Hutchins Library News Blog

Staff Picks: Abby Houston

Hutchins' Digital Initiatives Librarian, Abby Houston, had this to say about her favorite books:

1. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Synopsis: The novel takes place in southern India (Kerala) during the Marxist uprising in 1969. Through a series of flashbacks and present day scenes, it revolves around the lives of Ammu, an upper-class, divorced woman, and her two zygotic twins, Rahel and Estha. The plot takes a dangerous turn when Ammu enters into a forbidden relationship with Velutha, a man from a lower-caste, along with a tragic event on the twins’ cousin, Sophie-Mol. These events culminate into disaster and changes the courses of the twins’ lives forever.

This Booker Prize winner is probably the dirtiest, most highlighted/dog-earred book I own, because it was read and re-read so many times! The God of Small Things revolves around many things: love and loss, jealousy, taboos and social expectations, children’s imagination, and personal betrayal. But as the title itself suggests, the central theme zooms in on the “Small Things.” The little things that happened in passing: a brief glimpse, a curious touch, a careless word. All of these things are usually the trigger for the "Big Things," the culmination of the events leading up to it. The writing is childlike, lyrical, yet culminates into a tragically sad and unforgettable story. 

Favorite Quotes: 

"Do you know what happens when you hurt people?’ Ammu said. “When you hurt people, they begin to love you less. That’s what careless words do. They make people love you a little less.'"

"If you're happy in a dream, does that count?"

2. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Synopsis: In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant–and that her lover is married–she refuses to be bought. Instead, she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. But her decision to abandon her home, and to reject her son’s powerful father, sets off a dramatic saga that will echo down through the generations. Richly told and profoundly moving, Pachinko is a story of love, sacrifice, ambition, loyalty, sexism, fate, hard work, destiny, chance, war, poverty, racism, familial obligations, identity, immigration, citizenship, language, education, opportunity, community, and faith.

As someone who knows very little about Korean history, Pachinko was a major eye-opener. The underclass female characters in the book stood out to me the most. Despite the hardships and grueling conditions they faced, Sunja and Kyunghee sacrificed everything for their family. Still, they were entrepreneurial enough to break societal conventions of their time. These were tough and resilient women: often even stronger than their male counterparts. The prose is simple and straightforward, generally consisting of short, direct sentences. There’s not a lot of fluff yet I still found myself sobbing throughout. 

Favorite Quotes:

“History has failed us, but no matter.”

“Living everyday in the presence of those who refuse to acknowledge your humanity takes great courage.”

3. Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras

Synopsis: The Santiago family lives in a gated community in Bogotá, Columbia safe from the political upheaval terrorizing the country. Seven-year-old Chula and her older sister Cassandra enjoy carefree lives thanks to this protective bubble, but the threat of kidnappings, car bombs, and assassinations hover just outside the neighborhood walls, where the godlike drug lord Pablo Escobar continues to elude authorities and capture the attention of the nation. When their mother hires Petrona, a live-in-maid from the city's guerrilla-occupied slum, Chula makes it her mission to understand Petrona's mysterious ways. She is a young woman crumbling under the burden of providing for her family as the rip tide of first love pulls her in the opposite direction. As both girls' families scramble to maintain stability amidst the rapidly escalating conflict, Petrona and Chula find themselves entangled in a web of secrecy that will force them both to choose between sacrifice and betrayal.

I've clearly developed a love for historical fiction novels focusing on non-Western countries in the 20th century which is part of the reason I picked this book up to begin with! The other being how utterly gorgeous the cover is. The story is told by flipping back and forth between Chula and Petrona's perspectives making it an excellent and heartbreaking coming-of-age exploration of the longterm effects of political unrest on children, the normalization of violence, and the physical and emotional toll it exacts. By the end of the book, I was riveted and haunted, and I thought about how books like this – emotional, beautiful, distressing books like this – truly humble me. 

Favorite Quotes:

“Multiply me when necessary. Transform me into light where there is shadow.”

"Sometimes the less you know, the more you live."