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Migritude by Shailja Patel

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Migritude is an autobiography as well as a poetry, spoken-word theater, and text-based performance for stage, as the author defined, literature written by Shailja Patel in 2010. Patel is a third generation of Indian who was born in Kenya, and she referred herself as an East African Asian. The title itself, Migritude, does not exist in any English dictionary because Migritude is originally an acronym from three different words: migration, attitude, and negritude. These three words represent cultural terms, which give the readers hints about major themes that are discussed in the book.

The book consists of four major chapters. Both of the first and second chapter are divided into two big parts; Part I is when the author lived in Nairobi, Kenya (1972-1989) and Part II is when she lived in UK and the U.S. (1990-2004). The third chapter is a collection of poems, and the last chapter consists of timeline of remarkable events and two interviews with the author. 
 
Actually, Migritude itself was a one-woman show that had been performed in many countries before the book was published. Patel often was very brave to disagree with one’s point of view if it is not unreasonable for her. Like, when she dated a man who told that she had a terrible childhood, she was very shocked. Also, she felt bad when she was forbidden to be friends with her Christian friend, Nina, and when she got a pity look because she cut a doughnut into three pieces. All of these things happened made her very critical and aware of her position; that being an immigrant was not as easy as it seemed. “Yes, I’m exploding. Yes, I’m outta control” (p. 36). Despite her beautiful and metaphorical words, there is an anger and frustration lying underneath the surface. However, Patel neatly covered them and transformed them into a good piece of writing.

 There are also some comments from her regarding the theater itself. Besides a writer, Patel is known as a playwright. She said, “Theater is relationship” (p. 85) and “Performing is so much easier than writing because it’s collaborative” (p. 86). By seeing this, we can see that Patel could transform the issues that formerly might be taboo to be discussed into a performance that could be enjoyed by everyone, without removing the messages she wanted to deliver. There is an interesting point contained the second chapter. Patel admitted, “I brought Migritude. A tapestry of poetry, history, politics, packed into a suitcase, embedded in my body, rolled out into theatre. An accounting of Empire enacted on the bodies of women” (p. 96). Patel as if said that she was the living history itself, and she lived with the history. 

 There is one outstanding poem titled Eater of Death. This poem tells a story of Bibi Sardar who lost her entire family during the U.S. attack in October 2001. Even though the author did not explicitly mentioned the attack was ‘war on terror’, the readers can draw conclusion from when and how it happened. “Their names will not be remembered, they are not Amrikan” (p. 112). Unlike the 9/11 victims who were built a national memorial, they were just unknown victims from foreign country. Patel, even though she is not a Muslim, tried to see the tragedy from the perspective of the minority to show that they were actually as suffering as the Americans. Overall, the third chapter has similar themes with the previous two chapters. The difference is, this part is full of poems without any narration included. The last poem, The Making, as if concludes every issues Patel had discussed before: “Make it / to find out / what your own hands are good for” (p. 122). She wanted to say that, it does not matter who you are, the most important thing is you actually can do anything to make the best out of you.

Nonetheless, every piece of work must have some weaknesses and strengths. Now, I would like to analyze some weaknesses and strengths found in this book. To some readers, the poetic and metaphorical words might be quite disturbing and hard to understand. The readers should read more than once in order to understand the literal meaning. Also, some of the readers may complain about the language and the form of writing that the author chose. Sometimes Patel used narrations, poems, performance scripts, or even interviews. It creates confusion for the readers because the form of writing is not consistent. Thus, for some people who like to read novels, it can be disturbing because they do not familiar with other types of writing rather than narration. Similarly, people who enjoy poems might find it disturbing because they do not expect any narration contained. I also found that Migritude contains histories and serious issues, which to some people are unbearable because it is sometimes related to a particular political interest. However, it does not apply to Patel’s writing. What I trying to say is, the issues she was discussing are various, for example, the history of Kenya and Uganda, raping, Indian culture, war, racial profiling, 9/11, and social injustice. She mixed them up into one book. It is kind of overwhelming, and the metaphorical words can be shortcomings because some readers might not get the key point or the main idea she was talking about. Also, I need to say that to some readers who are not really familiar to read such a form of language might find hardship and need to read multiple times in order to entirely understand. 

