The Unbearable Heaviness of Baking Cake

Sunday afternoon was my meeting with my book club.  I really need to remember to take pictures while we're all there.  Grrr.  Next time!  We read "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera, and we had a little afternoon tea to go with it. There were cucumber sandwiches, chicken salad and both hot and iced tea.  In keeping with the spirit of the tea party, I made tea bag cookies and petit fours.  It was a LOT of work, but they were very yummy. 

I found out about the tea bag cookies from a post on Book Journey's blog, and they were so cute I had to make them.  I followed the link from her blog and found this blog, which describes how to make them.  In French.  I speak French, but not well enough to follow a recipe in it!  Google translate helped some, but not really.  In any event, the pictures were enough to give me an idea what to do, and I just used some sugar cookie dough I had in my freezer, and dipped the cookies in semi-sweet chocolate.  They turned out cute and tasty, so I'm pretty pleased. 

I also made petit fours.  They took the most time, and I actually burned one of the cakes I was making.  I don't think I've ever actually burned a cake before.  The frosting was sort of a fiasco and in the end they looked more like cake with candle wax dripped all over them than the pretty little petit fours I had envisioned, but they were really good.  That's lemon cake with raspberry filling.  I had to bring the leftovers to work so that I wouldn't eat all of them. 


Oh, did you say this is a book blog and not a baking blog? Ok.  Here are my thoughts after meeting with everyone - for once I really didn't change my mind a whole lot after talking with the group.   

It's difficult to create a synopsis for this book, because there's not a lot of plot.  Still, so much happens!  Oh sweet irony.  There is the central love story between Tereza and Tomas.  Then there's a sort of side love story - Sabina and Franz.  Sabina and Tomas were also lovers, by the way.  Tomas, obviously, is a womanizer.  He loves Tereza, and he is able to separate that love from the physical enjoyment he gets from his encounters with other women.  Unfortunately for Tereza, she is not able to separate it, and his philandering causes her a lot of distress and really strange nightmares.   


Meanwhile, the relationship between Sabina and Franz is sort of converse - with Franz having all the feelings and Sabina unable to fully give her heart to Franz (or anyone else for that matter).  Sabina is an artist, and Franz is an intellectual and a professor.  He's also married.  Eventually he screws up the courage to tell his socialite wife that he's been hooking up with a sexy artist, and he's going to go shack up with her.  When Sabina finds out he left his wife for her, she has wild, passionate sex with Franz one last time and then disappears and moves to the US.  Franz is crushed, but then moves in with some grad student who wears giant glasses. 

This book is more of a portrait of the lives of these people, rather than a story.  And those lives are basically there just as something over which Milan Kundera can drape his philosophy.  The philosophy is really the reason to read the book - it's so interesting and quotable.  And if I had to come up with a theme for the book, it's balance.  The couples are kind of extremes, and they sort of balance each other out.  There are all these contrasting ideas - strength/weakness, lightness/heaviness - and which one is better than the other just depends on your perspective.  Strength is not always better than weakness, and being weak doesn't always mean you're the victim.  Take those traditional ideas that have been put into your head and banish them from whence they came!!! 

The real star of this book is language.  Milan Kundera is Czech, but he has lived in France since 1975.  This novel was originally written in Czech, and then translated into French.  It was first published in French in 1984, and then in its original Czech a year later, when it was also translated into English.  The translation I read was so beautiful, though, I had to keep reminding myself that it was a translation.  The author uses language to explain and clarify, but it's also something more than a tool.  It's how we understand the world, and how we understand each other.  If we understand life in different ways, then we speak a different language - just like Sabina and Franz.  

I'm going to end this post with some of my favorite quotes from this book, which will do a whole lot more towards convincing you to read this book than I ever could.  But you should read it.  

"There is no particular merit in being nice to one's fellow man. ... Mankind's true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buried from view), consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals" 

"Looking out over the courtyard at the dirty walls, he realized he had no idea whether it was hysteria or love." 

"If [God] had a mouth, He had to eat.  And if He ate, He had intestines.  But that thought always gave me a fright, because even though I come from a family that was not particularly religious, I felt the idea of a divine intestine to be sacrilegious.  ... Thus [I] came to question the basic thesis of Christian anthropology, namely, that man was created in God's image.  Either/or: either man was created in God's image - and God has intestines! - or God lacks intestines and man is not like Him."  

"When we want to give expression to a dramatic situation in our lives, we tend to use metaphors of heaviness.  We say that something has become a great burden to us. ... And Sabina - what had come over her?  Nothing. She had left a man because she felt like leaving him.  Had he persecuted her? Had he tried to take revenge on her? No. Her drama was a drama not of heaviness but of lightness.  What fell to her lot was not the burden but the unbearable lightness of being." 

I'm not entirely sure this qualifies as a classic, because it wasn't published until the mid 1980s.  BUT, I'm sort of behind on my challenges, and I had the impression this was a classic when I started it.  I'm not going to link this up to my classics challenge post yet, because if I read enough other stuff, I won't count it.  

