Bolivia - American Visa

Book #20: American Visa - Juan De Recacoechea

"Armed with fake papers, a handful of gold nuggets, and a snazzy custom-made suit, an unemployed schoolteacher with a singular passion for detective fiction sets out from small-town Bolivia on a desperate quest for an American visa, his best hope for escaping his painful past and reuniting with his grown son in Miami.

Mario Alvarez's dream of emigration takes on a tragicomic twist on the rough streets of La Paz, Bolivia's seat of government. Alvarez embarks on a series of Kafkaesque adventures, crossing crooked politicians, crossing paths with a colorful cast of hustlers, social outcasts, and crooked politicians - and initiating a romance with a straight-shooting prostitute named Blanca. Spurred on by his detective fantasies and his own tribulations, he hatches a plan to rob a wealthy gold dealer, a decision that draws him into a web of high-society corruption but also brings him closer than ever to obtaining his ticket to paradise."

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The book tries. It tries to do more than it does, but it's just not well-written. It could be about crooked politicians and the political and economic realities of trying to get a visa and get out of Bolivia. Instead, it's a dime store detective/crime novel, with a touch of local color. Meh. 

Bhutan - The Circle of Karma

Book #19: The Circle of Karma - Kunzang Choden

"...tells the story of Tsomo, a fifteen-year-old girl caught up in the everyday realities of household life and work. But when her mother dies, Tsomo suddenly feels called to travel and sets off toward a faraway village to light ritual butter lamps in her mother's memory. Her travels take her to distant places, across Bhutan and into India, evolving into a major life journey. As she faces the world alone, Tsomo slowly begins to find herself, growing as a person and as a woman."

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I selected this book for a couple of reasons - first, it's the first English-language novel written by a Bhutanese woman. Second, Kunzang Choden has a BA in Sociology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, my alma mater. She was born and spent her childhood in Bhutan, then moved to India, got her degree at Nebraska, and then moved back to Bhutan, first teaching and then working for the UN. 

The book takes place in the 1950s, during a period of modernization in Bhutan. Tsomo is from a small village, and her family adheres to very restrictive, traditional gender roles. Her father is a gomchen - a lay Buddhist priest - and he runs a school for the village boys. Tsomo regularly asks him to teach her to read and write, but he refuses. So she takes on traditional duties, marries, and generally does whatever is expected of her. But then she has a miscarriage. And her husband starts cheating on her with her sister. And the "correct" thing to do would be to silently allow it. And she does, at first. 

This book introduces a totally foreign version of Buddhism. This is not the open, accepting, nice version we know here in the West. This book shows Buddhism in its ugly orthodox form. It looks a LOT like evangelical Christianity, honestly. Especially in the defined gender roles. When Tsomo's husband cheats on her, that's a manifestation of her bad karma. It's her fault. She caused it, either in a previous life or in this one. She gets sick - also her fault. Suck it up and burn off that bad karma, Tsomo! (Note: this is never the case for the men. Anything bad that happens to them is caused by the bad karma of someone else, usually a woman.) Thankfully, she meets a progressive Rinpoche who helps her find a different path. 

I knew nothing about Bhutan prior to reading this book, and I feel like I learned a lot. I certainly know more about the less favorable aspects of Buddhism, which often gets idealized in the US, and maybe shouldn't.