10. Our Twisted Hero by Yi Munyol and 11. I Say a Little Prayer by E. Lynn Harris
I picked up these two randomly from the library. Our Twisted Hero was on the table promoting Asian Heritage Month at the library. Link here for reading suggestions. I Say a Little Prayer was on a shelf in the hardcover fiction section.
Our Twisted Hero by Yi Munyol
Product Description (from Publishers Weekly)
This deceptively innocent tale of psychological warfare between two elementary school students is the brief but forceful U.S. debut of Korea's most popular fiction writer. When 12-year-old Han Pyongt'ae moves to a small town from Seoul to begin fifth grade, he expects his cosmopolitan education will impress everyone. He quickly notices that the other students are indifferent and unusually obedient to Om Sokdae, the slightly older class monitor. At first, Han refuses to give in to the older boy's will, unaccustomed to power resting in anyone's hands other than the teacher's. Although Sokdae strong-arms his friends into bullying Han, the two of them rarely engage in direct confrontation, infusing the book's crucial relationship with a thought-provoking mixture of contempt and respect. Han ultimately acquiesces to Sokdae's rule, even growing to admire the older boy's inventiveness and daring. But blemishes in Sokdae's seemingly perfect academic record, such as his predilection for cheating on all-important exams are later uncovered, building toward a gratifying climax in which the system of control long accepted in the school faces a potent challenge. Parallels to Korea's current political climate become evident early on in the book; indeed, it was written in 1987, following the Kwangju Massacre and during a period of intense dictatorship in Korea. Munyol sustains interest by keeping the story simple, focused and close to readers' intuitive sense of right and wrong. Moreover, the charismatic Sokdae and the stubborn, idealistic Han are familiar, credible characters. This persuasive and morally enlightened novel makes a winning entrance for Munyol into Western readers' imaginations.
My Impressions
Honestly, when I picked up the book I thought it would be a funny YA novel because of the cover illustration (you can see it here) but the write-up on the inside cover compares the book to Lord of the Flies. There are surface similarities in that both are allegorical and about preteen and teen boys in a hierarchical situation. However, this time there is more direct adult involvement in motivating the "revolution" and overthrowing the bully/dictator. Actually, the whole situation around that shows the inability of the group to think for themselves, which the adult points out. This seems to reflect the difference in culture and cultural values between a western society as seen as Lord of the Flies versus the Korean situation in Hero. The other similarity is the lack of female characters or involvement. The way the story is set up makes it seem like the author is implying this could only happen when girls and boys are separated because the narrator mentions that he is moving from a school with co-ed classes to one that doesn't. Interestingly, when the adults are ineffectual, the class actually runs better in terms of cleanliness, academic success, and general orderliness, which kind of points out the benefits of dictatorship. I would have liked more exploration of the hypocrisy of the students who were the bully's biggest supporters suddenly turning on him. Because it was compared to Lord of the Flies, I was expecting more blatant symbolism but maybe I missed it because of a cultural difference. I should also note this is a translation by Kevin O'Rourke, who is white. One of the key differences between this book and Flies is the way casual violence is viewed. Granted, I haven't read Flies in a long time but I seem to remember that any sort of fighting was viewed as savage and undesirable. In Hero, schoolyard fights and beatings by teachers are normal or accepted except when extreme force is used. In Flies, intelligence in the form of Piggy was the exception or minority and also undesirable but in Hero, all students want to succeed academically and it's the "stupid" ones that are looked down on. Overall, I liked the book as a glimpse into the different Korean mindset and values and also to examine the divide between those and North American ones. However, I felt like the story was incomplete. It was written as the narrator is looking back on that period in his life, trying to understand it. At the end, he sees the bully again, being arrested, and ponders at the fall in fortunes but doesn't get into as much deep reflection about the incident as I would've liked.
I Say a Little Prayer by E. Lynn Harris
Product Description (from inside cover)
Chauncey Greer is the owner of The Cute Boy Card Company, a thriving company in Atlanta. As a teenager, he was a member of a popular boy band, but left in disgrace when word got out that he and his bandmate D had become much more than good friends. A free spirit now on the brink of forty, Chauncey has always hooked up with both men and women. With the age of the "down low" making women more cautious, however, Chauncey has been focusing on the guys.
After one too many bad dates, Chauncey finds himself in church, where the minister's message inspires him to follow his dream of a musical career once again. Although he's lost touch with D, as he starts writing songs his thoughts inevitably turn to his former lover. Chauncey's smashing performance at the church earns him a standing ovation and an invitation to participate in an upcoming revival. But Chauncey soon discovers that an ambitious fundamentalist preacher plans to use the revival to speak out against gays and gay marriage. Feeling angry and betrayed, Chauncey and other gay members of the church decide to take a stand against the church's homophobia by staging a "Day of Absence" when all of the gay members and their friends and family stay home. Everything is going as planned . . . until D appears on the scene and Chauncey has to face some hard choices about his future.
