Until I Find You by John Irving -- I wish I could do anything as well as John Irving writes novels. From the first page of this book, Irving is in complete control. He tells a great story in this book, but its the emotional control that he holds over the reader that sets him apart from pretty much everybody writing fiction today. You get the feeling that he has outlined his story and then gone back to color code for the emotions he wants to invoke.
A quick warning -- if you're prudish at all, don't read this book. There's a lot of sex in the book - in wide variations. About the first third of the book is about some pretty serious sexual abuse of a child and yet, the parts of the book that should be seriously disturbing are hilarious. Again, Irving's control -- you laugh at at teenagers abusing a 4 year old but, by the end of the book, in a couple of seens that are comic masterpieces, you are practically in tears.
If you've read Irving before, this book is in the same arena as The World According to Garp. It'll take the same kind of screening talent to make a successful movie out of this one, but like Garp, it'll be virutually impossible to make a movie that's better than the book.
The story follows Jack Burns from the time he's 4 until he's in his late 30s. Jack's father, apparently deserted the family right after Jack was born and his mother, an accomplished tattoo artist, drags Jack all over Europe looking for the boy's father. You learn a whole lot, probably more than you wanted, about the world of tattoos -- I can now tell you what parts of the body hurt the most with tattooed and I can tell you what a Rose of Jericho is. This world, while it never takes over the story, is the important back drop that Irving uses to frame the story.
Reading this one is a big commitment -- its over 800 pages long and definitely doesn't move as fast as Harry Potter! However, if you want to see how a true fiction craftsman works, this is definitely worth the effort.
Friday, July 29, 2005
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling. Well, like millions of teenagers around the world, I've spent the last 24 hours reading the new Harry Potter book. This review is really pretty pointless. If you're a Potter fan -- teenager or adult -- you've probably already have this book or will soon. If you aren't a Potter fan, you've spent the last few weeks trying to figure out what the fuss is all about!
I'm really biased here. I do believe that the Potter series is probably the most important book series in the last 100 years. It's done what our high school and college Englishes try so hard to fight -- it's created a generation of readers. Before Rowlings, who'd have ever thought that teenagers in the early 21st century would be lined up at midnight for a book! These kids have learned to love reading and will, in all likelihood, be readers for life. That's an absolutely amazing accomplishment -- Rowling should be sainted!
The book itself definitely isn't the best of the series. Most of the book doesn't have the darkness that made Order of the Phoenix (book 5) so sensational, although the second of the book regains some of that mood. Starting at about the 3/4 mark, this book has better action sequences than some of the past books. In spite of that, this was a great book that I couldn't put down. As I've said in the past, Rowling does not right real children's books. I think that's part of what makes her so popular with teens -- she treats them as sophisticated readers rather than as kids.
There are some good plot twists here. The rumored major character death does occur late in the book and the identity of the "half-blook prince" stays cloaked through most of the book. I won't disclose anything so it doesn't ruin the read. There's a lot of back-story in this book, finally giving us more of the story of how Lord Voldemort, the bad guy, started his life. Because of this, the one warning is that you really need to read the Potter books in order. This holds true for all of them. Each builds on the ones before and they won't make much sense taken out of sequence.
I'm really biased here. I do believe that the Potter series is probably the most important book series in the last 100 years. It's done what our high school and college Englishes try so hard to fight -- it's created a generation of readers. Before Rowlings, who'd have ever thought that teenagers in the early 21st century would be lined up at midnight for a book! These kids have learned to love reading and will, in all likelihood, be readers for life. That's an absolutely amazing accomplishment -- Rowling should be sainted!
The book itself definitely isn't the best of the series. Most of the book doesn't have the darkness that made Order of the Phoenix (book 5) so sensational, although the second of the book regains some of that mood. Starting at about the 3/4 mark, this book has better action sequences than some of the past books. In spite of that, this was a great book that I couldn't put down. As I've said in the past, Rowling does not right real children's books. I think that's part of what makes her so popular with teens -- she treats them as sophisticated readers rather than as kids.
