winter reading
SISTERS OF THE HEART
The Secrets of Jin-shei by Alma Alexander.
HarperSanFrancisco, 2004. Hardcover, $24.95.
T
he Secrets of Jin-shei would
be terrific even if it didn’t
have roots in Chinese histo-
ry, but, by basing her novel
on a real language and a cus-
tom of sworn sisterhood associated with it,
Alma Alexander has brought something lit-
tle-known and profound to readers’ attention.
Her novel is a great achievement.
In the book’s historical note, the author
explains that the language we think of as
Chinese is actually a complex web of more
than 500 dialects, among which is a secret
written language passed from mother to
daughter for more than 500 years. Such rich
history brings alive the world Alexander has
created.
Tai is the founder of the circle around
which the novel centers. Nine years old as
the story begins and a grandmother as it
comes to its conclusion, Tai possesses a
capacity for happiness that inspires all those
around her, including a warrior, scholar,
dancer, sage, philanthropist, healer and
empress.
A city with market, temple and palace in
a land of mountains, lakes and changing sea-
sons exists beyond the circle of women sur-
rounding Tai. The denizens of this country
and their faith, customs and struggles can be
found in all these places.
The novel’s greatest strength is in metic-
ulous details such as the “hideous little effi-
gy” of a mysterious lesser deity whose “altar
was always overflowing with offerings,” yet
no one has ever been observed actually plac-
ing anything on the altar.
The book is also relentlessly realistic.
Some wonderful characters meet dreadful
ends and some mysteriously disappear, while
others change for the better. Looking back,
Tai remembers the sisters of her heart and
marvels, “Oh, how rich my life was with all
of you beside me.” Readers’ lives, too, will
be enriched. — Josephine Bridges
GRIEF & REDEMPTION
The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich, HarperCollins,
2005. Hardcover, $25.95. A New York Times
Notable Book of the Year 2005.
I
reviewed for Eugene Weekly
Louise Erdrich’s
first novel, Love
M e d i c i n e
(5/16/85), and
her second, Beet Queen
(1/15/87). I’ve read many
of the subsequent eight
novels, which include her
best-seller, The Master
Butchers Singing Club. It is
a real pleasure to review
Erdrich’s
latest,
The
Painted Drum.
The book begins with a
conflicted
romance
2005-6
between a sculptor and a woman, Faye
Travers, who works with her part-Ojibwe
mother appraising estates in New
Hampshire. Travers is asked to look at the
estate of a former Indian agent, where she
discovers a hidden cache of treasures, includ-
ing a painted drum she immediately recog-
nizes as a rare ritual instrument. The drum
head is three feet across, and she imagines
the buffalo or moose skinned for it was a
giant.
“[the drum] is intricately decorated, with
a beaded belt and skirt, hung with tassels of
pulled red yarn and sewn tightly all around
with small tin cones, or tinklers. Four broad
tabs are spaced equally around the top. Into
their beaded tongues of deep indigo four
white beaded figures are set. They are
abstract but seem to represent a girl, a hand,
a cross, a running wolf. On the face of the
drum, at the very center, a stripe is painted in
yellow. That is all.”
The novel follow
Travers’ stormy relation-
ship with Kurt Krahe,
his rebellious daughter,
Kendra, a neighbor called
Davan Eyke, and Faye’s
mother, Elsie. Elsie has
told Faye that the drum is
the universe, a living
thing, which must be fed
and always covered with a
quilt. “No two are alike,
but every drum is related
to every other drum. They
speak to one another and they give their
songs to humans,” Elsie says.
Later, Faye and Elsie take the drum to its
home on the Ojibwe reservation in North
Dakota. There the storyteller becomes
Bernard Shaawano, whose grandfather made
the drum. The parallels between Traver’s life
and that of the drummaker becomes evident
as Bernard’s story unfolds. A compassionate,
forgiving history. — Lois Wadsworth
CHALLENGING TRADITION
Bodies in Motion short stories by Mary Anne
Mohanraj. HarperCollins, 2005. Hardcover, $22.95.
M
ary Anne Mohanraj’s
rich debut collection,
Bodies in Motion,
shadows two Sri
Lankan families over
multiple generations, exposing their chal-
lenges, changes, triumphs and failures as
each character struggles to make their way.
Described in 20 stories spanning 63 years
and told through a multitude of voices, the
book takes the reader on a journey with char-
acters who bravely step outside tradition to
paint their family portrait.
The desperate story of Thani in “Oceans
Bright and Wide” addresses this man’s love-
less marriage, his compensatory relationship
with a nun and his frustrations parenting five
teenage daughters. I like the author’s use of a
vulnerable male character in a largely male-
dominate society.
DECEMBER 8, 2005 21