am reading along, everything going great, and then Boom dream sequence.

I hate dream sequences (obvious exception being my awesomely current favourite movie The Science of Sleep), but why, why, why, why, why do authors put dream sequences in their stories? It seems to be happening more or more or I guess I am drawn to books in which it happens more and more. What is the purpose of a dream sequence? To demonstrate something in the character’s subconscious in a round-about-way? Couldn’t that be put into the text in a less oblique way? Am I just jealous as many of my dreams involve me getting up and brushing my teeth and getting ready to do something dull like mop the floors?

If I ever write a dream sequence, remind me of this post, and then mock me mercilessly for being a hypocrite.

Spain: For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

Thoughts: This book is barely Spain. It could be lifted and reset in lots of different conflicts. But it does take place in Spain so we’ll count it as such.

This book is sparse. I like sparse. Every word is there for a reason and there can be no skimming because you can’t even sort of half-read and expect to understand what is happening two pages later.

That being said, this is a two hundred page novel stretched out to five hundred pages. It is so long. It is so slow. It is so boring. Everything in this book is about white, male, savior who knows more than the locals and bullies and cajoles them into doing what he “knows” to be right. There is no subtly with any of the characters except the American. The Spaniards are no more than cardboard cutouts that each illustrate some one word trait like “broken” or “virginal” or “well-meaning”.

The end, when they finally actually blow up the bridge, is good. But it takes four hundred dull pages to get there.

Oh and the schtick of writing like they are speaking Spanish but in English (lots of thees and thous, etc.). Gets old quickly.

Rating: 2.5/5

Israel: Someone to Run With by David Grossman

Thoughts: Good, not great.

Rating: 4/5

Mexico: Juan the Chamula: An Ethnological Recreation of the Life of a Mexican Indian by Ricardo Pozas

Thoughts: Interesting and short (100 pages) although one has to wonder why the author decided to sit in the middle between fiction and non-fiction. I think it may have been more forceful expanded and as fiction only.

Rating: 4/5

Nigeria: Daughters Who Walk This Path by Yejide Kilanko

Thoughts: One of those books that is competent but forgettable. I finished it on Thursday and already most of the second half I have to really struggle to remember what happens.

Rating: 3/5

Zimbabwe: Unfeeling by Ian Holding

Thoughts: I tried but couldn’t get past the casual racism of the book and whether it was supposed to be an indictment of the white African’s mindset or an endorsement, I don’t know. It’s hard to sympathize with characters, even when bad and unhappy things are happening to them, when they are talking about how much easier it is when they had total control (i.e. slavery, abuse, etc.) over the black Africans.

I think there needs to be more nuance. Farm reclaimations are barbaric, politically motivated, and bad for Zimbabwe overall; I doubt anyone will disagree with that as the land isn’t given to farmers, but to Mugabe’s political allies. But this book completely checks out of any concept of white privilege having helped lead to the current situation. The white Africans are blameless in everything, even when they are being racist.

The dénoument was good. I appreciated that. It was the only time throughout the entire novel where there was an admission that black Africans maybe were good for something other than thuggery or farm labour.

Rating: 3.5/5