There are some good plot twists here. The rumored major character death does occur late in the book and the identity of the "half-blook prince" stays cloaked through most of the book. I won't disclose anything so it doesn't ruin the read. There's a lot of back-story in this book, finally giving us more of the story of how Lord Voldemort, the bad guy, started his life. Because of this, the one warning is that you really need to read the Potter books in order. This holds true for all of them. Each builds on the ones before and they won't make much sense taken out of sequence.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Unforgivable Blackness
Unforgivable Blackness by Geoffrey C. Ward. This book, on which the PBS special of the same name is based, is a biography of Jack Johnson, the first black to win the heavyweight boxing championship in the first decade of the 20th century. While there's a lot about boxing in this book, its mostly about race relations in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Johnson, born and raised in Galveston, was, in his prime, probably one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. He would have held the championship for a decade or more had he been white. Most of the major white fighters of the day refused to get in the ring with a black. Ward implies, with good justification, that in a number of cases, this refusal was based as much on fear of losing to Johnson as it was on race. Johnson ended up following the current champion all over the world until, finally, the champion agreed to face Johnson. As expected Johnson demolished him.
Johnson then had the temerity to behave like all other heavyweight champions -- arrogantly demanded large fees, spending a lot of time gambling, drinking and "sporting". In the meantime, pretty much the whole white world joined the search for the "great white hope" that would return the championship where they thought it belonged. As if it weren't unpopular enough for Johnson to be champion, he also refused to "know his place". Traveling with and eventually marrying white women made him especially hated. Eventually, he was convicted under the Mann Act (prohibiting white slavery) of transporting a woman across state lines for illicit purposes - a woman who repeatedly testified that she voluntarily traveled with him. After a prison term, his career never recovered.
Ward makes a point of giving a balanced picture of Johnson. In modern comparisons, reminds you a lot of George Forman -- talented, with a friendly outgoing personality. Unfortunately, he also had a streak of Mike Tyson in him with accusations of physical abuse of the woman who hung around with him. His downfall essentialy was caused, however, by the fact that as a rich, successful man, he refused to accept the limitations that were assumed to apply to him as a black.
Very readable book that gives a good portrayal of not only the man, but the times.
Johnson, born and raised in Galveston, was, in his prime, probably one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. He would have held the championship for a decade or more had he been white. Most of the major white fighters of the day refused to get in the ring with a black. Ward implies, with good justification, that in a number of cases, this refusal was based as much on fear of losing to Johnson as it was on race. Johnson ended up following the current champion all over the world until, finally, the champion agreed to face Johnson. As expected Johnson demolished him.
Johnson then had the temerity to behave like all other heavyweight champions -- arrogantly demanded large fees, spending a lot of time gambling, drinking and "sporting". In the meantime, pretty much the whole white world joined the search for the "great white hope" that would return the championship where they thought it belonged. As if it weren't unpopular enough for Johnson to be champion, he also refused to "know his place". Traveling with and eventually marrying white women made him especially hated. Eventually, he was convicted under the Mann Act (prohibiting white slavery) of transporting a woman across state lines for illicit purposes - a woman who repeatedly testified that she voluntarily traveled with him. After a prison term, his career never recovered.
Ward makes a point of giving a balanced picture of Johnson. In modern comparisons, reminds you a lot of George Forman -- talented, with a friendly outgoing personality. Unfortunately, he also had a streak of Mike Tyson in him with accusations of physical abuse of the woman who hung around with him. His downfall essentialy was caused, however, by the fact that as a rich, successful man, he refused to accept the limitations that were assumed to apply to him as a black.
Very readable book that gives a good portrayal of not only the man, but the times.
Monday, July 11, 2005
Unholy Fire
Unholy Fire by Robert J. Mrazek. Second lay down of the summer. This book, in the first 20 or 30 pages reminded me why I don't read much about the Civil War. It was an extremely brutal war and the blood and gore was probably more up close and personal that other wars. Most Civil War authors, especially novelists, tend to dwell on the gore. Not for me.
The Blackbird Papers
The Blackbird Papers by Ian Smith. This is a first novel for Smith and, given that, it's not bad. It's a fairly standard thriller/murder mystery. His writing style is crisp and you do get pulled in to the story. What makes a book like this enjoyable is trying to figure out where everything is headed before the author takes you there. This really requires a lot of skill on the author's part and carefully plotting. If the author gives too many clues early, the reader is able to figure out the direction and the book is less fulfilling. If, on the other hand, the author doesn't give you enough clues so that the climax seems to pop out of nowhere, then the reader is just an observer and doesn't get drawn in to the story.
