husband: seated on the floor, back against the sofa, brow furrowed, eyes squinting, reading over 30 pages of online assigned reading. Grumpy.
wife: curled up on the couch. Open book in hand, biting on knuckles to keep from chuckling and eliciting yet another "what? What are you laughing at?" Suppressed chuckles crescendoing to giggles.
"Now why are you laughing?"
"It's this book, it's so funny!" She shows him the cover of Firoozeh Dumas' latest collection of short stories:
She reads to him a passage recounting the Paris-weary author's day-trip to Mont St. Michel as a teenager flying solo after her host family ditched her to spend their summer in Provence:
Sure, it looks pretty..."Mont St. Michel, a quasi-island in Normandy, is the site of a magnificent chapel built in the tenth century. During low tide, visitors can walk to the site, but during high tide, Mont St. Michel becomes an isleand. The tide comes in at one meter per second, or as Victor Hugo described it, "a la vitesse d'un cheval au galop," which sounds so nice in French and not so bad in English, either, "as swiftly as a galloping horse." But that's not all! The tide comes with thick fog, creating constantly shifting quicksand. In other words, sayonara. I had read many descriptions of poor souls getting lost and finding themselves caught, not just in the rushing tide but in the troika of tide, fog, and quicksand. The only thing that could possibly make this scenario any more frightening would be the addition of dragons. I had to see this place." -pp 79-80.
Of course towards the end she had to stop, book clutched to her chest, every few seconds and suppress her laughter so she could continue, also reminding him of that time they'd scene Lonely Planet travel host Justine Shapiro nearly sink, panicking with a forced smile stretched across her face, into the Mont St. Michel sands (one can only imagine her camera man's suggestion: "hey Justine! Come stand over here and let's see what happens! I'll film you!").
But it'll eat you alive if you don't watch out!His reaction: a peaked eyebrow and the statement: "I'm worried about your geeky tendencies..." followed by the admission, "but yes, that is funny."
Firoozeh Dumas has plenty of other stand-up worthy material too; family anecdotes about large gatherings of Middle Easterners on cruises, the travails of being translated and getting your work sold in your "homeland", the quirks of being in a multi-cultural family, things no longer said in English except by second-language-learners that will get them in trouble, and weird French foods.
I heartily agree with her views on education (in America, most teachers just want to be pals; in other countries you actually learn things from them) and her observations on American and Iranian society and the intricacies of negotiating your own route across the diverse on-ramps of your own personal highway of self-identity. I was surprised that she did not include any experiences with her French in-laws but perhaps that will emerge in the third book?
At any rate, this book, and Dumas' first collection of short stories, Funny in Farsi, is simply hillarious and a great read. I could hardly put it down and I'm still regaling my poor friends on skype with excerpts that are slightly un-P.C. but that eventually elicit at least a smile if not a throaty chuckle.
And Firoozeh, don't worry. I'd rather have you over for dinner any day over Khaled Hosseini (no offence, KH). I won't put you (or myself) through the strain of a pseudo-Persian meal; We can have couscous and buttermilk instead and chat about our geeky tendencies.
Firoozeh Dumas has plenty of other stand-up worthy material too; family anecdotes about large gatherings of Middle Easterners on cruises, the travails of being translated and getting your work sold in your "homeland", the quirks of being in a multi-cultural family, things no longer said in English except by second-language-learners that will get them in trouble, and weird French foods.
I heartily agree with her views on education (in America, most teachers just want to be pals; in other countries you actually learn things from them) and her observations on American and Iranian society and the intricacies of negotiating your own route across the diverse on-ramps of your own personal highway of self-identity. I was surprised that she did not include any experiences with her French in-laws but perhaps that will emerge in the third book?
At any rate, this book, and Dumas' first collection of short stories, Funny in Farsi, is simply hillarious and a great read. I could hardly put it down and I'm still regaling my poor friends on skype with excerpts that are slightly un-P.C. but that eventually elicit at least a smile if not a throaty chuckle.
And Firoozeh, don't worry. I'd rather have you over for dinner any day over Khaled Hosseini (no offence, KH). I won't put you (or myself) through the strain of a pseudo-Persian meal; We can have couscous and buttermilk instead and chat about our geeky tendencies.
Images courtesy samorodov and mookiefl on Flickr.
1 comments:
geekiness is the foundation of all wonderful personality traits, i have found. :) from one geek to another...it's great to catch up on your blog and see what's been going on these days...as always i am inspired!
Post a Comment