Behind Five Willows

 by June Hur

The author who is south Korean and has lived in several countries including the US.  She is currently living in Canada and to write mostly YA novels.

The book resembles a Jane Austen story.

This book is about ancient South Korea when the ruler is banning fiction books and punishing those who write or distribute them. The main character, Haewon is the second of three daughters in a relatively poor, lower class family.  To make some money for the family Haewon makes copies of forbidden fiction books for a local bookseller,  Both she and the bookseller could get in trouble if caught.

She has had some communication in writing with one of the authors who calls himself Black Lotus.  She has a young sister who does some things that might bring shame on the family and they have difficulty controlling her.

Haewon ends up chaperoning her sister and the sisters beau.  While doing this she meets a friend of the beau who seems to look down on her and her family.  We find out that this young man is actually the author Black Lotus but she doesn't know this yet.  He is distraught because the draft of his next book has been stolen from his room and also his correspondence with Haewon.

As the story develops we find out that the young sister had fallen for a corrupt palace official.  She gives him her sisters diary.  This ends up getting the book store raided and could also get the young author in trouble.

Of course the young man and Haewon find themselves attracted to each other.  It turns out it was Black Lotus's father who found his writing.  The father, a palace official, is furious with his son but uses his influence to get his son off by just apologizing to the emperor.  We assume the oldest sister marries well.  As the book ends Black Lotus is writing to his wife, Haewon, that he will be home soon.  So it appears he must have gotten some perhaps lesser government appointment.

It was a cute story, very much reflecting Pride and Prejudice, the author admits this in the afterward.

There was an interesting sentence in the book: "If there is one person in this entire world who understands me, I can live this life without bitterness".

Son of Nobody

 by Yann Martel

This is by the author of the book Life of Pi.

It is a brilliant book. Both Harv and I enjoyed it.

The story is about a Canadian academic who leaves his wife and daughter in Canada to go and study an ancient text at Oxford University.  The man's marriage is on the rocks.

He is studying some ancient papyrus scraps that seem to tell a "poor man's" version of the siege of Troy.  Martel has written it in the same format as the Odyssey.  It is amazingly creative, brutal and eloquent.  It tells of Son of Nobody's experience on the battlefield and how only the rich benefit from war.

Alongside the main characters research we get some of his "analysis" of the text and supplemental comments on history and literature including comparison of the Odyssey tale and the stories about Jesus.  Both are myth and we don't really know what is true.

We also get the story of his fractious relationship with is wife.  His wife tries to contact him about their daughter being ill but I think he ignores the first few calls and when she does reach him she is at the hospital and is able to observe remotely the doctors failed attempt to save his daughter.

His wife wants him to come back for the funeral. He stalls her until his work is finished.  In the end his supervisor doesn't like the work he did and if I remember correctly he is out of work.

While the Troy part is very interesting I am not sure about the present day story.  I suppose the main character is supposed to be a modern day Odysseus who delayed coming home but his daughter was not alive when he got home, unlike Odysseus's son and his wife was not waiting for him....

It was an amazing feat of writing.

ab