6 Degrees of Separation: From The Slap to Half the Sky
Welcome back to Six Degrees of Separation, the bookish meme where Kate from booksaremyfavouriteandbest nominates the title of a book, and we link it to six others in whatever random ways they connect. Each person’s chain will look different, and that’s half the fun – so join in and see where your links lead.
This month’s starting point is The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas. I read The Slap quite some time ago, but remember being both frustrated by it and compelled to keep reading; however, I confess I didn’t see the television version through to the end.
A more recent book to television adaptation is Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty, which has raised numerous conversations and articles about domestic violence.
Kathryn Heyman’s new novel, Storm and Grace also explores domestic violence and has been described as ‘a slow and sinister burn’. This one’s on the top of my to-buy list.
Linking via a name in the title, Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood, is based on a true story of Grace Marks, who emigrated from Northern Ireland to Canada as a 13-year-old in 1840. At 16, she was convicted of murder.
Travelling from the past to a dystopian future, we are connected to another Margaret Atwood book, The Handmaid’s Tale. Both of these Atwood books have also been adapted for television, although that wasn’t my intentional link here.
The refugees on Manus and Nauru must feel they are living in some nightmarish dystopian future, only it is their current lived experience. Some of them have contributed to the book They Cannot Take the Sky, which includes stories in their words, not only daily struggles, but also reflections on love, death, hope and injustice.
Interestingly, They Cannot Take the Sky has a foreword by Christos Tsiolkas, so we’ve almost come full circle, except it would only be five degrees of separation, so I’ll add one more through both word association and the colour of the cover – Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.
So, I began with a group of middle-class friends absorbed by their first world problems, to the issue of domestic violence, back to the past and into the future, and ended with the reality of life for many refugees and women around the world.
Over to You
Where will 6 Degrees of Separation take you this month?
Next month’s chain (3 June 2017) will begin with Steve Martin’s Shop Girl.
My chain took me in a totally different direction and I ended with a murder mystery – The Cipher Garden by Martin Edwards.The only books from your chain I’ve read are the Atwood books – Alias Grace is one of my favourite books.
I realised while writing the chain that I’ve never read Alias Grace, and actually didn’t know what it was about – but now that you’ve said it’s one of your favourite books, I will defintely have to read it now. Thanks for the recommendation!
Interesting chain!
Oh, you are a pro at this, I like the variety of your links. I had to wrack my brains to think of a valid link… but it is the first time I am taking part.
Some months come more easily than others, but I try not to overthink it, and just let my mind wander wherever it may – which is why I’ve ended up with four books that have been adapted to television – totally unplanned. I will head over to your blog and see where your chain led you. So glad you’ve taken part, and thanks for checking out my chain!
Alias Grace & The Handmaid’s Tale are 2 of my favourites that I hope to reread one day. I’m curious to see what they do with the TV show of THT.
I wasn’t enjoying the TV series of Big Little Lies at all, but the last 3 episodes were worth waiting for!
I recently read Offshore, about Manus and Nauru, if you’d like to tackle a well-researched book that brings so many of these stories together into one coherent whole.
Fantastic chain (and snap!, we both started with Moriarty).
I think I saw Storm and Grace on ABC Book Club and it piqued my interest – I hopped over to Goodreads to see if any friends had read it (they hadn’t) and I noticed there was quite a lot of controversy about the fact that it was based on a true story… Well, there’s nothing like a bit of controversy to make me want to read a book!
I noticed we’d both picked Moriarty, although for different reasons. I hadn’t realised Storm and Grace was based on a true story … have just ordered it from my local bookshop, so will hopefully be reading it soon. Look forward to discussing it with you when I have!
Love seeing where all the different chains end up, and you’ve reminded me that some day I really must get around to reading Alias Grace…
It’s wonderful to see the ways our minds all wander in different directions isn’t it! I haven’t read Alias Grace yet either, and including it in the chain is what made me aware of it.
Excellent!! I love Nicholas Kristoph and his wife’s books and his columns. They Cannot Take The Sky is going on my list–I’ve read a few refugee stories (nonfiction) this year so it will be a good addition for me. This is probably the year I’ll finally read Handmaiden, too, though I feel like I HAVE read it–so many people have told me about it in such detail. Super “chain” today.
Tell me more about Nicholas Kristoph and his wife! I heard about They Cannot Take the Sky because I’ve followed the stories of a couple of the contributors, but I don’t know much about Kristoph. What other refugee stories have you read? I have just finished Walking Free by Munjed Al Muderis and also Chasing Asylum by Eva Orner.
He’s a NY Times writer. Very social justice-focused. There’s a second book to go with Half the Sky.I just reviewed a refugee story here: https://hopewellslibraryoflife.wordpress.com/2017/03/27/review-a-hope-more-powerful-than-the-sea-the-journey-of-doaa-al-zamel/
Thanks! Am definitely going to check it out further. Looking forward to reading your review, too.