The novel Atonement is initially set in the English countryside prior to WWII. McEwan sets up the classic chaotic country house. It includes an ineffectual mother, an absent father, three cousins staying as their parents divorce, and the oldest son home for a visit with a friend. Briony is 13 at the time and constantly writing. McEwan captures a 13 year olds view of herself as the center of the universe perfectly.
Briony’s older sister, Cecilia, is home from college and trying to figure out why she’s having trouble getting along with Robbie. Robbie is the son of their cleaning lady and a friend since the age of 7. One of the things that McEwan does best is to describe feelings.
“This was what happened when they talked these days; one or the other was always in the wrong, trying to call back the last remark. There was no ease, no stability in the course of their conversations, no chance to relax. Instead, it was spikes, traps, and awkward turns that caused her to dislike herself almost as much as she disliked him.”
Cecilia and Robbie realize almost simultaneously that they are in love. They have one brief moment together before the events of that night unfold. Briony plays a role in separating them and the juxtaposition between the house in the countryside and Robbie fighting in the war is masterful. Robbie is involved in a horrific retreat from France and keeps flashing back to his former life.
“It seemed like another man’s life to him now. A dead civilization. First his own life ruined, then everybody else’s.”
I highly recommend Atonement and it is on my list of my favorite 10 novels. I don’t usually like reading about war, but the story here is so interesting the war scenes are worth it.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Maus : a survivor's tale by Art Spiegelman
It was only recently that I noticed there was a section for graphic novels at my local library. I wasn’t sure if they were mainly for kids or a whole new genre. Were they comic book like? Even when I was a kid I didn’t read many comic books. I asked a friend for a recommendation and am glad I did.
Maus is primarily the story of Vladek Spiegelman as told to his son Art. Vladek is living in Poland before the war where he meets and marries Anja Zylberberg in 1937. Soon Anja and Vladek, along with their new son Richieu, are struggling to survive together with their families. A twist is that throughout the story the Jewish people are mice and the Nazis are cats.
The story doesn’t gloss over the hardships and atrocities that Vladek witnessed during the war. I don’t know that it makes it any easier to look at because all the dead bodies are mice. Vladek and Anja do end up in Auschwitz and eventually Dachau. Art only has Vladek’s account because his mother, Anja, committed suicide when he was twenty.
The relationship between Vladek and Art is also depicted. Vladek is a difficult, old man. Is he difficult because of the Holocaust or would he have been difficult no matter what? And, does going through something like that give (or should it) Vladek extra privileges? One scene with Vladek and Art where Vladek returns food sticks in my mind. Art is sure he’s going to be kicked out of the store and they do see the manager yelling at Vladek, but he comes out to the car with more food for only $1.
Vladek:”He helped me as soon as I explained to him my health, how Mala left me, and how it was in the camps.”
This took place sometime in the 1980’s. Of course, the pictures add greatly to the scene.
This book didn’t tell me anything new about the Holocaust, but I’m probably not the target audience. This would be a reasonable introduction to a difficult topic for a mature pre-teen.
Maus is primarily the story of Vladek Spiegelman as told to his son Art. Vladek is living in Poland before the war where he meets and marries Anja Zylberberg in 1937. Soon Anja and Vladek, along with their new son Richieu, are struggling to survive together with their families. A twist is that throughout the story the Jewish people are mice and the Nazis are cats.
The story doesn’t gloss over the hardships and atrocities that Vladek witnessed during the war. I don’t know that it makes it any easier to look at because all the dead bodies are mice. Vladek and Anja do end up in Auschwitz and eventually Dachau. Art only has Vladek’s account because his mother, Anja, committed suicide when he was twenty.
The relationship between Vladek and Art is also depicted. Vladek is a difficult, old man. Is he difficult because of the Holocaust or would he have been difficult no matter what? And, does going through something like that give (or should it) Vladek extra privileges? One scene with Vladek and Art where Vladek returns food sticks in my mind. Art is sure he’s going to be kicked out of the store and they do see the manager yelling at Vladek, but he comes out to the car with more food for only $1.
Vladek:”He helped me as soon as I explained to him my health, how Mala left me, and how it was in the camps.”
This took place sometime in the 1980’s. Of course, the pictures add greatly to the scene.
This book didn’t tell me anything new about the Holocaust, but I’m probably not the target audience. This would be a reasonable introduction to a difficult topic for a mature pre-teen.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
In the prologue to this book the author states:
“American Wife is a work of fiction loosely inspired by the life of an American first lady. Her husband, his parents, and certain prominent members of his administration are recognizable.”
