Jazz by Toni Morrison

Jazz
Toni Morrison
Originally 1992, I read Plume 1993
229 pages, drama, literary fiction
FOUND: Half Price Books, Hamilton, OH, USA

A middle-aged man shoots his 18-year-old lover, and then his wife attacks the body at the funeral. But what came after, and what before? In this beautifully lyrical novel, told in Toni Morrison’s signature style, an anonymous narrator tells how this event came to be and what each character’s past and future holds – and how the City has come to shape each of them and their expectations of each other.

I have been fascinated by Toni Morrison’s writing since I first read Beloved in a high school English class. That book was a bit too gory and explicit for my teenaged self, so I waited a few years before reading more. This book is the second in a loose trilogy, following Beloved and followed by Paradise – all of which contain similar themes about the history of African Americans in the USA, particularly the role of Black women in that history.

Grief and Guilt

Joe, the man who killed his lover, is filled with grief in that action’s aftermath. He cries and cries and is unable to do anything else. And it seems that he’s not just mourning for his young, dead lover: he’s mourning for himself, for his past, and for who he used to be.

The Garlic Ballads by Mo Yan, Translated by Howard Goldblatt

Source: Goodreads

The Garlic Ballads
Mo Yan
Translated by Howard Goldblatt (from Chinese)
Originally 1988, I read Arcade 2012
286 pages, satire, romance, prison story

The farmers in Paradise County are normal, law-abiding citizens under the Chinese communist regime. They follow the government's orders to plant a bumper crop of garlic, only to end up with piles of unsellable rotting crops as warehouses fill up and prices drop precipitously. When the government does nothing to help the crowds of farmers struggling to move their goods anywhere but back home, the ordinary citizens are forced to take extreme measures to see that something will get done.

Among the farmers watching their carefully-tended crops rot in their fields are a collection of very human characters: parents trying to arrange marriages for their children; their daughter who is in love with another man; and a neighbor whose landowning family history makes him an immediate suspect for any crime.

Mo Yan's novel, which was banned in China after the 1989 Tiananmen square protests, paints a vivid portrait of the common man's daily struggle for survival under an uncaring, corrupt, and draconian regime.

Buy from Amazon:

The Garlic Ballads: A Novel

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez, translated by Edith Grossman

Source: Goodreads

Love in the Time of Cholera
Gabriel García Márquez (1927-2014)
Translated by Edith Grossman (from Spanish)
Originally 1985, I read Vintage International 2003
348 pages, historical fiction, romance

In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fell in love through letters and glances. After they meet and Fermina Daza decides that she doesn't love him after all, Florentino Ariza is devastated. He decides to preserve himself and wait for the time when Fermina Daza is available again - when her husband dies.

Florentino Ariza spends decades having affairs, moving upwards in the hierarchy of his uncle's company, and brooding over his continuing love for his childhood sweetheart. Fermina Daza spends decades traveling, raising children, and caring for her husband, a renowned doctor and center of attention in the local high-class society.

When Fermina Daza's husband dies, Florentino Ariza takes advantage of the opportunity that is finally available to him. But how will Fermina Daza, ever the strong and emotional character, react to his reassertion of his love in the wake of her tragedy?

Read a sample or buy from Amazon: 

Love in the Time of Cholera (Oprah's Book Club)

Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata, translated by Edward G. Seidensticker

Source: Goodreads

Snow Country
Yasunari Kawabata (1899-1972)
Translated by Edward G. Seidensticker (from Japanese)
Originally 1956, I read Vintage International 1996
175 pages, romance, meditation, character study

A wealthy man with too much time on his hands comes to a hot spring resort in Western Japan - known as the Snow Country because of its long, frozen winters - to enjoy the natural beauty of the area and relax in the company of the rural geishas.

He meets a young woman with some geisha training; she speaks so plainly that at first he just wants to be friends. Later they enter into a relationship of sorts, sustained over the years as he occasionally returns to the village.

But their relationship is always unstable, and he is always leaving. During their visits, he sees her station and condition change as she futilely tries to make sense out of her life and gradually becomes more and more insane.

Read a sample or buy from Amazon: 

Snow Country

Frog by Mo Yan, Translated by Howard Goldblatt

Source: Goodreads

Frog
Mo Yan
Translated by Howard Goldblatt (from Chinese)
2015, I read an advanced review copy
389 pages, historical fiction, psychological, epistolic

Thank you to the Goodreads Firstreads program, through which I had the opportunity to read a free advanced review copy of this book. 

Tadpole, a Chinese playwright, is working on a play about the emotional fallout of the Cultural Revolution and the enforcement of the One-Child Policy. To organize his ideas, he writes a series of letters to his Japanese sensei describing his childhood memories and family stories. He focuses on the position of his aunt Gugu in their village community. A talented obstetrician, she was initially loved for her ability to save mothers' lives with new, modern medical techniques, but later she becomes the local face of the family planning commission. The novel, and Tadpole's play that is included at the end, explore the complexities of the political, moral, and medical situation created by the family planning policies of the Chinese state.

Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2012.

Read a sample: 

Aunty's wedding plans

Buy from Amazon: 

Frog: A Novel