Thinking Through Changing Times: A Review of Ocean of Milk, Ocean of Blood

Ocean of Milk, Ocean of Blood: A Mongolian Monk in the Ruins of the Qing Empire by Matthew W. King

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Oftentimes historians and scholars are called upon to interpret the past, but they cannot always divorce themselves from the present. In this work of intense academic rigor, Matthew King explores the life and work of Zava Damdin, a Mongolian Buddhist monk at the turn of the 20th century living through China and Inner Asia's turn from the Qing era to socialism.

I must start this review off by noting that this is an academic work, which means that Prof. King uses the specialized language of his field of study to relay this story. As such, not only can this book be rather impenetrable to the layman, but it already assumes that the reader knows something of the history of this period in Chinese and Inner Asian history. It covers over the last decades of the Qing dynasty's reign over China and it's reshaping into the short-lived Republic of China. At the same time, Russia was also transforming from Tsarism to communism and Buddhist communities, like Zava Damdin's, would be targeted and purged during and shortly after his death. But Prof. King doesn't focus too much on this. Instead, this is more of an intellectual history showing how Damdin's major works, particularly The Golden Book, took shape over the course of his life. Damdin was an incredibly learned scholar and Prof. King does a tremendous job of showing how influential his works were back then and still are today. Even the present Dalai Lama has been known to teach from Zava Damdin's works. Prof. King also shows how Zava Damdin tried to cope with Inner Asia's turn towards socialism and the persecution that was only just beginning. Like many conservatives in rapidly changing times, Zava Damdin clung to his traditional upbringing in Buddhist scholasticism, even writing some pointed criticisms of the Western worldview that were beginning to be expounded by other Buddhist scholars during his final years.

This is not a work that should be approached lightly. Nor is it one that should be approached on it's own as I found myself wishing throughout that I knew more about this time and place, or that Prof. King would give more background to this work. Though the academic language used throughout is difficult, for those of you who are interested in the changes affecting Asia at the beginning of the 20th century, this is a great work to complement your studies. The layman though might struggle with this though

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Safe Passage: A Review of A Long Petal of the Sea

A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In recent years, the plight of refugees has been a routine part of the news thanks to the Syrian Civil War and the unrest in Central America that has been forcing people to seek asylum in the U.S. Unfortunately, too often the refugees’ stories have been drowned out by negative characterizations by the media and the current U.S. administration. In this novel, Ms. Allende does a good job of relating the tale of a couple of refugees fleeing the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s and, by doing so, humanize the stories of all refugees.

Similar to other historical epics, this book covers almost sixty years in the life of Victor and Roser Dalmau as they flee Spain and start life over again in Chile. Though married, Victor and Roser do not start off in love with each other. It is a marriage of convenience in order to secure passage on an exile ship for Roser and her newborn son, who is the son of Victor’s deceased brother. Their tale goes on from there through much drama, both personal and historical, that ends in the early 1990s.

The story is very good and I could imagine this being an excellent mini-series. However, unlike other historical fiction epics, Ms. Allende chose to whip through the decades very quickly. And that is why this book is a little bit of a letdown. I could easily see this book being expanded to twice or even three times its current size and winding us through so much with great detail, but it doesn’t. On top of that, two major storylines, Victor and Roser’s relationship and an event that occurs between Victor and young Chilean girl, were a little bit predictable. Had there been more meat on the bones of this story, that predictability could’ve been easily avoided. That said, the last two chapters, where Ms. Allende completes her main characters’ arcs, was very good.

For those of you who have wanted to read a expansive historical fiction novel, but have been intimidated by their size and complexity, this book would be a good introduction to the genre.

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#StayHome24in48 Readathon Live Blog

Sunday, March 22, 9:42 p.m.:

Well, it's the end of another readathon.  I finished reading four books and started two others over the course of this readathon.  I must have finished somewhere between 300 and 500 pages in total, though I did not keep a specific count.  Not all of the books were that great (I'm looking at you Ulysses), but it is always a pleasure to get something finished.  I hope to do another readathon in the near future, but we will see how things turn out.  Thanks to everyone who has read this live blog and a special thanks to the bloggers at 24in48.com for putting this on.  See you all next time!

Sunday, March 22, 8:45 p.m.:

Well, I finished A Long Walk to Water and I thought it was a very good middle grade read about the Sudanese Civil War, the plight of refugees, and the good things that they can do if given a chance to immigrate and prosper in America.  I gave it 5 out of 5 and I would recommend it, but just use some parental caution if giving it to younger readers.  Some people die in pretty awful ways in the book.  While I am going to start The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle, unfortunately I won't be able to finish it during this readathon seeing as it is technically suppose to end at 9 p.m. PST (12 a.m. EST).  But, I am looking forward to ending this thing with Mr. Sherlock Holmes

Sunday, March 22, 4:57 p.m.:

And another book is finished!  I just read the last page of All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries #1 by Martha Wells.  This was a pretty good book, but, like a lot of novellas, things moved very quickly, particularly at the end, and I would've liked a lot more details.  So, 3.5 stars for this one.  An enjoyable, lite read and I might want to read more of the series in the future.  Now, on to A Long Walk to Water...

Sunday, March 22, 3:22 p.m.:

It appears the big brunch I had is affecting me a little more than I expected it to.  I started dozing off a little in the middle of my chapter.  But, I got the first chapter of Ocean of Milk, Ocean of Blood finished.  On now to All Systems Red...

Sunday, March 22, 2:00 p.m.:

So, this second day of the readathon did not start off as planned as I completely missed my alarm and slept in much longer than I meant to.  But, I am back up and reading.  The goal for today is to read another chapter of Ocean of Milk, Ocean of Blood by Matthew W. King, then completely finish reading All Systems Red by Martha Wells, A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, and The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle.  Let's do this thing!