This immediately caught my attention. As I began reading the book I couldn’t identify the first lady, but she seemed a very sympathetic character. Her life is shaped by a car accident she is in as a high school student that kills another student. She also loves books and becomes a librarian. At this point I’m thinking this must be about Laura Bush, but it is set in Wisconsin.
The character, Alice Lindgren, meets a very handsome, gregarious son of a former governor. He also seems like a good guy, but is from a wealthy privileged family with quite a difficult mother. He doesn’t do much outside the family business until he becomes managing partner of a baseball team. So, this must be about Laura and George Bush. It was hard for me to sort out fiction from non-fiction.
Alice Blackwell is a democrat and remains a democrat throughout even Charlie Blackwell’s presidency. She openly states her pro-choice opinion. When Charlie first runs for president and their finances are investigated, he is given credit for her donations made without his knowledge.
“These were, of course, the modest donations I had made surreptitiously; when our financial records were first vetted and this bit of duplicity emerged, Charlie and Hank were both thrilled. ‘God bless your sneaky liberal ways!’ Charlie exclaimed.”
I didn’t realize until recently that it is slightly unusual to be in a mixed political family. I grew up with a mother who was a democrat and a father who was a republican, and there are obviously examples of couples that work on different sides. It did not seem to be a big deal in our household, except during presidential elections. It never occurred to me, though, that the wife of former President G. W. Bush might be a democrat. To support someone running for president I would think you’d have to support their views and policies. This book is about how Alice Blackwell does support Charlie while not being a republican.
American Wife is worth reading and almost, almost makes me want to read a biography of Laura Bush.
“American Wife is a work of fiction loosely inspired by the life of an American first lady. Her husband, his parents, and certain prominent members of his administration are recognizable.”
This immediately caught my attention. As I began reading the book I couldn’t identify the first lady, but she seemed a very sympathetic character. Her life is shaped by a car accident she is in as a high school student that kills another student. She also loves books and becomes a librarian. At this point I’m thinking this must be about Laura Bush, but it is set in Wisconsin.
The character, Alice Lindgren, meets a very handsome, gregarious son of a former governor. He also seems like a good guy, but is from a wealthy privileged family with quite a difficult mother. He doesn’t do much outside the family business until he becomes managing partner of a baseball team. So, this must be about Laura and George Bush. It was hard for me to sort out fiction from non-fiction.
Alice Blackwell is a democrat and remains a democrat throughout even Charlie Blackwell’s presidency. She openly states her pro-choice opinion. When Charlie first runs for president and their finances are investigated, he is given credit for her donations made without his knowledge.
“These were, of course, the modest donations I had made surreptitiously; when our financial records were first vetted and this bit of duplicity emerged, Charlie and Hank were both thrilled. ‘God bless your sneaky liberal ways!’ Charlie exclaimed.”
I didn’t realize until recently that it is slightly unusual to be in a mixed political family. I grew up with a mother who was a democrat and a father who was a republican, and there are obviously examples of couples that work on different sides. It did not seem to be a big deal in our household, except during presidential elections. It never occurred to me, though, that the wife of former President G. W. Bush might be a democrat. To support someone running for president I would think you’d have to support their views and policies. This book is about how Alice Blackwell does support Charlie while not being a republican.
American Wife is worth reading and almost, almost makes me want to read a biography of Laura Bush.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Manhood for Amateurs by Michael Chabon
Manhood for Amateurs is a collection of essays by one of the most well-regarded living authors in the US today. It is subtitled The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son. I enjoy Chabon’s fiction writing and The Yiddish Policemen’s Union was my favorite fiction book read in 2008.
This is an interesting book to pick up if you’d like to know more about Chabon’s family and his thoughts about random things like Jose Canseco or using a murse (a man purse). I think the best essay in the book is the first one entitled “The Loser’s Club.” It’s about 10 year old Michael Chabon and the comic book club he initiates by writing a newsletter and advertising in the paper. You get a hint of how determined he is and yet it is a somewhat depressing view into his life at that age.
He reflects on what he learned then:
“Success, however, does nothing to diminish the knowledge that failure stalks everything you do. But you always knew that. Nobody gets past the age of ten without that knowledge.”
I liked the essays that were about his father or other father figures in his life, like his father-in-law from his brief first marriage. I didn’t enjoy the essays that were more rants about legos or books today and how his children are experiencing a different, more commercialized, childhood than he did. It seems like he could take action to change that.
