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A Geography of Reading

"It is by reading novels, stories, and myths that we come to understand the world in which we live." -Orhan Pamuk

Reading Dystopias: Both Fictional and Not

June 11, 2017 by Isla McKetta, MFA Leave a Comment

I just updated my Goodreads for the first time since early May and realized that in a time of what feels like not-reading, I’ve been reading a lot. Not the volumes of fictions or poetry I’d usually be immersed in, though some of those. I’ve been immersed in all things political. Some of that, like When the Emperor Was Divine, was fiction, and some of it, like James Comey’s statement to the Senate, I can only wish was fiction. Still, it’s been an interesting mix of media and I thought maybe it was time, after three months of not writing a book review, I reflect on what I’ve been reading.

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

when the emperor was divine - julie otsukaOf all the things that have happened in the months since Trump was inaugurated, none has hit me as hard as the Muslim ban. A lot of things have upset me, but that one struck at my core values. For days after it was announced that America was no longer going to be the land of opportunity for all but instead was going to start openly turning away legitimate immigrants en masse, I was glued to the news and Twitter just waiting to see if we’d come to our senses. I was so tuned into events that I tuned out of my family and simply waited.

I know the whole land of opportunity thing is a story we tell ourselves just like we tell ourselves that those opportunities are open to everyone. Until that day, though, the story was intoxicating enough that I believed it. I believed we all valued it and were working toward it, even as we struggle with our own racism and anti-immigrant swells.

I don’t know whether When the Emperor Was Divine was sitting in my to-read pile or if I purchased it then or found it at the Little Free Library. I do know that I needed this book this year. Julie Otsuka’s story of a Japanese family living in California then interned during World War II made me look straight into what our country does, not what we say. It made me look at the people we do it to.

The book opens with a Japanese woman, a mother, we later learn, seeing the evacuation order near her home in Berkeley. She returns home and begins packing and preparing her home. Her acceptance seemed strange to me until I understood that her husband had already been arrested. She takes down their artwork, hides their valuables, feeds the stray dog her children cared for a feast and then kills it. When she killed that dog I understood a lot more about her character. This was not a woman who had given up. This was a woman who had no choice and she was going to do the best she could to help her family survive. She knew that dog could not survive alone on the streets and so she gave him the best ending she could. There are glimpses of neighbors helping her in small ways as there are glimpses of the racism her family encounters. But no one can change anything.

Spanning the entirety of the family’s internment and until they and then their patriarch return home, this book is filled with quiet details that speak loud. Otsuka lets us peek inside the experiences of each family member and we see not just the freezing cold, flu and diarrhea of the camps but also a boy’s ritual probing of his imprisoned father’s shoes, the missing of plums, and the worry of whether the porch light was left on or off. We see the family’s strength, their endurance. When the family returns to their wrecked home and works to clean and rebuild it room by room, we think it might be okay, this awful thing that our country did, because they were strong enough to withstand it. But of course it isn’t okay, not that it happened, not that it could happen again. We see this in the father, once a gentle man now broken. All because he had the wrong blood.

As a mother, I admired how well the mother took care of her family even as I ached at how she had to. As a patriot I was disgusted that we ever let this happen. That it could happen again. Sometimes, maybe even most times, we are better at conquering our fear and uncertainty and at becoming the welcoming country I grew up believing in. For example, I’m very proud to be living in one of the first states to push against Trump’s travel bans. But Otsuka reminded me that this impulse to give in to fear is something we have to fight every day or it will bubble right up in the most horrible ways.

Poetry, June 2017

Poetry June 2017Speaking of people we don’t treat all that well, I’m glad we’re finally having more concerted discussions about race. We need to do more. I’ve spent a lot of time lately thinking about my own racism, but I have much to learn to become the person I want to be— to appreciate the beautiful array of people and experiences in the world. I was delighted, then, when the June 2017 issue of Poetry arrived in my mailbox and it was a tribute to Gwendolyn Brooks. More importantly, it was filled with voices and experiences I don’t always encounter on my own.

