30 Day Book Challenge: Day 9

Gather round ye olde barf buckets, it's time for

Day 9: Books That Make Us Sick

Gianna:

We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families. Because it happens again and again and again while we debate what genocide really is.

Liz:

Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker

This novel swirls around the issue of performing ritual acts as a cultural right, specifically female genital mutilation.  While there are big political issues involved--does Western cultural hegemony give us the authority to dictate imperatives to other cultures around the world?--I cannot get around the descriptions of a woman tortured in order to belong.  Before rushing to judge, though, consider the infant boys circumcised in this country every day.  It's a tough subject and one that hasn't really changed much since Walker wrote her book 20 years ago.