Entries from October 2008
Another Day of Life, October 2008, 8/10
by Ryszard Kapuściński, Vintage International
Kapuscinski really blurs the borders between literature and journalism. His prose is clean and pleasant and he is a most daring journalist, always on the line, on the spot, where things really happen. He also has a gift for picking out the unexpected but crucial and eye-opening details that really make you “feel” the situation he is describing. I give to this record of the Angola Civil War “only” a 8/10 because his other books, and especially Imperium, are even better. Here there is something missing, maybe the big picture view that is so well illustrated in his other books.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: 8/10, Kapuscinski, Nonfiction
Gate of Celestial Peace, October 2008, 5.5/10
by Shan Sa, Folio edition
This book intrigued me because the author is Chinese but writes in French and won a prestigious prize for it. There are two aspects of this book that I really liked. First, the way the slightly onyric story is blended into a very specific historical event, the Tien an Men (Gate of Celestial Peace) square protests. The second is the delicate touch that pervades the book, like a Japanese screen, painted with few subtle brush strokes and yet so rich in meaning. The problem here is that behind the subtle form there is much less substance than I expected. Moreover, the characters could have been developed much better.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: 5.5/10, chinese, Fiction, French, Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman, Shan Sa
Life Of Pi
Life of Pi, October 2008, 7/10.
Written by Yann Martel. Published by Canongate.
I thought this novel was very up and down – at some points it was a genuine pageturner that I couldn’t put down, but at other times I had to resist the urge to skim. The ending was very well done, which can be difficult when the narrator is telling his own story looking back. The story, while obviously ludicrous, was sold well for the most part, but some of the tangents were a little weak and too far fetched, and seemed to almost be there to fill in some pages, but despite that I did mostly enjoy the book, and found the theme of man’s place in the world and in his world resonated well.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: 7/10, Booker Prize, Canadian, Fiction, India, Magical Realism, Yann Martel
Everyman
Everyman, October 2008, 7.5/10.
Written by Philip Roth. Published by Vintage.
This novel – or perhaps novella – was enjoyable but not great. Not as depressing as the subject matter may lead the reader to believe, it was still an interesting look into losing control and fear – themes that I have noticed before in Roth. The writing here is quite unlike the writing in the other Roth books that I have read, with shorter and easier to digest sentences and paragraphs. Despite this the writing is still quite powerful – certainly powerful enough to get the point across. I wonder how much of Roth was reflected in the characters – this is certainly a book written by a more experienced / older writer.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: 7.5/10, American, Fiction, PEN/Faulkner Award, Philip Roth
American Pastoral
American Pastoral, October 2008, 9.5/10.
Written by Philip Roth. Published by Vintage.
This is a magnificent book that captivated me throughout – one of the best that I have read. A perfect example of a genre that I think many authors attempt without much success, the themes running through this book were so brilliantly interlaced that the same scene could show power and powerlessness, control and lack of control, satisfaction and frustration, etc.. Roth’s unforgettable main character – recognisable to everyone almost instantly – was brilliantly developed into a person that people of almost any background could identify with. Fate, failure and one’s place in his world spoke to each other throughout, and I think that this book must be read multiple times to get the most out of it.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: 9.5/10, American, Fiction, Philip Roth, Pulitzer Prize
The Ivory Tower
The Ivory Tower, October 2008, 6/10.
Written by Henry James. Published by The New York Review Of Books.
This is my first Henry James book, and I struggled with it. It is incomplete, James having dies before completion – perhaps from boredom. During the long descriptive scenes I couldn’t help being distracted – the writing was so roundabout and old fashioned that very little happened quickly. In contrast, the dialogue tended to move along at a much better pace. The storyline in this book also didn’t work for me – it was so beyond the realm of possibility that I just couldn’t really believe it would ever happen. The author’s notes on the book were perhaps more enjoyable than the book itself, but Ezra Pound’s “striking critical essay” (as per the blurb) was disappointing.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: 6/10, American, Fiction, Henry James
Oscar & Lucinda
Oscar and Lucinda, October 2008, 7.5/10.
Written by Peter Carey. Published by Harper & Row.
Although I took a while to get into this book, I found it to be a good read in the end. Successfully intertwining stories that begin so separately and end so connected is difficult, and although common in films it is more rare in books, and especially at the slower pace employed here. The street scenes were done very nicely, and the characters also very deep, which was made possible by giving so much of their history that proved more important than it initially seemed. I would guess that many many authors were influenced by this style, if not this specific book, and the only genuine negative were the extraordinary number of typos – over 50 – in my copy (US first edition hardcover).
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: 7.5/10, Australian, Booker Prize, Fiction, Peter Carey