I’ve read Patricia Smith and even seen her speak, but images like “our someday plans / grayed and siphoned flat” and “drown your baby in the mama-eye” reminded me that I haven’t read nearly enough Patricia Smith. CM Burroughs looks into the hypocrisy and humanity of us all by imagining the strong Brooks as lover with “how many times did / you posture yourself for the broad body of him or him and open // like home” and then shows me by her use of forward slashes that I know nothing about experimenting with language. Reading Roger Reeves I discover that the King Shabazz character in my son’s favorite book is actually named after Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Jacqueline Jones Lamon’s line “I take a sip of water and tell them / every true thing that I know — that they are // the power who will save what needs saving” is everything.

Though I always enjoy reading Poetry, this is an especially fine issue and it’s expanded my reading list in all the right ways.

Walks with Walser by Carl Seelig

walks with walser - carl seeligOne of the most reassuring and also unnerving things about Walks with Walser, the book I’m currently reading, is seeing that art can both endure terrible times but that it can also remove itself completely from life. Chronicling conversations during the 27 years Robert Walser spent in an asylum after a breakdown, this book spans World War II and yet, because it occurs in Switzerland, barely even acknowledges what’s happening next door. There are some really gorgeous reflections on the life of an artist in this book, but it’s also an important reminder to me that I am not content to check out on the real world. Though I could benefit from a few more long walks.

Harper’s

harpers april 2017A former student of political science, I’ve long subscribed to Harper’s to keep my political muscle active. It’s been an important lifeline since the election. I’m not one of those liberals who was completely surprised Trump won, I think the Democratic Party ignored the growing dissatisfaction of lower-income and blue collar Americans. But I am appalled that Trump was elected.

“Commitment to anything larger than your own life… [is] messy and chaotic and imperfect—which isn’t the flaw of it but the glory of it.” – Leslie Jamison

Though I chose not to attend the Women’s March, a thoughtful and moving essay by Leslie Jamison allowed me to experience the day and also her gorgeous reflection on the lifelong activism of her mother and to understand my own role in making a difference. In the same issue, I learned about an underground movement of ordinary women that had helped women get abortions. and read an excerpt of an essay by Mary Gaitskill that helped me understand how I can raise a son who sees “that rape is a violation of his own masculine dignity as well as a violation of the raped woman.” And I saw a revealing photo essay on what life is like in the projects now, not in some memory of the bad 80’s.

“At it’s best, [feminism] has also been about women recognizing the shifting contours of their own ignorance, and trying to listen harder.” – Leslie Jamison

That was all one issue. I’ve also been catching up on back issues with articles warning of things to come that, by the time the issue’s gone to print, or at least by the time I’ve read it, have already happened. The prescience is reassuring. It makes me believe that although I may feel like the bottom is dropping out, I am not living in unpredictable chaos and if we all think just a little harder and more clearly, we can make the nation as great (in the cooperative, generous, open, humanistic way) as I believe it can be.

Comey’s Statement

One step toward becoming that nation is understanding what’s happening now. I listened to the entirety of Comey’s Senate testimony on Thursday. This time I at least sat with my family while dwelling on current events. Though I hesitate to trust the straightforward earnestness Comey seems to present in that testimony and in his written statement, he made an excellent point about credibility being tied to consistency and Comey is consistent while Trump…

I don’t know what my role is right now in this messy time, but I can bear witness. So can you. If half of what Comey says is true, and I believe much more than that is, Comey is telling us that we have a president who is willing to lie and squeeze his employees and the values our government is founded on to get his way. That should not be a surprise. But it’s time we did something about it.

The Assault by Reinaldo Arenas

the assault - reinaldo arenasI thought I was escaping back into fiction when I pulled The Assault off my bookshelf. I remembered Arenas’ languid, gorgeous language and I really needed a little kick to get back to writing. But of course this Cuban-born novelist who was persecuted by his government is famous for writing about that experience.

