Ginny Tapley Takemori | The Writes of Womxn

My town was a collection of nests, a factory for manufacturing babies. I was a tool for the town’s good, in two senses.

Firstly, I had to study hard to become a work tool.

Secondly, I had to be a good girl, so that I could become a reproductive organ for the town.

I would probably be a failure on both counts, I thought.

Earthlings begins when Natsuki is eleven. She feels like an outsider in her immediate family, describing Piyyut the soft toy / magical alien from Planet Popinpobopia who has come to save the planet as her best friend. Natsuki is abused by a teacher at summer cram school but, when she tries to tell someone, no one believes her. However, when she is later discovered having sex with her cousin, she is punished.

The novel then leaps forward to adulthood when Natsuki is thirty-one and married. The marriage is one of convenience – neither Natsuki nor her husband are interested in a sexual relationship – but, other than comments about starting a family, it allows them to escape scrutiny. Neither of them wants to become work tools or reproductive tools for ‘the Factory’. During a trip to the countryside, where Natsuki sees her cousin again for the first time since they had sex, her husband begins to think about disengaging from society and living an alternative lifestyle. It’s a decision that will allow events from the past to resurface and the lives of those involved to change dramatically.

Earthlings considers the effects of trauma and the damage done to people when society hides abusive behaviour and forces shame on the victims. It questions whether the society we’ve created is anything more than a production line. It is violent and shocking with one of the wildest endings I’ve ever read. Food for thought.

Earthlings is published by Granta. Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.

In the media is a weekly round-up of features written by, about or containing female writers that have appeared during the previous week and I think are insightful, interesting and/or thought provoking. Linking to them is not necessarily a sign that I agree with everything that’s said but it’s definitely an indication that they’ve made me think. Also, just a note to make it clear that I’m using the term ‘media’ to include social media, so links to blog posts as well as traditional media are likely.

News this week from ABC that a Tasmanian writer, Marjorie Davey, has published her first novel at the age of 95. She might be the oldest but she’s not the only woman to be published later in life; Abby Ellin’s article, ‘Finding Success, Well Past the Age of Wunderkind‘ in the New York Times includes Lucille Gang Shulklapper, first published at 60, and Cathy writes about Leland Bardwell: The forgotten woman of Irish literature, first published at 48, on 746Books.

At the opposite end of the age spectrum (give or take) the big news this week was that Zayn Malik left pop band One Direction. Before the news broke, Leesa Cross-Smith wrote ‘One Direction & Other Boy Bands‘ on Real Pants (which had me watching more 1D videos than I’d ever seen before (which was none)) while advertisements for Granta popped up). Anna Leszkiewicz wrote ‘I’m an adult woman with a real boyfriend – and I’m absolutely heartbroken about Zayn Malik quitting One Direction‘ in The Independent, Mackenzie Kruvant wrote, ‘How One Direction Helped Me Find My Girls‘ on Buzzfeed, and Huma Munshi wrote, ‘The Courage of Zayn Malik and Why Strong Men Cry‘ on Media Diversified.

Media Diversified also published an open letter ‘To the organisers of the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction‘ regarding Cathy Newman and Grace Dent being members of the judging panel.

Granta, in celebration of their new website, opened up some of their archive, including these letters from Iris Murdoch to Raymond Queneau; ‘Night‘ by Alice Munroe; Sayaka Murata’s ‘A Clean Marriage‘ (tr. Ginny Tapley Takemori), and ‘Hardy Animal‘ by M.J. Hyland

It was the anniversary of Virginia Woolf’s death this week. Daniel Swift wrote ‘Virginia Woolf in the Bomb-scarred City‘ in Five Dials and Louise Brearley read Virginia Woolf’s final letter to her husband in The Telegraph.

And in commemoration of the third anniversary of Adrienne Rich’s death, The Critical Flame have devoted a whole issue to her and her work. The table of contents is here.

Angelina Jolie Pitt turned to writing this week with her ‘Diary of a Surgery‘ in The New York Times. Fay Schopen responded with ‘Angelina Jolie says the decision to deal with her cancer was simple. Mine is not‘ in The Guardian, while Caroline Corcoran wrote about her own experience, ‘I never felt like I’m less of a woman because I don’t have breasts or ovaries‘ in The Independent.

