Writing From The Body

    Reliable narration depends on various things but mostly how the reader receives it and perceives reality in their world-view. For myself, reliable narration depends largely on how dialogue between characters matches inferences or statements made by the narrator and relatability to the narrator. Although, I may have not found these particular reasons of reliabilty in The Charm Buyers there were other views of reliability present. In Lilian Howan’s The Charm Buyers Marc represents the narrator and a character present in his narration.     Marc the narrator sets up the various settings and gives context on the different characters throughout the book. Early on he shows us his mom isn’t very present in his life, his father is more present but pretty hard on him and his grandmother A-Tai grounds him and has showed him and taught him a majority of things he needs in order to keep moving as a character. He then introduces us to Marie-Laure and Rad...

Lisa Patten The Charm Buyers In The Charm Buyers , Lillian Howan weaves multiple themes together to create a complex tapestry of memory, magic, and the meanings of love and truth, all set in a rich tropical environment of fevers and dreams. Historical memory provides a central undercurrent of the book, influencing the plot and relationships.   Throughout much of the book, this shared memory is not directly named, but is instead shown through dialogue, relationships and plot detail.   The book is set in the final years of exclusive French rule in French Polynesia, at a time when the French, Polynesian and Chinese cultures shared a complicated coexistence, marked by economic and political disparities, and an acceleration of nuclear weapons testing by the French.   Significantly, the book concludes in 1996 -- the landmark year when France’s nuclear testing finally ended in compliance with the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.   Subsequently, just seven years...

Miguel Cervantes 9/25/17             There’s something about Marc Antoine that makes me think he is a master illusionist.                In The Charm Buyers , we are taken on a unique journey that encompasses themes of family, community, history and migration, all in an area that is one of the most beautiful places on earth.   As the central protagonist and narrator of this journey, Marc Antoine is our conduit into this world, the Tahitian Hakka community of the 1970’s.   Marc’s parents divorce when he is young and much of his early life is shaped by his great-grandmother A-tai, placing him squarely under the influence of the older generation of Hakkas in his youth, and later under the auspices of more modern influences when he goes to live with his father.   This divide in his upbringing is key, for Marc is quite percepti...

Lillian Howan's The Charm Buyers is a novel about truth and lies.   This dichotomy exists within the novel’s other dichotomies: beauty and ugliness, love and hate, secrets and honesty, money and poverty, fantasy and reality.   It is especially pertinent to the entire concept of charms, especially as they are presented in the novel: Do they actually work?   Or are they as reliable and honest as anyone and anything else in the world? Part of the reason as to why these themes are so consistent throughout the novel is because Howan imbues them into the world she builds in this story.   Everything about Tahiti is based in these dichotomies.   The characters often talk about how many beautiful women there are in Tahiti, especially the women in Marc Antoine Chen’s family.   Harris even says, “Beauty is everything.   The reputation of the whole fucking island was built on beauty.   The sacred illusion” (13).   And yet, Marc is attracted to Mari...