February 2010: Raining Backwards

Latino Book Club will meet on Saturday, February 27th at 3pm at Pomegranate Books to discuss the Cuban American author, Roberto G. Fernández's Raining Backwards.

Discussion Questions
1. Exile
2. Magical Realism (the use of supernatural or magic, but presented and accepted as if part of the natural realm).
3. The non-chronological narration
4. Satire
5.The craziest character
6. Female sexuality

February 28th, 2010
Thank you Olga for coming out on Saturday. I almost thought I was going to be the only one there. I really enjoyed the discussion; we of course talked of so many things other than the book. Here is a short snippet of the many things we spoke of:
Exile
Roberto G. Fernández’s Raining Backwards captures the predicament of the Cuban exile very well. Even though the Cubans are satirized and their follies exposed, the novel brings alive the pain and anger of the Cubans who were deposed of their home with no possibility to return home. The two stories (which is what one may refer to the chapters in this novel, because of their completeness) that refer to a return to Cuba, end in irony- “Raining Backwards” and “Tatiana.” The former, which is also the title of the novel, is the story of the universal hope of man to die in his own home. Magical Realism, which is a technique used by Fernández many a times, is used to find in the harsh reality that magical moment, which allows us to keep believing. The latter tale is of Manny, now completely blind (even though in the first story he gets his sight back, thanks to the magical sap from the very angry Mr. Olsen's tree, also another example of Fernández use of Magical Realism) wanting to at least be able to face Cuba, even though he can’t see it any more. Both the tales are of a grandparent and grandchild; the younger one does not yet understand or realize why the elder wants to return to Cuba so badly. In “Raining Backwards” the grandchild understands, once he grows old and becomes a grand parent himself, and death approaches.

Language

Fernández loves to play with language, especially the silly translations into English, which only make sense if you are familiar with Spanish. “Vacillation” (vacilón-Having fun), “The Good Night” (La Noche Buena- Christmas Eve), the reference to the city in Cuba, Cienfuegos as the city of Hundred Fires are a few of the examples. The cultural references many a times, can only be understood by someone familiar with literature from the Spanish speaking cultures, for example the letter found on the dead body of Connie. The poem is the English translation of the 17^th century Mexican poet Sor Juana de la Inés’ well known “hombres necios,” but there abounds other cultural references to American popular literature as well, for example the reference to Superman. The Olsens are no other than Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen, Superman’s lady love and pal respectively.

Non-linear narrative and development of characters

The novel does not follow a linear narrative, and has to be read in its totality to find the connections. It is almost like a jig-saw puzzle, keeping the reader on his or her toes, keeping the reader engaged. For those who do not like non-linear narrative there are stories which can be enjoyed just by themselves. There are so many crazy characters that one can enjoy the short vignettes, but it is fun to find out the whole story about them, even though it means reading bits and pieces, and many a times going backwards. Mirta Vergara is certainly my favorite. She is a character who embodies so many characteristics. Mirta like all the exiles wishes to return home, and in the impossibility of the situation prefers to re-create Cuba, with cat-litter and Alka-Seltzer in her own bath-room. Nostalgia is taken over by fiction, as Varadero beach becomes the site of her incomplete life. Telling the young Eloy tales of Cuba is like foreplay, which becomes a necessity to remain connected to Cuba. Her imagined rape by Eloy and later by other men are projections of her frustration enveloped in a sexual fantasy. It is so interesting that every time she tells one of her girl-friends about her rape, they just take it in like another story they tell each other with no consequences.

The novel has so much to offer and is certainly gives so much food for thought about exile, and the Latinos in the United States. Americans and their racist attitudes are also satirized. Female sexuality in the Cuban and the American culture is scrutinized. You can laugh out loud or simply let out a loud sigh. Fernández, of course a product of this culture knows what he writes, but he simply gets into their heads. I am reading this novel after a long time and I seem to enjoy it more. Maybe not the prefect book to be taught in high-school, but certainly great for the university class-room!

January 2010: Caramelo

Feliz Año Nuevo to everyone!

We are starting our third year of the Latino Book Club, and we hope to continue to grow stronger with our love for books and the Latino culture.
Latino Book Club just concluded its first community project Book Drive 2009 in December 2009 collecting books for three local schools and their ESL programs. We are looking forward to doing many more projects involving reading and literacy and the Wilmington Latino Community. Please write back if you have ideas or want to volunteer.

As we begin this new year we will be reading Sandra Cisnero's multi-generational saga Caramelo.
We will meet on January 30th at 3PM at our favorite local book-store Pomegranate Books on the corner of Park and Kerr Avenue.

January 31st, 2010
Thanks to Lauren, and Lizzy for coming out yesterday on the awful day. We had a wonderful discussion along with the Mexican pastries and music. We overall liked the book. Neither of us had finished. Lauren of course was almost near the end. I had finished only the second part, and another 200 pages to go. Lizzy is in the second part. We all plan to finish the book, before we start the next one.

