Message from discussion Theater/Blanche/Starving/Mr. Moto

From: Laura Marple <thi...@thisbe.seanet.com>
Subject: Theater/Blanche/Starving/Mr. Moto
Date: 1996/03/22
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Hi DorothyLers!

THEATER MYSTERIES:
I asked for theater mysteries for a thespian friend awhile ago, and am
still working my way through the digests culling all the great
suggestions. THANKS to all of you for your generous help! If anyone
would like to receive the complete list, please email me - be warned
though, it might take a few more weeks for me to get it done!

BLANCHE AMONG THE TALENTED TENTH by Barbara Neely:
This book ties into several recent threads: large women sleuths (Blanche
is a large and very-secure-in-herself woman); negative reviews (my
interest was piqued when a DorothyLer posted saying that he found this
book so insulting that he only made it through about 10 pp. I just had
to see what the fuss was about! :) and reading in order (this is the
second in the series, but the first one I read - Blanche on the Lam is
the first in the series). Overall, I give it an enthusiastic thumbs up!

Blanche White is a dark-complected working class black woman staying in
an exclusive Maine resort filled with wealthy light-skinned blacks. The
book explores a lot of the issues of colour prejudice within races as
well as between them, and even though I'm not black I felt that I could
identify very strongly with it on many points (which would be too off-
topic to go into here, but email me if you'd like to discuss the book
because I'd like to talk to someone else who's read it!). It was a
sincere, heartfelt book and I really admired how Blanche was able to
remain strong and not become bitter in the face of all her struggles.
It helps a bit that last year I read "The Sweeter the Juice" (excellent
family history by Shirlee Taylor Haizlip) so I had some historical and
cultural context to put Blanche's experiences into. I'm particularly
fond of amateur sleuths and mysteries set in small, enclosed communities,
and this book satisfied on both counts. Some of the spirituality stuff
was a bit "woo woo la la" for my tastes, but not so much so that it was
a problem. My only question is, what is tooth sucking? Characters often
"suck their teeth" which is something I've never come across before.

STARVING?
Judy Baer <JB...@SIVM.SI.EDU> wrote:
> I still think Parker deserves credit for his powers of observation.
> Susan is slim, and a woman of a certain age--in fact, probably past
> it. After a certain age, to stay slim you HAVE to go hungry.

Not always true! My Grandma had four children, never watches what she
eats and doesn't weigh more than 90 lbs. In fact all the women in my
family are very petite and slender, even at "certain ages" and after
childbearing, and without any dieting. It is genetics and metabolism.
I wanted to mention this because just as it is unfair to make sweeping
statements about fat people's eating/exercise habits, it is unfair to
make sweeping statements about thin people (believe me, I've been on
the receiving end of a number of spiteful comments about being able to
eat anything I like and not gain weight! So this is a rather sensitive
point for me, but not a criticism of Judy, who may not realise that
this isn't the case for everyone).

MR. MOTO:
I compiled the Asian American mysteries list a few months ago, and
included Mr. Moto because he was listed in a reference book as a
"Japanese American sleuth." But Jennifer Graves' review of 4 March
raised some doubts - it sounded more like he was a Japanese man working
in America. Offline, Jennifer said the book wasn't clear on this point,
so hopefully there is a DorothyLer out there who can clarify!
Incidentally, the fact that Mr. Moto was portrayed as a spy for Japan
isn't proof he was meant to be a Japanese character - after all, that
suspicion was used to justify the WWII internment camps not too long
after these books came out... And before anyone reminds me :) - Yes, I
know that most Asians at this time were barred from acquiring US
citizenship. So for the purposes of my list, I am defining "Asian
American" as Asians who emigrated to the US or who descend from people
who did so. This rules out Asian sleuths who were simply working or
living temporarily in the US. Please let me know which category Mr.
Moto falls into! Many thanks in advance!

Regards,
Laura
------
Laura Marple
hob...@msn.com or thi...@thisbe.seanet.com
http://www.seanet.com/Users/thisbe
(NB: the U in Users must be upper case)