Nwabisa Bangeni

Revisado: 07-15-24

I liked the two points of view, illustrating the generational ties echoing through time and place.

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The tenuous threads of families

Revisado: 11-09-21

Min Jin Lee's Pachinko delves into the impact of the political on the personal, the implication of one into the other, and the impossibility of separating the two. The story required of me to leave judgment at the door, and to be persuaded by cultural convictions that are different from mine. I also found the patience to understand and to accept the deep flaws of some characters. If read as the story of a family over the years, then the temporal leaps and character-hopping will not be frustrating. The family lives through many historically significant moments, but the novels dwells on the intimate rather than spectacular. We get to witness the impact of war and strife on the individual lives; we have read in other records how Japan and Korea were affected on a larger scale by the wars, but the novel spells out what the minutes, hours and days of those times meant for families. It is a story of becoming, transitions and the tenuous threads that knit people into families. I enjoyed Allison Hiroto's performance and reading; her voice brought softness into this world of unrelenting challenges, and mediated my experience of it. Having read other reviews, I think readers' preferences and expectations determine the type of encounter one has with the novel. I found it utterly compelling.

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The American justice system & an American marriage

Revisado: 09-15-21

The novel demonstrates the ways in which the system, while difficult to point at, shapes and determines people's lives in very concrete and intimate ways. I like how the story fills out as it progresses; revisiting the past while moving forward, leading to different relationships with the characters. I especially like this temporal shift because the stories of our lives are never complete when they happen, other pieces fall into place years after the incident, and only then do we come to a full understanding of an event that transpired years ago. The novel is about the marriage of a man and a woman, and it is about other forces (the American justices system) and actors (friends and family) that are as much a part of the marriage as the couple. I loved listening to An American Marriage, the performance was excellent. I think Sean Crisden managed to have a distinct rhythm for each character- easier to identify in print as Roy, Andre and Big Roy's registers differ just slightly. I did imagine Celestial's voice differently, though; it is softer than I expected, but it still retained a bit of the fire and steel Roy says she has. As the story picked up pace, particularly the fighting scenes towards the end, I was glad for the softness Eisa Davis gives her. I first encountered Tayari Jones' writing via Silver Sparrow, and have enjoyed most of her books. An American Marriage is a great book, and a pleasure to listen its performance by Sean Crisden and Eisa Davis.

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