A young boy wanders alone from village to village in eastern Europe during World War II, experiencing fear, abuse and perversion at nearly every turn.A young boy wanders alone from village to village in eastern Europe during World War II, experiencing fear, abuse and perversion at nearly every turn. His hair, eyes, and skin are dark, so he is labeled a Jew and/or a Gypsy - both capital offenses under the Nazi occupation.
The cruelty and depravity he encounters only worsens as his journey continues. For six years, he escapes a terrible situation in one village to a new (often worse) situation in another village. One farmer gouges out the eyes of a field hand he suspects of flirting with his wife; another man locks the boy in a room with a large violent dog every night; he witnesses one family engaged in incest and bestiality. Against it all is the backdrop of the Nazis shipping Jews, Gypsies, and other minorities to suffer and die in concentration camps.
He is beaten and nearly murdered multiple times; nearly everyone he meets is superstitious, ignorant, and cruel. Many of the peasants are active participants in rape, murder, and animal abuse.
"The Painted Bird" by Jerzy Kosinski is a twisted coming-of-age story that shows what happens when a child grows up knowing nothing but fear and hatred and chaos. There is a stark contrast between the straightforward first-person narrative style and the horrifying tales of chaos the narrator experiences.
It is a brutal story that left me shaken. It is powerful and it is a classic. But you need to brace yourself before reading it. ...more
Christina Stead's "The Man Who Loved Children" details an extremely toxic relationship.
Sam and Henny have been married long enough to have sixChristina Stead's "The Man Who Loved Children" details an extremely toxic relationship.
Sam and Henny have been married long enough to have six children together; but they don't like each other and barely speak to one another. Worse, they spend much of their energy bad-mouthing one another to their children.
Henny is better and spiteful and filled with hate for just about everyone and everything.
Sam is arrogant and self-important and racist and misogynistic.
Neither is a good parent. Sam spoils his children and Henny neglects them. The eldest daughter Louisa gets the worst of it. Henny hates her because she is the product of Sam's first marriage (a woman adored by Sam who died shortly after childbirth) and Sam insults and publicly ridicules Louisa for her looks (Louisa is homely and overweight) and her ambition to become a writer.
Sam and Henny each try to play the innocent victim; but each is horrible: Sam because of his narcissism and need for control and Henny because of her melodrama and blatant meanness. Each is horrible because each tries to weaponize the children against the other, forcing them to take sides. Only Louisa recognizes this, which is why she is so unhappy.
Things get worse after Sam loses his job and the family is forced to move from Washington, DC to the slums of Baltimore, where Henny - once an industrialist heiress - borrows money from multiple lenders, with no intention of repaying these loans.
As the story wears on, Sam's habit of baby talking to his children becomes more and more annoying; and his overestimation of his own intelligence and morality wear thin. I never grew to like Henny, but I began to despise her less and to understand her descent into madness as the story revealed more of Sam's character.
For me, the story became real enough that it made me uneasy. Stead makes us uncomfortable to see the dark inside of this highly dysfunctional family. I liked the foreshadowing involving Louisa and a neighbor's cat. But I did not like the relationship. And I feared for the future of the children.
Virginia Woolf divides "To the Lighthouse" into three distinct parts.
In part 1, the Ramsay family vacations at their summer home on the Isle of Skye.Virginia Woolf divides "To the Lighthouse" into three distinct parts.
In part 1, the Ramsay family vacations at their summer home on the Isle of Skye. Young James hopes to visit a nearby lighthouse and his father seems to take delight in telling him that the weather will be too rough to make the trip, which disappoints the boy and contradicts his mother's promise.
In part 3, the family returns to their neglected vacation home 10 years later and plan again to visit the lighthouse - this time successfully to the delight of the adult James.
Parts 1 and 3 cover only 1 day each, while the much shorter part 2 covers the 10 years between, in which World War I occurs, children grow up, and several members of the family die.
Very little happens in the two longer chapters: A family conversation; a dinner party; a trip across the bay.
Even the dialogue is sparse: a few words are exchanged, followed by the inner monologue of everyone in the room. Often, they seem to know the thoughts of each other, although they don't always respond to them.
Woolf writes with an economy of words - both in her dialogue and in her narration; but she somehow provides the reader a glimpse inside her characters.
Mr. Ramsay is cold and stern, yet craves love and validation from his wife. Mrs. Ramsay tries to balance the emotional needs of her husband and her children. Spinster Liby, who takes 10 years to complete a painting, plagued by self-doubt and the insults of a misogynistic neighbor
Points of view switch rapidly, which can make the novel difficult to follow.
The novel is filled with symbolism and references to Woolf's own life (her family used to vacation by the sea when she was a girl). Liby emerges from the background of part 1 to be a key figure in part 3. Upon completion of her painting, Liby is a clear stand-in for the author, who struggled to be taken seriously in the early 20th century patriarchy.
Lighthouse as a metaphor. Always there; always available; but the family defers the joy of visiting it until it is too late for some of them.
