David Schwinghammer's Blog - Posts Tagged "sibling-rivalry"
CARTHAGE
I’ve always enjoyed Joyce Carol Oates’s short stories, but the only novel I remember reading was FOXFIRE, about a girl gang. I know how versatile she is, so I thought I’d give her another trial.
CARTHAGE starts out sounding like a “48 Hours” episode. A girl goes missing in the woods, and her sister’s fiancé, a soldier suffering from PTS, is the principal suspect. But this is Joyce Carol Oates, so I knew there was a twist coming. It took 100 pages but it finally did.
As a reader you have to be wondering if Cressida Mayfield was really murdered or is still alive. This is a book about sibling rivalry. Cressida considers herself the ugly duckling of the family, and Juliet Mayfield is prom queen beautiful with a personality to match, but Cressida is the smart one, and she likes to pretend she doesn’t care what people think of her. Secretly she plays tricks on her older sister, messing up her computer, then fixing it for her to cover up her duplicity.
Then there’s Brett Kincaid, the soldier with PTS, who also has a heart of gold, which proves to be his undoing in more than one way. Cressida crushes on him because he rescued her when she wandered into a bad part of town. There’s more than a suggestion that Brett Kincaid wasn’t blown up by the Taliban. Oates includes what sounds like something out of the Vietnam War, with soldiers taking “trophies” like ears, fingers and toes. Brett balked at that and went to his superiors.
He returns a changed man who doesn’t want to saddle Juliet with his problems; they break up and Cressida makes her play at a time when Brett is drunk and confused as to what actually happened. He’s also having flashbacks to what went on in Afghanistan, and it gets all confused with the Cressida incident. There’s blood in his truck and he has scratches on his face. He confesses.
Zeno Mayfield is the father of the two girls; he’s a former mayor of Carthage, a real take charge kind of guy. What happened to his daughter changes him. His wife resorts to community service, going so far as to forgive Brett and visit him in prison.
The second half of the novel could be a different book, concentrating on a covert prison reform project carried out by an old liberal professor, who’s written several best sellers on various societal pitfalls. He has a young intern assistant, who takes care of the mundane stuff for him, like drive his car, pay his bills, do research etc.
I was expecting a humdinger of a climax, but the book just sort of fades away, with a lot of loose ends, like what happened to the old professor who seemed to have a special fondness for the young intern.
CARTHAGE starts out sounding like a “48 Hours” episode. A girl goes missing in the woods, and her sister’s fiancé, a soldier suffering from PTS, is the principal suspect. But this is Joyce Carol Oates, so I knew there was a twist coming. It took 100 pages but it finally did.
As a reader you have to be wondering if Cressida Mayfield was really murdered or is still alive. This is a book about sibling rivalry. Cressida considers herself the ugly duckling of the family, and Juliet Mayfield is prom queen beautiful with a personality to match, but Cressida is the smart one, and she likes to pretend she doesn’t care what people think of her. Secretly she plays tricks on her older sister, messing up her computer, then fixing it for her to cover up her duplicity.
Then there’s Brett Kincaid, the soldier with PTS, who also has a heart of gold, which proves to be his undoing in more than one way. Cressida crushes on him because he rescued her when she wandered into a bad part of town. There’s more than a suggestion that Brett Kincaid wasn’t blown up by the Taliban. Oates includes what sounds like something out of the Vietnam War, with soldiers taking “trophies” like ears, fingers and toes. Brett balked at that and went to his superiors.
He returns a changed man who doesn’t want to saddle Juliet with his problems; they break up and Cressida makes her play at a time when Brett is drunk and confused as to what actually happened. He’s also having flashbacks to what went on in Afghanistan, and it gets all confused with the Cressida incident. There’s blood in his truck and he has scratches on his face. He confesses.
Zeno Mayfield is the father of the two girls; he’s a former mayor of Carthage, a real take charge kind of guy. What happened to his daughter changes him. His wife resorts to community service, going so far as to forgive Brett and visit him in prison.
The second half of the novel could be a different book, concentrating on a covert prison reform project carried out by an old liberal professor, who’s written several best sellers on various societal pitfalls. He has a young intern assistant, who takes care of the mundane stuff for him, like drive his car, pay his bills, do research etc.
I was expecting a humdinger of a climax, but the book just sort of fades away, with a lot of loose ends, like what happened to the old professor who seemed to have a special fondness for the young intern.
