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Nov. 8th, 2010 11:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsDo you ever have that slightly-awkward feeling, when you're reading a book, that the author thinks they are writing very poetic prose and it does not quite hit that way for you? I thought Chitra Banerjee Divarakuni's book Mistress of Spices was a lot of fun, but every so often the prose would veer into this place where - well, I guess it's like when someone wears very trendy clothes that you can't help but feel look a bit silly. On the other hand maybe I just have difficulty taking vengeful sinister talking spices as seriously as I should.
Also - and perhaps this is just me - but if you are going to have a period in your protagonist's life in which she was a PIRATE QUEEN, dude, do not skim over that with an offhand mention! OWN THAT PIRATE QUEEN THING. Although, on the other hand, I did find it kind of hilarious how the first three chapters were like "and then I was a priestess and then I was a pirate queen and then I was rescued by talking sea serpents AND NOW I LIVE IN CALIFORNIA OKAY GO."
So, Tilo, after a VERY EVENTFUL childhood, now lives in LA [ETA:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nextian points out that it is actually Oakland! I know these places are different, I swear, I really did spend four years in California], where she's the proprietor of one of those magical little shops that show up in novels occasionally for the wizened old shopkeeper to dispense What Our Protagonist Needs. And I did think it was really cool, for a novel to focus on the person who runs one of those shops, and is supposed to be a facilitator for everybody else's stories and now would like to have her own; that's one of the many things I really did like about this book. In this case mostly what she dispenses is spices, because basically Tilo is a SPICE JEDI. Her spices give her magic psychic powers that she can use to help the Indian immigrant community in which she is rooted, and in return she is not supposed to have any particular feelings other than dispassionate goodwill towards her fellow-men, because feelings lead to friendship! and friendship leads to love! and love leads to UNSPECIFIED DISASTER.
But of course Tilo would like to have friendship and love and all those things (and I have to say, it does seem like a poor plan to pick up a bunch of young women and send them all out individually to be Spice Jedi by themselves, even if the magic makes them look wizened and old; at least nuns have the communal support and peer pressure of their convents!) and gradually gets involved in a number of people's lives and starts to Step Off the Path. I really liked her friendships with her various customers, and how she tries to help them find ways to live in the US without losing themselves while struggling with the same thing herself. I cared significantly less about her romance with a sexy angsty American with mommy and identity issues named RAVEN (!!!). Raven also spends a fair bit of time rhapsodizing about how ~exotic~ Tilo is and how much he loves her ~less materialistic~ culture, and while Tilo does call him on the fact that this is skeevy, it is still not enough for me. (Also, HILARIOUSLY, apparently there is a film version in which he is played by Patrick Dempsey [ETA: Apparently actually Dylan McDermott! I CAN'T TELL THEM APART OKAY], whom I take approximately as seriously as I take Tilo-call-me-Raven-it-is-the-true-name-of-my-heart.)
So - as you can tell probably from the fact that this may be the least coherent review ever - my feelings were mixed, but overall I did like the book and may be reading more by the author. (But instead of the romance I would much rather have read the book about TILO, THE PIRATE QUEEN SPICE JEDI WHO TALKS TO SEA SERPENTS.)
Also - and perhaps this is just me - but if you are going to have a period in your protagonist's life in which she was a PIRATE QUEEN, dude, do not skim over that with an offhand mention! OWN THAT PIRATE QUEEN THING. Although, on the other hand, I did find it kind of hilarious how the first three chapters were like "and then I was a priestess and then I was a pirate queen and then I was rescued by talking sea serpents AND NOW I LIVE IN CALIFORNIA OKAY GO."
