Books about women

Anne de Courcy’s “The Fishing Fleet: Husband Hunting in the Raj"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 17 Jun 2014 21:11:00 +0000

Here is a review by Carol Herman that I liked very much.

On May 12, we faced the wind and the rain to gather in Jonna’s lovely home to discuss the heat and the dust described in Anne de Courcy’s “The Fishing Fleet: Husband Hunting in the Raj”. Opinions were divided: once we had recovered from the shock of realisation that we were not to be treated to a cosy, Barbara Cartland-style romantic novel, we put on our social historian hats and settled down to read this rather exhaustive – and, it has to be admitted, at times rather exhausting – account of the marriage market in colonial India. Often repetitive and deliberately anecdotal, the book concentrates upon recounting the stories of a socially-speaking somewhat limited sample of women who travelled to India, married and settled there over a period from the end of the seventeenth century to the middle of the twentieth and India’s independence. Some of the insights are fascinating, some horrifying; the unremitting boredom of the life of a planter’s wife making do in the middle of nowhere, living from one gathering at “The Club” to another, is well described as is the contrast between the wealth and display of ceremonial festivities with the sicknesses and dangers of life in India and the heart-breaking separation from children sent “home” to be educated. Several of the novels we have read have featured the lives of these “Raj” children and it was interesting to reflect on these. A mixed review for de Courcy’s book: like the Curate’s egg, “Good in parts!”

Gina Ford "The contented baby" and Tracy Hogg "Secrets of the baby whisperer"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 21:55:00 +0000

I read somewhere that men are programmed for one age. They do not change internally. Some are fifty years old in their passport and twenty five years old in reality - they still rush to become the alpha male, they try to chase the most females and to mark the widest territory. Some are forty-five and what you observe is the eve of puberty - they tend to play musketeers and will be playing until their death, such a program runs in them. Some are stuck at age seven forever- they have not yet come out of the age of infant cruelty :)))

Everything is different with women. They change over the years internally: girl- young woman - woman- old woman, from the family perspective: daughter - wife - mother - grandmother. This is due to childbirth and meno-cycle.

As for me, at the age of .....I finally reached the stage of being a Mother .

I am a mom of a beautiful daughter!!!

Therefore I tend to read specific literature, for example books on how to handle babies. Two I found helpful: "The contented baby" by Gina Ford and "Secrets of the baby whisperer" by Tracy Hogg.

One promises a contented baby and contented parents provided you strictly follow a schedule, the other one promises the same by following much more relaxed routine. I found truth in between.

Bodo Schaefer and Carola Ferstl "Money is beneficial to women"*

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 02 Feb 2014 19:07:00 +0000

Bodo Schaefer says that there is a big difference in how men and women respond to the theme "money." Prior to writing his book Bodo Schaefer conducted a survey in which more than 1,000 women participated. The results surprised him.

Apparently, women tend to shift all responsibility for important matters. They rely on their partners. Almost no woman thinks seriously about her retirement. Most of them do not even know what retirement to expect. In fact, 80 % do not have a clue as to what will be their pension. And it seems they do not care . Most women start thinking about money only when their life situation changes , for example, after a divorce. Bodo Schaefer does not think that such extreme measures are needed to bring order into a woman's financial situation.

Most women accumulate money for large purchases, but not for creating material prosperity or they save for children. More than 50% of all their money are on deposits. That is how women struggle against poverty. Hardly any woman dares to buy shares or invest into some funds. Women are much more cautious than men. They invest more conservatively. This means that a good income avoids women.

There is a good side - women are more economical than men, however the bad side is that women do not save for the future well-being , rather, they have these very different motives. They set aside money for a "rainy day", save for large purchases (furniture, car) , for a holiday home and for their children. They do not think about themselves and the future richness.This is due to the fact that many women are more family oriented. They attach great importance to education and childcare, as well as to a cozy home. Men, on the contrary, focus on status. This leads to the fact that women often spend money on new acquisitions that are impaired during the year and are out of fashion.

And what is the result? Most women have little money.

The book was issued in 2002, i.e. pre-crisis time and is more focused on the German market. I would not follow his advice on how to get rich literally. But I would advise you to read the book. There are moments that make you think , I found a lot of useful things. Below is one of my discoveries .

When Bodo Schaefer was 26 he went bankrupt. His instructor asked him then , "Mr. Schaefer, what is your plan in dealings with the money? " . But Bodo Schaefer knew no plan. He lived only in a hope that his problems will be solved by themselves when he starts to get more again. And so his answer sounded like that : "There is no plan. I never thought seriously about the money ." "You're wrong ," - said his instructor , - " You have a plan. Everyone acts unconsciously according to some plan. You just live based on the plan of poverty."

My discovery is that I also, in fact, live on the plan of poverty. Take this blog for example - it is completely non-profitable, moreover it is not in my native language. And what do I actually hope for? How to get rich, ah? I will leave you for a while and will let myself be mesmerized by Google shares' price. Maybe I will find the answer...:)

* Translation of the title from the German is mine

More about how beauty is beneficial to women is on my blog Notes about styling

Amy Chua "Battle Hymn of The Tiger Mother"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 14:03:00 +0000

They say that behind every outstanding person there stands his/her mother. Today it is rather a marketing team, sometimes a farther or both parents. However mothers still play a significant role in childrens' upbringing.

If you think one should be born a genius and the parents do not play any role, Amy Chua will prove that you can make a genius through a Chinese way of education.

I read the book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Motherbecause I heard it had caused a public outcry in a sense that Amy Chua, the mother of two daughters, killed their childhood in pursuit of making them high achievers. Did I find her way of bringing up kids totally unacceptable?...

I would like to cite Tolstoy who said about education approximately the following:

Pedagogy is a science of how living badly we can have a good influence on children. The same goes for our medicine - how living contrary to the laws of nature yet to be healthy.

Artful and empty sciences, never reaching their goal. All parenting difficulties arise from the fact that parents do not want to correct their own deficiencies, even justify them in themselves, and at the same time do not want to see their shortcomings in children.

If you look at the way Amy Chua raised her children from Tolstoy's angle then she acted as she had been taught, as in a beehive she followed the program. She was honest with children, demonstrating her philosophy of life by her own example, I mean she passed the test of sincerity. Another question is that Amy Chua's system has not been accepted by many in the western world - too much of pressure on kids, which opens an endless discussion in respect of how much pressure kids need.

What I liked about Amy Chua is that she also learned something from her second daughter. At some point the tiger mother gives up her pressure and realizes that she can be more flexible and that her truth is not final.

