December review for Book Riot's Read Harder 2017: Fruit Mansion by Sam Herschel Wein, 2017. [published by a micropress category]
It is such a great feeling to hold something in your hands that someone you care about has spent so much time and effort into creating. I love having a little bit of my friend Sam's brain on my bookshelf. Sam and I have known each other for a long time, and we've been sharing our poetry for a long time too. I am so proud to support this beautiful little book, and I just imagined him reading aloud to me the entire time.
I'm a big fan of confessional poetry in this style, poetry that plays with breath and sentence flow and correlations, and I truly loved reading every little bit of this book. Sam's poetry is raw and unabashed and truthful with a capital T, and I aspire to that level of honesty. He has always been honest with me. I have a teensy little story for you all, if that's ok: When Sam came out to me, it was through a note passed on a bus in the middle of the desert in Israel (redundant, I know), and before he actually said the words, I was so caught up in my own drama that I thought he was talking about some character trait he could change, like he didn't like how dismissive he was with people. I was certainly projecting my own problems with my then-boyfriend at the time, and once he actually said "I'm gay" I felt mortified that I had spent so much time telling him he could change. Because he can't. That's his Truth. I don't think I've ever told him how much that conversation impacted me, how much his sharing with me taught me about how I engage with other people, and how sorry I am for not being an active listener from the get-go. So I tell you now, Samwise. With your book in my hand and my heart. Thank you for teaching me to pay attention. I am so proud of you.
I'm going to keep this post short because I'm overdue and I could talk forever about how great my friends are, but I need to get on with my recap post before 2018 really gets going!
December review for Book Riot's Read Harder 2017: Look There by Agi Mishol, 2006. [collection of poetry in translation on a theme other than love category]
My selection for "a collection of poetry in translation on a theme other than love" was found in a favorite bookstore in Minnesota, and happened to be published by a small Minnesota press! It is also translated from Hebrew, a language close to my heart, and I felt a connection on that level as well. I love translation. I took a Spanish translation class in college, and thought that's what I wanted to do for a while. I love the idea of translation not being just literal, word-for-word copy, but trying to harness the heft and feeling of a phrase. The introduction by Lisa Katz, the translator of this collection, was insightful and intriguing in her descriptions of how she came to some of the translation decisions that were made. I loved having that extra little window into another layer of the text.
Many of the poems in this book are also about Israel. My brother is currently serving in the Israeli Defense Forces, and my relationship to Israel has constantly been in flux, so clearly this collection made me have some feelings about all that. I miss my brother, I am proud of my brother, I am mad at my brother, I don't understand my brother. A lot of things wrapped up in a single poem that has been difficult for me to parse.
November review for Book Riot's Read Harder 2017: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, 2002. [book set <100 miles from you category]
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides follows Calliope Stephanides, the narrator, who was "born twice." Calliope, or Cal as they come to be known, is a hermaphrodite, born as female-presenting with undeveloped testes inside their body cavity. They grow up female-conditioned, and begin to feel disillusioned with themselves once they hit puberty. They are not growing the way that other girls are growing, and they're really not very sure that they want to, anyway. This story follows them and traces their family history back to what is likely the beginning of their genetic anomaly, the union of their grandparents (who happened to be siblings). Cal narrates the story with an eagle-eye view, inserting their opinions and current story through the weaving of their ancestral tale.
I loved this book. I was consistently wowed by Eugenides' use of language and his storytelling acumen. I know why this book has been recommended and recognized countless times since its publication. I thoroughly enjoyed the narration, the widening and tightening scope of the story as Cal narrates his family history over the years. One of the comments that I read was that this is a book about transitions, and it is very true. There are many transition dichotomies peppered throughout Middlesex, between generations, between families, between jobs, between genders--it is a book that is very focused on the move from one thing to another and how it defines one's identity. As someone who is moving through defining their own identity and understanding the identities of those she loves, I really connected to this theme in the book.