Chabon lives with his wife Ayelet Waldman, also a writer, and their four kids in Berkeley. She has a memoir out as well, but it focuses more on parenting. It is called Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace. She wrote it after some controversy about a NY Times article she wrote where she stated she loved her husband more than her children.
Chabon has this to say about being a parent in an essay about the Obama family entitled “The Binding of Isaac”: “Being a father is an unlimited obligation, one that even the best of us, with the least demanding of children, could never hope to fulfill entirely.”
This is an interesting book to pick up if you’d like to know more about Chabon’s family and his thoughts about random things like Jose Canseco or using a murse (a man purse). I think the best essay in the book is the first one entitled “The Loser’s Club.” It’s about 10 year old Michael Chabon and the comic book club he initiates by writing a newsletter and advertising in the paper. You get a hint of how determined he is and yet it is a somewhat depressing view into his life at that age.
He reflects on what he learned then:
“Success, however, does nothing to diminish the knowledge that failure stalks everything you do. But you always knew that. Nobody gets past the age of ten without that knowledge.”
I liked the essays that were about his father or other father figures in his life, like his father-in-law from his brief first marriage. I didn’t enjoy the essays that were more rants about legos or books today and how his children are experiencing a different, more commercialized, childhood than he did. It seems like he could take action to change that.
Chabon lives with his wife Ayelet Waldman, also a writer, and their four kids in Berkeley. She has a memoir out as well, but it focuses more on parenting. It is called Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace. She wrote it after some controversy about a NY Times article she wrote where she stated she loved her husband more than her children.
Chabon has this to say about being a parent in an essay about the Obama family entitled “The Binding of Isaac”: “Being a father is an unlimited obligation, one that even the best of us, with the least demanding of children, could never hope to fulfill entirely.”
Monday, May 10, 2010
The Husbands and Wives Club by Laurie Abraham
Have you ever been completely surprised by an announcement that a couple you know is separating or divorcing? “But they seemed fine,” is always the refrain. Usually no one knows what is really going on in a marriage other than those involved. Well, The Husbands and Wives Club is a book that lets you peak into other people’s marriages. In this non-fiction book the author follows five couples for a year as they attend monthly group counseling sessions.
I don’t remember where I heard about this book, but it might have been on literarymama.com. In a fun section called Essential Reading various editors comment on what they are currently reading.
This book is interesting as it doesn’t just follow one couple and the couples all have some serious issues.
“Before the year is out, the couple for whom I perhaps least expected it will be weighing divorce. Another pair will be confronting the husband’s attraction to men, while a third will make a stunning turn for the better. There will be miscarriages and infertility to confront, job loss and betrayal.”
The book intersperses dialogue and incidents from the therapy sessions, which were all recorded, with current research on the effectiveness of therapy for couples. I didn’t find the research parts so interesting and they seemed more like asides. It doesn’t seem like therapy can be easily evaluated in general.
One couple in particular is exceptionally difficult. A bump by her husband during a class exercise sends the wife out the door obviously furious. The therapist feels that these individual crises help the group bond and allow for other couples to grow while concentrating on someone else’s problems for a bit.
I can’t imagine why any of these couples agreed to have all their issues aired publically. Maybe readers will be comforted by the thought that their marriages are nowhere near that bad.
I don’t remember where I heard about this book, but it might have been on literarymama.com. In a fun section called Essential Reading various editors comment on what they are currently reading.
This book is interesting as it doesn’t just follow one couple and the couples all have some serious issues.
“Before the year is out, the couple for whom I perhaps least expected it will be weighing divorce. Another pair will be confronting the husband’s attraction to men, while a third will make a stunning turn for the better. There will be miscarriages and infertility to confront, job loss and betrayal.”
The book intersperses dialogue and incidents from the therapy sessions, which were all recorded, with current research on the effectiveness of therapy for couples. I didn’t find the research parts so interesting and they seemed more like asides. It doesn’t seem like therapy can be easily evaluated in general.
One couple in particular is exceptionally difficult. A bump by her husband during a class exercise sends the wife out the door obviously furious. The therapist feels that these individual crises help the group bond and allow for other couples to grow while concentrating on someone else’s problems for a bit.
I can’t imagine why any of these couples agreed to have all their issues aired publically. Maybe readers will be comforted by the thought that their marriages are nowhere near that bad.
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