Copyright ©2010 Zee from Notes from the North.
Thursday, 20 May 2010
I’m A Guest Today
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
Book Review: Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers
Category: Non-fiction
Challenges: World Religion Challenge, Women Unbound
Synopsis: Stephanie Levine, Harvard Ph.D student, spends one year with girls from the Lubavich branch of Judaism. She gets to know the girls, their hopes, dreams and worries. What comes out of this study is a thoughtful and thought provoking portrait not just of the girls, their religion but also of girlhood in general.
My Thoughts: This was a thoroughly engaging, interesting and informative read. Levine’s portraits of the young girls touches upon some of the central aspects of growing up, aspects that are similar to girls in most of the world, while at the same time showing the differences between the girls in this community and the secular world, AND the differences between the girls themselves. She manages to draw important conclusions and highlight aspects where those of us in the secular world can learn from these deeply religious girls.
The book is part of Levine’s graduate study in American studies and as such reads like an academic paper. It is essentially divided into three sections: what she hopes to achieve and her methods; an introduction to the community and then the girls themselves; and finally the lessons she feels that the secular world can learn from her study.
As a student of humanities I loved her method discussion. She discusses previous studies that has impacted on her choice of method. The method chosen for this study is in depth interviews that follow no previous script, but rather flow, dependent on a relationship between the interviewer and the interviewee. This caused Levine to live within the Hasidic community in Crown Heights, Brooklyn for a year. I loved both the discussion of the methodology chosen and the way it worked. I can definitely understand how and why she got such detailed portraits of each of the girls. You can tell from the way she writes about them that they became her friends, that she cared deeply about them and their lives. This came across in the writing and made me want to know more about the girls, what happened next, did they fulfil their dreams etc. I do hope that Levine follows up with the girls in ten years time.
Some of Levine’s discussion regarding her findings are highly relevant for me as a future teacher and they are definitely something I will take into consideration in my future career. She discusses creating spaces for girls to be themselves without the competition both with boys, and with other girls for the attention of the boys. Lubavitch girls live a life with strict gender segregation and although this partially offends my feminist sensibilities I can also see the advantages, especially amongst teenagers. Levine argues that many girls lose their authentic voice as teenagers due to the tensions that are created in mixed gender settings, as someone who has spent time with teenagers I can only agree. In Sweden we often end up with gender segregated classes in high school because of the track system we have. For example Barn & Fritid (the Child & Recreation) program attracts a lot more girls than boys, conversely at the school where I do my placement we have a class on the mechanic/trucker program with only boys. These classes often have very different dynamics to those classes that are more evenly matched. Levine goes to great length to point out that gender segregation isn’t for everyone, or something that should be ongoing, but rather argues that it could offer girls especially a way to find their own voice. Setting it up as something temporary with support once it changes. It is an idea I can buy.
For me it was interesting to learn about the Lubavitch because I had never before come across evangelical Jews. The Lubavitch work to increase the observance amongst Jews. Although a large concentration of Lubavitch Jews live in the Crown Heights area many also live in Chabad houses around the world. These outreach houses are there to help local Jews to become more observant. The Lubavitch believe that Jews following rituals will call forth the Messiah. The Lubavitch have in the past been lead by the Rebbe, a spiritual leader whom some believe was the Messiah or will return as the Messiah.
If I have one criticism of the book than it is the choice of girls. Levine does comment that it was often easier to get the girls on the extremes of religious acceptance to talk to her. The very religious girls were willing to talk to her in order to increase her faith whereas the “rebels” were willing to talk because they liked hearing from someone outside of their faith. Although she does include some “normal” (their own word) girls, I personally felt that the book could have benefited from more of them. From what Levine says in the opening chapters and what she alludes to throughout the book, these girls often shape the community, and I never felt that I got to really see one of them.
One of the aspects of the Lubavich culture that Levine found fascinating, as did I, was the emphasis put on self examination. Not navel gazing, but “how do I fit in in the bigger picture”, “how does my actions impact on the goal”. Levine rightly points out that in much of secular society this type of reflection does not exist, or is at least not encouraged. Part of the Lubavich faith is the belief that each holy action brings the Messiah closer. It could be an action as simple as lighting the Shabbos candles that brings him into the world. Because of this the girls are encouraged to examine their actions and their faith on a regular basis.
I found the book incredibly interesting. There were things in it that informed me about the religion that is at the centre of these girls. And there were other things that I felt I could use in my future profession. And further things that allow me to see humans in general in a different light. It is a book I highly recommend for anyone who is interested in different cultures and in what makes people who they are.
Purchase Mystics, Mavericks and Merrymakers from BookDepository.
Copyright ©2010 Zee from Notes from the North.
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Teaser Tuesday: The Unlikely Disciple
- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
“If social networking sites had existed in Margaret Mead’s day, she wouldn’t have had to do all that messy field research in the South Pacific. She could have logged on to the Samoa network, browsed some profiles, poked the chieftains, and formed her conclusions, all from her neighborhood Starbucks” (pg 67).
From The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinners Semester at America’s Holiest University by Kevin Roose
Copyright ©2010 Zee from Notes from the North.
