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What I've been reading: Books No. 39 & 40
Aug. 4th, 2018 11:35 amBook No. 39 was "Wonder" by RJ Palacio as an audiobook. Oh boy, do I have mixed feelings about this one. The book centers on August (Auggie) Pullman, a boy with a set of genetic conditions that have left him with a deformed face, even after dozens of surgeries. He's always been home-schooled, but his mother decides it might be time for him to go to public school starting in 5th grade. It is told from several viewpoints, including Auggie's, a few kids at school, Auggie's sister Olivia (who is going through her own high school growing pains), and a few other folks. So, let's start with things I *did* like. I like Auggie as a character - he's very sympathetic, though other reviews I've read of the book point out that he's somewhat passive - things happen TO him, rather than him doing much of anything except surviving 5th grade. I sympathized with his sister Via's desire to both be a good sister but also to fit in at school. I also think that some parental reactions, like not wanting Auggie's face in school photos, feels really authentic to how real people react. I also like that there is a lot of humor in the book.
But this book had problems. One is that Auggie comes off as immature compared to his schoolmates, but I think that's mostly because the other 5th graders are WAY too mature. I have volunteered with fifth graders before, and the kids in these books are much more like 9th graders for the most part in the way they gossip and talk about who is boyfriend/girlfriend. Another thing that was so bad it made me cringe as I saw it coming a mile away is that (spoiler alert!) Auggie wins an award at the 5th grade ceremony basically for surviving 5th grade as "the deformed kid." This book is a great example of why I read books on disability that are BY disabled people themselves, not by well-meaning able-bodied people. Even family members don't have the same perspective on things that disabled folks have on themselves.
On the flip side, a little boy with similar facial differences, highlighted in this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw1wwInsQ1I), uses the book "Wonder" to break the ice when he comes into a new school so that kids know what to expect and how to react to him. If it does good things for that kid, I'm glad it exists. I really wish RJ Palacio had done a bit more research on cranio-facial abnormalities and had made Auggie a more dynamic character, however.
Book No. 40 was "The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky, Unexpurgated," edited and with introduction by Joan Acocella and translated by Kyril Fitzlyon. Nijinsky was a famed Russian ballet dancer in the early 1900s and went on to be a famous but controversial choreographer, with one of his ballets ending in a riot, and another censured in the press as "obscene." In his late 20s, he began to succumb to schizophrenia, and kept a diary over 6 weeks that shows his deterioration. His wife previous published a highly bowdlerized version that removed references to bodily functions and anything that made her look bad, and this is the first unexpurgated version in English.
The introduction is really the most interesting thing about the book. Acocella is both a dance critic and the co-author of a book on abnormal psychology, so she was the perfect person to give a brief bio of Nijinsky and introduce the book. The diary itself is a bit of hard go. You do get some factual recollections of Nijinsky's life, but his writing is extremely stream-of-consciousness and very repetitive. Occasionally there will be a nice turn of phrase, as when he says his mother-in-law "kisses me and my wife and Kyra (daughter) for show. I kiss her for show, because I want her to think I love her. She kisses me so that I will think she loves me. I know she has no soul. I know that pieces of glass burst in her heart when she says she loves me." But then, later on, you get verse that reads like this:
I want to say that to sleep
I want to say that to shit
I shit and you shit
I shit I shit
You shit you I shit
I shit and you are in I shit
I'm sure that was part of what his wife expurgated from the version she published. Overall, I'm glad I read it, but if you don't want to read 200 pages of word salad, you might just want to read the wikipedia article about his life. Fascinating character!
( The other books I've read so far this year: )
But this book had problems. One is that Auggie comes off as immature compared to his schoolmates, but I think that's mostly because the other 5th graders are WAY too mature. I have volunteered with fifth graders before, and the kids in these books are much more like 9th graders for the most part in the way they gossip and talk about who is boyfriend/girlfriend. Another thing that was so bad it made me cringe as I saw it coming a mile away is that (spoiler alert!) Auggie wins an award at the 5th grade ceremony basically for surviving 5th grade as "the deformed kid." This book is a great example of why I read books on disability that are BY disabled people themselves, not by well-meaning able-bodied people. Even family members don't have the same perspective on things that disabled folks have on themselves.
On the flip side, a little boy with similar facial differences, highlighted in this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw1wwInsQ1I), uses the book "Wonder" to break the ice when he comes into a new school so that kids know what to expect and how to react to him. If it does good things for that kid, I'm glad it exists. I really wish RJ Palacio had done a bit more research on cranio-facial abnormalities and had made Auggie a more dynamic character, however.
Book No. 40 was "The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky, Unexpurgated," edited and with introduction by Joan Acocella and translated by Kyril Fitzlyon. Nijinsky was a famed Russian ballet dancer in the early 1900s and went on to be a famous but controversial choreographer, with one of his ballets ending in a riot, and another censured in the press as "obscene." In his late 20s, he began to succumb to schizophrenia, and kept a diary over 6 weeks that shows his deterioration. His wife previous published a highly bowdlerized version that removed references to bodily functions and anything that made her look bad, and this is the first unexpurgated version in English.
The introduction is really the most interesting thing about the book. Acocella is both a dance critic and the co-author of a book on abnormal psychology, so she was the perfect person to give a brief bio of Nijinsky and introduce the book. The diary itself is a bit of hard go. You do get some factual recollections of Nijinsky's life, but his writing is extremely stream-of-consciousness and very repetitive. Occasionally there will be a nice turn of phrase, as when he says his mother-in-law "kisses me and my wife and Kyra (daughter) for show. I kiss her for show, because I want her to think I love her. She kisses me so that I will think she loves me. I know she has no soul. I know that pieces of glass burst in her heart when she says she loves me." But then, later on, you get verse that reads like this:
I want to say that to sleep
I want to say that to shit
I shit and you shit
I shit I shit
You shit you I shit
I shit and you are in I shit
I'm sure that was part of what his wife expurgated from the version she published. Overall, I'm glad I read it, but if you don't want to read 200 pages of word salad, you might just want to read the wikipedia article about his life. Fascinating character!
( The other books I've read so far this year: )
