All We Left Behind by Danielle R. Graham

Hayden Pierce lives with his parents, and his older sister Rosalyn on Mayne Island, in British Columbia. It is August, 1941, and Hayden has volunteered to help his ma help set up the craft fair rather than work with his dad, fishing. That's because Hayden is smitten with Chidori Setoguchi and plans to ask her on a date. So instead of helping his father and Chidori's uncle Massey who are out fishing on Massey's seine boat,  Hayden has volunteered to help his ma set up the craft tables at the Mayne Island Fall Fair just so he can meet up with Chidori.

Chidori and her brothers, Tosh and Kenji are setting up their vegetables at their permanent wood stand on the fairgrounds. Mr. Setoguchi grows cucumbers and tomatoes in his greenhouses. After watching Hayden talk to Chidori, Rory Bauer and his cousin Fitz taunt him over his attraction to Chidori who is Japanese-Canadian. With tensions rising between Japan and Canada, Canadians of Japanese heritage are increasingly being targeted.

At the fair, Hayden and his friend Joey talk about the ongoing war. Hayden has no interest in signing up on his birthday. But Joey reminds him , "...the Nazis are killing innocent people and stealing power from entire countries..." In the meantime, Hayden goes down to Miner Bay to help his father and Chidori's uncle Massey unload and sell their catch of chinook salmon. Afterwards, Hayden meets Chidori at her house and they row to Georgeson Island in her rowboat. She tells Hayden that she's been accepted to study at the University of British Columbia but that she's not going. She doesn't want to waste her father's money or her time when she's uncertain about what to study, and she believes the war will also change many things. At this time Hayden asks Chidori to go steady with him. She initially accepts but on their way home, another confrontation with the Bauers causes her to withdraw her acceptance, devastating Hayden.

At church on Sunday, Hayden confronts Chidori, but she doesn't know what to do. There are reports that an Member of Parliament wants all Japanese stripped of their Canadian citizenship and returned to Japan. Days later, Hayden's sister, Rose leaves Mayne Island to start her nursing job in Vancouver. Rose is engaged to Earl who is a pilot stationed over in England. Chidori, and her brothers Tosh and Kenji are also at the pier, delivering a shipment of tomatoes to the Princess Mary steamship. Chidori hugs Rose but she and Hayden do not speak. 

The next time Hayden sees Chidori is at a fundraiser for the Red Cross at the Agricultural Hall. Hayden once again confronts Chidori, giving her a gift and begging her to reconsider. She agrees. At their next meeting, Chidori reveals that the dean at the University of British Columbia has written her, asking her to reconsider her decision not to attend and offering her a full scholarship for every year of her degree. However, Chidori tells Hayden that she is going to wait and see what happens with the war.

On the Thursday before Halloween, 1941, Hayden is invited to tea at the Setoguchi home. He and Chidori plan to attend the Halloween dance as Raggedy Ann and Andy. At tea, Tosh jokingly asks Hayden what his intentions are towards Chidori. Hayden tells Mr. Setoguchi that he plans to date her and hopes eventually to court and marry Chidori. But Mr. Setoguchi refuses to give Hayden permission or his blessing. Later that night, Chidori goes missing. Hayden, his father and Chidori's family go looking for her, but it is Hayden who finds her stranded on Georgeson Island.

With the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December, 1941, things turn ugly fast. Uncle Massey is arrested along with Kenji's girlfriend Michiko and her family. Eight days later, Massey's boat along with the boats of the entire Japanese-Canadians are impounded. Chidori tells Hayden that it is likely her family along with all the other Japanese-Canadians will be forced into work camps in the interior of the province. By February, 1942, the Canadian government orders all Japanese Canadians to leave the coastal areas on April 21.

In an attempt to protect Chidori, Hayden asks her to marry him, which she accepts. However on April 21, Chidori, along with her family are evacuated inland. The day only gets worse when a letter from Rose reveals that her fiance, Earl was shot fleeing into the woods after parachuting out of his airplane. With the war now on their doorstep, Hayden wonders if he will ever see Chidori again. But maybe enlisting and working towards ending that war will help shorten their painful separation and bring all those they left behind together once again.

Discussion

All We Left Behind is a poignant, heart-breaking novel about war, racism and forbidden love. The story is told from the point of view of Hayden Pierce, as he struggles to deal with the unraveling of his life, his hopes and dreams, as war overtakes ordinary life. Chidori's point of view is expressed in her journal entries as she too tries to process what is happening to her family, and watches as her dreams of attending school and her marrying Hayden are all disrupted. 

Graham was inspired to write the novel while working on a "psychology master's paper on the intergenerational impact of the internment on Japanese Canadians."  The novel effectively portrays the racism already rampant in Canada against Japanese-Canadians prior to and during the early part of World War II, while also capturing the effects of war on those left behind. 

Graham demonstrates how racist attitudes and fear of those who are different were very prevalent in  early 20th century Canada. The racist attitudes of ordinary people are exemplified by Hayden's mother who believes Chidori is not a suitable woman for her son Hayden to marry simply because she is Japanese. She has no answer to Hayden's challenges and brushes off his arguments as him not understanding the world. 

