http://www.goodreads.com/review/list_rss/165589 en-US Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:28:37 -0700 60 http://www.goodreads.com/ 200 41 http://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_logo.gif 26600636 Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:28:37 -0700
Anyway, I liked the book, though I didn't necessarily think it was as great as apparently everyone else in the world did (it won a bunch of awards). I love the angle of writing about an American Indian kid struggling with the alcoholism and poverty, and the despair they lead to, on the Spokane reservation. The narrator's struggle to figure out how to be part of his tribe but also avoid the negative aspects of reservation life--and his feeling that he's betraying his tribe when he thinks of leaving--is heart-breaking, particularly because I know how many American Indian kids struggle with those decisions. Many of the characters felt like people I knew from back home--particularly his dad, his friend Rowdy, and his older sister.

My main issue was that there were some places where the narration or dialog just didn't ring true to me. His friend Gordy just didn't seem like what a real teenager would be like to me--I just didn't buy a lot of the super-wise or meaningful things he said. It felt forced. There were a few other places where I just felt like the things the narrator was saying/thinking were a bit too suddenly insightful or perfect. It reminded me a little, oddly enough, of the TV show "Dawson's Creek," where you thought, "ok, some kids somewhere probably say some of these things some of the time, but no actual kids are like this." [I don't need any snarky comments about the fact that I know that about "Dawson's Creek.]

So it was a good book, and I enjoyed reading it, and the last couple of chapters made me want to cry because, though in a different context, they made me think of my own struggles to figure out how to be part of my family but not stay in a crappy, poor town in Oklahoma. I just don't think it's the greatest young adult novel I've ever read.]]>
author: Sherman Alexie
name: Gwen
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 07/08
date added: 07/08/08
shelves:
review:
Well, first, I bought this book at a Wal-Mart in rural Oklahoma when I was desperate for something to read, and I didn't realize it was a young adult book. Not that I'm opposed to reading young adult fiction, I was just a little surprised.

Anyway, I liked the book, though I didn't necessarily think it was as great as apparently everyone else in the world did (it won a bunch of awards). I love the angle of writing about an American Indian kid struggling with the alcoholism and poverty, and the despair they lead to, on the Spokane reservation. The narrator's struggle to figure out how to be part of his tribe but also avoid the negative aspects of reservation life--and his feeling that he's betraying his tribe when he thinks of leaving--is heart-breaking, particularly because I know how many American Indian kids struggle with those decisions. Many of the characters felt like people I knew from back home--particularly his dad, his friend Rowdy, and his older sister.

My main issue was that there were some places where the narration or dialog just didn't ring true to me. His friend Gordy just didn't seem like what a real teenager would be like to me--I just didn't buy a lot of the super-wise or meaningful things he said. It felt forced. There were a few other places where I just felt like the things the narrator was saying/thinking were a bit too suddenly insightful or perfect. It reminded me a little, oddly enough, of the TV show "Dawson's Creek," where you thought, "ok, some kids somewhere probably say some of these things some of the time, but no actual kids are like this." [I don't need any snarky comments about the fact that I know that about "Dawson's Creek.]

So it was a good book, and I enjoyed reading it, and the last couple of chapters made me want to cry because, though in a different context, they made me think of my own struggles to figure out how to be part of my family but not stay in a crappy, poor town in Oklahoma. I just don't think it's the greatest young adult novel I've ever read.
]]> 26397063 Sat, 05 Jul 2008 19:04:10 -0700
I thought some of the plot lines tied and story arcs tied together a bit too nicely for my taste--I know it's a literary conceit and that's the whole point and all, but still, having ever character re-enter each other's lives later on was a little forced to me--and I didn't like it was well as his other novel, "A Thousand Splendid Sons," but it's still excellent.]]>
author: Khaled Hosseini
name: Gwen
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 06/08
date added: 07/05/08
shelves:
review:
I'm probably the last person I know who hadn't read this book yet, but I was in a Wal-Mart in a rural area of Oklahoma, desperate for a book, and saw it. There's not much point in me saying more than everyone else has already said--it's good. You see the slow descent of Afghanistan into absolute lawlessness and brutality, the initial relief when the Taliban takes over, and the horror when their true character is revealed--as well as the insanity of giving teenagers guns and allowing them to exert complete control over others based on their beliefs in their own superior morality.

I thought some of the plot lines tied and story arcs tied together a bit too nicely for my taste--I know it's a literary conceit and that's the whole point and all, but still, having ever character re-enter each other's lives later on was a little forced to me--and I didn't like it was well as his other novel, "A Thousand Splendid Sons," but it's still excellent.
]]> 15665843 Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:58:03 -0700
It's a fast read, and while there were passages where I felt she was a little over-the-top, overall it was a fun little novel to read. If, you know, reading about young girls becoming prostitutes and using drugs can in any way be fun.]]>
author: Heather O'Neill
name: Gwen
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 06/08
date added: 07/05/08
shelves:
review:
My friend Kristina suggested this book, and I enjoyed it. The author is a contributor to "This American Life" on NPR and had a rough childhood, which she uses for the basis of this book, set in Montreal. It's about a pre-teen girl living with her junkie dad as their life slowly descends into utter chaos. The kids in the book live mostly unsupervised and make bad or self-destructive decisions as they try to take care of themselves in the absence of stable adults, or of exploitative or abusive adults in their lives.

It's a fast read, and while there were passages where I felt she was a little over-the-top, overall it was a fun little novel to read. If, you know, reading about young girls becoming prostitutes and using drugs can in any way be fun.
]]> 23708050 Wed, 04 Jun 2008 14:18:09 -0700
But it wasn't as good as I was hoping. There are a few excellent essays--I particularly enjoyed one by a male-to-female transsexual about the problems of being too big to buy women's clothing. But too many of them fell into that "I'm cooler than you because I was around when punks wore safety pins because their clothes were literally falling apart and we shopped at thrift stores because we were poor and living in squats on the Lower East Side while shooting heroin and being very, very countercultural and cool." While I'm not into labels or haute couture, it seems a little sad to be in your 50s or 60s and still sniffy about how much cooler you are because you dug your shirt out of a dumpster.

That said, I'm a total hypocrite because I'm always so proud of how cheap the clothes I wear are. And I would totally dig a cool shirt out of a dumpster. I would not, however, wear polyester '60s-era dresses just because I found them cheap at Salvation Army.

So basically, there are a few gems but a lot of skip-able essays here.]]>
author: Michelle Tea
name: Gwen
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 05/08
date added: 06/04/08
shelves:
review:
I was really excited about this book because I love fashion but not in a name-brand labels kind of way, and this was a bunch of essays from indie-hipster-type women, transsexuals, and others about their love of, hate for, and struggles with fashion.