The Daughters of Mars
Thomas Kenneally is best known for SCHINDLER’S LIST, but if you’re expecting more of the same from THE DAUGHTERS OF MARS, you won’t get it. For one thing DAUGHTERS is more fictionalized. It’s about the two Durance sisters, Naomi and Sally who enlist in the Australian nurses’ corps.
At first the two don’t seem to like each other. You see, they’re from “The Bush” and Naomi left to work in the big city, leaving Sally to take care of their parents. This proved to be more than she could handle when her mother came down with cancer. Her mother was in so much pain that she wanted to die. Sally began to save small amounts of morphine, which Naomi found. Sally assumed Naomi gave it to their mother, because she died. Sally can’t get over the guilt she feels.
The two girls wind up on a hospital ship helping the wounded men at the ill-conceived front in the Dardenelles, Gallipoli. Kenneally provides many twists and turns you won’t expect. One of the first is the torpedoing of the hospital ship. Their matron (head nurse) Mitchie loses her leg in the aftermath. She’s sent home as is Naomi for disobeying orders. There are several themes throughout the story that have little to do with war, and the reason Naomi is sent home is one of them. The orderlies and the colonel in charge of Naomi and Sally’s unit don’t respect women, making it harder to do their jobs. One of the good guys is an orderly named Sergeant Kearnan, a Quaker who will assume a larger role later in the story. He, along with Naomi, take charge of the lifeboat the nurses end up in.
Eventually the two girls are sent to France, Sally as a regular in the nurses’ corps, and Naomi as a volunteer in the hospital founded by Lady Tarlton, whose husband was a politician in Australia. One-legged Mitchie also makes it back working with Tarlton as one of her right-hand men. There’s another twist involving Lady Tarlton’s driver that results in the loss of one of our principal characters. There’s also a flu epidemic that affects the story. If you’ve studied WWI at all, you know that influenza killed almost as many soldiers as did bullets, bombs, and artillery. The girls, especially Sally, stick with pretty much the same clique of nurses throughout the novel. There’s taciturn Freud who can handle most anything except being raped by one of the young soldiers. There’s Honora, the funny one who suffers a loss that jars her sense of humor; Leonora, the pretty one, and Nettice who falls in love with a blind young captain. Both girls have a love life also, and both of their men are affected either physically or by war time idiocy.
Just when things look their worst, Australian divisions arrive to save the day. There’s very little mention of the Americans, and none of Black Jack Pershing. Perhaps the most perplexing part of the book is the ending. One of the sisters succumbs to influenza but one of the Australian papers gets it wrong; We don’t know which one died. Keneally begins to tell us which one survived, then pulls the old switcheroo, which might annoy the reader.
This book is not as good as SCHINDLER’S LIST, but it does support William Tecumseh Sherman’s saying, “War is hell.”
At first the two don’t seem to like each other. You see, they’re from “The Bush” and Naomi left to work in the big city, leaving Sally to take care of their parents. This proved to be more than she could handle when her mother came down with cancer. Her mother was in so much pain that she wanted to die. Sally began to save small amounts of morphine, which Naomi found. Sally assumed Naomi gave it to their mother, because she died. Sally can’t get over the guilt she feels.
The two girls wind up on a hospital ship helping the wounded men at the ill-conceived front in the Dardenelles, Gallipoli. Kenneally provides many twists and turns you won’t expect. One of the first is the torpedoing of the hospital ship. Their matron (head nurse) Mitchie loses her leg in the aftermath. She’s sent home as is Naomi for disobeying orders. There are several themes throughout the story that have little to do with war, and the reason Naomi is sent home is one of them. The orderlies and the colonel in charge of Naomi and Sally’s unit don’t respect women, making it harder to do their jobs. One of the good guys is an orderly named Sergeant Kearnan, a Quaker who will assume a larger role later in the story. He, along with Naomi, take charge of the lifeboat the nurses end up in.