Discussion starters:
1. Who is your favorite character (other than Soledad/Awful Grandmother) and why?
Although we did not have one particular character to talk about, as there are so many and all have their own little interesting detail, but we did have a little chat about the nick-names. Of course it just seems to be part of the Mexican culture to have nick-names, if not a shortened form of your own name, something that emerges from either your physical attribute (or deformity as Lizzy puts it) or your personality. The use of the names in English-Awful grandmother, Baby, Fat Face, Light-Skinned, Little Grandfather, Uncle Old-seem rather odd. We did translate back some of them and they make sense-Niño, Güera, abuelito, Tío viejo, but the others we were stumped. The use of English serves two purposes, the reader for one may enjoy the meaning in English, and the bilingual reader can translate as we did. The other I see, is the little narrator Celaya and maybe her other US born siblings and cousins use to refer to the older folks, like a secret language.

2. The Awful Grandmother (she is a category herself)
The Awful Grandmother isn't that awful after all, or at least the term seems an exaggeration. The bossy nature is obvious in the first part of the novel, but one comes to realize that she was not always like that. Soledad, the grandmother, comes from a very humble background who was seduced by the son of the family she worked for. She would have had to be a single mother, if it hadn't been for her father-in-law/master, who forced his son to make it right, by marrying her. Of course she may have risen in social ranks, but she never received his amorous attention, which was reserved for other women. It is simply ironic that the woman who came from such humble backgrounds does not sympathize with other women with similar backgrounds, rather she is very judgmental. She is racist; she makes it very clear that the native Americans are lower than her. She is certainly classist; she mythifies her husband's Spanish family to her advantage. She proclaims that she is part of the noble lineage of the Reyes (from her husband's side, because her own family also Reyes, were humble weavers, who made rebozos). In her fight with her daughter-in-law she accuses Zoila of being Mexican-American, and therefore not a true Mexican, who had risen in social status by marrying Inocencio.
The second part of the novel, where the narrator Lala recounts the tale of the grand-mother's history, it becomes obvious in the conversations she is having with her grandmother that she is portraying Soledad as a bitter angry matriarch simply because it makes for a better story.

3. The rebozo
We did not discuss the 'rebozo' per se, but it was interesting to talk about the term 'caramelo,' which is used for the rebozo, and also for the skin color of many Mexicans, referring to their Native American blood. Lizzy, does not remember ever having heard the word 'caramelo' being used for what in U.S. Spanish is used for either 'caramel' or 'sweet.' She remembers the term 'cajeta' a kind of candy (from Celaya) to refer to the color/candy of the caramel color. Therefore it is interesting that 'caramelo' is used.
We had a few theories: 'caramelo' is more for a US audience, a cognate, it sounds better to a English reader, and the association with the sweetness or the 'exoticism' of the skin color is much more attractive than say 'cajeta.'
Another theory on my part is that she is trying to stretch the 'caramelo' reference from the rebozo to many other things. The narrator talks about a special kind of rebozo, which her great-grand-mother was making right before she died, and was then passed onto to Soledad. The color combination of the rebozo, led to its name of 'caramelo.'

4. The telling of Mexican history
The notes at the end of each chapter provide a great amount of information about Mexican History and Culture. Lauren, found them annoying as by the time she reached the end she had already forgotten what was the note about and therefore didn't read them. I think the fact that the notes are at the end of the chapter allows for the option to be read by the reader if interested, if not, it does not hinder the reading of the main story. A foot-note can be much more distracting. Lizzy felt that the notes told a lot about Mexican history and culture without making the reader feel ignorant. The anecdotal quality makes them fun to read on the side. Also Cisneros or the narrator is able to bring together many cultural icons and images into the narrative. Lizzy, of course being of Mexican ascendancy was able to identify many of the images, and the music that she hated when young, now has a greater appreciation for. She also had some music to go with our discussion to show what it must have felt in the story, when they were either singing or listening to the songs.
5. Spanglish
Of course the novel is sprinkled with Spanish words and phrases, but most of them are either explained or translated within the narrative, which I hoped wasn't going to be too much. In the third part, Lauren observes it gets worse. As a bilingual reader, I of course would have enjoyed it if the Spanish were just left the way they are, without a translation, but I can understand Sandra Cisneros wouldn't sell. She is after all one of the few Latina authors to have success in the anglo-phone market because she used a more 'standard' English in her first book The House on the Mango Street. But it is also interesting to note that she uses direct phrase which she does not translate-'God squeezes, but does not drown' (Dios apreta pero no ahorca), or 'Without mother, without father, without even a dog to bark' (She uses the Spanish idiom in the title of the same chapter-22).