美国国家公共电台 NPR Immigration And Infertility Bring Two Mothers Together Over One 'Lucky Boy'

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: 

A new novel called "Lucky Boy" centers around two women and two different pictures of immigration. In one story, an 18-year-old named Soli enters the U.S. from Mexico without papers. In the other, an Indian-American woman named Kavya tries to have a child with her husband in Silicon¹ Valley. These stories converge² around a baby, the lucky boy of the book's title. Our colleague Ari Shapiro spoke³ with the novelist, Shanthi Sekaran.

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE⁴: You're a first-generation, Indian-American immigrant.

SHANTHI SEKARAN: Yes.

SHAPIRO: And so there are clear parallels with one of your main characters, Kavya. Why did you decide to dig into this other sort of immigration story, Soli, who comes from Mexico?

SEKARAN: Growing up, my mother was a pediatrician. And the majority of her patients were immigrants. And I knew from sort of hanging around her office and doing her filing and stuff that there were immigrants whose lives were different from mine. You know, I'd see kids come in who I didn't see at school, who I didn't see in my soccer games. So I knew always that there are different immigrant stories out there. And what I wanted to do with this novel was to recognize that disparity and look at the stories behind it and look at the ramifications⁵ of the differences.

SHAPIRO: There are so many little details. And I wonder whether they are things that came up in your research or that just came out of your writerly mind. When Soli first arrives in California, she is afraid of the tiniest things bringing out the police. And so there's this moment where you describe her standing⁶ at the crosswalk, sort of paralyzed, waiting for the walk signal, certain that if she steps off the curb⁷, the police car will come screaming around the corner, lights and sirens blaring.

SEKARAN: Yeah. I began to gain some inkling of an understanding of what it's like to live without papers and to just have this nagging⁸ fear. It's sort of an undercurrent that informs your life. And I learned that from talking to people, from talking, actually, to a psychologist who works with undocumented immigrants and from reading a lot. And then the rest is me, as a fiction writer, trying to imagine and trying to plug this information into my character.

SHAPIRO: Even somebody who is in the country legally, like your other main character, Kavya, has a bit of something lurking⁹ over her shoulder. There's a moment in the book where she drives past a farm with the name Harjeet Bhupinder (ph) Orchards¹⁰. Will you read from this section of the book?

SEKARAN: Sure.

(Reading) Not much surprised Kavya after 20 years in Berkeley. But the name on that sign caught her eye - not that Indians didn't own land. Indians had a hand in most industries, farming included. It's just that they rarely announced it on a sign. Immigrants were supposed to own things quietly. Proclaiming themselves invited the wrong kind of attention, from the evil eye to more immediate¹¹ retribution. The surest sign of an immigrant business was an American flag on the door. But perhaps this Harjeet Bhupinder felt secure enough not to worry about that. Maybe with this announced identity came the belief - the very American belief - that success and happiness weren't always temptations of fate.

SHAPIRO: So here you have a well-established immigrant whose husband works in Silicon Valley. And she has documentation. And yet, even for her, there's this fear of attracting the evil eye or worse.

SEKARAN: Yeah. I think that the state of immigration is inherently an unstable¹² one. And I think that children of immigrants born in the United States inherit some of that uncertainty¹³ even if we live comfortable lives, even if we have a safety net. There's still this idea that something could go wrong. Something could be taken away from us.

SHAPIRO: Ultimately, the book boils down to a conflict between two women with a claim on the same child. And what struck me and everyone I talked to who had read this book was how sympathetic both of those arguments are and how difficult it is to side with one or the other.

SEKARAN: Yeah. When I was first compelled to start exploring this story, it was because I had heard about an undocumented Guatemalan woman whose son was adopted away from her. And I was horrified¹⁴ on behalf of the Guatemalan woman. But I also wanted to know what was going through the minds of these people who had adopted her son away from her. I mean, I assumed that they thought of themselves as good people. So I knew there had to be some complexity¹⁵ in there, something that allowed them to think that taking another woman's son was OK. And it had something to do with love. And it had something to do with a real need to be a parent.

SHAPIRO: Did you ever get in touch with the parents who adopted that Guatemalan boy?