Monday, 17 May 2010
Book Review: The Forbidden Daughter
Category: Fiction
Challenges: South Asian Author Challenge, 2010 Challenge (Win! Win!), Women Unbound, POC Challenge
Synopsis: Isha and her husband Nikhil are expecting their second child. When an ultrasound reveals that the child is a girl, just like their older daughter, Isha’s in-laws start pressing the young couple to have an abortion. When Nikhil dies under mysterious circumstances tension between Isha and the in-laws reach breaking point and she must make decisions to protect her girls.
My Thoughts: Books or discussions about selective abortion never fail to get me riled up. Although I am staunchly pro-choice I believe that every abortion is a tragedy. I find it especially repugnant when abortions are done on basis of gender, no matter what that gender is. I thought the book dealt very well with the arguments used both for (weak as they are) and against gender selective abortions. It shows how people who can appear to be one thing are really something else entirely.
Gender selection is perhaps the main theme of the book, however, another strong theme is relationships and when we choose to lean on those with whom we have relationships. Isha, the main character in the book, loses her husband to, what appears to be a senseless act of violence. This causes her already tenuous relationship with her in-laws to break down completely. Alone in the world with one small child and another one on the way she seeks refuge with the nuns in town. Here is where I start having problems with parts of the story. Isha is perfectly happy accepting the help from the nuns, but she is initially resistant to accept it from both her sister-in-law and from the doctor she meets, except she isn’t really. These instances of reluctance seem to be present to portray Isha as both independent and unwilling to accept charity. For me there is nothing wrong with accepting charity when you need it, which Isha clearly did. But her initial reluctance followed by quick acceptance felt forced and contrived.
I got the same feelings from the conclusion of the story. I don’t want to spoil but I will say that the ending felt like Bantwal went, “oh dear I can solve this problem by doing this but it doesn’t solve this one, and really I must have some excitement…” For me she could have left of the excitement she chose. There was plenty of it anyway and it introduced a new character far to late in the story and to me, honestly made it seem a bit like a bad soap opera.
What I did enjoy was the growing relationship between Isha and the doctor. It was sweet and touched upon some interesting ideas regarding moving on when you lose a spouse. It presented some of the cultural aspects of arranged marriages that I had little understanding of in an easy to understand way.
In addition to this Isha overall comes across as a strong character. She stands up to her in-laws when they abuse her daughter. She works hard to provide for her daughters, she feels a sense of duty to those whose lives she matters in.
The subject matter of selective abortion touched me, the story in the book felt rather pedestrian. I felt that parts were rushed, came out of left field and the characters were rather flat. I would have like to get to know Isha better. But it felt like it jumped from crises to crises without any depth.
Overall I did like the book. It was a quick, entertaining read with a very important main subject matter. I felt the story itself could have been a bit better told.
Purchase The Forbidden Daughter from BookDepository
Copyright ©2010 Zee from Notes from the North.
Sunday, 16 May 2010
The Sunday Salon: Getting Back in the Groove
So the past few weeks have been über busy with finishing up my thesis and starting my summer job. Add to that a big @ss thunderstorm that left us without power, phone and water and I’ve actually got a lot of reading done just not a lot of blogging. That will hopefully change next week. I am insanely busy the next 7 days with work, running races and visiting friends but I do have some post scheduled and some books ALMOST done so hopefully there will be some activity on the blog this week and then loads starting the following week. This is all my way of saying sorry for the radio silence.
I don’t have anything much to talk about today but I do want to point you in the direction of something close to my heart. The Spotlight Series is on this coming week and Aarti at B O O K L U S T has a great preview. Head on over there and check it out! I so wish I had take part in this one!
Are you, like me, not able to go to BEA and/or the Book Blogger Convention? If so why not join in the Armchair BEA? This is a great idea born on Twitter and I am sooooo going to join it! For more information head on over to Florinda at The 3 R’s and join in the fun!
Copyright ©2010 Zee from Notes from the North.
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
Teaser Tuesday: The Only Boy For Me
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
From The Only Boy For Me by Gil McNeil
Copyright ©2010 Zee from Notes from the North.
Sunday, 2 May 2010
The Sunday Salon: Reading as a Stress Buster
Very short little salon today because I am very busy working on my thesis. My thesis advisor caused me a great deal of stress this past week by not getting back to me in a timely manner. Once I had gotten the essay back I came across an article in a fitness magazine that I thought I would share with you guys. It is very short, not really an article but here it is (my translation).
A Good Book Gives Peace for Your Soul
Let go of the netsurfing, dust bunnies and racing thoughts and devote yourself to a heavenly moment in company with the literature you prefer. It gives peace.
When we are captured by a good book it helps us move focus from our problems and let them go , a study from Mindlab, University of Sussex, England, shows.
Just six minutes with a gripping or exciting book is enough to reduces stress levels with more than two thirds. According to psychologists the reason is as simple as when the brain concentrates on reading it gets distracted and the body “forgets” to tighten heart and muscles. If you don’t have time to read, you can achieve the same calming effect with an audio book.
From iForm number 7/2010
What do you like to read to relax? Any particular genre or author?
Due to the great work load I have right now with my thesis things will be very quite here on the blog until mid-May. I hope to be back to normal by then. Hope you all have a great time in the mean time!
Copyright ©2010 Zee from Notes from the North.
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