There is another book about motherhood that will be interesting to read. The author is a famous writer, Romain Gary, who was brought up differently, although he, like the daughters of Amy Chua, is a higher achiever. One system of education is Jewish, the other one is Chinese. Regardless of different approaches there are few common points in both systems - despotic mothers, a system of clear and unconditional suggestions and mothers' devotion to their kids. Tiger mothers which frighten and make you admire. Which of the two would you prefer?

Winter reading

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 21 Dec 2013 22:52:00 +0000

If you are in a mood for reading during Christmas holidays then here are my "Winter" suggestions.

Smilla's Sense of Snow, I have already talked about this book here. The story is not without bumps. However, you will plunge into silence masterfully created by Hoeg, you will perceive snow as a special kind of silence, you will fall in love with snow, Winter and Smilla.

The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel

You may find my impressions about the book here. Do you like frightful and bewitching mystery? Like a hypnotic melody of fakir’s flute? Here is your book. Why did I chose the book? The main protagonist is called Vida Winter.

Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life Why Coco Chanel? Because according to the color analysis Coco Chanel belongs to Winter type (color analysis is the process of determining the colors that best suit an individual's natural coloring. There are a wide variety of approaches to analyzing personal coloring. The most well-known is "seasonal" color analysis, which places individual coloring into four general categories: Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn.)

Le voyage d'hiver

Did you know that Mr. Eiffel, the creator of Eiffel tour in Paris, loved a woman whose name started with letter "A"? That is why the Eiffel tour reminds the first letter of the alphabet. If the given name of his beloved one started with letter "O", for example, then the Eiffel tour would have looked like a donut. Well, the book is not about Eiffel and his personal life, I am not even sure if it is true, I mean letter "A". The main character in of "Le voyage d'hiver" talks about it and I found it funny. If you translate the title from French to English then the title will be "Winter Journey". The reference is made to songs "Winter Journey" by Franz Schubert. The hero of songs is a guy rejected by his beloved, he travels around the world doomed to depression and loneliness. Not sure you can find the book in English though. The book is in Amelie Nothomb's style - bizarre and curious. It talks about an unusual love story when the heat (love) cannot beat the cold.

ENJOY THE READING, MERRY Xmas and A HAPPY NEW 2014 YEAR!!!

Hans Christian Andersen "The Snow Queen"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 21 Nov 2013 10:30:00 +0000

We are accustomed to the fact that in fairy tales it is usually knights who save princesses.

Opposite happens such as in the tale called "Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Andersen. Here Kay represents death. The broken pieces of the magic glass lulled him. He likes regular geometric shapes in which there is no life, he finds roses ugly, his heart grows cold.

Gerda is love itself , she goes unarmed around the world to save Kay.

Every person has Kay and Gerda inside himself/herself. The question is "Who is stronger?"

"But can you give little Gerda nothing to take which will endue her with power over the whole?", asked

the Lapland Reindeer the witch.

"I can give her no more power than what she has already. Don't you see how great it is? Don't you see how

men and animals are forced to serve her; how well she gets through the world barefoot?

She must not hear of her power from us; that power lies in her heart, because she is a sweet and innocent

child! If she cannot get to the Snow Queen by herself, and rid little Kay of the glass, we cannot help her", the witch replied.

As I said earlier we have both Kay and Gerda inside ourselves. Often when we see a worm-eaten apple we prefer to it a smooth, refined, full of insecticide fruit from the supermarket. Remember our pathologic fear of microbes, the French regular gardens etc? In fact, we have a lot from Kay.

Is your Gerda strong enough? Mine is hesitant and fragile.

I wish your Gerda always saves your Kay. This beautiful fairy tale will help you.:)

Gabriel Garcia Marquez "Love in the time of cholera"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 19:39:00 +0000

Where did the summer go? Do you happen to know?

"Love in the Time of Cholera" is one of the best I've read this summer. The plot is reminiscent of the Great Gatsby. The formula is simple: (He) Florentino Ariza is poor. Fermina Daza, the love of his life, marries the most enviable groom of the city, a Doctor, Juvenal Urbino.

If the Great Gatsby reaches his dream in American way, that is, he tries to become richer than the husband of his dream-woman, Florentino Ariza walks to his goal in Colombian way. What is this Colombian way? You will learn if you read the brilliant Marquez.

Symptoms of love are similar to the symptoms of cholera and it is easy to take one for the other, especially in the beginning. Why cholera and love go through the novel as a dotted line? I did not dive into deep meditation on this. Wikipedia explains it well (Love as an emotional and physical disease). Maybe Fermina Daza wrongly diagnosed her feelings when marrying the Doctor. Two men are antipodes - one is the rational, the most respected man, an active struggler against cholera in his hometown, the other one is a knight of love, far from being “comme il faut” though.

The charming part of the novel is Colombia, sweltering, humid and dangerous country where mules wander through the mountain passes, malicious parrots hide in huge trees and old steamers creep on the rivers hiding lovers under the cholera flag.

Kohle Yohannan "VALENTINA American Couture and the Cult of Celebrity"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 17:12:00 +0000

"No matter in what milieu, a woman should never look clumsy. When she is working, even in the kitchen, she must be dressed in what is suited just for this, created just for this. It can have as much chic, on its own terms, as what she wears to dinner - and she should feel just as gay and charming in it. The woman who imagines she can become chic suddenly at six o'clock by getting all dressed up for the evening- to this I say no. Chic is something that must be with her all day, all the time. It does not matter how frugal her wardrobe is, if it is planned, if everything in it expresses a reality of what her life is, and its occupations, then she will never look clumsy. This is the only elegance."

Valentina

"Stepping out of limousine in front of a bustling Manhattan supper club one evening in the 1940s, Valentina and George Schlee approached the cordoned-off front door with Noel Coward, Marlene Dietrich, John Galliher, and Clifton Webb in tow, filing past a gathering group of tourists who had stopped to catch a glimpse of the glamorous nightspot and equally glamorous clientele. Visibly stymied, a child in the crowd pointed and giggled at what must have been one of Valentina's more outlandish getups - a gaffe that her well-meaning, but embarrassed mother attempted to back pedal away from by saying approvingly that no doubt the lovely lady was "dressed for theater"

Bemused, Valentina stopped, then turned dramatically to face the on-looking crowd, and replied, with a bow,

"Madam, I am theater..."

With this, she raised one carefully groomed eyebrow, then turned back to the charmed laughter of her companions and the now-applauding crowd and disappeared into the club."