My Impressions
Reading the cover description, I thought this would be a relatively straightforward story of overcoming prejudice/homophobia in the black community. But from the prologue, it seemed almost like a soap opera in that the storyline and writing were so sensationalist. It was a "so bad it's good" kind of impression. I appreciated the positive messages of acceptance, of standing up for one's beliefs in a positive way (e.g. the Day of Absence at the church), of reconciling faith and so-called sinful acts but the plot was extremely weird for me. Chauncey does participate in the Day of Absence but not before a whole bunch of stuff happens, including a nude cocktail party with him describing himself touching his "sex" i.e. penis; not one but two seduction attempts; a non-hookup with an old flame that teaches him about love; encounters with the crazy wife of the preacher; the preacher who is also his old flame; the backstory of his best friend about dressing up as a girl to date a crush; a double-cross that wasn't a double-cross in that one of the seducers is the brother of the preacher's wife and she wants to out her husband so she can get his potential senate job. I think the most unbelievable part of the latter was the reveal - the protagonist is getting ready to go on Larry King Live and sees the two siblings there together when they were supposed to be on the outs and then he runs out of the studio, chased by the siblings and one of the producers who's also in on the scheme.
I disliked the writing of the female characters because they were underdeveloped and felt almost like caricatures - there's the successful, abused assistant, her "ghetto" best friend, the traditional but no-nonsense good-hearted school-marm/grandmother figure and, of course, the vengeful preacher's wife. Another example of underdevelopment was that the school-marm/grandmother character switiches her vote from Republican to Democrat practically overnight based on God telling her so even though her original choice was because of God.
I'm definitely no expert but it felt like there was a mixed message in terms of acceptance for more "feminine" gay black men. On one hand, God loves everyone, etc, etc, and on the other, "no queens allowed".
In terms of writing, a lot of slang was used but it sounded off to me. It was kind of fake sounding or more like what was said didn't translate well to print. There was also almost too much description; it felt like there was a lot of focus on describing physical appearance and clothing, and also in telling the reader exactly how everyone was feeling or what everyone was thinking. The book also mentioned one character blaming the white man instead of owning up, and another not caring what the white man thought, just to focus on the black community, which were thought-provoking and I wish there was a bit more examination of them. In this, there was again a heavy emphasis on religion but in an entirely different way from Vassanji's book (my post here). Both cultures value religion and faith but expressed the intensity differently.
Note about tagging: I've added a "translation" tag but haven't tagged the (white) translator although his name is noted in my post.
Our Twisted Hero by Yi Munyol
Product Description (from Publishers Weekly)
This deceptively innocent tale of psychological warfare between two elementary school students is the brief but forceful U.S. debut of Korea's most popular fiction writer. When 12-year-old Han Pyongt'ae moves to a small town from Seoul to begin fifth grade, he expects his cosmopolitan education will impress everyone. He quickly notices that the other students are indifferent and unusually obedient to Om Sokdae, the slightly older class monitor. At first, Han refuses to give in to the older boy's will, unaccustomed to power resting in anyone's hands other than the teacher's. Although Sokdae strong-arms his friends into bullying Han, the two of them rarely engage in direct confrontation, infusing the book's crucial relationship with a thought-provoking mixture of contempt and respect. Han ultimately acquiesces to Sokdae's rule, even growing to admire the older boy's inventiveness and daring. But blemishes in Sokdae's seemingly perfect academic record, such as his predilection for cheating on all-important exams are later uncovered, building toward a gratifying climax in which the system of control long accepted in the school faces a potent challenge. Parallels to Korea's current political climate become evident early on in the book; indeed, it was written in 1987, following the Kwangju Massacre and during a period of intense dictatorship in Korea. Munyol sustains interest by keeping the story simple, focused and close to readers' intuitive sense of right and wrong. Moreover, the charismatic Sokdae and the stubborn, idealistic Han are familiar, credible characters. This persuasive and morally enlightened novel makes a winning entrance for Munyol into Western readers' imaginations.
