Harrison Bae Wein's Blog: Harrison Bae Wein, page 9

Author Interview

My high school alumni newsletter interviewed me for a special issue on creativity. I talk about my journey from being a scientist to science writer and novelist. You can read it here.

Bel-Ami

Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
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George Duroy leaves the military to make his fortune in the big city in this straightforward, almost journalistic account of mid-nineteenth century Paris high society. I'm not generally a big fan of cynical books like this with selfish, despicable characters who slash and burn their way to the top. This was kind of the equivalent of a modern reality show where you keep asking yourself, "Can people really be this awful?" I didn't think it was particularly insightful about human behavior, but I still enjoyed reading this tawdry, malicious snapshot of this particular segment of society at this particular time. The writing is quick and efficient, with some vivid and beautiful descriptions. One important note: be careful about which translation you read. I started with an abridged version that had no indication it was abridged, and it was absolutely terrible.



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Pmith in NYC

Psmith, Journalist by P.G. Wodehouse

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I've read several Wodehouse books at this point, including the Psmith series up to this entry, and this has to be the strangest one I've encountered so far. Wodehouse shows a darker edge than usual as the unflappable Psmith encounters the underbelly of New York City in a fight for social justice. There are funny bits, but it's not quite the light, rollicking nonsense you might expect from a Wodehouse book. I don't want to give away any plot because it's still deliciously ridiculous. The book is well worth a read.



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Join our book discussion

Click here to join the discussion about my book, The Life and Opinions of Housecat Hastings, here on Goodreads.

All About Animals Feb book pick!

The Life and Opinions of Housecat Hastings is the official February 2015 book pick of the All About Animals group here on Goodreads! If you’ve been waiting for the right time to read it, now is the time to get your copy so you can join the discussion. For more about the group read, see here.

"All About Animal" February Read

My book, The Life and Opinions of Housecat Hastings, is in the running for the Goodreads "All About Animals" group February read: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/7....

Meeting Wodehouse's Psmith

Mike by P.G. Wodehouse

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This edition combines Mike at Wrykyn and Mike and Psmith into one book, with an extra introductory sentence added to the start of the second as a bridge. Mike at Wrykyn, which comprises the first 29 chapters, is pleasant enough but it's really a pretty standard school story about a boy trying to make the cricket team.

Things really take off with the introduction of the monacle-wearing wit Psmith (the P, which he added himself, is silent). I think the clever and quirky Psmith rivals Wodehouse's best characters. I really enjoyed the second book, although it's still early Wodehouse and doesn't approach the brilliant insanity of the best Blandings or Jeeves & Wooster books.

If this is the first Wodehouse book you try, don't let it turn you off. I'd recommend that all but the biggest Wodehouse (and cricket) fans skip the first book and start at chapter 30, where Mike and Psmith begins.




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Zuckerman's Heartbreaking Exit

Exit Ghost by Philip Roth

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Well, at this point in his life, Nathan Zuckerman wouldn't care what any of us thought of his book, and he'd ask us why we cared about each other's opinions. But as we're all already here partaking in the type of social media activity he believes is killing literature, I'd say that you should read this book if you enjoyed The Ghost Writer, the excellent first Nathan Zuckerman book. This, the last in the series, is a sad meditation on aging, impotence (literal and figurative), relationships, and literature. You would lose some of the heavy weight of time, regret and loss if you didn't read The Ghost Writer first, but the others in between aren't necessary to get this one. As in other Zuckerman books, Roth plays with your perceptions and makes you aware of the writing process and the reader's relationship with the writer. The fact that all the characters speak in essentially the same voice is either lazy writing or a way to signal that you're reading something that is constructed to a far greater extent in the writer's head than he's letting on. I believe it's the latter, and it all makes for an unsettling, thoughtful read that I thoroughly enjoyed.



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Pastoral, by Nevil Shute

Pastoral by Nevil Shute

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Pastoral tells the story of a wartime romance in a careful, understated manner that slowly draws you in. Using a simple, elegant writing style, Shute creates a detached tone that lets him depict very harrowing situations in a way that lets you relate. The bombing mission scenes are intense, and you get a vivid sense of the daily rhythms and challenges of life on an air base. The thoughts about teamwork and leadership seem very modern, if the gender politics aren't. Remember, though, that it was written over 70 years ago and times were what they were. Overall, Pastoral doesn't approach the weightiness of Shute's masterpieces like A Town Like Alice or On the Beach, but it's well worth reading.



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American Pastoral review

American Pastoral by Philip Roth

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I've read several Philip Roth books and was saving this one for a treat. I was profoundly disappointed. I've since been trying to understand why people so liked this sour, plodding book. Most reviews seem to focus on the way Roth depicts the unraveling of the fabric of America in the 1960's. There is definitely plenty of well-researched period detail, but this sad, angry longing for the good old days just didn't resonate with me. If you think our society has been ruined by a permissive moral culture, please go enjoy the book and don't waste your time telling me how terrible I am. I do think Roth was trying to do more in this book, but as I'll explain below, I don't think he fully succeeded.
****SPOILERS****
Essentially, this book amounts to Nathan Zuckerman, who has appeared in several Roth novels now and is well past his prime, bitterly and with clear relish deconstructing the life of his childhood hero, Swede Levov. The Swede's life is conflated with societal troubles and intended to reflect what Zuckerman seems to think has gone wrong with America. Unfortunately, the Swede, as imagined by Zuckerman, sees no depth or real character whatsoever in any of the people in his life. He has no real insights about anything that's going on around him, personal or societal, and so it makes for pretty dull, difficult reading. Once Zuckerman's personal narrative is left behind for good and we enter his imaginary world of the Swede's life, the characters are shallow and unconvincing. This is particularly pronounced, as others have pointed out, in the women he professes to care for and in the African-Americans that form the backbone of his company.

I think Roth is up to a lot more than it seems on the face of it, though. He has written rich, heartfelt characters in other books. If you read this carefully, there are enough hints that Roth wants you to be very aware that these are the artificial, angry imaginings of a bitter, impotent man facing his mortality. Zuckerman has to know about his country's ability to constantly reinvent itself and emerge from challenges even stronger, since he's imagining events long ago, but he utterly ignores it. Likewise, we get enough details early on to know that the real Swede moved on with his life after the terrible events Zuckerman imagines here. That, too, is dismissed by Zuckerman. He just rolls with the bitter perspective of the Swede's brother. The book ends just as the Swede's life, and American society, hits its lowest point. We all know what comes afterward, but Zuckerman as writer chooses to leave things when they're at their worst.

I'm sure you could read this book many ways, but to me it says a lot more about how Zuckerman, bitter and disappointed about how his life has turned out, chooses to imagine the Swede than it does about the end of order in our society.

That said, it just didn't resonate for me as a work of art. It didn't touch me emotionally beyond an irritation at the sour tone and the frequent repetitions. These latter have been praised by some as an artful technique, but they aren't the creative repetitions of someone like, say, Alain Robbe-Grillet (author of Jealousy, In the Labyrinth, The Voyeur). This is the repetition of an angry person who keeps saying the same thing over and over again to seek validation until you just want to scream, "Enough already!"

In the end, the book degenerates into an angry rant that, however artful in some ways, I found very difficult to read. I'd recommend other Zuckerman books before this one. I've not read all of them yet, but Ghost Writer is wonderful. The two stars I gave this book are for the craftsmanship and the fact that I did give it a lot of thought.



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