I deferred the joy of reading this novel long enough. ...more
"The Heart is A Lonely Hunter" - Carson McCullers's debut novel - tells the story of marginalized, working class people in the US south, struggling to"The Heart is A Lonely Hunter" - Carson McCullers's debut novel - tells the story of marginalized, working class people in the US south, struggling to survive during the Great Depression.
The novel focuses on five characters:
Mick, a teenage tomboy growing into a young woman, who dreams of escaping to a better life;
Jake, an alcoholic socialist, frustrated by his inability to convince others of the rightness of his opinions
Biff, the saloon owner, who observes everyone, but is close to no one - not even his wife
Dr. Copeland, an idealistic black physician, striving to make life better for his people; but failing to connect with his own family.
John Singer, a deaf mute, whose best friend Spiros Antonapoulos (also a deaf mute) is institutionalized.
The lives of these characters intersect, but they fail to communicate effectively or truly connect with one another. The main characters suffer from common problems, but few try to know one another.
Singer is the glue that holds them together. Everyone feels they can confide with Singer because, despite his inability to hear, they believe he is the only one who understands them and their ideas. He is the only one who makes an effort to understand or to pay attention or to reach out. Ironically, the deaf man is the best listener.
Each considers Singer a friend; but Singer himself counts only Antonapoulos among his friends.
This is a story of loneliness and isolation; of poverty and segregation and institutional racism; of alcoholism and fanaticism.
I loved Mick; I loved Singer; I loved the idea of the other characters, written brilliantly by McCullers.
There are few happy moments in the narrative, and it ends with a domino effect of tragedy as each character loses the one person giving them hope.
But it is not without hope. And the beautiful writing of McCullers gives the novel a depth that kept me engaged throughout. ...more
"Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace takes place in the near future - mostly in and around Boston, MA.
Things are a bit different in the future.
"Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace takes place in the near future - mostly in and around Boston, MA.
Things are a bit different in the future.
Calendar years are no longer referred to by ordinal numbers; instead, the naming rights to each year is auctioned off to commercial products. Years now go by names such as "Year of the Perdue Wonderchicken", "The Year of the Trial Size Dove Bar", and "Year of the Tucks Medicated Pad". Most of the story takes place during the "The Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment".
After contaminating the entire northeastern part of the United States, the US has coerced Canada into annexing the polluted region and using it as an international toxic waste dump. This region is known as "The Great Concavity", probably because of its shape, but possibly because of the frequency of babies born missing a skull.
Canada, Mexico, and the US are now part of a larger nation, known as the Organization of North American Nations, aka "ONAN", which may or may not be a reference to the Bible's most famous masturbator.
The novel follows dozens of characters and multiple story lines. Some are in a private Massachusetts high school that focuses on educating elite tennis players; others are in a nearby drug and alcohol rehabilitation center; still others are involved in international intrigue, espionage, and terrorism.
There is no shortage of quirky characters in Wallace's novel. Most are neurotic and some border on psychotic. Characters are damaged in a variety of ways, from being abused as children to the suicide of loved ones to drug addiction. One beautiful girl had acid thrown in her face by her mother, who was aiming for her philandering father.
They all search for happiness, but not seem to find it.
It's a difficult book to follow for the following reasons -It is extremely long, has many characters, and many subplots -It contains hundreds of footnotes and some of the footnotes have footnotes -It sometimes switches backward and forward in time and even to long descriptions of characters' dreams
Some of the storylines came together; but many did not (or, if they did, I didn't see it). And that frustrated me.
Having said that, I did enjoy Wallace's writing and the characters he created and the imagination he put into individual scenes. But I failed to see the overall arc of the novel.
I'm tempted to read this book again to catch what I missed, but the 1000+ pages makes that a daunting task....more
Nathanael West's "The Day of the Locust" takes place in 1930s Hollywood; but it has little to do with the film industry. This even though the bookNathanael West's "The Day of the Locust" takes place in 1930s Hollywood; but it has little to do with the film industry. This even though the book opens with a parade of movie extras marching past and ends with fans rioting outside a movie premiere.
Most of the story takes place around the edges of movie life. Tod Hackett works as a set painter for a movie studio and Faye Greener is a sometimes extra, waiting for her chance to be a star.
Tod is infatuated with Faye, but Faye cares only for herself and uses Tod, along with every man who comes into his life. Some of the men she teases, some she sleeps with, and some she exploits. She particularly takes advantage of Homer Simpson (Yes. Homer Simpson), a shy, repressed Midwesterner who comes to California hoping the mild weather will heal his failing health. After the death of her father, Faye moves into Homer's house and invites her lover and his friend to move into his garage, where they host illegal cock fights. She is verbally abusive to all her suitors, but she is cruelest to Homer.
"The Day of the Locust" shines a light on the shallowness of Hollywood culture. As Hackett tells it, people "have come to California to die". The pleasant weather isn't enough to occupy them, and they don't have enough money or imagination to fight the inevitable boredom that overwhelms their lives. So, everyone devolves into a shallow version of themselves.
