“Baptizing the Gun”

“Baptizing the Gun” by Uwen Akpan was an interesting story about the travels of a Roman Catholic priest that is finding money to aid in helping out swamp-dwellers in the Niger Delta. These people were killed in an oil fire and the priest travels to Lagos, which is war-torn, to ask rich parishes for money. He has been successful in getting churches to send money and supplies but runs into a problem when a Lagosian tries to help him and comes along for the ride. The whole time they are driving together, the priest thinks that the man is just trying to kill him and thinks that he has a gun in his pocket. They run into several mishaps, mostly because the car the priest is driving has a lot of mechanical issues. In the last scene, they have a mechanic helping them with the car and at this point, the priest realizes that there is no gun in the Lagosian’s pocket and that it is just a handkerchief.

I enjoyed this story because the priest reminded me of myself in a lot of ways. He was terrified for his life for most of the ride and then began to accept his fate that the Lagosian was going to kill him. I have really bad anxiety so I would have done the same thing as the priest and thought the worst of the man that is riding with him. Also, I would have convinced myself that the bulge in his pocket was a gun as the man in this story did. Looking back on some of the quotes referencing the gun, it now makes sense that it was actually a handkerchief. For example, “Sweat dribbles down his face. He reaches for the gun but changes his mind.” Now it makes sense that the item in his pocket was not a gun because he went to pull it out when he was sweating. 

            I also liked the quote that said “We’ve been driving now for three, four miles, the longest stretch since the Lagosian kidnapped me.” I would have considered it kidnapping too if I was in the same situation because of my high anxiety. Overall, the priest really reminded me of myself and I could see myself reacting very similarly in the situations he was placed in. One other minor detail that I liked about this was how by the end of the story, the priest began to call the Lagosian his “companion.” The author/narrator repeatedly began sentences with “my companion” and went on to describe who he previously referred to as his kidnapper. I thought this was interesting because to me, companion means a friend. This shows the typical attitude of a priest, who tend to always find the best in people.

Vocab:

Bludgeon: something used to attack or bully

“The bass guitar of Awilo Longomba’s “Coupe Bibamba” begins to bludgeon the night from two loudspeakers.”

Coiffure: a style or manner of arranging the hair

“The chef, sporting stretch jeans, a T-shirt, and a Grace Jones coiffure, is dancing for the crowd.”

Mudguard: fender of a car

“Then he rushes to my side and, together with the mechanic and his family, leads me over to sit on the Beetle’s mudguard.”

Guffaw: a loud or boisterous burst of laughter

            “He’s tapping the dashboard again. His chortle bottoms out into a relentless guffaw.”

Nam Le- "Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice"

The short story “Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice” by Nam Le was basically about writing a story. The story was written in first person and the main character describes a three day visit from his Vietnamese father. Nam Le is in school at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and has a deadline that is only three days away as well. He is in the midst of a writer’s block but soon turns to his father’s childhood stories to find inspiration. His father then reads his stories and offers more information to help expand Le’s original story. While listening to his father, Le had gathered 45 pages of notes and used that to create what he felt was a masterpiece. In the end, his father ends up burning his work right before it is due, leaving Nam with nothing.

I really liked this story and it was a very easy read. One thing that I thought could have made the story better was if there was some sort of explanation after the climax. I felt like the story climaxed at the point where Nam found his father burning his story but it ended right after that. One quote that I absolutely loved though was “The thing is not to write what no one else could have written, but to write what only you could have written” (page 23). I really liked this quote because I feel like it applies to so many other aspects of life other than writing. It is very philosophical.

One other detail that I liked about this story was how the author described how his father spoke in proverbs. I once did a project on Italian proverbs and found them to be very interesting, and I even researched the meaning to some of them in this story. For the most part, I could not find anything so I conjured up my own meaning. One I especially liked was “the captive buffalo hates the free buffalo” (page 23). I felt like this meant that one always yearns for the life they are not themselves leading. I could be completely false in my interpretation, but half the fun of proverbs is making them your own. 

