The
Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (books/audio
available on January 29 for meeting on February 26)
Pecola Breedlove, a young
black girl, prays every day for beauty. Mocked by other children for the dark
skin, curly hair, and brown eyes that set her apart, she yearns for normalcy,
for the blond hair and blue eyes that she believes will allow her to finally
fit in. Yet as her dream grows more fervent, her life slowly starts to
disintegrate in the face of adversity and strife. A powerful examination of our
obsession with beauty and conformity, Toni Morrison’s virtuosic first novel
asks powerful questions about race, class, and gender with the subtlety and
grace that have always characterized her writing. (206 pages)Six Degrees of Separation by John Guare (books/audio available on February 26 for meeting on March 26)
This play explores the premise that everyone in the world is connected to everyone else in the world by a chain of no more than six acquaintances, thus, "six degrees of separation". The plot of the play was inspired by the real-life story of David Hampton, a con man who managed to convince a number of people in the 1980s that he was the son of actor Sidney Poitier. After the play became a dramatic and financial success, Hampton was tried and acquitted for harassment of the plays author. Apparently he believed that he was due a share of the play’s profits that he ultimately never received. (72 pages)
Sarah’s
Key by Tatiana de
Rosnay (book/audio available on March 26 for meeting on April 30)
Sarah's Key follows the story of Julia Jarmond, an American
journalist living in France, who is assigned to complete an article on the Vel'
d'Hiv' roundup in France as well as the story of Sarah, a young girl, who
experienced the roundup first hand. The novel explores France's role in World
War II and shines light on an otherwise scarcely remembered tragedy of the
Holocaust. While most novels about the Holocaust delve into its horrors,
Sarah's Key delves into the effects of the Holocaust that are still felt
decades later by the French.
The
Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow
(books/audio
available on April 30 for meeting on May 28)
Rachel, the daughter of a Danish mother and a black G.I., becomes
the sole survivor of a family tragedy after a fateful morning on their Chicago
rooftop. Forced to move to a new city, with her strict African American
grandmother as her guardian, Rachel is thrust for the first time into a mostly
black community, where her light brown skin, blue eyes, and beauty bring a
constant stream of attention her way. It’s there, as she grows up and tries to
swallow her grief, that she comes to understand how the mystery and tragedy of
her mother might be connected to her own uncertain identity. This searing and
heart-wrenching portrait of a young biracial girl dealing with society’s ideas
of race and class is the winner of the Bellwether Prize for best fiction
manuscript addressing issues of social justice. (272 pages)
Balzac
and the Little Chinese Princess by
Dai Sijie (books/audio available on May 28 for meeting on June 25)
This story follows the lives of two teens, Luo and his best friend
(the unnamed narrator of the novel), who have been sent to a small Chinese
village for "re-education" during Mao's Cultural Revolution. Sons of
doctors and dentists, their days are now spent moving buckets of excrement up
the mountainside and mining coal. But the boys receive a bit of a reprieve when
the villagers discover their talents as storytellers; they are sent on monthly
trips to town watch movies and relate the details on their return. It is here
that they encounter the little seamstress of the title, whom Luo falls for
instantly. When, through a series of comic and clever tricks and favors, the
boys acquire a suitcase full of forbidden Western literature, Luo decides to
"re-educate" the ignorant girl whom he hopes will become his
intellectual match. That a bit of Balzac can have an aphrodisiac effect is a
happy bonus. (197 pages)
