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April 30
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Andy
gave
 
to:
Disgrace (Paperback)
by J.M. Coetzee
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my rating:
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November 29
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New comment on Andy's review of
Slow Man
(see all 2 comments)
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October 02
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Andy
gave
to:
Wieland; or the Transformation and Memoirs of Carwin, The Biloquist (Oxford World's Classics)
by Charles Brockden Brown
bookshelves:
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my rating:
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Andy said:
"I'm not good at star ratings, if you haven't figured that out by now. Does this book warrant a five star rating in the way that I feel Cloud Atlas, or the Interpreters, or Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, would? Probably not, but in context, I think it d...more
I'm not good at star ratings, if you haven't figured that out by now. Does this book warrant a five star rating in the way that I feel Cloud Atlas, or the Interpreters, or Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, would? Probably not, but in context, I think it does.
Few people whom I have met or talked shop (about books) with have even heard of Charles Brockden Brown, or Wieland, and The Transformation and Memoirs of Carwin the Biloquist. It's a long title because it's actually two works in this volume. The first is Wieland. The second, The Transformation and Memoirs of Carwin the Biloquist, is a fictionally autobiographical account of the antagonist from Wieland. Having said that, it's only slightly a spoiler if you know what Biloquist means, or if you don't know and take the time to look it up.
Anyways, five stars, right? Here's why: First of all, the book is incredible; sort of a psychologically intense mystery that delves into questions of sanity, religion, morality, love...and sure, lots of novels and novelists have done this, but the reason why C. B. Brown stands out is that he was literally the first. Charles Brockden Brown was technically, or maybe officially, the first American novelist. This was published before all the other great American novels of the American novelist canon--in fact, some of the earlier writers of the 1800's, Herman Melville, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, among others, cited Brown, and Wieland in particular, as a significant influence. And while I think that in itself lends Brown some credibility as a significant novelist and writer, after being lectured at about all this in an early American novel class at UNC, when I read the book for myself I found it was one of the most compelling novels I've ever read....less
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September 19
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Andy
gave
to:
Gob's Grief: A Novel (Hardcover)
by Chris Adrian
bookshelves:
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my rating:
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Andy said:
"Talking about my reactions to Gob's Grief would probably be about as difficult to talk about if I tried to review a book that, well, really I'm going to have to review also now called Weiland, or the Transformation and Memoirs of Carwin the Biloquist...more
Talking about my reactions to Gob's Grief would probably be about as difficult to talk about if I tried to review a book that, well, really I'm going to have to review also now called Weiland, or the Transformation and Memoirs of Carwin the Biloquist. For Weiland, it was one of the first books I had read in a long, long time that just struck a chord in me at times where there passages and thoughts expressed that were so chillingly like certain perspectives of my own that I often find difficulty in expressing thoroughly, or honestly...and this was a few years ago. Gob's Grief explores, for me, the grief of the living for the dead, and the imagined grief of the dead in their longing for life, in such a profound way...profound in the raw purity of the grief, and elegant, and bizarre in the characters' obsessions with grief.
Also, let me point out something that I am a fan of: Gob's Grief is like Deadwood (the HBO television show). It takes an historical period, and notable historical figures, and weaves them into the largely true historical context in a fictional and fantastic (only fantastic in that the writing for both Gob's Grief and Deadwood is almost too good) way that brings the era to life, the historical figures to life, and the fictional figures to life on a Shakespearean level of literary authenticity. What exactly does that mean? I'm not sure really, all I'm trying to say is that Walt Whitman and Victoria Woodhull are characters in Gob's Grief. I'm sure most anyone reading this would know who Walt Whitman is. Honestly the only reason I knew who Victoria C. Woodhull was before I read Gob's Grief is because of Women's Studies classes. Here, I wikipedia'ed her for you:
Victoria Claflin Woodhull (September 23, 1838 – June 9, 1927) was an American suffragist (see Suffragette) who was publicized in Gilded Age newspapers as a leader of the American woman's suffrage movement in the 19th century. She became a colorful and notorious symbol for women's rights, free love, and labor reforms. The authorship of her speeches and articles is disputed. Some contend that many of her speeches on these subjects were not written by Woodhull herself, but her role as a representative of these movements was nonetheless powerful and controversial. She is probably most famous for her declaration to run for the United States Presidency in 1872.
But yes, Walt and Victoria...and they're amazingly well done by Mr. Adrian. You can tell he not only did his homework on researching historical figures, and the civil war, but devoted a huge portion of his imagination to bringing them to life in his mind in a way that few people are able to do with characters whether purely fictitious or based in reality.
Basically, if I go to grad school for English ever, I will want to write three doctoral theses...one on The Interpreters, by Wole Soyinka. One on all the interconnected themes, imagery, motifs, ideas, etc. in all the works as a whole by David Mitchell (Ghostwritten, Cloud Atlas, etc.), and the third would be on the imaginative historical fiction method and it's effectiveness in exploring war, death, grief, and the nature of existence in the civil war era as a reflective device of post-modern/post-industrial/high technology times we currently exist in. Ok, all that was kind of bullshit, and took some coming up with, and I have no intentions of pursuing a doctorate in English or anything else, but I think this book is as good as they come, really....less
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July 23
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Andy
gave
to:
The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 1 (Hardcover, Slipcase)
by Neil Gaiman (Goodreads author!)
