのか、そういう心境を、とても丁寧に描いたストーリーです。 Although…
Since this book was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2017, and also I love historical fiction, my expectation was very high. That perhaps caused it not satisfying enough. 2017年ピューリッツァー賞を受賞しているし、私の好きな歴史小説もの。かなり期待して読み始めました。だからでしょうか、あまり好きになれなかった1冊。 The story is about the slavery and the journey to escape from the plantation. The underground railroad appears in the story is based on the real secret network that saved so many of the lives in history, but developed with a little bit of imagination to fit into a fiction style. アメリカの奴隷制と、その奴隷逃走の物語。「地下鉄道」が登場するのですが、そのアイディアは実際に存在した「The Underground Railroad」という秘密組織ネットワークをベースにつくられたもの。でも、この本の中では決して史実に忠実というわけではなく、創作が含まれています。 Some part of the book was interesting, such as the depiction of the railroad and the atmosphere/scenery in the different areas in the US.…
女性の生き方って難しい。 Being women is difficult, especially here in Japan. 「自分らしさ」とか「ありのまま」を謳う広告やメディア、物語が増えてはきたけれど、実際に何のしがらみもなく「私」をおもいっきり出せる状態なんて、ありはしない。人生の選択肢は年々増える一方なのに、結局、子供を産むことや、男性をたてることを望まれるし、「かっこいい」女性は敬遠されがち。「新しい生き方」と呼ばれるものは、今でも難しい選択であることに変わりはない。 Although the social awareness regarding the women issues is raising these days, it is still impossible for me to be 100% ‘myself’ in public here in Japan. In the end, the society always praises ‘the mothers’ who sacrifice their career, those girly women who ‘RESPECT’ men, and the KAWAII, skinny, delicate fashion with spike heels. Every day, subconsciously, I am pretending to play a role of ‘woman’ and compromising the way I behave and act. All those ‘new women’ are still rare species here. 海外に行ったら、もっと広くて寛容な世界が広がっているに違いないと、あまちゃんな私は信じていたのですが… 現実はそう甘くないのよと、そっと教えてくれた本です。 I have believed that the world is broad and there is more liberal and…