Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Paul Torday

 

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is a much acclaimed book, having won the 2007 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction.  It has since become a  major film starring Ewan MacGregor and Emily Blunt. This is the first novel written by Paul Torday, who has subsequently written a number of popular novels.

Dr Jones is a fish specialist, working for a UK government department.  His small world is about to be shaken up, with the invitation by Sheikh Muhammad to introduce salmon – and the sport of salmon fishing – to his native Yemen.  The government sees this as a great opportunity to capitalise on a good news story in the Middle East.  Dr Jones remains unconvinced that the project will work and that the salmon in question will actually survive in the desert conditions of Yemen.

Through a mixture of diary entries, interviews, emails, letters, and formal reports, we are introduced to the developing plans and schemes for this impossible project, and the characters who influence the success (or otherwise) of it.

This is not so much a book about fishing as it is about faith and belief: the belief in one man’s dream, and the ways in which it can change another man’s world.

Questions

How does the changing narrative style (letters, emails, diary entries, interviews, scripts) affect the way that you engaged with the novel?

The novel positions the Western world of science and reason alongside the developing world of the Middle East, where there is greater interest in the mystical.  Which worldview do you find most compelling in the novel?  Why?

How does the unseen character of Captain Robert Matthews help and/or hinder the wider political perspectives of the novel?

Which characters do you find the most compelling? Why?

Which storylines do you find the most difficult?  Why?

In what ways is the novel about salmon fishing in the Yemen?  What else would you have called the book, given its themes?

The Sheikh says ‘without faith there is no hope, and no love. Faith comes before hope and before love.’

·       Do you agree?

·       How does this play out in the novel?

·       How have you experienced this in your own life?

Dr Jones says that he has moved on from going to church to going to Tesco’s

·       What has he lost or gained from this?

‘In this Old Testament land it is difficult not to believe in myths and magic and miracles.’

·       What does the Sheikh mean by this?

·       When and where have you believed in myths and magic and miracles?

·       What effect might a different context have in helping people to experience the spiritual?

‘I believe in it because it is impossible.’

·       Is this enough?

·       What has led Dr Jones to reach this conclusion?  Is he right to believe?

Who and what does Dr Jones believe in, by the end of the novel?

The book is intended as a satire on the UK’s bureaucracy and political systems. In what ways does it achieve this aim?

How satisfied are you at the end of the novel?

·       What would you like to have happened differently?

·       What would you like to have known more about?

Further idea: Why not arrange to watch the film together with your group when it comes out on DVD?  You could discuss the changes that the filmmakers have made to the novel.  You may also want to invite other friends to watch the movie with you, and perhaps even to join your book club as a result.

Fifty Shades of Grey

Fifty Shades of Grey


CAUTION: CONTAINS EXPLICIT LANGUAGE 
AND SEX REFERENCES


E.L. James' trilogy have taken the world by storm, topping numerous bestseller lists, and even replacing Bibles in one Cumbrian hotel.  The trilogy (Fifty Shades of Grey | Darker | Freed) was written with the intention of following on from the Twilight novels - themselves teen vampire movies about a complicated relationship between a heroine and her two supernatural suiters.

The reason why Fifty Shades is such an intriguing and all-pervading phenomenon, is that the subject matter of the novels is not  a character driven romantic series of novels about the developing relationship between the protagonists Ana and Christian.  Rather, the novels revolve around the Dominant/Subordinate relationship in a sado-masochistic relationship.  The books themselves are pornographic in content and gratuitous in detail.  One critic has suggested that these are Mills and Boon style novels for people who do not read Mills and Boon.  Needless to say, Fifty Shades has become the fastest and best selling adult novel of all time, there is a renewed focus and investment from bookstores and the film and sex industries, in kinky sex-fantasy fiction.

The novels tell the story of the accidental meeting of the multi-billionaire Christian Grey, and student Anastasia (Ana) Steele.  It is an initial meeting of lust at first sight, as Ana goes on a whistle-stop tour of sexual awakening and introduction into the world of S&M.  The second and third part of the trilogy develop their speedy relationship, and work patterns, as well as introducing a thriller twist which demonstrates that the protagonists are not quite as in control of life, pleasure and pain as their explicit exploits would perhaps indicate.

I agree with the journalist Zoe Williams who suggests that:

The need for a plot invites in some true gothic horror show and, stripped of his deviations, Christian Grey is just a controlling, unpleasant man whom, even 30 years ago, no sane heroine would ever have married.

The books are written in a short prose style, making them easy to read, but lacking in quality and beauty - and even, arguably, plot.  The characters are unsympathetically caricatured.  Grey's character is  more abusive than brooding, and his backstory of brokenness fails to ring true - despite his being a story of destitution to riches.  Ana's naivety fails to be the window for the reader.  The minor characters do not add the depth of texture that they could have done, and plot developments are signposted rather early into each novel.