No one seemed to be working toward anything meaningful. Tod is complex ("a very complicated young man with a whole set of personalities, one inside the other like a nest of Chinese boxes); but everyone he encounters is a simple stereotype from the ill-tempered dwarf to the silent cowboy to the mother pushing her spoiled son to be a child star. It's no wonder that so many of them fall for Faye's empty charms.
This book is satirical and depressing and filled with sexual frustration, which leads to heartbreak, which often leads to violence.
Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" includes the character of Bertha - Rochester's mad wife, whom he keeps locked in the attic.
In "Wide Sargasso Sea",Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" includes the character of Bertha - Rochester's mad wife, whom he keeps locked in the attic.
In "Wide Sargasso Sea", Jean Rhys tells Bertha's story and her descent into madness.
Her name was Antoinette and she was the Creole daughter of a slave owning family in 19th century Jamaica. The family fell into financial and social ruin when the British Empire outlawed slavery. The local freed slaves hated them enough that they eventually burned down their home and killed Antoinette's brother. Her mother married a wealthy Englishman, who killed himself, driving her mother to madness. Antoinette was raised by nuns at a convent and eventually an Englishman married her for her inheritance. But the unnamed Englishman (presumably Mr. Rochester) was unloving and believed rumors that he heard about Antoinette and her family. He became distant and unfaithful and even began calling her "Bertha" instead of her real name over Antoinette's objections.
The book humanizes Bertha / Antoinette, who is no longer the monstrous lunatic of Bronte's novel. Her troubled mind is in part due to heredity and in part to her traumatic upbringing and unhappy marriage. Her marriage to Rochester resulted in the loss of her freedom, which is analogous to the slavery inflicted by her own ancestors. The novel explores conflicts between races and genders and classes and forces the reader to think about the choices we make in life. Although Antoinette looks white, she is part black and not fully accepted by either race. Her marriage to Rochester is, in part, an effort to escape her situation.
"Sargasso" is probably the most interesting examples of fan fiction I've read. The narration suddenly shifts from Antoinette to Rochester without explanation, which was a bit jarring and confusing. But a quick re-read of the opening pages of Section 2 clarified my perspective.
It isn't necessary to read "Jane Eyre" before this novel, but it helps one appreciate where the character is going. If you have not yet read Bronte's classic novel, I recommend reading a synopsis before diving into this one. The book does stand on its own; but is better as a prequel and explanation of Bronte's novel....more
Aziraphale is an angel and Crowley is a demon and both have been living on Earth for thousands of years and they have grown to like it. They even likeAziraphale is an angel and Crowley is a demon and both have been living on Earth for thousands of years and they have grown to like it. They even like each other. Sort of. So, they are distressed to learn that the antichrist has been born, signaling the impending end of the world.
Anathema Device is the descendent of Agnes Nutter - a 17th century soothsayer whose predictions have all come to pass. Agnes has predicted the coming Armageddon.
Newton Pulsifer and Sergeant Shadwell are incompetent witch hunters, who only know that something strange is going on, so they chase it across England, trying to avoid bad people and any monetary expenditures.
The Chattering Order of St. Beryl are a group of bumbling Satanists charged with swapping the newborn antichrist, so he is raised by a powerful political family. They accidentally place him with the wrong family, so he grows up in a small Oxfordshire village raised by middle class parents.
Years later, the Four Horsepersons of the Apocalypse are racing toward the 11-year-old antichrist, planning to finalize his rise to power. Horseman Pestilence retired after the discovery of penicillin, so he has been replaced by Pollution.
And then it gets weird.
These are some of the elements of "Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman - two of my favourite authors.
It's hard to tell which parts are Gaiman and which are Pratchett. Gaiman is better at inventing worlds and making them seem believable. Pratchett is better at laugh-out-loud humour. And there is plenty of both in this story.
"Good Omens" is a tale about the worth of humanity and about the relative power of nature versus nurture. But mostly it is about silliness and funny jokes. If you love Gaiman and you love Pratchett (and who doesn't?), you will enjoy this book....more
At the age of 21, he finds himself working for a rich uncle who owns a shirt company. He is the boss of aClyde Griffiths is an ambitious young man.
At the age of 21, he finds himself working for a rich uncle who owns a shirt company. He is the boss of a department filled with young ladies and, despite company rules expressly forbidding such things, begins an affair with one of them - the beautiful Roberta Alden. He is also welcomed into the social circles of the local aristocracy, where he is liked for his good looks and charm. Soon, he meets rich, beautiful Sondra and decides he loves her instead of Roberta. Unfortunately, he continues to sleep with Roberta; and, when she becomes pregnant, he is left with a dilemma: marry the girl he no longer loves or abandon her for Sondra, risking exposure for his philandering. It is at this point that Clyde contemplates murder.
