84jettagli has commented on (2) products.

The Sushi Economy: Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy by Sasha Issenberg

84jettagli, January 8, 2008

As a sushi-lover, I can't help picking up any book about this food. This work by Sasha Issenberg easily surpasses other recent books. (The last I read was The Zen of Fish by Trevor Corson, and it is painfully evident how much a better writer Issenberg is than Corson.) Issenberg writes clearly about what has become an obsession for many, in the West as well as the East.

Although the main thread of the book is the international trade in tuna, Issenberg adds personal stories about players at each one of his stops around the globe. Sushi chefs, fish marketers, restaurant owners, and tuna farmers all tell their stories.

Although sometimes the chapters feel like extended essays only related by theme, Issenberg manages to portray the large picture of sushi's influence worldwide.

I would have liked to have seen more material on the "sushi pirates" - fishers and ranchers who play loose with the rules, putting fish stocks at risk. Especially interesting was the story of how a researcher was able to find evidence of deceit by tuna ranchers, using Google Maps! Issenberg's comments on globalization also are more specific to the unique trade around sushi than he seems to realize.

I enjoyed reading this book more than any other on sushi I have seen.

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Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa

84jettagli, January 7, 2008

This novel could stand on its own as a comic masterpiece, but is also fascinating for being based on the author's own experience and the ensuing family scandal.

In 1950s Peru, a young law student, Mario, is working at a radio station, with dreams of becoming a great writer. He is forced to come to some concrete decisions about his future when two people burst into his life on the same day.

The first is Pedro Camancho, a prodigious scriptwriter of radio soap operas. Camancho, an eccentric workaholic, becomes a star with his lurid tales that transfix the city. And then, there is Aunt Julia, the sister-in-law of Mario's uncle. A divorcee from Bolivia 13 years older than Mario, the two are drawn together and begin a secret affair.

Mario's life becomes more complex as he becomes more serious about Julia, while dealing with the fallout at the radio station as Camancho's soap operas become more bizarre. Chapters detailing Mario's adventures are alternated with the stories of Camancho's characters.

Mario Vargas Llosa did in fact marry his aunt-in-law Julia in 1955, divorcing in 1964. I do not know how much of the novel is literal fact, and how much might be invented. (For example, the scene of Mario's father sending a note promising to shoot him down in the street after having learned of his son's relationship). The paired soap opera narratives are a marvellous read, though.

This is the first of Vargas Llosa's books I've read, and I heartily recommend it.

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