Flash House by Aimee Liu

Flash House is a mystery story set in the period 1949-1951, the time of the Chinese Communist revolution and the time of the McCarthy era in the United States. Some novels are simply entertaining stories, with no underlying moral, philosophical, or psychological theme. Brick Lane is a book about transitions in life, about human growth, about finding joy in life. Flash House is an entertaining story with no underlying theme; it could easily be imagined as a movie (although probably with a different ending). Flash House is well written, though Aimee Liu is not the writer that Monica Ali is. Written by a woman, the book was written from a feminine point of view, actually two feminine points of view. The book traces the lives of two principal characters – Kamla, a 10 year old girl who has been sold to the operator of a dirty, cheap house of prostitution in New Delhi, India, and Joanna Shaw, the wife of a newsman in New Delhi and a woman who runs a home that rescues young prostitutes and trains them for lives outside of prostitution. The novel switches back and forth between the voice of Kamla, who tells her story, and the voice of an unseen narrator, who tells the story of Joanna Shaw as well as other characters in the book. Kamla’s story is about her joyful rescue from the house of prostitution, her involvement with Joanna Shaw, her fear and eventual abandonment by Joanna Shaw, and her triumph in life after all of her ordeals. Joanna Shaw’s story is about the disappearance of her husband and her dogged tracking of him throughout China, helped by one of his friends, who turned out to be an Australian setting up a spy operation in Southeast Asia. The end of the book was unsatisfying for me, but it was positive and brought a feeling of completion to the story.

Brick Lane by Monica Ali

Just as Shantaram is a masculine book, Brick Lane is a feminine book. This book was written by a woman; its heroes are women; and all of its men are badly flawed and unattractive. Brick Lane is a book about the mental growth and transformations that occur in life. It is a book about women taking charge of their lives, rather than leaving Fate, or men, in charge. The book focuses on the transformation of one woman, Nazneen, from a poor, uneducated girl in Bangladesh, to a mature, independent woman, living in London. However, the book also traces the transformation of other characters in the book, particularly Nazneen’s husband, Chanu, who is portrayed as a pathetic man who, though educated, is completely lost in life, with delusions of his own self-importance, fumbling his way along, giving up his job and finally losing his family.

The story is complex, chronicling the lives of two sisters who begin life with completely opposite attitudes about life. The story contrasts Nazneen, who is taught to accept Fate (and who does) with her sister, Hasina, who from the beginning of her life, is determined to take charge of her own fate, is determined to have a happy life. The book carefully develops the transformation of Nazneen into a woman more like her sister, who gradually decides no longer to accept her fate or the inane whims of her husband or other men in her life, but who decides instead to take charge of her life and her fate, determined to find happiness both for herself and her two daughters. The story details the travails of both sisters, weaving their lives together, with Hasina never losing hope for happiness despite terrible hardships, and Nazneen finally finding that same hope and determination. Nazneen’s growth in life includes an affair with a young man, Karim, who also is struggling to find his own way in life. In the end, Nazneen lets him go as she realizes that he is moving toward an even deeper unreality, while the person to whom she thought she was attracted was only her own invention, her own imagination.

A good author must write well and have a good story to tell, and Monica Ali succeeds in both. This book is extremely well written, drawing the reader into the story with the words and the structure of the story. The story is believable and compelling. Brick Lane is a book about the triumph of hope over despair, of joy over sorrow, of determination over acceptance. One image is used to portray the growth and transformation of Nazneen. In her deepest despair, she is drawn to the hope and joy she feels in watching ice skaters on TV; and in the end, she finds that hope and joy in her own life as she becomes a joyful ice skater herself. Brick Lane is very good book, a very inspiring book that leaves the reader feeling happy to have read it. However, it is also a book that portrays women as needing to find their own hope and joy, and men as incompetent, unattractive and undesirable.

Cezanne in Provence

An exhibition of 117 of Cezanne's paintings is currently on display at the National Gallery of Art. Cezanne This exhibition focuses on the paintings of Cézanne in and around his native Aix-en-Provence, and the exhibit marks the centenary of the death of Paul Cézanne (1839–1906). This exhibition displays landscape paintings around Provence, and also many other paintings of Cezanne during his lifetime -- portraits, still lifes, and watercolors. The exhibit displays Cezanne's development as an artist during the years that he lived in Provence, from 1860 until the end of his life. The exhibit shows his Impressionist paintings, his palette knife paintings, and his progression as a painter leading up to the beginnings of Cubism.

I am not a fan of Cezanne. Although I do enjoy some of his early Impressionist paintings, and I find his palette knife paintings interesting, I find much of his techinque and his subject matter uninspiring. Many of his paintings seem to be unfinished, leaving parts of the canvas unexposed. His paintings focus on trees (often filling the entire canvas with trees), large rocks, and a single mountain, Mont Sainte-Victoire. His paintings are filled with greys and blues, and seem dark and gloomy and uninspired. And his technique of painting blocks of color seems childlike. As a person untrained in art, it is hard for me to understand Cezanne's place in art. His works pale by comparison with those of other Impressionists, such as Monet, Pizarro, Renoir, and Degas, whose paintings fill one with awe and inspiration. Compare, for example the richness of Degas' painting, L'absinthe with a comparable painting of Cezanne, The Card Players. I am pleased that I went to the exhibition, but I am left with wonder, rather than awe. This is the Washington Post review of the exhibition.