I really love this book. The style is so refreshing and the characters each have their distinct ways of processing the world around them, which no doubt has to do with their politics of location. The characters that have the most interest for me are Emi, Buzzworm and Bobby. I'm feeling too frustrated with Rafaela to really get in her head. Why is she taking so long to reconcile with Bobby? I can understand that they got into this huge argument about the exploitation of immigrants in the U.S. and doesn't want to be a part of that, but she shouldn't be taking it out on Bobby. That doesn't solve anything. Bobby needs them to come back or he's going to work himself to death and no one's going to be around to care. I don't know, I really sympathize with this character because I see a lot of my father in him. Arcangel is interesting, but he's a very distant character, like Manzanar. They're both so metaphorical that it's difficult to connect with them on a human level. And Gabriel. I'm just not sure what to think of Gabriel. Despite the fact that he is the only one in the story that we get to hear through first person, I don't sympathize with him as much. I'm not sure if it's because his job and Emi overshadows him, but he just seems lost in what's going on around him. Emi on the other hand is obviously in control and is active, whereas Gabriel seems to be tugged along, either by Emi wanting him to live in the now by or tips from Buzzworm. I think there's going to come a point in the story, after he receives that ominous call from Rafaela, where he's going to be called upon to be active and the outcome of the situation is going to be determined by whether he can rise to the occasion or not.

Some of you have already pointed out how politics of location really comes through in the book. There was one passage in particular that really struck me. It's when Emi's at the sushi place with Gabriel and she says, "Cultural diversity is bullshit" (128), which ends up pissing off the person next to her, who I'm almost certain is white even though it's not explicitly stated. What Emi is saying is that multiculturalism is appropriation of other people's culture, rather than an exchange between cultures that leads to greater cultural understanding and equality. The other woman demonstrates this difference perfectly by feigning cultural understanding in addressing the sushi chef the Japanese way, but then being "patronizing" (128) in her interaction with him. Emi calls her out on it, saying "See what I mean, Hiro? You're invisible. I'm invisible. We're all invisible. It's just tea, ginger, raw fish, and a credit card" (128). The exchange of cultural materials (food) is just that: an exchange of materials. This exchange does not result in any change in the systems of privilege and dominance, but rather, reinforces them by reducing another culture to a mere commodity. This is only the case however, if one holds the same attitude as the woman who wrongly thinks that Emi is simply making "assumptions about people based on their color" (129). I love how Emi puts her in her place.

An Orange for Everyone

     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!

Blog 1, thoughts

So far I'm noting only small doses of magical realism for this book, as compared to the last. We see strange occurrences and an especially powerful orange. To me it seems to be more of a light addition to true fiction, creative story telling with characters who may have internal voices, powers, or intuitions that lead them to.. situations we won't know until later in the book.

I'm kind of feeling that any book could be considered magical realism, so long as it is a mostly realistic story with a few physically impossible things happening. Which is most fiction stories, isn't it?

I like the style of the book so far, short vignettes that show each perspective. I've seen this often used in books or movies, and it is the most fun way to view a story. All the characters with independent chapters all connected in some way.

Buzzworm is a fun character, but the only characters I have found myself following and interested in have been Emi and Gabriel. Perhaps because they seem the most human. And they seem a bit difficult to predict.

The orange is kind of freaky. So the orange trees are a line that somehow have connected themselves to the Tropic of Cancer. And the orange, the child of the last tree, created this line. The orange has been moved, and the tropic of cancer is apparently moving with it, changing the weather etc. That's what I got out of it so far.

Clever Reference & Politics of Location

So in keeping with building our amorphous definition of magical realism, Yamashita's clever reference to Gabriel Garcia Marquez stands out. (48) In the midst of describing Arcangel's performance art piece in which he grows wings while sitting in a cage, Yamashita casually tells us that amidst a shower of martini olives and little toasts topped with ceviche, Arcangel stands and spreads his magnificent wings, amazing a patron who turns to a suddenly absent Marquez. And that's it. On to next weird scene in which Arcangel has lost his wings because he's playing a prophet predicting doom in fifty-two year cycles. So here is magical realism being visited by its founding father who disappears without comment.

The other riff that caught my attention was one on the politics of place embodied by Manzanar recycling sound with the tip of his invisible baton from atop a freeway overpass. Creating air maps out of music that is the rush and rumble of freeway traffic and charting the veins and sinews of the earth, the "very geology of the land" running deep beneath the human generated noise which is Manzanar's symphony. (56, 57). This passage bears witness to Manzanar walking one day out of his grounded life as a surgeon and straight into the scavenging, itinerant life of an insect, living in and making meaning out of residue.