Valentina Sanina Schlee and her husband, George Schlee, Russian émigrés, moved to New York in 1920s. Valentina opened up an atelier and later a high couture house, which became very successful. Valentina dressed the preeminent women of style of her day. Harold Koda noted rightly that Valentina understood the conflicting desires of women to stand out, while appearing to blend in.

She constructed a lot of outfits based on nuns' images: "I thought them the most beautiful women I had ever seen. The memory has remained to color everything I have ever done..."

Valentina is famous for her extravagant statements. Here are few of them.

"Aware of her reputation for being prohibitively expensive, Valentina once told American heiress (and client) Doris Duke that "while Mainbocher unquestionably made the Duchess of Windsor look like a lady; for the same price, I could look her like a queen."

"In 1939 when George Balanchine's ballerina wife, Vera Zorina, balked at Valentina's offer to sell her a fabulously sumptuous $40,000 sable evening wrap, explaining that she didn't really have any need for it, as she had just bought a floor-length mink cloak the year before. Holding all things she deemed ordinary in violent disdain, a shocked Valentina replied,

"Meenk? Meenk?! Don't be rideeculous! Mink is for football!""

Harold Koda in the foreword to the book:

"From a business perspective, her contemporaries Norell and Mainbocher did not even begin to approach her success, and only Chanel can be seen as an equal in her faculty for self-invention and promotion. Finally, a woman who combined the aphoristic wit of Chanel, the technical virtuosity of Vionnet, the dramatic thetricality of Adrian, and the pragmatism of McCardell, is being given her due."

Agatha Christie "An Autobiography"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 13:46:00 +0000

Agatha Christie talks as if she embroiders - she picks up thoroughly a thread, sometimes adorning her work by pearls of wisdom.

I found interesting her thoughts about women.
Agatha Christie says that with the passage of time the situation of women has definitely changed for the worse. Women behaved foolishly - they began to yell, they were allowed to operate on an equal basis with men. Men jumped gladly at the idea. Why to defend wives? What's wrong if she would defend herself? If she wants it, she is welcome!

Agatha finds extremely frustrating that at the beginning women declared themselves wisely as the weaker sex, now they are caught up in a situation of primitive women working all day in the fields, marching for miles in search of camel thorns suitable for fuel. Poor women marched with heavy household goods on their heads, while their brilliant males pranced proudly in front, free of baggage except deadly weapons to protect their women.

You have to do justice to the women of the Victorian era, Agatha says. Women of that epoque kept men in such order. Fragile, delicate, sensitive, Victorian's women were constantly in need of protection and care. Were they humiliated, crushed or had a slave lifestyle? The memories of Agatha Christie tell her something different. All friends of her Grandma were very joyful, stubborn in their desires, self-willed, extremely well-read and well-informed about everything, they achieved success in all endeavors. They admired incredibly their men. In daily life, women were doing everything they wanted, while pretending to fully recognize the superiority of men so that their husbands do not lose face.

What else did I find interesting in the biography of Agatha? A lot of things. Her descriptions of how they dressed, of course. Her sartorial problems with a bathing suit and her collar a la Peter Pan. Glimpses of post-Victorian upbringing, such as Agatha's dialog with her Nanny:

- Remember, the Queen of Spain has no legs.

- And what does she have, Nanny?

- Limbs, my dear. You have to call them like that , hands and legs are limbs.

As noted rightly by Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, her autobiography is"the history of a unique upbringing in a time long gone. It’s a portrait of a childhood and young womanhood that vanished with World War I.”

I liked very much Agatha's principle of not coming back to the places that are associated with very special memories. Never go back to the places where you were happy. As long as you do not do that, everything remains alive in your memory. If you find yourself there again, everything will not be the same and it will destroy your miracle.

I remembered Agatha's dialogue with a lady in the train.

"- Honey, - the lady said - never give in to the stomach. If there is something wrong, tell yourself: "Who is the boss here - me or my stomach?"

- But what can you do with it, really?

- Any stomach can be re-educated. Little by little. No matter what it is for. For example, I have endured badly eggs. Or I got quite ill from toasts with cheese. I started with a coffee spoon of soft-boiled eggs two or three times a week, then cooked them a little longer, and so on. And now I can eat as many eggs as I want. Same with toas

If you like descriptions of traveling you will find curious things on how people traveled hundred years ago, descriptions of Isfahan, Baghdad, Baku and many other places that Agatha saw.

It is a good summer reading.

Agatha Christie and the collar a la Peter Pan

Milorad Pavic "The Inner Side of the Wind, or The Novel of Hero and Leander"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 10:07:00 +0000

Do you like paintings by Marc Chagall?

Milorad Pavic is Marc Chagall in words. Both are geniuses.

The Inner Side of the Wind, or The Novel of Hero and Leander:

"...in dreams there is no past tense. Everything there reminds of something not experienced yet, some strange tomorrow, which started in advance. It reminds a down payment, taken from a future life, a future that happens thanks to the fact that the sleeper (isolated in the future tense) avoided the inevitable 'now'"

"The future has one big advantage: in reality it looks always as you did not imagine it."

Last Love in Constantinople, A Tarot novel for divination:

"You people do not know how to measure your days. You only measure their length and say that the day lasts 24 hours. And your days have sometimes more depth than length and this depth can be up to a month or even a year of the length of days."

Barbara De Angelis "Secrets About Life Every Woman Should Know: Ten Principles for Total Emotional and Spiritual Fulfillment "

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 12 May 2013 21:10:00 +0000

If you find Kastaneda too dramatic and you think the methods he offers are not applicable to your busy life, you may try Barbara de Angelis "Secrets About Life Every Woman Should Know".

It is Kastaneda or Hawaiian shamans packed and explained to modern women who do not want to be bothered with extravagances such as Daoism, I mean those many women who have usual life problems like a broken heart, children, job etc.

The book is a bit long - Barbara belongs to a "chewing" type. Maybe being long and sentimental is something typical for an American. I can't judge, but I have this impression. Elizabeth Gilbert is also a "chewing" type. Sometimes I think American editors ask their authors to bring bricks with no less than 500 000 words, so the authors have to chew. Why shorter novels are not in fashion? Why not to announce, just like in Vogue - "This year is the year of short stories, mini is back again"! Have you noticed how heavy children books became?

Back to Barbara. In fact, being a "chewing" type is being analytical. I, unfortunately, also belong to this type. Instead of writing something creative like "Brigitte Jones" and make people smile, a "chewing" type would rather chew and provide people with an "understanding".

Did you know that love can be explained? Barbara gives one of THE BEST explanations of love, no sarcasm here. In fact if you have no money and time to fly to India's ashrams or you do not want to pay psychologist's fees, the cheapest and, in my opinion, the best solution, is Barbara's book. She walks you through her life, she is very sincere and very helpful.

