words are dangerous

The Raw Shark Texts

Steven Hall

Started September 25, 2007

Finished October 2, 2007

Well, when I saw a shark made out of text on the cover of this book, I knew that I had to check this book out. The protagonist, Eric Sanderson, apparently has chronic amnesia. The major question permeating in the novel is whether or not Eric is experiencing what he's experiencing in his head, or if it's really happening. Or, an even bigger question, if that even matters. I'm not sure... In any case, it's part Jaws part House of Leaves when the conceptual shark attacks.

The scenes with Eric and his girlfriend, Clio, kind of gave me heartache. I know that sounds corny, but I thought Hall portrayed intimacy between lovers quite effectively. I found my reaction especially interesting since a few other reader reviews that I read found the Eric/Clio stuff really lame. Sigh... I guess these things can be rather subjective. In any case, Hall makes a good point when he argues that once someone's gone, you can't capture their essence completely with words... things always get left out, and you just forget things over time. As Regina Spektor sings, "Thought I'd see your face in my mind for all time, But I don't even remember what your ears looked like." In my experience, that's a sad truth.

historical fiction- gothic style

The Terror
Dan Simmons
Started September 5, 2007
Finished September 25, 2007

This is a compelling historical novel, with a touch of psychological sci-fi intrigue. There are all the gritty details of a 19th Century arctic exploration gone terribly wrong, in addition to the "thing." Indeed, Simmons picked a compelling real life story to put his own twist on. The Terror uses the real-life failed expedition of Sir John Franklin. Many of the characters in the book were real people. However, since no one really knows what happened to the expedition, Simmons takes some artistic license and goes in unexpected directions with the story. I have a feeling historians may feel somewhat dismayed with his work, but it makes for some compelling fiction.

I spent a good deal of the novel wondering if the "thing" is actually real or not. I'm not saying, because I don't want to ruin it, but I will say that I wasn't expecting the ending. I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about the end, although I did enjoy the book overall. I suppose the ending is apt, in a way- the death of a period of time, anticipating more Western influence in the Arctic regions.

I liked that the chapters follow the perspective of one character at a time, showing the reader what some characters know that others don't. However, I did notice that the reader pretty much only gets the British explorer perspective- no chapters from the natives, or what would have been even more interesting- from the "thing." Overall though, the book was exceptionally well done, especially for its genre- whatever genre you might want to call this.

feminist dystopia.

The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood
Started August 23, 2007
Finished September 5, 2007

I can see why this novel is so often required reading in high school and college English classes. Margaret Atwood offers a richly contextual novel with no easy answers. While some of the major themes include feminism, misogyny, totalitarianism, religious extremism, and theocracy, the novel deals in ambivalence. In other words, there are no easy answers. While the futuristic dystopia that Offred, the narrator, describes is terrifying, the past that Offred reminisces about has plenty of its own flaws. In addition to forcing the reader to consider some difficult questions about feminism and religious extremism, I should also point out that I found this novel an incredibly compelling read. Offred, the narrator, is a "handmaid"- used basically as a breeder for the elite in the new totalitarian society. The novel jumps around in time from before the overthrow, to Offred's time being conditioned into a handmaid, to her present posting with Fred, her Commander. (Her name is Of-Fred because she belongs to Fred at her current posting...). I like to think that things have turned out somewhat better for women than Atwood imagines in this novel. I hope that's true. I like to believe that I'll be able to have a career that I'm good at and enjoy and also be able to have a meaningful relationship and a family. I guess it's important not to take the efforts for change from the past for granted. I can't imagine not being allowed to read like most of the women in The Handmaid's Tale!

Electra- Eurpides style

Electra
Euripides
Started August 20, 2007
Finished August 22, 2007

Euripides seems to have had a thing for writing about strong, violent women. While it could not displace Medea for me, Electra also featured strong women characters that produced feelings of ambivalence in me. Electra, the title character, is the daughter of Clytemenestra and Agamemnon. The brutal history of her parents is told in other plays. While Electra is put in a bad situation by Clytemnestra's actions, I couldn't help but feel that she was pretty whiny about things- she seems to enjoy her misery in a weird way. In contrast, Clytemnestra was considerably more sympathetic than I was expecting her to be. She seemed grief stricken about what she had done but resolved to make the best of a bad situation. Which makes it rather jarring when Electra demands that her brother kill their mother even after he has second thoughts about matricide.