Eventually the two girls are sent to France, Sally as a regular in the nurses’ corps, and Naomi as a volunteer in the hospital founded by Lady Tarlton, whose husband was a politician in Australia. One-legged Mitchie also makes it back working with Tarlton as one of her right-hand men. There’s another twist involving Lady Tarlton’s driver that results in the loss of one of our principal characters. There’s also a flu epidemic that affects the story. If you’ve studied WWI at all, you know that influenza killed almost as many soldiers as did bullets, bombs, and artillery. The girls, especially Sally, stick with pretty much the same clique of nurses throughout the novel. There’s taciturn Freud who can handle most anything except being raped by one of the young soldiers. There’s Honora, the funny one who suffers a loss that jars her sense of humor; Leonora, the pretty one, and Nettice who falls in love with a blind young captain. Both girls have a love life also, and both of their men are affected either physically or by war time idiocy.
Just when things look their worst, Australian divisions arrive to save the day. There’s very little mention of the Americans, and none of Black Jack Pershing. Perhaps the most perplexing part of the book is the ending. One of the sisters succumbs to influenza but one of the Australian papers gets it wrong; We don’t know which one died. Keneally begins to tell us which one survived, then pulls the old switcheroo, which might annoy the reader.
This book is not as good as SCHINDLER’S LIST, but it does support William Tecumseh Sherman’s saying, “War is hell.”
The Annunciations of Hank Meyerson
Hank Meyerson has a problem with his brother, Carlton. Carlton is not only his step-father's favorite (he runs the family toy business); he was also a great athlete, although he falls short of making the majors.
Hank is also in love with Carlton's wife, June, and in the process of divorcing his own wife, Carol Ann. He handles the situation, in the middle of building a new bathroom for Carol Ann, by running away to Montana. Most of the story is set in Minnesota.
Hank is nowhere near the lout he thinks he is. He beat his brother, resoundingly, at tennis. He also has a masters degree in literature and is a professor, although he throws up in the middle of a lecture and never goes back.
The book is also about religion in a roundabout way. Hank and Carlton's real father deserted the family. Their step father is Jewish. Late in life, Hank learns he and Carlton were baptized Catholic and that Carlton is now taking Communion.
I forgot to mention that June loves Carlton back and while decorating a shower curtain they have sex. This is indirectly witnessed by a mentally disabled character who tells Carlton about it, only because he doesn't understand what they were doing. Terry is also an artist; his favorite thing to do is go to a museum and look at the Annunciation of Mary. It's a painting by a minor Renaissance artist depicting Mary being impregnated by a cloud (God); there's also a dove in the picture, but Hank thinks it looks like a duck.
Hank is also an expert on Emily Dickenson. She writes a peom or letter to a supposed lover she calls her “Master”. Dickenson did have a relationship with a Judge Lord but it's not clear whether it was ever consummated. She also had some kind of relationship with three other men. Hank thinks the “Master” is a composite. Hank arrives at the opinion that she was psychotic and he writes a paper on it.
Hank may be the one who's psychotic. He sees dead people, primarily his mother, who died in a car accident. He sees her and one of the other deceased characters in an airport, returning from delivering his paper on Emily in New York City. It's not clear whether he thought she was really there or a delusion, but she certainly sounds real.
If this sounds like a mishmash of a novel, it is, but it did win the Parthenon Prize, and author Scott Muskin makes sure the reader knows it.
Hank is also in love with Carlton's wife, June, and in the process of divorcing his own wife, Carol Ann. He handles the situation, in the middle of building a new bathroom for Carol Ann, by running away to Montana. Most of the story is set in Minnesota.
Hank is nowhere near the lout he thinks he is. He beat his brother, resoundingly, at tennis. He also has a masters degree in literature and is a professor, although he throws up in the middle of a lecture and never goes back.
The book is also about religion in a roundabout way. Hank and Carlton's real father deserted the family. Their step father is Jewish. Late in life, Hank learns he and Carlton were baptized Catholic and that Carlton is now taking Communion.
I forgot to mention that June loves Carlton back and while decorating a shower curtain they have sex. This is indirectly witnessed by a mentally disabled character who tells Carlton about it, only because he doesn't understand what they were doing. Terry is also an artist; his favorite thing to do is go to a museum and look at the Annunciation of Mary. It's a painting by a minor Renaissance artist depicting Mary being impregnated by a cloud (God); there's also a dove in the picture, but Hank thinks it looks like a duck.
Hank is also an expert on Emily Dickenson. She writes a peom or letter to a supposed lover she calls her “Master”. Dickenson did have a relationship with a Judge Lord but it's not clear whether it was ever consummated. She also had some kind of relationship with three other men. Hank thinks the “Master” is a composite. Hank arrives at the opinion that she was psychotic and he writes a paper on it.