Despite the weaknesses, Migritude has successfully formulated the “boring” issues into an enjoyable piece of writing. The readers might not realize that they are actually reading a history book because it is delivered beautifully. To me, it is one of the strengths and it what makes the book interesting. There are not many other authors who have been brave enough to be out of conventional way of writing. In addition, Patel’s choice of words is not also full of flowery and exaggerating words. Otherwise, even though most of the writings are in the form of poem, Patel seemed to be straightforward in delivering the messages. Thus, even though the readers do not fully understand the metaphorical terms, they would still understand what Patel was trying to say. The chapter breakdown is also arranged neatly, so it is not exhausting because each chapter is basically short. 

Although the book only consists of 153 pages, Migritude is actually heavy with the author’s arguments, thoughts, and expressions of feelings toward the historical, social, and cultural issues she had encountered. In brief, Migritude is such a unique piece of work that might not have been existed before. Patel had successfully combined the form of narration, poem, and play into one. Even though the issues may too mixed up and do not have more space to be discussed further, Migritude is for sure giving us broader insight about the issues surround us. The metaphorical language might be distracting, but it is actually what makes the book different because the dark side of history and injustices in the world actually could be told in such a beautiful way.

Written for final paper Critical Reading and Review Writing class with some editing 

Saving Ceecee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

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Cecelia Rose Honeycutt. Who wouldn't love this sweet name?

Unfortunately, Ceecee had a life that was not as beautiful as her name. Her mother, Camille Honeycutt, suffered from sort of mental illness. She was once a winner of a beauty pageant contest, and she always remembered the days of her victory. And yet, only that particular memory which stuck in her mind. Camille used to wander around neighborhood wearing gown with tiara on top of her head, which embarrassed Ceecee.

Ceecee spent her 12 years of life living with her mentally ill mother, and she had no friends. Her father traveled around the country because of his work, and he seemed to abandon his wife and only daughter. Ceecee once ever insisted her father to take her mother to the hospital to get rehabilitation, yet her father refused it. As a result, one day Camille was hit by a car when she wandered around, and she died wearing her beauty-pageant dress.

During her grief, Ceecee was not accompanied by no one except Mrs. Odell, her next door neighbor. Mrs. Odell like to garden and she was the only one who could make Ceecee felt comfortable. However, her life once again turned upside down. Her father actually had another girlfriend ever since Camille was still alive. He decided to move away to forget his past and gave Ceecee away to Talullah, her great-aunt, to live in in Savannah. Ceecee insisted to stay with Mrs. Odell, but her father refused her request. It made Ceecee hurt even more.

From that moment, Ceecee knew that her father had been erased from her Life Book (the 'book' that was fulfilled by her journey and the people along the journey). She carried the hatred and sadness toward his father along with her new life in Savannah. And, her new life began with the people she never knew before. Surprisingly, Talullah, or who was well-known as aunt Tooty, was such a great woman. She had a beautiful and grand house in Savannah. Ceecee was surprised that she could easily befriend with aunt Tooty and her cook, Oletta. Aunt Tooty also had a great and noble job: saving wrecked houses. She believed that every house had a great history behind it, and the building needed to be preserved to liven the histories.

Aunt Tooty was such a great woman who had great girlfriends. She, for example, befriended with Oletta, who was technically black and a cook, but she didn't seem care about that. Oletta was like family to her. This story had 60s background where racism and segregation between the whites and nonwhites still pretty obvious. The Southern part back then had many racial cases in the U.S. However, this story as if tells us that, among that, there was still friendship, there was still hope, tears, laughter, and stories, that could be built together without finger-pointing who I was and who you were. In addition, this story is told from a child's point of view, which made the story pure and innocent.

Overall, Saving Ceecee Honeycutt is a story of women, friendships among women, and hardships that encountered by women. The point of view from a 12-year-old is what makes this story interesting. In the end, this story tells us that, we never know where life will lead us. Sometimes the pain hurts us so bad. Sometimes the horrible past haunts us. But one thing for sure, in the end, we somehow will overcome all of them. And feel grateful for anything we have now.

Lian Gouw: Membawa Sastra Indonesia ke Dunia Internasional

Hari ini saya sangat beruntung karena mendapat kesempatan menghadiri seminar yang mendatangkan Lian Gouw, seorang penulis kelahiran Indonesia yang menerbitkan buku Only A Girl dan memiliki penerbit di Amerika Serikat bernama Dalang Publishing.

