Three Books & The Final Choice (Shannon)

OK. So here are my three chosen texts and my final choice! 

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Mildred D. Taylor) 

The exact same one I did for my lit text all those years ago... And I still have it...

For the syllabus text, I would be considering Mildred D. Taylor’s Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry for the teaching at secondary school level. This novel will allow our students to deal with the issues/effects of racism seen predominantly through the lens of an African-American family (the Logans) during the Great Depression years. The Logan family, from the young to the adults, and their community are dealt with differing episodes of racial injustices and the novel underlines the hardship and struggle in order to achieve equality. For me, this text is rich in plot development and characterization, providing a good context for students to learn these skills. At the same time, the exploration of the issue of racism is something that might resonate closer to home and allow them to draw lessons from the text with regard to the multiraciality of Singapore. The reading of an American text will also provide a variety of the type of authors that students will be exposed to. 

Life of Pi (Yann Martel) 

Initially, I was attracted to this novel because, well, I thought it was about the mathematical 'Pi', and I've never felt more cheated.

For the young adult text, I would consider Yann Martel’s Life of Pi. A fantasy adventure novel, the novel tracks the journey of the protagonist through a shipwreck while stranded on a lifeboat with a Bengal Tiger (that was from the zoo his father had back in India). The novel is clearly split into three sections. The first part follows the adult Pi’s recount of his childhood years back in Pondicherry, India, where his father owned a zoo and the circumstances that led to its eventual sale and the family’s intended migration. The second part journeys with Pi’s family on board the ship that was supposed to bring them to Canada. Midway the ship runs into a storm and is shipwrecked, and we see Pi’s travails floating through the Pacific Ocean with the Bengal Tiger (named Richard Parker). We also see Pi’s many different adventures (and close brushes with death) during this period. The third part sees the protagonist finally making to land and being rescued. He recounts his story to the government officials who did not believe him, before telling a second story (parallel to his true account but with humans now). Eventually, the officials accept his first version and leaves. 

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (Haruki Murakami) 

A must-read. Okay, that's just me being biased and all.

As for the ‘any other’ text, I would be going for… Haruki Murakami’s Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. The novel is basically a collection of short stories (a total of 24, to be exact) written by the Japanese author between 1980 to 2005 (with most of these stories appearing in various magazines before this compilation), and each story offers a different surprise to the reader every time. If there is an underlying link to all of these short stories, it will be the theme of alienation in the contemporary landscape and a sort of extraordinary invasion (some may call it sci-fi) into our lives. Murakami’s works also often leave the reader hanging in the wake of their ending, as seen in ‘Birthday Girl’ (one of the short stories). The story tells of a waitress who had to work on her twentieth birthday, and had her wish granted by the restaurant’s old owner when he learns of it by accident. Yet, Murakami never revealed what that wish was despite teasing the readers with the commentary of ‘an unusual wish’, even though it was fulfilled. I will not say too much about the other stories (but they are definitely good reads) but, yes, that’s the gist of this novel! 

And for my final choice… 

I had wanted to go for Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman but eventually settled for… Life of Pi.

While Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (aside from being a work of my favourite author) offers an Asian contemporary writing to the syllabus (something I feel is under-represented at the moment), I feel that the content might be just a tad too out-of-reach of secondary school students, although it should make for good reading. Nonetheless, after careful consideration, I had to rule it out (maybe suggesting it as a pre-university text though).

Life of Pi, on the other hand, would friendlier for students in terms of its content and accessibility. The text, with a predominant focus on the character of Pi and his overcoming of odds, offers a rather fine balance of light-heartedness humor and deep-thinking reflection throughout the book. The seeming absurdity of the plot - of how a young Pi can actually survive out at sea in a life-boat with a Bengal Tiger no less - will be more appealing to young readers as well. The novel is also rich in characterization and interaction between characters, and it is not limited to human characters (like our protagonist, Pi) but also Richard Parker the Bengal Tiger. The plot development brings the readers nicely along and also offer a few surprises. And I have to say that the voice of Pi throughout the novel is amazing, I really love it. In terms of the themes, students can learn about the ability to survive and grow through adversity, gain some insight into the changes that Colonialism had brought to India  or perhaps the notion of life as a mirror to stories (like how we'd find Pi's encounters in a story more than in real life). Hence, with all of these consideration taken into account, I will say that Life of Pi is the book to go for.

Psst.

P.S. I have considered many other books along the way, even purchasing a few of them just to get a better feel of them. I managed to get J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, a few of Paulo Coelho’s newer novels (they were going at 5 books for $20 at the MPH Expo sale over the weekend) as well as John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars. But I still ultimately settled on Yann Martel. So there! (If any of you have the time and wants to read any of the books, let me know!)