My facebook page preview tonight =)
Friday, March 23, 2012
My facebook page preview tonight =)
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Becoming Madame Mao
Title Becoming Madame Mao
Author: Anchee Min
Rating: <3 <3 <3 1/2
Summary: Reared by a mother who was the last concubine of a rich man, and a father who liked to hit his girls with shovels, Madame Mao as a young girl felt herself doomed: "I see my father hit Mother with a shovel. It happened suddenly. Without warning. I can hardly believe my eyes. He is mad. He calls Mother a slut. Mother's body curls up. My chest swells. He hits her back, front, shouting that he will break her bones."
Review: Becoming Madame Mao was a very insightful novel, of how a woman who would become one of the most powerful people in China for a time, developed from a young girl whose Mother was an abused concubine, and who at time was just a tiny child who narrowly escaped, having her feet bound, and later in life two marriages that left her heart broken. The book is written from her perspective, and from the perspective of someone else looking in from the outside. It takes the reader into the struggles of an actress and an individual who had many hardships, and while it does help you understand where they led in Madame Mao's life, it still shows how she let cruelty take over in a lot of cases in her later life. My favorite part of this novel was actually the last page, and I would recommend it to anyone, it was very thought provoking.
Author: Anchee Min
Rating: <3 <3 <3 1/2
Summary: Reared by a mother who was the last concubine of a rich man, and a father who liked to hit his girls with shovels, Madame Mao as a young girl felt herself doomed: "I see my father hit Mother with a shovel. It happened suddenly. Without warning. I can hardly believe my eyes. He is mad. He calls Mother a slut. Mother's body curls up. My chest swells. He hits her back, front, shouting that he will break her bones."
Penelope's Daughter
Title: Penelope's Daughter
Author: Laura Corona
Rating: <3 <3 <3 <3
Summary: With her father Odysseus gone for twenty years, Xanthe barricades herself in her royal chambers to escape the rapacious suitors who would abduct her to gain the throne. Xanthe turns to her loom to weave the adventures of her life, from her upbringing among servants and slaves, to the years spent in hiding with her mother's cousin, Helen of Troy, to the passion of her sexual awakening in the arms of the man she loves.
And when a stranger dressed as a beggar appears at the palace, Xanthe wonders who will be the one to decide her future-a suitor she loathes, a brother she cannot respect, or a father who doesn't know she exists...
Author: Laura Corona
Rating: <3 <3 <3 <3
Summary: With her father Odysseus gone for twenty years, Xanthe barricades herself in her royal chambers to escape the rapacious suitors who would abduct her to gain the throne. Xanthe turns to her loom to weave the adventures of her life, from her upbringing among servants and slaves, to the years spent in hiding with her mother's cousin, Helen of Troy, to the passion of her sexual awakening in the arms of the man she loves.
And when a stranger dressed as a beggar appears at the palace, Xanthe wonders who will be the one to decide her future-a suitor she loathes, a brother she cannot respect, or a father who doesn't know she exists...
Summary: With her father Odysseus gone for twenty years, Xanthe barricades herself in her royal chambers to escape the rapacious suitors who would abduct her to gain the throne. Xanthe turns to her loom to weave the adventures of her life, from her upbringing among servants and slaves, to the years spent in hiding with her mother's cousin, Helen of Troy, to the passion of her sexual awakening in the arms of the man she loves.
And when a stranger dressed as a beggar appears at the palace, Xanthe wonders who will be the one to decide her future-a suitor she loathes, a brother she cannot respect, or a father who doesn't know she exists...
Review: Xanthe is the daughter of Odysseus and Penelope, who are the rulers of the Island kingdom of Ithaca. The book Penelope's Daughter follows her from her childhood where she is moved around from her Mother's palace, to her grandparents farm and eventually into hiding at her Mother's Cousin Helen's Kingdom of Sparta. This book was very interesting to me because it went further in the story of Odysseus then I have ever delved before. I have never considered the option, that Penelope might have had a daughter, or that Helen might have returned to Sparta, after the Trojan war had ended.
And when a stranger dressed as a beggar appears at the palace, Xanthe wonders who will be the one to decide her future-a suitor she loathes, a brother she cannot respect, or a father who doesn't know she exists...
In the book, Xanthe, is sent to Sparta, because the suitors in Ithaca are actually vying for her hand in marriage as well as her Mothers, to obtain Odysseus's kingdom. While in Sparta Xanthe, gains a new outlook, goes through a sexual awakening as she goes through what we would probably call puberty, and is put through what would now be considered occult rituals that are performed by Helen and her hand maidens. Xanthe experiences many firsts in Sparta and while there she finds the strength she will need when she returns home to find what the suitors and a mysterious beggar man have in store for her and her Mother and brother.
If your looking for a slightly different take on the story of Odysseus that involves the women, this is a book I'd strongly recommend :)
Title: Finding Emilie
Author: Laurel Corona
Rating <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
Summary: Lili du Châtelet yearns to know more about her mother, the brilliant French mathematician Emilie. But the shrouded details of Emilie’s unconventional life—and her sudden death—are elusive. Caught between the confines of a convent upbringing and the intrigues of the Versailles court, Lili blossoms under the care of a Parisian salonnière as she absorbs the excitement of the Enlightenment, even as the scandalous shadow of her mother’s past haunts her and puts her on her own path of self-discovery.
Review: The book finding Emilie, is based on the preface, that Emilie's infant daughter, Lili, lived, and the book goes on to describe what her life might have been like if she had lived in pre-revolutionary war France. In the introduction of the book it is explained that in reality, Emilie's daughter, and Emilie herself both died at the time of the child's birth and or very soon after but Ms. Corona does a very good job of bringing to life what Emilie's daughter might have been like if she had lived.
The book Finding Emilie rotates in chapter's from Lili's early life, to her young adult years to short scene's of her Mother's life. In Lili's chapter's you experience her growing up with Delphine, who is the daughter of one of her Mother's close friends. Lili's thinks of Delphine's Mother as her Maman, (Mother figure); Lili also must deal with Baron Lamont, who is a stricter figure in her life who tries to stifle Lili's creative and intelligent side because it is not thought to be appropriate in French society during this time period, however the Baron is not successful in "quieting" Lili in the long term.
Emilie's chapters are much shorter, and while they are enjoyable, they did not give me as much as I would have wished to know about her as a character, since the book is titled after her, but the way the book is written is very different and refreshing in my opinion. Lilli, and Delphine while they are close, both are fun characters, and have distinct personalities, although I think Delphine is more of a one dimensional character. This was a very fun read, and I would recommend it.
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