Of Swords and Parasols

Before stumbling across this book during WisCon, I had really only heard of Jainism in passing, and basically knew nothing about it, but thought this anthology sounded interesting. I still don’t know much about Jainism beyond some basics I looked up, but it was interesting.

The stories, originally written by Jain monks, are largely about men achieving enlightenment through piousness, celibacy, and non-violence. The stories are loosely grouped thematically, and tend to have recurring scenes in the themes. For example, the first few stories have variations of this scene:

Man: I shall be a monk!
Family: No, you shall marry and have babies!
Man: But I shall be tempted from the true path by sinful things!
Woman: This is me, just kinda existing and not really having a say in this. But I exist, so am naturally a temptation that cannot be resisted.
Man: *gives into temptation*
Woman: *gets pregnant*
Man: Well, you’ll have a son and won’t be lonely, so I’m off to be a monk!
Woman: Still having no say here. Oh, labor.
Man: Ah, the joyous life of piety!
Woman: Just so you know, I’m either going to be enlightened and become a nun, or be angry and bitter and raise the kid to hate you, and the Suffer Greatly for that.

There’s an enormous emphasis not only on celibacy, but also on rejecting any sexual desire at all. In one of the stories, a husband and wife convert to Jainism and don’t see each other for years. When they do, he remembers having sex with her and gets nostalgic for it. She realizes that her presence has caused him to stray, and so she starves herself to death to save him, and he feels bad about that and so starves himself to death. Then they both get reborn, and she becomes one of the women above. In another story an evil woman (I think a demoness, actually, but I don’t remember the story title to look it up) wants to get revenge on a monk and so, when he returns to civilization after a month fasting in the forest, she makes him notice an attractive woman (who then proves her virtue by hiding him so no one will see it) and so is temporarily victorious over him.

Most of the stories involve marriage in one way or another. Sometimes both spouses convert to Jainism, sometimes a wife’s virtue makes her husband convert, and sometimes the wife objects to the conversion, or tries to tempt her husband away. These wives tend to die, get reborn as tigers, and eat their sons. Men also get rewarded for non-violence when they don’t defend themselves from being eaten/ripped apart by animals, and men get reborn as animals, and vice versa, depending on their actions.

I’m not entirely certain about the translation-Granoff admits to simplifying the translation to make it more accessible for people unfamiliar with Jain literature (which makes sense, though I tend to prefer dense with tons of footnotes myself) but I get the feeling that some things were altered from their original meaning for accessibility, and some terms and descriptions made me think specifically of medieval Catholicism. But it was readable and interesting, and definitely a good impulse buy.

When she was an infant, Heaven Kogo was the sole survivor of a plane crash. At 19, she’s the pampered and sheltered adopted daughter of a Yakuza boss, and about to be married off to a creepster for daddy’s business. Then ninjas invade her wedding, her exiled adopted brother saves her and tells her not to trust her family as he’s dying, and suddenly she’s on the run in L.A., looking for her brother’s friend, Hiro.

The first third or so of this is pretty much a fun, fast paced adventure with Heaven doing remarkably well for someone who’s never had to last more than 5 minutes without a cell phone or daddy’s credit card, but the latter parts, though still entertaining, got caught up in romantic wangst, and setting up the rest of the series. I want to read the rest of the books, but suspect I should read them close together, instead of spread out.

Has anyone seen the miniseries based on the books that aired on ABC Family a couple years ago? I remember thinking it looked entertaining at the time, but I’m somewhat meh-ed by…err…the fact that Hiro is now named Jake, and is played by one of the Roswell guys. Apparently, Japanese women need to learn about Bushido from white guys?

Set in the 1970s, Penny and her mother run a Bed and Breakfast that the tragic heroines of literature come to just before their fates strike. Penny, an angsty 13-year-old, has never been happy with how her mother fawns over the Heroines, but never seems to notice Penny.* Mother is also very firm on the idea that Heroines absolutely must not be allowed to know even a hint of their fates, and so all the books are kept locked in the attic. This comes to a head when Deirdre of Irish myth arrives, and Penny meets Conchobar, who has come to drag her off, in the forest, and gets sucked into his version of the story.

The book is at its best when operating on a metafictional level and delving into the bizarre life of a teen who has grown up in a place where fiction regularly becomes reality. Unfortunately, the middle chunk of the book segues off into Girl, Interrupted territory, and is rather draggy, brightened only by Penny’s recollections of various Heroines who visited in her childhood. There is, unsurprisingly, a heavy emphasis on the impact the heroines of literature-and especially literature’s tendency towards tragic women-has on young women, and, pleasantly, a very pertinent segue into the similar influence of “romantic” men.

Not quite as good as I’d hoped it would be, and the middle causes it to lose a lot of steam, but still a very interesting read.

*This, incidentally, is clearly from the perspective of an angsty teen, as opposed to the stance of the narrative itself.

The two volumes of Missin’ are actually three novellas. The first, “Little Shop Called End of the World,” is about a freelance journalist who quits writing to open a shop selling Vivienne Westwood merchandise who enters a strange relationship with a silent loli who frequents the shop. Like with Kamikaze Girls, one of favorite books from last year, Novala Takemoto uses the narrator’s dwelling of the subculture and its history to carry the story, and it was pretty entertaining until we got to pedophilia and “disturbed girl commits suicide after being cut off from her source of illegal sex. The second story, “Missin’” is the narrative of an angry, obsessive teenaged stalker in love with an angry, violent rocker. Missin’ 2: Kasako continues that with what happens once the stalker is allowed to enter into the rocker’s world.

Novala Takemoto’s writing is incredibly engaging, especially when he’s dwelling on subculture and its history, and having his characters give their thoughts on the same. Unfortunately, I ended up actively disliking every single character, and with writing that involving, I realized that it actually made me angry in the two days I was reading it. Though I think that that in itself is significant, as specific fiction almost never makes me angry in general when I’m not actually consuming it. Well, except for Dollhouse*, but I don’t think well written books that aren’t for me can really be compared to a TV show that basically exists to endorse rape fantasies and human trafficking.

*For which the universe owes me an apology in the form of a series where Dichen Lachman and Enver Gjojak play spies in love who sometimes try to kill each other, with Gina Torres and Olivia Williams as their bosses. I will settle for nothing less.

Hana Maruyama is 38, but has the body of an 80-year-old thanks to Werner’s Syndrome, a genetic defect that causes rapid aging. Hana is almost entirely dependent on her mother, Cate, and the two live a very quiet, orderly life. Hana’s best friend, Laura, has not seen Hana in over ten years, despite repeated offers to visit with her two daughters, who are Hana’s goddaughters. On the verge of divorce, Laura decides to take matters into her own hands, determined to see Hana at least once more before Hana is robbed of her awareness.

The book is split between the present and Cate and Hana’s pasts, not only with their living with Werners, but also the experiences of Cate and her husband, Max, as a biracial couple in the 50s and 60s, and Hana and Laura’s youthful friendship. Tsukiyama’s writing, I think, is better suited for whimsical, if sad, takes on history, and so ends up somewhat stilted when dealing with the present. Very good, but I’m starting to wonder if I’ll like any other book of Tsukiyama’s as much as The Samurai’s Garden.