It does count, however, for my 1001 Books to Read Before You Die Challenge. Yay!    

Frankenstein and A Confederacy of Dunces

Have I ever told you how awesome my book club is? Well, they are. It's a group of people from law school that I initially lured into the group by offering booze and snacks, and they keep coming for the same reason(I presume). Here's an old picture of the group - some of these people don't come anymore, and there are a couple of new members, but you get the general idea. I'm going to have to remember to take a new picture at every meeting.


We've met twice in the last few months, and read two really interesting books.

A Confederacy of Dunces

By John Kennedy Toole

This meeting was quite awhile ago, and I read a library copy of the book, so I don't have much to go on other than my memory. The general plot of the book follows Ignatius J. Reilly through some "adventures." Ignatius is a bit off - really intelligent, but socially inept. The book is basically a series of unfortunate events, and through it all, Ignatius continues to declare his intellectual superiority, while being unable to see what an utter failure he is. He expects everyone to do things for him - especially his mom.

There are a lot more absurd things and weirdness, but here are the things I remember most from my reading and from our discussion:

The Language

The language was so great. There was a lot of alliteration and interesting phrasing. Each character had his/her own linguistic tics and unique phraseology. I loved how the author used language to help create the characters and to set each scene. I remember on several occasions making notes about the use of language even though I didn't like what was happening in general.

Each reader sees what they want

At the beginning of our discussion, we all felt pretty blah about the book. It was interesting, I guess, and we all liked bits and pieces, and we were generally glad to have read a book that has gotten so much attention over the years. But we felt like it lacked an actual plot and I personally felt like I didn't quite get what the author was getting at. This feeling conflicted with reports we'd all read about how genius the book is and how it's the best book ever, and how our lives would only be complete after reading it.

But after an hour or so of conversation, Professor Leary (our former faculty adviser, who so generously still shows up and helps make the discussion coherent and dazzles us with her brilliant insights) says: "maybe this book is genius in that it brings out something different in each person." As soon as she said it, we all realized it was true. I was especially interested in the relationship between Ignatius and his mother. Others focused on the psychological aspects of the character and what made him the way he is. Others honed in on Ignatius's attempts at social reform, and what statement the author might be making about society in general.

So, I'm really glad I read this book, but I'm even more glad that I read this with this group of people. Some books are so much better with a discussion, and this is one of those books.

Frankenstein

By Mary Shelley

This is my third time with this novel, so obviously I like it. Even so, I still forgot so much about the plot that it still felt fresh for me.

Things I forgot: 1) Frankenstein is the name of the creator, not the monster; 2) the story is told to the reader by a ship captain (on a mission to sail across the North Pole), who was told the story by Dr. Frankenstein himself; 3) How caught up in himself the creator is that he can't see how things will unfold - his selfishness really stood out to me this time around.

The plot is fairly simple: doctor becomes obsessed with the idea of reanimating the dead and creating life from nothing. He slaves away, forsaking his family and friends to focus solely on his project without one thought to the potential consequences (well, the potential bad consequences - he thinks about the potential glory a lot). When he was confronted with the reality of his actions, he abandons everything, flees and tries to forget - but he can't. He'll be haunted by his actions for the rest of his life.

There is so much to say about this novel - thousands of papers have been written on it - but my focus during this read was on the author of the novel: Mary Shelley. What a life she had! Her mother was Mary Wollstonecraft was a famous Feminist (she wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman). Her father was a writer too - on politics, and he was a friend, benefactor, and later a sponge off of several poets and other literary players of the time. Mary grew up with the likes of Samuel Taylor Colridge reciting their work in her living room.

This is how she met Percy Shelley, one of the most celebrated of the Romantic Poets. They had a tumultuous relationship - one that started while Percy was still married to another woman. His first wife granted him a divorce when Mary became pregnant so that he could marry Mary and make sure that his new child was not born a bastard.

Mary and Percy were always in debt, and Percy was often in danger of being put into debtor's prison. When those serious times rolled around, he left Mary to hide out elsewhere, and she would have to sit home (often pregnant) and wait for the officers to knock on her door looking for Percy. She never quite got over the feeling of abandonment and exile she felt during those years. Abandonment is one of the great themes of the novel - the need for companionship and nurturing is one of the most basic human needs.

Meanwhile, Mary was reading everything she could, and she began making attempts to write stories and poetry. During one particularly lucrative time in their lives, the Shelleys met up with their friend, Lord Byron, and rented a cottage on a lake in Italy. It was here that the dare was issued: each person (Shelley, Byron and Mary) would have to write a ghost story to tell to the others the next night. Shelley and Byron both made feeble attempts, but Mary didn't let the idea go. She laid awake many nights trying to think of how best to tell the story. Frankenstein took many months to perfect, but perfect it she did.

