I can’t think of a character I’ve rooted this hard for since Martin Eden. This book has magic, Stacy Lee commands a blend of wit and wisdom, some lol I can’t think of a character I’ve rooted this hard for since Martin Eden. This book has magic, Stacy Lee commands a blend of wit and wisdom, some lol moments reflect a blunt cleverness I found irresistible.
Jo Kuan is a young woman to be taken seriously. People write her off only at the peril of their own avowed convictions. So into the sunset if 1890 she goes, ‘head held not too high and not too low�. Jo, who can appreciate a pun, hopefully will like this send off, “Ride on Josephine, baby ride on!�...more
Worth it! Not an easy book, the pace can seem plodding, but one can’t marinate a delicious meal quickly. By the end, we breathe in rhythm with the flaWorth it! Not an easy book, the pace can seem plodding, but one can’t marinate a delicious meal quickly. By the end, we breathe in rhythm with the flawed, brutal but caring and true Thomas Cromwell. By bringing to life a political man with such detail in his own time, Mantel imparts timeless wisdom about people and power. The reader looking for the wallop of the first two books (me) has to slow down and steep in the prose. I was hoping for gems and found them.
Funny that the only character that did not ring fully true was King Henry VIII. He came off as wistful egomaniac, I picture him more the raging egomaniac.
I almost dnf-ed this due to the pacing, very glad I stuck with it, it is sticking with me. ...more
"My objective was to awaken their hearts to the ideas dormant there, rather than to implant facts into their memory." Mr. March puts his money where h"My objective was to awaken their hearts to the ideas dormant there, rather than to implant facts into their memory." Mr. March puts his money where his mouth is. He raises his kids with faith in them. He cares about animals so he becomes vegan. He cares about slavery so he joins the union army, putting his life on the line. He rubs people the wrong way with his uncompromising zealotry, often, but I'm enamored of this man. Part of the genius of Geraldine Brooks is to present him as the quixotic dreamer whose convictions cause mayhem as well as progress, but to himself just a man trying and mostly failing to live his convictions.
Literary and historical references are rife in this engaging but often brutal book. Especially interesting was the role the die hard abolitionist John Brown played in the lives of other people fighting slavery. Our protagonist March is joined by historical figures Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson in having to measure their commitment to the cause against John Brown....more
Philoktetes smells a rat. That honey-tongued charmer Odysseus shows up on his miserable tiny island where he has remained forgotten; too sick, smelly Philoktetes smells a rat. That honey-tongued charmer Odysseus shows up on his miserable tiny island where he has remained forgotten; too sick, smelly and wretched for the guys on the boat to deal with on their way to Troy. But now, they remember him! They want him! They will give him the medical attention he so badly needs! Oh, and by the way they ask, do you still have that old bow that Hercules gave you? Once again Sophocles writes the subversive play, the history as experienced by the underdog. Could this glittering Greek hero Odysseus, a man for the ages who will even one day have a mini-van named for him, be playing him? Read on! This is great stuff. Well translated by Gregory McNamee....more
Fran Werfel tells a story many in 1941 must have initially thought unimportant and hopelessly out of fashion, a story about a strong woman, a story abFran Werfel tells a story many in 1941 must have initially thought unimportant and hopelessly out of fashion, a story about a strong woman, a story about a divine vision. I can only imagine his publisher's disappointment. It turned out to be a major book and was made into a movie (that I haven't yet seen) only two years later. "For it was not the world that abandoned me but I who abandoned the world." Franz Werfel found himself stranded in the south of France, trying to stay ahead of nazi pursuers and collaborators on the path up through the Pyrenees, through Franco's Spain and into Portugal where a Jewish family could get out of continental Europe. In an effort to not feel that the world had abandoned him, he embraced the town of Lourdes that provided vital sanctuary for him and his wife, (the famous Alma Mahler, Gropius Werfel) and sang the "Song of Bernadette", telling in glorious fashion the story of the poor young girl who saw a vision in the grotto nearby and remained steadfast in her account. What's so glorious about the telling is that Werfel is true to his subject. This remarkable girl never sought personal glory and had to fend off both ridicule and accusations of criminal fraud. In this spirit, Werfel too avoids flowery, inspirational passages and let's the power of Bernadette's song resound unadorned. Werfel sees in this story an instrument of opening people's minds. We are all subjected