book review: The Road to Wanting by Wendy Law-Yone
The backstory: The Road to Wanting was longlisted for the 2011 Orange Prize . The basics: The Road to Wanting is the story of Na Ga, who was born in Burma but left as a child. She's now on a journey back, but she isn't going by her choice, for reasons that slowly unfold along with how she left Burma and got to where she is. My thoughts: Near the end of The Road to Wanting , I told Mr. Nomadreader it might be the most depressing book I've ever read. I'm not one to avoid depressing novels, but this one is harrowing. How many horrible things can happen to one person? Yet despite how depressing this book is, it's most depressing because Na Ga's story isn't unique. Although fictional in this sense, there are many women who endure the things she does. As I read, I learned a lot about Burma, an area about which I knew very little. There is a large Burmese refugee population in Des Moines, and I appreciated this insight into modern Burmese history. Fa...