The best book of Week 22 is a tie! A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin and State of Wonder by Ann Patchett!
Day 110: Maus I
Maus I is a graphic novel that is both about Art Spiegelman’s relationship with his father, Vladek, and about Vladek’s survival of the Holocaust. The characters are depicted as different types of animals–Jews are mice, Poles are pigs, Germans are cats, Americans are dogs, and Swedes are reindeer. Spiegelman explained in The Comics Journal (according to a reader review on Amazon.com) that his idea for using these animals is not entirely original but is extrapolated and expanded from the names the Germans called Poles and Jews.
In the novel, as Vladek tells Art the story of his experience during World War II, they also argue. The story is compelling, although the relationship between the two is less so. Vladek is difficult and eccentric, but Art seems childish and spoiled, with no patience or understanding for his father. However, the novel makes the point that he, too, was scarred by his father’s experiences.
I am not by any means an expert on graphic novels, having only read one other, which was the beautifully illustrated Britten and Brülightly. However, the art in Maus I is so primitive that I could not tell any of the characters of a single species apart except for their clothes. I suppose, though, that that in itself is a statement. Still, the art shows a strength of line and a simplicity that make it interesting.
Maus I is apparently intended for young adults, and as such, is probably a powerful educational piece. I think it is less successful for adults.
Day 109: State of Wonder
Best Book of the Week!
Ann Patchett is another writer whose works are all different from each other. You never know what to expect, except that they will be compelling, imaginative, and beautifully written.
At the beginning of State of Wonder, Dr. Marina Singh’s coworker has died in the Amazon. Their employer, Vogel Pharmaceuticals, sent him out to determine the status of a project run by the reclusive Dr. Annick Swenson. Swenson has sent a brief message saying that Anders Eckman died of a fever.
Mr. Fox, the company’s CEO and Marina’s lover, asks Marina to go out to Manaus, locate Dr. Swenson’s encampment, and find out what happened to Eckman and what is going on with the drug. Dr. Swenson is working on a drug to help women conceive, based upon the startling late fertility of the women in a tribe of Amazonian Indians, and Vogel has given her an open check book. But she has written no reports, nor has she provided any information about how the project is coming along.
As Marina changed her career path years ago based upon a tragic incident while Dr. Swenson was her medical school professor, she is not at all convinced she is the right person for the job. To make things worse, the drug she is given for malaria in preparation for the trip awakens nightmares about her father that she had as a child.
In Manaus, the airport loses her luggage and she is left waiting, because no one knows where Dr. Swenson’s camp is. Finally, Dr. Swenson arrives and reluctantly takes her back into the Amazon to the encampment of scientists, all investigating their own projects. In a way, this journey into the heart of darkness is also a journey Marina takes to confront her own past.
It is difficult to describe why this is such a wonderful book without giving too much away. If you are expecting a travelogue of beautiful jungle sights, you’ll be disappointed. Manaus is an unpleasant city, although with a gorgeous opera house, and Patchett describes the Amazon as both beautiful and terrible at the same time.
The plot takes unexpected turns as Marina gets involved in life at the outpost and becomes attached to a young deaf boy. It’s a book that is written in exquisite prose, that is totally enthralling, that you do not want to put down.
Day 108: The Cruel Stars of the Night
The Cruel Stars of the Night is Kjell Eriksson’s second mystery featuring Ann Lindell but the first one I read. Although the series is labeled Ann Lindell mysteries, the novels actually feature an ensemble cast of characters and take awhile to develop the personalities of the team in the Uppsala Violent Crime Division.
The chapters in this novel alternate between the investigations of the Violent Crime Division into suspicious incidents involving old men and the thoughts and experiences of Laura Hindersten, whose father is missing. After awhile, having information not available to the investigators, you realize how the two narrations are linked, but the team takes longer to connect the dots.
One of the two suspicious deaths of elderly men is that of Petrus Blomgren. He wrote a suicide note, but he was murdered before he could kill himself. The police are sure that Laura Hindersten’s father, a professor and Petrarch scholar, will turn up, but she is convinced that something horrible has happened to him.