Diana Vreeland "DV"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 01 May 2013 09:55:00 +0000

Many books about fashion history are boring.
They are dead statements of facts like old encyclopedias. Do not you think so?

To learn about 20th century's fashion history in the least boring way is to read Diana Vreeland's autobiography.

What an inspiring life!

It is an autobiography above all. However her life was connected so closely to style and beauty that you also learn a lot about fashion and style. She starts with Diyagilev, she speaks a little bit about Queen Mary and the royal family, few paragraphs about Coco Chanel, few pages on Japan, one chapter about colors and a lot about France and US. She met a lot of interesting people and she makes you look at them from a different angle.

She shares her passion for beauty and teaches you not to be afraid of being different.

Here are few quotes from the book.

"Conde Nast was a very extraordinary man, of such a standard. He had a vision. He decided to raise the commercial standards of the American woman. Why, he decided, shouldn't they have the best-looking clothes? He gave them Vogue. The best looking houses? House & Garden. And don't forget Vanity Fair! Why, Conde decided shouldn't American women know about writers, entertainers, painters - that Picasso was painting extraordinary paintings, that a man named Proust was writing an extraordinary book? Why shouldn't they know... about Josephine Baker?"

"Most people haven't got a point of view; they need to have it given to them - and what's more, they expect it from you. I had this most curious thing happen - it must have been about 1966 or'67. I published this big fashion slogan: THIS IS THE YEAR OF DO-IT-YOURSELF.

Well, after that slogan appeared, every store in the country telephoned to say, "Look, you have to tell people. No one wants to do it themselves - they want direction and to follow a leader!" They were quite right. There was only one issue published with my slogan, but it certainly threw the country. After that, it was back to the more usual slogans: BEWARE OF PEARL GRAY WITH PINK -that sort of thing. An then the next month: PUT APRICOT WITH ORANGE. There is not much serious planning in this sort of thing. It's rather like a woman's mind... you sort of feel it at the time. Carry on. Bash on. Keep' em thinking. Keep' em asking."

Diana Vreeland about colors.

Ameera Al Hakawati "Desperate in Dubai"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 20:05:00 +0000

I have already talked about women in Turkey of 16th century (harem), French queen and Russian empressof 18th century, Chinese women of 19th century, Mexican women at the turn of 20th century and many others. Today is Dubai of the 21st century.

My friend, who has been working in Dubai for several years, wanted to write a post about living and working in Dubai. She kept saying: "Dubai is a vicious city, the world of double standards." After some time, she advised the book "Desperate in Dubai" by Ameera Al Hakawati saying that the book conveys the mood.

I have been several times in the city, unreal, like a mirage in deserts, where the smell of money is felt like anywhere else, and some of my unspoken assumptions were found in the book. This story will open slightly abayas' veil.

The main characters of the book are four women: The Lady Luxe, the daughter of a powerful man (it was her line in the novel that captured me the most - Lady Luxe is rebellious, playing with death and leading a double play), Leila, a girl from Lebanon, lonely and desperate for a rich husband, Nadia, a devoted wife, who left her work in London for the sake of her husband's career in Dubai and an Indian girl from the UK, who had come to work in Dubai to forget her past.

It is the same old story of women's search for happiness, with one exception - the play takes place in the United Arab Emirates. Brands of clothing, cosmetics, and cars are constantly mentioned. It is overwhelming, but it is also an integral part of life in Dubai. In my opinion the book presents well the atmosphere of Dubai.

If you are curious to know what kind of a mystery "shadows of a man" hide, read the book.

"Snow Flower and the Secret fan" Lisa See

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 09:23:00 +0000

This story concerns the events that took place in 19th century in China, during that time when daughters were considered "worthless branches on the family tree. They drained the family resources, they were raised by one family for another". Perhaps in some places of the world it is still the case.

Lily is one of the worthless branches from a poor family. When she turns six her family invites a diviner to fix the date for Lily's foot binding. The diviner studies Lily's horoscope and discovers that she is not an ordinary girl. The diviner confers with a matchmaker, they both examine the girl and announce that Lily has a great potential of making a woman "carrier", i.e. marrying a man from the wealthiest family in their county, provided Lily's feet are bound properly, of course.

The matchmaker proposes that Lily has also a laotong.

"I believe your daughter might also be eligible for a laotong relationship"

I knew the words and what they meant. A laotong relationship was completely different from a sworn sisterhood. It involved two girls from different villages and lasted their entire lives, while a sworn sisterhood was made up of several girls and dissolved at marriage."

When Lily turns seven she goes through the foot binding process and when the agonizing part of it is finished, the matchmaker comes and announces she found a loatong for Lily whose name is Snow Flower.

"Lily and Snow Flower are of identical height, of equal beauty, and most important, their feet were bound on the same day. Snow Flower's great-grandfather was a jinshi scholar, so social and economic standings are not matched"

The matchmaker says that regardless of the difference between two families, Snow Flower's parents did not oppose to laotong relationship between the girls. The relationship will be beneficial for Lily, who was ideal in many ways but needed a refinement to enter a higher household. The matchmaker gives a fan to Lily where it is written in Nu Shu (secret women's writing):

"I understand there is a girl of good character and women's learning in your home. You and I are of the same year and the same day. Could we not be sames together?"

From that day Lily and Snow Flower's laotong relationship started and lasted all their lives. What happen to the girls afterwards? Find it for yourselves.

You will discover beautiful and ugly customs and traditions of China of 19th century. You will find a lot about women's position in the society. But besides being an amazing historical book, it s a very deep story about love and friendship between women, about quite a rare quality, our ability to love.

Nothing can describe the essence of the story better than Lily's words:

"For my entire life I longed for love. I knew it was not right for me - as a girl and later as a woman - to want or expect it, but I did, and this unjustified desire has been at the root of every problem I have experienced in my life.

I am still learning about love. I thought I understood it - not just mother love but the love for one's parents, for one's husband, and for one's loatong. I've experienced the other type of love -pity love, respectful love, and gratitude love. But looking at our secret fan with its messages written between Snow Flower and me over many years, I see I did not value the most important love - deep-heart love."

Romain Gary "Promise at Dawn"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000

I have long been thinking to have a section dedicated to mothers. Here is the chance to open it.

This winter, I saw a play based on the book by Romain Gary "Promise at Dawn", in which one French talented actor played Romain Gary and his mother at the same time. It is a poignant story. We laughed and cried. Romain Gary's mother is something. She is eccentric and her boundless love for her son is even despotic.