Clyde sounds like a terrible person. Who would treat people like this and place his own ambitions above the very lives of others? But "An American Tragedy" by Theodore Dreiser does not begin with Clyde's entry into high society. It begins with his childhood in Kansas City, where Clyde was the eldest son of street evangelists. Poor and embarrassed, he finds work as a hotel busboy, which puts some money in his pocket. He begins spending his evenings squandering his salary on booze and prostitutes. After being exploited by the selfish gold digger Hortense Briggs, who manipulates him into buying her expensive gifts, he develops a mistrust of women. At one point, Clyde is a passenger in a stolen car that is involved in a fatal hit-and-run. Fearing arrest, Clyde flees Kansas City and changes his name. By doing so, he learns that he can avoid responsibility and punishment by running away.
Each stage of Clydes's life reinforces in him his desire for material wealth and social standing. He becomes more self-centered with each passing year - not evil, but with little empathy toward others.
The book ends with a murder trial, a thorough analysis of one of the book's central tragedies.
There are side stories: the office of the ambitious district attorney that has no qualms about manufacturing evidence; the mother who refuses to acknowledge the possibility that her son might be guilty; the virginal Roberta's agonizing choice to give herself to Clyde or risk losing him; and Sondra, whose parents disapprove of her relationship with a boy they see as lower in social ranking.
But mostly, this is Clyde's story. And the reader cannot help but sympathize with him, even though his problems are almost entirely self-inflicted. Clyde is a product of his experiences. He has been conditioned by society to want what others have, and he doesn't have the courage to question this.
Dreiser removes much ambiguity by telling the reader explicitly what is in the mind of each character as they are speaking. With Clyde, the ambiguity remains because Clyde himself does not understand his own emotions.
There are three deaths in the novel. And, although each is tragic, the real tragedy of the story is the slow descent of Clyde's conscience. He never sees himself as evil, but he falls for the material comforts, and the pretty girls, and he comes to believe that he is entitled to these things and that his desires take precedence over the needs of anyone else.
"An American Tragedy" is not perfect. It's longer than it needs to be, and it moves slowly at times. But it is a good crime story; a good legal drama; and a very good psychological analysis of a misguided mind growing up under the influence of American values. ...more
Jack and Babette have an idyllic, if unconventional life. Jack is a professor at a small midwestern college, whose Hitler Studies program has provedJack and Babette have an idyllic, if unconventional life. Jack is a professor at a small midwestern college, whose Hitler Studies program has proved enormously popular. The major is so popular that a colleague is building a similar curriculum around Elvis Presley in addition to a course about car crashes in movies. Babette has a successful career reading tabloid stories to blind people.
They live in a nice house near campus with four children from their numerous previous marriages. They are a little too obsessed with death, but what of that?
Things start to disrupt when Jack is exposed to toxic fumes that descend on their town - an incident that brings him closer to the death he fears.
Babette learns of a pill that claims to cure death anxiety, but the only source of this pill will only trade it for sex. She concedes and Jack takes the affair in stride when he first learns of it; but later plots violent revenge.
"White Noise" by Don DeLillo is a surreal book. From absurd pop-culture college majors to the unexplained "toxic cloud" to unlikely medicines to the children who seem more mature than their parents to the ex-wives with even quirkier personalities than Jack and Babette's family.
DeLillo makes it work, thanks to his gift of humor. His dialogue is often inane, but funny. And he throws the reader off by including unrelated details in many scenes, such as describing the shoes a character wears or relaying what is heard on the TV in the background.
"White Noise" is an enjoyable satire and a good read. ...more
Until this week, I was unfamiliar with Zora Neale Hurston or her 1937 novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God".
But I read it and I'm glad I did.
This isUntil this week, I was unfamiliar with Zora Neale Hurston or her 1937 novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God".
But I read it and I'm glad I did.
This is the story of Janie Crawford - a black woman growing up in Florida in the early 20th century. Janie is the product of a white man raping her mother and her mother is the result of the rape of Janie's grandmother by her plantation master.
It is a full generation following the emancipation of slaves in America, but the poor, uneducated blacks of the region are still far from equal. This book reminds us that they had stories to tell and people to love and lives to lead.
As a young girl, Janie hoped for love. As a teenager, Janie's grandmother arranged her marriage to an older man, hoping to avoid the tragedies of the last two generations. This marriage fails and her second husband dies, and she marries a charming gambler, who is much younger than her. Their life seems good until a flood and a rabid dog attack disrupts it.
But these plot devices are just Hurston's ways of allowing us to see inside Janie and her neighbors. She struggles to love her husbands, even though they sometimes behave irrationally and occasionally violently. She struggles with other blacks, even though some of them have ideas that are strange to her. And she struggles to survive in a world designed by white men.
Her first two husbands treat her as a piece of property. Only her third husband gives her the love she desires. He is far from perfect, but he accepts Janie as a person.
We cannot escape the racial overtones in this novel because most of the characters are black and are living in a white-controlled society. But the book is more about gender roles and the relationship between men and women than about race. Janie searches for love but ends up being controlled by the men in her life. The black men of this story are controlled by the white men; and they take out their frustration by controlling their black women.
Hurston strives to make the dialogue authentic, including poor grammar and phonetic (mis)pronunciations, which can make this book a challenge to read. But this adds to the color of the story. And I happened to choose the audiobook, read by Ruby Dee, who did a masterful job.