But it wasn't as good as I was hoping. There are a few excellent essays--I particularly enjoyed one by a male-to-female transsexual about the problems of being too big to buy women's clothing. But too many of them fell into that "I'm cooler than you because I was around when punks wore safety pins because their clothes were literally falling apart and we shopped at thrift stores because we were poor and living in squats on the Lower East Side while shooting heroin and being very, very countercultural and cool." While I'm not into labels or haute couture, it seems a little sad to be in your 50s or 60s and still sniffy about how much cooler you are because you dug your shirt out of a dumpster.

That said, I'm a total hypocrite because I'm always so proud of how cheap the clothes I wear are. And I would totally dig a cool shirt out of a dumpster. I would not, however, wear polyester '60s-era dresses just because I found them cheap at Salvation Army.

So basically, there are a few gems but a lot of skip-able essays here.
]]> 21532643 Wed, 21 May 2008 17:46:57 -0700
I finished the book, and it was ok, but for some reason I just never found it that funny. Something about the tone, I think--just not quite funny, although describing funny events. I dunno.]]>
author: Terry Ryan
name: Gwen
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at: 05/08
date added: 05/21/08
shelves:
review:
Something about this book didn't quite grab me. It's an interesting enough story--a mom who repeatedly won those corporate-sponsored contests in the '50s, always winning a little money or stuff just when her family most needed it (and with an alcoholic dad and 10 kids, they were always on the brink of ruin).

I finished the book, and it was ok, but for some reason I just never found it that funny. Something about the tone, I think--just not quite funny, although describing funny events. I dunno.
]]> 21532586 Wed, 21 May 2008 10:40:04 -0700
Her specific interest is in the archeology of Israel--how various groups have searched for archaeological remains to justify their presence in the the area or to reaffirm stories in the Old and New Testaments. Christians were interested in finding evidence that the Bible is true. Zionists wanted to find evidence that Palestine is the historical home of the Jews, who have a just claim to it.

This led to a circular type of reasoning. For instance, an archaeologist might be looking for signs that a story from the Bible about Jerusalem being burned down is true. Ashes discovered during an excavation are then interpreted as coming from that event. In turn, the ashes "prove" that the story is true. No one notices the sloppy science here. A layer of ashes could be from any number of causes--possibly a specific fire mentioned in the Bible, but also from any number of other causes (accidental, another intentional fire, etc.). Carbon dating does not allow specific-enough dating to be able to say that ashes came from a particular fire in a particular decade. But because the researchers had a PRE-EXISTING narrative to draw on (that is, they were looking for evidence that a story was true), they failed to consider other possible explanations and did not notice the circular reasoning involved ("we know these ashes are from this fire because the Bible says so, and we know the Bible is true because we've found the evidence here").

The author discusses how archeology became part of the Israeli national consciousness--there was a fairly obsessive desire to find evidence of historic Jewish presence in the area and to ignore other groups. Excavation techniques often involve bulldozing off "older refuse"--meaning anything past about 100 A.D. This would be completely unacceptable as an excavation practice in any other context and has been greatly criticized both within and outside Israel. It destroys huge amounts of historical artifacts, particularly of Arab, Muslim, and other cultures. From the perspective of creating an historical Jewish claim to Palestine, evidence of later cultures are either unimportant or actually detrimental, since it makes it clear other groups have lived in the area for long periods of time as well. The effect of all this is that certain types of historical evidence are destroyed in the search for others.

Of course the critiques could be made of ANY archaeological dig, particularly those where a pre-existing narrative exists to influence interpretations, or of science in general (the idea that we INTERPRET data in certain ways which may have more to do with our own prejudices than with any "truth").

The book, growing out of a dissertation, is of course academic-y and not the easiest read; I skipped a lot of the theoretical parts and read the parts about actual examples of excavations or interpretations of them. ]]>
author: Nadia Abu El-Haj
name: Gwen
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 05/08
date added: 05/21/08
shelves:
review:
This is a very interesting book by an anthropologist who takes a look at how we create "facts" from archaeological finds. It's sort of a sociology of science perspective, meaning science isn't about just objectively finding "facts" but rather is influenced by social conventions, biases, and INTERPRETATIONS of data. Science doesn't just "find" the "truth"--it creates (a version of) it.

Her specific interest is in the archeology of Israel--how various groups have searched for archaeological remains to justify their presence in the the area or to reaffirm stories in the Old and New Testaments. Christians were interested in finding evidence that the Bible is true. Zionists wanted to find evidence that Palestine is the historical home of the Jews, who have a just claim to it.

This led to a circular type of reasoning. For instance, an archaeologist might be looking for signs that a story from the Bible about Jerusalem being burned down is true. Ashes discovered during an excavation are then interpreted as coming from that event. In turn, the ashes "prove" that the story is true. No one notices the sloppy science here. A layer of ashes could be from any number of causes--possibly a specific fire mentioned in the Bible, but also from any number of other causes (accidental, another intentional fire, etc.). Carbon dating does not allow specific-enough dating to be able to say that ashes came from a particular fire in a particular decade. But because the researchers had a PRE-EXISTING narrative to draw on (that is, they were looking for evidence that a story was true), they failed to consider other possible explanations and did not notice the circular reasoning involved ("we know these ashes are from this fire because the Bible says so, and we know the Bible is true because we've found the evidence here").

The author discusses how archeology became part of the Israeli national consciousness--there was a fairly obsessive desire to find evidence of historic Jewish presence in the area and to ignore other groups. Excavation techniques often involve bulldozing off "older refuse"--meaning anything past about 100 A.D. This would be completely unacceptable as an excavation practice in any other context and has been greatly criticized both within and outside Israel. It destroys huge amounts of historical artifacts, particularly of Arab, Muslim, and other cultures. From the perspective of creating an historical Jewish claim to Palestine, evidence of later cultures are either unimportant or actually detrimental, since it makes it clear other groups have lived in the area for long periods of time as well. The effect of all this is that certain types of historical evidence are destroyed in the search for others.

Of course the critiques could be made of ANY archaeological dig, particularly those where a pre-existing narrative exists to influence interpretations, or of science in general (the idea that we INTERPRET data in certain ways which may have more to do with our own prejudices than with any "truth").

The book, growing out of a dissertation, is of course academic-y and not the easiest read; I skipped a lot of the theoretical parts and read the parts about actual examples of excavations or interpretations of them.
]]> 20071730 Thu, 15 May 2008 16:31:56 -0700
The novel is all the more gut-wrenching because it's set among real-life events and many, many women certainly faced lives much like those of the women in the book.

FYI, the author also wrote "The Kite Runner," the basis of the movie that came out last year and was so controversial in Afghanistan that the young stars had to be taken out of the country to ensure their safety.]]>
author: Khaled Hosseini
name: Gwen
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 05/15/08
shelves:
review:
I assume I don't have to tell you that a book about women in Afghanistan from the 1960s until 2003 is going to be pretty depressing. This novel follows two women whose lives become intertwined and the ways their lives are changed and often torn apart by forces beyond their control--a parent's rejection, the bombing of Kabul as warlords fought for control, the rise of the Taliban, forced marriages, and so on. The brutality of the women's lives, and the assumption that life is an unbroken series of suffering and heartache and cruelty, is horrifying. At the same time, the book is extremely readable and draws you in immediately--by page 3 or 4 I was already hooked. And the end was a surprise. There were a couple of places where I found myself getting all misty-eyed, and I'm not a hugely emotional person that way.

