The Unbearable Lightness of Being

• Parmenides posed this very question in the sixth century before Christ. he saw the world divided into pairs of opposites: light/darkness, fineness/coarseness, warmth/cold, being/non-being. One half of the opposition he called positive (light, fineness, warmth, being), the other negative. We might find this division into positive and negative poles childishly simple except for one difficulty: which one is positive, weight or lightness? (p 5)
  
• And Sabina -- what had come over her? Nothing ... Her drama was not of heaviness but of lightness. What fell to her lot was not the burden but the unbearable lightness of being. (p. 122)

• Our day-to-day life is bombarded with fortuities or, to be more precise, with the accidental meetings of people and events we call coincidences. (p.51)
  
• From that time on she had known that beauty is a world betrayed. The only way we can encounter it is if its persecutors have overlooked it somewhere. (p. 110)

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1. Czech Republic - The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera (review)
2. Guyana - The Ventriloquist's Tale - Pauline  Melville (review)
3. Venezuela - Iphigenia - Teresa de la Parra (review)
4. Uruguay - The Shipyard - Juan Carlos Onetti (review)
5. Tanzania - Desertion - Abulrazak Gurnah (review)
6. St Lucia - Omeros - Derek Walcott (review)

January 1 - December 31, 2009

I've had a personal, perpetual Reading Across Borders challenge going for a couple of years now, and I plan to continue in 2009.  So it was really a no-brainer to sign up for the Lost in Translation challenge hosted by Frances from Nonsuch Book.  The challenge is to read six (6) books in translation. Frances has created a dedicated page for this challenge here.  My goal is to read ten (10) books in translation in 2009, and I'm hoping they are all by authors from countries I haven't "visited" yet (look here for a map and list of all countries visited).  I'm going to build my reading list as I go, rather than committing to titles now.  But here's a start (links go to reviews):

1. Czech - The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera
2. Guyana - The Ventriloquist's Tale, by Pauline Melville
3. Venezuela - Iphegenia, by Teresa de la Parra
4. Uruguay - The Shipyard, by Juan Carlos Onetti
5.  

1. Italy - The Leopard, by Guiseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (completed 1/27/2008 - review)
2. Sweden - Astrid and Veronika, by Linda Olsson (completed 1/28/2008 - review)
3. Turkey - My Name is Red, by Orhan Pamuk (DNF 2/23/2008 - review)
4. Haiti - Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat (completed 3/1/2008 - review)
5. Morocco - Stolen Lives, by Malika Oufkir (completed 3/7/2008 - review)
6. New Zealand - The Bone People, by Keri Hulme (completed 3/30/2008 - review)
7. Somalia - Links, by Nuruddin Farah (completed 5/16/2008 - review)
8. Algeria - Women of Algiers in their apartment, by Assia Djebar (completed 6/16/2008 - review)
9. Austria - The Piano Teacher, Elfriede Jelinek (DNF 8/16/2008 - review)
10. Portugal - Baltasar and Blimunda, by Jose Saramago (DNF 8/2/2008 - review)
11. Sri Lanka - Mosquito, by Roma Tearne (completed 8/20/2008 - review)
12. Iceland - Independent People, by Halldor Laxness (completed 8/29/2008 - review)
13. Hungary - Embers, by Sandor Marai (completed 9/13/2008 - review)
14. Brazil* - A Death in Brazil, by Peter Robb (completed 10/30/2008 - review)
15. Denmark - Smilla's Sense of Snow, by Peter Hoeg (completed 11/14/2008 - review)
16. Spain - The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (completed 11/20/2008 - review)
17. Argentina - My Name Is Light, by Elsa Osorio (completed 11/28/2008 - review)
18. Saudia Arabia - Girls of Riyadh, by Rajaa Alsanea (completed 12/2/2008 - review)
19. Kenya - Unbowed, by Wangari Maathai (completed 12/20/2008 - review)
20. Albania - Broken April, by Ismail Kadare (completed 12/9/2008 - review)

Independent People
Halldor Laxness
470 pages

Independence is the most important thing of all in life. I say for my part that a man lives in vain until he is independent. (p. 29)

Bjartur of Summerhouses is an Icelandic crofter, having earned his independence after 18 years in service. He is a proud man who works hard and has little time for emotion: For once the crofter was rather at a loss for words, for to him nothing had ever been more completely unintelligible than the reasoning that is bred of tears. He disliked tears, had always disliked tears, had never understood them ...(p.296) Bjartur establishes his homestead, marries, and raises a family, but he is entirely focused on retaining and strengthening his independence, often at the expense of relationships. His children grow up uneducated and ill-prepared for the rapidly-changing world in the first half of the 20th century. Bjartur is conservative to the point of being reactionary, and refuses to acknowledge the realities brought on by politicians and economic conditions.

This epic novel takes place over many years, following Bjartur through good times and bad. Bjartur was not the most likeable character. His single-minded pursuit of independence and financial security meant that most of his family were unable to realize their full potential. Their emotional needs were largely unmet. And Bjartur experienced losses of his own, but It had never been a habit of his to lament over anything he lost; never nurture your grief, rather content yourself with what you have left...(p. 450)

While Independent People is sobering and often sad, I also found it moving. With its expansive scope and tough characters, it reminded me of John Steinbeck's East of Eden, which I also enjoyed. It is not an easy read, but is well worth the effort. ( )

Portugal - Baltasar and Blimunda (review) - Jose Saramago


Austria - The Piano Teacher (review) - Elfriede Jelinek


Sri Lanka - Mosquito (review) - Roma Tearne

• Brazil - A Death in Brazil, by Peter Robb
• Hungary - Kaddish for a Child Not Born, by Imre Kertész

Life in this paradise, he felt, was exactly as the beautiful mosquito that lived here, composed in equal parts of loveliness and deadliness. (p. 284)

Theo Samarajeeva is a successful Sri Lankan writer, who returned from London to his homeland after his wife's sudden death. He spends long, languorous days in his beach house, grieving, with only his servant Sugi as company. He is frequently visited by Nulani Mendis, a 17-year-old girl whose father was killed in a terrorist incident. Nulani is largely neglected by her mother, who is focused on her son's path to success through a British university scholarship. Nulani is a highly talented painter. The friendship between Nulani and Theo blossoms and, while he writes, she creates sketches, mostly of Theo. Eventually she paints his portrait. Theo, ostensibly acting as a mentor, takes Nulani to the city of Colombo to meet his artist friend Rohan, and Rohan's Italian wife Giulia. It's obvious to everyone but Theo that, despite their 28-year age difference, his relationship with Nulani has become more than just friendship.

However, Sri Lanka is also in the midst of civil war. Just as Theo and Nulani acknowledge their feelings for one another, violence explodes with dramatic impact on all of the characters. At this point Tearne shifts tone and pace, yanking the reader away from lazy seaside days into the suspenseful drama of terrorism, suicide bombings, and torture. Each character's story unfolds independently, at times heartbreaking and, at others, inspiring. I felt great sadness for the people of Sri Lanka and other countries affected by long-term civil war. But I also felt inspired by the hope and redemption in this beautifully-written debut novel.

Then, staring at the undulating phosphorescent water, he understood at last that freedom was a doubled-edged thing, which, like innocence lost, was unrecoverable. (p. 253)