But the woman with the most publicity this week seems to be JK Rowling. ‘JK Rowling says she received ‘loads’ of rejections before Harry Potter success‘ wrote Alison Flood in The Guardian; Stylist ran ‘JK Rowling’s Brilliant Response to Fan Who ‘Can’t See’ Dumbledore as Gay, Plus 9 Times She Owned Twitter‘; Matilda Battersby wrote, ‘JK Rowling defends Dumbledore on Twitter: Seven Things You Might Not Know About the Hogwarts’ Headmaster‘ in The Independent; Chris Mandle wrote, ‘Why we need more fictional gay role models like Albus Dumbledore‘ in The Telegraph and Stylist ran a piece titled, ‘JK Rowling Describes Hitting ‘Rock Bottom’ In a New Book About The Benefits Of Failure‘

In Harper Lee news, the cover of Go Set a Watchman was revealed this week. The Guardian are inviting people to design their own.

Finally, if you want a good reading list of books by women, the Edge Hill Short Story Prize announced its longlist this week, including Anneliese Mackintosh, Stella Duffy, Kirsty Logan, May-Lan Tan, Hilary Mantel and A.L. Kennedy.

The best of the rest articles/essays:

Katie Barnes, ‘This Is Not My Cinderella‘ on Feministing
Maggie Tokuda-Hall, ‘My Abortion Was A Hard Choice—But The Right One‘ on Ravishly
Heather Cromarty, ‘Personal Jesus Built My Hotrod‘ on Queen Mob’s Tea House
Robert McCrum, ‘The 100 best novels: No 79 – The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (1960)‘ in The Guardian
Lizzy Kremer, ‘Thinking at Night: Writing into the Silence‘ on Publishing for Humans
Leslie Reese, ‘Little Leslie’s Report‘ (on Edwidge Danticat’ on Folklore & Literacy
Brigid Delaney, ‘Leave Gwyneth Paltrow alone! Her website gives me joy‘ in The Guardian
Jane Bradley, ‘Shapps fell into brand confusion trap‘ (Confusingly, mostly about female writers and pseudonyms) in The Scotsman
Leo Jay Shire, ‘As a Mixed-Race Woman, in the Game of Racial Top Trumps My Blackness Always Wins‘ on Media Diversified
Mallika Rao, ‘No Punctuation Is Funnier‘ on The Huffington Post
Jaya Saxena, ‘The Way to the Heart is Not Through the Liver‘ on Archipelago
Rivka Galchen, ‘Do Money Woes Spur Creativity or Stifle It?‘ in The New York Times
Stacey Patton, ‘Loving White People Won’t Fix Racism‘ in Dame
Roxane Gay, ‘Men You Meet While Traveling By Airplane‘ in The Butter
Elisa Gabbert, ‘Much Hinges: The joys of using the “wrong comma”‘ on The Smart Set
Ester Bloom, ‘Dreams of Being a Feminist Housewife‘ on The Billfold
Maya Dusenbery, ‘Is Medicine’s Gender Bias Killing Young Women?‘ on Feministing
Casey Plett, ‘Rise of the Gender Novel‘ on The Walrus
Martha Bayne, ‘Words Fail‘ in The Rumpus
Kendra Atleework, ‘Why Must One House Burn While Another Is Spared?‘ in Guernica
Mallory Ortberg, ‘Children’s Stories Made Horrific: The Frog Prince‘ in The Toast
Nathan Smith, ‘Feminist Artifacts: The Archive of Germaine Greer‘ in the Los Angeles Review of Books
Meera Syal, ‘Growing up between cultures is tough – until you realise it’s a creative blessing‘ in The Guardian
Diana Williams, ‘I chose to be a mother at 50: Why would a single, middle-aged woman endure years of fertility treatment to have twins?‘ in The Independent
Elen Caldecott, ‘My Inspiration: Gillian Cross‘ in The Guardian
Anjum Hassan, ‘Sisters‘ in Granta
Kelly Davio, ‘The Waiting Room: What My Self-Respect Looks Like‘ in The Butter
Rachel Vorona Cote, ‘A For Books’ Sake Guide to Literary Self-Care‘ on For Books’ Sake