The novel is all the more gut-wrenching because it's set among real-life events and many, many women certainly faced lives much like those of the women in the book.

FYI, the author also wrote "The Kite Runner," the basis of the movie that came out last year and was so controversial in Afghanistan that the young stars had to be taken out of the country to ensure their safety.
]]> 21532626 Wed, 14 May 2008 06:54:29 -0700
The book covers everything from the use of cadavers in anatomy labs, to the lab in Tennessee where bodies are allowed to rot so forensic experts can learn about the stages of decomposition so they can more accurately estimate how long a body has been dead, to the use of bodies in crash tests. It's honestly fascinating. And Roach's writing had me giggling to myself at several points.

I have to say, though, that the various products made of human tissues/fluids that people have taken through the years as cures for various ailments is rather distressing. What "clear liquid feces" is, I cannot say.]]>
author: Mary Roach
name: Gwen
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 05/08
date added: 05/14/08
shelves:
review:
This is one of the most entertaining books I have read in a long time. Even if it is about an entirely disgusting topic that at times made me squirm--and I'm a person who has seen tons of rotting animal carcasses and I'm less squeamish than most people.

The book covers everything from the use of cadavers in anatomy labs, to the lab in Tennessee where bodies are allowed to rot so forensic experts can learn about the stages of decomposition so they can more accurately estimate how long a body has been dead, to the use of bodies in crash tests. It's honestly fascinating. And Roach's writing had me giggling to myself at several points.

I have to say, though, that the various products made of human tissues/fluids that people have taken through the years as cures for various ailments is rather distressing. What "clear liquid feces" is, I cannot say.
]]> 21532653 Mon, 12 May 2008 02:17:09 -0700
I kept thinking of the case of Genie, the "wild child" found living in an attic, devoid of all socialization, in the 1970s. A group of researchers took her in and intended to study her acquisition of language and whether a child who had no early socialization could learn to speak. They obviously cared for her, but at the same time they also wanted to build their careers off of her. When it became clear they'd gotten all the useful data they were going to--and that her language acquisition had stalled--she entered foster care and moved from one bad situation to another, being abused at several points. She eventually died in a nursing home. Whenever I read about that case, I get really angry at a group of people who seemed to forget that their research subject was a PERSON, not just part of a research project.

And I felt the same way with Nim. The practices of the researchers, and their complete inability to see that chimps suffer psychological distress and depression, is hard to contemplate. Chimps were sent to "foster families" who had no training and were completely unprepared for what having a chimp would be like as it got older and became aggressive and destructive. Once researchers were done with them, they dumped them back where they bought them--often from the Institute for Primate Studies at the University of Oklahoma, where I got my bachelor's degree--or looked for sanctuaries to take them.

Nim was raised in a human family for a couple of years and then remained in a human environment. He learned to sign many words and was very attached to the people around him. But eventually he was sent back to IPS, where he had to live in a cage much of the time. Then he was sold to a medical research facility. An outcry eventually saved him from being injected with hepatitis and he ended up in a sanctuary in Texas in less than ideal conditions, but at least with human interaction and chimp companions until he died.

The whole book made me really horrified about chimp testing--not that I'd never thought about it before, but not recently--and the way they're repeatedly tested on until they die from depression or infections in research labs or are shipped somewhere for "retirement." I do not consider myself an animal rights activist, but I guess I'd fall into the "animal advocate" category, and I can't help feeling that there's something wrong when people can accustom an animal to human interaction and attention and then abandon it to whatever fate it might encounter when it's no longer useful for publishing and getting tenure.]]>
author: Elizabeth Hess
name: Gwen
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 05/08
date added: 05/12/08
shelves:
review:
Well, hell. I assume it won't come as much of a surprise to you that a book about a chimp raised by humans might turn out to be really depressing.

I kept thinking of the case of Genie, the "wild child" found living in an attic, devoid of all socialization, in the 1970s. A group of researchers took her in and intended to study her acquisition of language and whether a child who had no early socialization could learn to speak. They obviously cared for her, but at the same time they also wanted to build their careers off of her. When it became clear they'd gotten all the useful data they were going to--and that her language acquisition had stalled--she entered foster care and moved from one bad situation to another, being abused at several points. She eventually died in a nursing home. Whenever I read about that case, I get really angry at a group of people who seemed to forget that their research subject was a PERSON, not just part of a research project.

And I felt the same way with Nim. The practices of the researchers, and their complete inability to see that chimps suffer psychological distress and depression, is hard to contemplate. Chimps were sent to "foster families" who had no training and were completely unprepared for what having a chimp would be like as it got older and became aggressive and destructive. Once researchers were done with them, they dumped them back where they bought them--often from the Institute for Primate Studies at the University of Oklahoma, where I got my bachelor's degree--or looked for sanctuaries to take them.

Nim was raised in a human family for a couple of years and then remained in a human environment. He learned to sign many words and was very attached to the people around him. But eventually he was sent back to IPS, where he had to live in a cage much of the time. Then he was sold to a medical research facility. An outcry eventually saved him from being injected with hepatitis and he ended up in a sanctuary in Texas in less than ideal conditions, but at least with human interaction and chimp companions until he died.

The whole book made me really horrified about chimp testing--not that I'd never thought about it before, but not recently--and the way they're repeatedly tested on until they die from depression or infections in research labs or are shipped somewhere for "retirement." I do not consider myself an animal rights activist, but I guess I'd fall into the "animal advocate" category, and I can't help feeling that there's something wrong when people can accustom an animal to human interaction and attention and then abandon it to whatever fate it might encounter when it's no longer useful for publishing and getting tenure.
]]> 20071746 Tue, 06 May 2008 20:24:33 -0700
author: Henry James
name: Gwen
average rating: 3.66
book published: 1986
rating: 3
read at: 05/08
date added: 05/06/08
shelves:
review:
I feel sort of "meh" about this book. Parts of it were the sort of Henry James writing I like--incisive ridiculing of the rich. But I never cared about the bigger meaning, other than it being funny at times, so in the end I just can't care too much about it. And I'm a person who admits liking books that make fun of the 19th century aristocracy.
]]> 20071824 Thu, 24 Apr 2008 22:26:35 -0700
The book follows a group of steer wrestlers around the rodeo circuit in 2004 as they all try to make the National Finals in Vegas. I grew up around cowboys and rodeos, but even I didn't know how insane the schedules of full-time cowboys are. They might drive from California to Denver overnight, just to spend 5 minutes in the arena, miss their steer, and head out to another rodeo somewhere else. Rodeo is a lot like gambling--it's irrational and you spend way more than you'll ever make. In addition, your body gets torn to shreds along the way. I know these kinds of guys--they can't quite take a regular 9-to-5 job for regular wages, so they go broke taking one more shot at it...every year.

