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မြစ်တို့၏မာယာ
Unknown Binding
First published December 1, 1990
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About the author
ဂျူး
33 books262 followersJu is a Burmese novelist, well known for her strong, intelligent female characters.
Despite her interest in writing, upon her mother's prodding, she pursued medical studies at the Institute of Medicine, Mandalay. She started writing while in medical school, and her first short story (ရာဇဝင်ထဲမှာမောင့်ကိုထားရစ်ခဲ့) was published in 1979. Her writing career took off in the late 1980s, with her debut novel, Remembrance (အမှတ်တရ), published in 1987.The bestseller novel stirred controversy for endorsing Western existentialist philosophy and portraying cohabiting unwed couples.
She has published fifteen novels (most of them were adapted into films), seven collections of short stories and seven collections of articles on the environment. She currently works as a co-founder of an HIV positive children orphanage and also a participant in the HIV/AIDS Media Initiative and Yadana Metta Foundation. Her writings now focus on environmental conservation.
Despite her interest in writing, upon her mother's prodding, she pursued medical studies at the Institute of Medicine, Mandalay. She started writing while in medical school, and her first short story (ရာဇဝင်ထဲမှာမောင့်ကိုထားရစ်ခဲ့) was published in 1979. Her writing career took off in the late 1980s, with her debut novel, Remembrance (အမှတ်တရ), published in 1987.The bestseller novel stirred controversy for endorsing Western existentialist philosophy and portraying cohabiting unwed couples.
She has published fifteen novels (most of them were adapted into films), seven collections of short stories and seven collections of articles on the environment. She currently works as a co-founder of an HIV positive children orphanage and also a participant in the HIV/AIDS Media Initiative and Yadana Metta Foundation. Her writings now focus on environmental conservation.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 21, 2015
My initial plan was to write the review in Burmese, but I don't have access to my computer right now and my phone doesn't have Myanmar font.
First of all, the book was first published in 1990 which was probably the reason that the characters were old-fashioned in some cases. The idea that the first time a man approached a woman outside of their working environment was to propose her instead of telling her that he liked her was so weird to me. It was worse when the woman's response was, "I'll consult with my mother."
Sure, those were the different times but there were still so many other things that I didn't like about this book. First, there was a love triangle. But ironically, I found it hard to believe that any of them loved each other. And then, there's this thing called "insta love" that I frequently read in Goodreads reviews. It was such a ridiculous idea that you'd fall in love with a stranger you'd met for four days, that you'd have to follow this guy to another town to find him without so much as a phone number or an address. Especially because you were this aforementioned woman who'd consult her mother for marriage advice. I'm sorry, I wasn't convinced. I felt like there was an inconsistency in Kathy's character. Unless of course the author wanted to point out how stupid, naive and crazy women could get after (they thought) they'd fallen in love with a man.
I've been re-reading Jue's books and I'm disappointed that this was the second book I picked. But I'm sure there will still be many other books of hers that I'd like and I'm going to keep reading.
First of all, the book was first published in 1990 which was probably the reason that the characters were old-fashioned in some cases. The idea that the first time a man approached a woman outside of their working environment was to propose her instead of telling her that he liked her was so weird to me. It was worse when the woman's response was, "I'll consult with my mother."
Sure, those were the different times but there were still so many other things that I didn't like about this book. First, there was a love triangle. But ironically, I found it hard to believe that any of them loved each other. And then, there's this thing called "insta love" that I frequently read in Goodreads reviews. It was such a ridiculous idea that you'd fall in love with a stranger you'd met for four days, that you'd have to follow this guy to another town to find him without so much as a phone number or an address. Especially because you were this aforementioned woman who'd consult her mother for marriage advice. I'm sorry, I wasn't convinced. I felt like there was an inconsistency in Kathy's character. Unless of course the author wanted to point out how stupid, naive and crazy women could get after (they thought) they'd fallen in love with a man.
I've been re-reading Jue's books and I'm disappointed that this was the second book I picked. But I'm sure there will still be many other books of hers that I'd like and I'm going to keep reading.
November 4, 2017
First of all, I wanna admit that I'm a very emotional girl who would cry over books. But I'm sure that it's not this book. This book was published in 1990 when things were still old-fashion. I won't blame instalove because I accept its existance. But this is the kind of book that I'll never really love. It hurts that it's written by one of my favorite authors. This is the only book that sucks.