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Mrs. Gouw merupakan seorang keturunan Tionghoa yang dilahirkan di Jakarta, Indonesia dan hidup pada zaman kolonialisasi Belanda. Karena pada masa pemerintahan Presiden Soekarno seluruh buku berbahasa Belanda dimusnahkan, sementara beliau hanya bisa berkomunikasi menggunakan bahasa Belanda, Mrs. Gouw akhirnya memutuskan untuk pindah ke Amerika Serikat. Menurutnya, keterbatasan bahasa membuatnya membisu pada masa itu sehingga beliau memutuskan pergi meninggalkan tanah air. Setelah kurang lebih 40 tahun menetap di Amerika Serikat, pada tahun 2010, Mrs. Gouw kembali menginjakkan kakinya di Indonesia.

Berlatar belakang kecintaan terhadap tanah air, Mrs. Gouw mendirikan Dalang Publishing. Dalang Publishing mengkhususkan menerbitkan buku-buku sastra fiksi sejarah berbahasa Indonesia ke dalam bahasa Inggris. Mrs. Gouw sangat menginginkan Indonesia menjadi sebuah negara yang dikenal luas oleh masyarakat Amerika Serikat. Tagline dari penerbit ini adalah "Bringing Indonesian Literature to the World." Karena berdasarkan pengalamannya, banyak dari mereka yang belum begitu tahu di mana letak Indonesia. Banyak yang mengira Indonesia sama dengan Indocina atau India. Dan setelah ditunjukkan peta yang memperlihatkan betapa luasnya Indonesia, Mrs. Gouw ingin memperkenalkan Indonesia yang hanya dikenal sebatas pulau Bali menjadi lebih luas lagi.

Selain itu, semenjak pertama kali beliau menginjakkan kaki setelah puluhan tahun merantau, ada keprihatinan terhadap kelangsungan bahasa Indonesia. Beliau menyebutnya sebagai "bastardization language" di mana bahasa yang sesungguhnya tidak perlu digunakan justru digunakan. Misalnya, penggunaan terminologi bahasa Inggris yang sesungguhnya kita miliki padanan katanya dalam bahasa Indonesia. Padahal menurutnya, bahasa Indonesia itu sangat indah dan kita harus bangga menggunakannya.

Mrs. Gouw baru-baru ini menerbitkan satu karya penulis Indonesia yang diterjemahkan ke bahasa Inggris, yaitu Perempuan Kembang Jepun atau Potions and Paper Cranes karya Lan Fang. Novel ini mengisahkan beberapa karakter sekaligus, yaitu Sulis, Lestari, Tjoa Kim Hwa, Kaguya, dan Matsumi. Kisah mereka berlatar belakang daerah Kembang Jepun di Surabaya pada tahun 1940-an.

Dalam proses penerjemahan novel ini ke dalam bahasa Inggris, Mrs. Gouw mempertahankan nilai-nilai dan budaya lokal yang ada, misalnya cara memanggil menggunakan kata "Mas". Beliau juga tidak ingin membuat pembaca pusing dengan banyak menyisipkan footnote. Istilah-istilah yang terdengar asing beliau kumpulkan di bagian glossary yang terdapat di halaman belakang. Proses pemilihan judul pun cukup rumit. Beliau mengakui harus menerjemahkan judul yang bisa dengan mudah dilafalkan oleh penutur bahasa Inggris dan juga tetap merepresentasikan kebudayaan Indonesia. Akhirnya dipilihkan judul Potions (yang mewakili jamu tradisional) and Paper Cranes (yang mewakili budaya Jepang).

Setelah menerbitkan bukunya sendiri yang berjudul Only A Girl, Remy Sylado Namaku Mata Hari / My Name is Mata Hari, dan Lan Fang Perempuan Kembang Jepun / Potions and Paper Cranes, Mrs. Gouw banyak mendapat sambutan positif dari pembacanya. Misalnya, setelah membaca Namaku Mata Hari, seorang pembaca benar-benar melancong ke Borobudur untuk melihatnya dengan mata kepalanya sendiri. Dengan begitu, bukan hanya dunia literatur Indonesia yang dikenal secara luas, tetapi juga kebudayaan kita yang mendapat tempat di hati para pembaca internasional.

A Moment

"There has to be a moment at the beginning when you wonder whether you're in love with the person or in love with the feeling of love."

David Levithan, The Lover's Dictionary

There also has to be a moment in the end when you wonder whether

you're hurt because of losing someone

or hurt because of the memories you used to have.

The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns by Chris Colfer

I may not be good in writing a review, but I can't help to share my current reading, The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns by Chris Colfer. Colfer is back with the sequel of this spin-off of childhood fairy tales. The first book, The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell had enough taken my breath away I couldn't imagine he could write the sequel better. And yet, he accomplished it. The Land of Stories has successfully brought back my childhood fantasies into a perfect twist. I must appreciate, it isn't disappointing at all.

