Caleb’s Crossing

Author: Geraldine Brooks

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Readers of fiction written by Geraldine Brooks always discover interesting details of the history of some part of the world. Caleb may be a Biblical name, but it was given to this Caleb by a Puritan, Calvanistic missionary, not by his parents. The setting is the east coast of North America in the seventeenth century.

In 1665, a young man from what is now Martha’s Vineyard became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. His was the son of a chieftain of the Wompanoag. The young daughter of the charismatic missionary from whose perspective the book is written is a female in a patriarchal society. Women must provide, men and boys must be educated. At twelve, she encounters the young son of a chieftain, who will be later known as Caleb, and the two forge a tentative, secret friendship that draws each into the alien world of the other. As often as she can, she slips away to explore the island’s glistening beaches and observe its native Wampanoag inhabitants. Bethia’s minister father tries to convert the Wampanoag, awakening the wrath of the island’s strongest pawaaw, against whose ritual magic he must test his own beliefs.

In a journal written on scraps of paper, Bethia records her internal conflicts. How can she teach herself to exist within the narrow confines of the lives women in her world are expected to lead? Her quick mind seeks the knowledge that is imparted to her brother. Her domestic responsibilities are unreasonable, but she is loyal.

The triumph of “Caleb’s Crossing” is that Bethia succeeds as a convincing woman of her time, and also in communicating across centuries of change in circumstance, custom and language. She tells a story that is suspenseful and involving. It is also a story that is tragically recognizable and deeply sad.

I found the beginning of the book contrived. However, once connected with Harvard’s history, found it a worthwhile read.

Reviewed by Gayle Davidson
Odell Learning Resources Centre

In Japan the Crickets Cry

Author: Ronald Clements, with Steve Metcalf

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I was bought up on a diet of amazing mission stories, told earnestly, but mostly not well written. I am delighted to discover “In Japan the Crickets Cry” which is a really well written, engrossing missionary story. What makes it all work so well? Certainly Steve Metcalf’s story is quite remarkable: raised in Taku (south-west China) by missionary parents, sent to Chefoo school, there when the area was taken over by Japan. He lived in a concentration camp for a while, but was eventually re-united with his family in Australia. His God-given passion then became the people of Japan: an extraordinary move in the post war atmosphere of recrimination, not reconciliation, as more and more became known about the horrors of torture, forced prostitution and concentration camps. He devoted his life to preaching and serving in Japan, a country to this day notoriously unreceptive to the Christian message.

I have to declare my initial interest was simply my own personal fascination with Japan, but Steve Metcalf’s story touched me on many levels. He does not spare himself as he tells the story of his early heartbreak when a young women who he was deeply in love with turned her back on him as she could not face the idea of being a missionary wife. I am always moved to read about the dilemmas facing missionaries when it comes to their own children, and Steve not only lived these difficulties himself, but later on had to make the same agonizing decision about his own children.

I appreciated the fine balance kept between large picture analyses of the missionary work in Japan and the illuminating minutiae of daily life… and found especially helpful the sections where he reflects on the psychology and sociology of the Japanese people as they struggled to deal with the aftermath of war. The book is not overloaded with detail about language and custom but again the balance is stuck quite well for those who are interested in Japan for its own sake.

Steve Metcalf “retired” in 1990 but has continued to work with Japanese people in the UK and Europe, and the closing chapters detail some of these stories.

Suitable for any age; parents could read snippets to younger children. The book is a rich source of discussion points for the thoughtful teenager (or adult).

Andrew Lack

Advance Australia…Where?

Author: Hugh Mackay

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I have discussed in other reviews the idea of a “dipping book”, one that can be read by taking pages almost at random. Hugh Mackay’s most recent social analysis book came out in 2007, but I am still finding it fascinating and fresh.

The author’s special gift is to connect seemingly disparate trends, thus suggesting causal connections that I find illuminating. In case you are not familiar with his work, he is a psychologist and social researcher, and produced for many years a quarterly report on trends in Australian society. He has a wealth of research data both from his own social research and focus groups, and from the work of other researchers.

To give you an example, I have been aware for some years about statistics on the growing number of single occupancy households… in 2007 around 20% of Sydney dwellings had only one occupant, but the number is predicted to grow dramatically by 2020. This is interesting, even alarming, but the reason I enjoy his book so much is that it is not merely a report on the “what” (statistics) or “what next”, he also offers suggestions for the “why”. In this case he targets the society wide focus on self fulfilment and self worth, and suggests that this has led to an increased preference for being comfortable by one’s self. Of course there are many other reasons and he canvases those as well.

While 2007 is not 2011, it is interesting to examine the chapters that touch on the emerging Internet and social media culture, with its benefits and horrors.

I have taken to reading a page or two while eating my breakfast cereal, and enjoy jumping to random sections… almost always providing a challenging insight into the culture I move and work in. There is no reason why this could not be ready by a student of any age, however interest is likely to be higher for older students who are already curious about the forces shaping and driving our corner of the world.

Andrew Lack

American Born Chinese

Author: Gene Luen Yang

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This is a cross between a graphical novel and a manga style comic with simple, firm illustrations and a complex layered story. It is a relatively quick read but is certainly not a light weight with over 230 pages and a larger format. Jin Wang is a young teenager whose parents are Chinese immigrants. He quickly discovers that Asian looking boys face a number of challenges at school. An older lady tells him “It is easy to become anything you wish…so long as you’re willing to forfeit your soul”. He betrays his heritage and decides to simply try to blend in, with unfortunate results.

This could have been a somewhat didactic tale with little chance of engaging its readers… instead it is told in a fascinating and initially bewildering way. We end up with three alternating threads of a story. First there is the story from Chinese mythology about the Monkey King and his aspirations to be accepted as a god like other gods. Then we see various events in the life of Jin Wang as a younger teen… and this is interspersed with stories from his life as an older, now very Caucasian teenager. Bizarrely he is visited for one month in each year by a “cousin from China” who is an outrageous caricature with a pigtail, round glasses, huge round face, amorous intent and boundless cleverness.

It is not clear till the end of the story what is really going on… and I shan’t be giving away any secrets here! The tale is poignant and thought provoking. It contains a real challenge to respect one's own heritage and maintain personal integrity.

 I was also rather astonished to find a whole slab of Psalm 139 quoted in the mouth of one of the Chinese gods, and a visit by a Chinese sage to the baby Jesus. At the very least I would have to put this down to 21st Century intertextuality, but others may see a deeper meaning.

Despite the disarming pictures of monkeys, this is a complex story that requires thought and interpretation… perhaps best for Year Eight and up.


Andrew Lack