June 22, 2020
I love it. It is quite a change to read Juu's non-doctor characters. But, she still mentioned French language at one or two points. She just can't help it! (I decided I will read this book when I go to Bagan again)
The protagonist Kay Thi is a Ph.D Myanmar Literature student who got tangled with U Yan Naing, the handsome, smart and available senior/ mentor. She then went to Bagan to study stone inscriptions for her thesis where she met Moe Wai, a private tour guide. They were both proud and are always debating on various matters which showed how much chemistry they had. But, by that time, she was already engaged to Yan Naing, who just proposed her as his first declaration of interest in her. No dating, no going out, no anything. She accepted as it was appropriate choice and since she always admired him. And then, the love triangle continued.
Juu has always been very smooth in her writing. The amount of research went into this book is also admirable. The conversation between the Ph.D candidate and her mentor is interesting as well as the conversation of a tourist guide who is very passionate about his work. The details of their discussions are authentic like the way it should be among academics. There are some name droppings here and there like Juu's signature.
So... these are the things that impressed me.
But, surely, there are things that bugged me in Juu's books as usual.
Like..
- too sensitive characters who are ready to be snapped even at a wrong word choice
- petty men (as usual)
- proud women (but, in this book, it was quite toned down and became opposite at some points)
- men who are paranoid and non-trusting to their significant others (as usual)
- men who thinks their wives are their possessions (as usual)
- men who wants/ almost slap the women they are involved with (as usual: WTH! Isn't Juu a self-proclaimed feminist? Why is it a theme in most of her books? Is it supposed to be the irony or is it a cultural thing?)
- and then, featuring the infamous "male pride" shit that men were too proud of it and woman characters worry of hurting that or feeling guilty when they hurt it
- again, the stereotyping of women ("she is curious because she is a woman", "women wants to control everything", "women are always thinking of bossing someone or controlling them") - These could be what the characters believe but DOES IT HAVE TO BE IN EVERY BOOK? I wouldn't mention this if she is not considered to be the "feminist" icon in Myanmar literature. I still can't figure out what she is trying to do. I hope someday I will.
- and then there is heavy use of mentioning characters by their gender "Main ma" or "Youk kyar". I see this more in Juu's book than in other books. This one, I don't get why either.
All in all, love the book. Love the plot. Love the character and fearlessness and originality of the protagonist. Learned so much about the fields they talked about and they were delights. But, this love-hate relationship of mine with Juu continues. Her self-contradictory gender emphasis doesn't always sits well with what I know.
Au revoir
The protagonist Kay Thi is a Ph.D Myanmar Literature student who got tangled with U Yan Naing, the handsome, smart and available senior/ mentor. She then went to Bagan to study stone inscriptions for her thesis where she met Moe Wai, a private tour guide. They were both proud and are always debating on various matters which showed how much chemistry they had. But, by that time, she was already engaged to Yan Naing, who just proposed her as his first declaration of interest in her. No dating, no going out, no anything. She accepted as it was appropriate choice and since she always admired him. And then, the love triangle continued.
Juu has always been very smooth in her writing. The amount of research went into this book is also admirable. The conversation between the Ph.D candidate and her mentor is interesting as well as the conversation of a tourist guide who is very passionate about his work. The details of their discussions are authentic like the way it should be among academics. There are some name droppings here and there like Juu's signature.
So... these are the things that impressed me.
But, surely, there are things that bugged me in Juu's books as usual.
Like..
- too sensitive characters who are ready to be snapped even at a wrong word choice
- petty men (as usual)
- proud women (but, in this book, it was quite toned down and became opposite at some points)
- men who are paranoid and non-trusting to their significant others (as usual)
- men who thinks their wives are their possessions (as usual)
- men who wants/ almost slap the women they are involved with (as usual: WTH! Isn't Juu a self-proclaimed feminist? Why is it a theme in most of her books? Is it supposed to be the irony or is it a cultural thing?)
- and then, featuring the infamous "male pride" shit that men were too proud of it and woman characters worry of hurting that or feeling guilty when they hurt it
- again, the stereotyping of women ("she is curious because she is a woman", "women wants to control everything", "women are always thinking of bossing someone or controlling them") - These could be what the characters believe but DOES IT HAVE TO BE IN EVERY BOOK? I wouldn't mention this if she is not considered to be the "feminist" icon in Myanmar literature. I still can't figure out what she is trying to do. I hope someday I will.
- and then there is heavy use of mentioning characters by their gender "Main ma" or "Youk kyar". I see this more in Juu's book than in other books. This one, I don't get why either.
All in all, love the book. Love the plot. Love the character and fearlessness and originality of the protagonist. Learned so much about the fields they talked about and they were delights. But, this love-hate relationship of mine with Juu continues. Her self-contradictory gender emphasis doesn't always sits well with what I know.
Au revoir
May 15, 2018
I hated instalove stories and it's one of them. It has some interesting elements like in all of her books but I did not enjoy the book.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews