Six Degrees of Separation (Apr): From Knife to Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey

The meme is hosted by Books are My Favourite Best and is described thus: On the first Saturday of every month, a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book. Each person’s chain will look completely different. It doesn’t matter what the connection is or where it takes you – just take us on the journey with you.

This is only the third time I have completed Six Degrees, but for me the journey through these reading experiences has actually been a little emotional for me - definitely a testament to the power of fiction, arising from a non-fiction starting point.

This month the journey starts with Knife by Salman Rushdie, described by Penguin Books Australia as "a moving, life-affirming memoir about survival and the power of love to heal...". Knife is a memoir that explores the aftermath of the attempt on Rushdie's life in 2022. I've not read this book. In fact, I haven't read very many memoirs at all, although I know many people who read a lot of them.

I have read two other books by Salman Rushdie – with Midnight's Children being the stand-out for me. I remember at the time that I read it feeling as though it was one of the best books I had ever read, although it's been many years since I visited it, and the feeling has faded. It falls into the category of magical realism and is the story of Indian independence which is explored through the storytelling of Saleem – who, as a young boy, discovers that he has the power of telepathy and can communicate with other children born close to midnight on the date that India gains its independence. Thinking about this story now makes me think that I might like to re-read it this year.

There is something about magical realism that I love, and it takes me to The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. The Time Traveler's Wife is the love story of Henry and Clare. Henry's rare genetic condition means that he involuntarily time travels, and his time traveling takes him to the past where he befriends a young girl called Clare – who eventually becomes his wife. When I first read this book, I cried like a baby. I think I have still cried in several re-readings since. There is something about it that is just so poignant – the human experiences of the characters as they live their lives together in as normal a way as possible. It's since been made into a movie and a TV series, both of which I've enjoyed but of course can't match the book. I have reviewed it here.

Other books I have cried in. The first one that comes to mind is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, an Australian author. This is still to this day one of my very favourite books. We came close to naming our son Rudy after one of the main characters in this story, that is narrated by Death and explores the German experience of WW2 through the eyes of the young Liesel and her family's attempt to save the life of a Jewish friend. I finished this book on a train and cried and cried. You can read my review here. 

Another book I cried uncontrollably in was We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. If you've read the book, you can probably already understand the part that I mean. I remember being home alone and completely distraught and calling my husband for comfort. I could barely speak, and he thought something was very wrong until I could get out that it was the book that upset me so much. Any book that can evoke that kind of emotion is clearly worth a read. You can read my review here.

At first, I couldn't quite figure out why, but the next book that came to my mind was Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward. Salvage the Bones provides the reader with a heart-wrenching snapshot of family life in a poverty-stricken area of New Orleans in the days leading up to and including Hurricane Katrina. It's told from the perspective of a young teenage girl, who is experiencing her own personal hurricane when Katrina hits. What connects these two books for me is the theme of motherhood. Although each tells very different stories, they both explore motherhood in a deeply real way—truly demonstrating the complexities of what motherhood is and means—to both the mother and the child.

When I revisited my review of Salvage the Bones, I described it as an assault on my emotions—another aspect in keeping with both my experience of The Book Thief and We Need to Talk About Kevin.

Finally, Salvage the Bones has brought me to another Australian book, this time a young adult novel—Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey. They are both coming-of-age novels in their own way, both set in marginalised communities (one in modern-day New Orleans and the other in a small rural town in 1960s Australia), and both are narrated by teens experiencing their own personal upheaval. Both deal with important themes: social injustice, race, and identity. And Ward and Silvey give voice to characters who are vulnerable and overlooked in real life—and do so in an authentic and moving way.