Late Spring

This beautiful film by Yasujiro Ozu was made in 1949 and stars Chishu Ryu as Professor Shukichi Somiya and Setsuko Hara as his daughter Noriko. It’s essentially a domestic story about a child’s relationship with their widowed parent.

The season in the title refers to Noriko’s age. If she doesn’t get married now, Noriko’s aunt tells her father, she will be alone for the rest of her life. The scenes are set so gently and quietly; time and space used to establish the routine and serenity of the household, neither father or daughter wants their lives to change.

July Round Up

I read two books for my TBR challenge in July that, although completely different, seem to both be about identity. Ishmael’s Oranges by Claire Hajaj is set in England and Palestine and Anne Tyler’s Ladder of Years, set in the US.

Ishmael’s Oranges is the reason I signed up for the TBR challenge.  I bought it because I loved the title and the cover, but for some reason it’s just sat on a pile unread for years. I’m glad to say it was worth the wait.

The book opens in 1948 when Salim Al-Ishmaeli is 7 years old and growing up in Jaffa, Palestine.   Judit Gold is born in 1948 in Sunderland, England into a Jewish family.  The story is split into time frames and follows their lives and Arab and Jewish heritage until 1988.