Zeitoun
Zeitoun, November 2009, 8/10.
Written by Dave Eggers. Published by McSweeney’s Books.
A rare non-fiction book, but one that tells a story so incredible that it may as well have been made up. This book follows a Syrian-American family in the lead up to and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Told in clear and concise language, one feels that the author’s sympathy for the family could have clouded his view, but overall I felt that the approach taken was evenhanded. The book benefitted from stating at the outset that it was a work of nonfiction, which meant that the reader did not have to guess what was real and what was not (a particular problem in other works by the same author). Although not a particularly short book, I felt that it could have used some beefing up in certain places, particularly towards the end, when some of the analysis that I would have liked to have seen into the aftermath of Katrina was lacking.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: 8/10, American, Dave Eggers, Nonfiction
Selected Writings, Volume 2, Fictions, November 2009, 7.5/10.
Written by Friederich Dürrenmatt, published by University of Chicago Press.
D.’s stories are remarkably diverse in tone register and style. Some take place today, others in a hypothetical orwellian future, others in Greek times. They involve Minotaurs and sales representants, profets and gangsters. Some are incredibly comic, others morbid, yet all feel like anguishing nightmares, because the dominant theme in each of them is the conflict of the individual with a monstruous world. In most stories, the individual is defeated and can only bear his situation thanks to self-deceit. For example, in “The City”, one of my favorite stories, the main character attempts to rebel against the orwellian “administration,” an amorphous entity that controls the city, but is subdued into accepting a job as a guardian, a seemingly powerful role. Except that the guard is confined to living incognito in the same pitch dark dungeon as the prisoner and cannot be distinguished from the prisoners other than from his knowledge of being the guard, because he has a weapon. He cannot use it however, because he is incognito. Guard and prisoner are alike: are all the prisoners guards and viceversa? The thought dawns on him but is soon deflected, because it is only the illusion of having power over others that makes his situation bearable. But the doubt lingers on.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: 7.5/10, Dürrenmatt, Germanophone fiction, Short Stories, Swiss
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, October 2009, 7.5/10.
Written by Better Smith. Published by Harper Perennial Modern Classics.
A classic and a real page-turner, even if it is a bit sugar coated. If one doesn’t mind the fact that a happy ending is signalled almost from the start, and that a false premise (no matter how nice it is to believe, and perhaps doubly false due to its application to a woman) of self-empowerment is espoused, there is little negative to write. Clearly semi-autobiographical, the book offers an amazing insight into tenement living in Brooklyn in the early twentieth century, and the unbelievable poverty and struggles that went with it. Combining this historical picture with a fast moving storyline based around an interesting set of characters and their families in a rapidly modernizing world, the author has produced a long and engrossing novel.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: 7.5, American, Betty Smith, Fiction, First Book, Modern Classic
2666, September 2009, 8.5/10.
Written by Roberto Bolaño, published by Picador.
This monumental opus is composed of five parts, connected among each other by a web of tenuous links and subtle cross-references. Though each section could be a novel in its own right (and so, it seems, was the will of the author), reading the book as a whole allows us to grasp the ambitiousness of this sprawling, chaotic, and truly engaging book. All sections have a different feel to them and are written in a different style. In the first section a group of academics specialized in contemporary German literature search for their – vanished – fetish author. Their relationships evolve and mutate, involving various combinations of sex, love and friendship. But despite the explosive emotions B.describes, there is, throughout the section, an overrationalization, a sense of brainy restraint, that is stifling. And while the fifth section, dedicated to the life of the vanished author, is more dreamy and poetic, though still dramatic, the fourth section is a, seemingly infinite, catalogue of forensic reports that detail horryfing murders. B. gives us no respite, as the sickening catalogue just keeps on going, and no hope, amid incompetent investigators and corrupt powers. This book is many thing at once and it’s a great ride.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: 8.5/10, Chilean, Roberto Bolano, South American
On Chesil Beach
On Chesil Beach, September 2009, 7/10.
Written by Ian McEwan. Published by Nan A. Talese / Doubleday.
A strange little novella that highlights the extent of social change and breakdown in traditional customs in a very short period. While these are interesting themes the book took a distant view of them and the author chose not to analyse the ripples such changes have caused, instead letting the story take its path and allowing the reader the consider and draw conclusions. The nonlinear timeframe – 95% of the book deals with one night and various memories related to it and the last 5% deals with the rest of the characters’ lives – was an interesting narrative device and I feel was well used to highlight that the lead up to a decision that is made in a second can have ramifications that are felt for a lifetime. A secondary theme was a consideration of pride and an invitation to question when it is best to stand up and when it is best to back down.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: 7/10, British, Fiction, Ian McEwan, Novella
The Naked And The Dead
The Naked And The Dead, August 2009, 6.5/10.
Written by Norman Mailer. Published by Picador.
Less obviously Mailer than many of his other books (although it was his first novel written when he was only 25), this novel is a highly readable insight into the machinations of a group of GI’s. Raw and gritty, the author develops many characters into true individuals, both by their deeds and by vignettes looking back into each man’s past. Despite this most characters are not memorable individually and this may have been intentional, as this group of infantrymen are entirely anonymous and disposable in the bigger picture, which is perhaps the point the author was making. One of the main themes was randomness – the author did an excellent job showing that when one’s time is up there is nothing that anyone can do about it. The book also dealt with cruelty / mercy, personal responsibility, competence / ability and the challenges in stepping out of the past and changing one’s character.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: 6.5/10, American, Fiction, First Book, Norman Mailer
In Cold Blood
In Cold Blood, July 2009, 8.5/10.
Written by Truman Capote. Published by Modern Library.
I enjoyed this ’semi-fiction’ book (based on a true event with fictional details added). The first book that I have read by this author, it was a great example of clear, concise storytelling, all the more impressive given the time and research that went into the novel. Despite this, at no point does the writing become bogged down in any particular detail or at any critical junction – the flow of the story is continuous and fluid. However the amount of research cuts both ways, and while anything worth knowing about the crime and the people involved was included for the reader to digest, my primary criticism of the book is that the author’s bias was not edited out and this can be jarring, especially when the author’s sympathetic views are juxtaposed against the official perspective of those that he quotes.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: 8.5/10, American, Fiction, Modern Classic, Nonfiction, Truman Capote
A Confederacy Of Dunces
A Confederacy of Dunces, July 2009, 6.5/10.
Written by John Kennedy Toole. Published by Louisiana State University Press.
Occasionally hilarious and often amusing, this novel is very character based and Ignatius J Reilly (and his equally crazy cast of supporting actors) are some of the more memorable creations that I have come across. Unfortunately the humour in Ignatius’s hypochondria and cursing was not enough to carry what I felt was an average storyline, and one that I couldn’t help feeling was a little hollow – a bit too far out, and missing a few too many links, for me to find very satisfying. Nevertheless, it is my personal preference for a plot attached to reality prevented me from fully enjoying this book, and I am sure others can appreciate the offbeat humour more than I did. As an aside, the story of how this novel came to be published is almost as interesting as the book itself.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: 6.5/10, American, Fiction, First Book, John Kennedy Toole, Posthumous, Pulitzer Prize