But these novels are popular.  They are the subject of blog posts, conversations in staff rooms and workplaces, shorthand in comedy sketches and referenced in numerous articles and publications.  The books are prioritised on supermarket shelves and promoted on billboards. This surely makes them intriguing and important to engage with from a missional and sociological perspective.  In saying this, I do so cautiously.  I learnt far more than I ever wanted to learn about S&M, and read details about a couple's life that I cared little for (both in terms of the characters and the sexual revelations disclosed.)

This should not distract from the significant popularity and impact that this rekindled interest in erotica is having on a whole generation of female readers.

Martin Saunders has written this review of the Fifty Shades trilogy, recognising the ethical quandary of engaging in a novel that glorifies subordination and sexual deviance, suggests that there is also a deeper question at work - that of the cultural zeitgeist which provides a market for this sort of romantic erotic fiction:

Fifty Shades isn’t just massive, it’s mainstream. If we want to reach this culture relevantly with our story – the message of the gospel – then we need to understand this culture; to take time to listen to the stories that are being told, and to consider why they are finding resonance. Like it or not, Fifty Shades is 2012’s biggest literary sensation, and with publishers reportedly gearing up to release a slew of explicit fiction titles in its wake, we need to ask why this is happening.

 Zoe Williams, the Guardian columnist has gone some way to suggest an answer to this, with many critics joining her in the assessment that one of the reasons for its success is that with the popularity of electronic reading devices, written pornography becomes clandestine and accessible - and once the text is in the hands of the masses, it then becomes OK to talk about it in public.  There may be some truth in this (and also see this reflection from Big Bible), with Holly Poulter pointing out that:

Explicit books like Fifty Shades can be read without shame in front of dozens in a packed commuter train, because all they can read is the product code on the unassumingly grey back panel of the e-reader.

However, I have on more than one occasion, sat on a London Tube, reading Fifty Shades alongside a significant number of other women - in physical paperback.  The Kindle may have made books like this accessible, but from my observation that for some, there is little caution (and almost a little pride) about reading porn in public.

I do wonder whether what is going on under the auspice of sexual liberation and sold as radical feminism - is nothing short of extrovert voyeurism.  It is true that the porn industry is often at the forefront of technological developments (and thus the e-reader arguments have some weight).  Fifty Shades is not a great advert for literature, but it is a demonstration of the compulsion that a combination of sex and propaganda can have.  At the height of a recession, sex sells (just look at the success of Ann Summers, and the increasing birth rate over the last few months).

In an age when the Church (and indeed the world) is struggling to talk about sexuality with much integrity (be that about gender or orientation), it is perhaps no surprise that the moral void is filled with the voice of popular culture; shifting a debate outside of closed debates and academic nuances - into one of knowing glances, bitten lips, and the newly awakened voices around water coolers and on public transport.  Perhaps without knowing it, the reader begins to embody Ana - and in so doing, attempts to redeem the clandestine, the kinky and the deviant into a bold education and awakening.

It is easy to dismiss the Fifty Shades trilogy as trite nonsense or as soft porn (both arguably true).  However, there is a sexual awakening underway in society.  The invitation to the church is to be part of this awakening, and to begin to rediscover and promote a theology of sexuality, wholeness and pleasure - taking its inspiration from Scriptures (Song of Songs and Hosea) as well as Saint (Catherine of Sienna et al).  Let's not get left behind in the conversation, whispering contempt without offering something different - a vision and practice of relationship, grace and wholeness - in debate, pop culture engagement, and in our personal relationships.  If nothing else, the Fifty Shades trilogy invites a conversation about values in relationship and the positive use of power, and that is surely something that as Christians we have something to say about...


Questions


Have you read the novels?  Why or why not?

What have you seen/heard of the novels?  How has this affected the way that you approach conversations about the Fifty Shades trilogy?

What is your fear about the novels?

Are we living in an over-sexualised culture?

If you have read the novel/s:

What did you think of the novel/s?  Does the hype meet your expectations?

Why did you decide to read them?

Which character/s did you most sympathise with?  Why?

Which character/s do you least sympathise with? Why?

What are the main themes of the book?  How well are these delivered and developed in the novel?

Ana's character is back talking and argumentative.  In what ways does this make Ana a headstrong, autonomous heroine - and in which ways does it make her brattish and weak?

How might the story have changed if Christian and his family were not so wealthy?  Would his fetishes have been so readily accepted had he not been a man of means?

What is the significance of the protagonist being called 'Christian'?  How does that change the way you read the novel/s?

Who has power in the novel/s, and how do they use/misuse it?

Why do you think these novel/s are so popular?  Is it just because sex sells, or because of something deeper in society?

How might these novels help to stimulate a conversation about sex and sexuality?  In what ways might it hinder such conversation?  In such a conversation, what perspectives would you want to add into the mix?

How do you respond to the critiques offered in this post - who are you most convinced by - Poulter, Saunders, Levermore or Williams?  What arguments would you want to add to the conversation?

Why I won't be reading 50 Shades of Grey

GUEST POST:

Why I won’t be reading 50 shades of Grey or encouraging anyone else to.

Jude Levermore

I have made the decision not to read the erotic novel by British author E.L. James that everyone is talking about, dubbed “mummy porn”. I haven’t read the book, and I know how the adage goes, but here I am, judging it by its cover (and its reviews. And the impression it’s left on my friends).