to ads, lies, evangelism, and consumer pressure from the time we can walk. Even at the time of Bernadette, 1858, the world was pretty much past it, 'a vision of a lady, you gotta be kidding'. But Werfel spent much of his life communicating the idea that man's way out of a life of quiet desperation, of near suicidal apathy, lay in opening our minds to the idea that there is more. I'm not a religious person. Organized religion has done more to oppress people, suppress belief and encourage cynicism than most any other force. But when we run up against the limits of our power, and we all do, spiritual options present a meaningful path for many, me included. The alternative is material atheism, "a religion too, though the worst in the world." Werfel took on the research of this story and came away feeling that the account of "the lady who had appeared to do something to stem the sickness of the world" was worth telling, that it had meaning in 1940. He goes on to tell how basically nobody with an official title, bureaucrat or clergy, welcomed this vision. The church saw it as a 'ghost story' that would further erode their stature, the State saw it as a reversion to superstition just as France was ridding itself of exactly that. "State and Church lived in fear of every manifestation of the rebellious masses' will. The deepest motive of those two endangered institutions is always their fear of mankind's own volition." So they lean on Bernadette. I came away with a huge admiration for this resolute woman. In Bernadette's time, in Werfel's time, and in ours, a person who tells this story is likely to sound like a sentimental nut who is staggered by the world, or a simpleminded fool who does not believe in science. And yet there are mysteries on this planet: love, honor, compassion, truth, a commitment to care about immigrants, people outwardly unlike oneself. These are not cold rational traits, it takes a fair amount of creative spinning to fit them into an evolutionary model, so maybe... In my experience religious people are often closed-minded and judgmental. Yet Werfel says, "a miracle supported by proven but inexplicable cures meant so enormous a breach in the official deism and non-official nihilism of the age as to shake to their foundation both the certainty of unbelief and the uncertainty of faith." Bernadette upset everybody's comfortable conception of life. Mine too. "Art is religion secularized. Consequently art is the religion of the nineteenth century." M. Lafite, a poet I identified with, says early in the book. Circumstances force him to consider opening his mind even further. I have to mention that the translation by Ludwig Lewisohn was pitch perfect!...more
**spoiler alert** Excellent historical fiction; Palmer does not have to spell out the relevance this story has to today's world. The theme of many wor**spoiler alert** Excellent historical fiction; Palmer does not have to spell out the relevance this story has to today's world. The theme of many worlds, that there are versions of reality that we choose, then sometimes crawl out of, is a thread that he established in Version Control, one of my all time favorite books. Mary Toft reminded me of David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet in its meticulously researched detail presented in a seemingly effortless way. Palmer is an author that goes his own way. He is in a group of authors that include: Jonathan Lethem, David Mitchell, Gary Shteyngart, Dana Spiotta, Sam Lipsyte, James McBride and Michael Chabon, to name a few that are carving out new territory in fiction. They are not bound by convention, using any and all tools available. Genres like magical realism, historical fiction, speculative fiction, memoir, they are all possible ingredients now! Even though I highlighted the Spoiler Alert function, I hesitate to say more. ...more
Ken Follet’s stories are so easy to get absorbed in. This one touches on the disturbing fascist groups in 1939, in both Britain and the U.S., that werKen Follet’s stories are so easy to get absorbed in. This one touches on the disturbing fascist groups in 1939, in both Britain and the U.S., that were pushing not just appeasement but outright support for Hitler. Much of the action takes place on an enormous sea plane, a luxury hotel in the air. Follet’s detailed research on the plane really pay off as he makes the scene come alive creating terrific suspense in a unique and fascinating setting. The characters are nuanced with interesting shades of gray. Still there are ones I rooted heavily for and others against, adding to the satisfaction this novel. ...more
Be careful what you wish for you just might get it. Steinbeck seems to be saying that it is easier to imagine a better life than it is to appreciate tBe careful what you wish for you just might get it. Steinbeck seems to be saying that it is easier to imagine a better life than it is to appreciate the life we have. On another level he is us into the perspective of a First Nations man negotiating the decision of whether or not to have his family adopt the dress and education of the colonial power.