"Their Eyes Were Watching God" is a story of strength and endurance by a woman seeking love and affirmation and survival. Janie is human but heroic. She asserts and defends herself while surviving in a world she does not control. Ultimately, she succeeds in living her life by her own rules. ...more
William Faulkner's "Light in August" opens as Lena Grove arrives in Jefferson, Mississippi after traveling hundreds of miles to Jefferson, MississippiWilliam Faulkner's "Light in August" opens as Lena Grove arrives in Jefferson, Mississippi after traveling hundreds of miles to Jefferson, Mississippi in search of Lucas Birch - the father of her unborn child. Lucas left Alabama, promising to send for Lena as soon as he was settled, but she never heard from him.
Lena learns that Lucas has been living in Jefferson for months under an assumed name. He has been bootlegging with a drifter named Joe Christmas.
Christmas was raised in an orphanage, then adopted by an abusive stepfather, whom he murdered. He has been on the run ever since. At the beginning of the novel, he is having a relationship with Joanna Burden - a local descendent of abolitionists, who is shunned by the whites in town because of her tolerance and kindness toward the blacks.
Each major character we meet is a misfit: an unwed mother or a defrocked preacher or a criminal or an abolitionist or an orphan. Many of them are self-destructive and all of them are interesting. When Faulkner introduces each character, he takes the time to review their backstory - explaining how they came to their troubles.
Soon, there is a murder and a manhunt and a town seeking justice for someone they never liked.
Race plays a huge role in this novel. One character looks white but is filled with self-loathing because he believes he is part black. The local white folks are quick to believe the guilt of an alleged murderer when they learn he may be part negro.
One thing the racism of the characters succeeds in doing is masking the extreme misogyny of many of the characters.
Sometimes the frequent time hops make this a difficult story to follow; but, stay with it. It is filled with tragedy and human drama and raw emotion. ...more
"White Teeth" by Zadie Smith follows the lives of old friends Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal. They met when serving together in a tank in World War II,"White Teeth" by Zadie Smith follows the lives of old friends Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal. They met when serving together in a tank in World War II, where they got lost, missed the end of the war, and sentenced a war criminal to death; they remained friends; married much younger women; had children; worked menial jobs in north London; and spend their free time in a filthy pub drinking beer and eating greasy food.
But they are very different. Archie is English and simple and easygoing; Samal is a fiery and opinionated Bangladeshi immigrant, who wants his family to maintain the traditions of his homeland.
Samal is so troubled by the English influence on his family that he sends his son Magid back to Bangladesh so he can learn his ancestral ways.
The plot becomes more complex as Smith introduces more characters and tells their backstories and their lives become more and more intertwined. In addition to Archie and Samad, she gives us:
Clara: Archie's young Jamaican wife, who is trying to escape the influence of her Jehovah's Witness mother.
Alsana: Samad's wife. She never forgives Samad for sending away their son.
Millat and Magid: Twin sons of Samad and Alsana. They grow up with very different personalities. After Magid is sent to Bangladesh, Millat turns to a life of pot-smoking and womanizing for a few years, before embracing Islam. Magid rejects religion and embraces intellectualism.
Irie: Archie and Clara's daughter. She is intelligent but lacks self-esteem and has a hopeless crush on Millat.
The Chalfens, an intellectual, liberal, well-meaning, dysfunctional family, who try (sometimes successfully) to mentor the Jones and Iqbal children.
There are other characters, and each has their backstory and their quirks, but the narrative revolves largely around the characters listed above. The book often jumps around in time to reveal the backstories of each character. But it does so succinctly and successfully. In the end, all the characters end up in the same room with different goals and an unexpected result.
Smith explores several conflicts including the struggle between immigrant assimilation and tradition to the role of race in society; the difficulty of parents and children to understand and relate to one another; and the meaning of religion in individual lives. She does so with a good story and with a witty prose, as in the following:
"Oh he loves her; just as the English loved India and Africa and Ireland; it is the love that is the problem, people treat their lovers badly."
I enjoyed the characters and I enjoyed the story.
"White Teeth" is one of the best novels I've read this year....more
His wife convinced him to buy a house in Chicago; then tried to have him committed; then, left him for his best friend. On top ofPoor Moses Herzog.
His wife convinced him to buy a house in Chicago; then tried to have him committed; then, left him for his best friend. On top of that, he is denied contact with either of his children.
Moses sets out for Chicago with his later father's antique pistol, 2 bullets, and murder on his mind. But nothing goes right, and his plans fall apart, and he is in an automobile accident and the police discover his loaded pistols.
The action of Saul Bellow's "Herzog" does not happen until the novel is at least half over. But the author keeps us engaged through Moses's angst, as his life falls apart. Moses deals with his depression by writing letters - most of which are never sent and many of which are addressed to famous people such as Friedrich Nietzsche and (then-President) Dwight Eisenhower.
Herzog is unstable; but he is not crazy as his shrewish wife asserts. And his letter-writing decreases as he comes to terms with the cards he is dealt.