Graham also shows how these attitudes informed Canadian government actions and policies, which were often illegal. Government officials assumed that anyone of Japanese heritage was a potential traitor, even those who had been born in Canada. This fear often led to irrational policies such confiscating radios and cameras. Chidori, writing in her journal, notes that her research has shown her that "...the Canadian government can't intern Canadian citizens who have been convicted of no crime. It violates the Geneva Convention and is illegal for a country's government to do so. But then I noticed that the newspaper articles have carefully not used the word internment. They call it an evacuation or detainment, presumably to skirt the Geneva Convention." As the war progresses, government actions grow more extreme and harmful. The land and possessions of those families in internment camps is sold off by the government, often at very reduced rates. In the end, the Setoguchi family, like most other Japanese Canadians, lose almost all their possessions. Many never returned to the East Coast and many were never compensated for their possessions.

Hayden's solution to solving the situation with Chidori is to enlist and help bring an end to the war, thus facilitating Chidori and her family's return to Mayne Island. However, when he becomes a prisoner of war, he has to cope with the most horrific conditions and it is only his faith in a future with Chidori that helps him to survive. The three long years in prison, as well as the loss of his beloved sister Rose, leaves Hayden with little hope. Ironically, it is a young Jewish orphan, Marguerite, now living in Chidori's old home, who tells Hayden, "I know your kind of sad. The one that haunts you." that ultimately helps him, encouraging him to find Chidori.

Despite its intensity, All We Left Behind leaves readers with the happy ending they yearn for. This is a novel that is suitable for older teens due to the more mature content. Well-written, All We Left Behind leaves readers with a sense of the immense injustice done to Canadians of Japanese heritage during the Second World War as well as the realities of war.

Book Details:

All We Left Behind by Danielle R. Graham
London, UK: One More Chapter       202
352 pp.

The Secret Sky. A Novel of Forbidden Love in Afghanistan by Atia Abawi

The Secret Sky is a story about forbidden love in an country where a family's honour is based on the sexual purity of its women. To break that code even in the most minor of ways,  is to bring unending shame upon the family who can only restore its honour through blood - the blood of the woman who caused the dishonour. The author, Atia Abawi was an unborn baby when she left Afghanistan as her parents and older sibling fled the Soviet occupation. Although her parents often spoke of returning to their beloved homeland, the rise of the Taliban and the subsequent war with America made such a return impossible. Atia however did travel to Afghanistan in 2008 where she lived for five years as a foreign correspondent. Abawi writes "In the more than four years I lived in Afghanistan, I experienced life in the most spectacular ways -- and death in the most horrific. I learned quickly that Afghanistan is a land of contradictions. It hold unimaginable beauty and inconceivable ugliness." Abawi states that she has tried to illustrate real-life experiences as accurately as possible in the hopes that her readers "will get a small glimpse into a beautiful and tragic world unseen by many." Her novel, although fiction, is influenced by real events and real people. Which makes it all the more tragic and touching.

The title of this tragic novel is a reference to a line from one of the great Persian poet, Jalal ad-Din Rumi's poems which Abawi features opposite her Introduction. This is love: To fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet.

The novel is divided into three parts. Part One is narrated by Fatima who lives with her father, Mohammad, her mother Mossuma, her three year old sister, Afifa and her younger brothers in a small village. Her older brother, Ali, was sent to work in Iran but was killed on the journey there. Fatima is on the cusp of womanhood, still a child but her body is changing into that of a young woman. As a result there are certain cultural restrictions on where she goes and who she is seen with. The girls her age are no longer allowed to leave their homes. Fatima remembers a time when all the children, both Pashtun and Hazara, played together.  Zohra tells Fatima that she's learned that Fatima's close childhood friend, Samiullah, who is a Pashtun, has returned home from the madrassa. No sooner than they have finished pulling water from the well, the two girls meet Samiullah on their way home. His piercing green eyes seem warm  and comforting to Fatima who cannot help but notice how tall and handsome he has grown in the past three years.

Fatima often goes to see her best friend, Zohra, whose grandmother is teaching her how to write and read. Her grandmother and her mother before her were educated in a time when Afghanistan was becoming a modern state. The following morning on her way to Zohra's home, Fatima encounters Samiullah in the woods. Although she knows she shouldn't be alone with him, Fatima agrees to meet him the next day. At Zohra's the two girls talk about marriage and Fatima mentions to her friend that she wants something more than marriage, telling her about the university in Kabul where women attend. Zohra tells a shocked Fatima that her parents are considering marrying her to a wealthy boy in another village.

The next day Fatima lies to her mother and meets Samiullah in the woods. They play hide and seek and sit near the stream talking. When Samiullah hears motorcycles the couple hide quietly behind a rock. At home Fatima overhears her madar begin to push her father to consider arranging a marriage for their eldest daughter, a prospect that upsets Fatima. Fatima and Samiullah meet again but the lies and the risk she is taking begin to worry Fatima. "...what worries me more is that it will ruin my family's name and honor to have their eldest daughter running around the village unsupervised. Not just unsupervised -- alone with a boy....I can't do this. It's far too risky." However, she does meet Samiullah and they spend some time together talking about Sami's time at the madrassa. Their meeting abruptly ends when their hear branches crackling.

Part Two is narrated by Rashid who is filled with anger and hate, yet who believes he is doing the work of God. Rashid is Samiullah's cousin - his father's younger sister Gul Bibi is Sami and his younger sister Nur's mother. Rashid's father along with the rest of his family was murdered and Gul Bibi took him into their family. Both Rashid and Sami were sent to the madrassa, like their father's before them to learn more about Islam and the Holy Quran. But while Samiullah hated it, Rashid seemed to have found his calling.

