Then I became irritated with her work - maybe I'd read too much too quickly. Now I've, after all this time, read another. Very soon I remembered what I'd enjoyed about her writing, and what I disliked, and what put me off her books.
First of all her books have an air of gloominess about them. Even if there is a happy ending the lead up to it has a sense of impending doom and gloom. Secondly nothing ever happens in her books. Well, nothing major happens. There is incident and a story, but never a drama or terrible tragedy. People die, of course, but somehow cleanly and without obvious grief or wailing.
In 'Digging For America' there are two families. They have both adopted a Korean child, and meet each other for the first time at Baltimore Airport where they meet their new child. One family is American the other is Iranian. The American family keep the baby's Korean name, the Iranian change the name to Susan. Here is the first of the books themes. The American family want the child to remain in touch with her ethnic roots, the Iranians wish her to be American. There is so much lack of understanding between the two families whose lives become intertwined, and much of the book centres on the perspectives of grandmother Maryam on life in America. She feels the Americans cannot comprehend of a different view of the world. Bitzy (the American mother) spends a great deal of time telling the Iranians how they should bring their child up. Maryam feels that they just want everyone to be assimilated and their customs food and habits must fit into their view of how things are. So the American family will urge them to have 'traditional parties and then criticise when things aren't done how they imagine a genuine Iranian celebration should be.
Although there are some interesting ideas here - nothing really happens and there is no proper plot, and the book just peters out with no real conclusion. Rating? An unsatisfying 6/10
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