Mary and Percy were together for about 7 years when Percy died (another abandonment). After giving birth to 4 children, only one of them was still alive when Percy died. Mary regularly visited Percy's grave, often reading Milton's "Paradise Lost," crying and mourning her lost husband. She continued to write, and she was fairly successful, but nothing has outlasted her masterpiece - her own creation, Frankenstein.

Child of Light

By Muriel Spark

I read bits and pieces of this biography as a supplement to the novel. It's fairly comprehensive, and is clearly well-researched, but it is also dry and not very compelling. There MUST be a better biography out there! Mary Shelley's life was very dramatic - it shouldn't be difficult to tell her story in a compelling and page-turning way. Right?

If you have never read Frankenstein, I would encourage you to do so. The first few chapters are a little bit dry, but all in all, the story of Frankenstein's monster is surprisingly human - full of the love, fear and misunderstanding that are so prevalent in human nature. There is so much more to discuss - not the least of which are the many feminist issues within the text - and I could go on and on, but this seems like enough for now. Please leave a comment if you have input. I'd love to continue the discussion.

Every book we read as a group is so much better than when I read it on my own. Our discussions are so enlightening and every time I'm sure I have things figured out, someone else thought of it in a different way and my eyes are opened. Jane Austen's advice to living a full and satisfying life is to surround yourself with people who you admire, people you look up to and from whom you can learn things. I believe in my book group I have found just that - a group of people I admire and from whom I learn things at every meeting. Thanks, everyone!

Never Let Me Go!

Sunday night was the last Whittier Law and Literature Society meeting of the school year. It was a fun year, and I'm so thankful to all my friends who supported me by participating in my little side project - even when all of you were so busy with school and you didn't want to read anything. I really appreciate it, and I had such a good time with all of you. Yes, that's me in the Orange practically blocking our very supportive and enthusiastic faculty adviser, the wonder Professor Patricia Leary. Sorry about that.

Never Let Me Go

by Kazuo Ishiguro

This was only two nights ago, and I'm having a difficult time remembering everything we discussed. That is mostly because this was our most successful discussion ever! Not everyone read the book - some watched the movie (that was fun discussing the differences), but all of us had something to say about this story.

I suppose I could start with a little synopsis. Never Let Me Go is the story of Ruth, Tommy and Kathy. The three of them grew up together at a boarding house / school called Hailsham. I'm not spoiling anything by telling you that this was no ordinary school, and the children were not ordinary children. They were all clones - specifically bred to be organ donors when they grew up. Their sole purpose in life is to grow up, stay healthy, then go through four rounds of "donation" at which point they've reached their potential.

Considering their genetic makeup, their childhood and their future, the children are surprisingly normal - human even. The intricate and confusing feelings that go along with growing up and discovering oneself are a part of these children's lives - these children are more than robotic clones.

When they leave school, each of them has to spend a certain amount of time as a "Carer" - one who guides, comforts and supports others through their periods of donation. Kathy is the narrator, and has been a carer for 14 years - longer than most. She tells the story of their childhood, adolescence and adulthood - a story of complicated feelings, full of the manipulations and explorations that we have all experienced on the playground and in the hallways.

It is a beautiful, haunting story and one that I won't soon forget. The writing is splendid. Once I've finished a book I like to think about the writing and the word choices. The best writing is that which doesn't grab the reader's attention much. Novels are best when the language not only fails to distract the reader from the story, but subtly enriches the reader's understanding.

After thinking about the writing in this novel, the words do just that - they add so much understanding to the story. Substituting words like "completion" for death, and "donation" for organ harvesting distance the reader from the horrors that are happening. The words are a metaphor for how we distance ourselves from uncomfortable situations whenever possible. A good PR representative must have come up with those words to make the public accept the idea of growing humans simply to harvest their organs. Society does this same thing today with phrases like "collateral damage" that make it ok for the military to take out civilians and innocent bystanders.

The most striking thing about these characters is that they are not angry about their role in life. They have surprisingly few feelings about their fate. They don't question it; they don't try to escape. They just accept. They are resigned to their fate - which is something I will never comprehend. I have always been someone who believes that I have free will and I make my own choices. If there is fate, it's what I make it. I was angrier than the characters. I kept wanting to yell at them to run away! Find a way to be free!

The book isn't all sad, though. They, like any human, just want to be loved. They love each other and they find something even more rare than love: friendship.

There is a lot of nuance in this book, and I could talk about it for days. I wish I could go back to undergrad and write a research paper on it. There are so many themes and so many angles. It's a literary work, with a science fiction plot; a romance with sociological and even economic questions. This is a MUST read for everyone. This story will haunt me for the rest of my life.

As for the Whittier Law and Literature Society, I am happy to report that this is not the end! We've agreed to continue after law school is out. We're taking the summer off to study for the bar exam, but we are planning to meet again in late August to discus C.S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man. It's been a great year, but I'm looking forward to the future!