It is Rashid who has seen Samiullah and Fatima together in the woods, an act he considers sinful and blasphemous. He is determined to punish both but decides to wait. It is obvious that Rashid is poisoned by a hatred of his cousin. "...I see my uncle and my cousin the infidel lagging behind him. Sinner! He's so smug, trying to act sweet as he picks up the little kids, who are giggling like goats.....He lies to everyone and acts as though he is a man of virtue...."

Rashid has been sent by the instructors from the madrassa to help Mullah Latif and his men, who are considered thugs by the local villagers. They are known to extort food from the nearby villagers in return for protection. His time at the madrassa has taught him to look down on the people of his village who he considers as lacking in "any concept of good and bad, God and the devil." Rashid knows his uncle, Samiullah's father hates Mullah Latif, considering  him a thief.

The next morning Rashid accompanies Sami into town to open the family store. Many of the stores are now closed and Sami tells Rashid that this is because of the Taliban. This angers Rashid who begins to question Samiullah about Fatima's family suggesting that because they are Hazara they are cheats. Samiullah outright rejects Rashid's assertions saying they must not judge people based on the actions of their ancestors. Learning that Rashid is teaching the Quran to younger students. Sami encourages Rashid to teach the true Quran to the children. This enrages Rashid who openly accuses Samiullah of running "around with that peasant whore in the woods" - a reference to Fatima. Horrified at what Rashid has said and his hateful attitude towards Fatima and her family, Samiullah prays to God asking him to protect Fatima, guide him and protect Rashid from his own hatred.

Desperately in need of guidance, Samiullah decides to visit Mullah Sarwar in a nearby village to seek advice. Mullah Sarwar helped Sami make the decision to return home from the madrassa.  Sarwar tells Samiullah that God has bestowed a great gift, that of love, upon him but that marrying Fatima will mean overcoming many obstacles.

When Samiullah returns to his home he finds Fatima's father, Mohammad, Zohra's father, Karim, and Rashid with his father, Ismail. Rashid accuses him in front of the other men of "disrespecting" Mohammad's family, Mohammad's daughter and his own family. After Rashid leaves, Sami attempts unsuccessfully to explain to Karim and his father about his relationship with Fatima. Sami asks Mohammad for permission to marry his daughter, but both men refuse. Ismail tells Samiullah that he will not sanction such a marriage as Fatima is a farmer and as such beneath marrying him.

Part Three picks up Fatima's narrative but also now includes narratives by both Rashid and Samiullah as the crisis within their families reaches a climax. It begins with Fatima being sent home from Zohra's home by Karim who then angrily confronts Zohra asking her if she knew what was going on between Sami and Fatima.

After two days of being ignored, Fatima's father tells her that Samiullah has requested her in marriage. He tells Fatima that she cannot marry him and her mother tells her she is whore, slapping her and reminding Fatima that she is lucky they are not going to kill her. He announces that she will marry her friend Zorha's father, Karim and be his second wife. Fatima is horrified and distraught begging her father to reconsider Samiullah's proposal. The next day Fatima is attacked by her mother who drags her to the kitchen by her hair, kicks her in the stomach and then pours boiling water over her arms. She tells Fatima she is a whore who has disgraced their family and warns her that if she tells her father she will burn her face.

Fatima receives Sami's letter and does go to the well to get water, although she is in agony. Sami meets her and discovers her terrible injuries. He tells her that this is further proof that they must flee to Kabul because the people who support this sort of thing will not stop until they are both dead.
"There are people more dangerous than your mother who will want to punish us. Those are the ones I am afraid of. You are in the most danger."

That night Fatima comes to the decision that she must leave her home and her village. She knows her father will never look at her again, her mother will not forgive her and will likely turn all her siblings against her. Feeling responsible for what has happened she decides to meet Samiullah and together they flee to Mullah Sarwar's masjid. Can they possibly escape the terror that now hunts them, seeking their death to restore honour to their families and their village?

Discussion

The Secret Sky is not a novel for the faint at heart; there is murder, beatings and torture as well as references to the sexual abuse of young boys. It's not overly graphic but, if as Abawi states that she has based her novel on real people and real events, it makes the story all the more tragic. It is a brilliant effort that paints a realistic picture of a culture caught in the throes of a radical shift in thinking complicated by cultural practices around honour and old prejudices between two ethnic groups Hazara and Pashtun. The Hazara are an ethnic group in the central highland region of Hazarajat in Afghanistan. They have been persecuted by the Pashtun who feel they should be labourers and servants.

The Secret Sky outlines in a general way how the Taliban came to gradually overrun Afghanistan. Young people were sent into Pakistan to the madrassas to learn about Islam but in fact were indoctrinated into a radical form of the religion which encouraged people to fight against foreigners and to help create an Islamic state based on strict Islamic laws. According to such laws, men and women who are unrelated cannot be together. Such contact, even though not physical is considered to sully a woman's reputation. These young people returned to their villages bringing with them this radical form of Islam which was then gradually forced onto the local rural villages. It was compounded by cultural practices surrounded a distorted view of family honour which holds that women can be tainted by even the slightest contact with an unrelated male. Whereas before families may have handled these problems and perhaps married off the couple, the radical Islamic teaching now insisted that they were to be punished with death. Also many of these young men returning from the madrassa's in Pakistan set up a sort of Afghan mafia and went around demanding protection money from farmers, villagers and store keepers.

