June Reading Wrap-Up (From & About Asia Reading Project)

 This past month, most of my reading time has been occupied by two books:

- The Dead Lake by Hamid Ismailov 

- Mother Earth by Chingiz Aitmatov

These books constituted my self-assigned reading for the From & About Asia reading project's June reading requirements, which specified that I needed to read one book by an Uzbek author (The Dead Lake) and another book about the culture of Central Asia (Mother Earth). Since I finished these both quite close to the end of this month and so don't have time to write about each book in an individual post, I wanted to use this post as a sort of wrap-up in which I give my thoughts on both. 

Also, if you read the words "From & About Asia reading project" and have no idea what I was talking about, I recommend perusing my masterpost on the project and the posts I've made about it.

Let's start with The Dead Lake, as that is the book I read first out of the two. I mentioned in my previous post about it, which I wrote before actually reading the book, that I expected this to be quite a dark and disturbing book, perhaps even bordering on horror. When reading it, I was surprised to find that the book was definitely not of the horror variety, and it wasn't even as dark or disturbing as I expected. While there is certainly an element of existential horror in the book's key incident, in which a young boy enters a radioactive lake and ceases to grow after that point, there was a lot more to the story than just that. There was also humour, hope, and a lot left to the reader's imagination. 

I felt that The Dead Lake gave an immersive look at what it was like for young Yerzhan to grow up rural Kazakhstan, where global events feel at once incredibly distant and intimately close. When his uncle speaks of "the Americans" and nuclear bombs, it is as though he might as well be talking about aliens, the Cold War seems so far away. Yet when the houses in Yerzhan's area are shaken by test bombs, and his own growth is halted by exposure to radiation, you begin to understand that even a conflict which seems so remote can have devastating effects close to home. I think that the book's central plot point alludes to this deceptive dichotomy: when Yerzhan enters the lake, it is seemingly a minor event, the water showing no clear signs of its danger. The harm of the lake and the Cold War generally might not appear immediately, but that doesn't make them any less destructive.

Despite being written by a different author and set in what is now considered to be a different country, Mother Earth has a number of similarities with The Dead Lake. To start with, both books are set in rural areas of countries that - at the time the story takes place - were considered to be part of the Soviet Union. They both depict the mixture of pride and fear that comes with being part of the Soviet Union and show how the country's struggles (Mother Earth's with war and The Dead Lake's with nuclear weaponry) impact its citizens. While I expected The Dead Lake to be darker, Mother Earth was (in my opinion) the more emotionally devastating of the two. Its plot follows Tolgonai, a Kyrgyz farming woman, as she loses more and more of her family during WWII. Seeing Tolgonai's struggle was heartbreaking, perhaps more so because she always tries to remain a pillar of strength for her community and what is left of her family. The title of the book comes from the framing device used for the story, as it is narrated by Tolgonai through her conversations with a field, through which she speaks to Mother Earth. I thought that using Tolgonai's conversations with the earth in this way was very touching, showing us both the importance of the land to her while also stressing how alone she is. That said, this was not a book without hope. Throughout the story, Tolgonai holds onto the hope of life for her people and her family, and it is this hope which sustains her. 

I think I would recommend both of these books to anyone who wants to learn more about this area of the world and its history, as well as those who can appreciate a story even when it is difficult to read emotionally. Mother Earth was my favourite of the two, but I truly enjoyed both and could see myself reading more works by either Ismailov or Aitmatov. I had never heard of either of these books or authors before the From & About Asia reading project, so once again I'm pleased that this project gave me the opportunity to discover them and appreciate their work.

Next week, I will be continuing with the From & About Asia project by posting my choices for July, the country and region of which are Jordan and Western Asia respectively. So if you are interested in my progress with this project, keep an eye out for next week's post!