I am really enjoying this book. I like the individual chapters dedicated to each character and their view of what is happening around them. I am interested very much in the significance of the oranges. There is a moment in each chapter that an orange of some sort comes into play. I started keeping track. What do they stand for? Is it the same for each character? Is it one bigger meaning? Too early to tell but I am following that lead like Gabriel is following the lead of the strange woman with the baby who came on a flight from Mexico with no luggage. Rafaela says something interesting about THE orange, "The tree was a sorry one, and so was the orange. Rafaela knew it was an orange that should not have been" (11). That is telling. Why is it an orange that should not have been? Was it out of season?
That Emi is a firecracker isn't she? But Arcangel is the most fascinating person to me so far (and maybe Buzzworm). I marked where he had the appearance of wings as Aryana mentioned. Also in that paragraph they don't only mention Marquez. Did anyone else notice, "He performed for the rich, the famous, and the infamous; for household names: fro Che in Bolivia, for Eva Peron, for Pele, for Pinochet, and Allende before that..." (48). What an interesting way to introduce magical realism into the story. The next breath of Yamashita is describing a martini party with Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Arcanagel. I loved it. Speaking of Arcangel; not only did he grow wings but he had a dream about an orange and then moved an entire truck of oranges with just a couple steel hooks inserted into his torso!
Buzzworm is my favorite too. I loved the descriptions of the palm trees and his hood. He has his own experience with an orange purchased from a woman vending goods on the street in his neighborhood. He then saw a young man being shot at but the bullets bent around him and he gave the man a watch and his orange.
One last thing I noticed was that the reason for the Porsche accident was the two men peeling and eating oranges!
I am interested to see what happens to the symphony now that the orchestra is a giant crater of a highway from the propane explosion...we shall see.
WELCOME SHANZY!
We have a new member of our group. She is a Drama student and has been at North since 2008. She picked up her book yesterday so expect to see some blogging from her before the meeting. Everyone say hi!
I also really like that descriptive passage about the palm trees...so much said about the surround, and class geography. And you are right...oranges are everywhere. Strange I hadn't really noticed.
ReplyDeleteHello and welcome, Shannon.
I noticed the Allende mention as well. I also noticed the ubiquitous oranges, but I didn't follow them as closely as you! I totally forgot that Arcangel moved a shipment of ORANGES! Maybe that's why the shipment got messed up and caused that whole orange scare. But that was after the crash... I don't know, but I know what you mean about having to be like Gabriel and follow the leads carefully.
ReplyDeleteAs for the orange that "should not have been", I think the trees origins are significant. Like Arcangel, this tree has distant roots in South America, Brazil specifically (11). Like many of the characters (Emi, Gabriel, Rafaela) this tree is the descendant of a tree that made a transnational journey. Perhaps this is part of its power to shift the geography of the land.