Contact by Carl Sagan

     When the movie Contact first came out I had no idea it was based off of the work of fiction with the same name by Carl Sagan. I didn’t have an idea until a couple of weeks ago. The movie happened to be on tv and I, one night, randomly decided to wiki random people. I knew Carl Sagan was an author that a friend of mine had mentioned a few times and I wanted to know more about him. So I wikied (you know, kinda like googled). Well, lo and behold, I learned that he was the author of the book Contact. Further reading naturally informed me that this same book was adapted into that film with Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey (yup, I had to look up how to spell his name, lol!), the same one I had just been watching on tv the other day. I always liked that movie – not in a drooling fan kind of way, but enough to watch it when it was shown on tv and occasionally of my own volition. I remember wondering almost every time I’ve watched it through to the end, who Carl was of the “For Carl” dedication; I get it now.

 

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

     I began reading this book simply to pass the time, but quickly it became more than just a filler. Perhaps it is cliche to say so but this tale following the lives of two women from the late 1950’s to the early 2000’s is heartbreaking. Of course that is not the only quality to this book. It is filled with round, quietly compelling female heroines supported by a variety of others characters from gentle, kind-hearted men to dispicable abusive husbands and the terror of war.

 

Lit Bit Book Club

     After this month (May) I am putting the Lit Bit Book Club on hiatus. Since I am getting ready to head off to the UK for grad school, I have a lot of things that I need to focus on and get prepared; like applying for my student visa . With this in mind, and my recent attention to grad school stuff, I haven’t been as focused on the book club as I’d like to be. So I’m going to shut it down for awhile (I’m not exactly sure how long at this point), and think about what I want to do with the book club as well as taking more time before choosing books. I’ll let everyone know when I decide to get it going again.

 

A Good Turn-out

    Now, I know Christmas isn’t supposed to be all about the presents and all that commercialism that capitalists have turned it into, but my family (my parents especially) is not very photogenic, so I don’t have any pictures of familial Christmas merry-making. What I do have pictures of though, is my pretty decent turn-out of gifts for this holiday.

    Most of this stuff is from my parents, a couple of things are from other friends and family, and then a few things are from myself to myself:

These are the DS games I got this Christmas. One of them is from a coworker, one from me to me, and then the other four my parents bought me.

Since I have turned a new leaf and joined the Harry Potter bandwagon, I figured it was time to fully commit and just buy the movies as well. I bought three of them for myself (shame on me!) and then my mom bought me the latest two. Thanks Mom!

My parents also bought me the third installment to the Pirates of the Caribbean to go along with the other two that I have.

I also received a couple of gift cards to Barnes and Noble. One from my grandma and then another from an Aunt and Uncle. A few days after Christmas, my parents made our way to a mall (I know! We were aparently feeling daring, patient, and slightly insane that day!) and I bought up these four books of poetry, naturally going over my total that the giftcards added up to.

    This next photo honestly has nothing to do with my Christmas gifts, but I just wanted to share a photo of my entire DS games collection. I’m only doing this, because, frankly, I’ve never had such a large video game collection. This is a first for me. A milestone in my gamer existence:

    This year was really the first year that I could afford to splurge on my parents, and I think they were happy with what they got…or at least they seemed happy. Sometimes it is hard to tell. I hope they enjoy their gifts, because I really did put a lot of thought into them. Perhaps this entire post will just make me seem materialistic and bragful (<–is that a word?), but that really isn’t how I’m trying to come off…and for some reason, I am feeling the need to justify myself for being excited about the gifts I gave and received. Oh well I suppose. Take it how you must, and I’ll just enjoy my readin’s, gamin’s, and movie watchin. I hope that no matter what you got or didn’t get this year, that you had a happy holiday. And I hope that when I get to times where money is tight and the goodies are not so plentiful, that I’ll be able to take my own advice.

 

The Rape of Sita by Lindsey Collen

    Lindsey Collen takes social and political issues to a new level in this novel about the rape of a woman and her struggles to overcome it. This novel is packed with references to multi-cultural mythologies and languages and subtleties. There is a definite clash and meshing of cultures all throughout this novel, which takes place primarily on the island Mauritius. The characters are real and down to earth, while at the same time maintaining an aura or essence of myth about them, especially when you come to the point of
learning about the women in Sita’s family.

    Part of the charm in this novel, despite its often serious subject matter, is the manner in which Collen decided to narrate it. Instead of just taking the logical route of having Sita relay her own story, and the struggle with regaining the memory of the rape several years after the fact, Collen uses an outside character to communicate the story of Sita’s rape simultaneously to the people of her town as well as the reader. Iqbal, the man that retells Sita’s story, interacts with his audience, both the literary and fictional (though they often blend together throughout the book). He has a disarming honesty about him and I think this really comes through with this refrain that constantly sneaks in on him as he tells the story: Iqbal was a man who thought he was a woman. Over and over, this refrain pops up throughout the ins and outs of the storyline.

    Just like the narrator interrupts the story with his thoughts, it is also interrupted by this audience that is listening. They often demand to know certain aspects of the story that seem to have nothing to do with Sita’s rape. Things like who her father is, or they demand a story about a hero, or they want to know how they can trust that the narrator is a reliable source. Let me tell you, it takes awhile to get to the nature of the rape. It’s a curious thing, to want to know the details of something so horrible as a rape. And yet, beginning the novel, knowing that it was about this woman that was raped, all I wanted to know was how it happened and what she has done or is doing to overcome such a violating and invasive act. But don’t be alarmed, because everything you read up to the point of Sita’s rape is preparing you to better understand where all the characters involved are coming from and the different aspects of life that have influenced their actions and reactions throughout the novel.

    The intensity of the novel doesn’t solely come from the issue of the rape, but also the social and political unrest within Mauritius and surrounding areas. Sita herself is a part of a Women’s Movement and is very politically involved in her community. One of the major issues that stems from this novel and demands to be addressed is the problem of living in a colonial or post-colonial country. In Mauritius there is a huge variety of languages, religions, races, everything. Throughout the novel there are often foreign words that I had a hard time discerning…some looked like French, others I
had no clue…but this only helped to make the point of how difficult it is to effectively communicate in such a situation.

    What I love about this book is its depth and texture, as well as its ability to convey so many intense and heavy ideas, without being overwhelming in any way. At first, it took a little while to adjust to Collen’s unique style of writing and the way in which she chose to convey this story, but once I gathered its momentum, it was an easy read all around. My one minor annoyance with the novel was the manner in which it ended. Not in regards to what Sita chooses to do in reaction to her rape, but how the narrator closes his tale. Iqbal ends the story by thanking Sita’s live-in boyfriend for encouraging him (Iqbal) to be a more active member in the community. Well, I found this a bit of…I dunno… a slap in the face, considering that a huge portion of the novel is dealing with rape and women’s rights. So let’s dedicate this telling of a woman’s rape to a man…why not dedicate it to Sita who encouraged Iqbal as well to utilize his story telling abilities…or maybe I just read that last little page the wrong way. Either way, on the whole I was very satisfied with the novel and as always, I enjoy recommending books, and this one is no exception. It is a great novel if you are interested in multi-cultural readings and socio-political topics. At the same time, it still maintains a personal resonance to it, which allows the reader to feel connected and involved in the story.

Originally Published: 1993
First Feminist Press edition (the one I read): 2004
Category: Fiction/African Studies
Copyright: 1993
Style: Paperback
Pages: 197
*This book was initially banned when it was first published in Mauritius, where the author had been living for several years. One of the primary reasons that the novel was banned, was the fact that it offended the Hindu population with it’s mix of religious figures and stories, and fiction.