After traveling from The Land of Stories for the first time and knowing that both of them were parts of the two worlds, Alex and Conner Bailey lived their lives as normal teenagers. Except, they did not. They, especially Alex, had always wondered when their second chance to visit would come. After more than a year without contacting to the Land of Stories, they got a shocking news that even their grandmother, The Fairy Godmother, could barely stand: The Enchantress had returned. After more than a hundred years she was considered dead, now the Enchantress grew more and more powerful. She came with a quest to conquer both of the worlds: The Land of Stories and the Otherworld, namely where Alex and Conner belonged. Worse, the Enchantress successfully kidnapped Charlotte, Alex and Conner's mom in order to pursue her quest.

Finally, they got a chance to come back to the Land of Stories by accident. Alex was happy to know that, but seeing the situation was not so-called fairy-tale-y, she knew that something big was up. Alex and Conner, once again, did an adventurous journey to find and rescue their mother as well as to defeat the Enchantress. Would they be successful this time? Then what did it mean the Snow Queen saying to Alex 'Of the four travelers, one will not return?' Did one of them not survive?

After reading all of his three books, a young adult Struck by Lightning, The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell, and The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns, I like the way how Colfer delivers the story. He's not in a rush, nor too detailed. He seems very accurate in calculating the pace. He knows when to slow down and when to run to keep the thrill of the book's felt so real. One of his greatest strength is his ability to reveal every key point of the book. Therefore, everything is related very neatly. I sometimes find a book that cannot really relate one event to another, so the plot seems a waste because it has no point in that book. However, Colfer has successfully managed the other way around. If he determines to make the third sequel of The Land of Stories, I will definitely be the first to read.

Pretty Little Liars: On Print vs. On Screen

I'm currently addicted to it. Both the novels and the TV series.

It started about a month ago when my friend "provoked" me to watch the series (yes, I'm that easy). I've tried months ago to start watching it, but I hadn't had the "clique" yet. Especially because the opening of the Pilot episode is soo... gloomy and even spooky (maybe because it was opened by a dark night and heavy rain). However, my friend kept convince me that the series is worth to watch. So I tried.

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 But, before I tried to watch the series, I bought the novel and read it, so it kind of a judgment of the series whether it is really worth to try. Ha. Yes, I'm that complicated as well. Aaand, I fell in love with the novel. First, I honestly not a big fan of mystery, but, this kind of mystery that Shepard wrote is not that "scary". Maybe because it actually is a teenager book. Second, I love the characters--Hanna, Aria, Emily, and Spencer. Even though she's a mean girl, Hanna's kinda sweet. I also enjoy the love story between Aria and Ezra. I also love the honest and sweet Emily, but I'm not really into her gay thing. And Spencer, although she always longs for what her sister has, somehow I like her, too. And FYI, I don't like Alison. To me, she's such a pain in the ass, too egocentric, and too bossy. She's very easy to hate. Nevertheless, that might be the purpose of the author in creating Ali's character.

I feel sorry to four of them because they encounter terrors from A. Among the book series, I have read three of them, Pretty Little Liars, Flawless, and Perfect, and I like Perfect best. Maybe it's because the thrill of the book feels so real and the conflicts keep going and getting more complicated. I also found it pretty depressing. It's just too harsh for high schoolers. I don't know what to do if I were one of them.

However, if I compare to the TV series, the plot of the novel is quite slow-paced. The ending of the first book is also the ending of the Pilot episode. I spent 3 days to finish reading the book, but I could get the same storyline in the series for only 45 minutes. Some of the details were left behind, though.

After the first episode, the plots of both the book and the series go into different way. I was watching the series while I also reading the novel, so it got me confused to recall what was what because the gap is quite distinct. For example, I am used to the reunification the the ex-bestfriends in the series. However, in the novel, I also need to accept the "reality" that these four ex-bestfriends do not get along anymore. If I may say, they seem to keep a distance from each other. They also do not feel that they belong together. They're just strangers with memories.

If I may choose, I like the series better. Not because the novels are poorly written, but because I like to see those girls support each other in the series. They seem perfect and alive together. Nevertheless, I also like the novels because Shepard gives every details that the readers need, so I could imagine clearly what she is trying to say.

The review above is according to my opinion. I'm happy to have your own comments!