nwasianweekly.com
October 4, 2003

A Quick Look at Books

By Ann-Marie Stillion

The Fifth Book of Peace, by Maxine Hong Kingston. Published by Alfred A. Knopf, 2003.

When Maxine Hong Kingston first conceived The Fifth Book of Peace, she wanted it to be a work of fiction. But when the novel burned up in a catastrophic fire, the famous memoirist returned to her strengths to rewrite the work. The end result is a weaving of daily events, history, fiction, memoirs, philosophy and essays. The Fifth Book, like the concept of peace itself, is not something to be nailed down, the author tells readers, but rather something to be lived and breathed and discovered at every moment in one’s life.

This book takes you into not only the personal life of the author, but also into the extraordinary grasp of her mind. She urges readers to think of how they themselves can create a true community — which in its essence is where Kingston believes peace can be found. If you want to know what peace is, she says, find out who you are without the fluff, without the fakery.

Kingston started this project as a search for ancient books in China. She looked for evidence of the lost books of Chinese literature in her own travels. For many years, wherever she went, she asked, “Have you ever heard of the Three Lost Books of Peace?” A lecturer in creative writing at the University of California at Berkeley, she even asked students to look for them in their own travels. When nothing definitive emerged, Kingston decided to write her own books. And so the idea for The Fifth Book was born.

Kingston’s illustrious writing career has been marked by social justice, beginning with 1976’s The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, which gave voice to women the world over and even altered language itself.

The Fifth Book of Peace has heart, and it is a true gift from a hard-working writer who has set off in her own way to lead us closer to peace.

The Girl from the Coast, by Pranmoedya Ananta Toer. Published by Hyperion Books, 2002.

The Girl from the Coast has the steady and clear feeling of a fairy tale or myth, as if the story has been told and retold.

The story begins with a young girl married to an older man. She is from a fishing village; he is from the city. Born into a culture strictly divided by class and wealth, the girl, whose name we never learn, is a “practice bride.” As the story unfolds, the reader comes to understand what this means. Regardless of the joys and longings she may have, her life is strictly defined by custom and poverty. The tale that emerges is one of wisdom and courage under pressure.

Said to be a retelling of the life of the author’s grandmother, the novel carefully traces the emotions of a young girl as well as the reality of life as a virtual slave to men, to those with more wealth and to those born of “higher class.”

Many of the author’s works have been written behind bars, as he has been a political prisoner. A feeling of confinement — the girl’s and all those who are her friends and relatives — is palpable. We are left with deep compassion for a distant place and a broader way of looking at the struggle as seen through this Indonesian’s elegant storytelling.

This story was originally intended to chronicle the growth of the nationalist movement in Indonesia. It is the only remaining novel of a trilogy by the author. The other books were destroyed by the Indonesian military.

Ann-Marie Stillion can be reached at annmarie@nwasianweekly.com.