The book is a fun read and you can't help but like the characters and root for them to make it to the NFR. At the same time, you're not going to get any analysis from the author--no discussion, for instance, of the particular type of high-risk masculinity on display here (huge amounts of alcohol, not wearing seatbelts, etc.). Women exist in the book in two roles: the long-suffering but mostly invisible wife/girlfriend who takes care of the family at home while the men go out and spend huge amounts of money and time on the road, or nameless women who exist just as sex objects. The author doesn't question the male privilege at play here--that women should take responsibility for kids AND an income while their husbands hang out in the country version of a frat house will into their 30s (or even 40s). This is definitely the kind of group among whom women are either respectable women who they marry, or those who are just their for the men to ogle, laugh at, try to have sex with, and then forget about.

If you can take it for what it is, it's a quick, engaging read that will leave those not familiar with rodeo wondering why the hell anyone would do it.]]>
author: Ty Phillips
name: Gwen
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/24/08
shelves:
review:
I have to admit that I liked this book more than I wish I did. I can't help it--I love rodeos!

The book follows a group of steer wrestlers around the rodeo circuit in 2004 as they all try to make the National Finals in Vegas. I grew up around cowboys and rodeos, but even I didn't know how insane the schedules of full-time cowboys are. They might drive from California to Denver overnight, just to spend 5 minutes in the arena, miss their steer, and head out to another rodeo somewhere else. Rodeo is a lot like gambling--it's irrational and you spend way more than you'll ever make. In addition, your body gets torn to shreds along the way. I know these kinds of guys--they can't quite take a regular 9-to-5 job for regular wages, so they go broke taking one more shot at it...every year.

The book is a fun read and you can't help but like the characters and root for them to make it to the NFR. At the same time, you're not going to get any analysis from the author--no discussion, for instance, of the particular type of high-risk masculinity on display here (huge amounts of alcohol, not wearing seatbelts, etc.). Women exist in the book in two roles: the long-suffering but mostly invisible wife/girlfriend who takes care of the family at home while the men go out and spend huge amounts of money and time on the road, or nameless women who exist just as sex objects. The author doesn't question the male privilege at play here--that women should take responsibility for kids AND an income while their husbands hang out in the country version of a frat house will into their 30s (or even 40s). This is definitely the kind of group among whom women are either respectable women who they marry, or those who are just their for the men to ogle, laugh at, try to have sex with, and then forget about.

If you can take it for what it is, it's a quick, engaging read that will leave those not familiar with rodeo wondering why the hell anyone would do it.
]]> 20071672 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:04:44 -0700
Her father, who raises her alone, thinks she's a terribly disappointment--first, she's a girl, and then she's dull. He mocks her and clearly doesn't think much about her. And her suitor is only interested in her money, which her father threatens to disinherit her of if she marries him.

What's interesting about the novel is that you come to sympathize with the heroine even though there's nothing particularly appealing about her. She may not be smart or interesting, but she refuses to give up her integrity or to even appear to do so. In the end she's the only really decent character in the book and it becomes clear she's been underestimated by everyone in her life.

I have to say, though, that while her dad is uncaring and mean, he's also hysterical.]]>
author: Henry James
name: Gwen
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/21/08
shelves:
review:
If you like sarcastic depictions of 19th century life among the relatively rich, which I do, you'll probably enjoy Washington Square. The strange thing about it is that the heroine isn't really all that interesting--her only real personality characteristics are that she's very loyal, fair, and kind. She's not funny or witty or smart.

Her father, who raises her alone, thinks she's a terribly disappointment--first, she's a girl, and then she's dull. He mocks her and clearly doesn't think much about her. And her suitor is only interested in her money, which her father threatens to disinherit her of if she marries him.

What's interesting about the novel is that you come to sympathize with the heroine even though there's nothing particularly appealing about her. She may not be smart or interesting, but she refuses to give up her integrity or to even appear to do so. In the end she's the only really decent character in the book and it becomes clear she's been underestimated by everyone in her life.

I have to say, though, that while her dad is uncaring and mean, he's also hysterical.
]]> 20071708 Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:32:32 -0700
Parts of the book seem filtered through later events--such as her ability to tell when Courtney was just an infant that there was something strange about her. But the book isn't just--or primarily--about her daughter's life. She discussed her own upbringing by her adoptive parents, including her lecherous adopted father and unaffectionate mother. She later goes through a predictable cycle of dependence on men, wanting to find someone to save her and give her life stability and meaning. She moved almost immediately from one relationship to the next. She has trouble getting over her Catholic upbringing enough to use birth control, so she has 6 children along the way, often at inopportune times.

On the one hand, given her upbringing, including sexual molestation by her adopted father and the messed-up relationship between her adoptive parents, I can't blame her too much for taking a while to get her life together and for making many bad decisions along the way. At the same time, it's hard not to be horrified at some of those decisions, particularly giving her adopted son, who she raised for 3 years, to another family he'd only known a couple of months. And the constant uprooting of the kids as they moved to be with one man after another was surely traumatizing.

Under other circumstances, I'd probably be doubtful of her account of Courtney's behavior--it might seem like a justification for sending her to live with friends, a stepfather, and then eventually to a group home. And I'm sure the instability of her homelife didn't help Courtney any. But given what we know of her, I'm willing to give her mom the benefit of the doubt and bet that Courtney was an extremely difficult child to deal with even under the best of circumstances and that sending her to a group home probably seemed like the only solution at the time. Honestly, it's hard for me to quite grasp that she has a mother and siblings who probably act somewhat normally and have to hear about her antics second-hand through the media. And I can't even imagine what it would be like to know she's raising your grandchild.

So overall it's a short, enjoyable read, even if maybe she lets herself off the hook a little too easily.]]>
author: Linda Carroll
name: Gwen
average rating: 3.28
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/16/08
shelves:
review:
This memoir was written by Courtney Love's mother. It turns out the whole family was a bit insane, though none approached Courtney's levels.

Parts of the book seem filtered through later events--such as her ability to tell when Courtney was just an infant that there was something strange about her. But the book isn't just--or primarily--about her daughter's life. She discussed her own upbringing by her adoptive parents, including her lecherous adopted father and unaffectionate mother. She later goes through a predictable cycle of dependence on men, wanting to find someone to save her and give her life stability and meaning. She moved almost immediately from one relationship to the next. She has trouble getting over her Catholic upbringing enough to use birth control, so she has 6 children along the way, often at inopportune times.