This book falls more in to the former category. Smith does reserve a few interesting plot twists, but even a moderately astute reader understands the backstory and has fingered the primary culprit within the first 50 pages or so. I will admit that the few late plot twists are well grounded in early clues so you do get at least a little feeling that Smith has got something going.
This wasn't a great book, but good enough that, as Smith gets better with age, I'll probably continue to give him a try.
This book falls more in to the former category. Smith does reserve a few interesting plot twists, but even a moderately astute reader understands the backstory and has fingered the primary culprit within the first 50 pages or so. I will admit that the few late plot twists are well grounded in early clues so you do get at least a little feeling that Smith has got something going.
This wasn't a great book, but good enough that, as Smith gets better with age, I'll probably continue to give him a try.
Sunday, July 10, 2005
King of the Jews
King of the Jews by Nick Tosches. Uhh.....wow. I'm still not sure what to make of this book. It was billed as a biography of Arnold Rothstein. Rothstein was pretty much the prototype Jewish gambler/gangster in early 20th century New York. Although he was murdered young, he had time to be the mentor to future stars like Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky. He was also the model for fictional Jewish gangsters like Meyer Wolfsheim in The Great Gatsby and Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls. With that basis, I was expecting a good story about murders and gambling and the fixing of the 1919 World Series.
All of that was there, but so was a lot of unexpected stuff. First of all, this is the first biography I've read where the author is a visible character. Constantly making personal comments and heading off in to rants about the war in Iraq and the terrible things corporate America has done to the world. Its pretty disconcerting.
The gangster theme comes out most clearly in the fact that the author's writing seems like bullets flying around your head in all directions. In the first half of the book, I'd say less that 10-15% of the writing is about Rothstein. We get a whole lot about the origin of religion; etymology of all kinds of words and names; even an involved pitch about how the bible pre-dated monotheism based mainly on the fact that the Hebrew word for god -- elohim -- is actually plural, not singular. There's also, strangely, three or four very brief (one paraphaph) chapters that are extremely obscene and, as far as I've been able to figure, have absolutely nothing to do with anything anywhere else in the book!
When it comes to Rothstein's life, we do get a lot of detail. His family (and his wife's family, his girlfriend's family and some associates' families) are detailed back three and four generations. There is a lot about the battles over Rothstein's will -- he apparently signed an "X" on a revised will while comatose after being shot that cut his current girlfriend in for a piece. We see this mostly through actual testimony transcripts from the various civil lawsuits that sprang up between him family and his girlfriend. (Eventually, the lawyers got most everything as always).
Tosches says repeatedly that, essentially, history is hard to believe. He says any number of times that lies, repeatedly enough times, become truth. He gives a number of examples where he'll give multi-page quotes from reports or other authors that describe details of Rothstein's life and then proceed to use actual contemporary records to show that what is described can't possibly be true even though its universally accepted.
All in all, I'm glad I read this one. I don't know that I know much more about Rothstein than I did to start with, but with Tosches's head-rattling writing style, I at least feel like my brain was excercised.
All of that was there, but so was a lot of unexpected stuff. First of all, this is the first biography I've read where the author is a visible character. Constantly making personal comments and heading off in to rants about the war in Iraq and the terrible things corporate America has done to the world. Its pretty disconcerting.
The gangster theme comes out most clearly in the fact that the author's writing seems like bullets flying around your head in all directions. In the first half of the book, I'd say less that 10-15% of the writing is about Rothstein. We get a whole lot about the origin of religion; etymology of all kinds of words and names; even an involved pitch about how the bible pre-dated monotheism based mainly on the fact that the Hebrew word for god -- elohim -- is actually plural, not singular. There's also, strangely, three or four very brief (one paraphaph) chapters that are extremely obscene and, as far as I've been able to figure, have absolutely nothing to do with anything anywhere else in the book!
