Moving Forward Sideways like a Crab by Shani Mootoo

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 312

Series: NA

Source: Library

Genres: Canadian Literature, LGBTQ Literature

Publisher: Doubleday Canada (Penguin Random House)

Publication date: April 22, 2014

Someone who hadn’t tried to make him into who he wasn’t, but rather helped him to become who he already was

First impression

I read this book for the Hello Hemlock book club and I have to say at first I was a bit confused as to why this one fell in the CanLit category, since the author is originally from Trinidad and most of the story takes place in there. However, as I read along it made sense, at least to me. The biggest transformation for Syd takes place in Canada and the whole subject of immigration (to Canada in particular) is a constant in here. It was a beautiful story to read, full of emotion and discovery, not only by Jonathan but for me too. Dealing with being gay and being transgender and how this affect the main character and others around, particularly in a culture as conservative as Trinidad seems to be, the book also touches the subject of family and the feeling of belonging somewhere. And off course, it deals with love; love for our parents and children, love for our friends and love for ourselves.

Of course, the past is never erased, and is even always present

Final thoughts

The story stars with the voice of Sid/Sydney struggling with how to tell his son, Jonathan, all of the things that he couldn’t but wishes he had. Born Sid in Trinidad, he became Sydney with a gender reassignment surgery; as Sid she dated Jonathan’s birth mother, and loved him as her own child, but when things started falling apart in that relationship, Sid left their home. Jonathan did everything he could to find his lost second mom, and when he got a clue that brought him to Trinidad he discover that Sid was now Sydney and with this a whole path of discovery and understanding starts for both men.

This was a heart wrenching story for me; not just the part of Sydney transitioning and what he had to deal with, with his family and his past, but also because of all the very complicated dynamics taking place around him. His beloved friend Zain and the thing she had to deal with; Jonathan’s feeling of abandonment, disconnect with his mother and his girlfriend, and finally, his own experience as an outsider when he is the one outside of his country.

While I haven’t had a 100% similar journey than Sydney, the feelings Mootoo express to him, about being an immigrant, about feeling there is always something missing…about winter! Those feelings where the first ones to grab my attention, being also an immigrant. And then, captivated as I was, I was able to get into the whole story and perceive all the pain and all the joy that Sydney represented.

The pace of the story might feel a bit slow to some, but I think the rhythm is perfect for all the sorrow and transitions taking place. It is always slow to accept big changes, and it is even slower to tell people about them, for we want to add all of the shades of our feelings. Hence for me, the rhythm Mootoo uses is just ideal. She has a very beautiful, delicate and embracing style that carried me away, making me almost feel the sweet breeze in Trinidad’s shore.

I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to read a magnificent book about transitions, might it be gender or immigrant related.

Las Hijas de Juarez (Daughters of Juarez): Un auténtico relato de asesinatos en serie al sur de la frontera by Teresa Rodriguez

Format: Paperback

Pages: 368

Series: NA

Source: Own (Book Depository)

Genres: Non fiction, True Crime

Publisher: Atria books (Simon and Schuster)

Publication date: June 26th 2007 (first published March 27th 2007)

First impression

I stumbled upon this book on Book Depository almost by mistake, while looking for something interesting in the nonfiction section. A gruesome subject, I felt like I barely knew anything about the mass murders that happened in Juarez, so I decided to read it. While I did get more information on the subject, the delivery was far from what I expected. Partly, I believe due to the translation to Spanish, but mostly because there was a serious lack of flow and abrupt cuts between ideas and paragraphs.

Final thoughts

I won’t talk much about what the book is about, since the title pretty much explains it. A case study beginning with the first murders in the early 1990s, the book will not only tell the story of some of the women killed and their families, but also of some of the people involved in the investigation and alleged culprits. I say alleged for every time the authorities seemed to catch the murder(s), women continued being attacked and horribly killed.

The smaller issue I had with the book was the translation. While Teresa Rodiguez is from a Cuban family, she wrote the book originally in English, and then it was translated by Vicente Echerri. But the translation wasn’t consistent, sometimes using the English acronym and sometimes using the translated one; sentences like “las muchachas fueron muertas” made no sense in a Spanish construction, rather it should’ve been “fueron asesinadas”. I realize this might seem like a picky thing to point out, but when similar issues appear constantly it affects the reading experience.

Either from the original manuscript or during the translation, there was also a big lack of consistency when referring to people or institutions. As rule, if you are going to refer to a person by a nickname or use the acronym of an institution, you should at least use the full name when they are first introduced. This was not the case in the book creating a lot of unnecessary backs and forwards when reading it.

While the author wanted to give a voice to the women who lost their lives, the lack of organization, the unnecessary repetition and lack of flow made their names and voices felt really faint. One thing that is for sure transmitted through the book is the lack of a proper investigation through the years and the insane amount of corruption lurking in this town.

If anyone else is interested in the book, I wouldn’t recommend this translation. Maybe without this factor, I would’ve given the book a 3, since it did give me more information about the subject, albeit in a very all over the place manner.

Lovetorn by Kavita Daswani

Format: Hardback 

Pages: 250

Series: NA

Source: Own (Book Outlet)

Genres: YA, Contemporary Fiction

Publisher: HarperCollins: HarperTeen

Publication date: January 17th 2012

First impression

I bought this book after Book Riot recommended it in their South Asian YA: 5 titles to read post. It had a very nice premise; a whole family moving from India to the States, the elder girl has been engaged since she was 3 years old and dealing in general with being a teenager. The book does all this things but I was disappointed with the end.