Hank may be the one who's psychotic. He sees dead people, primarily his mother, who died in a car accident. He sees her and one of the other deceased characters in an airport, returning from delivering his paper on Emily in New York City. It's not clear whether he thought she was really there or a delusion, but she certainly sounds real.
If this sounds like a mishmash of a novel, it is, but it did win the Parthenon Prize, and author Scott Muskin makes sure the reader knows it.
Magpie Murders
MAGPIE MURDERS is really two books in one. Author Alan Conway is a character in a book he has written with the same name.
Susan Ryeland is his editor, but the big twist in the book comes when she's almost finished reading the book. She finds she's missing the ending. So . . . Susan becomes a sort of detective.
Conway's method of writing helps Susan discover clues that will solve three murders, two of them in the fictional book and one in the real life situation fictional situation author Anthony Horowitz has created. Conway uses real places and people as inspiration for his novels and he's always putting puzzles and anagrams in his books. For instance, the beginnings of all nine books spell out a message.
Both main characters in the two books have a terminal illness. Author Alan Conway is dying of a brain tumor, and he seems to have written a suicide note. Private detective Atticus Pund, the main character in Conway's nine novels, also has six months to live.
Susan's personal life also intrudes. Andreas, her boyfriend, who has taught school with Alan Conway and his former wife, Melissa, has asked her to marry him and come with him to live with him in Crete where he plans to buy a hotel/restaurant with his brother. She also has an offer from her boss, Charles Clover, CEO of her publishing company to become the new CEO while he assumes the chairman position.
This is an Agatha Christie type mystery with TEN LITTLE INDIANA type suspects. They're all almost equally motivated. In Conway's last book, Mary Blakistan, Magnes Pye's housekeeper, has apparently fallen down the stairs and broken her neck. Susan thinks she's a murder victim; she know Magnes is when he is decapitated with a sword held by a knight in the entryway to his manor. In real life, within Horowitz's novel, author Alan Conway is pushed off the terrace of his house.
It is a convention for mystery writers to show the murderer earlier in the book, so he/she can't pull one out of thin air when he/she resolves the conflict, making the book seem contrived. I never suspected Alan Conway's murderer because he/she was never one of Susan's ten little indians. The murders within Conway's novel live up to the convention. One of them actually did it. I don't know if I liked this format. I guess I thought Horowitz wasn't playing within the rules with his “real life” murder. And I didn't even know Susan Ryeland was the narrator until she told me.
Susan Ryeland is his editor, but the big twist in the book comes when she's almost finished reading the book. She finds she's missing the ending. So . . . Susan becomes a sort of detective.
Conway's method of writing helps Susan discover clues that will solve three murders, two of them in the fictional book and one in the real life situation fictional situation author Anthony Horowitz has created. Conway uses real places and people as inspiration for his novels and he's always putting puzzles and anagrams in his books. For instance, the beginnings of all nine books spell out a message.
Both main characters in the two books have a terminal illness. Author Alan Conway is dying of a brain tumor, and he seems to have written a suicide note. Private detective Atticus Pund, the main character in Conway's nine novels, also has six months to live.
Susan's personal life also intrudes. Andreas, her boyfriend, who has taught school with Alan Conway and his former wife, Melissa, has asked her to marry him and come with him to live with him in Crete where he plans to buy a hotel/restaurant with his brother. She also has an offer from her boss, Charles Clover, CEO of her publishing company to become the new CEO while he assumes the chairman position.
This is an Agatha Christie type mystery with TEN LITTLE INDIANA type suspects. They're all almost equally motivated. In Conway's last book, Mary Blakistan, Magnes Pye's housekeeper, has apparently fallen down the stairs and broken her neck. Susan thinks she's a murder victim; she know Magnes is when he is decapitated with a sword held by a knight in the entryway to his manor. In real life, within Horowitz's novel, author Alan Conway is pushed off the terrace of his house.
It is a convention for mystery writers to show the murderer earlier in the book, so he/she can't pull one out of thin air when he/she resolves the conflict, making the book seem contrived. I never suspected Alan Conway's murderer because he/she was never one of Susan's ten little indians. The murders within Conway's novel live up to the convention. One of them actually did it. I don't know if I liked this format. I guess I thought Horowitz wasn't playing within the rules with his “real life” murder. And I didn't even know Susan Ryeland was the narrator until she told me.