When it comes to Rothstein's life, we do get a lot of detail. His family (and his wife's family, his girlfriend's family and some associates' families) are detailed back three and four generations. There is a lot about the battles over Rothstein's will -- he apparently signed an "X" on a revised will while comatose after being shot that cut his current girlfriend in for a piece. We see this mostly through actual testimony transcripts from the various civil lawsuits that sprang up between him family and his girlfriend. (Eventually, the lawyers got most everything as always).
Tosches says repeatedly that, essentially, history is hard to believe. He says any number of times that lies, repeatedly enough times, become truth. He gives a number of examples where he'll give multi-page quotes from reports or other authors that describe details of Rothstein's life and then proceed to use actual contemporary records to show that what is described can't possibly be true even though its universally accepted.
All in all, I'm glad I read this one. I don't know that I know much more about Rothstein than I did to start with, but with Tosches's head-rattling writing style, I at least feel like my brain was excercised.
Friday, July 08, 2005
Speciman Days
Speciman Days by Michael Cunningham. Well, we've finally got the first "lay down" of the summer. I just couldn't get interested in this new novel by the author of The Hours. The story was pretty dumb and this is a writer desparately trying to be "literary". I put it down after about 30 pages.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
109 East Palace
109 East Palace by Jennet Connant. With the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima coming up next month, there's been a rash of books about atomic bombs and their development. I think there were three published this spring that focus on Los Alamos in general and Robert Oppenheimer, its director. I decided to try this with having read Connant's previous book, Tuxedo Park.
This is "personal" history at its best. Too often (here comes a rant you've already seen once if anybody's actually out there!), our kids are taught events and dates instead of people. With most high school kids, there's probably a period of at least a few weeks where they can tell that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in August, 1945. A few might even be able to tell you that the bomb was developed, in part, at Los Alamos, near Santa Fe. Boring, boring, boring!
The reality is that, whatever you think of nuclear weapons, this was probably the most intense, most successful crash scientific program ever undertaken. You might say that the race to the moon in the 60s took its place, but I'd argue that the was largely an engineering project. We had a high degree of confidence that we could get to the moon. The science was pretty well understood, it just had to be applied. With the Manhattan Project, there was no really strong evidence that a so-called "atomic" bomb could even be produced. It was only known that Nazi scientest were pursuing it with all speed and that, if they got there first, the Germans would, in all likelihood, win the war.
Don't be intimidated, however, by the intense scientific and engineering work that make up the project itself. This book is not about science, or even bombs, its about people. At its high point, Los Alamos had thousands of people on staff in a community that, a few months before, had been a small boy's school. There wasn't enough housing, food or water. The scientists, used to the free-wheeling academic world, were confronted by an ultra-secure military operation. Many of them, over a two year period, would only occasionaly get as far as Santa Fe. They weren't allowed to contact their families. Their mail was censored. Their weren't allowed to indulge in off-base entertainment. And yet, they pulled off one of the most amazing scientific feats of all time.
Connant is a terrific writer and manages to get across both the deprivations and exhiliration of these times. Her insight is helped by the her father, James B Connant, was one of the foremost scientific and science policy figures of the day, giving her personal access to countless people who were careful, even decades later, about what they said to whom. To make the story accessible, she homes in on two people, the charismatic physicist, Robert Oppenheimer and the "earth mother" type who takes care of everybody, Dorothy McKibbin.
There are a lot of interesting facts buried in the book. For example, did you know that there were two different designs for the bomb reflected in the two bombs that were actually dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, there was so little uranium and plutonium manufactured at the time that one of the two was never tested before it was dropped and the second was tested exactly once, since, whether the test succeeded or failed, there wasn't enough material to try again!
The book follows the project from its inception and, obviously, includes the very intense chapter on the one test that was tried at the Trinity Site near Los Alamos. It then follows the lives of the principals until their death, including the pretty tragic way Oppenheimer was treated in the 50s. The combination of professional dispute with Teller, the red-scare tactics of McCarthy and the personal animosity of Lewis Strauss who served on the initial Atomic Energy Commission, eventually cost Oppenheimer the humiliating loss of his security clearance.
Connant's style makes for an easy, novel-like read. This is the way history was meant to be taught.
