I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: THE DECEMBERISTS-Live at the Newport Folk Festival [excerpts] (downloaded from NPR) (2010).

The Decemberists played at the Newport Folk Festival this year. NPR audio has an excerpt for free listen/download on their audio site.

They say that they were not going to play the entire Hazards of Love album at this show, as had been their wont on this tour.  I’m not sure what their entire set consisted of, but the three excerpts here include: “The Crane Wife Pt 3,” “Yankee Bayonet” and a very extended “Sons and Daughters.”

It surprises me how well The Decemberists work in a live setting.  I think of their music as  complex and convoluted with strange instrumentation, and yet, perhaps because of the theatricality of it all, it all sounds great in a live setting.

I can’t really imagine them releasing a proper live album, so for those of us who don’t get to concerts much, this is the next best thing (the recording quality is excellent–I only wish it was their whole set).

[READ: October 12, 2010] “Otravida, Otravez”

Junot Díaz is the next writer in the 1999 New Yorker 20 Under 4o issue.

I didn’t like this story in the beginning because I couldn’t tell for quite some time the gender of the narrator.  Normally this doesn’t make a difference, but when the narrator climbs into bed with the man in the room, I had a hard time deciding if this was a subversive act or just a straight act of romance.  [I admit that since the author was male, I assumed the narrator was male, too].

It turns out the narrator is a woman (there is a clue when he says “Yasmin,” but in the first read I was unclear if he was saying her name or just a name in general).

In fact, to me, the entire beginning was very strangely set up and it took a few paragraphs (when she describes her job) before I felt the flow really took off.  However, once it did I found this story fascinating and convoluted in a very good and clever way.

The narrator, Yasmin, is currently living with a married man, Tavito. His wife and child live in the country where he emigrated from.  (The live in Jersey now).  Yasmin works as a launderer in a local hospital.  She lives with several women in an apartment, but one, Ana Iris, shares a room with her .

Yasmin’s “man” desperately wants to buy a house with her, even though his wife keeps sending him letters updating him on what’s happening back home with her and their child.  Yasmin has found these letters and is using them as proof that he is not over his family (which seems reasonable to me).  Although the more pragmatic women think she would be foolish not to take advantage of the offer.  And so, the story follows Yasmin as she decides whether to go with Tavito as he seeks out their future residence.

An interesting flashback to her mother reveals that Yasmin’s situation is not unique, and she uses this understanding as solace.  As the story ends, we are given more information that leaves her decision up in the air.  It’s a sad story with attempts at redemption that are perpetually undermined by the past.

The few Díaz stories that I’ve read I have enjoyed.  I rather like his insertion of Spanish into the stories (even if I don’t always understand it). And I still intend to read Oscar Wao, but it keeps getting pushed down as more pressing books push up.  One of these days Mr Díaz, I promise.  And he’s another writer who has not written very much yet, so I need to catch up before he gets too prolific!

For ease of searching I include: Junot Diaz