To be or not to be, suicide, depression, quantum time, free will vs. fate, Zen Buddism: this book is about a LOT of STUFF. And I love that it brings aTo be or not to be, suicide, depression, quantum time, free will vs. fate, Zen Buddism: this book is about a LOT of STUFF. And I love that it brings all of these to the table with such humility and subtle storytelling. My description probably makes it sound heavier than it actually feels to read. And, bonus, it's one of those stories-within-stories-within-stories � and on-and-on, so if you're like me and love you some good meta-fiction, then this one's for you. This book has depth and warmth, and the further the reader travels into the story, the more interesting and even enlightening it becomes. Highly Recommended....more
I feel like I need to say two things before I write this review: I do get the irony of writing a social site review on a book whose subject is the ultI feel like I need to say two things before I write this review: I do get the irony of writing a social site review on a book whose subject is the ultimate dystopian critique of same ... not sure sure if that makes me defiant or stupid, but I'm doing it anyway. Secondly, I confess to membership in the lifelong Dave Eggers fanclub, since his pre-novelist, Might magazine days, so I'm predisposed to like what he does. That said, this book—I can seem to think of no better way to say it—made my skin itch. Writing reviews on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ is the sole online social activity I engage in—no Facebook (OK Linked in, but barely), no Twitter, not even a Smart phone, just a clamshell I turn on when I [rarely] feel like it. All of which is to say, I'm an introvert perhaps more vulnerable than most modern whippersnappers to Eggers's very dark vision of the social networking end game. This book has much in common with other dystopian classics like Brave New World and 1984 in that it feels uncomfortably close to possible and prescient of the day's headlines. I will say that I felt that the novel's protagonist, Mae, an innocent, middle class 24 yr. old who drinks the Kool-Aid, never became more than a cypher for the plot, but maybe that's the necessary mechanics of this kind of novel (I would have subtracted half a star for that if the rating system here allowed)—yet Eggers does manage to enjoyably render the fauna and geography of northern California as a significant character. It bears mentioning that The Circle is the serious, ideologically progressive cousin to the funnier but just as black Super Sad True Love Story, another recent novel about the lazy, debauched, elitist, and generally baser implications of unlimited online social access. My bottom line: The Circle is riveting and relevant as it gets, so get yer nightmare on if you dare!...more
According to this amazingly well-edited book of personal narratives, there actually were some good times in the projects where Good TImes, the TV showAccording to this amazingly well-edited book of personal narratives, there actually were some good times in the projects where Good TImes, the TV show took place. But the similarity ends there, and horrific times were more plentiful. What I can't get over is how this kind of living causes the people who live there to, at their worst and frequently, snipe each other from their windows and balconies, even children—cops I get (and they do that too.) But this is what we hear about in the news about what's going on in the middle East and other parts of the third world--right here. I was fascinated and horrified by the stories in this book. What's even more amazing than the actual events of terror that happen daily is how the narrators clearly adapted to it, and often didn't think it was really so bad. Other times, they were afraid to cross in front of their own front door when it was closed—WHEN THEY WERE INSIDE—for fear of gun shots. Yeah....more
I waited a couple of months to write this review because I couldn't decide between 4 or 5 stars. I decided to see how the novel remained with me; woulI waited a couple of months to write this review because I couldn't decide between 4 or 5 stars. I decided to see how the novel remained with me; would it stay? Well, it does stay with me. And it inspires me to read more from Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch being my first of hers. As usual, I had to see what all the hoopla was about. Stephen King reviewed in the NYT calling it "Dickensian", and it is, but WHAT an interesting specimen of writing, because The Goldfinch simultaneously lays bare the engines and dilemmas of our modern age. Reading the Goldfinch was a most peculiar state of feeling immersed in two different centuries. Maybe I'll say its tone and detail are Victorian, while its characters � well, some are from this century and some from Dickens's, but the nature of their conflicts, well those are modern for sure. Lives unfold in what seems like real-time, yet its epic plot moves right along. I love how so many contradictory elements co-exist so naturally in this novel that's equal parts coming of age story, social novel, and addictive page-turner. So five stars it is!...more