bookshelves:
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my rating:
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Andy said:
"So, I knew this would be difficult to find at libraries or used book stores, so I looked it up on Amazon and saw that it would be 80 some odd dollars to purchase it from them. Thankfully, there are some sellers on Amazon's marketplace that were sell...more
So, I knew this would be difficult to find at libraries or used book stores, so I looked it up on Amazon and saw that it would be 80 some odd dollars to purchase it from them. Thankfully, there are some sellers on Amazon's marketplace that were selling what appeared to be new (not used, or like new) ones for right at 60 dollars. Doing some looking around and seeing I probably wouldn't find a better price without getting it used, so I gave in, and purchased it. I was skeptical at spending so much money on a compilation of comic books that I had never read, and knew little about, but really, considering that it's a compilation of the first 20 issues of the comic, and at probably 4 or 5 dollars an issue, it's not a bad deal. I was confirmed in thinking it's not a bad deal when my copy arrived, and it was held in a very nice protective cardboard sleeve, and the book itself was hardback, well-bound in a leather (or leather-like) black cover, and filled with high-quality low-gloss pages that numbered over 600, so it was less than 10 cents a page, really. It felt like it was made with as much care as a special edition of the OED.
I had read that Gaiman referenced Joseph Campbell's Freudian exploration of mythology and religion, "Hero with a Thousand Faces" in researching and writing "Sandman", which follows the capture, escape, life, general lore, and (oddly enough) existential crises experienced by the Sandman, or the King of Dreams, as in "Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream." A figure that is, also interestingly enough, present across the mythologies of many cultures in some form or another. An eternal being, supposedly, god-like but not a god, or God. Simply a part of the nature of being for living things, the fact that most all things living sleep, and dream. Probably the best writing in a "comic book" or "graphic novel" that I've ever seen, and an interesting use of a medium that many cultural critics consider to be our modern/contemporary mythologies (comic books) to explore a blending of ancient folklore and mythology with modern existence. ...less
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Andy
gave
to:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Hardcover (Large Print))
by J.K. Rowling
bookshelves:
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my rating:
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Andy said:
"I am reviewing this both for this specific book, and for the whole series because it's been a while since I've read the others, and well, I'm too lazy to review each one individually, except to say that I think my three favorites of the series are bo...more
I am reviewing this both for this specific book, and for the whole series because it's been a while since I've read the others, and well, I'm too lazy to review each one individually, except to say that I think my three favorites of the series are books 3, 6, and 7.
I admire Rowling's ability to connect events between the books without over-doing the reminders of past events, or over-doing the foreshadowing of events in future books. I also admire her ability at characterization and at staying true to character with major and minor figures throughout all the books, perhaps with some exception to Harry's whiny behavior in what feels like the first half of Order of the Pheonix, and the fact that when it comes down to it, Harry may be very brave and self-less and loving in many respects, like Voldemort and Snape always say, he really isn't as bright in a lot of ways as I think he is made out to be. But then, that's what Hermione's for, right? And lastly, I admire that Rowling has written a story for children/young adults/adults that manages to address, at times with subtlety and at times with beating it over our heads, some themes and facts of life, existence, morality, politics, people, and death, that not many children/young adult writers are often willing to deal with in a...genuine, perhaps? Kind of way. And in a way that is still accessible to children and young people.
Rowling is no Tolkein, as a writer, but I think she could give George Lucas a run for his money in story telling and characterization. ...less
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Andy
gave
to:
The Namesake (Paperback)
by Jhumpa Lahiri
bookshelves:
readownedloved
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my rating:
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Andy said:
"I was familiar with, but had not seen, the film "The Namesake" directed by Mira Nair before I had really paid any attention the novel, or was even really aware that there was a novel. Of course I had heard of "Interpreter of Maladies&...more
I was familiar with, but had not seen, the film "The Namesake" directed by Mira Nair before I had really paid any attention the novel, or was even really aware that there was a novel. Of course I had heard of "Interpreter of Maladies", but still had not read it yet. So, while at the bookstore and picking out a few things to get, I noticed "The Namesake", and remembered people saying the movie was very good, and since I prefer books to movies, when it comes down to it, and since I knew I would want to see the film when it becomes available on dvd, I figured I should buy and read the book, and I did.
I loved the way that Lahiri portrayed the day to day difficulties of immigration--not so much the more extreme prejudices that exist about immigration, but things that a person, an immigrant, must feel and recognize and deal with every single day, and also, through that, the complexity of being first-generation American, being a child of parents of a culture very different from New England culture. I think white America, even so-called open-minded, politically and socially progressive, social justice and civil rights advocating white America, can be naive, ignorant, and insensitive to the strain of immigration. I think we too often take it too lightly, too much as a story, or an oddity, or a fascinating bit of conversation, as most of us do with all things when we hear of difficult (or maybe just different) situations people other than ourselves are dealing with. I think it's important to really try to see things from other perspectives, to get outside of ourselves, and I think the Namesake does this very well.
What I did not like about the Namesake is that, while the writing was very good, Lahiri is definitely a talented writer, it felt that the narrative was perhaps a little too distant, at too much remove, from the characters it portrayed. I understood Gogol/Nikhil as an individual in only a general sort of way, almost a superficial way. It felt, at times, like I was reading a report of his life--a well-written and often detailed and fascinating report, but more of a report than, well, a novel. There were moments and situations that were loaded with implications of emotional and cultural difficulty and complexity that were described in such a brief and understated manner that felt glossed over, almost unaddressed. Because of this, I felt less affected, less involved, as a reader. Also, because of this, I wonder if this is not one of those rare situations where the film may be a little better than the novel. ...less
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Andy
added:
Selected Short Stories of Sinclair Lewis (Rep)
by Sinclair Lewis
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my rating:
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