Reviewed by Joanne DeCosse(published by May 14, 2013)
Crop circles and giant squids are one way to catch the eyes of bookstore browsers. These two bizarre elements, drawn onto crumpled lined paper and superimposed onto Belinda’s Rings cover, play an important role in Corrina Chong’s charming debut novel. Chong uses quirky images like these to support her equally unique characters, who are gifted with delightfully odd personalities, interests and behaviours. This, however, does not stop Chong from broaching larger, contemporary themes such as motherhood, family ties and mental illness. Her characters wonder at their place in the world as they try to make sense of themselves and others through mysterious phenomena. None of them, of course, have any answers to the big questions, but their wondering captivates, and Belinda’s Rings 240 pages, written in an appealing and humorous style, are quickly and easily devoured.
Belinda’s Rings pivots around Belinda, a mother of three children who is frustrated with her second marriage and passionless life, and her departure to England where she studies crop circles. Belinda and her daughter Grace alternately narrate the novel, giving us a picture of their family, its workings and the impact of the mother’s absence.
The novel’s characters are aptly imperfect. Grace and Belinda’s complexities make them real. We are invested in their decisions and relate to them as human beings. Chong’s interest in creating nuanced characters is reflected in her take on motherhood. She paints mothers in all of their various shades. For instance, she does not shy away from the twinges of regret Belinda deals with in terms of her family. Though she loves them, she admits to ambivalent feelings towards them and how they weigh her down.
Similarly, Grace and Jessica, her sister, often act as mother figures to her brother Squid. Jessica aims to emulate her mother in being a supermom, invoking the image of the ideal mother who bakes and sets an impeccable moral example. An incident with Grace highlights the problems with this very image; in a fit of indescribable and overwhelming emotion which causes her to shake and cry, she repeatedly and viciously spanks her brother while taking care of him alone at home.
The book’s plot and much of what happens to its characters is often heartbreaking. From small hints at loneliness or feelings of abandonment, such as when Grace mentions that her mother has never shown her how to apply makeup despite working in the cosmetic industry, to larger situations, much of the novel deals with gloomy matter. Left behind by Belinda, Grace and her family fall apart in many ways. Grace has to clean up a kitchen filled with empty pizza boxes before she has friends over. The precariousness of the family’s circumstance culminates when Wiley takes Squid out for a day without letting the girls know; they stay home from school, panicking and worrying until he returns past midnight. Many tears are shed.
The story’s depressive elements are balanced out by its style. Lyrical descriptions, such as Belinda’s comparison of bush berries to droplets of blood, and Grace’s frank, informal, often cynical, tone–created in part by words and expressions like “gotta” and “you know?”–emphasize that not all is dire for the novel’s characters. The teenager often silently mocks her friends and family such as when she points out Rose’s drunken way of walking “with her arms swinging too much, the way… a sloth would walk if it could stand up on its hind legs.”
The novel is filled with humorous elements including witty dialogue, jokes and silly events which also lighten its tone and mood. Belinda’s mother’s insistence on grinding up crab apples to make sauce, which results in a cellar full of rotting jars of apple sauce, is one example. Grace’s childhood desire to drink everything out of a sponge is another. Additionally, Squid often provides comic relief such as when he tells his sister Jessica that her cookies taste like “dry Ichiban noodles.” The novel’s characters deal with many problems, as we all do, but are not without humour and hope. These aspects are key in making the novel as compelling as it is.
Belinda’s Rings is brimming with significant images. Circles are one of the novel’s strongest and most satisfying recurring images. Chong peppers them throughout the novel in conspicuous as well as subtle ways. Belinda examines three perfect sets of crop circles on her travels. The overlapping of circles, reminiscent of a Venn diagram, comes to symbolize the connections between people and their lives.
Similarly, the shape of the circle itself illustrates life coming back to its initial point. These metaphors are best reflected in Belinda’s return to England near her hometown, despite attempts to escape, and her forced reunion with her past. These rings and circles are also impressed onto Belinda’s children; her son Squid attempts to draw perfect, greasy, crop circles in melted butter. Grace wears Belinda’s three wedding rings around her finger so that they come to leave a dent, a physical metaphor for her mother’s impact on her character. Like Belinda and her crop circles, Grace is fascinated with the mystery of the deep ocean’s darkness and the creatures it hides, though she never makes this connection herself.
Chong may be faulted for the almost overwhelming amount of stuff in the novel, its plethora of intricately tied, recurring motifs demand our attention on every page. While these elements are appealing on their own, the need to mull every few lines over gets distracting. Additionally, the novel is chock full of characters and events, some of which are not necessary in that they appear briefly but are not usefully developed. For example, Grace’s classmate Gavin is described for a few pages when he greets her at a bus stop. However, he promptly disappears from the novel without making any significant contribution. Together, these elements tend to drown out the story’s pacing and overall arc.
Despite its flaws, however, Belinda’s Rings’ elaborate web of interconnected images and themes make it overall a terrific and evocative read, particularly for those interested in the themes of motherhood and family.