In addition to gripping female characters, Electra offers yet another meditation on the theme of appearance versus reality. The poor farmer who Electra has been forced to marry is probably the most honorable, good character in the drama and he disappears shortly into it. While he is of a low stature within society, he is about the only character who doesn't do anything morally questionable within the play. So don't judge a book by its cover, basically. Additionally, I was struck by how much the play seemed to question the judgment of the gods, specifically Apollo in this case. The only reason Orestes, the brother, goes through with killing his mother is because Apollo told him to (and Electra urged him to). And the play ends with a couple of the other minor gods telling Electra and Orestes that this was an error on the part of Apollo. What does it mean for humans when the gods make mistakes or don't agree?

Graphic alienation.

Summer Blonde
Adrian Tomine
Started August 19, 2007
Finished August 19, 2007

Once I started Summer Blonde, I couldn't put it down. It definitely struck a chord with me. Summer Blonde is actually a collection of 4 short stories told in a graphic novel format. For me, it was basically about lonely people reaching out for human contact in sometimes strange ways. It made me very thankful that I have a few people in my life that I feel like really "get" me, and what a great feeling it is to have that. I identified with the story that pondered "how does one go about making small talk?" maybe a little more than I'd like. Many of the characters in Summer Blonde seem to be looking for someone to fulfill them, but don't seem to know where to begin. I loved the ambiguity inherent in many of the stories. For example, in "Hawaiian Getaway," Hillary Chan has a remarkably hard time with people- she seems to crave them and hate them at the same time. Toward the end, she meets a man who she seems to click with, but it's left up in the air whether he was a "castle in the air" using her for sex or if he's just running late to meet her. Many of the stories have a hesitant touch of almost-hope at the end.

From the book jacket, I learned that the merit of Tomine's work has been hotly debated. From what I can gather, many of his characters tend to be hipster emo types who bewail lack of meaningful connection with others in their lives. I thought their connections were deeper than that though. I thought Dan Raeburn, who wrote the introduction on the book jacket, summed it up well when discussing the similarity between many of the characters- they are all seeking human connection in an increasingly alienating world. These stories were much more about creating emotion than sparking intellectual thought for me. And I need to create a new word to describe what these stories made me feel. Aching-sympathetic-identification with a touch of thankfulness? That's not quite it, but I think maybe the best I'm going to be able to do.

Huck Finn reborn.

Rule of the Bone

Russell Banks

Started July 17, 2007

Finished August 19, 2007

Rule of the Bone is yet another coming of age novel generally compared to others such as Huck Finn and The Catcher in the Rye. Personally, this one reminded me much more of Huck Finn than The Catcher in the Rye. It's told by a first person narrator, Bone, a 14 year old homeless boy who struggles with conventional society and occasionally likes to assure the reader of his honesty, which says Huck Finn all over to me. The first half at least also spends some time contemplating what it means to be American- homelessness and abuse issues, racism, religion, relationships to history, among other things. Instead of Jim, who Huck Finn patronizes, Rule of the Bone has I-Man, who Bone idolizes.

The second half of the novel consists of Bone's adventures with I-Man in Jamaica. Questions of racism and hierarchy are looked at from a different angle. While the plot kind of meanders as Bone drifts from one thing to another, there are definite moments when Bone will come out with something that just strikes me as completely true. Like toward the end when he talks about crime versus sin. Bone is on a quest for personal meaning and out to do the "true" thing , even though it very well may not be what most people would consider the "right" thing. On the one hand, you want for Bone to be saved, but on the other, you think that maybe he really is saving himself by living his life in such an unstructured way. The lack of cohesion in the novel kind of bothered me, but then, I think that the structure suits the narrator- for me, this novel was about breaking artificial boundaries- such as the way I expect a novel to be structured.

Iowa's King Lear

A Thousand Acres

Jane Smiley

Started July 25, 2007

Finished August 9, 2007

Though it started somewhat slowly, by the end of A Thousand Acres I felt like I'd been on a rollercoaster or something- it actually left my heart pounding by the end. I know, I know... Iowa farm life circa 1979 does not sound like an exciting read, but dear god Jane Smiley can write when she wants to (very mixed reviews on her latest book... This is actually the only one I've read thus far, although now I'm definitely interested in reading more...). And I think Smiley has the "street cred" to write about life in Iowa... She got 2 degrees at the University of Iowa and then taught at Iowa State for a long time- writing about what she knows worked out for her in this case.

Anyway, A Thousand Acres is kind of a revisionist adaptation of King Lear. Because of this, the read is greatly enhanced by knowing something about King Lear. I'm not saying it's necessary to go read the play or anything, but the Sparknotes summary adds another layer to the experience: Summary I'm generally a sucker for that kind of thing- I like to re-examine the old from a new angle- but this really struck a chord with me. Instead of Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia, you get Ginny, Rose, and Caroline. And though I remember thinking the two older daughters were just basically greedy and evil in King Lear when he read it in high school, Smiley definitely shakes things up by having Ginny, the oldest daughter, be the narrator. In A Thousand Acres, plain evil is eschewed for multiple shades of grey.

