A one handed boy meets a lot of quirky eccentrics as he searches for his family
This was a hard book for me to get through – it meanders. Ren, the boy, is claimed from an orphanage, encounters lots of spooky characters and situations in a sort of fairy tale time and place. But Ren left me cold as a main character, but how could a sensitive orphan with a weakness for thievery leave me cold? He doesn’t yearn for anything and is passive? The details are unique, imaginative and numerous, but the tension never builds. Only at the end, when the boy is claimed by his uncle, that I started to get drawn into the story. About a fourth of the way in, I decided to grit my teeth and finish it (for the book seems rather short), but it was painful. The prose style was vivid and succeeded in producing an odd tone – we clearly are in a distinct different world. I like the fact the time and the setting are not quite realistic.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
What does it mean to be English?
This book starts out so memorably – so full of energy and funny. A breath of fresh air. This novel works on so many levels – the prose is rollicking and the themes are IMPORTANT –the immigrant experience, colonialism, racism, the thoughtless tinkering of science, Islamic fundamentalism, the past impinging on the present. This is the story of three families, the mixed Jones, the immigrant Iqbals, the intellectually superior Chalfens. It’s not just about teenagers smoking cigarettes. I loved the characters – they were very passionate, quirky, fully realized, the kind Archie, the outraged Samad , the yin yang twins. However, a problem is that the book never quite hit the very superior high point of the opening section. And then, disappointingly, the ending feels forced, too many brilliantly colored threads to be wrapped up. Doesn’t quite work – the last section felt hurriedly written and tacked on.
This book starts out so memorably – so full of energy and funny. A breath of fresh air. This novel works on so many levels – the prose is rollicking and the themes are IMPORTANT –the immigrant experience, colonialism, racism, the thoughtless tinkering of science, Islamic fundamentalism, the past impinging on the present. This is the story of three families, the mixed Jones, the immigrant Iqbals, the intellectually superior Chalfens. It’s not just about teenagers smoking cigarettes. I loved the characters – they were very passionate, quirky, fully realized, the kind Archie, the outraged Samad , the yin yang twins. However, a problem is that the book never quite hit the very superior high point of the opening section. And then, disappointingly, the ending feels forced, too many brilliantly colored threads to be wrapped up. Doesn’t quite work – the last section felt hurriedly written and tacked on.
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
A fuckup finds himself the last living man on earth.
And yet the story is about how this fuck up Jimmy/Snowman was entrusted with the future of the humanity, or at least the future of a tribe of gentle souls called crakers, who’ve had all the sex and violence tinkered out of them. The story bounces back and forth through time, with funny energetic descriptions of this future world, its social divisions and the fantastic new creatures the corporations create. In this world, virtually everyone is crushed by the soulless corporate/militaristic bureaucracy. Jimmy/Snowman is a low achiever – for good reasons. My sympathy for him grew. However, I was very disappointed as I kept reading and soon began to realize that Oryx and Crake, who seem like tragic interesting characters, are never going to climb on the stage. When they finally do appear, they are very insubstantial. And their end, therefore, has little resonance.
And yet the story is about how this fuck up Jimmy/Snowman was entrusted with the future of the humanity, or at least the future of a tribe of gentle souls called crakers, who’ve had all the sex and violence tinkered out of them. The story bounces back and forth through time, with funny energetic descriptions of this future world, its social divisions and the fantastic new creatures the corporations create. In this world, virtually everyone is crushed by the soulless corporate/militaristic bureaucracy. Jimmy/Snowman is a low achiever – for good reasons. My sympathy for him grew. However, I was very disappointed as I kept reading and soon began to realize that Oryx and Crake, who seem like tragic interesting characters, are never going to climb on the stage. When they finally do appear, they are very insubstantial. And their end, therefore, has little resonance.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips
A sister and a brother live with the loss of their mother in 1950's West Virginia
This novel is really two entwined stories – a young soldier trapped in a tunnel during the Korean War and the evocatively written story of two siblings, one an adolescent girl, then other a brain damaged boy. The value of the book comes from the vivid descriptions of the small town and the friends and family and the quite moving love they have for each other. As more details of the town and the characters and their history accumulate, especially from the distinctive points of view of the siblings, the power of the book grows. There’s a flood scene that gets quite gripping, reminding me of something fantastical, like from the Wizard of Oz. However, the reader must make an effort to continue near the beginning as the Korean battle scenes feel repetitive (at least to me) and therefore boring. Overall, there are long stretches of beautiful set pieces occasionally held together by clunky exposition. I really liked a lot of the descriptions of the landscape – a field of grass, a ditch. However, the ending feels tacked on and not believable. Also, there’s an albino ghost popping in occasionally – not sure what he adds.
