Family by Pa Chin

revolution.
tragic.
enlightening.

I read this book for my world lit class. It was really difficult for me to get into it, I think because of the names; they were hard for me to pronounce and I kept confusing them in my mind because they were similar to each other.

I was downtrodden by much of the deep sadness in this book. The only good thing, for me that came out of it was to gain a better understanding of the lives of people in China before modernization finally occurred. I'm not sure who had it worse--the wealthy women, or the servant women. And the men were just that--men--trying to make good choices according to culture and the knowledge they possessed but making a mess of everything in the process. In the end there was hope but only after wading through much tragedy.

That being said, I know this piece of work was warmly embraced by the new generations in China during Pa Chin's time and I commend him for breaking the mold and shedding light on this difficult topic. I think he did a great job poetically portraying both the good and bad. It certainly isn't because of his writing that I give this book only two stars, but because of the content.  It is definitely out of my comfort zone of good ole pop fiction (;

2 out of 5 stars

The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy

static.
dark.
enlightening.

I am currently reviewing fiction from my World Literature class I am currently taking, since I don't have a lot of extra time for recreational reading this quarter. The selected literature is in stark contrast to the pop fiction I normally indulge myself with, and it has been a breath of fresh air.

My first descriptive word is "static" which means a character who is unchanging. After reading the first few chapters, I was thinking it has to get better, right?! To my dismay it got worse--much worse. I can tell you because it is stated in the first chapter of the book that Ivan dies a man satisfied with his amends.

The book is pretty dark, but if you know Tolstoy, you know both his parents died when he was a child...he never even knew his mother or even saw pics of her. He had several of 13 children die, as well as a grandmother and two aunts that had a great effect on him.  Pondering his mortality was not something Tolstoy was a stranger to. Contrastly, the main character in the book, Ivan doesn't even take a single thought of death until it is staring him in the face.

I found this book ultimately enlightening and it has a depth to it, as does an exceptional work of art.

4 of 5 stars because it's depressing to an extent.