Strand of a Thousand Pearls : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A poetic aura saves a quirky, digressive writing style
Review: Dorit Rabinyan had an essentially interesting story to tell. Her writing style is lyrical; her descriptions poetic and quirky and there is also subtle humour. Nonetheless, because the story seems more steeped in Old World practices, beliefs, old wives tales and myths, the quantum leap to modern day seems to come too late. Indeed, for a considerable part of the story the Old World seems to predominate and the family's tales of woe and dysfunction head towards resolution in an all-of-a-sudden manner with little transition.

Unlike Barbara Kingsolver's style of dealing with each character individually, giving each character a voice that clearly gives the reader insight into who s/he is and what that character's individual worldview is (as in "Poisonwood Bible"), Rabinyan's characters are vague and we get to know them from a hazy vantage point, that of Iran, their mother.

She's given to hysterics, loves them and addresses them as "my soul" yet screams and yells about their decisions, their manner of dress, attitudes, and behaviour. Her raison d'etre seems to center around their eventual marriages. Some might think this is a mother's role, yet Iran's indiosyncratic demeanor doesn't endear her to the reader. Her covering the emotional spectrum of loving attention culminates too frequently with tirades directed to each daughter, to the exclusion of Maurice the firstborn and only son. Perhaps because Iran was so young and unsophisticated, she greets his arrival in this world with hysterics about his lack of tears when he cries and considers him dead because he also has no heart.

The only voice of reason is Solly's, her husband. Though a lowly fisherman, he's sensible and loves his children for who they are and seems all but oblivious to the constant turmoil in his household. Iran is the driving force in Solly's life and the life of his family. Though she declines in looks and in her personal care as a result of being overwhelmed by her children's dramas, he's still as mad about her as when he first laid eyes on Iran as she walked along the seaside in Persia (Iran).

The characteristics of each of the Azizyan children border on the bizarre. More than one of them is described as sad or having sad eyes. The surviving Whirling Dervish of a twin lives in her own world with her deceased brother and as a result is sent away to an institution where she is kept zombie like on Ritalin. One sister falls out of love with her husband the day after the wedding although she's pined for him for years; the same sister sleeps throughout her ceremony as a result of an overdose of sleeping pills. Is it any wonder that the reader has a hard time understanding what they are all about and why?

Equally bizarre is the fact that this is an interesting book because of the quirkiness of the storytelling with its disjointed, sometimes hard-to-follow, chronology of events.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing read
Review: I tried to get into this book, and at points, I actually succeeded. However, once one 'overlooks' the Old-World superstitions and stories that are not well explained, one is dropped, just as the pearls from the mother's wedding gown. I fought my way through the book and clung to the excuse that the translation into the English language must have watered down its appeal. However, my struggle was not rewarded and once I finally did find myself caring about the characters, the book ended and left me feeling disappointed and disinclined to pick up the sequel (if one is ever written.)

Rating:
Summary: Lyrical storytelling!
Review: The story of Iran's family bittersweet. She is married to Solly Azizyan, a fisherman who is very tender with his wife and family. They have four daughters (Sophia with a coughing baby, Marcelle, Lizzie, and Mattie, whose twin brother Moni was stillborn) and one son Maurice. Mattie is brought home from school for her birthday gathering, which becomes the backdrop for the entire flashback of this family's life. As the story develops, it explores how each characecter seeks love and has that wish either fulfilled or denied.

Reminiscent of the writing of Arundhati Roy, the story is told in rich language. It is ripe with exotic smells, sights and sensual references. The story moves back and forth in time from the Matti Azizyan's birthday party to the evolving past. Its characters are intensely interesting. The chapters about the siblings are the most notable in defining this book, showing a sense of family and parent's love that is deep and moving. The end is intense and beautiful but not exactly clear.

Rating:
Summary: Lyrical storytelling!
Review: The story of Iran's family bittersweet. She is married to Solly Azizyan, a fisherman who is very tender with his wife and family. They have four daughters (Sophia with a coughing baby, Marcelle, Lizzie, and Mattie, whose twin brother Moni was stillborn) and one son Maurice. Mattie is brought home from school for her birthday gathering, which becomes the backdrop for the entire flashback of this family's life. As the story develops, it explores how each characecter seeks love and has that wish either fulfilled or denied.

Reminiscent of the writing of Arundhati Roy, the story is told in rich language. It is ripe with exotic smells, sights and sensual references. The story moves back and forth in time from the Matti Azizyan's birthday party to the evolving past. Its characters are intensely interesting. The chapters about the siblings are the most notable in defining this book, showing a sense of family and parent's love that is deep and moving. The end is intense and beautiful but not exactly clear.

Rating:
Summary: A poetic aura saves a quirky, digressive writing style
Review: This is the story of the Azizyan family, the parents having emigrated from Iran to Israel as children, raising a family of five of their own, four daughters and a son. At its heart, the plot revolves around the cause of the mother's nervous breakdown - the screwiness and screw-ups of her children, as well as her reluctance to see her children grow up. When they are young she weaves golden stories about their future weddings, but the reality is much different. The father is a quiet unassuming figure, mostly absent in his long hours as a fisherman.

The magical realism style of the book is both charming and infuriating. For example, we are promised a potentially interesting extended family, full of humor and interesting customs, but the characterizations are often too flimsy and the craziness of the children is often more than one can swallow. It tips the scales into just too much grief. Also, the youngest child's mental illness does not fit this format well. It is treated in too light a matter as though it will just blow away like all the other problems in the book, as alluded to by one of the daughters. However, mental illness does not simply resolve itself, and the ambiguous, and in my opinion, unsatisfactory ending reflects this.

Having said all that, what saves the book is the language. Translated in this version from Hebrew to English, it reflects well on Rabinyan as a poetess and wordsmith, and despite the characterizations, there is a lot that to delight in. It is a quick read also and worth the time spent.