This book truly is gorgeous. It’s also a terrifying reminder of what happens when democracy fails.  The story of a government agent’s search for his mother so he can kill her before he becomes her, this book shows a country where humanity is reduced to means of production. For example, in one chapter we see the line of people who irrigate the fields with their spit. If they fail to spit, they get juiced and that juice is then used for irrigation. Wild and dark, nothing about the not-night portrayed in this book is wholly implausible. That’s the worst part.

West of Here by Jonathan Evison

west of here - jonathan evisonWest of Here is not a dystopian book. That might be why I sandwiched it somewhere in the middle of all this heavy reading. In fact, it contains elements of the utopias white people wrote about in the 19th and early 20th centuries as explorers went off to conquer new lands and found paradisaical locales with unlimited natural resources. It also contains stories of the people who were already here and a view into what life is like in those same paradises 100 years later. I love reading Jonathan Evison’s descriptions of places I love. I love his understanding of the simplicity and complexity of human motivations. And I love that a strange mystical vein runs through the story. Dams go up, dams come down. People settle, people perish, people endure.

This is not a dystopian book, but it is a good reminder that while our goals may seem simple, reality is not.

Not everything here counts toward my Goodreads reading goal, and I still don’t have the answers to making this country the place I dream it might be. But the somewhat odd selection does reflect the writer and the human that I am, and I’m choosing to embrace that. For better or worse, I’m going to take a little hope from Evison, a little inspiration from Comey, doses of reality from Jamison, strength from Otsuka, seeing from Poetry, and a prod of fear from Arenas and try to live my own values. I hope I can be at least a little part of the power who will save what needs saving.

And now that I’ve put that vow in print, I can finally clear this stack off my desk.

Stack of Books

Filed Under: Books, USA & Canada

Reading and Watching The Magicians by Lev Grossman

January 22, 2017 by Isla McKetta, MFA Leave a Comment

the magicians-lev grossmanWas it magic or serendipity that a copy of The Magicians by Lev Grossman showed up in my local Little Free Library the very same week that the related Syfy series showed up on Netflix? I’m not certain, but I can say that reading the book while binge watching the series has me a little convinced that there is magic in the world around me, even if my Popper finger movements haven’t yet led to the dishwasher loading itself. It’s rare that I like an adaptation as much as the book, but experiencing the two together has added a whole new layer of enjoyment to the story and characters for me.

The World We Know

The story of The Magicians revolves around a school (Brakebills) that trains magicians and a series of children’s books about a magical place in the back of a cupboard called Fillory. While it would be easy to dismiss The Magicians immediately as derivative of Harry Potter and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, given time Lev Grossman builds his own rich story around these elements. And though even more derivative elements crop up in the one season of the series that I’ve watched, I was always interested enough in Grossman’s characters to shrug it off.

Sequences Out of Time

The TV series and the book (books, really, The Magicians is the first book of a trilogy) are a wonderful case study of how to adapt literature to screen. Apparently this adaptation was done with the help of the author, something I credit with the success of the show, but I’ve seen authorial involvement go as badly as The Magicians goes well. There are notable differences: in the books, Brakebills is a college, on TV it’s a grad school; some of the characters have different names; some of the characters from the books don’t exist in the series; one of the characters from the series barely exists in the book; the timeline in the book is much elongated; etc.

What’s gorgeous about experiencing these two together, though, is the times that they do intersect. I think that’s because are fully realized in their own rights. Yes, there were moments of the series that made a lot more sense when I realized that the characters were originally fresh out of high school, but overall I liked that the series has a little more tooth because of the adult characters and that the books are more innocent. What I liked even more, though, was that I felt like I was having my own Fillory experience where life (TV) would go on every night as we watched episode after episode and a few days later I’d encounter spots in the books (Fillory) where the action overlapped with the series.

