Entries from March 2009
Hedda Gabler
Hedda Gabler, March 2009, 8/10.
Written by Henrik Ibsen. Published by Digireads Publishing.
This play, a modern classic, is a great read, but I feel that it’s much easier to appreciate if seen performed. Unlike other plays that work very well on paper, Hedda Gabler is written with an interesting syntax that gives it a little bit of a stunned feeling on paper that is not necessarily conveyed by live actors. The themes are well known and resonate with any reader, too many of whom could probably identify with some of the less desirable traits depicted. Although there are many different perspectives about how to depict the title character, it seemed to me that the author designed the role to be seen from one perspective dominantly, and attempts to reengineer the part to reflect other sympathies are not included in the text of the play.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: 8/10, Henrik Ibsen, Modern Classic, Play, Scandinavian
The Singapore Grip
The Singapore Grip, March 2009, 9/10.
Written by J. G. Farrell. Published by the New York Review of Books.
My favourite of the ‘Empire Trilogy’, this novel just worked perfectly. While not as funny as some of the other novels in the series this story was very realistic, mixing real history and people with a fictional storyline that included the occasional metaphysical flourish when the author tured to you as the reader to discuss what was happening. As with the other novels in the trilogy the charaters were fantastic and a highlight – deeply conflicted and yet strangely content, and when combined with the sights and sounds of the streetscapes and the compelling themes of desperation, love and loss, this book was difficult to put down.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: 9/10, British, Fiction, J. G. Farrell, Singapore
Mercy of a Rude Stream, March 2009, 8/10.
Written by Henry Roth, published St. Martin’s Press
This is not an easy read, but is worth the effort it requires. The novel has two voices: the author as a young man and the author as an old man, who rereads the story and meta-analyzes it – at times in a overly cryptic way. Having the perspective of the author as both young and old man is interesting, but it’s the actual story that renders the novel so engaging. The book is centered on the coming of age of a pre-adolescent in the New York of the 1910s-1920s. The voices, the accents and the characters of the disparate newly immigrated folk that inhabits the city is rendered very realistically and makes for some hilarious encounters/clashes. The portrait of a vibrant and, at times, brutal New York is powerful, with its layers of different immigation waves and the proximity of high and low social classes. A high point of the book is the account of the boy’s experiments with the exquisite products of the high-end grocery store he works for.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: 8/10, American, Fiction