She, in spite of poverty and exile status (Romen Gary and his mother were immigrants from Lithuania), filled him with knowledge that he would become the ambassador of France, a famous writer, a hero and will dress in London! From his childhood she would proclaim her "predictions " with aplomb and no hesitation tete a tete and often in front of people . What struck me most is how parents' messages direct lives of children. As his mother predicted Romain Gary did become a world-famous writer, the Consul General of France, member of the Resistance, a Knight of the Legion of Honor. He even dressed in London, though he hated English cut. He just had no choice.

The dose of his mother's love surpassed the norm, it was always present in his life, even after her death, it hid him from death in the war and rose him to the incredible heights in life.

Parents' messages is an incredible phenomena. How strongly we always react to the words of our parents, even as adults, even if separated by thousands of miles, even if not seeing each other for decades. Who are we? What is our achievement in life and what is the result of what our parents have told us?

"French Lieutenant's Woman" John Fowles

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 10:47:00 +0000

It is genius!!!

Now let’s talk.

There are stories that have to be read slowly with breaks, sometimes with a glass of wine. "French Lieutenant's Woman" by Fowles is one of them. I relished the story, enjoyed the erudition and generosity of the author. The novel was a revelation. It is not a fast food, so it deserves expensive surroundings and time.

The rhythm of the narrative coincides with the pace of the middle of 19th century' life. You feel like walking slowly in the woods, examining in detail all around, sometimes you sit down on a stump and your eyes catch details of which, if not Fowles, you would not have thought. In short, it is not an action story.

The author is very visible, he constantly interferes, comments, sometimes goes into a totally different direction. And I like what he does, because if he stays behind, subtle and invisible like Chekhov in his plays, a superficial reader (like me) will not think it through.

I liked that Victorian England was spoon-fed to me. This is not a novel; it is above all a great guide on Victorian England. Fowles touches all aspects of history: religion, science, sanctimonious morality, customs and traditions of all sections. The text is smart and it can be divided into many citations. As a stylist I found Fowles’s comments on clothes and fashion marvelous. The characters are described very well, and it was through them Fowles was able to convey the mood of the époque and the changes occurring during that time. Despite the slow pace and thoroughness, Fowles surprises by twists in the plot.

Now, about Sarah, the main character. At first I thought it would be another version of Anna Karenina, Lady Macbeth, or the main character of the Awakening by Kate Chopin. Sarah immediately fit into the famous list of ostracized women. I was looking forward to read the "English" version of events, however I got surprised...

The middle of the 19th century, a small town in England at the seaside, a woman with an incredible longing gaze is on the promenade. This woman is known as the French Lieutenant's Woman. Her nickname is based on rumors that she was the mistress of a French officer, who promised to marry her, but abandoned her and, apparently, was not going to come back. Charles Smithson, a poor nobleman engaged to the daughter of a wealthy merchant sees Sarah while walking. Meeting with a mysterious woman will not leave Charles untouched....

My opinion about Sarah was changing as I was reading the novel. She is one of those rough diamonds, which comes to the world with a programmed mission and character. It does not matter whether she is poor or rich, she will fulfill what she is destined for. The force of her personality is so great that she, like a hurricane pulls into her vortex all those who happened to be nearby. I admire the image created by Fowles. But I find Charles, the main character, is much closer to me. Maybe it is because Fowles explained him better.

Part 2 "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 17:19:00 +0000

Last post was about Sonya from "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy.

The central images of the novel are two antipodes, Maria Bolkonsky and Natasha Rostova.

Look how far their destinies stand at the beginning! Natasha is charming, tender and young. She is trained to sing, dance and ride horses. Deprived of parental tyranny, she enjoys a great success in the high society, falls in love and is being loved. In one word Natasha looks like a beautiful white flower that grew up under the warm sun. Princess Mary is actually imprisoned in a provincial estate, she is neither beautiful nor graceful and she does not have skills to charm. If people are interested in her, it is because the old maid is one of the richest Russian brides. Her father is a jealous tyrant who for some reason decided that his daughter should understand geometry. (You, modern women, tell me, how many times the ability to solve problems on parallelograms helped you in life?) The only joy that she has is to write letters to her friends, however even her letters are being checked sometimes by the father. Mary dreams of becoming friends with her sister in law; however the latter dies tragically during a difficult childbirth. Mary renounces the dream of leaving home and becoming a wanderer - she is sorry for her old father and the little orphan, her nephew, little Nicholas.

Later, the lines of two girls begin to converge imperceptibly and gradually. At the ball, the young widower, Mary’s brother, Prince Andrew, at the request of his friend, Pierre Bezukhov, invites a debutante, Natasha Rostova, to dance. Here are few paragraphs that describe the meeting of Natasha and Andrew.

The chapter of the book, which describes Natasha’s first ball, is one of the most popular among women. I love it!

“Prince Andrew liked dancing, and wishing to escape as quickly as possible from the political and clever talk which everyone addressed to him, wishing also to break up the circle of restraint he disliked, caused by the Emperor's presence, he danced, and had chosen Natasha because Pierre pointed her out to him and because she was the first pretty girl who caught his eye; but scarcely had he embraced that slender supple figure and felt her stirring so close to him and smiling so near him than the wine of her charm rose to his head, and he felt himself revived and rejuvenated when after leaving her he stood breathing deeply and watching the other dancers...

Like all men who have grown up in society, Prince Andrew liked meeting someone there not of the conventional society stamp. And such was Natasha, with her surprise, her delight, her shyness, and even her mistakes in speaking French. With her he behaved with special care and tenderness, sitting beside her and talking of the simplest and most unimportant matters; he admired her shy grace. In the middle of the cotillion, having completed one of the figures, Natasha, still out of breath, was returning to her seat when another dancer chose her. She was tired and panting and evidently thought of declining, but immediately put her hand gaily on the man's shoulder, smiling at Prince Andrew.

"I'd be glad to sit beside you and rest: I'm tired; but you see how they keep asking me, and I'm glad of it, I'm happy and I love everybody, and you and I understand it all," and much, much more was said in her smile. When her partner left her Natasha ran across the room to choose two ladies for the figure.

"If she goes to her cousin first and then to another lady, she will be my wife," said Prince Andrew to himself quite to his own surprise, as he watched her. She did go first to her cousin”

Natasha’s purity, tenderness, lack of pretense and affectation conquer Andrew. But Princess Mary sees Natasha as a frivolous girl, unable to replace the mother of little Nicholas. What a pity that these two rare natures did not understand each other from the first time!
Natasha conquers the reader, we forgive her for everything. Even her temporary insanity (I cannot call otherwise her desire to run away with Anatole!) We understand that her mistakes are from the lack of love, it is because Prince Andrew, at the request of his father, lives abroad for a year and Natasha fades and dies without love... So, the engagement between Natasha Rostova and Prince Andrew is broken.