Fluid Sexuality

One thing that’s remarkable about the generation after mine is how much more fluid their idea of gender is—both in their norms and in who they love—and I appreciate how this was reflected in The Magicians. It’s more obvious in the series, but the source material certainly exists in the book. It’s something I enjoyed about Sense8 as well, until the writers threw away a perfectly good story in favor of scene after scene of pan-sexual orgies. I’m not opposed to depictions of the latter, but please don’t take away my story. The Magicians does a much better job of incorporating the human sexuality of a gender-fluid generation into the context of the story.

Book or Series?

Let’s be honest, time is short now that I’m a mom and I’m choosier than ever about what I read. But I still watch a couple hours of TV a night because I can sit next to my husband and share an experience without applying too much mental effort.

Whereas I ran through the show as fast as possible given the above schedule, if I hadn’t had a couple of holidays and a sick day, I might not have finished the book at all. I really appreciated the compressed timeline of the series when compared to the somewhat lagging action of the book (especially after Quentin leaves Brakebills). I appreciate that it’s difficult to portray creative malaise and a post-grad slump in print, but it’s much harder to read a slow portrayal of said malaise.

I’m excited to see the next season of the show, too, because there were aspects of Fillory that I think will translate better to screen. In the books there are all these mishmashed chimeras that were underdeveloped and felt pretty throwaway. Plus, one of my favorite characters (no hints!) disappeared for far too long in the book.

As I said, I’m glad that Lev Grossman was involved in the adaptation. I think he might be a better screenwriter than a novelist and I don’t think I’ll read the next in the series.

To make up your own mind about The Magicians, pick up a copy from Bookshop.org. Your purchase keeps indie booksellers in business and I receive a commission.

Filed Under: Books, Film, USA & Canada

Leaving Kent State by Sabrina Fedel and Learning to Stand Up for What I Believe

January 20, 2017 by Isla McKetta, MFA 2 Comments

Leaving Kent State - Sabrina FedelIt’s inauguration day! Regardless of how you feel about the outcome of the election, I’m willing to bet your feelings are strong. Mine are and I’m so glad Leaving Kent State by Sabrina Fedel entered my heart and my home when it did because it made me less scared to stand up for my beliefs and turned me into a better human overall.

The World I Thought I Lived in

I’ve had a lot of conversations in the past few months with my husband about vaguely remembered concepts from elementary and high school—things like tyranny of the majority and informed electorates. As much as I found myself defending the electoral college, I couldn’t quite reconcile myself with a world in which the answer to liberal fact-checkers is conservative smoke and mirrors. See, I grew up with a liberal little heart in a conservative family in a conservative state (almost libertarianly so), but I was always taught that it’s my job as a citizen to have an opinion and to voice that opinion. So I will admit to feeling more than a little deflated when a man I don’t believe won through honest conviction or means was named president elect.

The World I Wanted to Live in

“I think Vietnam has a lot to do with changing things,” I said.
“What do you mean?” Evan studied me as he asked.
“I don’t know, I guess it’s made us ask why.”

I grew up such an idealist that I fully felt I should have been a member of the flower children and that if I had been alive during that time, I too could have brought an end to the Vietnam War.

That’s why Leaving Kent State was perfect for me. This young adult novel follows 17-year-old Rachel, a native of Kent and daughter of a professor, as she negotiates her relationship with the love of her life (who may or may not love her back) as he negotiates his new life as a disabled Vietnam vet. It’s 1969 and the social revolution hasn’t quite hit Kent, Ohio, though some of the students are trying to change that. Rachel’s also struggling with her destiny, which she feels is as an artist, but her parents just aren’t on board.