A Thousand Acres is considerably more sympathetic toward the two older daughters and harder on the failings in the father and Caroline- at least internally. Interestingly, the spectators to the action within the novel still largely seem to view the two older daughters as evil, manipulative, and greedy, while their father is seen as heroically tragic- just what you're supposed to think at the end of King Lear. However, there's more to the story in A Thousand Acres, even if it doesn't become general knowledge or really change people's opinions. Indeed, what seems to be the real evil in A Thousand Acres is an unwillingness to accept anything beyond the surface- in other words, seeing things only in terms of black and white. More information makes things murkier, which the most frustrating characters avoid at all costs. The father and Caroline simply refuse to hear anything that they don't want to- anything that changes their core beliefs about themselves and their family. Interesting that Caroline is a lawyer, supposedly wanting all the facts to find the truth... Although I guess thinking in terms of black and white would actually be helpful for a lawyer- you only want to support your side of the case, afterall.

After reading this novel, I'm excited to watch the film adaptation sometime soon. I don't want to get my hopes up too much though.... I suspect the book blows the movie out of the water. The tagline of the movie is " Best friends. Bitter rivals. Sisters." (IMDB). This indicates to me that it'll probably concentrate on the falling out of the two older sisters. While that's important, I'm not sure it's the defining storyline of the novel...

Harry Potter! (Warning: Spoilers)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

J.K. Rowling

Started July 22, 2007

Finished July 23, 2007

Well, I find it somewhat amusing that so many extreme Christians get so up in arms over Harry Potter, because the Christian overtones really came out in the last book. Harry must sacrifice to save everyone else, eh? Granted, a lot of fantasy seems to have religious elements in it- the whole good versus evil thing, I guess. I'm not going to ponder what that means... the relationship between religion and fantasy... but it's definitely there. I was generally happy with the grey areas included within the Harry Potter... while it's hard to see Voldemort as anything other than pretty much pure evil, I think interesting questions are raised about why. He had a pretty awful home life, but then so do a lot of people who aren't evil. It's not like his disposition comes from Satan, at least according to J.K. Rowling, anyway.

I found what Rowling did with Snape and Dumbledore even more interesting in the last book. Although Snape's motives for helping Dumbledore and protecting Harry are less than pure, he does act out of love for someone other than himself. Even better than a "bad" guy possessing humanity, though, is a "good" guy acting selfishly at the cost of others. Dumbledore's power-craving past, which apparently makes him scared of himself, was an excellent twist. And then there are characters like Draco, who sucks, but isn't utterly evil. Generally.

In any case, I was quite pleased that J.K. Rowling managed to end the series without killing any of the main characters in a way that didn't feel like cheating.

French Graphic Novels, eh?

Glacial Period
Nicolas De Crecy
Started July 20, 2007
Finished July 21, 2007

I really enjoyed the premise of this graphic novel. It takes place far in the future, and these explorers are looking for the Louvre, not knowing what it is because it has been lost to time. They find it, and have absurd theories about the artwork. It was funny, as well as interesting, when they were commenting on the art. I really liked that it listed the works featured in the back. I suspect that I would have gotten even more out of it if I had more knowledge of art history or had the energy to spend a good amount of time looking stuff up about the paintings. Nevertheless, my art knowledge was increased. My only criticism is that sometimes I thought it got a bit heavy handed. I'm not sure how I feel about the sentient dogs, especially the one that's in love with a human woman and wishes interspecies love was accepted. Also, the jab at fat American tourists who only care about the Mona Lisa wasn't strictly necessary, though probably truer that I'd like to think. Overall, though, this was an interesting read that didn't require much of a time investment.

The British Catcher in the Rye?

Black Swan Green

David Mitchell

Started July 13, 2007

Finished July 20. 2007

Well, I suppose I should preface this by saying that I LOVED Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, but I can definitely see where it's not for everyone. Part of what I loved about it is the way that Mitchell uses structure to add to the story, and he pays attention to structure in Black Swan Green as well. It's more reader friendly in Black Swan Green though. Cloud Atlas cuts each of the stories except for the last one in half and wraps them around each other, like Russian dolls. In Black Swan Green, both the passage of time and the number 13 are important, and so there are 13 chapters, one for each month that the book spans. You get an episode that happens each month rather than a completely continuous narrative. It works for me.

Black Swan Green is significantly more accessible than Cloud Atlas, although 80s British slang is sometimes like a different language. It's kind of like A Clockwork Orange though... you get used to it. And then you start wanting to whip out words from it and no one knows what the hell you're trying to say... unless they've read the book.