Princess Mary is in a seemingly hopeless situation - she needs to go somewhere to escape from the French (it is the war of 1812 with Napoleon), but her father has an apoplectic stroke, and Mary takes care of him until the last hour of his life. After burying her father, Mary wants to go, but her own peasants revolt and hold her in the estate. Her savior is none other than Count Nikolai Rostov, brother of Natasha Rostova. Princess is in tears (and the author mentions that Mary becomes prettier when crying!) As for Rostov, he does not pay attention to her appearance; the only thing he sees is a helpless lonely girl in need of support and protection. He helps her out of the village and gets her away from the battlefields.

Natasha and Mary meet again at the bedside of the dying Prince Andrew. Natasha hears that Andrew is among the wounded that were loaded on their carts. At night, she sneaks into his room and is horrified to see that he is not long for this world, she begs for his forgiveness. She takes care of him giving herself entirely to that ...
Mary’s and Natasha’s soulls recognize each other, their sorrow makes them sisters, and from now on they are inseparable.

Princess Mary sees the grief of Natasha but does not know how she can help. Only Pierre Bezukhov, kind, forgiving and suffered greatly, gets Natasha out of her black suffering. So, the sister of Prince Andrew herself blesses Natasha's marriage with Pierre, she does not think that Natasha should be faithful to her deceased brother all her life.

In the meantime Nikolai Rostov, knowing that their family is ruined, resigns from the army, enters the civil services and tries to pay off the debts. He is too proud to marry a fortune, so he does not want to maintain any relationship with Princess Mary. But soon he realizes that he is the only outlet in her joyless life, he sees the beauty of Mary’s soul and he does not imagine another wife for himself.

Neither Natasha nor Mary are deprived of women's happiness, both have families, children, they are related; they are friendly with each other. It is difficult to say which of them is more charming – shining with happiness Natasha or a gentle spiritual Mary.

Decide this question for yourselves, (re-)read the novel!

Women characters in "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 10:12:00 +0000

I will just tell that this topic is immense. One can discuss the "overripe” bride, Julie Karagina, and self-seeking Mademoiselle Bourienne, and the unfortunate fate of Sonya.

By the way, in my childhood I was very sympathetic to Sonya: fate cheated her – she was left without parents at an early age, grew up as a dependent, a dowry-less girl. Sonya put tremendous efforts to be worthy of her beloved cousin, Count Nicholas Rostov, and in the end, due to the difficult situation of the family, was forced to cancel the engagement and resign from the prospects to become his wife. She had nowhere to go, so from the time of Nicholas's marriage she lived with his family.

You may think what you like of it, but this is not fair! One girl has a mother, and a father, and brothers, and sisters, and success in society, and at least some sort of a dowry, and the title of Countess, and the other one has nothing. Both girls (Natasha and Sonya) were raised by the same family.

Tolstoy describes her fate in the dialog between Natasha and Countess Mary:

"You know," said Natasha, "you have read the Gospels a great deal- there is a passage in them that just fits Sonya."

"What?" asked Countess Mary, surprised.

"To him that hath shall be given, and from him that hath not shall be taken away.' You remember? She is one that hath not; why, I don't know. Perhaps she lacks egotism, I don't know, but from her is taken away, and everything has been taken away. Sometimes I am dreadfully sorry for her. Formerly I very much wanted Nicholas to marry her, but I always had a sort of presentiment that it would not come off. She is a sterile flower, you know- like some strawberry blossoms. Sometimes I am sorry for her, and sometimes I think she doesn't feel it as you or I would."

Though Countess Mary told Natasha that those words in the Gospel must be understood differently, yet looking at Sonya she agreed with Natasha's explanation. It really seemed that Sonya did not feel her position trying, and had grown quite reconciled to her lot as a sterile flower. She seemed to be fond not so much of individuals as of the family as a whole. Like a cat, she had attached herself not to the people but to the home. She waited on the old countess, petted and spoiled the children, was always ready to render small services, for which she had a gift, and all this was unconsciously accepted from her with insufficient gratitude.”

Well, all that is very well said. The Rostovs who raised Sonya were generous and warm people. However, they were not able to give her the same amount of love and energy as they did to Natasha. In fact, you cannot blame them; they could not replace the real parents and should not have to do so. They just raised a “cat”! What could have been done? Do you think Sonya's fate would have been better if she grew up in some Institute for Noble Maidens?...

Actually, it is not Sonya that I wanted to discuss, I wanted to talk about the central women images of the novel, two antipodes: Maria Bolkonskaya and Natasha Rostova and I will talk about them in my next post.

Katie Hickman “Harem”

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 13:29:00 +0000

I remember when I was in Beijing, the first thing I wanted to see was the Forbidden City. The name of the city added a lot to my desire to visit it. Harem means “sacred, forbidden”. If you would like to know how Turkish harem functioned, here's the book for you.

The book has two story lines. The first one takes place in the past, in the late 16th century. It is a story of how the bride of the British diplomat in Turkey, Celia, entered the harem as a concubine to Sultan. Through her adventures, you learn about the hierarchy in the harem and the fates of concubines. Will Celia break free? Read a book. Another story happens in modern times. A post graduate student, Elizabeth, investigates the fate of Celia. Elizabeth starts her research in England and ends up naturally in modern Istanbul where she meets someone...

Harem managed to seduce me, so I spent few weeks there:). This is how the East (where all is taken to the extreme) operates. It is impossible to resist to sweets with a lot of honey, to fabrics of contrasting and pure colors and to the mystery veiled by Arabic ornaments.

I wanted to wander around Istanbul. The last time I was there, the Harem was closed for reconstruction. My passion for Turkey was increasing and I found myself eating Turkish food during few evenings:).

Magnificent century

Then I found series "The Magnificent Century" in Internet.The film is about the reign of Sultan Suleiman (the events described in Hickman's “Harem”, occur after the reign of Sultan Suleiman). I found more of Harem than war in the film. An interesting story line of a real historical character, Ukrainian women, who was sold to the Turkish harem, became the favorite concubine of Sultan Suleiman... But that's another story. I can only say that watching gorgeous costumes, delicate Arabic ornaments, the actress playing the mother of sultan (they say she was Miss Universe 1965) gave me an aesthetic pleasure.

