A Poignant Reflection

Wanna know what makes Amy Tan tick? This is the book for you. Crazily gifted, she shares the complex story of herself, her mom, dad, brothers and grandmother, and how those puzzle pieces meshed to make the writer we think we know. Tragedy, angst and eccentricity abound. Somewhat stream-of-conscienceness-esque, you have to be willing to float along through parts of it, but I think that's how her mind actually works, and it's a fascinating thing to see.

One thing's for sure, I feel like an idiot after learning all the stuff she can do, and has done.

Didn't WWII Teach Us Anything?

The myths in this country are "liberty and justice for all", and "innocent until proven guilty". Of course 9-11 rocked the U.S like nothing since Pearl Harbor, but our response was less than stellar, or even logical. One would think that after the rounding up and encarceration ("encampment") of Japanese Americans, the message would have become clear that such painting of races with a broad brush is not accurate. There are whack-jobs everywhere, but you don't see all the white people being herded into a cell or having being arrested for no reason because some lunatic shot a bunch of people. So here we are. This collection of seven stories of Arab and Muslim Americans shows us how our claims are quite false, and our practices alienate loyal citizens while wasting valuable time which could be spent, say rounding up someone who has really committed a crime. Like, say, having classified government documents floating around one's house . . .

Maybe Pass on This Passage . . .

Hey, no dispute. Anuk can write. It's just that I don't want to read what he's writing. If you're into long, rambling philosophical treatises and streams of consciousness, this is the book for you. That's not me. Furthermore, I think the "message" (?) could have been delivered, effectively, in a short-story format, in no more than, say, 10 pages. So this book went on about 277 pages too many for me.