It is difficult to comprehend Mossuma's attitude towards her daughter when she finds out she has been seen with Samiullah because the concept of family honour is so alien to Western culture. Neither family questions either Fatima nor Samiullah as to what exactly happened in the woods and it is assumed that the couple met to have sex. Mossuma has a very mercenary view of her children, seeing them as a means to gain either wealth or status. She sent Ali to Iran to earn money for her against the wishes of her husband. She then tries to marry off Fatima when she hears of Zohra's impending engagement, in the hopes of making a match with a wealthy family, but Mohammad will have none of it. So when Mossuma learns of Fatima's "indiscretion" she knows she has lost another opportunity to gain status. Fatima recognizes this. "Her children aren't people to her. We are her accessories, like a new payron or bangle. She wanted me to marry the boy in the other village because it would have made her look good, not because she was looking out for my welfare. She sent Ali to Iran to make money for her, not so he could build a better life for himself."

Not only does Abawi have a powerful storyline, she creates strong, realistic characters. Fatima is a sweet innocent girl who is not ready yet to leave the carefree ways of childhood behind. She dislikes the changes in her body because they signal her transformation to womanhood and a different code of behaviour that will see her leave behind her best friend and playmate, Samiullah, forever. Despite knowing this code and the repercussions if she disobeys it, Fatima decides to take a risk for the sake of friendship. It is a risk that will cost her and her family dearly.

Samiullah is an honourable young man who unthinkingly puts Fatima at risk of being stoned. His love for her sees him take every risk to protect her and get her to safety.

Fatima's father, Mohammad is a kind, hard-working man who protects his children but still places importance in the distorted idea of honour to some degree. When Mossuma wants to marry off Fatima, Mohammad outright rejects her suggestion saying, " I said enough! No more! I'm not marrying my daughter off to strangers. How do we know how these people will treat her?...I can't trade her to someone in another village for a little bit of money; just because it is in our culture doesn't make it okay...She isn't a sack of wheat. I can't just sell her for a few Afghanis and breathe easily for the rest of my life..."  Mossuma's argument that the boy is from a wealthy Hazara family does nothing to appease Mohammad who tells her there are no innocent groups in Afghanistan, that many including himself have been involved in the killing of innocent women and children. Mohammad defends Fatima even when he learns of her "indiscretion", telling Mossuma he will not beat his daughter. However, bound by his culture, he does agree to marry her off as a second wife.

Mullah Sarwar and Rashid represent two different versions of Islam that are competing for the minds and hearts of people in Afghanistan and throughout the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Mullah Sarwar, is a gentle, intelligent and courageous mullah who is careful to not to judge and seeks to discern. He tells Sami and Fatima,  "Don't listen to what people may have told you growing up...Our culture and tradition is not our religion. As a Muslim woman, you have the right not to be forced into marriage...." He helps Sami and Fatima, first marrying them and then hiding them.

Rashid is the strongest character in the novel and this is reflected in his narratives which reflect his pride and anger. When Rashid returns to his village from the madrassa he looks down on the people as being ignorant in many ways. Filled with pride, he describes himself as "I was the best; I still am." He is insulted that his uncle's family, who took him in after the murder of his family, hasn't  slaughtered a goat upon his return.  After he sees Samiullah with Fatima he views himself as the person to ensure that he is punished. He refers to Sami repeatedly throughout the story in derogatory terms such as "my cousin the infidel", "He's a pathetic fool and a dropout. A failure!"  and a "little ant".  His bitterness and anger at the murder of his family continue to haunt him and it is Mullah Sarwar who recognizes this telling Rashid that his family has given him enough love to survive but that if he takes that love out of his heart, he may "fall into a dangerous insanity that you may not be able to come out of."  Rashid is driven by the need to show his family that he is the "good one" but Mullah Sarwar tells him that he will only succeed in creating yet another tragic story. He tells Rashid that his rage is not because of Sami and Fatima but something he is holding inside himself and that he must fix before he causes even more harm. Eventually, Rashid overwhelmed by the deaths he has already causes, comes to realize the truth of what the Mullah has told him and by the end of the novel he redeems himself by an act of sacrificial love.

Overall, The Secret Sky is a remarkable novel which touches on cultural expectations regarding women in Islamic countries, honour killings, forgiveness, sacrifice and love. The Secret Sky is a love story set amid the turbulent struggle against radical Islam in Afghanistan. It is tragic, unsettling but hopeful.


Book Details:
The Secret Sky by Atia Abawi
New York: Philomel Books      2014
290 pp.

Like No Other by Una LaMarche

Like No Other tells the story of two star-crossed lovers, a black boy from Brooklyn and a Hasidic Jewish girl who are thrown together due to unforeseen circumstances.

Sixteen year old Devorah Frayda Blum is a Hasidic Jew who lives in New York. She has six siblings, three sisters; Rose who is eighteen and married to Jacob, fifteen year old Hanna and eleven year old Miriam as well as three brothers, Isaac, Niv and Amos.  It is late August and the city is preparing for a hurricane. The mayor has issued evacuation orders for those areas near the rivers. Power at the hospital is flickering on and off.  Devorah is at the hospital with Rose who has gone into labour, seven weeks before her due date in October.  Not only is this bad for the baby but a category three hurricane is bearing down on the city and her parents are upstate in Monsey with her Aunt Varda who has had foot surgery.

