Pregnancy--or Not, Picture Brides, and Gardens

    Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi is a translation from Japanese. Ms. Shibata works in an all-male office and is the grease that keeps the office running. She cleans up after meetings, sorts the mail, and replaces the ink in the copier on top of carrying the same workload as the men. Most nights, she doesn't leave until 7 or 8 PM. One day, faced with missing lunch to clean the conference room, she announces she's pregnant and has morning sickness, only she isn't. This is a fantastic book. Her lie changes her life for the better. She eats better, gets more sleep and exercise, and is treated with deference at work, but how far can she take it? I have been a reader my entire life, and reading books in translation means I encounter ideas, characters, plots, and ideas that jar me in their unpredictability. I didn't know a story could go that way. I recommend this book because it is interesting, readable, and a bit subversive.

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        I've been reading Julie Otsuka lately. This week I read The Buddha in the Attic. This novel tells the story of a specialized category of women. Japanese women who came to America in the early 1900s as brides to immigrant Japanese men. They saw each other pictures, and the women were called picture brides. Otsuka writes in a list format that works well and shows the complexity of the group expressing a wide range of situations and emotions. I know of no one besides Otsuka who writes in this fashion. Each chapter recounts a significant mile marker in the women's lives: Coming, First Night, Whites, Babies, Children, Traitors, A Disappearance. It is skillfully done. Even though the central protagonist is a group of women, the story is powerful and effective.

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    The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden by Karin Yan Glaser is the second in the Vanderbeekers of 141st Street. Yan Glaser is terrific at creating a compelling problem and setting a clock on it. Tick, Tick. The plot moves along, and I can't stop reading. It really is a book for all ages because there are multiple characters--adults, teens, tweens, children, and pets--that are treated with respect and honor. She tackles real-world problems like illness, death, and bad choices, honestly and kindly. I'm working my way through the series, and they brighten the dark winter months for me. 

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