Change Here Now: Permaculture Solutions for Personal and Community Transformation, by Adam Brock. North Atlantic Books, 2017

 

I have a deep interest in permaculture in the agricultural sense, found “A Pattern Language” (an architecture and town planning book from 1970 that pointed out the living patterns that people use) fascinating, and am very interested in how to change the world into a better place, so the description of this book sounded like it would be something I would love. Instead, I found large parts of the book rather tedious.

Not that I think they would be tedious to everyone. The main focus of the book is on working with people: getting the best from people, getting groups to work together efficiently (which changes depending on the size of the group and what it’s trying to do), getting people to express themselves but also to listen, etc. I’ve met a lot of that in presentations I’ve been sucked into in various volunteer groups I’ve been part of, and if I’m lucky I’ll never have to go to another one. I’m a loner; tell me what to do and let me go do it. But if you need to start a group to get something done, the author presents ways of making it more efficient- and at the same time, more people oriented. And some of the things are as simple as rearranging the chairs.

The book is easy to read in some ways; the chapters are very, very short- sometimes only two pages- so you have natural places to stop and think about what you just read. The author uses some vocabulary that most people won’t have, but he gives the definitions (like, what is ‘sankofa’? I didn’t know). The rest is everyday language.

So, if you need to get people working together, invest in this book along with your Robert’s Rules of Order. Just don’t get it thinking it’ll help you create sustainability in your yard! 

The above is an affiliate link. If you click through and buy something- anything- from Amazon, they will give me a few cents. 

I received this book free from the Amazon Vine program in return for an unbiased review.

Neither of these things influenced my review.  

Inheritance From Mother, by Minae Mizumura. 2012; Other Press English translation 2016

 

The Katsura sisters have long had an embattled relationship with their mother. Noriko Katsura, is an egotistical and selfish woman with a taste for the finer things in life, and little, if any, feelings for people. The sisters dream of the day when their mother will finally die, and her demands on them will stop.

This sounds horrible, especially in a society where children are expected to love, revere, and care selflessly for their parents. But for Mitsuki, the daughter on whom the majority of the burden falls on, it’s a chance to finally live her own life. As a child, she was neglected in favor of Natsuki, her more beautiful and talented sister. As an adult, her life is pretty much run by her husband, a fellow college instructor who wants a luxury condo- and is having (another) affair with a younger woman. What would Mitsuki do if she could make decisions without having to consider either of these people?

The first half of the book revolves around Noriko’s final hospitalization and death, and fills us in on the history of the Katsura family. The second half is what Mitsuki does after her mother’s death as she figures out what she really wants out of life. It’s fascinating reading the history of her family and how it was shaped by Japanese culture, as that culture itself changes through modernization and influences from the West. While told in third person, Mitsuki is the main focus of the tale. Mother/daughter relationships, marriage, aging, and sister relationships are all treated here with sensitivity and depth. 

The above is an affiliate link. If you click through and buy something- anything- from Amazon, they will give me a few cents. 

I received this book from the Amazon Vine program in return for an unbiased review. 

Neither of these things influenced my review.  

Rebellion, by Molly Patterson. Harper, 2017

Four women in four eras are at the center of this book. A Christian missionary, Addie, in China in the years leading up to the Boxer Rebellion; Louisa, Addie’s sister who left a middle class family to homestead in the middle of nowhere; Hazel, Louisa’s granddaughter who is suddenly left a widow with a farm to run; and Juanlan, a young Chinese woman who as just graduated college but has to return home to help care for her father. Each of these women steps outside the life that is expected of them, and of course has to live with the consequences of those quiet rebellions.

The book moves at a pretty slow pace. The minutia of daily life is related- when the rebellions are quiet, one has to look at the ordinary to see it contrast with the extraordinary. The descriptions are brilliant; they bring the scenes to life. But… pretty slow. It rather reminds me of a novel from the late 18^th century, actually, with its pacing and long descriptions. Which is fine; just be forewarned.

What I didn’t like was that I figured the four strands of narrative would come together in the end. It was obvious what the relationships between Addie, Louisa, and Hazel were, but the relationship that Juanlan has with the three of them is quite nebulous- only that she lives in roughly the same area of China that Addie lived in. I expected that at some point some long hidden letters would appear or something that meshed them all. No such luck. The ended was quite a letdown.

The above is an affiliate link. If you click through and buy something from Amazon- anything- they will give me a few cents. 

I received this book free from the Amazon Vine program in return for an unbiased review. 

Neither of these things influenced my review.