Rose's husband, Jacob comes from a very strict Hasidic family who feels he's morally superior to everyone. Rose was matched to Jacob Kleinman last year by the shadchan and since her wedding she's changed, subduing her desire for fun and for pushing against the rules. In their religion, because Rose has started bleeding, Jacob cannot be with her due to the laws of yoledet. This means Devorah will have to be with her sister during the baby's birth. Devorah is present for her niece's birth and is completely overwhelmed by the beauty and wonder of Liya Sara"s birth. With Rose is now resting, Liya in the NCIU and Jacob missing, Devorah decides to take the elevator down to the cafeteria in the basement.

Meanwhile sixteen year old Jaxon Hunte finds himself at the hospital after his best friend, Ryan Hendrick dislocated his shoulder trying to jump his skateboard over a downed tree. Jaxon's been trying to catch the interest of Polly Jadhav whom he's been crushing on for a whole year.  Ryan and Jaxon had just gone to school to get their schedules and new ID photos but Ryan decided to impress Polly and now they are at the emergency room. Jaxon decides to take the elevator to the basement to get something to eat in the cafeteria when the power cuts out.

Devorah and Jaxon find themselves trapped together in the hospital elevator. At first Devorah is horrified because she is violating the laws of yichud which means that she is not allowed to be alone with a strange man.  Jaxon introduces himself but is met with silence at first by Devorah who has backed into a corner. Jaxon tries to see if there is a way to get out of the elevator through the ceiling but soon decides it's too risky. Devorah at first thinks Jaxon is showing off but when she sees how hard he is trying to make her feel safe, she begins to relax. 

They learn that they are in fact neighbours geographically, with Jaxon on one side of the street and Devorah on the other. Soon the two are talking about their families. Devorah reveals that to Jaxon that she belongs to a Hasidic sect, known as Chabad-Lubavitch while Jaxon tells her that he is Roman Catholic. Although he tells Devorah that he feels more like agnostic, she admits at least inwardly about feeling the same about her religion too. Devorah feels guilty about continuing to talk with Jaxon because it is forbidden for her to talk to him or to even be alone with him, according to the laws of yichud. However, Devorah is impressed by Jaxon's honesty and attempts to understand her way of life.

Jaxon's ability to choose his own life makes Devorah feel dissatisfied and a bit jealous. "Jaxon will graduate high school, just like me, but he'll get to decide where he wants to go and what he wants to do with his life, while my parents will go to a shadchan to find me a husband, whether I'm ready or not. Forget that my grades are better than either of my older brothers' ever were...It is simply expected that my education will end when I am married.....I will be someone's prize...."

When the elevator starts moving upward, Jaxon attempts to give Devorah his number but she warns him to act like he doesn't know her. When the doors open Jaxon's friend, Ryan, is waiting for him and Devorah's brother-in-law, Jacob is there too and not very pleased.

They both go their separate ways but neither can really forget the other. Devorah's sister, Hanna brings up the "Elevator Incident" one day at dinner by questioning their father about violating yichud in an unintended way. At school her best friend, Shoshana questions her about the stranger revealing to Devorah that many of the girls secretly watch movies, text boys and sneak gossip magazines into their rooms. But when Devorah mentions going to visit Jaxon at his place of work, Shoshana tells her that she can never do this. Shoshana mentions Ruchy Silverman, the pretty girl a year older than Devorah who suddenly took a trip to Israel and who Shoshana reveals had a boyfriend from NYU and who became pregnant.

Then one day while working at her parent's store, Devorah asks her father if she can accompany her younger sister Hanna on an errand. Devorah realizes that the errand will take her across the street from Wonder Wings, the fast food restaurant where Jaxon works. While Hanna is inside the pharmacy, Devorah walks into Wonder Wings, surprising Jaxon but arranging to meet him the next day in the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. When Jaxon is unable to meet Devorah, he shows up at the hospital several days later during a visit by Devorah and her family to see Rose and the new baby who is still in the NCIU. Jaxon and Devorah meet in the stairwell giving Jaxon the opportunity to explain why he missed meeting her. Devorah tells him how impossible it will be for them to see one another, that it is forbidden. When Jaxon kisses her, she tells him that somehow she will contact him to arrange another meeting.

Afterwards, Devorah wonders about life outside her community. "...all my life I've been told that there is nothing for me outside the Chabad community, no opportunity for any happiness in the greater world. I only wish I knew if this were true."
Determined to find out what really happened to Ruchy Silverman, Devorah surreptitiously uses her father's laptop to search for both Ruchy and Jaxon. She learns the truth behind Ruchy and finds Jaxon's profile on Facebook. Devorah creates fake profile to contact Jaxon so they can arrange to meet.

Jaxon and Devorah's blossoming relationship begins to run into trouble when Jacob confronts Devorah, telling her he saw her with Jaxon. He threatens to expose the situation to her father unless she stops seeing Jaxon. Determined to get around Jacob, Jaxon gives Devorah a cell phone so she can contact him. Meeting one another becomes almost impossible so Jaxon takes her to his home one Sunday so they can have some privacy. Although Jaxon is wanting to become more intimate with Devorah, she is starting to recognize the implications their relationship will have for them given their different cultures.

Catastrophe strikes when Devorah's cell phone rings while the family is gathered in the living room. Hoping to help her sister, Hanna suggests that it must be the radio in a passing car, but Jacob will not be deterred. Although Jacob is unable to locate the cell phone, Devorah realizes that she has to return the phone to Jaxon and arranges to meet him at the Brooklyn Public Library. She tries to tell Jaxon that they need to take a break, because for her the consequences will be serious. However, this only leads Jaxon to suggest they find some time to be alone, to leave Brooklyn for one night so they can  figure out how to make things work. 

