Megan Chance's Blog, page 36

Book Review: The Women

The Women by T.C. Boyle

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I have always really really liked T.C. Boyle. I loved "The Inner Circle," and "Riven Rock," and "The Road to Wellville." I was hoping I would like "The Women" that much. I didn't, though I did ultimately like it. Boyle is a great writer--he has a way with description, dry humor, and emotional complexity. Settling in with him is like settling in with an old and beloved friend. I have always found his writing of the emotional landscape of women very real. But this book, which is about the women in Frank Lloyd Wright's life, fell oddly short for me. Each woman is given a POV (though his first wife, who was with him longest, and who bore him six children, is woefully misrepresented here--I think she has two or three scenes only), and Wright himself is also a narrator. The central conceit is that the novel is written by a former Japanese apprentice of Wright's. While his story is often more riveting than the one concerning the women in Wright's life, this seemed a strange choice. By his own claims, the narrator knew only one of Wright's women well, so one questions his veracity about the others from the start.

Wright was clearly a selfish, arrogant womanizer who cared more about sating his appetites than the people he supposedly loved, and that comes across very well. But for me, the question of why these women stayed with him, why they loved him and stood by him even while he was destroying their lives, was never really answered. I never got a sense of his charisma or what inspired their devotion--and frankly, some of these women were unlikeable from the start, and the fact that I didn't get WHY they put up with it strained my sympathy for their travails just a bit. Boyle seems most fascinated by Miriam Noel--Wright's second wife, who was clearly bipolar, which adds a bizarreness to her scenes that is ultimately not very interesting. She has the most ink here--or seems to--and she is, frankly, the least sympathetic of the bunch. You sort of understood why he treated her the way he did.

Boyle's discussion of this era in America, and how the Wright's perceived immorality affected him professionally was interesting. In the end, though, I had no real idea of the reasons Frank Lloyd Wright was the way he was, or why he treated women the way he did, or what he wanted from them. And, even given the historical differences, the devotion of the women in his life remains a mystery to me.



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Book Review: Winter's Tale

Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin




I don’t know how to rate this book. First off, it’s not really about what the backcover copy says it’s about. It’s much more complicated and far-reaching. It’s a literary fable, full of beautiful description and big ideas, and heavy with that sense of being caught in a dream, where everything is accepted at face value, no matter how fantastical. In this way, it reminds me very much of John Crowley’s “Little, Big,” and Erin Morgenstern’s “Night Circus.” Generally, I don’t really enjoy books that keep me at that kind of an emotional remove. I’m impatient with that kind of dreaminess. I dislike nonsense. I was never a fan of “Alice in Wonderland.” I don’t enjoy books that leap from reality into wild flights of fancy without grounding or explanation, or fantastical events designed to teach me some philosophical lesson. I don’t like made-up words or circular dialog, or characters who are too wise, too kind and too knowing. Helprin’s book is full of all these things, and it is huge—a whopping 750 pages. By page 400, I wanted it to be over, but not one time did I think of doing what would actually MAKE it be over, like put it down. I wondered what was going to happen. I liked some of the characters very much. The big ideas in it I happen to mostly find fascinating. And … the magic of it crept up on me. I found the ending touching and complete, and I was glad I read it. It’s ambitious and mostly successful, and the beauty and emotion in it has this stunningly cumulative effect—it grew on me before I realized it. I liked it, but I’m confused by my liking it. And I don’t have a clue how to rate it



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Final Cover!

And here it is ... the final full cover for Bone River, coming December 4, 2012, though it's available for pre-order now!

Book Review: Beautiful Ruins

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I can't even imagine how the author of this book must have pitched it to his agent/editor. It covers so many subjects that on paper it must have looked a hot mess: the Donner Party, the making of Cleopatra, Richard Burton, Hollywood movie making, small fishing villages in Italy, 80s grunge rock, drug addiction, WWII, German soldiers, aging writers, script pitches, illegitimate children, village witches, playwriting, failure ... it goes on. But all these seemingly disparate subjects somehow come together to create a poignant and compelling story. The theme here is desire, the choices we make because of it--as one character so aptly puts it: "We want what we want"--and how those choices affect those even remotely connected to us, and the sometimes gaping divide between what we want and what is right. The structure is different--a lot of bits and pieces--but it just WORKS, and the characters (even the most unlikeable ones)are fascinating. I felt the end was a bit rushed, but that's a minor point. It's an ambitious effort that is thoughtful and cool and hard to put down.



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Wherein I Get Something Fun in the Mail Today...

Came home from grocery shopping to find this on my front porch this morning:

Yes, the ARCs for Bone River have arrived, and they look fabulous!

