Isn't M'Lissa, just like Tashi, dealing with the pain and suffering that results from the cruel ritual? She opened the discussion of female circumcision, cringing every time it was called "genital mutilation" by us naive westerners. Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2001 I read it as soon as I could. Possessing the Secret of Joy is a powerful read, written in Alice Walker's usual evocative style. Alice Walker not only opens your eyes to the reality and the presence of it within societies all over the world, but she also attempts to communicate the endless suffering and madness caused by this horrifying 'tradition'.I feel like I can't quite eloquently put into words the way the book made me feel and what it made me think. FGM is compared to foot-binding in China, another patriarchal practice that was used to control women.In Lisa See’s book Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, the sister of the main character dies due to a bungled foot-binding procedure. the writing wasn't that bad but the pov changed a lot so that was really confusing.I don't like books about slaves so that's one of the big reasons i don't like it.Oh my heart, my heart, my feminist heart.
I intend to bring to fore the idea that all of us are flawed in one way or another. *Driven by emotion rather than intellect Tashi (Evelyn) undergoes female circumcision in her teen years. Jung, and even by Jung himself - to regain the ability to recognize her own reality and to feel. Connections between female circumcision in Africa, sexism, political oppression, and AIDS are powerfully argued, but the motivation behind characters' actions are often obscure.Back in the early Nineties, there was a story in our local newspaper about female circumcision that was published because of the release of Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker. Under analysis her dreams reveal a personal accounting of her fate as blended with tribal mystical tales. When Waris Dirie was "circumcised" she was a little girl, she was forced and she didn't really know what was happening. I had left it at 70%, so it seemed like a good target to cross off the list when I wanted to increase my lagging book completion numbers for the year so far. what?
Anyway, these are the questions I have since finishing this novel last night. (I don't know what possessed me to think of it today.)
Alice Walker strengthens both the African and African-American historical and emotional experiences in this novel and this is always something I cherish from an African-American author (sort of what Hughes did in An African Treasury).I found myself transfixed by the story. Her sparkling rivers muddy with blood.
Finished because this was a bookclub section and I thought it jumped from too many POVs and time periods.The book details the life of an African girl, Tashi, from her youth through marriage - she meets the son and a daughter of missionaries and becomes friends with them - although still seeking acceptance from her village. Alice Walker does a unbelievable job of kicking your apathetic butt into gear. It was non-intrusive and impacting, the kind of video that needs to be replayed for the world to see.
Broken. 13% The first was nearly 20 years ago and all I really recalled was thinking I should hold on to the book because I would read it again.Since I am a very different person now that when I was in my early twenties - I experienced this book very differently.
This book made me feel so much and so intensely, I know the story is a work of fiction but the events and the horror that happens in the book is so terribly factual that it made me feel sick whilst reading it.It is a fast read in terms of content, however I could not sit for hours at a time because it took energy from me; I found myself taking regular breaks to reflect and, if I'm honest, cry. The opening that is made will never enlarge on its own, but must always be forced. These are some concepts explored beautifully in this novel through the character, Tashi, or Evelyn, or, as some chapters elude to her: Tashi-Evelyn/Evelyn-Tashi. Her motives, I think, were genuine but her method was problematic for me. The book is a must-read. genital mutilation must stop. In a particularly reflective moment, Tashi says, "If you lie to yourself about your own pain, you will be killed by those who will claim you enjoyed it." Adam hunts her down to her village and brings her back to America.
I knew what the boulder was; that it was a word; and that behind that word I would find my earliest emotions.”- Alice Walker, Possessing the Secret of JoyTashi, an African woman from the Olinkan tribe, marries Adam, an American man, and spends most of her life in America. So when we rethink about Tashi murdering M'Lissa, we begin to question the murder's legitimacy. Devastating. I did appreciate certain aspects of the conclusion, including the ultimate revelation of the titular secret of joy, but they didn't entirely make up for the rest of the book.There's also an unfortunate section towards the end where the polio vaccine is blamed for the initial spread of HIV from chimpanzees to humans. But fortunately for modern readers and current sufferers everywhere, Ms. Walker and others began to report even more thoroughly on the noxious anti-feminism and unusual folklore supporting the practice. I get what Walker was trying to do; demonstrate the extent to which Tashi struggles with a sense of self, but...I never connected with her. She wanted to silence our discussion on the topic by shaming us. Alice Walker presents us, specifically, with two of these women, Tashi and M'Lissa, of Olinka. Desert Flower is non-fiction and should probably have made an even deeper impression on me.
Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. Unfortunately she's barely recognizable here, and the two books almost seem like they were written by different authors. And 20 years ago, researching the topic was not easy. the first part is beautiful, but then, well, i stopped being engaged, because i felt i was being taken for a ride, and i become unconvinced with everything. When Waris Dirie was "circumcised" she was a little girl, she was forced and she didn't really know what was happening. I had previuosly read another book on female "circumcision", Desert Flower by Waris Dirie. Sharp. My heart surged pitifully.