So, Tilo, after a VERY EVENTFUL childhood, now lives in LA [ETA:
nextian points out that it is actually Oakland! I know these places are different, I swear, I really did spend four years in California], where she's the proprietor of one of those magical little shops that show up in novels occasionally for the wizened old shopkeeper to dispense What Our Protagonist Needs. And I did think it was really cool, for a novel to focus on the person who runs one of those shops, and is supposed to be a facilitator for everybody else's stories and now would like to have her own; that's one of the many things I really did like about this book. In this case mostly what she dispenses is spices, because basically Tilo is a SPICE JEDI. Her spices give her magic psychic powers that she can use to help the Indian immigrant community in which she is rooted, and in return she is not supposed to have any particular feelings other than dispassionate goodwill towards her fellow-men, because feelings lead to friendship! and friendship leads to love! and love leads to UNSPECIFIED DISASTER. But of course Tilo would like to have friendship and love and all those things (and I have to say, it does seem like a poor plan to pick up a bunch of young women and send them all out individually to be Spice Jedi by themselves, even if the magic makes them look wizened and old; at least nuns have the communal support and peer pressure of their convents!) and gradually gets involved in a number of people's lives and starts to Step Off the Path. I really liked her friendships with her various customers, and how she tries to help them find ways to live in the US without losing themselves while struggling with the same thing herself. I cared significantly less about her romance with a sexy angsty American with mommy and identity issues named RAVEN (!!!). Raven also spends a fair bit of time rhapsodizing about how ~exotic~ Tilo is and how much he loves her ~less materialistic~ culture, and while Tilo does call him on the fact that this is skeevy, it is still not enough for me. (Also, HILARIOUSLY, apparently there is a film version in which he is played by Patrick Dempsey [ETA: Apparently actually Dylan McDermott! I CAN'T TELL THEM APART OKAY], whom I take approximately as seriously as I take Tilo-call-me-Raven-it-is-the-true-name-of-my-heart.)
So - as you can tell probably from the fact that this may be the least coherent review ever - my feelings were mixed, but overall I did like the book and may be reading more by the author. (But instead of the romance I would much rather have read the book about TILO, THE PIRATE QUEEN SPICE JEDI WHO TALKS TO SEA SERPENTS.)
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Date: 2010-11-08 05:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 05:17 pm (UTC)Not that I have a huge problem with satirizing repressive immigrant cultures, but doing so in the form of a small business owner (also, sorceress) who is totally independent and less repressed than most women in said culture...is just dumb. And breaking out of said repression via romance with a tall, pale, and handsome stranger is also dumb (and kinda racist).
no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 05:25 pm (UTC). . . dude. Wow, that is not at all the point I got out of the book! So that is one movie that I will not be seeing. Spoilers that you can read or not if you choose: At the end of the book, Tilo is like 'well I would like to have sex at one point in my life, that will be nice, and then I will leave behind this guy who is hot but also fetishizes me in a creepy way and go home to magic spice land!' And magic spice land is like 'um actually there are rules, sorry kid, also EARTHQUAKE.' And then the dude shows up and tries to rescue her and whisk her off to his magical cabin in the woods, and she is like 'well, you are still hot, so I'm sorry about this, but I have to go stay in LA and deal with all my friends and help out the EARTHQUAKE-HIT COMMUNITY which is sort of MORE IMPORTANT. You can come if you want I guess.' Which he does, which I wish he hadn't, but still puts the priorities in a more proper order I think!
Ugh, sorry for the five million edits, my spoiler font was failing.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 05:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 05:34 pm (UTC)she's staying in, um, Oakland. It's meant to be the 89 earthquake, I think. There aren't that many massive redwood colonies + bridges in LA.
NOT THAT I READ THIS BOOK A LOT AS A CHILD
DREAMING THAT TILO WOULD TAKE ME AWAY
Man, I hated Raven even then, though. Who even cares about you, Raven?? Your soul connection to your secret spot in the wood is just annoying.
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Date: 2010-11-08 05:38 pm (UTC)Also, man, RAVEN. SO MANPAINY, SO IRRITATING. And please shut up about your mommy issues!
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Date: 2010-11-08 06:10 pm (UTC)Also, that really is not the main bad point of the movie. The main thing is...watching someone, even a very hot woman, fondle and converse with spices is very difficult to take seriously. I am sure that reading about it is far less offputting (though still clearly somewhat offputting).
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Date: 2010-11-08 06:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 09:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 09:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 09:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 09:59 pm (UTC)I have been hearing about Pet Shop of Horrors for years! My best friend/roommate from college is a HUGE fan. Maybe now that I'm actually reading manga I should . . . actually read it! Perhaps.)
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Date: 2010-11-08 10:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 11:28 pm (UTC). . . I will look out for that then! *laughing* OH ALSO speaking of things you recced, I have been watching the jellyfish anime! And it is kind of adorable, FYI.
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Date: 2010-11-08 11:41 pm (UTC)Belated gift y/y??
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Date: 2010-11-08 11:43 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2010-11-09 12:28 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2010-11-09 04:30 am (UTC)