Michelle de Kretser
"Theory & Practice" - 2024
#6Degrees of Separation:
from Theory & Practice (Goodreads) to A Tale of Love and Darkness
The starter book this month is "Theory & Practice" by Michelle de Kretser. Again, I have not read the starter book. But I know I am not the only one.
This is the description of this novel:
"With echoes of Shirley Hazzard and Virginia Woolf, a new novel of startling intelligence from prize–winning author Michelle de Kretser, following a woman looking back on her young adulthood, and grappling with the collision of her emotions and her values
In the late 1980s, the narrator of Theory & Practice—a first generation immigrant from Sri Lanka who moved to Sydney in her childhood—sets up a life in Melbourne for graduate school. Jilted by a lover who cheats on her with another self-described "feminist," she is thrown into deeper confusion about her identity and the people around her.
The narrator begins to fall for a man named Kit, who is in a “deconstructed relationship” with a woman named Olivia. She struggles to square her feminism against her jealousy toward Olivia—and her anti-colonialism against her feelings about Virginia Woolf, whose work she is called to despite her racism.
What happens when our desires run contrary to our beliefs? What should we do when the failings of revered figures come to light? Who is shamed when the truth is told? In Theory & Practice, Michelle de Kretser offers a spellbinding meditation on the moral complexities that arise in this gap. Peopled with brilliantly drawn characters, the novel also stitches together fiction and essay, taking up Woolf’s quest for adventurous literary form."
As I mentioned before, I usually like going from one word in a title to another book that has that same word in their title and so on. I prefer this because it leads to all sorts of different genres. In the past months, I couldn't do that, so I had to go with the subject. I had neither a book that hat the word "theory" nor "practice in its title, so I started with the book by another Michelle, one I admire deeply: Michelle Obama.
Obama, Michelle - "The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times" - 2022
Hamill, Pete "Snow in August" - 1998
Brooklyn, two years after World War II. An 11 year old Irish Catholic boy whose father died in battle and who lives alone with his mother befriends a Czech Rabbi and learns about Judaism and the Holocaust. Together they face racism and violence.
Ivey, Eowyn "The Snow Child" - 2012
Now, this was a mixture between magic realism and fairy tale, it is based on an old Russian fairy tale but takes place in Alaska in the 1920s.
Huston, Allegra "Love Child" - 2009
When her mother dies in an accident, Allegra is only four years old, she gets introduced to her "father" John and is raised by him and various helpers.
Oz, Amos "A Tale of Love and Darkness" (Hebr: סיפור על אהבה וחושך) - 2002
This is not just the story of a young man and his family, it's a saga about the whole Jewish people from Europe to Israel. Despite all the troubles they went through, this is a very loving story told with much emotion about some very moving subjects.
Such a wonderful woman, such a strong personality. We need more women like her who tell us how they lead their successful lives without pointing a finger, without letting the book be a "self-help book" (I loathe them).
It's a huge privilege to be let into the thoughts of Michelle Obama, she shares so much that can be helpful to all of us. We can always learn from each other but especially from successful people.
Faulkner, William "Light in August" - 1932
What a book. This could be a follow-up to "Gone With the Wind" seventy years later. A book about the Deep South, about country life, families, hard work, racism, crime, religion, morale, everything a story about this region and time should have.
What a book. This could be a follow-up to "Gone With the Wind" seventy years later. A book about the Deep South, about country life, families, hard work, racism, crime, religion, morale, everything a story about this region and time should have.
Hamill, Pete "Snow in August" - 1998
Brooklyn, two years after World War II. An 11 year old Irish Catholic boy whose father died in battle and who lives alone with his mother befriends a Czech Rabbi and learns about Judaism and the Holocaust. Together they face racism and violence.
Ivey, Eowyn "The Snow Child" - 2012
Now, this was a mixture between magic realism and fairy tale, it is based on an old Russian fairy tale but takes place in Alaska in the 1920s.
Huston, Allegra "Love Child" - 2009
When her mother dies in an accident, Allegra is only four years old, she gets introduced to her "father" John and is raised by him and various helpers.
Oz, Amos "A Tale of Love and Darkness" (Hebr: סיפור על אהבה וחושך) - 2002
This is not just the story of a young man and his family, it's a saga about the whole Jewish people from Europe to Israel. Despite all the troubles they went through, this is a very loving story told with much emotion about some very moving subjects.
* * *
In the end, I found a connection between the first and the last degree, they both have the word AND in its title. But don't you think I touched many different subjects, eras and areas this way?
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