Rag and Bone: A Journey Among The World's Holy Dead

A little over a year ago, my sister Liz took me to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. It's off the beaten track of the other monuments in DC and there's nothing much else out there. But we were curious and we like churches. The Basilica was immense and sparkling and to two non-Catholics, daunting. We opted for the tour. Our guide explained statues and histories of saints and took us into special alcoves and soon we all lined up to view the relic. Maybe it was a bone fragment; I can't recall. But we all moved in a circle to get a glimpse.

Peter Manseau tells similar stories of viewing relics the world over in Rag and Bone: A Journey Among the World's Holy Dead. His interest is that of a layperson, like myself. He's not someone who has a strong religious attachment to the relics he visits themselves, but is curious about how the affect so many people, and on some level, are common to all the world's religions. He visits India, Israel, Pakistan, Syria and interacts with Jews, Catholics and Muslims. He describes a brief history of each of the relics he visits-- most are dubiously authentic but have at any rate suffered indignities and brutalities post mortem that sometimes exceed the violence experienced by the living person. And he usually speaks with the caretakers of the relics and/or shrines. He meets a nun whose personal life was marked by so many violent accidents that she felt compelled to turn to religion and the saint whose remains her convent now hosts. He met a family who for generations had been guarding a holy tooth in Kashmir, but who had lost their legacy through politics; Inidian guards now hold the keys. He met a scientist whose life work it has been to verify (or not) the remains of Saint Joan of Arc. He claims he is not spiritual, yet he reveres her bones with a fervor usually reserved for the most pious.

Mr. Manseau comes to realize that the relics are more than just a spritual connection-- in Sri Lanka they provide jobs-- helping the economy informally (tours) and formally (the requisite gift shop), in France, local pride unites a community and in Syria, children get to practice their English with tourists.

Mr. Manseau journeys the world with curiousity and respect. For him, it's a strictly personal exploration as much as an means to discovering the history of relics. His message is subtle-- living people and living history is more important than the dead.

For myself, the Basillica was beautiful, but maybe too beautiful. It was hard to for me to reconcile the ostentatious gilt with the suffering experienced by the saints featured. I appreciated Mr. Manseau's journey.

Netflix rating: 4/5 stars

Unaccustomed Earth

My first job out of college I worked with a woman named Alo. Originally from India, she and her family had lived in Newton for nearly 20 years. She worked so that her children would have access to her employee discount of education. Once her youngest was through school, she would retire. Despite her years in the US, she always wore a sari and beautiful jewelry to work. Even in winter she would wear colorful, sheer and silky saris, covered with a thick cardigan. Alo had a vast network of fellow Indians and when she learned that I had loved Jhumpa Lahiri's book Interpreter of Maladies, she divulged that she was friendly with her family and thereafter took every opportunity to share with me stories about Ms. Lahiri. "Baby", she would say, "Jhumpa wore the most gorgeous sari to a wedding shower." She would tell details of her clothes and how she styled her hair, telling me how beautiful she was. But I couldn't imagine her clothes being half as beautiful as her stories.

Unaccustomed Earth takes advantage of Ms. Lahiri's distinguished writing style. In a sense, it picks up where Interpreter of Maladies leaves off; a book of longer short stories which can be read individually, but when combined tell a larger story. Her stories explore the relationships between generations of immigrant familes, and their relationships with people outside their immediate circle of friends and family. But far from playing the race card, Ms. Lahiri's stories commentt on the universal feeling of otherness. How losing a parent or spouse can be the most lonely feeling in the world. Or the feeling when you are untethered with no permanent home. And by the regret that comes with age, over decisions and actions made when younger. She writes capably of love and loss, but also resentment and fear.

Ms. Lahiri's stories are beautiful, but less like a brightly colored chiffon sari, and more like Alo's sweater-- old and dependable, meant to comfort and warm, holding the knowlege of its owner's years.

Netflix stars: 5/5

Lucky Girls

One of my favorite literary exchanges took place in this book, Lucky Girls by Nell Freudenberger. It's a small volume of short stories about young American women living mostly in foreign countries, or at least exploring their own foreign feelings.