SEKARAN: No Encarnacion Bail¹⁶, the Guatemalan woman - I actually did speak with her lawyer. That was great. That was a real boon¹⁷ to my research.

SHAPIRO: Did you know, when you started writing this book, how it would end?

SEKARAN: No. In fact, the ending has changed a couple times.

SHAPIRO: Really? Really?

SEKARAN: Yeah.

SHAPIRO: And how do you feel, now that it's set in stone?

SEKARAN: I feel content with it. You know, I don't want to give anything away about the ending. But it's not anti-climactic. And so much of real life is anticlimactic¹⁸ that I really had to access my adventurous¹⁹ side.

SHAPIRO: There really is almost a genre²⁰ shift at the end.

SEKARAN: Yeah.

SHAPIRO: It kind of becomes a heart pounder.

SEKARAN: I hope so. A lot has been happening with the heart, from what people are saying with this book. It's being wrenched²¹ and pounded and - but I think there's also some humor and renewal²² and not just things done to the heart.

SHAPIRO: Shanthi Sekaran, thank you so much for talking with us about your new book.

SEKARAN: Thank you so much for having me.

CORNISH: That's our co-host Ari Shapiro, speaking with Shanthi Sekaran sacred about her novel "Lucky Boy." It's out now.

1 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

2 converge   

vi.会合；聚集，集中；(思想、观点等)趋近

参考例句：

• The results converge towards this truth.其结果趋近于这个真理。
• Parallel lines converge at infinity.平行线永不相交。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 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。

5 ramifications   

n.结果，后果( ramification的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These changes are bound to have widespread social ramifications. 这些变化注定会造成许多难以预料的社会后果。
• What are the ramifications of our decision to join the union? 我们决定加入工会会引起哪些后果呢？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

7 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

8 nagging   

adj.唠叨的，挑剔的；使人不得安宁的v.不断地挑剔或批评（某人）( nag的现在分词 )；不断地烦扰或伤害（某人）；无休止地抱怨；不断指责

参考例句：

• Stop nagging—I'll do it as soon as I can. 别唠叨了—我会尽快做的。
• I've got a nagging pain in my lower back. 我后背下方老是疼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 lurking   

潜在

参考例句：

• Why are you lurking around outside my house? 你在我房子外面鬼鬼祟祟的，想干什么？
• There is a suspicious man lurking in the shadows. 有一可疑的人躲在阴暗中。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 orchards   

（通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They turned the hills into orchards and plains into granaries. 他们把山坡变成了果园，把平地变成了粮仓。
• Some of the new planted apple orchards have also begun to bear. 有些新开的苹果园也开始结苹果了。

11 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

12 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

13 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

14 horrified   

a.(表现出)恐惧的

参考例句：

• The whole country was horrified by the killings. 全国都对这些凶杀案感到大为震惊。
• We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons. 地方监狱的普遍状况让我们震惊。

15 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

16 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

17 boon   

n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠

参考例句：

• A car is a real boon when you live in the country.在郊外居住，有辆汽车确实极为方便。
• These machines have proved a real boon to disabled people.事实证明这些机器让残疾人受益匪浅。

18 anticlimactic   

adj. 渐降法的, 虎头蛇尾的

参考例句：

• Everything after the discovery of the murderer was anticlimactic. 找到谋杀者之后，人们对所有事情的兴趣都突减了。
• The conclusion of the movie was anticlimactic. 电影的结局真没劲。

19 adventurous   

adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的　

参考例句：

• I was filled with envy at their adventurous lifestyle.我很羨慕他们敢于冒险的生活方式。
• He was predestined to lead an adventurous life.他注定要过冒险的生活。

20 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

21 wrenched   

v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛

参考例句：

• The bag was wrenched from her grasp. 那只包从她紧握的手里被夺了出来。
• He wrenched the book from her hands. 他从她的手中把书拧抢了过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 renewal   

adj.(契约)延期，续订，更新，复活，重来

参考例句：

• Her contract is coming up for renewal in the autumn.她的合同秋天就应该续签了。
• Easter eggs symbolize the renewal of life.复活蛋象征新生。