My Impressions
Honestly, when I picked up the book I thought it would be a funny YA novel because of the cover illustration (you can see it here) but the write-up on the inside cover compares the book to Lord of the Flies. There are surface similarities in that both are allegorical and about preteen and teen boys in a hierarchical situation. However, this time there is more direct adult involvement in motivating the "revolution" and overthrowing the bully/dictator. Actually, the whole situation around that shows the inability of the group to think for themselves, which the adult points out. This seems to reflect the difference in culture and cultural values between a western society as seen as Lord of the Flies versus the Korean situation in Hero. The other similarity is the lack of female characters or involvement. The way the story is set up makes it seem like the author is implying this could only happen when girls and boys are separated because the narrator mentions that he is moving from a school with co-ed classes to one that doesn't. Interestingly, when the adults are ineffectual, the class actually runs better in terms of cleanliness, academic success, and general orderliness, which kind of points out the benefits of dictatorship. I would have liked more exploration of the hypocrisy of the students who were the bully's biggest supporters suddenly turning on him. Because it was compared to Lord of the Flies, I was expecting more blatant symbolism but maybe I missed it because of a cultural difference. I should also note this is a translation by Kevin O'Rourke, who is white. One of the key differences between this book and Flies is the way casual violence is viewed. Granted, I haven't read Flies in a long time but I seem to remember that any sort of fighting was viewed as savage and undesirable. In Hero, schoolyard fights and beatings by teachers are normal or accepted except when extreme force is used. In Flies, intelligence in the form of Piggy was the exception or minority and also undesirable but in Hero, all students want to succeed academically and it's the "stupid" ones that are looked down on. Overall, I liked the book as a glimpse into the different Korean mindset and values and also to examine the divide between those and North American ones. However, I felt like the story was incomplete. It was written as the narrator is looking back on that period in his life, trying to understand it. At the end, he sees the bully again, being arrested, and ponders at the fall in fortunes but doesn't get into as much deep reflection about the incident as I would've liked.
I Say a Little Prayer by E. Lynn Harris
Product Description (from inside cover)
Chauncey Greer is the owner of The Cute Boy Card Company, a thriving company in Atlanta. As a teenager, he was a member of a popular boy band, but left in disgrace when word got out that he and his bandmate D had become much more than good friends. A free spirit now on the brink of forty, Chauncey has always hooked up with both men and women. With the age of the "down low" making women more cautious, however, Chauncey has been focusing on the guys.
After one too many bad dates, Chauncey finds himself in church, where the minister's message inspires him to follow his dream of a musical career once again. Although he's lost touch with D, as he starts writing songs his thoughts inevitably turn to his former lover. Chauncey's smashing performance at the church earns him a standing ovation and an invitation to participate in an upcoming revival. But Chauncey soon discovers that an ambitious fundamentalist preacher plans to use the revival to speak out against gays and gay marriage. Feeling angry and betrayed, Chauncey and other gay members of the church decide to take a stand against the church's homophobia by staging a "Day of Absence" when all of the gay members and their friends and family stay home. Everything is going as planned . . . until D appears on the scene and Chauncey has to face some hard choices about his future.
My Impressions
Reading the cover description, I thought this would be a relatively straightforward story of overcoming prejudice/homophobia in the black community. But from the prologue, it seemed almost like a soap opera in that the storyline and writing were so sensationalist. It was a "so bad it's good" kind of impression. I appreciated the positive messages of acceptance, of standing up for one's beliefs in a positive way (e.g. the Day of Absence at the church), of reconciling faith and so-called sinful acts but the plot was extremely weird for me. Chauncey does participate in the Day of Absence but not before a whole bunch of stuff happens, including a nude cocktail party with him describing himself touching his "sex" i.e. penis; not one but two seduction attempts; a non-hookup with an old flame that teaches him about love; encounters with the crazy wife of the preacher; the preacher who is also his old flame; the backstory of his best friend about dressing up as a girl to date a crush; a double-cross that wasn't a double-cross in that one of the seducers is the brother of the preacher's wife and she wants to out her husband so she can get his potential senate job. I think the most unbelievable part of the latter was the reveal - the protagonist is getting ready to go on Larry King Live and sees the two siblings there together when they were supposed to be on the outs and then he runs out of the studio, chased by the siblings and one of the producers who's also in on the scheme.
I disliked the writing of the female characters because they were underdeveloped and felt almost like caricatures - there's the successful, abused assistant, her "ghetto" best friend, the traditional but no-nonsense good-hearted school-marm/grandmother figure and, of course, the vengeful preacher's wife. Another example of underdevelopment was that the school-marm/grandmother character switiches her vote from Republican to Democrat practically overnight based on God telling her so even though her original choice was because of God.
I'm definitely no expert but it felt like there was a mixed message in terms of acceptance for more "feminine" gay black men. On one hand, God loves everyone, etc, etc, and on the other, "no queens allowed".
In terms of writing, a lot of slang was used but it sounded off to me. It was kind of fake sounding or more like what was said didn't translate well to print. There was also almost too much description; it felt like there was a lot of focus on describing physical appearance and clothing, and also in telling the reader exactly how everyone was feeling or what everyone was thinking. The book also mentioned one character blaming the white man instead of owning up, and another not caring what the white man thought, just to focus on the black community, which were thought-provoking and I wish there was a bit more examination of them. In this, there was again a heavy emphasis on religion but in an entirely different way from Vassanji's book (my post here). Both cultures value religion and faith but expressed the intensity differently.
Note about tagging: I've added a "translation" tag but haven't tagged the (white) translator although his name is noted in my post.