In 'Outside the Eastern Gate' the narrator, a young woman currently living in the U.S., gets a call from her sister who asks, "Are you lying on the couch?" The narrator responds, "I just finished with that. Now I'm thinking about whether to make a sandwich." This simple phrase epitomizes the will and ultimate resolve, often while under personal duress, of all the characters in the book. One woman may have been assaulted while studying in Thailand, but maybe there was just a misunderstanding. One woman moved to India to be close to her married lover, and after his death, may move back to the U.S. But maybe not. And there are girls who are thinking about who to have sex with the first time. They may decide, or maybe not.
This book was lent to me by my friend Rashmi. We agree on many things-- politics, clothes, drinks after work (always yes). But we often have different taste in movies and books. I hated The Emperor's Children and she loved it. I loved Lolita and she hated it. But we agree on books about strong women who make their own decisions and don't apologize for them. We agree on Nell Freudenberger and we agree on Andrea Lee.
Lately I've been lying on the couch a lot. But I know if Rashmi calls, I can tell her that I'm done doing that, and that I'm deciding whether to make a sandwich, and perhaps to meet for drinks after work.
Netflix stars: 5/5.

Eat, Pray, Love guest entry by Nora

Eat, Pray, Love
Elizabeth does a fantastic job of welcoming us into her travels, her friendships, her experiences, her meals, and most significantly, her deepest emotions and darkest times. Her candid account of her innermost thoughts makes the reader feel understood. By telling us things that we ourselves would be embarrassed to admit, she allows us to accept ourselves. That it is ok to go through ups and downs, to need guidance, to not have all the answers, to be scared or confused, to want something and feel guilty about it, and finally to let that guilt go.
Elizabeth has an amazing ability to describe things (food, people, feelings). In fact, I spent the whole section on Italy hungry.
I give this book 5 out of 5!

Eat, Pray, Love

Personal perspectives on religion or spirituality can often be boring at best and unbelievably awkward at worst. Fortunately Elizabeth Gilbert presents her own journey (the physical and metaphysical), in Eat Pray Love, without gravitas and with humor and humility. I happen to be a big fan of the single-woman-on-a-journey-after-heartbreak literature (read: Tales of a Female Nomad), and Liz (can I call her Liz?) has such a great sense of humor (personifying Depression and Lonliness as thugs, getting a prim and proper Italian saleswoman to admit that she, Liz, does indeed look like the pasta and gelato she spent three months eating in Italy and divulging her friend's nickname for her as Groceries) that I felt immediately drawn to her and her friends.
I was torn between her reasons for getting a divorce: "finding yourself" seems a lame reason to give up a shared life, but she readily admitted that, and how brave is it to actually go on a year's journey, by yourself, to three unknown countries, and come out at the other end a better person?
I think the same narrative could have been mangled by a less sophisticated writer. Liz doesn't fall into the trite or privelaged perspective. She really maintains a balance (which was her goal in the year of travel) and when she starts to tip, she laughs, has the reader laugh with her, and pulls herself back up.
Netflix stars? A whopping 5 out of 5!

Sister of My Heart

Several years ago a close friend moved from her home here in Boston, across country to San Diego. I met her through Steph and really only became close to her that final summer before she moved. She, Steph and I would go rollerblading along the Esplanade every week, we each made a quilt and genarally hung out like junior high BFFs. At the end of the summer, she had to get rid of a lot of stuff-- I bought some furniture off her, but she also gave me some of her paintings and sculptures. Within the stuff I inherited was a copy of a book entitled Sister of My Heart. It was a hardback book and the synopsis was about two cousins growing up in India and how they were close like sisters. Five years later I finally got around to reading it, and while it was corny at times, it was also all consuming-- I couldn't wait to finish it. It was easy to find parallels between Sudha's and Anju's friendship and mine with my friend. Obviously neither of us had an arranged marriage, but we've both lived through and shared major life changes and a recent business trip to San Diego allowed us both to talk about our relationships deep into the night, not unlike Sudha's ultimate trip to the U.S. to be with Anju and her husband. At first I thought the book would be straightforward, but it turned out to have a complexity I wasn't expecting: the choices the cousins make conflict with traditional story telling and place them in direct conflict with society's dictations, as well as their own desires. Their attachment to each other over the years, excluding those around them, was at times unbelievable, as were the Mothers' change of mind towards the end. The end of the book left many avenues open, so I wasn't surprised to see a sequal... The Vine of Desire. Netflix stars? 3.5 out of 5 (my love of the book and its characters increased throughout).