The narrator, Jason Taylor, is sometimes incredibly acute, but then also sometimes things go way over his head. It's also quite interesting to try to work out Jason's contradictions throughout the novel. For example, my favorite quote from the novel: "Me, I want to bloody kick this moronic bloody world in the bloody teeth over and over till it bloody understands that not hurting people is ten bloody thousand times more bloody important than being right" (118). The following chapter makes this a very interesting statement indeed. By the end of the novel, though, Jason has moved forward.

80s Crazy Rich Kids... Did they have souls?

Less Than Zero

Bret Easton Ellis

Started July 2, 2007

Finished July 16, 2007

I think this may actually be my new favorite Bret Easton Ellis book. It also happens to be his first one. I didn't think much of Glamorama (second most recent) so I didn't read Lunar Park (most recent), but I've liked everything older than that to varying degrees. I've heard his next book might be a sequel to Less Than Zero, so hopefully he'll be on an upswing (although we all know how sequels tend to compare to the originals). Anyway, Less Than Zero is apparently based on the Elvis Costello song of the same name (which I haven't heard yet, but now want to track down...). In the book, the protagonist has an Elvis Costello poster hanging on his ceiling that looks down on him (Like God? Accusingly? Providing moral judgment? Now is where I suppose it'd be cool to know more about Elvis Costello and his music, because he's definitely a presence in this novel.)

According to good old wikipedia, Ellis is considered one of the major Gen X writers, and he's definitely got a thing for those 80s drugged out rich kids (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bret_Easton_Ellis). Even though I'm not always into what he's doing, at least he's definitely doing something a little different than most of what's out there. He likes to push the envelope and shock. Like typical Ellis, there's tons of seemingly random drugs and sex, and it seems to create a tone of disconnect within the novel. It just seems to have a more pointed effect in this novel. Clay comments on his "need to see the worst" and Ellis doesn't let him look away.

He's definitely channeling Ernest Hemingway in style in this one. There's a definite sense that the narrator, Clay, is only scratching the very surface of the things he comments on. Though I don't think he ever offers up how some pretty fucked up events make Clay feel, Ellis kind of gives you road signs to Clay's internal workings. Like the fascination with the dying coyote. There's also a bit of a Gatsby moment with Clay and an ominous billboard (in addition to the ominous, judgmental Elvis Costello poster...).

Probably the key scene in the book for me:

'"It's... I don't think it's right."
"'What's right? If you want something, you have the right to take it. If you want to do something, you have the right to do it."
I lean up against the wall. I can hear Spin moaning in the bedroom and then the sound of a hand slapping maybe a face.
"But you don't need anything. You have everything," I tell him.
Rip looks at me. "No. I don't."
"What?"
"No. I don't."
There's a pause and then I ask, "Oh, shit, Rip, what don't you have?"
"I don't have anything to lose."

Humorously suicidal...

A Long Way Down

Nick Hornby

Started July 8, 2007

Finished July 11, 2007

I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Sometimes I think I may have outgrown Nick Hornby and similar writers, but no, I think there's still something to this that speaks to me. Really, the more I think about this novel, the more I conclude that while it seems like a rather quick, pretty surface-y read, many of the issues addressed had a way of sticking to me... almost like I got tricked into considering new ideas. Which I have to say, I don't mind. I also quite enjoy Hornby's evident love of books which is sprinkled throughout. Especially the observation that it's considered weird to read a book with other people around, but no one gives it a second thought when someone is playing video games in a crowded room. (Haha... except for me.)

WARNING: SPOILERS (not that there's many plot points to spoil...)
Surprisingly, or maybe not surprisingly, I actually found Maureen the most interesting character. One thing that she says really hit me as spot on... the need to not fill all 60 minutes an hour every hour with the same thing. I know that I am sometimes guilty of that, and it does nothing for my mental health. Maureen also has the shittiest situation in my opinion... while Matty, her completely nonfunctional son, doesn't have a voice at all in the novel, his presence is definitely felt. I don't know what I'd do in her situation. What she says about having kids struck me as being pretty right too... that a lot of people have kids to feel a sense of forward motion in their lives, and one of the saddest things about her life is that nothing ever changes because Matty never really grows up. Interestingly, though, she seems to me the happiest of the 4 main characters by the end of the novel, and it has a lot more to do with her outlook than with external events. Really, some of the other characters actually struck me as kind of whiny and less sympathetic.

I liked that nothing really changes by the end of the novel, but the characters somehow seem like they will be okay in the end. Not great, but okay. The plot meanders along, with lots of fairly random things happening and no real end destination in sight, but the destination isn't the point of this novel. It's figuring out how to get there that's the interesting (and difficult) part.