I love Amy Fusselman. Do I want to marry her? Maybe. Maybe not. I do want to read everything she ever writes. I love her voice, which is the voice in I love Amy Fusselman. Do I want to marry her? Maybe. Maybe not. I do want to read everything she ever writes. I love her voice, which is the voice in my head if it were braver, wiser, and funnier. Which is to say: I relate to whatever she is doing or thinking about, which is usually the mundane task of getting through life as a mother, wife and artist. These are all high-difficulty when performed alone, but of course they overlap, messily. For example one cannot read novels, she points out, while taking care of small children in the same room without doing both things in a manner that would be best described as half-assed. Also, she elliptically chronicles the ugly, dark parts of life as they too overlap with the funny, warm fuzzy parts of life, messily. To say more about the subjects she tackles in these realms would be a bit of a spoiler. Let's just say, her writing is somehow light as a feather and heavy as lead, funny and tragic, resilient and frail. I like my writers complicated and self-aware. Maybe I do want to marry her....more
I don't usually read YA. Labels have their use, but more often, and definitely in the case of genre-transcending literature, they can limit readershipI don't usually read YA. Labels have their use, but more often, and definitely in the case of genre-transcending literature, they can limit readership. Because typically I won't read something that I know beforehand is "Horror" (but then, "The Stand", right?) or "Romance" (but "Wuthering Heights"!) or "YA". But now, The Fault in Our Stars. And not only that, but as as a result of reading this book, I have no pants. Because it charmed them right off of me. I dare you to not become heavily invested in Hazel, your hyper-intelligent 17 yr. old narrator, to not think of her as your friend with whom you would gladly spend all your time. This novel cuts sweetness off at the quick; yet it grows back three times as thick. If your heart hasn't felt moved in while, I recommend this one. Even if it has, still recommended. And of course they're making a movie, so read it fast so you can make up your own faces....more
This is that book that I sort of liked just enough to keep reading, and then, as more pages stacked up on the left, found myself more and more engrossThis is that book that I sort of liked just enough to keep reading, and then, as more pages stacked up on the left, found myself more and more engrossed in. Carry The One is what I will henceforth call Sneaker Fiction. That is, maybe you thought you were reading People magazine, but turns out it was Harper’s, how ’bout that?! Or, you started reading Goodnight Moon but it turned into Go The Fuck To Sleep. This is a novel with an interesting enough plot about a group of young adults together at an accidental manslaughter, and twenty-five years of time and history’s effect on those young adults as they grow into middle age. If I were pitching Hollywood and a publishing house in the same meeting, maybe I’d say it's Lorri Moore meets the movie, Munich—i.e.: serious subject matter with splashes of dry, dry, dark humor. A little bit meta fiction, a little bit ambiguous morality tale. So if this sounds like your cup of black, unsweetened tea that’s been steeping for a long time, drink up; you’ll have a good buzz by the end. ...more
To state the obvious, there are a lot of books in the world, too many to read. So choosing material can be strangely arbitrary. And if I'm honest I'd To state the obvious, there are a lot of books in the world, too many to read. So choosing material can be strangely arbitrary. And if I'm honest I'd confess that I never would have picked up The Orphan Master's Son but for two things: 1) it kept beating all these really excellent books in the Rooster tournament (which is always a reliable list of excellent and entertaining books that seems to always accord with my literary taste.) And then 2), it won the Pulitzer for fiction right after that. So yes, I guess I'm a snob if you want to look at it like that. I chose this book purely on other people's reactions to it.