Apparently the book (one of a trilogy) explicitly describes sexual bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism (BDSM).  I hear that the story follows an unfolding affair between a recent college graduate, the virgin Anastasia Steele, and handsome young billionaire entrepreneur, Christian Grey, whose childhood abuse left him a deeply damaged individual, and who enlists her to share his secret sexual proclivities. Steele is required by Grey to sign a contract allowing him complete control over her. Because of her fascination and budding love for him, she consents to a kinky sexual relationship that includes being slapped, spanked, handcuffed, and whipped with a leather riding crop in his “Red Room of Pain.”

The author is said to have written the books as a sexier version of the Twilight series, which also stars a virgin who gives it all up to save a man.  

People have told me that this book is liberating for women. I don’t much like labels but I guess you could call me a Christian feminist and it deeply concerns me that in our still male-dominated culture, women are socialized to enjoy being dominated sexually and see themselves as needing to subjugate their own identities to be accepted by men.

When I was growing up, I wasn’t talked to about sex. I want to have a different relationship with my daughters I want to be open and honest, to learn from them as they grow into women as well as teach them. So why don’t I want them to read this book? I’m passionate about how we interpret what we read. I’m a strong advocate for reader response criticism, for allowing readers to let the personal seep into their interpretations of what they read. What harm will it do for us to read the book and talk about it, this is what I did with the Philip Pullman books and Harry Potter when they were little? Why do I feel differently about this?

I think there are 2 main, interrelated reasons;

The first I think has to do with the difficult nature of feminism and the Church. For a couple of millennia abstinence and celibacy were upheld as the ideal models for Christian sexual practice.  Marriage was offered for those who must be depraved enough to be sexually active.  This is still mainstream Christian thought, if not mainstream Christian practice. The relationship between women and men and their relationship to God as I understand it in Christian circles can be roughly divided into 2 camps, “Complementarians”, a term for those who support a hierarchy between men and women, women and men are fundamentally different but somehow complimentary to each other (this difference somehow seems to be is in favour of men) and “Egalitarians”, those who see men and woman as truly equal, and oppose gender hierarchy.  While the Complementarian-Egalitarian division is the basic line of opposition, there are also – as Michael Bird whose writings on Paul I have found really helpful describes – various degrees of Complementarians, ranging from “Hard Complementarians” to “Soft Complementarians”.  Maybe where you sit in this debate effects how you feel about this book, written by a woman, that objectifies women seeing them as virginal saviours, debased by sexual violence that they somehow deserve due to the fall.  I sit firmly in the egalitarian camp.

As women (and men) grow, as we enter into (and fall out of) relationships, and we need candid conversations about the unmatched importance of knowing your own sexual boundaries and desires if we are going to be able to act well as agents in our intimate relationships.

I don’t think reading an (apparently badly written) erotic novel will help me have those conversations. I want to be presented with a portrait of sexuality—healthy sexuality—that goes beyond what the stories we’ve been told and I want us to be presenting those portraits to our young people.

The second reason has also to do with power the power to say no and feel OK about it. To trust my own feelings about a subject rather than be swayed but pervasive cultural norms.  I want our young people to be strong enough to make their own choices in the face of “everyone’s read it so you should or you’ll have nothing to say”

I’ve heard numerous sermons describing the church’s stance on issues of sex and relationships as a means of protecting the church body from heartbreak, from disease, from abuse—any number of very real, very sex-specific consequences. However I believe that a new model by which we will protect our congregations from sexual violence and better enable them to develop healthy sexual relationships also requires that we not perpetrate our own form of sexual violence by ostracizing those people whose quest to experience intimacy that is meaningful to them doesn’t fit into our “straight married” or “celibate” boxes.

There is a question which remains. Why do women reading this book seem to enjoy fantasies of being dominated? The feminist argument would say that it is because women as a group cannot escape from men, we have found ways of dealing with their sometimes violent and destructive behaviour. What we do is to eroticise, and internalise the desire for this behaviour, rationalising this as having power. This book caters for this need. By “choosing” to enjoy male-dominant sex, women are able to develop a sense of power, however limited. I want to develop a sense of empowerment in a different way. I want us to develop an egalitarian approach to sex.

So I am able to say, no thanks, I don’t want to read this book, even if all my friends are and the reasons are that there are some things I don’t want to gratify. I don’t want to put money into the pocket, and flattery into the ego of an author who seems to be cynically exploiting women readers. I don’t want to be part of perpetuating a patriarchal, domineering, socially acceptable abuse of power. And also I don’t want to read to it just because everyone else is and that’s ok. In fact it is more than OK it is a way of exercising a control that is power. A choice I can make as a Christian feminist.

And I believe and want to work towards a Church that can be a community where women and men are supported in a search for an intimacy that is not one-size-fits-all, but is also not a male dominated, porn fuelled event. This will take courage we’ll not get there by tip-toe we will need to be honest, to have difficult conversations and make challenging choices. I am going to start by not reading this book but trying to have more open and honest communication with my daughters and my friends about the issues it seems to bring up.