Month: November 2019

The immigrant experience

Linda J

Mia’s family has immigrated from China to the US for a better life – which is fine, until the reality of finding work hits. With little more than $200, the family takes on a job running a motel for Mr Yao, the wealthy owner. They soon realise life isn’t going to be as rosy as they first thought, as Mr Yao takes advantage of their desperate situation.

‘Front Desk’ reflects a lot of the personal experiences of the author, Kelly Yang, as she too helped her parents manage several motels in California from a young age. Just as Mia finds school difficult (hiding her poverty and facing racist taunts), so too did Kelly.

The exploitation of immigrant workers and racist attitudes facing people of non-white appearances is strongly portrayed, as Mia’s family struggles to get ahead. They find some comfort and support from the ‘weeklies’ who live in the Calivista Motel – though initially puzzled by the warning one gives them about the nature of their employer:

[Hank] “Everyone hates Mr Yao… Trust me, he’s anything but all right.”

Mia strives to get off the hopeless roller coaster of her situation. She  has ambitions to become a writer, even though her mother constantly directs her to devote her studies to maths. Is this an unrealistic ambition for a Chinese daughter of immigrants? Why is her mother so insistent on maths?

While Front Desk is fairly easy to read, many of the events and issues it raises are not. The ways Mia has to employ to cope with her family’s impoverished situation – both at school and at home, could make you sad. However, the other disempowered people she meets who spur her on and support the family provide hope.

It is HOPE that has to be continually reignited in this story, as Mia’s roller coaster takes her and her family on a rough, and sometimes dangerous, ride.

Kelly Yang wrote this story with purpose:

Finally, I hope that through this book, more people will understand the importance of tolerance and diversity…

This book is about what happens when you include, when, despite all your suffering and heartache, you still wake up every morning and look out at the world with fresh, curious eyes.

In this video, Kelly introduces Front Desk:

A recommended read for middle schoolers, and those who would like to see the immigrant experience through authentic eyes.

# The copy previewed has a different (newer) cover – why do you think the publishers have done this?

## Which of the things which happens to Mia and her family do you find most surprising? or most shocking?

Wearing Paper Dresses (with feeling)

Linda J

Wearing Paper Dresses is a story you can feel. In its pages, even a city-slicker can begin to understand the stresses and strains of rural life – and to anticipate the troubles to come.

In this debut novel, Anne Brinsden introduces us to a family dealing not only with the struggles of drought but also the struggles of adapting to a ‘foreign’ lifestyle. For indeed that is what it is like for Elise, who marries Bill while he is working in the city (where she belongs). In the city, they start to build their family life.

When Bill’s father (known as Pa) calls him back to help on the family farm in the Mallee region of Victoria, Elise and their daughters must follow. Her urban background offers little to support her in her new environment (a working farm planted in tough conditions), and her own upbringing stands her apart from the community into which she must now try to blend.

“But Elise wasn’t from the Mallee, and she knew nothing of its ways.”

The Mallee, its weather and even their farmhouse are alive and important in this story. Each of these elements has emotions and thoughts, as they ‘watch’ events unfold. Through them, you are forewarned of looming difficulties. You really feel ominous tremors as you read.

Mallee scrubland

Subtle changes in Elise arise as she tries to adapt to rural life. Unfortunately, Bill is either too busy, or reluctant, or unable to see these changes. While Pa and others try to point these out, their daughters Ruby and Marjorie run wild. They also bear the brunt of Elise’s difficulties and take on many of her family responsibilities.

Thus the girls spend their time ‘on eggshells’ – anticipating the next time Elise will do something strange or moody or threatening. Her attempts to become part of the rural community fail, as she is viewed as too glamorous for the country. Her cooking skills are too fussy (especially for the shearers who want plain country tucker). Some local women find her pretentious and show-offy in her Paris-inspired home-sewn creations. Even her musical talents don’t seem to impress – at least that is what she begins to think.

Indeed, much of the difficulty comes as Elise begins to doubt herself, and as she fails to understand how to adapt to her country home. Lacking emotional support, Elise suffers several breakdowns – which youngest daughter Marjorie identifies as the ‘glimmer’ beginning.

Wearing Paper Dresses speaks to the heart of the many struggles faced by those on the land, even though it focusses on the mental health of an outsider unable to cope, rather than the fraught farmer. But does Bill’s inability to act for Elise simply show a different coping mechanism? and a danger to his family?

At this time of drought, as Australian farmers struggle to survive, this is a challenging story which reminds us of the harshness of our beautiful land. It honours the resilience of many rural communities while illustrating the fragility of some personalities who may live there. It recognises the impact of things out of our control. Ultimately, it reveals the strength of human spirit and the optimism which ties people to the land, which we should aspire to and wholeheartedly applaud.

Recommended for 15+ / adult audience.

Amal Unbound, a novel

Linda J

Life is precarious for many girls around the world – and education is not always freely available. For Pakistani girl Amal, school has been a wonderful privilege which she was lapping up, until things go frightfully wrong – her plans study to be a teacher in ruins.

Amal Unbound echoes some of the realities for many girls around the world:

  • bound by traditional roles in their remote community
  • suffering for their low status
  • caught in their family’s debt spiral
  • extorted by people in positions of power

Amal also echoes the bravery and strengths of girls like Malala Yousafzai, whose desire for girls’ education lead to her being shot at point-blank range in 2012 by Taliban extremists. Like Malala, Amal yearns to better her position in life beyond accepting a traditional subservient female role. When things go awry for her, this desire becomes even more heightened – but what can a young girl do?

Malala’s story

Aisha Saeed is a Pakistani-American writer, teacher, and attorney. She is one of the creators of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks social media campaign. Her book, Amal Unbound, raises the issues of inequalities and indentured servitude (i.e. slavery for debt) which affects millions of people worldwide. It also recognises the need to be brave and take a stance against this – like Malala, and those who support the Malala Fund.

In most cases, education is a vital key, worldwide. For those caught in the tragic circumstances poverty sometimes deals them, it helps them strive for more; and for those in privileged positions, education aids understanding of the difficulties faced by many, and invites us to support ways to break down the barriers that hold girls back.

As Aisha Saeed states in her notes, Amal is relatively lucky in her servitude conditions – others suffer far worse. However, her loss of family life is her cruelest punishment, with lots for YA readers to consider. It would be interesting to know if the author plans a follow-up story…

For more detail about how she wrote the story, and why, read this interview – Q&A with Aisha Saeed.

This book is about resistance and about not giving up. That’s a message that a lot of people are connecting to as well. – Aisha Saeed.

We learn a bit about Pakistani culture from Amal Unbound. Was there anything which surprised you?

Did the beautiful cover portray the contents?

# Recommended for 10-15 year olds.