The novel makes for an interesting enough story, although the only fully developed character is that of the serial killer. I am interested in reading more, though, and getting to know Lindell and her coworkers Sammy Nilsson, Allan Fredericksson, and Stig Franklin, better.
Day 107: A Clash of Kings
The second of George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire saga, A Clash of Kings seems to reveal more of the true nature of the various characters, in particular, who is a villain and who is just being loyal to his or her own family. But the characters’ loyalties shift as the series continues.
Robb Stark has been declared King of the North in the rebellion against the Lannisters, his father’s murderers. Robb sends Theon Greyjoy to his father to form an alliance, but Balon Greyjoy has his own ambitions and so does Theon. Theon comes back in Robb’s absence and invades Winterfell.
Young Brandon Stark, who was crippled in the first book by Queen Cersei and her brother Jaime, has been dreaming of running with the wolves. When Winterfell is invaded, he flees for his life with friends and makes for The Wall. His half-brother Jon Snow is marching north of The Wall to try to stop the wildings from invading the South.
Joffrey Baratheon, Queen Cersei’s sadistic son, has gained the throne upon Robert Baratheon’s death. His uncle Tyrion Lannister, who is regent in the absence of his father and Jaime, does his best to rule fairly and counteract the actions of Joffrey, but everyone hates him anyway.
Robert’s brothers, the seemingly virtuous Stannis and charismatic Renly, also have claims to the throne. Stannis, stuck on his island and disliked by all, doesn’t seem to have a ghost of a chance of gaining enough support. But he swears himself to the Red Lord and begins using the dark arts to his advantage.
Daenerys, the only living heir of the former ruling family, is trying to find a way home with her three dragons. She is looking for alliances and money to buy arms and ships and hire soldiers so she can invade.
Eight-year-old Arya Stark is still trapped in enemy territory as is her older sister Sansa, who is quickly losing her infatuation with her fiancé Joffrey.
Such is the situation of the main characters at the beginning of the second book. Martin’s series is enthralling and complex, with many plot twists. You can never be sure that even your favorite character won’t be killed (or seem to be killed). This series thrusts you along, and despite the length of the books, you can’t wait to start the next one. Unfortunately for me, I have finished all of the books that are already available and am waiting for the next one to come out.
Day 106: The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood
Right up front I must admit that The Information is not my kind of reading. I persisted through this extremely long book but quit reading about 100 pages from the end. One review says the book is better if it is savored, which is exactly what I was not inclined to do.
Science writer James Gleick’s book is a comprehensive history of information and information theory. His thesis has to do with how people’s relationship to information has changed the nature of human consciousness.
Some of the book is very interesting, especially at the beginning when the ideas people are investigating seem more concrete, but it more often deals with subjects that are too obscure to interest me. On at least one occasion, he clearly misunderstands a concept or at least explains it carelessly, and the New York Times review points out another occasion. (Unfortunately, when writing up the notes for this review, before I started this blog, I did not specify to myself which concept.)
Another criticism is that Gleick does not appear to have decided who he is writing for. At some points he does a masterful job of explaining complex ideas, seeming to address an audience of ordinary people like me, while at other times he presents ideas without really explaining them or alleges concepts to be truths without showing that they are, as if he were addressing a more knowledgeable audience. A review by Nicholas Carr, although much more positive than mine, also points this out, saying that Gleick’s powers of explanation break down the closer he gets to the present, particularly in his explanations of quantum mechanics. This is precisely where he lost me.
But really, my problem boils down to a personal dislike of philosophy and abstruse theory. I couldn’t at times stop myself from wondering why anyone would spend time thinking about some of the things Gleick explained. They are too esoteric to interest me. Or perhaps it is the fault of the presentation, since I have enjoyed books before on topics that I would normally assume held no inherent interest for me, Fermat’s Enigma by Simon Singh being an example.