Jaxon arranges for him and Devorah to go to Ryan's parent's house in the Hamptons the following evening, but when Jaxon arrives to pick her up, they are discovered by the Shomrim - in this case Jacob.  Devorah is taken back to her parents, while Jaxon is badly beaten by an man who was with Jacob. With any chance of their seeing one another now lost, both Jaxon and Devorah must come to terms with the consequences of their forbidden love and what it will mean for them and their families.

Discussion

Una LaMarche has written a wonderful novel that cleverly captures the bitter-sweetness of a forbidden first love when two young people whose lives normally would never have intersected are thrown together. 

Caught within the bonds of culture, family expectations and religious rules, Jaxon and Devorah struggle to make their relationship work against enormous odds. Ultimately the are unable to do so, but both learn important lessons along the way.  LaMarche tells their story from both Jaxon and Devorah's perspectives and their narratives are distinct and realistic. While Jaxon is witty and self-deprecating, Devorah's is more serious and filled with the cares of a strict upbringing. Virtually all the major characters in the story undergo some kind of journey and are changed as a result of Devorah and Jaxon's relationship.

Devorah is the good girl, who is beautiful and virtuous, who will make a grand match for her family. She is "unfailingly obedient", a straight A student who dresses properly and never breaks curfew. Her parents are thrilled with her but for Devorah, "the life of a good girl, of a doting wife and mother, is a cloudless blue sky stretching across a flat horizon. " She wants to be in "the eye of the storm." a somewhat incorrect analogy because the eye of a hurricane is actually calm. The impending hurricane is a foreshadowing of the storm that is to come in her life as a result of this friendship.

Meeting Jaxon changes Devorah, broadens her view of life and pushes her to wonder what is outside the insular world of the Hasidic community.  She tells Jaxon this when she's at his home:

"That night changed everything. In the span of an hour my whole world cracked open, and I saw life. Literally, I saw life being born, and then I met you, and I saw life that was so different from the one I'd been living. I saw a future that could be so different. And that's what I want to do. I want to bring more life into the world, ...I want to be there when other people experience that moment."

At first Devorah sees Jaxon as representing that freedom to experience life more fully, but gradually she comes to recognize that their relationship won't work and could be endangering the very freedom she so desires and to determine her own path.

Eventually when she is forcibly taken to the Chabad Residential Treatment Center, a Hasidic center for rebellious teens, Devorah must confront the reality that her parents will force her to marry an eighteen year old to preserve their standing in the Hasidic community. Instead of acquiescing to their demands, she recognizes that she has to take control of her situation. Inspired by Ruchy and how she was able to get what she wanted, Devorah refuses to submit to an arranged sham marriage to David, the man the matchmaker has selected. She manages to get him to acknowledge that he too doesn't want to get married and then she apologizes to his parents. In the treatment center she confronts her own parents and the rabbi. While her parents see her refusal of David as "burning her bridges" that will lead to loneliness, Devorah sees it differently.

"I fear that if I continue on the path that's been set for me, I'll look back later with resentment,,, It's not that I reject our entire culture. I just want to see what else is out there. I just want to feel more free."

Although she cannot define "freedom" to the rabbi or her parents, Devorah knows enough that the Hasidic way of life is not what she wants at this time and it's not something she totally understands yet.

"Before the night of the Shomrim incident, ... I can barely remember a time when I saw my mother truly unhappy. She seems to love the life she leads, which may be why I feel so guilty for not wanting to emulate her path. After all, how can something that brings my mother -- and my idolized big sister -- such joy and fulfillment feel to me like such a desolate prison? Doesn't one of us have to be wrong?

Jaxon too undergoes a journey. At the end of the novel we learn that Jaxon's mission in life is not that far from what Devorah wants when he tells his teacher, he wants "to spend the rest of my life...helping people find their way in life, whether it's my sisters, my tutees, or other people I love who shall go unnamed." While Devorah recognizes the gift that Jaxon gave her - to see the world differently and to find her own path, Jaxon also recognizes that he helped Devorah. In the end Jaxon discovers that a relationship cannot be forced to work; sometimes the timing is wrong and sometimes cultural restrictions and family expectations are impossible to circumvent. Jaxon tried to force a relationship with Polly at the beginning of the novel by forcing meetings with her in the hallways and outside her classes. She wasn't ready at that time but while he was seeing Devorah, Polly began to notice him and it is she who seeks him out at the end of the novel.

Devorah's mother is changed by the Shomrim incident and what happens at the treatment center. She realizes what is happening to Devorah is similar to what happened to her mother - that she is feeling trapped by their way of life and she does not want her to be hurt in the way that her grandmother was. This leads her to tell Devorah the shocking truth behind the family myth about her grandmother being lifted up and flying during a storm and to give Devorah the chance to express what she wants in life and to make her own decisions within the context of their family.

In the novel, The World Outside by Eva Wiseman, the Lubavitch sect seemed merely like a different type of Judaism but in Like No Other, the Chabad-Lubavitch sect is portrayed more like a religious cult. Girls receive no higher education, men also receive no higher education but are expected to undertake religious studies, women are married off young through arranged marriages that they often have no say in and live in a very insular community where contact with outsiders is strictly forbidden, in fact, considered sinful. As a result, as one character states, there are no Hasidic doctors, lawyers or other professionals.

