Mundane's World: A Novel

by Judy Grahn

Here is a rare and compelling first novel about five girls' special passage into womanhood. These protagonists, all residents of "Mundane", the city of dreamers, are of from four clans that peacefully coexist: the Snake clan, famous for healing and balance, the Bee clan, of water-bearing women and the keeping of measurements, the Lion clan, of animals, movement, transportation and trading, and the Tortoise clan of farming, provision, distribution and record-keeping. This well-written tale of spiritual transformation from a woman's point of view is composed in a poetic style, capturing the tribal rhythm of rituals and of day-to-day living. A lyrical whimsy informs the narrative: "It was certainly a hum drum society, it was so hum drum, ho hum, dum dedum, dum deedle deedle tweedle dum, humming and drumming, every good time was a clap trap". Though the story is told mainly through the eyes of two characters, Ernesta and Jessi-ma, animals, plants and insects contribute their perspectives: "Spiraling high into the sky for a change of air the fly can see if he is looking that there are four wider streets in the city".

Genres: Fiction, Feminism, Lesbian Fiction

191 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Micebyliz]

truly awful, and even worse, scientifically incorrect.

[Jenny Yates · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book about thirty years ago, and loved it, so I thought it was time for a reread. This hypnotic novel describes the lives of people, animals and plants in a city called Mundane. No time or place is given; it could be some idyllic past, or perhaps far into the future. But in this city, a respect for the spirit world permeates daily life, and there are conscious connections between all living beings.

The city holds four different clans – the Bee people, in charge of building, the Tortoise people, who are the farmers, the Lion people, who pay attention to animals and transportation, and the Snake people, who take charge of ritual matters. The novel mainly centers on five young girls – especially Ernesta, the eldest, who is one of the Snake clan. She listens to the advice and admonitions of her three aunts, her mother, and, when she comes home from wandering, her grandmother.

There are lots of characters in this novel, as many non-human as human, and they all have definite personalities. There’s the ancient oak in the courtyard, which withdraws its affection when heedless young girls treat it roughly. There’s a colony of ants which goes through more dramatic events than the humans above their heads. There are buzzards who are feared and respected for their work in releasing the dead from their physical bodies. There’s a belladonna plant which sometimes accidentally kills, but also has many gifts to give.

The novel ends with a ritual celebrating the first menstruation of the five young girls. They’re all enclosed in a warm, dark place, where they dream themselves into different lifeforms. As they take the form of wind, water, cliffsides, and birds, they read the earth’s messages more clearly, and understand how seamlessly all things are connected.

The writing is poetic, often beautiful, although occasionally a bit clunky. Grahn sometimes eschews traditional grammar, choosing words for their cadence.

Some quotes:

< “Something about the child is different from what you might think.” Donna drops this idea into the household quietly, wrapped by its insidious softness around the clattering opinions of the aunts, sly as silk the idea winds across the floor to wrap around and around the conversation until the aunts will think they have thought it. >

< A donkey tethered to a well cannot drink the water in it but an oak tree several yards away can. There is a relativity in motion. >

< For these reasons some members of the Snake clan kept track of the intricacies of everyone’s lives as well as the news from other areas, considering the imbalance of one to be the imbalance of many. In their festival theater they expressed this with juggling balls. In their daily lives they took care of it with gossip and then more gossip. >

< Now passing over the Moon Temple where the snakes lived much of the year Ernesta remembered that she herself would now be expected to enter the temple and hold continual conversations with the snakes. She would learn where they lived in the wild, and go with baskets to invite them to the gatherings of her people in which they had participated with the humans for as long as the snake clan had lived in the area. >

[Catherine Siegel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think one either loves or hates this book. I did not like it. I thought it contrived and poorly written from a plot point of view. It has no punctuation, which could have been intriguing ( a la ee cummings style), but ended up being a tedious an unfulfilling read for me.

I understand that Grahn is considered a significant feminist/lesbian poet, however this novel left me cold.

[Shamana Ali · Rating 2 out of 5]

The underlying concepts of this book ring true. It is without a doubt feminist. The story is a good one but the narrative is troubled by missing punctuation, which might be artistic license, but I found it fatally distracting.