However, if this topic sounds interesting, you may find you enjoy the book much more than I did.
Special Post! Best Book of the Week!
This week’s Best Book of the Week is The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones.
Day 105: This Side of the Sky
This Side of the Sky is Elyse Singleton’s novel about the friendship between two African-American women. It begins when the two are growing up in a small town in Mississippi during the 1930’s. Myraleen is a light-skinned beauty but sarcastic and stubborn, who sometimes tries to pass for white. Lilian is dark, more educated, quiet and hard-working.
The two girls become close friends, even though Lilian’s mother looks down on Myraleen. Eventually, they move away to Philadelphia where they get menial jobs. There they find more freedom but segregation that is more hidden. With still more ambition, they join the Women’s Army Corps towards the end of World War II, eventually ending up posted in London and then Paris.
Although the plot of this novel is sometimes interesting, the characters never seem to be real people. Each of them has only a few characteristics. Nor does the period setting seem particularly convincing except for the details of small town life in a poor, rural area. London during the war is not very well depicted, and Paris is barely depicted at all, as if the author has never been to either city. A few chapters from the point of view of Kellner, a German prisoner of war who is involved with Lilian, seem particularly unconvincing.
Overall, I felt this story should have been very interesting, but it was ultimately lacking in the kind of detail that would make it believable.
Day 104: The Death of Sweet Mister
Another of Daniel Woodrell’s Ozark mysteries, The Death of Sweet Mister is grittier and more pessimistic than the previous Woodrell mystery I read, Winter’s Bone, and that is saying something.
The novel is set in the 1960’s. Shug Atkins is a lonely, overweight 13-year-old boy. His mother, Glenda, is a beautiful, promiscuous drunk who is married to Red, a brutal drug dealer who beats both of them and forces Shug to help steal drugs from sick people. Only Shug’s mother loves him and calls him Sweet Mister.
Glenda meets Jimmy Vin Pearce, a city man with a bright green Thunderbird who works as a cook in an upscale restaurant. The two begin sneaking around together with only Shug as witness. Eventually, Glenda decides to run away with him.
The novel is about the death of innocence, as Shug tries to cope with the demands of covering up his mother’s misdeeds and trying to reconcile his feelings about stealing from the helpless. As always with Woodrell, the book is beautifully and sparingly written. Your heart sinks as you follow Shug’s story.
Day 103: Dark Road to Darjeeling
My interest in the Lady Julia Grey series by Deanna Raybourn waxes and wanes. Although it is unusual for me to like books that mix mystery and romance, I usually enjoy reading this series, but I enjoy some books more than others. The books have followed the relationship of Lady Julia Grey and Nicolas Brisbane–who solves crimes for a living and whose breeding makes him an unsuitable mate for Julia–since they first met when her husband was murdered. Now, after several books following the ups and downs of their relationship as they solve crimes and get each other into and out of danger, they are married.
In Dark Road to Darjeeling, Lady Julia and Brisbane have been persuaded to interrupt their honeymoon in the Mediterranean by Julia’s sister Portia, who is worried about her friend Jane. In a previous novel, Jane left Portia to be married, and she is now a widow on a tea plantation near Darjeeling. Portia has asked Julia and Brisbane to investigate the possible murder of Jane’s husband. Jane herself is obsessed by her own pregnancy and the mysterious death of her husband Freddy, who may have been murdered for his inheritance.
The Brisbanes take along part of her eccentric family, Portia and brother Plum. Upon arriving at the plantation, they get to know the potential suspects, including Freddie’s aunt, his cousin Harry, several neighboring families, and the mysterious White Rajah.
I was unable to guess the murderer but figured out which family the murderer belonged to. Although this series sometimes resorts to the typical conflict between romantic co-investigators about the danger of the job, a conflict that I find extremely tedious, the dynamic between Julia and Brisbane still holds my attention. If you are interested in this series, I recommend that you start with the first book, Silent in the Grave.
What? Me Read? 