Bellow's writing is poignant and sad, but sometimes humorous, with lines such as
"Lead me into Penn Station" and "Will never understand what women want. What do they want? They eat green salad and drink human blood."
This book will appeal to anyone who has experienced the helplessness of a mid-life crisis; or the pain of betrayal; or the paralysis of uncertainty....more
"Death Comes for the Archbishop" by Willa Cather follows the life of Bishop Jean Marie Latour, appointed to lead the new diocese of New Mexico, when"Death Comes for the Archbishop" by Willa Cather follows the life of Bishop Jean Marie Latour, appointed to lead the new diocese of New Mexico, when the region is annexed by the United States, following the Mexican-American War.
Latour travels to New Mexico from his home in Ohio with his friend and colleague Joseph Vaillant. They encounter many challenges: the rough environment; the lack of roads; a clash of cultures; widespread poverty; murderers who prey on travelers; rogue priests; and those who refuse to recognize the transition of authority to the new archbishop.
In addition to the story of Latour, we hear other tales of the place and time where this novel takes place. One memorable story was of a drunken, ill-tempered priest, who killed a young Indian servant when the boy spilled some food on him. The priest was captured and killed by the locals a few days later.
The story is loosely best on the lives of Jean-Baptiste Lamy and Joseph Projectus Machebeuf, who served as Catholic Bishops in the southwest US during the mid-19th century.
Cather is at her best when describing the New Mexico sky and landscape. She tells a straightforward story without much fanfare and she does a good job of contrasting the personalities of the two missionaries: the stoic Latour and the outgoing Vaillant. Each man loves God and believes in their mission but tackles it in his own way.
Like most biographies, "Death Comes for the Archbishop" covers the main character’s life to the end. So, while the title comes from the last chapter, it is a bit misleading. The book is far more about the Archbishop's life than about his death. As Latour himself put it: "I shall not die of a cold, my son. I shall die of having lived."
Death is very different in the universe of Philip K. Dick's "Ubik". Rather than simply ending life or transitioning to an afterlife, the recently deadDeath is very different in the universe of Philip K. Dick's "Ubik". Rather than simply ending life or transitioning to an afterlife, the recently dead remain cognizant. If properly preserved, technology exists that allows the living to communicate with the dead - sometimes for years. The consciousness slowly decays over time, after which the deceased finally cease to exist or are reborn anew.
Psychics are common enough in this universe to keep Glen Runciter busy. His company specializes in protecting people from psychic intrusion.
A group of powerful anti-psychics, led by Runciter, travel to the moon to meet with a potential client, where they are attacked and seemingly hurled back in time to the year 1939. But not everything is like the 1939 of their own past and they wonder exactly where they are.
Runciter is a good man and so is his employee Joe Chip. Chip is the perfect hero. He is loyal to his employer and dedicated to finding the truth; but he is financially irresponsible and always lacking funds (a problem when every appliance, device, and door requires a cash fee before it will operate).
"Ubik" is an imaginative tale of action and drama and speculative science fiction. Dick does an excellent job of taking far-fetched ideas and making them seem plausible. In under 250 pages he builds an entire world; then, destroys that world and creates another.
The story is both dark and humorous.
This novel influenced science fiction for many years after its 1969 publication. Douglas Adams must have read about the annoying talking doors when he wrote them into his Hitchhiker series. At times, we see nested realities, in a way that echoed in the 2010 film "Inception".
The narrative keeps changing our expectations. He keeps us guessing about reality versus illusion and life versus death and past versus present. And that's just the way Philip K. Dick wants it. ...more
I don't really know how to take "Tropic of Cancer" by Henry Miller.
The novel is written in the first person and the narrator has the same name as theI don't really know how to take "Tropic of Cancer" by Henry Miller.
The novel is written in the first person and the narrator has the same name as the author. So, am I to believe that Mr. Miller was a sex addict and all his friends were sex addicts and misogynists?
The story follows Miller and his friends - mostly bohemian American expatriates - as they navigate the squalid neighborhoods of Paris searching for sexual partners, artistic fulfillment, and survival. Miller tries to embrace the pleasures of life, sleeping with a variety of prostitutes and other women; but it is a challenge. He doesn't know where his next meal is coming from; but he is still focused on finding his next lay. His wife recently left for New York and he wonders why she has not communicated with him in the months since her departure. He expects her return, but it seems unlikely she will.
Still, it's difficult to feel sorry for Miller and his friends, as their descriptions are littered with misogyny. Virtually, every woman in the novel is referred to as a "c*nt" and most exist only as sexual outlets for Miller and his friends. In one scene, Miller steals his money back from a prostitute when she leaves the room after they have sex.
Many will dismiss this novel because of its strong sexual content. The writing is salacious and often shocking. Many men spend their youths focused on sex; and a few, like Miller, extend this obsession into middle age and this is his and their story.
Although very sexual, I cannot call this writing erotic. At no point did I find myself aroused by the exploits of Miller and his friends.