On the one hand, given her upbringing, including sexual molestation by her adopted father and the messed-up relationship between her adoptive parents, I can't blame her too much for taking a while to get her life together and for making many bad decisions along the way. At the same time, it's hard not to be horrified at some of those decisions, particularly giving her adopted son, who she raised for 3 years, to another family he'd only known a couple of months. And the constant uprooting of the kids as they moved to be with one man after another was surely traumatizing.

Under other circumstances, I'd probably be doubtful of her account of Courtney's behavior--it might seem like a justification for sending her to live with friends, a stepfather, and then eventually to a group home. And I'm sure the instability of her homelife didn't help Courtney any. But given what we know of her, I'm willing to give her mom the benefit of the doubt and bet that Courtney was an extremely difficult child to deal with even under the best of circumstances and that sending her to a group home probably seemed like the only solution at the time. Honestly, it's hard for me to quite grasp that she has a mother and siblings who probably act somewhat normally and have to hear about her antics second-hand through the media. And I can't even imagine what it would be like to know she's raising your grandchild.

So overall it's a short, enjoyable read, even if maybe she lets herself off the hook a little too easily.
]]> 13749210 Sun, 13 Apr 2008 13:32:34 -0700
But in the '70s and '80s new leaders emerged who were much less committed to non-violent tactics and believed attempts to connect their movement to a broader anti-war and anti-violence stance turned off conservative voters. Evangelical Christians took up the cause and soon dominated the movement. The book chronicles the rise and fall of several important leaders (almost all male) who helped form the anti-abortion movement most familiar to the American public.

As a core of fervent Evangelical Christians took over leadership of the movement, rhetoric hardened and civil disobedience displaced mere sit-ins; protests changed from a symbolic display to actually attempting to stop individual women from entering an abortion clinic. Randall Terry and Operation Rescue especially engaged in these tactics, as well as entering clinics and destroying property. Increasingly, top anti-abortion leaders also refused to denounce those who engaged in violence, including the murders of several doctors who provided abortions in the early 1990s.

This book came out in 1998, when Operation Rescue had disbanded, violent abortion protests had generally ceased, and Bill Clinton was the president. This affects the authors' conclusions considerably--the epilogue describes the "end" of the anti-abortion movement and the emergence of an American "consensus" that abortion should be legal but regulated. An unknowing reader could come away assuming there would continue to be legal skirmishes and perhaps protests, but that in general the fight over abortion had been decided and the disgrace and fall of Operation Rescue marked the end of the anti-abortion movement. I wonder what a new edition of the book would include as an update.]]>
author: James Risen
name: Gwen
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1998
rating: 5
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/13/08
shelves:
review:
This is an excellent, non-partisan history of the anti-abortion movement that culminated in Operation Rescue in the early 1990s. The authors trace the beginnings of the organized anti-abortion movement to the late 1960s and early 1970s. Early activists were mostly Catholic and often connected their opposition to abortion to a general opposition to violence and killing--they often had an anti-war and anti-death penalty stance as well. The early leaders urged the use of non-violent tactics such as sit-ins and saw their movement as an extension of other progressive social movements.

But in the '70s and '80s new leaders emerged who were much less committed to non-violent tactics and believed attempts to connect their movement to a broader anti-war and anti-violence stance turned off conservative voters. Evangelical Christians took up the cause and soon dominated the movement. The book chronicles the rise and fall of several important leaders (almost all male) who helped form the anti-abortion movement most familiar to the American public.

As a core of fervent Evangelical Christians took over leadership of the movement, rhetoric hardened and civil disobedience displaced mere sit-ins; protests changed from a symbolic display to actually attempting to stop individual women from entering an abortion clinic. Randall Terry and Operation Rescue especially engaged in these tactics, as well as entering clinics and destroying property. Increasingly, top anti-abortion leaders also refused to denounce those who engaged in violence, including the murders of several doctors who provided abortions in the early 1990s.

This book came out in 1998, when Operation Rescue had disbanded, violent abortion protests had generally ceased, and Bill Clinton was the president. This affects the authors' conclusions considerably--the epilogue describes the "end" of the anti-abortion movement and the emergence of an American "consensus" that abortion should be legal but regulated. An unknowing reader could come away assuming there would continue to be legal skirmishes and perhaps protests, but that in general the fight over abortion had been decided and the disgrace and fall of Operation Rescue marked the end of the anti-abortion movement. I wonder what a new edition of the book would include as an update.
]]> 19771089 Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:00:44 -0700
I know it's not hip or cool to like Austen right now--all the manners, and she's become popular to the masses, and she isn't all post-modern. But I adore "Pride and Prejudice," and I presume I'll read it several more times before I die. I love her wit, the lively female characters, and the fact that no one in the novel is without flaws--the major difference between characters we like and those we don't is that the ones we like become AWARE of their flaws and endeavor to change them. And really, can you ask more of people than that?

So go read your Salmon Rushdie. I'll get the BBC version of P&P again and be just as happy as the first time.]]>
author: Jane Austen
name: Gwen
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1813
rating: 5
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/08/08
shelves:
review:
I picked this up after finishing "Reading Lolita in Tehran," since the discussion of Austen in that book made me want to read it again. This is either the 4th or 5th time I've watched it, plus the multiple times I've seen the BBC movie.

I know it's not hip or cool to like Austen right now--all the manners, and she's become popular to the masses, and she isn't all post-modern. But I adore "Pride and Prejudice," and I presume I'll read it several more times before I die. I love her wit, the lively female characters, and the fact that no one in the novel is without flaws--the major difference between characters we like and those we don't is that the ones we like become AWARE of their flaws and endeavor to change them. And really, can you ask more of people than that?

So go read your Salmon Rushdie. I'll get the BBC version of P&P again and be just as happy as the first time.
]]> 15665827 Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:55:44 -0700
1) It made me pause and think about what a joy it is to be able to lose yourself in a world someone else had made using nothing but words.

2) Iranian professors have a level of dignity, integrity, and courage I can't even imagine. When we talk about infringement on intellectual freedom in the U.S., we have no idea. ]]>
author: Azar Nafisi
name: Gwen
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 03/08
date added: 04/08/08
shelves:
review:
Everyone has already read or heard about this book, so I'll just say two things:

1) It made me pause and think about what a joy it is to be able to lose yourself in a world someone else had made using nothing but words.

2) Iranian professors have a level of dignity, integrity, and courage I can't even imagine. When we talk about infringement on intellectual freedom in the U.S., we have no idea.
]]> 13076732 Fri, 28 Mar 2008 18:58:44 -0700
Not the most amazing book ever, but definitely worth reading if you'd like to know a little more about a lot of the most significant events affecting the African continent in the last 40 years. The chapters about the Sahel and the Tuareg are particularly useful as background on the problems in Darfur.]]>
author: Ryszard Kapuscinski
name: Gwen
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 03/08
date added: 03/28/08
shelves:
review:
This is an interesting, chronologically-ordered set of essays the author wrote during his years as a correspondent based in Africa writing for a Polish newspaper. His first-hand accounts of the surreal and often horrifying events surrounding the rise and fall of successive governments were really informative--I learned a lot of things about Uganda, the Tuareg, the Sudan, and Liberia I had been totally clueless about before.

