Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion
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Where the Wild Ladies Are
Buddy Reads: Current & Upcoming
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Buddy Read for Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda, Polly Barton starting Jan 9, 2021
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I'm really looking forward to this one.
I think Migrations was the best that we read together last year. Although, there were some other good contenders. It will be interesting to see what we end up with in 2021.
Have you started? I just read the first story so far. Different and not boring. That one was a bit strange but good. I'm looking forward to seeing what the others bring.I really liked Migrations too. My guess is we can find one we like as much as that this year. We have plenty of time.
No! I forgot to start yesterday. I will read a couple stories today and see what I think.Thanks for the reminder.
I am almost half way through having finished 'where the wild ladies are' (the chapter). It isn't what I expected but I am definitely enjoying. Much more modern than I expected and definitely a thing for hair. Some stranger, some more funny than I expected.
I really didn't know how to think about the first part of the first story. The characters were interesting, but they were kind of pissing me off. Then, when it turned to the weird, I loved it. I've only read the first one so far, then I forgot to bring my book to work so I could read during a break. Of course, I have not had any time for a break, so...
More tonight.
I keep going back and forth on this book. I am sort of enjoying it, but there are some stories that are just meh. I keep putting it down and picking up something else, so it is taking me a little longer.
Are you still enjoying it? Done yet?
I should finish it by the weekend.
I agree about the back and forth. I do like it and I like how they are interconnected. I find some of the stories a bit funny. I am curious to see how it ends. I am not done yet as I am reading other things but I am making good progress; I'll be done Saturday if not before.
Ok, I finished last night. I'm still trying to figure out what I think. I am definitely disappointed. Based on the reviews and such I expected more. I liked her idea of updating the older fables and some of the stories. Many were funny. The fact that they were tied together and had repeating characters though made the lack of depth of characters so much more noticeable.I appreciated many of them more after reading the 'based on' stories in the back. Many of them did end abruptly. But some of the updates were just strange. The two sales ladies/ghosts? What was up with the 'where the wild ladies are'?
I'm glad I read it. I may go back and reread a few of the stores but I'm disappointed and didn't love it.
I think I have two stories left to go. I got distracted by the new Preston/Child book. I am with you. I am finding it interesting in a anthropological, cultural way, but I am having a hard time caring about any of the characters. I'm not sure if it is the writing style, or the subject matter. Perhaps the "based on" bit should have been at the beginning of the book. I didn't realize it was there...off to look at it before finishing the last stories.
Done.Yeah, the synopses of the original myths didn't help much. I think the problem I often have with short stories is the fact that they end abruptly without any denouement. I do not need every question answered in a book, but like the title story, it seemed as though there should have been a whole lot more to it, and reading the bit in the back made me wonder how the story was based on the original.
I will not be racing out to read anything else by this author, but I was exposed to something new, so yay for that!
Synopsis
In this witty and exuberant collection of feminist retellings of traditional Japanese folktales, humans live side by side with spirits who provide a variety of useful services—from truth-telling to babysitting, from protecting castles to fighting crime.
A busybody aunt who disapproves of hair removal; a pair of door-to-door saleswomen hawking portable lanterns; a cheerful lover who visits every night to take a luxurious bath; a silent house-caller who babysits and cleans while a single mother is out working. Where the Wild Ladies Are is populated by these and many other spirited women—who also happen to be ghosts. This is a realm in which jealousy, stubbornness, and other excessive "feminine" passions are not to be feared or suppressed, but rather cultivated; and, chances are, a man named Mr. Tei will notice your talents and recruit you, dead or alive (preferably dead), to join his mysterious company.
In this witty and exuberant collection of linked stories, Aoko Matsuda takes the rich, millenia-old tradition of Japanese folktales—shapeshifting wives and foxes, magical trees and wells—and wholly reinvents them, presenting a world in which humans are consoled, guided, challenged, and transformed by the only sometimes visible forces that surround them.