The novel has an important place in the history of literature. Its explicit sexuality pushed a lot of boundaries when it was first published in 1934. And it was banned as pornographic in the United States for 3 decades, until a 1961 obscenity trial that escalated to the Supreme Court. It is also significant culturally. One can hear Miller's strong influence on the beat writers of the 1950s and 1960s - from his stream-of-consciousness prose to his rejection of society's norms to his casual and frank discussion of alcohol and drug abuse.
And this book is important for the prose that Miller brings to his writing. Here is how he describes his adopted city:
"Paris is like a whore. From a distance she seems ravishing, you can’t wait until you have her in your arms. And five minutes later you feel empty, disgusted with yourself. You feel tricked."
"Tropic of Cancer" is worth reading for its influence on literature and for its celebration of the joys of living....more
"A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" is James Joyce's somewhat autobiographical novel. Joyce channels his own childhood and young adulthood"A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" is James Joyce's somewhat autobiographical novel. Joyce channels his own childhood and young adulthood through the character of Stephen Dedalus.
The book recounts young Stephen's school years, where he passes through a number of phases. He is at first intimidated by the older students, teachers, and priests at his school, struggling to fit in; later, he pursues the carnal pleasures of life; a sense of guilt turns him away from this life and he considers becoming a priest; after deciding against this, he begins to reject all society's values he grew up with and escapes to a life as an artist. These are major swings in a short time, but they are during his formative years, when Stephen is deciding who he will become. In the end, he turns away from the faith of his youth because so much of it was based on fear of damnation and a rejection of worldly pleasures, and he could not reconcile that with a love of beauty. In doing so, he rejects everything he knows to begin anew in a foreign place.
I don't know how much of "Portrait" applies to Joyce's own life, but he makes the novel personal, bringing us inside Stephen's mind as he struggles with his conflicts.
If you like books with a lot of action, skip this one. But if you like poetic writing and insights into the evolution of a philosophy, this book may be for you....more
Nothing much happens in Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway".
The entire book takes place on a single day in 1923 London. Clarissa Dalloway is preparing toNothing much happens in Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway".
The entire book takes place on a single day in 1923 London. Clarissa Dalloway is preparing to host an evening dinner party; and Septimus Warren Smith is contemplating suicide, as he reflects on his experience fighting in World War I and watching his best friend Evans die shortly before the armistice. Septimus's wife Lucrezia wonders why he acts so strangely when the doctor said there is nothing wrong with him.
For every few lines of conversation, we get many paragraphs of inner monologue.
Mostly, the story consists of flashbacks: Septimus recalls his friendship with Evans and Clarissa remembers her old lover Peter (to whom she refused marriage, settling instead on the government bureaucrat Richard Dalloway) and her friend Sally (with whom she once shared a romantic kiss). The day is complicated when Peter shows up after years in India.
Septimus and Clarissa never meet in the novel, but they are tied together by their obsession with their own past and by a long-past relationship with a same-sex friend.
We also get glimpses into the lives and minds of other people - primarily through their connections with Clarissa Dalloway, even though that connection is often quite thin.
Woolf's stream-of-consciousness writing style and the lack of present-day action sometimes makes the book difficult to follow.
We shift from the thoughts of one person to another; and from the present to the past. It's all very confusing. But pay close attention. And we get commentaries on a wide range of topics: •The role and status of marriage in society: A woman attains higher status by marrying, but she loses much of her identity to her husband •Society's attitudes toward mental illness, specifically PTSD suffered by veterans •The effect our past choices and circumstances have on current lives •The inevitable movement of time and the importance of how we spend it •The shallow lifestyle embraced by many in high society.
There is much to absorb here. And Ms. Woolf's prose is enjoyable. ...more
Four middle-class suburbanites decide to get away from society for a weekend. They hope to break the tedium of their daily lives and paddle throughFour middle-class suburbanites decide to get away from society for a weekend. They hope to break the tedium of their daily lives and paddle through the uncharted rivers in the hills of Georgia.
But on the second day, they are attacked, rescued, and further terrorized.
With no one to help them, they take matters into their own heads, resulting in a legal and moral crisis.
This is the scenario of James Dickey's novel "Deliverance".
It is a story of survival and suspense and ambiguity and self-doubt; of the power of nature; and the brutality of man.
Dickey does a masterful job shifting between descriptions of the power and beauty of nature and building tension within the story.
I read the book in a single sitting. By the end of the it, I was emotionally drained. Dikcey is known mostly as a poet, but this novel takes us on a dark and deadly journey that is impossible to forget. The attack in the book became one the most memorable scenes in movie history, when John Boorman turned the novel into a movie 2 years later.
Set aside some time to read this novel and ask yourself: What would you do in these circumstances?...more
Charles Smithson was a member of England's upper class in Victorian England. He was wealthy to the point of being idle rich and poised to inherit aCharles Smithson was a member of England's upper class in Victorian England. He was wealthy to the point of being idle rich and poised to inherit a title and fortune from his bachelor uncle. He became engaged to wealthy Ernestina Freeman, who is pretty, but simple and self-centered.
Everyone in the small, seaside town of Lyme Regis believes that Sarah Woodruff is mad. She spends her days, staring at the sea, waiting for the return of the French officer who jilted her years before.