Not the most amazing book ever, but definitely worth reading if you'd like to know a little more about a lot of the most significant events affecting the African continent in the last 40 years. The chapters about the Sahel and the Tuareg are particularly useful as background on the problems in Darfur.
]]> 13748988 Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:35:15 -0800
The problem I had with the book was the portrayal of the female character. This isn't some big rant about how no woman should be portrayed as wanting a man, or that no woman is really like that. I am sure there are women who stand at the window thinking wistfully about the pure comfort of passivity, how much better life is when you feel protected by a man, and so on. It's just that I'm not one of them, and I can't imagine saying or thinking those things, so it's always jarring whenever I encounter representations like that--they don't ring true to ME.

I feel like I've come across several characters like this lately--the smart, educated woman who revels in being passive, who admits to wanting a man more than anything else, who isn't whole without one. In this one, in one of her two paths the woman ends up, and stays, with an emotionally abusive, controlling, extremely jealous man who she can't leave because she LOVES HIS DICK (many paragraphs throughout the book are devoted to the character ruminating about how much she loves it and knows she will love it forever and as a result can never leave him). I mean, ok, fine, I guess. But really? I dunno.

In a scene fairly early in the book she starts to masturbate but then thinks about how pathetic and unfulfilling female orgasms are compared to men's--not even worth having, really.

I don't really know what's going on with all this, and I read it for fun and don't feel like analyzing it any more. I love the story overall, I just couldn't quite get over this vague jarring sensation at various points.]]>
author: Lionel Shriver
name: Gwen
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 02/08
date added: 02/28/08
shelves:
review:
This book was widely hailed as the best book of 2007, and in general I can see why. The main character has to make a decision--to kiss or not kiss a man other than her boyfriend of 10 years, Lawrence. From that point on, the book has two versions of each chapter, each following one of the paths her life could take at that point. It's fascinating to follow the different stories at the same time. And the idea is that there isn't one "best" choice--that throughout our lives we constantly face choices, and neither is perfectly good or bad; no matter which we choose, it's likely that we'll end up ok, though suffering various pains and traumas along the way. Throughout the book scenes are repeated, but come out slightly differently, depending on which path you're reading.

The problem I had with the book was the portrayal of the female character. This isn't some big rant about how no woman should be portrayed as wanting a man, or that no woman is really like that. I am sure there are women who stand at the window thinking wistfully about the pure comfort of passivity, how much better life is when you feel protected by a man, and so on. It's just that I'm not one of them, and I can't imagine saying or thinking those things, so it's always jarring whenever I encounter representations like that--they don't ring true to ME.

I feel like I've come across several characters like this lately--the smart, educated woman who revels in being passive, who admits to wanting a man more than anything else, who isn't whole without one. In this one, in one of her two paths the woman ends up, and stays, with an emotionally abusive, controlling, extremely jealous man who she can't leave because she LOVES HIS DICK (many paragraphs throughout the book are devoted to the character ruminating about how much she loves it and knows she will love it forever and as a result can never leave him). I mean, ok, fine, I guess. But really? I dunno.

In a scene fairly early in the book she starts to masturbate but then thinks about how pathetic and unfulfilling female orgasms are compared to men's--not even worth having, really.

I don't really know what's going on with all this, and I read it for fun and don't feel like analyzing it any more. I love the story overall, I just couldn't quite get over this vague jarring sensation at various points.
]]> 13749018 Wed, 20 Feb 2008 07:35:24 -0800
And Thyre was a WEIRD kid. Just weird. I mean, yeah, I wanted to have a circus act where I'd train my cows to do tricks, thus saving them from slaughter (b/c who could eat a brilliant cow that jumped through hoops of fire?), but she out-weirds me. There are lots of similarities, though--we both, despite being dorky, weird, unpopular poor kids, got the idea to run for student government. She won. I...didn't. I feel like if Thyre and I hung out, we'd spend an evening saying, "Did you ever..." and then the other one would shriek "Oh, holy crap, I TOTALLY..."

I didn't have her penchant for finding porn. I don't think I found porn even once in my entire childhood.

And when I read the acknowledgments I discovered she's married to Andy Richter! Who knew? Hopefully I'm destined to marry a famous comedian/actor. And hopefully it's Dmetri Martin from "The Daily Show."]]>
author: Sarah Thyre
name: Gwen
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 02/08
date added: 02/20/08
shelves:
review:
This is one of those memoirs that brought back memories from my childhood that really I could have done without, but made me feel a little better--at least I'm not the only person whose dad put a bucket in the van for use as a toilet on family trips. The author's family moved from Kansas City to Louisiana when she was a kid, and she had the typical white-trash upbringing--mean father, weird Christian mom, crummy clothes, moments of suddenly realizing she's poor and people think she's trashy.

And Thyre was a WEIRD kid. Just weird. I mean, yeah, I wanted to have a circus act where I'd train my cows to do tricks, thus saving them from slaughter (b/c who could eat a brilliant cow that jumped through hoops of fire?), but she out-weirds me. There are lots of similarities, though--we both, despite being dorky, weird, unpopular poor kids, got the idea to run for student government. She won. I...didn't. I feel like if Thyre and I hung out, we'd spend an evening saying, "Did you ever..." and then the other one would shriek "Oh, holy crap, I TOTALLY..."

I didn't have her penchant for finding porn. I don't think I found porn even once in my entire childhood.

And when I read the acknowledgments I discovered she's married to Andy Richter! Who knew? Hopefully I'm destined to marry a famous comedian/actor. And hopefully it's Dmetri Martin from "The Daily Show."
]]> 14459625 Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:29:14 -0800
The last 30 pages or so were weird and seemed to come out of nowhere, but it's a cute little book.]]>
author: Elaine Dundy
name: Gwen
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 02/08
date added: 02/13/08
shelves:
review:
A cute, charming little novel about a bunch of Americans in Paris in the late 1950s. I kept being shocked by how sexually open it was, given it was written in 1958.

The last 30 pages or so were weird and seemed to come out of nowhere, but it's a cute little book.
]]> 14255112 Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:44:34 -0800
It turns out he was a real bastard--a greedy, manipulative bastard who set up the most brutal, horrific colonial regime in Africa. Apparently his entire reason for living was to amass wealth, both to live lavishly and to build lots of monuments and buy estates in France. And he decided that having a colony was the best way to get access to enormous amounts of money.

Basically, the Belgian Congo was a slave-labor state. Men were chained together and forced to carry heavy loads until they died from overwork and starvation. Women were held hostage to force their husbands to gather rubber. Brutal beatings, often causing death, were common. And Force Publique soldiers--those hired by the regime to enforce the rubber harvest requirements--had to account for every bullet they used by bringing back the right hand of the people they shot. Sometimes hands would be chopped off of living people to turn in for a reward. Kids had their limbs chopped off to punish their parents. And of course billions of dollars' worth of resources disappeared from the Congo, never to return.