My Sister, the Serial Killer
MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER, the subject of a recent TIME magazine review, was written by a Nigerian novelist, Oyinkan, Braithwaite, and as such is an intriguing read.
The book is not so much different than any other serial killer novel in respect to voice. There's only the occasional dialect reference. Instead of the Canadian “eh?' we get an “o”. Instead of maam we get “ma,” at least that's my best guess, but it's mostly told in standard English by an educated narrator.
The book starts with the murder of Koreda's younger sister's Ayoola's boyfriend with a knife. She's only 5' 2” and he's over six feet tall, but he wasn't expecting her to stab him with a six inch pig-sticker she got from her father's desk after he died. Rather than call the cops, Koreda, who happens to be a nurse, helps her clean up the mess and get rid of the body. We're told this is the third boyfriend, which makes Ayoola a serial killer.
Koreda loves her sister; they slept together and occasionally still do, but only as normal sisters would. Nothing hinky there. There is lots of jealousy on Koreda's part. Ayoola is very beautiful and she attracts men with little effort. Koreda is rather plain. Koreda is also in love with Tade a good-natured doctor at the hospital.
Koreda visits a man who has been in a coma for some time, thinking he'll never wake up. She tells him all about her sister and the angst involved in not being able to bring herself to do anything about the murders. She's implicated herself, after all.
Ayoola is also a fashion designer, her schooling paid for by a sugar daddy who also helped her start her business. They go off on a vacation in Dubai. Prior to this Koreda has easily snatched Tade away from Koreda, but she doesn't seem to think there's anything unusual about running off with another man. During the vacation, she changes her M.O. a bit. Of course she puts the weight on Koreda.
Oh, yes, the girls' father was abusive; there's a scene where he punishes Ayoola with his belt; Koreda tries to save her but gets in the way of the belt more than helping Ayoola.
So . . . Koreda uses their upbringing as an excuse for why Ayoola is doing what she's doing. There's another scene where Ayoola takes the blame for something Koreda did.
The climax arrives with a big complication. Somebody besides Koreda knows what Ayoola has been doing. Think about who that might be. And Ayoola is stabbed herself. Let's just say she asked for it, but the wrong person pays when Koreda continues to protect her sister.
How will it all end?
The book is not so much different than any other serial killer novel in respect to voice. There's only the occasional dialect reference. Instead of the Canadian “eh?' we get an “o”. Instead of maam we get “ma,” at least that's my best guess, but it's mostly told in standard English by an educated narrator.
The book starts with the murder of Koreda's younger sister's Ayoola's boyfriend with a knife. She's only 5' 2” and he's over six feet tall, but he wasn't expecting her to stab him with a six inch pig-sticker she got from her father's desk after he died. Rather than call the cops, Koreda, who happens to be a nurse, helps her clean up the mess and get rid of the body. We're told this is the third boyfriend, which makes Ayoola a serial killer.
Koreda loves her sister; they slept together and occasionally still do, but only as normal sisters would. Nothing hinky there. There is lots of jealousy on Koreda's part. Ayoola is very beautiful and she attracts men with little effort. Koreda is rather plain. Koreda is also in love with Tade a good-natured doctor at the hospital.
Koreda visits a man who has been in a coma for some time, thinking he'll never wake up. She tells him all about her sister and the angst involved in not being able to bring herself to do anything about the murders. She's implicated herself, after all.
Ayoola is also a fashion designer, her schooling paid for by a sugar daddy who also helped her start her business. They go off on a vacation in Dubai. Prior to this Koreda has easily snatched Tade away from Koreda, but she doesn't seem to think there's anything unusual about running off with another man. During the vacation, she changes her M.O. a bit. Of course she puts the weight on Koreda.
Oh, yes, the girls' father was abusive; there's a scene where he punishes Ayoola with his belt; Koreda tries to save her but gets in the way of the belt more than helping Ayoola.
So . . . Koreda uses their upbringing as an excuse for why Ayoola is doing what she's doing. There's another scene where Ayoola takes the blame for something Koreda did.
The climax arrives with a big complication. Somebody besides Koreda knows what Ayoola has been doing. Think about who that might be. And Ayoola is stabbed herself. Let's just say she asked for it, but the wrong person pays when Koreda continues to protect her sister.
How will it all end?