Toni Morrison, ‘No Place for Self-Pity, No Room for Fear‘ in The Nation
Rachel Cusk, ‘Raising Teenagers: The Mother of All Problems‘ in The New York Times
Eillie Anzilotti, ‘A Life in My Mother’s Clothes‘ in The Toast
Sarah Seltzer, ‘Beyond Mansplaining: A New Lexicon of Misogynist Trolling Behaviors‘ on Flavorwire
Joanne Harris, ‘Why I’m Saying “Fuck you” to Clean Reader‘ on her blog
Lionel Shriver, ‘Why filthy literature should not be cleaned up‘ in The Guardian
‘Louise Doughty and Jacqui Lofthouse: Tortoises Rather Than Hares‘ on Something Rhymed
Jacquie Lawrence, ‘Where have all the lesbians gone in TV and film?‘ in The Guardian
Natasha Desborough, ‘Why I couldn’t use the phrase ‘camel toes’ in the title of my first novel‘ in The Guardian
Beulah Maud Devaney, ‘Helpful Spring Cleaning Advice From Gothic Novelist Shirley Jackson‘ on Ravishly
Brittney Cooper, ‘Black girls’ sexual burden: Why Mo’ne Davis was really called a “slut”‘ on Salon
Catie L’Heureux, ‘Why I Live in an All-Women Boardinghouse in New York City‘ in The Cut
Elizabeth Minkel, ‘From the Internet to the Ivy League: Fanfiction in the Classroom‘ on The Millions
Jenny Diski, ‘Like a Lullaby‘ in The London Review of Books (£)
Elisa Gabbert, ‘Beauty Is Youth, Youth Beauty‘ on Real Pants
Emma Frankland, ‘I’m a transgender woman – why shouldn’t I play Hamlet?‘ in The Guardian
Lucy Hancock, ‘This Is What It’s Actually Like to Go to Private School in the London Suburbs‘ in Vice
Sarra Manning, ‘In Ross Poldark, we have reached romantic hero nirvana‘ in The Guardian
Isabel Rogers, ‘Shopping List‘ on her blog
Rebecca Winson, ‘I don’t give a toss about the number of women in boardrooms‘ on A Bit of Class
Hannah Giorgis, ‘Many women of color don’t go to the police after sexual assault for a reason‘ in The Guardian
Frances Ryan, ‘The benefit sanctions regime should be scrapped‘ in The Guardian
Dorian Lynskey, ‘Kapow! Attack of the feminist superheroes‘ in The Guardian
Melody Schreiber, ‘Facing the Beast: On Anxiety and Sisterhood‘ in The Toast
Carmen Maria Machado, ‘O Adjunct! My Adjunct!‘ in The New Yorker
Mallory Ortberg, ‘Scenes From The Bell Jar And Other Sylvia Plath Works, As Remembered By Someone Who Never Finished Reading Sylvia Plath‘ in The Toast
Sarah Perry, ‘Lent Talk: Behold the Man‘ on BBC Radio 4 (+ transcript)
Rachel Smalter Hall, ‘Why I Need a Break From Books About Dead Girls‘ on Book Riot