The ending of the Lazarus Project

I thought that the last section of the book was straight out of a crime show, like Criminal Minds. It involved a lot of gory details, fights, and murders. At the beginning of this section, the novel is the Lazarus /Olga half of the divided plot lines. At this point, they are describing a brutal murder is painful details. My stomach got queasy at one point when the author described “Seryozhka Shipkin held up a blood-dripping tuft of Mr. Mandelbaum’s beard in his hand” (page 241) and when he was describing hearing bones breaking and hearing Mr. Mandelbaum’s skull crack. I couldn’t imagine how Lazarus felt to watch this all occurring.

In the next section about Brik and Rora, they are planning on returning to Brik’s hometown of Sarajevo. While they are in the cab on the way to the train station, they get stuck with a creepy cab driver that Rora describes as “I think he is planning to murder us” (page 257). For some reason, I can relate with being in a situation like this, where you don’t know what could happen because anyone could be a murderer. It is scary to think about all the times I get into a taxi or bus and all the while I am just hoping to be alive when I get off. I am just a worry wart in this sense though. I thought it was bold that Brik and Rora knocked the driver unconscious after they got out of the car though so that his “girlfriend”, the sex slave could be free. In this fight, Brik breaks his arm.

The novel then goes to Olga’s part and then part to Brik and Rora’s section before ending. Again, this section involved a murder that luckily was not as brutally described. Rora was killed at a café while waiting for Brik to arrive. Brik and Rora had been separated for a few days because Brik wanted some time alone in his hometown. One quote I liked from Rora’s murder scene though was when the author said “as the café disintegrated into panicked particles” (285). I thought this was a neat way to describe the scene and I am a biology major so I liked the use of chemical terms in the description. I also though it was humorous for the author to add in that someone’s ringtone went off playing “Staying Alive” which shows the cynical nature of this book. The book finished almost without explanation of what Brik plans to do after his hand is healed. In my own mind, I think he stays in Sarajevo because he seemed happier to be there.

Literary Festival Event

On Friday night, I had the privilege of attending the Mark Halliday poetry reading event. I attended the event with two English major friends who really talked up this poet and I was not let down. I really enjoyed his work because it was quite simple, making it easy listening. He read about ten poems on varying topics; with some I was able to relate to. One poem that I particularly liked was entitled “Parkersburg” and was about a town in West Virginia, 35 miles from where he lived in Ohio. This poem was ultra descriptive and made it feel as if I was in the poem myself. It was so descriptive to the point that the appearance of the character is was described down to his “purple shoes.” I also liked the poem “The Rescue Squad” which Halliday described as being about his undergraduate love life. I could relate to this poem as I am in a relationship. Most of this author’s poems sounded less like a poem and more like a story, which I really enjoyed. Although at times it became hard to differentiate between his personal stories before the poem and the actual poem itself. Only one poem called “Cleveland” actually rhymed and the author made it a point to tell the audience that he did have one rhyming poem at the end; which was a question I was pondering throughout the readings. Another poem I enjoyed was “Return to Elmgrove” which was a dream poem. This poem was unlike any other poem because it was not about a specific reality. Lastly, one other poem I liked was entitled “Tim Off To Charlotte” which sounded like a mix of phone conversations that the reader overheard in an airport. This poem reminded me of my own father because I pictured my father being one of the businessmen that the author overheard and took note of. This poem was interesting because it was an interweaving of many conversations that took place and was a peculiar way to present the range of conversations that were overheard. All in all, I was really happy that I chose this session of the Literary Festival and got to expose myself to a fairly famous poet. 

Cowboy Chicken

The short story “After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town” was about the inter-workings of a fast food restaurant in China. The restaurant served typical Southern American fare and had a lot of ups and downs throughout the story. At times the restaurant was doing great business but at other times they were on the verge of struggling. The boss of the establishment was a tyrant named Mr. Shapiro who was an American that spoke no Chinese and had to converse through the manager Peter, who knew both languages.