If Kent, Ohio or Kent State sound familiar to you, it’s likely because of the shootings there in 1970 of unarmed protestors by the National Guard. Some people credit those events with turning the national consciousness against the Vietnam War. The book gets there, though deliciously slowly as we explore what it’s like for a young girl to love a young man who experienced something she abhors. Thankfully Evan, the object of Rachel’s love, is a very round character and we get to experience through him both the camaraderie of the soldiers in Vietnam and the regrets of someone who saw and experienced the worst of war.

Who I Can be

I purposely started reading this book on the day of the January 15 rally to save the Affordable Care Act. I needed to believe that a group of people can in fact make a difference for the better. I trekked downtown with my young son in tow and, yes, I chanted all the chants. He could only take an hour of the rally so we missed the main event, but we sang our nightly round of “We Shall Overcome” and “Where have all the Flowers Gone,” and I’m energized to try again at the Women’s March tomorrow.

See, Leaving Kent State gave me hope. I should tell you that it’s very well written and that the period details are spot on and the characters believable. I should tell you that Fedel takes the subtle (and better) path of introducing the reader to people who know people who know people who are famous rather than hitting us over the head with unlikely encounters. Or how she drops in all the right information to ground our reading and hint at where the story is going without inundating us. Or how she paints one of the most tender and accurate portraits of PTSD I’ve ever seen on paper. All of those things are true. But as much as I love good writing, I am most grateful to Fedel for that gift of hope.

As part of my new rosy outlook, I also hope that it won’t take a tragedy like the Kent State shootings to heal the rifts that have been growing in DC and in our society since 9/11. But Leaving Kent State also gave me the courage to stand up for myself and for what I believe in even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard. Rachel could not have known what she was getting herself into that day in Kent, Ohio, but even as events unfolded she and Evan were the best people they could be. This book helped me find out who I want to be—for myself, and for my son.

What is Young Adult Anyway?

Quick side note here about the young adult (YA) genre. When the author and I were discussing her book, she warned me that it’s YA. I personally don’t believe in those labels too much, but I can see what she meant. In this book we are deeply immersed in the moony and not very actiony heart of a teenaged girl for most of the story. I kind of loved that because I remember what that was like, but if you’re a “get on with it already” kind of person, this probably isn’t the book for you.

Whether you choose to read this book or not, please, for my sake and yours, keep asking why and pushing for the best world you can dream of.

To catch your own glimpse at what life was like during a “simpler time” and maybe recapture some hope, pick up a copy of Leaving Kent State from Bookshop.org. Your purchase keeps indie booksellers in business and I receive a commission.

Filed Under: Books, USA & Canada

Reviewing Board Books with My Son

October 23, 2016 by Isla McKetta, MFA Leave a Comment

I may be 10+ books behind my Goodreads Challenge reading goal for the year, but that doesn’t mean I’m not reading. I simply haven’t figured out how to get Goodreads to count the 100+ times I’ve read Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? aloud to my son Remy. Though those readings used to be initiated by me, at fourteen months he’s now old enough to bring me a book that he wants read. Even cuter, he sits in front of the shelf in the living room that contains his books and pulls them out, one by one, and reads a few pages aloud (“Da di da ba da”) before discarding that book and reaching for the next. The result is him sitting inside a nest of books. He’s my son.
remy-books

So I thought I’d share our thoughts on a few of the books we read most often.

Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? by Dr. Seuss

Mama’s Take

mr-brown-can-moo-can-youThe rhythms of this book are fantastic. It’s a lot of fun to read aloud and I think my poetry has gotten better as a result. Making animal sounds is supposed to be a good way to help kids learn language and Remy seems to love when I dig in next to his ear and announce, “BOOM BOOM BOOM Mr. Brown is a wonder. BOOM BOOM BOOM Mr. Brown makes thunder.”

What Remy Says

I like the sounds my mom makes when she reads this book. And it’s delicious. I ate up so much of one copy that my dad said we had to put it away. That’s okay, my mom bought me a new copy. It tastes just as good as the first one.

Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni

Mama Says

little-blue-and-little-yellowThis is one of the books the library very wisely allows parents to take out on loan permanently. We all know what kids can do to books. No one wants them back after they’ve been out on loan. But the book is terrible. Little Blue leaves the house when his mama tells him not to (after she’s left him home alone). He and his friend Little Yellow cry so hard that they meld identities and their parents no longer recognize them. The illustrations appear to be made of torn paper. I don’t know why I keep reading it to my son.

Remy Says

Dot colors. Mama’s always taking this out of my hands and returning it to me upside down. More dot colors. Friends and play and parents with hugs. What’s not to like?

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Mama

the-very-hungry-caterpillarTorn paper done right. I still vaguely remember doing kindergarten projects with tissue paper in imitation of Carle’s iconic style and was delighted when my husband wanted to buy a copy that came with a little stuffed caterpillar for our little baby. Though the sentences are a little long and meandering, I love the focus on days of the week and counting and the story’s good. Even if it makes me want ice cream cones. We used to read the book with the caterpillar weaving in and out of the holes in the pages. But now Remy’s all business and I have to hurry if I want to get to the end. Bonus Eric Carle book is the aforementioned Brown Bear—talk about rhythm and I think the repetition is really good for language learning. I was dreading the day someone would tell me I look like the teacher in the book. It happened. I lived.

Remy

I like the short pages with holes that fit my fingers. I don’t know why my mom always wants to talk at the long pages, but this book is the best. Even when she reads it upside down. I even know what plums are. I eat them with breakfast sometimes.

Jacob Lawrence in the City by Susan Goldman Rubin

Mama

jacob-lawrence-in-the-cityArty parents trying to expose their kids to arty books can’t really go wrong with this book. The author does a good job of incorporating a blues rhythm into the text and I enjoyed getting to know more of Lawrence’s work. There’s also a book in this series that uses Magritte’s work that is more imaginative but the text and images in the Lawrence book work better together overall.

Remy

Flip, flip, flip. People in the city. Next book.

The Game of Mix-Up Art by Herve Tullet

Mama

the-game-of-mix-up-artSpeaking of arty books, I adore Tullet’s books. I sometimes fantasize about my husband becoming a childrens’ book illustrator and these books feed that fantasy. This one doesn’t have any words, but it’s filled with abstract illustrations cut at odd angles and I like seeing what picture Remy will make with it next. You may have heard of Press Here which is a super fun book to read and I think will get better as Remy gets older. My least favorite Tullet so far is The Game of Red, Yellow and Blue. The color combinations are okay and I like the shape cutouts, but the “Fab-racadabra” rainbow carnival at the end does not translate well into English.

Remy

Lines go with dots go with squiggles. I could flip through this book all day. I have a favorite picture picked out, but I flip back and forth because it seems to make Mama happy.

Counting with/Contando con Frida by Patty Rodriguez and Ariana Stein

Mama Piensa

counting-with-fridaOne of the things I’ve been trying to make sure Remy gets is exposure to other languages. I started reading him Garcia Lorca really early on and when I saw this adorable little book, I thought it would be a good chance to learn to count and for me to get my tongue around Spanish in ways that we could both practice. The illustrations are so attractive and I liked the book so much that we now have all of the books in the series. Probably the second best is Lucha Libre Anatomy/Anatomia and not just because I like shouting “ombligo!” on the belly button page.

Remy Dice

Frida is beautiful. She isn’t on all of the pages, but I know which pages to turn to so I can see her face. I used to kiss this book, but now I’m trying to be less obvious. On the page with five portraits of her, I like the one best where she looks like an Eskimo. I don’t know who that dude with her in the middle portrait is, but I could take him. I love pressing each of the tres flores in her hair over and over.

Bear and Ball by Cliff Wright

Mama

bear-and-ballThis is another book I liked so much that I bought everything else by Cliff Wright I could find. It’s a very simple book with just a couple of words on each page that match the illustration. Still, Wright achieves a kind of story with the pictures and I love the summary at the end where you can see all the pages at once. The rhyming is nice, too.