Smithson's future seems set, until he meets the Sarah and takes an interest in her tragic paste.
At first glance, it seems a classic love triangle with a gentleman forced to choose between the lady to whom he is promised and a fallen woman. But Sarah is not what she seems, and everything becomes more complicated.
The reader is given clues about Sarah's motivations, but we never fully understand her actions. On the other hand, Fowles explores Charles in depth - his prejudices and his frustrations and his fears and his flaws. We follow him on his path of self-destruction, and weep for his arrogance of thinking he is benevolent toward Sarah by treating her (sometimes) as a human being.
We are shown other characters, very few of whom are likeable. They display hypocrisy and dishonest and spoiled and are almost universally self-serving.
The story does a good job of establishing the stark contrasts of Victorian society: between the traditional, Charles and the rebellious Sarah; between the upper and lower classes and the often hostile relationships between them; between the gender roles of men and women; and between the perception and reality of Victorian sexual mores.
Fowles has no qualms about injecting himself into the story, reminding the reader that he controls the actions of the fictional characters. He cuts in with long asides about the differences between sexual attitudes in the 19th and 20th century; or the life of Thomas Hardy; or the role of a writer in a novel. It's a risk; but, for the most part, he pulls it off, thanks to his cleverness and excellent prose. This only becomes an issue when he presents multiple possible endings to the story, which struck me as a cop-out.
Despite this weakness, "The French Lieutenant's Woman" by John Fowles is a very good story that will make you think. ...more
Tony Last appears to have a good life. He is are young and wealthy and married to a beautiful woman and he enjoys spending time at his family'sTony Last appears to have a good life. He is are young and wealthy and married to a beautiful woman and he enjoys spending time at his family's country home. But Tony's wife Brenda is unfaithful; Tony is the only one unaware of Brenda's affair with John Beaver, the dull and lazy son of a well-to-do businesswoman.
Tony's biggest mistake is that he trusts his wife and expects she will soon spend more time at home, instead of traveling to London every weekend. As a result, he is unprepared when he learns of her betrayal. When she demands a divorce, he leaves his home in England, completely abandoning his comfort zone to cross the ocean and to search for a lost city in South America.
None of the characters are particularly likeable. Most are concerned with the self-absorbed, meaningless social life of 1930s high society England. Even Tony, for whom the reader feels the most sympathy, is shallow and too comfortable to ever consider leaving home until he is shocked into doing so by his impending divorce. Brenda, of course, is horrible. Not only is she cheating on her devoted husband; she cares so little for their young son that she expresses relief when she hears of his death, because she initially feared she was learning of the death of her lover.
The final third of the novel, in which Tony struggles through the South American jungles, seem a departure from the rest of the novel; but this section underscore how much Tony's life has been turned upside down by the betrayal of a frivolous wife.
Evelyn Waugh's talent for satire is on full display in this "A Handful of Dust". He mocks the English upper class, exposing many of them as frivolous, selfish, and cold-hearted.
This was an uncomfortable novel for me. Tony reminded me too much of my younger self, when I placed trust in someone I should not have. When I was betrayed, I was paralyzed by my own indecision, waiting for her to come to her senses. Like Tony, I was too focused inward and on my past and on my own comfortable routine to recognize what was happening and to prevent it. Tony's quest ended when he ran far from home, placing his trust in an incompetent explorer - a decision that cost him his freedom and his life deep in the Brazilian rain forest.
Hopefully, I am now smarter and have learned better than Tony how to control my own destiny. ...more
"Possession" by A.S. Byatt is not a straightforward tale. It tells of an affair between Victorian-era poets Randolph Ash and Christabel LaMotte.
But"Possession" by A.S. Byatt is not a straightforward tale. It tells of an affair between Victorian-era poets Randolph Ash and Christabel LaMotte.
But the romance is revealed largely through letters and journals and essays and poems written by Ash and LaMotte and those around them; and it is slowly uncovered by present-day scholars Roland Michell and Maud Bailey - whose own romance is growing.
Near the beginning of the novel, I questioned the frequent context switching between the present and the mid-19th century. I wondered why we should bother with the present-day characters. But, as the book progressed, the two stories became more intertwined. I began to enjoy the historical discoveries, as Roland and Maud made them; I appreciated the ethical dilemmas Byatt presented of learning about the past, while respecting the privacy of the dead; and I was intrigued by the academic rivalries, as others heard of these discoveries and raced to uncover details more quickly.
Mostly through Roland and Maude's eyes, we watch the growth of the relationship between Randolph and Christabel and the effects of those relationships. Ash has a wife and LaMotte has a lesbian partner and both learn of the relationship and are profoundly altered by it.
I enjoyed Byatt's poetry, which she attributed to her fictional authors/lovers. Byatt does a good job of giving different voices to the writings of each character, including the styles of their poetry.
I really liked the ending, which revealed much about the lives of Randolph and Christabel, much of which was never discovered by Roland, Maud, and their contemporaries.
"Possession" is a good book for fans of poetry, detective stories, and historical romances. ...more
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