            I really enjoyed this work because it was very relatable. I’ve spent the last five years working at a restaurant in my small town and understand the woes of the restaurant business. Also, like the workers in this story, I was bossed around by a tyrant myself. The restaurant I worked at had two owners, one of which worked the day time and one worked the night time. Since I was in high school, I worked the night time and got stuck being ruled by the worse of the two bosses. We had many quarrels over some of the same things Mr. Shapiro got mad about, specifically eating the restaurant’s food.  The quote that stated “I hid my glass and plate in a cabinet so that our boss couldn’t see them.” (page 201-202) sounded exactly like something I have done in the past to hid my eating on the clock. Also, even though Manyou is not a manager or boss, he did something that my own boss would have also done. Manyou said “I’m going to give your fly a hot bath to see if it is from our place.” (page 208). He was eager to prove the customer wrong and this is something my own boss would try to do. I laughed reading about how they felt the American way was to always let the customer be right because in my own experience I have not seen this in action. Actually, I am told that the customer is often times wrong!

            All in all, I really enjoyed this story and found it to be an easy read. They were not many difficult words that I did not know and the story flowed really smoothly.

The Same River Twice, take 2.

In the third chunk of The Same River Twice, there were some parts I really enjoyed and some parts that I felt were wordy and unnecessary. I realize this is a memoir about a writer, but I feel as if some of the story gets lost in the over-detailing of minuscule events. Because of the detail and descriptions of some parts of the book, I have started to wonder if the author has over exaggerated any points throughout the story. I can understand that it would be easy to exaggerate the past to make it sound more enjoyable. This book has really built up my anticipation though, as I am waiting very patiently for the arrival of their child. I get really excited when I get to one of the parts about the present day, hoping that in that chapter Rita will finally give birth. The fact that I have so much anticipation has really kept my interest and allowed me to want to read a little bit more, despite my previously state disgust for the over-detailing.

            I also enjoyed the chapter outlining Dane’s wedding. I was wondering all along how his family felt about his nomadic nature and it was interesting to see the family dynamic when he returned for the wedding. I liked the quote where the author says “For all my wayward ways, I was still the favored son and Dane was relegated to piloting the Nina, running aground on his own efforts to please the family.” This quote shows Dane’s struggle with middle child syndrome. This is not something I know well being the oldest, but I can see my sister feeling the exact same way. It is interesting to see how Dane struggles with this around his own wedding day, a time that is supposed to be his. I also liked the quote describing Ellen’s family. “The family of the bride was polite and charming, although their Southern Baptist beliefs opposed them to coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, dancing, and me.” I am from up north and the Southern Baptist religion was one of the many culture shocks I felt when coming to Clemson.

The Same River Twice

The Same River Twice is simply the memoir of an American nomad. I like the set up of the novel, it skips back in forth from the past to present, giving necessary background information right when you need it. So far I have really enjoyed the book, because I feel like it relates in some ways to Catcher in the Rye, which is one of my favorite books of all time. Both stories talk about the protagonists struggle to find himself and his adventures along the way.

So far, the parts I enjoyed most were the ones outlining Chris’s life in New York City. In a sense, Chris is living out the typical American dream of moving to New York City to pursue an acting career, but he fails and returns home after an injury from playing sports. One specific quote I liked from one of these sections about when he was 19-20 years old stated “We were both at the bottom of our republic’s fabled melting pot.” (page 27). When learning about immigration as a child, I used to love the term “melting pot” to describe the mix of individuals in America. This term was always heavily used in large cities, New York being the most famous because it was the center of immigration. I also liked the author’s use of the word “fabled” which is often another word for mythical. Another quote I enjoyed from these sections was “..nobody I knew had been born and raised here” (page 36). I like this quote because I never realized that this is how New York City has always been. It has always been a place where people move after some time spend somewhere else, and many of its residents are not originally born there. I thought this was quite insightful, and something I honestly never picked up on. All in all, these parts about New York City were my favorite, and I think mainly because it showed someone living out their dream to break free. I’m sure when I was growing up I dreamed of moving to NYC to become an actress at least once, as this is a common dream of many Americans.

Throughout the novel thus far, I was trying to place it in a time period. I have come to the conclusion that it takes place a few decades ago, possibly early 80s or maybe late 70s. One event that lead me to pick up this time was when Rita goes to get her check up while pregnant and the ultra sound only consists of hearing the heart beat, while today you can practically see the entire body. Just this advancement of the ultra sound machines places this novel before the boom of technology that I think happened in the 90s.

Vocabulary:

“with the jodhpurs at her ankles” page 37

            - riding breeches cut full through the hips and close-fitting from knee to ankle