This is "personal" history at its best. Too often (here comes a rant you've already seen once if anybody's actually out there!), our kids are taught events and dates instead of people. With most high school kids, there's probably a period of at least a few weeks where they can tell that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in August, 1945. A few might even be able to tell you that the bomb was developed, in part, at Los Alamos, near Santa Fe. Boring, boring, boring!
The reality is that, whatever you think of nuclear weapons, this was probably the most intense, most successful crash scientific program ever undertaken. You might say that the race to the moon in the 60s took its place, but I'd argue that the was largely an engineering project. We had a high degree of confidence that we could get to the moon. The science was pretty well understood, it just had to be applied. With the Manhattan Project, there was no really strong evidence that a so-called "atomic" bomb could even be produced. It was only known that Nazi scientest were pursuing it with all speed and that, if they got there first, the Germans would, in all likelihood, win the war.
Don't be intimidated, however, by the intense scientific and engineering work that make up the project itself. This book is not about science, or even bombs, its about people. At its high point, Los Alamos had thousands of people on staff in a community that, a few months before, had been a small boy's school. There wasn't enough housing, food or water. The scientists, used to the free-wheeling academic world, were confronted by an ultra-secure military operation. Many of them, over a two year period, would only occasionaly get as far as Santa Fe. They weren't allowed to contact their families. Their mail was censored. Their weren't allowed to indulge in off-base entertainment. And yet, they pulled off one of the most amazing scientific feats of all time.
Connant is a terrific writer and manages to get across both the deprivations and exhiliration of these times. Her insight is helped by the her father, James B Connant, was one of the foremost scientific and science policy figures of the day, giving her personal access to countless people who were careful, even decades later, about what they said to whom. To make the story accessible, she homes in on two people, the charismatic physicist, Robert Oppenheimer and the "earth mother" type who takes care of everybody, Dorothy McKibbin.
There are a lot of interesting facts buried in the book. For example, did you know that there were two different designs for the bomb reflected in the two bombs that were actually dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, there was so little uranium and plutonium manufactured at the time that one of the two was never tested before it was dropped and the second was tested exactly once, since, whether the test succeeded or failed, there wasn't enough material to try again!
The book follows the project from its inception and, obviously, includes the very intense chapter on the one test that was tried at the Trinity Site near Los Alamos. It then follows the lives of the principals until their death, including the pretty tragic way Oppenheimer was treated in the 50s. The combination of professional dispute with Teller, the red-scare tactics of McCarthy and the personal animosity of Lewis Strauss who served on the initial Atomic Energy Commission, eventually cost Oppenheimer the humiliating loss of his security clearance.
Connant's style makes for an easy, novel-like read. This is the way history was meant to be taught.
The Summer We Got Saved
The Summer We Got Saved by Pat Cunningham Devoto. This is one I wouldn't have ordinarily picked up, although Carolyn might have. However, I had read a previous book by this author called My Last Days as Roy Rogers. Devoto is among the best of the "southern fiction" writers out there. She is a good storyteller who concentrates on small towns in the south, mostly during the 50s and 60s.
This new one is essentially a dual coming of age story about a white girl and a black girl. It provides a good atmospheric view of evolving race relations in the south in the 60s. It brings in enough characters to look at the issues from all sides. While the story focuses on the two girls, the character that drives the story is crazy Aunt Eugenia. Eugenia grew up a family who's history included one of the founders of the Ku Klux Klan. The plaque in a small town honoring this relative stands in as a symbol for the established ways that the races dealt with each other. You get to see the progressive and reactionary forces in both the white and black communities.
While this story has some pretty dark moments, it still manages to be a sweet story typical of today's southern writers. Not great literature, but an enjoyable read.
This new one is essentially a dual coming of age story about a white girl and a black girl. It provides a good atmospheric view of evolving race relations in the south in the 60s. It brings in enough characters to look at the issues from all sides. While the story focuses on the two girls, the character that drives the story is crazy Aunt Eugenia. Eugenia grew up a family who's history included one of the founders of the Ku Klux Klan. The plaque in a small town honoring this relative stands in as a symbol for the established ways that the races dealt with each other. You get to see the progressive and reactionary forces in both the white and black communities.
While this story has some pretty dark moments, it still manages to be a sweet story typical of today's southern writers. Not great literature, but an enjoyable read.
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