To this day this point of view is rare and fraught with the danger of appearing condescending or inauthentic. Steinbeck avoids both of these traps his rendering Kino and his wife Juana. They come off as a highly intelligent couple aware of the dangers and limits imposed on anyone trying to improve their social and economic status in colonial Mexico. Steinbeck once again succeeds, as in the Grapes of Wrath, in creating an indelible bond between the reader and a character whose path to the dream of fulfillment is blocked by unfair societal power structures. This is s bitter pill to swallow and Steinbeck is unsparing in bringing this reality into the light. ...more
This is a fun read, Simon Armitage has captured the spirit of a great story enjoyed through the ages and rendered a translation from Middle English thThis is a fun read, Simon Armitage has captured the spirit of a great story enjoyed through the ages and rendered a translation from Middle English that also stays faithful to the architecture of the original, no easy feat! He says in his introduction that, "all poetry in Anglo-Saxon is alliterative. Only after the Norman Conquest and the impact of French did poets writing in English begin to use rhyme as a fundamental part of their metrical practice". For my taste he went a little too far in the direction of breezy modern language but that is quibbling, his achievement is monumental and his passion for this work is contagious.
"In front of a flaming fireside chair"... This is the musical alliterative nature of this great translation of a terrific story. Highly recommended.
Seamus Heaney delivers to modern readers our inheritance. No matter what our genealogy is, the epic of Beowulf lurks in our unconscious. Rather than bSeamus Heaney delivers to modern readers our inheritance. No matter what our genealogy is, the epic of Beowulf lurks in our unconscious. Rather than bringing this epic into the our time (as Simon Armitage did well for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight), Heaney leads us back.
Rush headlong into this world, where life was fraught with danger but the rules were simple. This trip is made possible by the timeless sensibility of the original poet and the language used by Heaney to take us there.
"Endure your troubles today. Bear up and be the man I expect you to be".
"Behavior that's admired is the path to power among people everywhere".
An excerpt describing a funeral gives a good example of the poem's power and the truth of the translation, using echoes of the original alliteration and meter to enhance its power when spoken,
"Then twelve warriors rode around the tomb, chieftains's sons, champions in battle, all of them distraught, chanting dirges, mourning his loss as a man and a king."
This verse shows what I didn't expect from the epic, that these characters exist in a world that is in transition from a time when action was everything to an era that left room for personal reflection and nuance of character, facets of being. This man being mourned was not one dimensional, a hero, he was a king and a man.
After reading this poem (and the comedies of Aristophanes) I am left believing that the people of ancient times were not just in transition from action figures to modern people but that in fact we humans have likely changed very little in our hearts and minds for many thousands of years longer that I ever would have thought. It is from both seeing the surviving art, and primarily from reading the surviving literature that the humanity of these ancients come through. Seamus Heaney has ensured its safe delivery to us by finding "the tuning fork that will give you the note and pitch for the overall music of the work. Without some melody sensed or promised, it is simply impossible for a poet to establish the translator's right-of-way into and through a text".
The translator is the giver of this venerable gift. Heaney's introduction is superb, it is incisive and more than anything inclusive in that he reveals his personal connection to this peom, how it's tenor reminded him of his Uncles in Ulster, how he wanted his translation to be words they could have spoken. "They had a kind of Native American solemnity of utterance, as if they were announcing verdicts rather than making small talk." This volume includes the original Anglo Saxon in its entirety which was very cool, being able to attempt some translation of a few familiar worlds, getting the sound of the original in the ear. Heaney begins his work with a poem, one that declares the epic poem of Beowulf to belong to the ages, and all people,
And now this is 'an inheritance' - Upright, rudimentary, unshiftably planked In the long ago, yet willable forward Again and again and again....more
It's interesting that the subscript under the rating stars says "really liked it" for 4 stars and "it was amazing" for 5 stars. This is an amazing booIt's interesting that the subscript under the rating stars says "really liked it" for 4 stars and "it was amazing" for 5 stars. This is an amazing book. I am truly in awe of the majesty with which McCarthy wrote. Like the King James Bible the very words led a gravity and mythic beauty to an often sordid tale. Really often, pretty much sordid from the word go.