The final accord in my "Turkish period" was that I flew with Turkish Airlines this month. While waiting for my plane in Istanbul airport the first thing I did was to eat baklava:)

Somerset Maugham "Theatre"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 11:44:00 +0000

Everyone wants to know how a cinema or theater star looks like in everyday life. Do they really fall in love, suffer, read newspapers?

Somerset Maugham is a writer who miraculously describes female characters (Tiare in "Moon and Sixpence" or Ata of the same novel), but he is not too fond of putting women at the center of his works. The image of the actress, Julia Lambert, from the novel "Theater" is quite unique.

The answer to the question: “where do the actress end and a real woman begin?” will not be received. Only in a few episodes a mocking, able to speak vulgarly, mischievous "another Julia" looks at us from under her mask, but then again she hides somewhere in the corner of her dressing room. It is interesting what Roger, her son, thinks of her: "Sometimes I think that when you do not play, I can go to your room and find that it is empty, you simply do not exist."

Do you think fans and admirers want a real woman? In literature we encountered the phenomenon where a man starts living with an actress, but soon keeping her close to himself becomes boring (Zerbinetta from "Captain Fracasse" of Theophile Gautier runs away from the grand seigneur realizing that he does not love her, but her characters). So Julia is perhaps right that she does not remove the mask from her face.

Her assistant, Evie, a middle-aged London cockney - for whom Julia is transparent as glass - sees everything, but does not criticize or comment, only utters sometimes : "Well, well" and wipes her nose. For everyone else it is hard to imagine the true motives of Ms. Lambert’s actions.

Did the young accountant Tom Fennel fall in love with a woman? Oh, no. While Julia looks marvelous and no one would give her more than 30 years, the main thing is his vanity - what a woman was he able to conquer!

"Do not touch idols, their gilding remains on your fingers", says an old truth. Tom begins to lose interest in Julia. But she discovers unexpectedly that she is seriously in love with him. Oh, the love of a woman over the age of forty! How tragic it is, if the beloved man is young! Julia tries to throw her feelings on stage. But her husband (the best looking gentleman in London, who manages not to notice anything, though the affair unfolds under his nose) picks an overlap???. "You overact - he tells her - you work on cheap effects." Her truth shown on stage is not convincing in real life. How ironic.

After resting with her mother where she plays the role of a respectable daughter visiting relatives, Julia hopes that passion will not return. But love is unpredictable - she hears Tom’s voice over the phone and realizes that she is unable to cope with her feelings.

How can a woman get rid of love and jealousy? Only by seeking revenge! Tom presents his new passion, Avice Crichton, to the director, Michael Gosselyn, husband of Julia, who, flattered by the débutante, rehearses with Avice one of the major role in a new play. Avice is younger and prettier, but in the theater, everything is about talent, and Julia has no equals there. In addition, an experienced actress is always able to shift the attention to herself ... What followed next was not a failure of spectacle, Julia is not an enemy of her theater, but this was a great demonstration for Tom - which woman is worth what!

How he rushes to win back the love of Julia! How he regrets that he got carried away by a girl who is nobody! However he is absolutely not interesting to both Julia -woman and Julia-actress. The scene is played. And on the stage a line is drawn under the passion.

Theater is first of all!

More interesting things about women and beauty in my blog Notes about styling

Women characters in Dickens's novels

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 09:03:00 +0000

Dickens is known by his delicate attitude to women; I mean his novels of course. Following women characters we see that, as a rule, women in Charles Dickens’s books are the embodiments of the highest ideals – a dear young lady, or a kind old lady. If you come across, say, members of thieves’ gang, such as Nancy in “Oliver Twist”, then you notice that even they aspire to kindness, they repent of their behavior, they die in an effort to get closer to the circle of respectable women.

All sins in the novels of Dickens (stealing, drinking, cheating, selfishness) are expressed through men: Fagin (fence), and, to say the least, not a kind Mr Dombey, and a whole string of selfish parish beadles, dishonest judges, indifferent jailers. Men in the works of Charles Dickens are bearers of rationality emasculated to complete callousness; they are not up to sentiments. Rare samples of Mr Pickwick type are rejected by the society, they are seen as cranks, and nobody chooses them as a role model.

A man must be cautious, not to let the emotions take his heart, be occupied by business rather than by emotions – that is the image of men in the works of Dickens. Among them, of course, sometimes a good old squire or a bookshop owner flashes through, but for the most part these are men with strong jaws, energetic, pursuing careers or supporting businesses, rearing sons to help themselves, as for the daughters…

Of course, we all know that the manners in the age of Dickens were severe enough; there was a period of "wild capitalism" (not sure the period is ended though:). But, logically, the wives of such tough guys should be careerists, clever and quirky ladies, making their little feminine careers to help their husbands to gain a foothold in the society (compare with "Vanity Fair" by Thackeray!). However, women in Dickens’s novels are not like that. Yes, sometimes a nasty old woman, who fleeces dying women or matrons of workhouses sleep through; however a good-hearted writer, as a rule, pays his due to them at the end of the book, so vice is always punished. Kind old ladies, lovely compassionate girls, daughters that can forgive even rough fathers, appear on the pages of almost all Dickens’s novels.

What is the explanation? Is it his unfulfilled dream of happiness? After all, Dickens himself was not very successful in private life. Or is it the fact that his family went bankrupt, and he spent several years in poverty, working in a wax factory? May be he just wanted to be caressed, and pitied by somebody at difficult times? It is hard to say for sure, but it is undeniable that women in his novels are filled with a special charm.

Ivan Bunin "Dark Avenues"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 21:02:00 +0000

I would like to come back to the topic of beauty that was discussed in earlier posts. I re-read the "Easy Breathing" by Ivan Bunin, and could not but admire his talent. Piercing story, it takes, maybe, fifteen minutes to read the story but the memories of it you have for the rest of your life. The protagonist is a young girl who, I would say, represents a symbol of joy of life, of everything sincere in us. And her death makes you deeply sad, as if something in you died.

I find this story is a perfection from all points of view. Chekhov said that writing for him meant striking out. Bunin demonstrated that rule brilliantly. For example, the author does not describe the image of Olya Meshcheriyakova in details, he leaves it to the reader's imagination. He emphasizes the important thing - her presence in life, ease and elegance, which contrast with gloomy environment. Easy breathing is an association with a slight breeze, something beautiful and elusive to which we all aspire.

The image of the school mistress is interesting - an old spinster, a complete opposite to the main character. She is one of those who live long and poorly, stuck to a fictional dream or some other idea. After the death of Olya, she regularly visits the young girl's grave as if servicing funerals of her own soul.

