The author's name drew me to this book and I started referring to my own first name as J. when I bought it back in 2006.
The story is being told from the perspective of a child yet to be born. The yet to be born child was able to narrate about the life of his future ancestors and neighbours. It ended on 'Dream Street' at a location called 'Place'. The book sounded simplistic I struggled to nail down a core theme. It transcends different generations and different continents. Sometimes the book sounded like too much of a sermon with reference to Jehovas' Witnesses which sort of grated against the story. But thinking about it, in times of desperation, we need something or someone to hold onto.
For me, it is principally a story of women. A story of eventual triumph. For Ha and her daughters, For Eula Too, For the symbiotic Rita and Iris friendship, For Earle, her painting and her man...Even the 'bad' Lona could go back to school. It is just as well that I finished re-reading the Book on March 8th 2012 - The UN international women's day.
I liked Eula Too (people marvelled at her strange name)...Her earlier life was hard but even she had had her dreams...delinked from her mothers and also from Elizabeth Fontzl. In some way, I felt that my life and hers were similar....Thinking that life was only about helping people with handouts. That is a poor substitute for 'love' as her sister told her. Reminds me of when my sister told me '....J, you are not God...to solve everybody's problems'. My sister's view was that only God was able to lift his people from the Sisyphus like struggles that made living in this world a misery. My best character is Earle...Eula Too's younger sister. She didn't have a very prominent role in the book and she was what one would call 'a supportive character' - the voice of my conscience. My worst character was Jewel...the very ungrateful child. The character I pitied the most was Elizabeth Fonzl...Many of us end like her...with nothing to hold on to despite what we think are apparent successes...Afraid to be alone.
The book is so full of misery, aloneness, loneliness, heartbreak, sadness, unmet targets and broken dreams among its very many characters, whether it be Eula, Eula Lee, Iowna, Beth Fontzl, Eula Too, Burnett, Maureen, Rita, Ha, Henry Lee, Lona, Mrs Green, Mr and Mrs Heavy, Jewel.....But there are also those who eventually survive. Dream Street sort of reminds me of Miguel Street....Set at another time and place. About the lives of different people on a street all alone in their own way. Is that really the way of life?
Family is strange and the same despite being separated by continents and generations. Mr Burnett mused that his family loved him in equal measure to the money he had; Rita's sister loved Rita's money that bought the house she lived in but wouldn't allow her in the house when she eventually needed it because she sold her body to earn the money that bought that house; Elizabeth Fontzl's mum didn't seem to love her yet Elizabeth wanted that love so badly. Eulalee's dreams were held down by her many children who spawned off her. Ha's father (back in China) hadn't thought much of her as she could not work the fields - a boy child would have been better - and eventually sold her for a bag of beans. Henry Lee didn't care for her daughters. Henry Lee's cousins didn't think much of him. Lona didn't like her son Homer and almost ran over him with her car.
Bon Fete de Femme!!! Festa della Donna!!!
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