It’s an unseasonably warm October afternoon, but the breeze is nice and the birdies and squirrellies are busy collecting seeds, so I thought I’d take advantage of this opportunity to write while Riley is busy watching them. It’ll have to be a quick post, though, as he loses interest in them quickly and then usually wants “mama bonding time” with me. I have two books to tell you about, both by Chinese Canadian authors.
The first is called Red Pockets: a tale of inheritance, ghosts and the future by Alice Mah, Professor of Urban and Environmental Studies. Following a year of record wildfires, Mah visits her great-grandfather’s rice village in South China as an extension of her research trip to a petrochemical plant where she measures toxic pollution. Her visit coincides with the Qingming Festival, a time when family members sweep the tombs of their ancestors. Mah doesn’t know if she should sweep the tombs of her ancestors or what exactly she should do to meet the expectations of the villagers - should she give out “red pockets”, red envelopes containing money, or will that set a precedent for future visits? She worries about the “hungry ghosts”, ancestors whose tombs have been neglected and often cause misfortune. Her story then moves from China to England, to British Columbia, then to Scotland, where she now teaches at the University of Glasgow. Throughout her story and locations, though, are several themes, including the desperate state of the climate and the lack of response from industries and governments, feelings of despair and hopelessness, and ultimately ways to cope with eco-anxiety and look forward to some sort of future that is worthy of generations to come. Depressing? Yes! Well-written? Yes! Intriguing? Absolutely!! It was a small book packed with plenty of big feelings, and made this eco-anxiety-stricken reader feel a bit less alone. I’d definitely recommend it!
And my Volunteer Book Club met yesterday to discuss Denison Avenue by Christina Wong and illustrated by Daniel Innes, which was a hit. Told in the first section by Wong in prose and in the second section by Innes in illustrations, this novel/graphic novel explores grieving, vulnerability and the resilience of the human spirit, told against a backdrop highlighting the gentrification of Toronto’s Chinatown. Wong Cho Sum, an elderly, childless Chinese-Canadian, suddenly loses her husband in a car accident, and she must cope with this loss and learn to carry on. Her reliance on her husband makes this difficult, as she never really learned to speak English fluently and she is unprepared for the rapid pace of the changes in the neighbourhoods with which she is familiar. Over the course of a year, we follow Cho Sum’s gradual trajectory from loneliness and isolation to connection as she meets new people and reconnects with community members, forming new routines and building new relationships, sometimes with the most unlikely people. This was a great book for discussion, as we could all relate to the facts of isolation of our most vulnerable populations, often seniors, and even more often immigrant seniors. We all found it difficult to get into the book, but once we passed a certain stage (different for each one of us), we were sucked right in and couldn’t wait to finish. We all felt for Cho Sum and hoped that her life turned out ok. We liked the character of Chloe, not often heard about but certainly significant. This, too, is a book I would highly recommend.
Riley’s on my lap now so I’m typing with one hand, which means it’s time to sign off. Happy Fall and Happy Reading!
Bye for now… Julie
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