This novel is really two entwined stories – a young soldier trapped in a tunnel during the Korean War and the evocatively written story of two siblings, one an adolescent girl, then other a brain damaged boy. The value of the book comes from the vivid descriptions of the small town and the friends and family and the quite moving love they have for each other. As more details of the town and the characters and their history accumulate, especially from the distinctive points of view of the siblings, the power of the book grows. There’s a flood scene that gets quite gripping, reminding me of something fantastical, like from the Wizard of Oz. However, the reader must make an effort to continue near the beginning as the Korean battle scenes feel repetitive (at least to me) and therefore boring. Overall, there are long stretches of beautiful set pieces occasionally held together by clunky exposition. I really liked a lot of the descriptions of the landscape – a field of grass, a ditch. However, the ending feels tacked on and not believable. Also, there’s an albino ghost popping in occasionally – not sure what he adds.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
No Lease on Life by Lynne Tillman
An energetically neurotic woman confronts a befuddled cast of urban characters.
As I was reading, I kept thinking, I should hate this book, when am I going to start hating this book? Nothing happens. The story is about a woman whom I suspect would be highly annoying if encountered in real life refuses to submit to everyone else’s half assed standards. As a result, she is nearly driven mad in contemporary New York City. The novel ends with her throwing eggs at a bunch of yahoos. There’s no building of tension, there’s no climactic moments, but there are characters – highly eccentric vivid characters that you probably can only find in New York. Drug dealers, drug users, prostitutes, cops, incompetent supers, lumpy boyfriends. They all seem to be conspiring to ruin Elizabeth’s life. The characters and the prose style pulled me along and ultimately the book was very entertaining.
As I was reading, I kept thinking, I should hate this book, when am I going to start hating this book? Nothing happens. The story is about a woman whom I suspect would be highly annoying if encountered in real life refuses to submit to everyone else’s half assed standards. As a result, she is nearly driven mad in contemporary New York City. The novel ends with her throwing eggs at a bunch of yahoos. There’s no building of tension, there’s no climactic moments, but there are characters – highly eccentric vivid characters that you probably can only find in New York. Drug dealers, drug users, prostitutes, cops, incompetent supers, lumpy boyfriends. They all seem to be conspiring to ruin Elizabeth’s life. The characters and the prose style pulled me along and ultimately the book was very entertaining.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve
In 1970’s Kenya, a couple slowly realizes they are not suited for each other.
What a disappointment! I really love Anita Shreve’s deeply felt descriptions and characterizations, even though much of the time they are wedded to (overly) sentimental plots. But A Change in Altitude doesn’t feel like a novel – it feels like notes on a novel intended to be written. The whole plot is predicated upon the heroine climbing Mt Kenya where there is no good reason for her to want to climb Mt Kenya. So with no preamble, the characters do things that seem hardly motivated. The descriptions of Africa and the sense of Africa were much more compelling in her previous novel, “The Last Time they Met”. Although, you know what, the end worked for me. A twist.
What a disappointment! I really love Anita Shreve’s deeply felt descriptions and characterizations, even though much of the time they are wedded to (overly) sentimental plots. But A Change in Altitude doesn’t feel like a novel – it feels like notes on a novel intended to be written. The whole plot is predicated upon the heroine climbing Mt Kenya where there is no good reason for her to want to climb Mt Kenya. So with no preamble, the characters do things that seem hardly motivated. The descriptions of Africa and the sense of Africa were much more compelling in her previous novel, “The Last Time they Met”. Although, you know what, the end worked for me. A twist.
The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
A sensitive boy struggles with being different in Brooklyn
This book had scene after vividly written scene, opening with a beautiful image of two girls roller skating. The hero the child of artists, the only white child in the neighborhood. As a result, he is harassed in nearly every scene. The problem is that these scenes don’t build – nothing happens. Over and over our hero keeps getting beat up, stoned or runs around in a Superhero outfit. The prose was excellent, but I stopped reading around page 250. Just didn’t feel like investing the time anymore. The hero of this book, I now think, is the neighborhood. But I prefer people.
This book had scene after vividly written scene, opening with a beautiful image of two girls roller skating. The hero the child of artists, the only white child in the neighborhood. As a result, he is harassed in nearly every scene. The problem is that these scenes don’t build – nothing happens. Over and over our hero keeps getting beat up, stoned or runs around in a Superhero outfit. The prose was excellent, but I stopped reading around page 250. Just didn’t feel like investing the time anymore. The hero of this book, I now think, is the neighborhood. But I prefer people.
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