Clifford Garstang's Blog, page 84

I’m Interviewed by Katrina Denza

My friend Katrina Denza has just read my book, What the Zhang Boys Know, and asked to interview me on her blog. Here is the result: Katrina Denza interviews Clifford Garstang. Please take a look and leave a comment!

2013 Reading: Life Among Giants by Bill Roorbach

Life Among Giants: A Novel by Bill Roorbach is a terrific read. Very entertaining. This is the first of Roorbach’s books I’ve read and I read this one because I’m moderating a panel he’s on later this week at the Virginia Festival of the Book.

I’m so glad I did! The book is a first person story told by David “Lizard” Hochmeyer, a very tall football player–we see him in high school, as a pro with the Miami Dolphins, and as a retired player who runs a restaurant. Very early on in the book, David witnesses the murder of his mother and father. The rest of the book explores how and why that happened and who was behind it. But it also explores the relationship David has with his bi-polar sister Kate and with his eccentric ballerina neighbor, Sylphide. These are larger than life characters, so it doesn’t bother me at all when they do things that are implausible for real people. It doesn’t matter because I’ve already accepted who they are.

It’s a very entertaining read and I’m looking forward to talking to Roorbach about it on Friday. (It reminded me in some ways of Kevin Wilson’s The Family Fang, which also deals with a complicated brother-sister relationship and their unusual parents.)

2013 Reading: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan is Charlottesville’s choice for The Big Read this year, and I was invited to participate in a panel at The Virginia Festival of the Book to discuss it. The panel (which will also discuss/promote books by the panelists) is next week, so this week I read this wonderful work for the first time in 20 years.

I don’t remember much from my first reading, but this time I was struck by the structure. It’s really a novel in stories, rather than a linear narrative. We get the stories of 4 mothers and daughters–first and second generation immigrants from China–and we see a beautiful contrast. I was also struck by the differences among the daughters.

And then there is the final story in the book, “A Pair of Tickets,” which I’ve read a number of times because it was included in the anthology I have taught from. I have found that college freshman today are quite puzzled by this story, but for me it really resonates.

I’m looking forward to our discussion next week.

2013 Reading: Wash by Margaret Wrinkle

Wash by Margaret Wrinkle is a terrific book. First, some disclaimers. I was in a workshop at the Tinker Mountain Writers Workshop with Margaret several years ago where I first read a piece of this novel. I don’t know if that piece even survived, but I knew back then that this would be a great book. We’ve stayed in touch and last week managed to hang out together some at the AWP Writers Conference in Boston.

Second, although I would have read it anyway, the reason for reading the book now is that I am moderating a panel next week at the Virginia Festival of the Book featuring Margaret and three other novelists.

The novel is primarily set in 1823. Wash is a slave owned by a man named Richardson, an extensive landholder. Richardson doesn’t treat his slaves as badly as some owners do, but he still considers them his property, not much different from his horses. In fact, he has hit upon a scheme to raise some much needed funds by selling the services of Wash as a stud, to breed more slaves. The relationship–not too big a words–between Wash and Richardson forms the heart of this powerful book. And it is a relationship that begins even before Wash is born, because Richardson’s purchase of Wash’s mother at auction is based on a connection between them, described in the early pages of the book. Another important element here is the tie between Wash and another slave, Pallas, a mysterious bi-racial woman.

But obviously the breeding of slaves is a tough subject for a book, but this one does it beautifully. We see that it is at once dehumanizing, but is also a basic human function, the result of which is new human beings.

There is much to discuss here, and I’m looking forward to the panel next week.

The New Yorker: “Checking Out” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi

March 18, 2013: “Checking Out” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

In the Q&A with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie we learn that this week’s “story” is an excerpt from a forthcoming novel. That was a surprise to me, because I thought this worked very well as a story. Unfortunately, it’s behind the paywall, so you’ll have to take my word for it if you don’t have access.

Obinze is a young Nigerian man who has come to London and overstayed his visa. He has tried to work with a false identity while saving money to enter into a sham marriage in order gain permanent resident status. He works in a warehouse and increasingly is on good terms with his co-workers, especially the youngest of them, Nigel. The men even throw him a birthday party, although it’s on the birthday of the man whose identify Obinze has borrowed and he is momentarily alarmed.

Obinze pays money to some Angolan operators who find a “wife” for him. He actually likes this young woman and she seems to like him, as well. They move forward toward a wedding, and things are looking pretty good for Obinze. Until one day . . .

I don’t want to spoil the story. I will say, though, that I appreciate the structure of this excerpt. The reason that I thought it worked as a story is because of the clear conflict between Obinze and the Angolans and the guy from whom he borrowed his identity. As these two threads develop, the tension rises nicely, and we’re clearly heading toward a climax. Said climax isn’t exactly a surprise, and neither is the denouement, but it’s all very nicely done.

The New Yorker: “Kattekoppen” by Will Mackin

March 11, 2013: “Kattekoppen” by Will Mackin

Stories about war are very hard to pull off, I think. This one’s not bad, although I have to say I wasn’t really feeling the emotional truth of it, something that I look for after reading Tim O’Brien’s story, “How to Tell a True War Story.” (On the other hand, please read the Q&A with Will Mackin, where the author DOES deliver some emotional truth.)

What I like most about this story is the use of the “kattekoppen,” a sort of Dutch licorice in the shape of cat faces, that the point of view character uses to mask the smell of death on a mission to recover the bodies of two soldiers. This candy tastes awful, but it’s the only way he can tolerate the stench. The rest of the story, which deals with various patrols and tactics for attempting to accurately deliver howitzer fire, doesn’t do a whole lot for me.

The Q&A makes a point of telling us that this is the author’s first public fiction and that he owes a debt of gratitude to George Saunders (a frequent contributor to the magazine). What do you suppose the editor is suggesting there?

AWP Week is Here — a day early

Just got home from a weekend trip to Chicago last night, only to discover that a snowstorm was threatening to disrupt my planned trip to Boston this week for AWP. Although we’ve had predictions of significant snow earlier in the winter, and nothing materialized in my part of Virginia, the forecasters seem more certain this time. If it does come, it would be a huge travel nightmare for me–and lots of other folks.

So last night I changed my reservation. It looked like early Tuesday would be a problem too, so I went for an evening flight, even though that would put me into the hotel I booked after midnight. This morning it appeared that the morning flight was a better bet, so I shifted again, and now I’m leaving a full 24 hours earlier than originally planned. And that means I’ll have half of Tuesday and all of Wednesday to explore Boston before conference festivities begin on Wednesday evening. (Current plans: MFA, North End, maybe Harvard Square.) So I think I’ve dodged a bullet, as the forecast for Wednesday is 16 inches of snow. Let’s hope it’s gone by the time I get home on Sunday.

If you’ve never been to an AWP, you should take a look at the conference schedule: AWP 2013. Three solid days of panels, readings, and parties. 10,000 writers. 700 exhibitors in the bookfair. It’s exhausting.

I still don’t know which events I’ll be going to. The only thing I’m certain about is my booksigning at 2pm on Friday at the Press 53 Booth #766. I’ll be there a lot, as Prime Number Magazine will be sharing the space. Stop by and say hello!

2013 Reading: The Jury by Steve Martini

The Jury (A Paul Madriani Novel) isn’t going to persuade me to read any more Steve Martini books. I only read this one because I got the book on tape at a library sale ($0.25) and because I do occasionally read legal thrillers to get a sense of how other writers handle plot. But I don’t think I learned much from this one, other than that you can have huge plot holes if you’re already famous.

The story is about a California attorney handling a case in San Diego in which he represents a scientist accused of murdering one of the researchers who works for him. Not much about the story is plausible and the ending is truly unbelievable. And then there’s the matter of the author’s conservative politics shining through in some of the statements made by the protagonist. That shouldn’t matter, but it did to me, just as Barbara Kingsolver’s work bothers some conservative readers. Okay, now I can say I’ve read a Martini novel; that’s enough.

The New Yorker: “Summer of ’38″ by Colm Tóibin

March 4, 2013: “Summer of ’38” by Colm Tóibin

I found this story by Colm Tóibin pretty ordinary, although beautifully told in an unusual setting. The story is available to read online for free. The Q&A with Colm Tóibin doesn’t make the story any more interesting, although I did learn something about the author.

The story is told in retrospect, although the present frame is the most interesting part of it. An older woman, Montse, who lives in an isolated village in Spain, is caused to reflect on the Summer of ’38 because an old soldier, who had become one of Franco’s Generals, is returning to visit and has asked to see her. She claims that she has no recollection of him but at first agrees to meet with him anyway. In fact, though, she remembers him well because she had had an affair with him. The story then launches into the long recollection of that affair. She became pregnant but the soldier had to leave. She married Paco, who had longed for her, and he treated the child as his own. (Yawn.) Returning the present, Montse summons the child (who now is a doctor, and married with children of her own), and the reader suspects that Montse will not only tell the daughter who her true father is but will introduce them.

Read the story to find out what happens!

Again, while the writing is beautiful, and the setting unusual, I was hoping for more than a story about a poor slob who knows his wife is pregnant with another man’s child but raises the baby as his own.

I find that when I say things like this, lots of people disagree with me but don’t speak up. Feel free to do so! Please leave a comment telling me why you loved this story.

Opening: Calligraphic Art by Terry M. Coffey

I was honored that artist and calligrapher Terry Coffey wanted to use the opening line from my book, In an Uncharted Country, as part of her exhibit Opening, which will run from March 1, 2013 through the Virginia Festival of the Book, at the Jefferson Madison Regional Library in Charlottesville. Terry has used the beginnings of books by several Virginia writers for this exhibit. I’m particularly thrilled with the way she has captured the snowstorm that is featured in my story “Flood, 1978.” Just beautiful. For more information about Terry and the exhibit, go to TerryMCoffey.com.