The character who represents the strictest form of the Chabad-Lubavitch sect is Rose's husband, Jacob, who seems to recognize Devorah's disdain for him and her rebellious streak against some of the rules. Devorah sees how Rose's marriage to Jacob has changed her, taken her spirit away describing her as "a wifely watercolor of her former self." Later in the novel, when Rose accompanies Devorah to the Chabad treatment center, Devorah pushes Rose about her marriage to Jacob and how it has changed her. "You used to speak up for yourself. Now he just pushes you around. You're like a zombie." Rose defends herself but to Devorah she seems in denial. Devorah also tells Rose that Jaxon changed how she looked at life, "...it was like I had been looking down at the ground my whole life, and he was the first person to point my chin up to the sky." and that she doesn't know for sure if she ever wants to be a wife and mother, but that she knows that she does not at this time. Later on Devorah does come to understand that Rose being happily married is Rose's path but not hers.

Like No Other is a well written novel, with a great story line, a sweet innocent romance between two young people trying to determine their path in life while coping with the differences they bring to their relationship as a result of their cultures. In the end, Devorah and Jaxon, despite their cultural and religious differences have very similar goals in life. It's a powerful coming of age story with themes of identity, self discovery, and the struggle of a young woman determined to forge her own path in life.

Book Details:
Like No Other
New York: Razorbill      2014
347 pp.

Echoes of the White Giraffe by Sook Nyul Choi

Echoes of the White Giraffe is the second book in Sook Nyul Choi's books about a young girl and her family living in Korea during the first half of the 20th century.

Echoes of the White Giraffe begins in the year 1950. Fifteen-year-old Sookan is now living in Pusan with her younger brother Inchun and her mother after having barely escaped from the bombing of Seoul by the Korean and Chinese Communists. Sookan and her family had reunited after their daring escape out of Northern Korea which was occupied by the Russians who had driven out the Japanese occupiers. Sookan, her best friend Bokhi, Inchun, Teacher Yun and many other refugees had all played a part in building a school so that they could return to their studies. Teacher Yun and other teachers who had escaped from Seoul when the war started eight months ago are eager to help the students catch up.

Sookan misses her "beautiful brick Ewha School with its sparkling classrooms and its beautifully tiered garden." But she also misses her family home in Seoul. As refugees Sookan and her mother and brother live in a small wooden shack at the top of the mountain near Pusan. In their flight from Seoul they became separated from her father and three older brothers and haven't heard anything since then.

One morning Sookan is awoken by the loud yelling of a man on the opposite side of the mountain, telling everyone to wake up. Curious to see who the man is, Sookan races to the top of the mountain and yells back at him. She asks him if he is a mountain poet and calls this unknown man her "shouting poet". His yelling is a daily ritual that awakens the refugees.

Sookan settles into life in Pusan. Her family are Catholics and they attend Father Lee's morning and Sunday Masses. She also sings in the choir which is directed by Haerin Min, the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Lim, the town doctor. The choir is made up of members from Pusan High School for Boys, Pusan Girls' School and also the refugee students from Seoul. 

Sookan doesn't much like Haerin, after the disdainful way she treated Sookan and her family when they first arrived in Pusan, looking down on them because they are refugees. Sookan spends a great deal of time with the choir, practicing every Saturday and singing at four Masses on Sunday. It is in the choir that she first meets Haerin's oppa or brother, Junho. Sookan finds seventeen-year-old Junho to be very handsome. Because their voices harmonize so well together, Haerin places Junho and Sookan together in the center of the choir, having them sing duets together.

One Sunday after Mass, Haerin catches up with Sookan as she walks home and questions her about her escape from the war in Seoul. Haerin's insensitive questioning makes Sookan uncomfortable but when Junho manages to meet with them Sookran tells him about her life in Pyongyang, North Korea. Despite Junho's kind remarks Sookan feels humiliated.

Sookan's time in Pusan is punctuated by several tragedies. Her best friend, Bokhi who lives with her aunt, learns that her parents died in the bombing of Seoul. Bokhi is so distraught that she does not return to school for days. Sookan stays at her house to try to encourage Bokhi to accept her parent's deaths and to realize that living her life well will please them. Eventually she manages to get Bokhi to come to see Teacher Yun who helps her cope. But when Sookan returns to her home on the red mountain the next morning she oversleeps. It is then that she realizes that she has not heard the shouting poet that morning and learns from her mother that he has died. Sookran's mother takes her to his grave where they discover his name was Baik Rin which means "white giraffe".

As time passes, Sookan and Junho develop a special friendship. When Sookan misses several days of school because of Bokhi and the death of Baik, Junho comes to visit her on the mountain. Under normal circumstances it would not be proper for Junho to stay to visit Sookan but because he is caught in a heavy downpour, Sookran's mother, recognizing the attraction between the two,  suggests he stay. This gives them a chance to really talk. Sookran tells him how her family came to escape Seoul and travel to Pusan. Junho asks Sookan what her plans are after she finished high school and she tells him that she wants to study history in America, then return to Korea to become a nun with her sister Theresa. This revelation disturbs Junho and as the rain has ended he quickly leaves.