Remy

I like to bring this book to Mama because I can understand the words she uses while telling me the story. It’s a good substitute for when we can’t play with an actual ball. And it’s not so long it’s boring. Ball. Ball. Ball. Maybe those squiggles below the pictures actually mean something.

Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney

Mama

guess-how-much-i-love-youI knew this book was a classic and I loved the sentiment of not being able to quantify the amount of love a parent has for a child. What I wasn’t prepared for is how competitive it is. Geez Big Nutbrown Hare, just let your kiddo have the upper hand one time fer Chrissakes.

Remy

I like the way Mama snuggles me when she reads me this book. I don’t know why she always cries at the end.

Sharing Our World: Animals of the Native Northwest Coast by Ian Reid

Mama

sharing-our-worldOne of the wonderful things about having a community of people around you when you have a baby is that they expose you to new things. I’ve always resisted Native American art because I didn’t understand it. But a Native friend gave this book to us at a baby shower and I love learning about the iconography of Native Northwest coast tribes and also some of the lore that accompanies it. Like the books says, “Raven teaches us to be clever and creative” and I’m really glad my son will have some exposure to a culture that’s very important in the area he calls home.

Remy

Caw caw. The black bird in this book also flies past my window every morning and every night. I point at him whenever I see him flying with his friends.

A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara

Mama

a-is-for-activistSome books are written for parents. This is one of them. I’m a socialist. I’d love for my son to be politically involved and try to make the world he lives in a better place. I don’t often read him this book, though, because there are a few things I need to teach him before he absorbs messages like “No! No! No! Yes to what we want. No to what must go.”

Remy

No! No! No!

Thanks for indulging this new mom. Reading is one of my greatest pleasures. And although I probably won’t finish that Garcia Lorca or the Wallace Stevens I just ordered anytime soon, snuggling with my son while he learns about the world is a pretty great substitute.

If you’re hunting for board books or anything else, I always recommend Bookshop.org, and not just because I receive a commission when you click that link.

Filed Under: Books, USA & Canada Tagged With: board books, childrens literature

Lost in Translation: When There Aren’t Words

July 2, 2016 by Isla McKetta, MFA Leave a Comment

lost in translation - ella frances sandersThere are a lot of reasons I haven’t blogged lately. Only one of them is that I’ve been having trouble finding the right book. I don’t have enough to say about my troubled relationship with Winnie the Pooh or a deep enough understanding of Taoism to make my thoughts on The Te of Piglet worth sharing. The random thoughts that catch my attention in Nobody’s Home aren’t concrete enough to justify me blogging about Ugrešić again. I haven’t had the attention span to properly read Mary Jo Salter’s A Phone Call to the Future yet, either. The big one, though, is that I’m wrestling with some pretty big relationship stuff with my mom and I’ve been spending most of my energy working on an essay about that.

So when I found Lost in Translation: An Illustrated Compendium of Untranslatable Words from Around the World by Ella Frances Sanders at a nearby Little Free Library (I swear I still spend most of my free cash on books, but you really don’t want me to blog about There’s a Wocket in My Pocket, do you?), the idea of focusing on one word at a time seemed perfect.

This is not a new concept. I can’t tell you how many blog posts I’ve read about untranslatable words. I’m either especially drawn to them (likely) or they’re everywhere (oh, internet). But there is always something extra lovely about holding a book in my hands, and despite the fact that the illustrations sometimes occlude the words and that one of the snippets of exposition beside the words seems to fit a different word entirely, I will love this book more than I can love any blog post of the same nature.