Somehow, I have associations with Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany's, I don't know, probably you will have different ones.

this is the iframe

Peter Hoeg "Smilla’s Sense of Snow"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 19:31:00 +0000

It is almost winter. Do you have snow? Look at these magnificent pictures.

Smilla's feeling for snow

The Chinese say that a dish must contain five tastes to be harmonized; in fact they apply five elements formula to everything in life. I think the Book of Peter Hoeg "Smilla’s Sense of Snow" brings together five elements. Just the way I like it.

First, it is an unusual detective story.

Second, you learn a lot about Greenland and Denmark. I have not been to any of these countries, therefore it was very interesting to discover winter Copenhagen. Hoeg raises also a social theme (Greenland, the largest island in the world has been, for centuries, a colony of Denmark. So you do not expect to count on the kindness of Greenlanders).

Third, I was literally fascinated by countless descriptions of snow; I did not know that there exist so many names for snow and ice. I wanted to post many more photographs of snow to transfer the feeling of snow, which remains after the book.

Fourth, there are elements of science, I actually did not like it a lot, sometimes the characters speak as if they are Wikipedia, the dialogues are long and omniscient. But I think that it will satisfy the taste of those who love scientific explanations and technical descriptions (especially of ships).

And finally, the most important character is the fifth element:), Smilla. Her cold loneliness, endless and snowy, but not painful (maybe sometimes) appeals me. I like that she does not work as a detective agent and her extraordinary potential opens up because of the situation in which she found herself. I like her Nordic passionate nature, I like the way Hoeg (almost without epithets) was able to communicate his special feeling to the main character, to the reality in which Smilla lives. You plunge into silence masterfully created by Hoeg, you understand without quotes, you perceive snow as a special kind of silence. In short, I love an outstanding and brave character of Smilla and her wonderful descriptions of snow.

Now a little bit of critics, Hoeg went too far in pursuit of five elements. He lost quality in some of them. I thought the detective line is a little ragged and unfinished. But the rest: Greenland, Smilla and Snow are magnificent. Hoeg has written an extraordinary story, which deserves to be read.

If your winter is without snow or if you have snow and you want to feel it more - just take this book which hypnotizes by stunning ice and general Nordic atmosphere.

Margaret Atwood "The Handmaid's tale"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 21:40:00 +0000

Atwood-The Handmaid's tale

Did the book flash my feminist spirit? No and no.

The role of women in the imaginary society created by Margaret Atwood is "functional" but not diverse. Either you are a Commander's wife (and must be present during your husband's sexual intercourse with his Handmaid), or a Handmaid, and your role is limited to procreation. You may also be declared as Unwoman (women who are not able to have children) and sentenced to colonies where they die very quickly, or you can become Marthas (cooking, cleaning etc), there is also a possibility to become a sterile Prostitute for Commanders in a secret brothel.

Handmaids are supposed to give birth and leave the child to the Commander's family. Then go to another house to fulfill the same duties. Each Handmaid has 2-3 - years for reproduction, afterwards they are deported to colonies.

Everything is reduced to the cold functionality,robotic humanity. Frivolity is excluded in every aspect of life - full dress covering bodies, "butterflies" in the collars, rigid Puritan traditions, no cosmetics, no books.

The handmaid, the main character of the book, is deprived of her name, her husband, and her daughter. She does not have clothes except for the hideous red robe symbolizing fertility and white wings covering her face. She does not have even a possibility to commit suicide.

I read some reviews and many women are horrified by the fate of women in this book. This book is considered to be feminist.

In fact, Margaret Atwood created a society in which men are just as unhappy as women. If you are one of the Commanders and do not have children with your wife, you are entitled to have a couple of Handmaids. The way Commanders have interscourse with their Handmaids, can make some men impotent:) Men of lower ranking do not have rights to get married! Homosexuals are executed and their dead bodies hung from the city wall. If you flirt with Handmaids you will end up at the city wall. It seems that in a new society women are supressed and the world belongs to men, but what exactly does this new society offer to men? Most of books and professions are banned. Due to military regime, a lot of men work as guards or patrol, which is as dull as being Marthas. Those citizens (men and women) who are involved in resistance, or simply do not agree with the regime are executed too. So why this book is feminist? I did not get that.

Atwood described a totalitarian regime in which everybody, regardless of sex, has a hard time. If you ask whether the world created by Atwood is convincing. My answer is: "not very much". I think, it is better not to fantasize on this topic. It is suffuces to look back at our recent history, hardly anyone in his/her fantazies can surpass the realities created by Mao, Stalin or Hitler.

If you want to read more about obedience, totalitarian regime, please read Jonathan Littell "Kindly Ones." This is a book of a different level - one of the rare books that will change a lot in you. It is really deep, shocking and smart.

Back to the maids. The book is not bad. Atwood knows how to write thrillers. A Handmaid was chosen as the main character, which makes you naturally curious to get to know how does "her function" work:). When you finally satisfy you curiosity you are already captivated by her fears and you desperetly want to know the end of her story.

What else can I say? Enjoy life and books while they are not banned, travel while countries keep their frontiers open.:)

Alessandro Baricco "Silk"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 13:28:00 +0000

Silk-Alessandro Baricco

Some people do not like this work, some do. I find "Silk" of Alessandro Baricco interesting but it is not my favorite; he managed to stand out from the crowd. This story stays in memory due to its unusual rhythm which reminds me of Maurice Ravel's Bolero. Maybe he decided to express Japanese aesthetics in this way. The story also resembles an old fairy tale that focuses on the main story line omitting detailed descriptions, which is also facilitated by the book's design, its division into short chapters, and repetitions (repetitive long trips to Japan). Well, Alessandro Baricco experimented.

I think this book falls under the category "Women as symbols of hope, illusion, dream." Here, as in The Great Gatsby, a married Frenchman, Hervé Joncour, takes enormous efforts (in this story he undertakes long journeys from Europe to Japan) just to have a glimpse of his dream that he imagined.

A young Frenchman smuggles silkworms in 19th century. He is sent from France to Japan to pick up secret cargoes. In Japan, he meets a beautiful girl, a local rich man's mistress. They do not speak to each other, they do not touch each other. This tension, hidden promise and exotic culture made his passion grow like mount Fuji when you climb it. Not being able to speak the same language, they communicate through letters. In the meantime military interventions begin in Japan, however the love of Joncour does not wane, and Helene, Joncour's wife, begins to suspect...

At the the end of the story Joncour understands that his true love was never far. The question is: why do we make tremendous efforts to discover one day that the truth is nearby?