美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Love Is A Thing That Everyone Wants,' Says Author Of 'The Sun Is Also A Star'

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Star-crossed teens falling in love are always in fashion, in print and on the big screen. This weekend the film "The Sun Is Also A Star" opened. It's based on the bestselling book by the same name by Nicola Yoon. The film and the novel tackle more than just young love, as Christabel Nsiah-Buadi reports.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR")

YARA SHAHIDI: (As Natasha Kingsley) What does America mean to you?

CHRISTABEL NSIAH-BUADI, BYLINE¹: That's what Natasha Kingsley must answer to avoid deportation² from America in less than 24 hours.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR")

SHAHIDI: (As Natasha Kingsley) This is my home. New York is my home.

NSIAH-BUADI: Nicola Yoon has also thought about this question. Like Natasha, the author moved from Jamaica to America with her family when she was a kid because her father wanted to pursue his dream.

NICOLA YOON: He wanted to be an actor. And America was just so much possibility, right? So you could be anything. You could get anywhere on merit. There's this big, wide world open to you. So that's what America's always meant to me as an immigrant.

NSIAH-BUADI: She grew up in Brooklyn. A talented writer, she was - to paraphrase³ her - led astray by math in high school. She went to Cornell University and built a career in finance. That was all before writing two New York Times bestselling books which have now both been adapted into Hollywood movies. That's a life fully⁴ lived by anyone's standards. She's passionate⁵ about fate, science and how we're all connected. So it's not entirely⁶ surprising that she sees immigration as a brave and hopeful commitment, one that also requires work.

YOON: It's like happiness, right? Happiness doesn't just come. You have to pay attention. You have to really fight for it.

NSIAH-BUADI: Readers are responding to the book's immigration angle. Sanura Williams is the founder⁷ of My Lit Box, a quarterly book subscription⁸ service and community that celebrates writers of color. She was initially⁹ drawn¹⁰ to the book's love story when it first came out in 2016, but the novel kept unfolding with new meaning as immigration emerged as a major political issue.

SANURA WILLIAMS: When I see the discussion online now, I think it's largely centered around the fact that, like, families are being torn apart. And it just feels a lot more real now.

NSIAH-BUADI: At its core, "The Sun Is Also A Star" is a classic romance novel. That's because Nicola Yoon enjoys writing about love in all its forms.

YOON: So many times you hear people sort of denigrate¹¹ love stories. But honestly, love is the thing that everyone wants. And I don't just mean like romantically - love of your art, love of your friends, your family, your children.

NSIAH-BUADI: Her examination of love has created new and uplifting experiences for readers, says Sanura Williams.

WILLIAMS: It was nice to kind of see a story where this young black girl is just giving into whimsy¹² and fun for the day. I don't see that often.

NSIAH-BUADI: Nancy Wang Yuen is a sociologist¹³ and the author of the book "Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism¹⁴." She says Williams isn't the only person to feel this way. Movies featuring non-white protagonists¹⁵ are becoming increasingly popular. The reason? Changing demographics.

NANCY WANG YUEN: We know that it's going to be a majority people of color country. But right now, all that growth is happening amongst youth. Even white youth are growing up with, you know, youth of color. So it's like that is their reality.

NSIAH-BUADI: The film adaptation stays fairly faithful to Yoon's commentary on love and immigration. The cast is dominated by faces of color. And there is one significant character change. Natasha's lawyer, who is a white man called Jeremy Fitzgerald (ph) in the book, became Jeremy Martinez (ph) in the movie. Yoon is excited about the movie adaptation, but she's not letting it get in the way of her writing. She's got two novels in the works. She won't give the plot away, but one thing's for certain...

YOON: There's love involved. There's a lot of love in them.

NSIAH-BUADI: For NPR News, I'm Christabel Nsiah-Buadi in Los Angeles.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 deportation   

n.驱逐，放逐

参考例句：

• The government issued a deportation order against the four men.政府发出了对那4名男子的驱逐令。
• Years ago convicted criminals in England could face deportation to Australia.很多年以前，英国已定罪的犯人可能被驱逐到澳大利亚。

3 paraphrase   

vt.将…释义，改写；n.释义，意义

参考例句：

• You may read the prose paraphrase of this poem.你可以看一下这首诗的散文释义。
• Paraphrase the following sentences or parts of sentences using your own words.用你自己的话解释下面的句子或句子的一部分。

4 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

5 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

6 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

7 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

8 subscription   

n.预订，预订费，亲笔签名，调配法，下标（处方）

参考例句：

• We paid a subscription of 5 pounds yearly.我们按年度缴纳5英镑的订阅费。
• Subscription selling bloomed splendidly.订阅销售量激增。

9 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

10 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

11 denigrate   

v.诬蔑，诽谤

参考例句：

• It was unkind to denigrate her achievement.贬低她的成就是刻薄的。
• To assert this is to denigrate the effectiveness of the police.坚持这一点就是贬低警方的办事能力。

12 whimsy   

n.古怪，异想天开

参考例句：

• They are like oracular messages,but witty-jaunty at times-and sometimes trembling on the edge of whimsy.它们都像神谕，但很机智，有时极其轻快，有时又濒于怪诞。
• He had a whimsy about flying to the moon.他有个想飞上月球的怪念头。

13 sociologist   

n.研究社会学的人，社会学家

参考例句：

• His mother was a sociologist,researching socialism.他的母亲是个社会学家，研究社会主义。
• Max Weber is a great and outstanding sociologist.马克斯·韦伯是一位伟大的、杰出的社会学家。

14 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

15 protagonists   

n.（戏剧的）主角( protagonist的名词复数 )；（故事的）主人公；现实事件（尤指冲突和争端的）主要参与者；领导者

参考例句：

• Mrs Pankhurst was one of the chief protagonists of women's rights. 潘克赫斯特太太是女权的主要倡导者之一。 来自辞典例句
• This reflects that Feng Menglong heartily sympathized with these protagonists. 这反映出冯梦龙由衷地同情书中的这些主要人物。 来自互联网