clairealex's reviews
729 reviews

Two things appealed to me about this book. First, I am fascinated by animals learning human language, had read about Nim Chimsky long ago and was fascinated by the use of sign language with animals. I appreciated the notes at the end leading to research backing the novel actions and to the comment that most of the ape - human conversation was based on real conversations, although the book was fiction.

Second, it was a real page turner with twists and turns. Some events I could figure out ahead and some surprised me, a nice balance.

An interesting YA novel, a coming of age story based on some real events--and my hunch is that some of the most unbelievable parts were those real events. Although I had to turn off "believable" to enjoy the book, enjoy it I did.

The plot pacing was excellent, and the book held my attention. The well-rounded character development allowed me to change my opinion of several actors.

For the uninitiated, it was a useful (though grim) survey of some atrocities against women in the world--mostly Africa as I recall. Though I am fairly well informed, I learned new things, especially about the mistreatment of women with vaginal fistulas from difficult labor and deliveries.

I found the "solutions" a horrible reduction to economic answers. Give women money so they can become productive,thus respected, thus their diseases and situations will warrant research. Excuse me, they warrant research even without women being wage earners. To paraphrase one third world reviewer: Now they expect us to save our communities as well as ourselves.

After getting a bad taste from reading Half the Sky, I needed something about women's situation with more nuance. A friend, who I knew from discussions could be quite subtle in her arguments, had written about her recent research in India, so I sought her book.

It is an academic book (sociology, anthropology, Indian and Hindu law, Women's Studies)and mostly out of my field (literature, rhetoric and composition, women's studies), so sometimes hard going. However, there were enough summaries to help me focus. And since it was partially ethnography, the stories of the real women held my attention.

Romero surveys the literature from various fields that relates to housemaids and labor issues and finds separate streams that need to be cross linked. She relates employers' requirements to status symbols and also interviews maids of various ages to counter some myths.

Most striking is that though employers may consider maids "part of the family" the maids do not see themselves that way. The "part of the family" is used to avoid fair wages and time off etc.

"I have freed myself from my past, but I have not let go of it. I cherish the moments and experiences that formed me" (247).

This attitude undergirds the whole memoir: the past left behind could have been so bitterly hated, but instead it is simply left. The person left behind is respected as the new person moves on.

Some of the appeal of the book is the glimpse into the exotic, but most is the well written narrative of growing up with a mind, of thinking about things and asking questions. What is exotic is based on where one stands. In her liberated life she sees her past as exotic, whereas it was mundane when she lived it, longing for the exotic of the outside world.

The details are not all exotic. I see parallels between the Hasidic culture and the Fundamentalist culture more familiar to my past. Most vividly shown are the many minute details maintained to preserve the line between insider and outsider.

The book was a more compelling read than many memoirs.

The book totally held my attention.

The plot pacing was good--interruptions when you really wanted to know what was next for a flashback were well placed. The issues of intercultural communication were well handled, the major local characters as well developed as the Americans. My main complaint is the ending; Marika's change does not seem adequately motivated.

This book should have been a nonfiction book presenting the silk factories. The plot and characters seemed to exist only to illustrate an aspect of Chinese history or factory conditions or options in 1920-30s China for women.

I am intrigued by the hair dressing ceremony wherein women could choose to become a member of the sisterhood of silk workers, an alternative to arranged marriages. A parallel ceremony to marriage; the choice as permanent. Like secular nuns.

Even if the factories allowed women to escape family and marriage, even if it allowed them to send some support home, it is not a good excuse for running a sweatshop, and this factory did become/was always that--hence the strike. However, the strike was unconvincing; the results too easy. I have read about the labor movement's beginning in the US of A, and I must confess that I am now interested to learn to what extent there was a parallel movement in China, and if indeed it was that much easier than in the US.

There seemed an abrupt shift from isolated rural to involvement with the Japanese invasion. While it was abrupt, it may have reflected the awareness of the rural people as the fighting moved closer to them. So I have mixed feelings about the ending. There were slight hints earlier of trouble up north. The entrance of difficulties still felt sudden and intrusive. Maybe war is like that.

Some very interesting character development, an attention holding plot. Some historic information about World War II women prisoners (though the country was changed).

Once the main character became an entrepreneur, it became unbelievable, but still a fun read.