Junho arranges for he and Sookan to have their picture taken together - something that is considered highly improper. When Junho receives the pictures, he secretly passes one onto Sookan but Haerin, jealous of Sookan's relationship with her brother, informs their parents. Junho's mother is furious and yells at Sookan's mother but Dr. Min is more tolerant understanding the innocent nature of their relationship.

With the signing of the armistice, once again dividing Korea in to the communist North and the democratic South, Sookan, Inchun and their mother return to Seoul where they find the three older boys at their badly damaged home. Eventually they learn that their father was killed in the bombing of Seoul. Amidst this loss, Sookan decides that she will study hard so she can apply to colleges in America. But in doing so it will mean leaving behind the young man she truly loves.

One day Junho comes to visit her in Seoul. He is now enrolled in Dongkuk University where he is studying literature. Junho tells Sookan that after finishes his studies he will enter the seminary to become a priest. This leads Sookan to wonder whether he has decided to enter the seminary because she told him she was going to become a nun or whether this was always his plan.

Sookan works diligently passing her exams and prepares to leave for America but before journeying overseas she decides to visit Jonhu. Unable to see him one last time, Sookan must believe that it is because they are "everlasting friends".

Discussion

Echoes of the White Giraffe is a beautifully written story that explores the themes of identity, forbidden love, and hope. This short novel manages to portray the uncertainty of life during the Korean conflict and the life of a refugee in a realistic, somewhat reserved way. The story is narrated by Sookan who reveals that her family was reunited in Seoul in 1945 and settled into a beautiful home at the base of Namsan Mountain. All this changes five years later when they are forced to flee from Seoul, their family becoming separated once again and Sookan, her mother and younger brother Inchun, crammed onto a boat which takes them to the southern tip of the Korean peninsula, to Pusan. In the first part of the novel Choi effectively portrays the uncertainty, fear and humiliation of Sookan's situation as a refugee.

Choi makes special use of mountains in her story as a symbol of safety and hope. When Sookan and her family flee to Namsan mountain in Seoul, the mountain is a source of protection and safety. The red-brown mountain they live on in Pusan, along with other refugees, symbolizes the obstacles they now face as refugees within their own country. They have no home, no relatives and an uncertain future. Climbing the mountain at the end of each day for Sookan seems almost impossible. The red mountain mud stains their shoes and their clothing, and climbing is sometimes so difficult that "On rainy days, we had to get down on all fours to climb up the muddy, treeless mountainside." Sookan states that the "red mud caked on my shoes made me feel very heavy." Their new life in Pusan is represented by this mountain. Sookan describes their home as "one room made of four thin plywood walls with a sliding door separating a small kitchen area from the main part..." When she looks down the mountain she is afraid seeing "dark shadows moving about. Feeling afraid that the dark valley might swallow me..."

However, the mountain provides them with a symbol of hope and also comes to represent how their lives gradually change as they overcome various obstacles. It is on the mountain that Sookan hears the man she calls the "shouting poet" who yells every morning "Hello, all you refugees on these mountains. Rise and shine. Remember it is a new day, a brand new day. Hello, hello." His voice reverberates over the mountain and Sookan notes that he makes the word "refugees" sound sweet; "The word "refugee" rang as melodiously as all the other words, not sounding as cold and ugly as it had the first time I heard it..." The shouting poet gives them all hope reminding them that each day is fresh, a new start.

But as life carries on and Sookan settles into a routine of attending school, hearing Mass and singing, she one day realizes that the mountain too has changed. "The mountain was not so difficult to climb as it used to be. The path up the hill had become worn and smooth from constant use. In some of the steep areas that were difficult to climb, people had dug little footholds that made it more like climbing a ladder". This description can be applied to Sookan's life which has now become a bit easier, with the refugees helping one another. Even the shacks now look different from one another, some with "tall yellow sunflowers, while another had morning glories scaling the walls and climbing the roof. Another had rows of tin cans blossoming with pansies and marigolds... It was as if each little house were furiously competing to be the prettiest, most cheerful one on the mountain." The shouting poet has done his work, he has passed on hope to the refugees on the mountain and that is reflected in their homes and their lives.

Choi's writing is very sensual, evoking the sights, sounds and smells of Sookan's world whether it be in Pusan or Seoul. The descriptions are poetic and beautiful, capturing the world around them, "We walked all the way to the jagged black rocks that jutted into the sea. In gloomy silence, we watched the waves crash violently onto the rocks, filling the air with cold, gray mist."

Sookan is shown to be a sensitive thoughtful girl who develops a chaste attraction to Junho. She rebels mildly against the strict norms of her culture which dictate that men and women do not mix in public and that unmarried men and women do meet unchaperoned. Sookan cannot bring herself to tell Junho how she truly feels, no matter how many times they meet, leaving her wondering what could have been. In the end, her one final attempt to see him goes ungranted making it seem as Junho said that they would be "everlasting friends". Sookan must come to accept Junho's decision to enter the priesthood as he had accepted her decision to travel overseas to study with the intent to eventually enter the convent.

There's also the lovely theme of faith woven through in this novel as Sookan and her mother attend Mass and find hope through their faith. Choi achieves her purpose well in this novel, explaining some of Korea's 20th century history, and portraying the culture of Korea, the resilience and determination of its people in difficult times to young readers. Echoes of the White Giraffe is the second of three autobiographical novels written by Sook Nyul Choi is a novel filled with tragedy and loss, but also hope and acceptance.

Book Details:
Echoes of the White Giraffe by Sook Nyul Choi
New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing   1993
137 pp.