Summer Readings Thus Far: Némirovsky, Esquivel

When it comes to books, I'm a pack rat. I never know for sure what, exactly, I'll be in the mood for, feverish in the airplane's cabin, or sitting on vacation somewhere with nothing to do. And so I pack myself some variety, a small array of selections for me to call upon when the time comes. I almost always pack too much, and bring a few books back,  a little more beat up than before but otherwise untouched.

Wasn't the case this time, though. Maybe because I had an uneventful visit, and had more reading time than usual, or maybe because once I got in the swing of reading again, I did it faster, I actually got through all the novels (4) I brought with me on my trip. I'm a slow reader, so I don't generally average one new book a week, especially while traveling. But it hasn't been summer for so long, either...

I started the first one, Suite Française, in Arlington, VA, at the end of a two-week-long adventure along the east coast traveling with/visiting friends from school. It was recommended highly by my dear friend Meg Schroth, who had to read it for her French class last semester. I read it through the three-day beach vaca with family in Delaware, and then on the plane to Bangladesh.

It was phenomenal. The book's about a series of characters -- of all shapes, sizes, and (very importantly) social classes -- that are faced with circumstances unlike any that they've known; that is, the invasion of Paris by Germany during World War II.

I really like books told from the viewpoints of different people. They usually end up being connected, somehow, in the end, and I love the feeling of a newly finished puzzle. For some reason -- I doubt they were my first experience with this style -- I always associate it with Tracy Chevalier, who writes a lot this way. That's definitely why I enjoy her books so much.

It has the distinct taste of an unfinished book, but if any case should be forgiven for it, it's this one. If you ever end up reading it, take the advice Meg gave me and, when you're finished, read the appendices and all the rest. I can't even begin the fathom how Némirovsky, who was deported to and killed in Auschwitz before she could finish, could have written one soft, quavering note* given her circumstances. Definitely hidden treasure. A.

*Fawkes inspired me on that one. It's not plagiarism, I swear!

Next up, something very different: Como agua para chocolate by Laura Esquivel. This is the first full-length, untranslated novel that I've read entirely in Spanish; I never quite made it through the translated Alice and all the stuff we were assigned in class were either short stories or never, ahem, read completely.

In terms of reading in Spanish, I learned a lot. I stupidly forgot to bring my dictionary with me, so the first couple of chapters were killers, but my aunt bought me a pocket-sized one soon enough. I like to think my vocabulary was boosted considerably, if only in the kitchen. I spent more time looking up cooking terms and ingredients than anything else; by the end, I'd decided it wasn't terribly important anyway and skipped a lot of the recipes.

The story itself receives a B+. Even without the linguistic benefits, it's worth reading. The only word I can think to describe it is, uh, strange. It's about Tita, the youngest daughter of woman who, following a long family tradition, forbids her at a young age to marry Pedro, her fawning sweetheart.

Pedro marries her sister instead, and then a lot of weird stuff happens. Seamlessly incorporated into the family's daily activities is magical realism, something I've always been rather fond of. The tale is spun in an unorthodox way, perhaps only unexpected because I'm not used to reading in another language.

On the other hand, I really realized, for once, how difficult translating must be. There were some phrases in Spanish that I couldn't even imagine construing the same way in English, without sounding hackneyed and out of place. I was also drawing from my experience with Suite Française (which was translated from French), in which there were a few things that I'm sure were mistranslated.

I read two more books in Bangladesh, but I'll review them later. And then, of course -- the obligatory Potter post. :)