Saturday, March 21, 10:19 p.m.:

I was able to get a little more of All Systems Red completed and I am now halfway done with it.  But with dinner and Skyping with my Bible study friends, the time went by more quickly than I had anticipated.  One thing I promised myself during this readathon is that I would get a good night's sleep and that is exactly what I am going to do right now.  So, good night everyone.  I will see you sometime tomorrow for day 2.

Saturday, March 21, 5:57 p.m.:

Even though I am also taking care of laundry right now, I am still checking off the boxes of books I wanted to finish reading this weekend.  I just finished reading A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende, a good historical fiction novel about a pair of refugees fleeing the Spanish Civil War and putting down roots in Chile.  It's good, but rather short in comparison to other historical fiction novels in the same genre.  Still, it might be a good one to start with for those who have wanted to jump into the genre but have been intimidated by the size of some of the best known ones.

I also discovered that All Systems Red by Martha Wells is actually a novella, not a novel like I first thought.  Though I wasn't planning on it, I think I am going to try to finish it this weekend as well.  In fact, that is what I will be picking up right now...

Saturday, March 21, 3:39 p.m.:

It's over!  I've finally finished reading this long nightmare of a book Ulysses by James Joyce.  I've been working on this book for over a month now and every page was a confusing bore.  No plot, ever changing style, etc.  This may be an interesting book for English Lit. majors, but it's a completely confusing mess to me. I give it only 1 star.  Now, on to finishing A Long Petal of the Sea...

Saturday, March 21, 2:10 p.m.:

I just finished the first chapter of All Systems Red.  Wow!  This book is going to be a much quicker read than I thought.  Still, I'm going to circle back to Ulysses and A Long Petal of the Sea and finish those books today.

Saturday, March 21, 1:45 p.m.:

It turns out that my online meeting was much shorter than I thought it was going to be.  So, I ate a nutritious lunch and I am now back on the reading clock.  Going to read my first chapter of All Systems Red by Martha Wells.  Oh, and I have to do laundry at the same time.

Saturday, March 21, 12:28 p.m.:

I just finished reading the introduction to Ocean of Milk, Ocean of Blood by Matthew King.  It's about the life and legacy of an influential Mongolian Buddhist monk at the beginning of the 20th century.  Phew!  It looks like this is going to be another tough read.  But now I need to eat some lunch and go to a virtual meeting.  I should be back to reading around 3 p.m., if not sooner. 

Saturday, March 21, 11:12 a.m.:

Just finished a little bit of my A Long Petal of the Sea reading.  I'm now just two chapters away from finishing this one.  But, I need to get started on two other books, Ocean of Milk, Ocean of Blood by Matthew W. King (for my History Book Club at Cellar Door April Read) and All Systems Red by Martha Wells (for the Life's Library Book Club).  Better get to it!

Saturday, March 21, 9:50 a.m.:

Just finished a little bit of my Ulysses reading and I am now just 34 pages away from finishing it.  I've been working on this god-awful "classic" for over a month now and I will be glad to be done with it once and for all and move on to something better.

Hour Zero:

It has been several months since I last did a readathon and live blogged it and with all the craziness going on in the world right now, I think it is time to knock another one of these out of the park.  Fortunately, the bloggers over at 24in48.com created a Social Distancing Readathon for this weekend.  And, unlike a traditional readathon, this one takes place over the course of two days.  So, instead of exhausting myself trying to get 24 straight hours of reading done, I am going to try to space it out over the next two days.  In fact, I plan on taking this one a little easier than the last one, so this will be the main place people can come to for my live blogging.  I am going to get things started with a little Ulysses by James Joyce and A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende and go from there.  Wish me luck!

God is Change Visualized: A Review of Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation

Parable of the Sower by Damian Duffy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Earlier this year, I read Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower and was completely fascinated by this tale of a society that it is beginning to collapse. What struck me even more was how closely it resembled our current times, despite the fact that Ms. Butler wrote this book back in the early 1990s (Check out my review of Parable of the Sower). So, when I learned that this book was being adapted into a graphic novel by the same team that had created Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, I jumped at the chance. And, like that previous adaptation, I was not disappointed.

Damian Duffy and team don't try to reinvent the wheel with this adaptation. Indeed, with the exception of a few minor changes, they stick pretty close to the original story. So, if you have already read Parable of the Sower, you already know what to expect in terms of plot. What is truly joyous to discover in this book is the artwork and how the team integrates and visualizes Ms. Butler's tale. Like their previous adaptation, the team favors a more blocky artwork with dark colors and harsh lines to represent this world falling into chaos. The liberal use of reds, oranges, and black colors works very well to show how the fires, which are both a prevalent threat to the characters and a constant theme in this book, seem to define life in this world. The team also does a good job of pointing out who is who as there are a lot of characters to keep track. Like Kindred, this is a wonderful adaptation of a modern classic.

That said, at times the color palette gets so dark that it is difficult to make out what is going on, especially as events turn violent. This may be a good thing for younger readers, but it does obscure the violence and madness that is prevalent throughout this world. Also, while the team uses text boxes to point out the many different characters, it can still be hard to track who is who as some characters tend to look similar. That said, the most important characters are distinctive enough that it is okay that some of the minor characters tend to look alike.

Whether you have read Parable of the Sower or not, this is an excellent graphic adaptation that lovers of sci-fi, graphic novels, or the works of Octavia Butler should not miss. I would give this a 4.5 out of 5 stars if Goodreads allowed it and I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of the three categories I mentioned.


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