And guess what? It IS all that. For someone like myself, who doesn't really travel (Disneyland doesn't count, right?) reading a book that puts me mentally in another country is like a Vitamin D pill for someone who never goes outside. This kind of book is chemical global enculturation (though part of it does take place in Texas, my homeland). So now this amazing book set in North Korea (mostly), peopled with deeply empathetic characters, staged a world away across seas, has come across my radar. And I'm feeling damn lucky to live in the first world, with a new, exhilarating a sense of what America must look like from other shores. Now North Korea isn't just some inscrutable country with weird, crazy little despot leaders in the news. Now I'm interested in what happens there. Sad to say, that country hardly seemed real to me before. The Orphan Masters Son feels like fiction and non-fiction at the same time. To me it seems like it really could have happened in this world we live in now. (And for some awesome star power, you can look forward to meeting Kim Jong Il as major character.) The Orphan Masters Son is a Big Book, with Big Themes (like I said, epic.) But it's also funny, poetic, tender, and rife with sensual little moments I know will linger for me, the kind of writing that makes a book unforgettable. What does North Korea have to do with you? It's worth your time to read this book and find out....more
In the spirit of the Rooster Tournament, I’m reviewing two books at once: Every Love Story Is A Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace and AlthouIn the spirit of the Rooster Tournament, I’m reviewing two books at once: Every Love Story Is A Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace and Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself : A Road Trip With David Foster Wallace (Note: Since the GR site doesn’t really have that functionality, I’m duplicating this review under both titles.)
Not the least bit disputed fact about David Foster Wallace: by the end of his life, he was severely mentally ill. Yet one should not mention his illness without emphasizing how self-aware he was about it his whole life, in ways that most people could never be and still function as well as he did (well, until he hung himself at the tender age of 46.) I was touched by the introduction to Road Trip when the interviewer recounts how Wallace’s sister has agreed to contribute because she doesn’t want David’s suicide to become the thing for which he is most remembered.
So why is this writer important? The most potent distillation of why I admire the writer David Foster Wallace comes from something he said and wrote often: (I’m paraphrasing here) he concluded that at the end of the day, the reason people read novels is to combat loneliness. Wallace avers that fiction, at its best, can offer a certain kind of intimacy that accompanies one’s soul in a meaningful way. I never thought of it like that until I read his words, but now I can’t imagine anything truer. Not that such an interaction with fiction always should be comfortable. My favorite DFW quote also perfectly captures this paradox: “The truth will set you free, but not until it’s done with you.� Ha! Right?
As many of us do (but on a less epic scale), the guy struggled mightily just getting through his days. Unlike most of us, his daily get-by was juxtaposed with flashes of super-human understanding, intelligence, even genius—or you fill in the blank. Tellingly, one of his passionate soapbox speeches concerned the importance of consciously choosing what one pays attention to, and the quality of the attention paid. His own particular ability in this arena enabled him to write a nearly 1200- page book with 388 end notes on that very idea� his masterpiece, Infinite Jest. Conversely, his particular inability to look away from that inner feedback loop of self-criticism and despair would eventually end him.
If you’re a DFW reader, I highly recommend the experience of reading this biography right next to the 4-day interview time capsule. Because: the Road Trip is an interview, and it’s a faithful verbatim transcription. Reading it, one can’t help but experience DFW’s voice, his vocal cadence, the mundane and profound aspects of his day-to-day life, i.e. his dogs messing the floor, his social insecurity about people thinking he and his reporter interviewer were gay companions (thinly disguised as a repeated joke), his devotion to word choice and grammar even while speaking, his thoughts as they shaped themselves, his wit, his crippling self-consciousness, what he was like first thing in the morning, last thing at night, etc. In high contrast, his biography is a measured, linear narrative, a chronological lifetime, complete with occasional in-depth text analysis of his writing as it relates to various life events. And letters (the man wrote tons of letters!!) where you get to hear his voice in a whole other way, a charming mix halfway between his writing voice and his casual, self-effacing, acerbic, salt-of-the-earth Midwestern, pop-culture-nerd style of speaking in person. And I’m also glad to understand from both books that he did have joyful days too. If readers of Wallace and these two books about his life agree on nothing else, perhaps we can agree on this: there’s nothing un-complex about Mr. Wallace. I’m deeply sad that he’s gone; I feel his absence in the corporal world, but I am also grateful he left behind his work to exist in the eternal realm of the mind and heart. ...more
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