As the author points out, when Joseph Conrad wrote "Heart of Darkness," he wasn't writing it as some type of rumination on human nature or the effects of power. He was writing a thinly-veiled account of the Belgian Congo, which he had visited and left in horror.

And yet all this has been forgotten. Museums in Belgium don't acknowledge this aspect of the colonial era--it's still treated as a great, humanitarian project to enlighten Africans and develop their economy. King Leopold is widely viewed as a great guy, despite being a perv who routinely had sex with young girls.

So about ten million Africans were killed through overwork, starvation, disease, and outright murder...and it's totally forgotten. That's damn depressing.]]>
author: Adam Hochschild
name: Gwen
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 02/08
date added: 02/05/08
shelves:
review:
Belgium isn't a country I think about much. It's so...I don't know. Unassuming? Bland? As for King Leopold, I can't say I ever had a single thought about him before reading this book. If you'd asked me where King Leopold was from, I could not have told you.

It turns out he was a real bastard--a greedy, manipulative bastard who set up the most brutal, horrific colonial regime in Africa. Apparently his entire reason for living was to amass wealth, both to live lavishly and to build lots of monuments and buy estates in France. And he decided that having a colony was the best way to get access to enormous amounts of money.

Basically, the Belgian Congo was a slave-labor state. Men were chained together and forced to carry heavy loads until they died from overwork and starvation. Women were held hostage to force their husbands to gather rubber. Brutal beatings, often causing death, were common. And Force Publique soldiers--those hired by the regime to enforce the rubber harvest requirements--had to account for every bullet they used by bringing back the right hand of the people they shot. Sometimes hands would be chopped off of living people to turn in for a reward. Kids had their limbs chopped off to punish their parents. And of course billions of dollars' worth of resources disappeared from the Congo, never to return.

As the author points out, when Joseph Conrad wrote "Heart of Darkness," he wasn't writing it as some type of rumination on human nature or the effects of power. He was writing a thinly-veiled account of the Belgian Congo, which he had visited and left in horror.

And yet all this has been forgotten. Museums in Belgium don't acknowledge this aspect of the colonial era--it's still treated as a great, humanitarian project to enlighten Africans and develop their economy. King Leopold is widely viewed as a great guy, despite being a perv who routinely had sex with young girls.

So about ten million Africans were killed through overwork, starvation, disease, and outright murder...and it's totally forgotten. That's damn depressing.
]]> 13748958 Fri, 01 Feb 2008 06:40:00 -0800
Until you read the introduction, in which you find out that over 100,000 German women were raped by Russian soldiers in the first couple of weeks after Berlin fell. Hitler, being a megalomaniac insane person, refused to evacuate women and children from the city as the Russians advanced, leaving them trapped and unable to get food or protection. They were already living in bombed-out buildings, scavenging for food, and then the Russians--who are all referred to as "Ivan"--show up.

The author keeps a heart-breakingly frank diary of what happens to her and those around her--the attempts to hide daughters in attics and crawl spaces, the fear of being caught in the stairway, efforts to make themselves look ugly, diseased, or as though they're menstruating. Group rapes are common. After a few days, a rapist who is "gentle" because she is so sore, or one who leaves behind money or food, stands out as a highlight of the day. After the brutal forcible rapes become less common, the more subtle form of rape occurs--the women try to align themselves with one particular Russian soldier to protect themselves from others, although there is no guarantee this will work--and of course their "voluntary" sexual relations with these men is not voluntary at all, since it's an effort to protect themselves from even worse sexual exploitation.

It's just mind-blowing to read her accounts--every time women who haven't seen each other in a while meet, the first questions is, "How many?", meaning "How many Russians raped you?" It becomes a joke--the women deal with the situation collectively by laughing at the rapists, saying they are horrible in bed or poorly endowed, congratulating themselves for being attractive enough to be raped, and so on.

Although of course it's not funny. They all worry about STDs and pregnancy, and women share information of doctors or remedies that might help should they encounter either. And the author recognizes that when the German men return, all the women will have to pretend that THEY PERSONALLY escaped the raping so their men will not see them as ruined. So they're victimized, but they already know that once life starts to return to "normal," they'll have to pretend it never happened. Their men's honor depends on them denying this horrible situation.

I loved reading the book--the author is insightful, witty, and informative--but it's definitely not FUN to read.]]>
author: Marta
name: Gwen
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 01/08
date added: 02/01/08
shelves:
review:
This is the diary a woman kept during the weeks when the Russians occupied Berlin in 1945. I knew nothing about this episode--when you learn about the end of WWII, it's all about liberating the concentration camps, not what happened to the Germans. I mean, it's hard to work up a lot of sympathy.

Until you read the introduction, in which you find out that over 100,000 German women were raped by Russian soldiers in the first couple of weeks after Berlin fell. Hitler, being a megalomaniac insane person, refused to evacuate women and children from the city as the Russians advanced, leaving them trapped and unable to get food or protection. They were already living in bombed-out buildings, scavenging for food, and then the Russians--who are all referred to as "Ivan"--show up.

The author keeps a heart-breakingly frank diary of what happens to her and those around her--the attempts to hide daughters in attics and crawl spaces, the fear of being caught in the stairway, efforts to make themselves look ugly, diseased, or as though they're menstruating. Group rapes are common. After a few days, a rapist who is "gentle" because she is so sore, or one who leaves behind money or food, stands out as a highlight of the day. After the brutal forcible rapes become less common, the more subtle form of rape occurs--the women try to align themselves with one particular Russian soldier to protect themselves from others, although there is no guarantee this will work--and of course their "voluntary" sexual relations with these men is not voluntary at all, since it's an effort to protect themselves from even worse sexual exploitation.

It's just mind-blowing to read her accounts--every time women who haven't seen each other in a while meet, the first questions is, "How many?", meaning "How many Russians raped you?" It becomes a joke--the women deal with the situation collectively by laughing at the rapists, saying they are horrible in bed or poorly endowed, congratulating themselves for being attractive enough to be raped, and so on.

Although of course it's not funny. They all worry about STDs and pregnancy, and women share information of doctors or remedies that might help should they encounter either. And the author recognizes that when the German men return, all the women will have to pretend that THEY PERSONALLY escaped the raping so their men will not see them as ruined. So they're victimized, but they already know that once life starts to return to "normal," they'll have to pretend it never happened. Their men's honor depends on them denying this horrible situation.

I loved reading the book--the author is insightful, witty, and informative--but it's definitely not FUN to read.
]]> 13749170 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:13:42 -0800
It starts off with the basic Catholic girl victimization--lecherous dad, pervy friends' dads, constant refrain that they are bad and slutty and tempt men, who can't help themselves, moving into the obligatory rape in early adulthood. And things don't get better from there.

