Court
I recognized the cover as Josephine — gorgeous painting and impressive jewelry based on something real.
Another gem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugénie_de_Montijo
I had heard of Napoleon III, but I had never thought to consider his wife. She's gorgeous and there's a diamond named after her.
Enjoyed the da Vinci selection.
Fantastic overall.
2.5
So disappointed. This book, the characters, the world, and the style, didn't work for me. Roya is hollow, Walter is white bread, and Bahman is naive. I understand somewhat why Roya feels hollow/flat, I think that she serves as a mask for the reader to wear.
However, I think this story would have been much more interesting from almost anyone else's point of view, especially that of Jahangir, Bahman's best friend who was in love with Bahman.
I disliked the style, I believe the term is: Third-Person Objective and it felt weak to me.
I guess everyone in this book just keeps loving the person fully when the relationship doesn't work out, with the exception of Bahman's mother but she chooses to exploit her past flame, she went through a lot of trauma . To carry this level of dedicated love despite marriage and children with someone else unnerves me; I understand remembering an old love with fondness and perhaps some sadness, but this seemed like something much beyond: emotional cheating.
Also Roya lies to Walter about her romantic past, to me another kind of infidelity.
I was also disgusted by the physical relationship of 14 year old Bahman's mother and 18 year old Mr. Fakhri .
I was confused by Roya's father's repeated mentioning of Marie Curie and Helen Keller. I like both historical figures, but it seemed like the wrong context for them to be mentioned in. Curie -and her eldest daughter- was killed by the very thing she studied...they're actually a fascinating family...maybe just more background information. Keller was accused of plagiarism. And why didn't he -or his wife- give his daughters any examples of inspiring Iranian women? Simin Behbahani published poems in 1951.
I also could not believe that Roya's parents just accepted Bahman's proposal just like that. It was rather off putting for me.
Broke my heart and stitched it back up, as if to remind me hearts are to be broken and to heal.
I felt the love for his great-grandchild, and Mumei's abject joie de vivre and youthful sensibility. I loved the talk of linguistics, culture, and geography. The substantial topics of isolation, as a nation and an individual, foreign-ness, change, enduring, vulnerable populations, the stuff of life had me captivated.
So this book has a great message about privilege, ecology, the environment, indigenous peoples and such but it's super difficult (for me) to read.
It's format is not conducive to its message. I love graphic novels. But the size of the book -about the size of my hand- renders the page either too word dense or creates choppy bits that are awkward and annoying. I shouldn't have to physically wrestle with a book to read it. Perhaps it's better as a digital read.
The art is fantastic.
‘Collecting Nature' mostly about collecting butterflies, but also about a loss of innocence and natural sciences.
‘The Unfuzzy Lamb' mostly about Charles Lamb, but also about two other writers and family ties and tragedy.
‘Ice Cream'; ice cream is not a favorite of mine, but I enjoy culinary information, history, science.
‘Night Owl' about Larks and Owls and differing preferences for differing sleep patterns. I love this topic. There's also the mention of Linnaeus' flower clock.
‘Procrustean and the culture wars' introduced me to Greek lore I was unfamiliar with, but ideas that I have had before.
‘Coleridge the Runaway'
‘Mail' I love letter writing.
‘Moving' I enjoyed how she described her experience of New York (city).
‘A Piece of Cotton' about the flag after 9/11 which really resonated with me.
‘The Arctic Hedonist' about one of her favorite arctic explorers, who takes a friendlier view of the icy climes. She also speaks briefly of degrees of separation and through two degrees (or so) she has shaken hands with him. This amused me as my sweetheart said that through a few degrees (2 or 3) I have shaken hands with former French president Sarkozy.
‘Coffee' I adore coffee and coffee culture. I also have a respect for caffeine.
‘Under Water' surprised me and touched me in a way that I value.