I usually have to root for the protagonist in a book and I did here. This is an incredible achievement on McCarthy's part because there is almost nothing on the surface of the kid to like. His actions are atrocious and his depth is wavering. But he rings as true as a Spanish bell on an adobe mission. I was engaged in his story because he is a kid thrown brutally into a brutal world. He survives. This can not be a crime, can it? Great questions like this come up in this unfiltered journey across the southwestern deserts circa 1849.
Reading "Rebecca" the house called Manderly was brought to life so well it is said to be a character. In "Blood Meridian" it is the language that deserves that elevated distinction. I must have looked up twenty words and (to my discredit) left many others to fend for themselves suggesting their meaning way of connotation. The words are and the cadence are like layers of geologic stone, they seem inevitable and perfect and one can not imagine them any other way.
This is an amazing book but I am not sure yet if I "really liked it". I am so troubled by the war mongering mentality of human history that it may take some time to answer this question to myself. I have a suspicion that I need to come to terms with what feels like a true assessment of this raging human trait. There is more though. There is love and compassion and it is in searching among the ruins if history for the gems and then celebrating them as Walt Whitman does that artistic merit reaches its zenith.
I do not fault McCarthy though because my hunch is that he accomplishes something amazing. He tells the stories of the people who lived in this time and he did something more. He sets in motion a process that we readers finish. He brings to life the naked wretched truth of these merciless years in American and Mexican history so that readers in the 20th and 21st centuries may complete the picture by seeing our times through this lens. In so doing we come to a new and deeper appreciation of kindness and love and their existence against all odds and despite the ravages of human history. ...more
This classical Greek play, originally by Euripides who based in on Homer's Odyssey, is a classic story involving the deepest of human passions. AgamemThis classical Greek play, originally by Euripides who based in on Homer's Odyssey, is a classic story involving the deepest of human passions. Agamemnon in torn between his thirst for glory and immortality on the one hand, and the survival of his beloved daughter on the other. Much like Solomon, he appears forced to make a choice. This choice, however, is more Greek because it involves vanity and not the pure love of God that Solomon was exhorted to show.
Here Agamemnon has everything lined up; he has been chosen, out of many competing kings, to lead the military expedition against Troy that will restore honor to Greece after the way Paris and Helen shamefully skipped town together. The army is assembled, Achilles is there to marry Agamemnon’s daughter Iphigenia before leaving, but the wind won’t blow. the boats are stuck, weeks go by and not a breath of wind. People’s primitive nature increases in direct proportion to their desperation and that comes out here. Appeals are made to the gods. The gods have an Oracle (a spokesman for God somewhat self appointed not unlike the many we have now) and he declares that Iphigenia must be sacrificed on the altar to please the gods who will then make the wind blow.
Beautiful scenes ensue in which Racine gets to the heart of human desires including: the urge to protect a loved one even at the cost of one’s own life, duty to a cause greater than oneself, filial piety, the urge to appease God with a sacrifice, the fungible nature of divine proclamations made by a human interpreter. Robert Boswell provides a beautiful English translation of Racine’s tender, insightful and in many ways modern rendering of this ancient story. Racine is modern in that he brings out the emotions of the individual. Greek literary characters is already show greater individuality than most other contemporary literature in which people are often portrayed as cogs in a wheel, but Racine adds to this with his deft portrayal of characters, Iphigenia in particular, who change their mind more than once during the play and express their reasons with heartfelt eloquence.
The whole 'virginity is honor' thing is worth remarking on because look at the trouble it causes. Is it time to get over this? Yes, and yet we are not over it. The fact that western countries were so heavily into this, royal officials inspecting marital bedsheets and so on until very recent times is reflected in this play. Racine reveals that honor as measured by a woman’s virginity is a mania of its own that can easily lead to hubris in the individual and violence on a small as well as large scale. The intrusive relegating of half the population to the status of an object that can be wrecked is dangerous, cruel and wrong. It is easy to look at the middle east and places where they are not subtle about it but his idea continues to pervade and infect our culture. Racine here is like Mark twain on slavery, showing us a horrible incongruity in the hopes that we will not see it the same way again.
Racine is promoting at least two important ideas: to come to our own moral conclusions without perceived divine intervention, and to cut out this nonsense about honor being measured by virginity.
This is a play well worth reading, I wish I could read it in French!...more
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