Andrea Cornwall, ‘Why gender equality by numbers will never measure up‘ in The Guardian
Amy Juicebox, ‘The Consequences of Attacking Our Little Black Girls‘ on Blavity
xTx, ‘Today I am a Lonely, Sexless Book Looking for Love and Understanding‘ in The Butter
Anna Weiner, ‘The Most Wonderful Staircase‘ in The Offing
Clare Pollard, ‘All the Amazing Women We’ve Never Heard Of‘ on her blog
John C. Goodman, ‘……Regina Who? And Other Obscure Women Writers……..‘ on Queen Mob’s Teahouse
Megan Carpentier, ‘All These Angry Women?‘ in Esquire
Rene Denfeld, ‘Why we execute people is the big question, not how‘ in The Guardian
Joshua Rothman, ‘Knausgaard or Ferrante?‘ in The New Yorker
Nancy Tomich, ‘Elusive Aurora‘ in The Toast
Anna Fitzpatrick, ‘A Post About Books, Sort Of‘ on The Hairpin
Suzanne Koven, ‘Cheaters: A Life In Eyewear‘ in The Rumpus
Stephanie Boland, ‘Shock news: contra to the headlines, people with depression have jobs‘ in the New Statesman
Maureen O’Connor, ‘How I Became a Hoarder of Discontinued Makeup‘ in The Cut
Kate Colby, ‘The Itch‘ on The Rumpus
Jo Chandler, ‘Manus in the Balance‘ in The Monthly
Michele McPhee, ‘The Monster Next Door‘ in Boston Magazine
Lisa Hix, ‘The Tragic Life of the Courtesan in Japan’s Floating World‘ on Collectors Weekly
Suzanne Dean, ‘The Shore: A Cover Story‘ on the Penguin Blog
Hilary Mantel, ‘How to Play “Wolf Hall”‘ in The New York Review of Books
Tracey Thorn, ‘Your songs are like your children – you have to wave them off into the world‘ in the New Statesman
Tabitha Blankenbiller, ‘Fiesta Barbie‘ on Hobart
Sophie Heawood, ‘Stuck on an ice-bound ferry? What a great opportunity for apocalyptic sex‘ in The Guardian
Parul Sehgal, ‘How ‘Flawless’ Became a Feminist Declaration‘ in The New York Times
Marina O’Loughlin, ‘‘Something nasty is stirring’: inside Nigel Farage’s battle for South Thanet‘ in The Guardian
Sasha Marie Storman, ‘The Role of Women in Horror Films‘ on The Inflectionist
Catherine Chanter, ‘I found my birth mother through the newspaper small ads‘ in The Guardian
Swetambara Chaudhary, ‘This Photo Was Removed By Instagram. The Owner Writes A Powerful Open Letter In Response‘ on Scoop Whoop
Anne Thériault, ‘We Need To Stop Devaluing Femininity‘ on Ravishly

The interviews:

Alison Stone in 3:AM Magazine
Kim Gordon on Salon
Bhatupe Mhango-Chipanta on Brittle Paper
Jane Hirshfield on The Huffington Post
Michelle Tea on Weird Sister
Ruth Goodman on The Daily Beast
Judy Finnigan in Woman
Nuala Ní Chonchúir on 746Books
Joanna Briscoe on Rebecca Mascull’s blog
Alison Bechdel on The Millions
Abigail Thomas in the Los Angeles Review of Books
Megham Daum on Flavorwire
Val McDermid and Kate Tough on Scottish Book Trust
Evie Wyld on the Penguin Blog
Sarah Manguso in The Rumpus
Rachael Herron on Compulsory Podcast
Judith Butler in The Los Angeles Review of Books
Ayelet Gundar-Goshen on Bookanista
Porochista Khakpour on Electric Literature
Renata Adler in Vice
Helen Grant on Scottish Book Trust and Author Allsorts
Sally Green in The Guardian
Alice Urbino on Broken Frontier
Johanna Basford on We Love This Book
Ann Fisher-Wirth on Bloom
Isabel Wolff on Random House
Jennifer Jean on DP Life
Can Xue in BOMB Magazine
Eva Dolan on Goodreads
Helen Marshall in Nightmare Magazine
Sarah Hall in The Guardian
Naomi Klein in The Independent
Amelia Gray on Vice

If you want some fiction/poetry to read:

An extract from Weightless by Sarah Bannan on Bloomsbury Books
An extract from Binary Star by Sarah Gerard in The Quietus
An extract from Disclaimer by Renée Knight
‘Lunch Poem‘ by Ashleigh Young on Eyelashroaming
‘Coach tour on the A99 to Wick‘ by Claire Askew on Scottish Book Trust
An extract from The Night Falling by Katherine Webb on Orion Books
‘I Hope You Sing About Me‘ by Vanessa Willoughby in The Toast
‘When Joan Jumped Into the Sea‘ by Elle Nash in The Offing
‘Oboe solo for two players‘ by Claire Fuller on her blog
‘Richard‘ by Carol Ann Duffy in The Guardian
‘A Poem‘ by Morgan Parker in The Awl
‘Beau Soleil‘ by Claire Lombardo in the Atticus Review
‘Opposites Detract‘ by Cath Bore on The Fem
‘tsunami as misguided kwannon‘ by Lee Ann Roripaugh on The The
An excerpt from Shadows Over Paradise by Isabel Wolff on Random House
‘Keep It In the Ground‘ by Carol Ann Duffy in The Guardian
‘How to walk past a tree in winter‘ by Shinjini Bhattacharjee on Three Drops from a Cauldron
‘The Knot‘ by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin in The Irish Times
Two Poems by Catherine Pond in Blunderbuss