It's horrifying to read how the intelligent, witty, educated author gets beaten to a pulp by her boyfriend on a ski trip, or how the man she turns to turns out to later be abusive himself--after he's her husband. You want to believe this could only happen to dumb women, or poor women, or women with no options, even though we all know this isn't true. Her successful, handsome doctor husband manipulates and abuses her, convincing her to get breast implants, pushing her to dress sexually at all times, and turning all this into signs of how passionate he is for her. It's gross, it's objectifying, and it's awful to read how she tried to justify it while looking down at other women who weren't "liberated."

And her sister Amy's life proves that things do not always turn out well--it's not always ok in the end, everyone doesn't always find someone who will love them. She gets out of an abusive marriage and goes years without any male attention. She goes back to grad school and ends up falling for a clearly opportunistic guy who lives off of her, goes out with other women, and won't have sex with her. And then he kills her. There is nothing happy here, no redeeming ending that shows that the human spirit can rise above. Nothing good ever happens to her, and then she's dead.

It's frustrating to read her journals--of COURSE he doesn't love you, you want to scream. NO, you SHOULDN'T wait for him to grow up! DON'T buy him a $36,000 truck! It seems incomprehensible, and it's easy to write her off as desperate and pathetic. And yet, why wouldn't she be? Life never gave her any indication that she deserved better, and she certainly never got anything better.

The author finally leaves her husband, just before Amy is killed, and she clearly hopes for better things, but this isn't one of those "I left my husband and now everything is better" things. It's just a sad, sad tale of how fucked up people's lives can be, even when they seem perfect on the outside.]]>
author: Janine Latus
name: Gwen
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 01/08
date added: 01/28/08
shelves:
review:
Wow. This book will make you decide to never, ever, ever affiliate yourself with any male ever again. It's one of the most depressing books I've ever read.

It starts off with the basic Catholic girl victimization--lecherous dad, pervy friends' dads, constant refrain that they are bad and slutty and tempt men, who can't help themselves, moving into the obligatory rape in early adulthood. And things don't get better from there.

It's horrifying to read how the intelligent, witty, educated author gets beaten to a pulp by her boyfriend on a ski trip, or how the man she turns to turns out to later be abusive himself--after he's her husband. You want to believe this could only happen to dumb women, or poor women, or women with no options, even though we all know this isn't true. Her successful, handsome doctor husband manipulates and abuses her, convincing her to get breast implants, pushing her to dress sexually at all times, and turning all this into signs of how passionate he is for her. It's gross, it's objectifying, and it's awful to read how she tried to justify it while looking down at other women who weren't "liberated."

And her sister Amy's life proves that things do not always turn out well--it's not always ok in the end, everyone doesn't always find someone who will love them. She gets out of an abusive marriage and goes years without any male attention. She goes back to grad school and ends up falling for a clearly opportunistic guy who lives off of her, goes out with other women, and won't have sex with her. And then he kills her. There is nothing happy here, no redeeming ending that shows that the human spirit can rise above. Nothing good ever happens to her, and then she's dead.

It's frustrating to read her journals--of COURSE he doesn't love you, you want to scream. NO, you SHOULDN'T wait for him to grow up! DON'T buy him a $36,000 truck! It seems incomprehensible, and it's easy to write her off as desperate and pathetic. And yet, why wouldn't she be? Life never gave her any indication that she deserved better, and she certainly never got anything better.

The author finally leaves her husband, just before Amy is killed, and she clearly hopes for better things, but this isn't one of those "I left my husband and now everything is better" things. It's just a sad, sad tale of how fucked up people's lives can be, even when they seem perfect on the outside.
]]> 13076678 Sun, 27 Jan 2008 09:15:17 -0800
His writing is hysterical--bitter, resentful, sarcastic, and paranoid. He's able to turn things that are really just horribly sad stories of mental anguish stories into tragicomic episodes of God being a prick.

Given that he admits to being a compulsive liar, half of the stuff in it might be made up, but who cares? It's fun to read. Combine it with "Jesus Land" or "Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son" if you want to compare the experiences of Jewish and evangelical Christian kids raised by crazy people.]]>
author: Shalom Auslander
name: Gwen
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 01/08
date added: 01/27/08
shelves:
review:
I loved loved LOVED this memoir. Auslander is very, very bitter that he was raised an Orthodox Jew with an abusive father and, in his opinion, an abusive Father as well. He sees God as an asshole who exists just to fuck with people, and he's pretty pissed off about it. And yet he's convinced God exists, so he lives in perpetual fear that God's about to kill his son or wife or otherwise take away something he loves, just to be a dick. And so he's in a constant discussion with God: "Fuck you. But please don't kill my son because I said that."

His writing is hysterical--bitter, resentful, sarcastic, and paranoid. He's able to turn things that are really just horribly sad stories of mental anguish stories into tragicomic episodes of God being a prick.

Given that he admits to being a compulsive liar, half of the stuff in it might be made up, but who cares? It's fun to read. Combine it with "Jesus Land" or "Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son" if you want to compare the experiences of Jewish and evangelical Christian kids raised by crazy people.
]]> 13076647 Sat, 26 Jan 2008 08:08:34 -0800
A couple of the short stories were quirky and somewhat enjoyable--one, about a man waking up to find his nose has disappeared and is now running around on someone else's face, reminded me of Kafka (and in fact might predate him--these stories were published in the 1830s and early 1840s, I don't remember when "The Cockroach" came out).

But I just can't figure out why this particular author/book would figure so prominently in a movie--I didn't get a lot out of it.]]>
author: Nikolai V. Gogol
name: Gwen
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1965
rating: 2
read at: 01/08
date added: 01/26/08
shelves:
review:
I picked this up because it featured prominently in the movie "The Namesake," which I watched recently and really liked. It turns out it wasn't really my thing.

A couple of the short stories were quirky and somewhat enjoyable--one, about a man waking up to find his nose has disappeared and is now running around on someone else's face, reminded me of Kafka (and in fact might predate him--these stories were published in the 1830s and early 1840s, I don't remember when "The Cockroach" came out).

But I just can't figure out why this particular author/book would figure so prominently in a movie--I didn't get a lot out of it.
]]> 13076707 Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:28:48 -0800
author: Elizabeth Berg
name: Gwen
average rating: 3.01
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 01/08
date added: 01/23/08
shelves:
review:
This historical novel recounts the courtship of Mary and Joseph and their marriage until Joseph's death, about 12 years after Jesus's birth. I had read rave reviews about it, but honestly, I thought it was kind of hokey. Mary's a budding feminist! Joseph says we'll never need to be concerned about nature, but Mary knows better--she was the first environmentalist! It just felt like it was trying too hard to be witty and cool and fit modern values into ancient Hebrew society. There were parts of it that I thought were ok, but overall I think it's overrated.
]]> 13076762 Wed, 23 Jan 2008 07:48:55 -0800