These are the untranslatable words that speak to me…

Hiraeth (Swedish) – A homesickness for somewhere you cannot return to

Having spent a year in Chile under Pinochet’s dictatorship, a year in Poland as the country transitioned to the west, and a childhood in a strangely liberal and artistic Idaho town that’s now closing its theaters and opening up Baptist church after Baptist church, I feel more than my fair share of Hiraeth. This and the liminal feeling the exposure to and removal from places, cultures, and friends has likely shaped me more than any other thing. Hiraeth has shaped the deep, instant attachments I feel to friends and the strange way I expect almost nothing in return—simply the knowledge that my people are okay. Hiraeth also led me to settle into and create a home as soon as I possibly could after leaving high school—a home that so nourishes my sense of well-being that sightings of me outside of it (except when I’m at work) are quite rare.

Feuillemort (French) – Having the color of a faded, dying leaf

Language is ineffable. Life is ineffable. This word speaks to me of fragility and the gorgeous things that can happen to our languages and our soul when we take a moment to observe closely. Which is the only thing worth doing in art.

One of the things I enjoyed most about Lost in Translation is that many of the words themselves feel ineffable. They refer to things so momentary that we can’t quite catch them. I loved the feeling of trying to capture those feelings that I’d not yet taken the time to examine and appreciate.

Sobremesa (Spanish) – Time spent chatting over a table with friends long after the food is gone

This word is not in the book, but I discovered it recently on the internet and I used this word to change my life. Having a child, especially one who’s transitioning to solid foods, became an excuse (or created an imperative) for my husband and me to actually eat at our dinner table. Which was wonderful. But after we adults finished eating, my husband would spring from his seat and start cleaning the table and erasing all the evidence of our having cooked.

Don’t get me wrong, I love having a clean kitchen, but discovering “sobremesa” gave me the language I needed to ask my husband to linger, let the dishes rest for a bit, and talk with me. When you have a nearly one-year-old baby, any time you can actually have a conversation is a gift.

Kummerspeck (German) – Grief bacon or the excess weight we gain from emotional overeating

“Language wraps its understanding and punctuation around us all, tempting us to cross boundaries and helping us to comprehend the impossibly difficult questions that life relentlessly throws at us.” – Ella Frances Sanders

Except it doesn’t. There are some things that are still beyond language. Which brings me to the real reason I’m writing this blog today. My friend lost his newborn daughter on Thursday. When my husband spoke the words “lost their baby” as I was emerging from a nap, I thought, “How on earth do you lose a newborn? They aren’t all that mobile.” And then understanding hit me.

Feel that silence? That blow? That complete failure of language? I know I do. We reached out, like you do, like so many did. We offered love and support and love. I cringed in anticipation of the normal platitudes people send in response to loss—the things we say to reassure ourselves that there’s a reason behind such a thing and that it couldn’t happen to us. They were mercifully absent. I’d read a blog post earlier in the day about a woman whose friend lost a 21-month-old baby and her own experience with wordlessness. That post had made me sad, but it was nothing like the reality.

My husband, who is always better at translating the untranslatable feelings into words and action than I am, helped me find something to say, something to do. But language and all the love in the world cannot fix what happened.

“Words reduce reality to something the human mind can grasp, which isn’t very much.” – Eckhart Tolle

To my writing soul, language is everything. And although sometimes language just isn’t enough, I have to keep trying.

If you want to explore your own glossary of untranslatable words and feelings, pick up a copy of Lost in Translation: An Illustrated Compendium of Untranslatable Words from Around the World from Bookshop.org. Your purchase keeps indie booksellers in business and I receive a commission.

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My Books

Polska, 1994

Polska 1994

Clear Out the Static in Your Attic

Clear Out the Static in Your Attic_cover

Recent Posts

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What I’m Reading

Isla's bookshelf: currently-reading

Birds of America
Birds of America
by Lorrie Moore
The Ecstasy of Influence: Nonfictions, Etc.
The Ecstasy of Influence: Nonfictions, Etc.
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The Souls of Black Folk
by W.E.B. Du Bois
Bomb: The Author Interviews
Bomb: The Author Interviews
by BOMB Magazine
On Writing
On Writing
by Jorge Luis Borges

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