In other news, I did read more Balzac--this time The Firm of Nucingen, which I rated a three--more Eugene Rastignac, so how could I resist?--and I have downloaded Cousin Bette, but am taking a break to read other things for a bit.

Also, I've been baking all day for my father's wedding anniversary this week (Lemon Meringue pie AND Mile-High Chocolate Mousse pie) and also for my Mother's very significant birthday party (a showstopper chocolate cake that's supposed to be a surprise, so I can't mention it here, but which requires sheets and sheets of chocolate meringue sticks), and am trying to get it all done before the temperatures in my part of the world soar into the unbearable 90s (it's not the heat, it's the lack of air conditioning--those of us who live here have chosen it for its temperate climate, dammit). Then I was going to work. Really I was. But now it's 4:30 and I'm tired. So ... tomorrow....

And I'm looking forward to Shark Week. I can hardly wait to see Sharkzilla.

I promise--no more Balzac for a while. But I couldn't resist...

Père Goriot by Honoré de Balzac

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I have to say I'm in love with Balzac. Pere Goriot is the story of an old man and his love for his two daughters, who have married extremely well, and yet still demand more and more of him, and his relationship with a young law student, Eugene Rastignac. Like "Lost Illusions," another of Balzac's entries in his wide-reaching Human Comedy, Rastignac has a lot to learn about Paris. Rastignac finds his morality severely compromised as he comes into contact with Paris society and with the villain Vautrin (who made such a mess of Lucien in "Lost Illusions), who tells him exactly what he must do to succeed in Paris. That advice, and Rastignac's struggle with it, contrasted with the example of pure love shown by Goriot (which verges on idolatry) for his daughters, is the crux of this novel. Again, Balzac does such a superlative job of character development that it is impossible to turn away, and Paris is once again a fascinating character in itself. I'd love to read more of La Comedie Humaine--I'd love to read it all, but it may take me the rest of my life to do that. This was great.

Now I am going to take a rest from Balzac for a bit--though actually I'm pretty hooked on him, and I may not succeed. My plan was to not read this one right away, and I started something else, getting only two pages in before I realized I just really wanted to read more Balzac, so we'll see how this goes. I'm sort of dying to see Rastignac again and find out what happens to him.



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And still more Balzac...

Scenes from a Courtesans Life by Honoré de Balzac

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The continuation of the story of Lucien de Rubempre from "Lost Illusions," wherein Lucien falls under the influence of the villain Jacques Collin (aka many other names), from "Pere Goirot," which I have not yet read and probably should have before I read "Lost Illusions.". Lucien manages to remain a slow learner in this book, but Balzac's ability to make you like and cheer for villains and weak-willed semi-villains is amazing. I wanted Collin to win from the moment he appeared in "Lost Illusions," and I remain one of Lucien de Rubempre's biggest fans (much to my eternal amazement). There's a lot in here about courtesans and how they manage to survive (as you might guess from the title), and it's all interesting. Balzac has a way of bringing every aspect of Paris alive for the reader. This one's slower than "Lost Illusions," and not as captivating, but it's still a good read.



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What I'm Reading on Vacation

Lost Illusions by Honoré de Balzac

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I thought I was cynical before this, but Balzac has made me see that I suffer from a severe lack of imagination. My God! Lost Illusions could not be a more apt title for this book. The milk of human kindness is seldom in evidence here, and when it is, it is annihilated by self interest, jealousy and malice. I have rarely read a book that had me more tense, uncertain whether to pray for a character’s deliverance (usually a pointless exercise in French lit), bang his/her head against the wall, or hope that he/she gets what they deserve simply because they are too stupid to live. It’s like watching a train wreck, where the characters are standing like little ducks on the tracks. The book is notable too for Balzac’s depiction of Parisian society, with its decadence, cyncism and malice for the sake of malice, and the scores of artists dashed upon its rocks (which seems to be a common theme for 19th C writers). Balzac’s bitterness and pointed commentary on the publishing/journalism industry is fascinating. It also shows that not much has changed in 150 years, which is depressing. Having said all that, I found the whole thing perversely entertaining, enlightening and enthralling. I’m continuing on with Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life to see if Lucien manages—despite all evidence to the contrary—to become an intelligent human being.

I probably should not have read this so close on the heels of Stendhal. The characters of Lucien in Lost Illusions and Julien Sorel in The Red and the Black share a lot of characteristics. I fear I will spend the rest of my life getting the two mixed up.



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Vacation

Enjoying myself immensely with a much needed break:

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.

Updates

I've just made some updates to the webpage, which includes a new page dedicated to Bone River. No excerpt yet--I'll post that when I get the okay from my publisher.

Remember, you can preorder Bone River now...