NeWest | 248 pages | $19.95 | paper | ISBN # 978-1927063279
‘Belinda’s Rings’ by Corrina Chong
Book Reviews
Crop circles and giant squids are one way to catch the eyes of bookstore browsers. These two bizarre elements, drawn onto crumpled lined paper and superimposed onto Belinda’s Rings cover, play an important role in Corrina Chong’s charming debut novel. Chong uses quirky images like these to support her equally unique characters, who are gifted with delightfully odd personalities, interests and behaviours. This, however, does not stop Chong from broaching larger, contemporary themes such as motherhood, family ties and mental illness. Her characters wonder at their place in the world as they try to make sense of themselves and others through mysterious phenomena. None of them, of course, have any answers to the big questions, but their wondering captivates, and Belinda’s Rings 240 pages, written in an appealing and humorous style, are quickly and easily devoured.
Belinda’s Rings pivots around Belinda, a mother of three children who is frustrated with her second marriage and passionless life, and her departure to England where she studies crop circles. Belinda and her daughter Grace alternately narrate the novel, giving us a picture of their family, its workings and the impact of the mother’s absence.
The novel’s characters are aptly imperfect. Grace and Belinda’s complexities make them real. We are invested in their decisions and relate to them as human beings. Chong’s interest in creating nuanced characters is reflected in her take on motherhood. She paints mothers in all of their various shades. For instance, she does not shy away from the twinges of regret Belinda deals with in terms of her family. Though she loves them, she admits to ambivalent feelings towards them and how they weigh her down.
Similarly, Grace and Jessica, her sister, often act as mother figures to her brother Squid. Jessica aims to emulate her mother in being a supermom, invoking the image of the ideal mother who bakes and sets an impeccable moral example. An incident with Grace highlights the problems with this very image; in a fit of indescribable and overwhelming emotion which causes her to shake and cry, she repeatedly and viciously spanks her brother while taking care of him alone at home.
The book’s plot and much of what happens to its characters is often heartbreaking. From small hints at loneliness or feelings of abandonment, such as when Grace mentions that her mother has never shown her how to apply makeup despite working in the cosmetic industry, to larger situations, much of the novel deals with gloomy matter. Left behind by Belinda, Grace and her family fall apart in many ways. Grace has to clean up a kitchen filled with empty pizza boxes before she has friends over. The precariousness of the family’s circumstance culminates when Wiley takes Squid out for a day without letting the girls know; they stay home from school, panicking and worrying until he returns past midnight. Many tears are shed.
The story’s depressive elements are balanced out by its style. Lyrical descriptions, such as Belinda’s comparison of bush berries to droplets of blood, and Grace’s frank, informal, often cynical, tone–created in part by words and expressions like “gotta” and “you know?”–emphasize that not all is dire for the novel’s characters. The teenager often silently mocks her friends and family such as when she points out Rose’s drunken way of walking “with her arms swinging too much, the way… a sloth would walk if it could stand up on its hind legs.”
The novel is filled with humorous elements including witty dialogue, jokes and silly events which also lighten its tone and mood. Belinda’s mother’s insistence on grinding up crab apples to make sauce, which results in a cellar full of rotting jars of apple sauce, is one example. Grace’s childhood desire to drink everything out of a sponge is another. Additionally, Squid often provides comic relief such as when he tells his sister Jessica that her cookies taste like “dry Ichiban noodles.” The novel’s characters deal with many problems, as we all do, but are not without humour and hope. These aspects are key in making the novel as compelling as it is.
Belinda’s Rings is brimming with significant images. Circles are one of the novel’s strongest and most satisfying recurring images. Chong peppers them throughout the novel in conspicuous as well as subtle ways. Belinda examines three perfect sets of crop circles on her travels. The overlapping of circles, reminiscent of a Venn diagram, comes to symbolize the connections between people and their lives.
Similarly, the shape of the circle itself illustrates life coming back to its initial point. These metaphors are best reflected in Belinda’s return to England near her hometown, despite attempts to escape, and her forced reunion with her past. These rings and circles are also impressed onto Belinda’s children; her son Squid attempts to draw perfect, greasy, crop circles in melted butter. Grace wears Belinda’s three wedding rings around her finger so that they come to leave a dent, a physical metaphor for her mother’s impact on her character. Like Belinda and her crop circles, Grace is fascinated with the mystery of the deep ocean’s darkness and the creatures it hides, though she never makes this connection herself.
Chong may be faulted for the almost overwhelming amount of stuff in the novel, its plethora of intricately tied, recurring motifs demand our attention on every page. While these elements are appealing on their own, the need to mull every few lines over gets distracting. Additionally, the novel is chock full of characters and events, some of which are not necessary in that they appear briefly but are not usefully developed. For example, Grace’s classmate Gavin is described for a few pages when he greets her at a bus stop. However, he promptly disappears from the novel without making any significant contribution. Together, these elements tend to drown out the story’s pacing and overall arc.
Despite its flaws, however, Belinda’s Rings’ elaborate web of interconnected images and themes make it overall a terrific and evocative read, particularly for those interested in the themes of motherhood and family.
NeWest | 248 pages | $19.95 | paper | ISBN # 978-1927063279