This week I blazed through a book called Icarus Girl, written by Nigerian-born, British-raised Helen Oyeyemi. This, in short, was a fantastic book and a truly gripping read. I picked it up from the historic City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco when I was there in December for the AGU annual meeting.
This book constantly reminded me of two (amazing, award-winning) things:
Yes, a bit odd, but hear me out. First, Beloved, a book that I read in high school (senior year AP with cosgrove? junior year with lemke? I don't remember). Beloved has similar themes of African folklore, supernatural elements amid everyday situations, and the past coming back to haunt you (I really should give Beloved a re-read, come to think of it). Throughout reading Icarus Girl I kept having flashbacks to English class and caught myself identifying themes, reflecting, and contrasting scenes a lot more than I usually do - thanks, English class!
Both Morrison and Oyeyemi tell their characters' point of view in biased, changeable ways - you can tell that your perception is being twisted on purpose. This is fun and interesting to me, since I usually read hard sci-fi or historical fiction novels that give a very unbiased, straight 3rd-person here-is-what-happened kind of story. But in these types of novels, you have to judge if you trust the storyteller, and if you don't, how you should interpret the events AND the characters' viewpoints.
Speaking of sci-fi, the other thing I kept thinking about (especially towards the end of the book) was the Doctor Who episode "Midnight". Here the Doctor and a bunch of humans meet something completely mysterious that seems to copy and take over a person Better synopsis here (spoilers!). Both this episode and the book had elements of mimicry, the power of voice, identity, and the alternate feelings of fear and curiosity when presented with the unknown. Both also pack that emotional twisting of the gut that had me curled up in bed, reading frantically, skipping over passages (a habit I am trying to break, really!) when I should have been up and being productive.
In short, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. It's a fantastic read with lots of layers and keeps you guessing until the last few pages. Love it!
This week's donation concerns the troubling news coming out of the Central African Republic and the unrest causing massive movement of refugees there. Violence began on December 15th, and since then 200,000 people have fled from their homes to the wilderness or to UN camps. In order to assist in the care of refugees, I'll be sending a donation to Oxfam, which is currently appealing for funds to help South Sudan specifically. Here is their overview on the situation, and here is an update from last week appealing for peace and protection of human rights.
Although, to be specific, my money goes to Oxfam America, which then sends its money out to projects all around the world. US folks, go here to donate!
I'll see you all next week! Happy reading!
2014 TOTALS:
Pages read: 781
Dollars donated: 20.00
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