Final thoughts

Shalini is the main character of this book and she is telling the story of how her father found a new job in Los Angeles. As a dutiful daughter, she acts exited and supportive, but the truth is that she is not that thrilled of leaving everything she knew behind, including Vikram her fiancé. Arriving to LA and learning a whole different culture would be hard enough on her, but as it turns out her mother isn't taking the move so well and soon Shalini is taking care of the household, trying to deal with bullies in her class and, for the first time in her life, questioning what for so long was supposed to be her life plan with Vikram, even more so, when Toby comes to the picture.

There are a lot of things I liked about this book and they are all related to Shalini and her family being in foreign land. The amusement of finding a place that sells the food you grew up with; the sort of challenge of explaining to others things that you've grown accustomed to; the fear of changing and losing your roots and at the same time, of not changing and losing your mind. All of these things are so real when you leave your comfort and yet they are so great to help you grow as a person.

Shalini's mom goes into a deep depression due to this move; her father tries to work hard but is afraid of what might have come of his family. Her little sister on the other hand, seems to adapt very well to her new life. All of these perspectives made the book even more enjoyable.

However it was the love story that made me hesitant to give this book a 4...for most of the book the only love interest is Vikram, and while I was interested in the idea of Shalini questioning this relationship now that they were no longer together all the time I wish it wouldn't because another boy. This made her look like a girl whose decisions revolve solely around boys and I can't like that, sorry. I think I would've rather her questioning the whole idea of being engage at 3 when being exposed to other views; if at the end of it all she felt that this was what made her happy, great! It is not? also great.

And then we have the ending. Don't worry; I will not give away spoilers. All I can say is that it felt extremely abrupt and rushed. What is worst, it felt like there was not conclusion at all. I still gave it a 4 because going to it gave me what it promised. To quote Book Riot: This is great because there aren’t a lot of South Asian YA novels that deal with this transitional period, coming to the United States as a teenager and trying to figure things out.

Imago (Xenogenesis #3) by Octavia E. Butler

Format: Audio

Narrated by: Barrett Aldrich

Lenght: 8 hrs and 18 mins

Series: Xenogenesis (#3 and Final)

Previous Book: Adulthood Rites

Source: Audible

Genres: Science Fiction

Publisher: Audible Studios

Publication date: May 2nd 2014 (first published 1989)

First impression

What an amazing trilogy. I am so glad this was my first contact with the work of Octavia E. Butler, because I completely loved every book and the series as a whole. In this book we encounter Jodahs, another son of Lilith and her Oankali family; a construct. For the first time, a construct that is turning into an ooloi, the first one to come from human parents. Once again, Butler explores how we deal with the unknown and the changes this brings to everyone including yourself.

Final thoughts

I think I have never encountered and author that makes me question what identity really is like Octavia E. Butler with this series. Not only to what a human is, but all those little labels that we gather through our lives: male, female, foreign, normal, etc. This third book is off course not exception, and it comes in the form of a coming-of-age for the main character, Jodhas, who as it turns out, won't be male or female, since the ooloi are neither. First we see its own struggle it has accepting what he is becoming and at the same trying to explain to others so they will not only understand this new step in the Oankali-Human relationship but also so they will accept it and hopefully embrace it.

Once again, as in the rest of the series, the subject of xenophobia is discussed at large, except that in this book, is not just humans who are afraid, the Oankali don't know what to do with Jodhas, and fear what its presence might mean. I loved that she (Butler) shows so beautifully how the unknown is always scary, independent of our background, but that at the same time, we don't need to be afraid. Acceptance is always present in this trilogy, sometimes reluctantly, but always there.

Jodhas has this ability to modify its appearance to make whoever is around more comfortable, to adapt to others and I found this extremely interesting, as it cannot help but do it, most of the time it wouldn't realize this was happening until someone else pointed this out. This is something so common in relationships, we change a bit, not to much that we lose ourselves, but enough to reflect our new situation. The problem of changing so much that our identity is lost is also addressed, but I don't want to discuss it too much, as I fear it might give some spoilers.

I particularly enjoyed the feeling of family portrayed in the book. While sometimes it would seem like a more complicated structure, at the end it is always a net of support, with all of the members being woven together by love, expectations and belonging.

The other thing that the trilogy addresses in an impressive way is sexuality, and what it might mean to a person (or to an Oankali). What it might mean to feel and identify as male, female, both or neither and how others that might be more accustomed to a more black-and-white perspective would respond to this perspective being challenged. I can only say that Octavia E. Butler was a genius being able to put herself in the skin of so many issues and most importantly being able to transmit these feelings in her writing.

I would recommend this series to anyone seeking a brilliant sci-fi series with a lot of social subtext.

Introducing My Own 2015 reading Challenge

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I wanted to use today's free topic post to talk to you guys about something.

For the past 2 or so years, I have participated in the GoodReads reading challenge, the Where are you Reading Challenge (hosted by Book Journey) and the Sequel Challenge (hosted by Novel Heartbeat and Writer Grrl Reads). This year also joined other monthly events. But this has also been the year where the talk about reading more diversely has been all over my radar. I joined the A More Diverse Universe challenge (Diversiverse for short), hosted by Booklust and I tried to incorporate more diverse reading by the end of the year. It was good, but it can be better.

So I have decided to hold my first ever challenge! I will call it: Diversifying 2015. My goal is to read at least one diverse author every month. Diversifying can also be applied to reading more LGBTQ authors or POCs off course. Every month I will do a wrap up post, and I would love it if you can add on those posts your own Diverse readings of the month! That way we are all exposed to more diverse reading and get the wheels turning!

But I want to also give a tiny incentive. So here is the deal, every entry every month will give you a registration and at the end of the year I will randomly select a lucky winner for a 20$ gift card from Book Outlet! (If the winner leaves in a country that is not covered by them we will figure something out :D)

So here is the registration form and as I said every month there will be a wrap up post. I hope you guys join me on this!!