This novel is not a sequel to Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass . In fact, it’s not like anything I’ve ever read before. Welcome to the world of ergodic literature. This was my first foray into this genre, and I liked it. This genre requires the reader to make a real effort to read and interpret the text. There are different ergodic levels, such as Charlton Mellick III’s bizarro Cuddly Holocaust or Ayn Rand’s play Night of January 16th, a murder trial where the jury is picked out of the audience, and their verdict decides the outcome of the play. I’m not sure where Mark Z. Danielewski’s novel fits in the world of ergodicity, but I’ll give the next reader an idea of what’s in store for you: hundreds of footnotes (some real, most not), one to four texts on the same page; some pages blank, some with one or two words; some pages upside down, some obliquely angled; and, different narrators on the same page. And why is the word ‘house’ always in blue and ‘minotaur’ in red? I have to say that some of the footnotes are pure genius. The reader does eventually understand what’s going on, because the diverse narrators and variant footnotes are in distinctive fonts! Absolutely brilliant!
The postulation of this book is that it’s the true story of an old man’s dissertation of a documentary film called The Navidson Record. A blind old man named Zampano walks around his apartment complex every day followed by 80 cats. One day Zampano drops dead in his apartment facedown with deep claw marks alongside his body. Since there isn’t any trauma to the body, it is deemed a natural death. One of the sidebar characters, Lude, also lives in the building and calls his friend, Johnny Truant, a tattoo parlor employee, to tell him that there is an apartment available in his building. Johnny comes quickly to see the apartment and discovers a trunk full of notes and documents about a film called The Navidson Report. He takes the trunk home and starts reading, arranging, and editing Zampano’s papers even after he finds out that there is no such film. The story never reveals where the six to seven inch claw marks came from, or why the 80 cats disappeared after the old man’s death. This is a strange story. The reader doesn’t know what is real or fake throughout the 709 pages.
Will Navidson, his companion Karen Green, and their children, Daisy and Chad, move into a house on Ash Tree Lane in the Jamestown area of Virginia. Will is a Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist, and Karen is an ex-model. They are trying to see if they can save their common-law marriage. Will decides to mount cameras in every room and film the move to see how “everything turns out” in their relationship after getting a Guggenheim Fellowship and a media arts grant for the project. The family goes to Seattle, and when they come back, they discover that the house is slightly bigger on the inside than the outside. Then, a closet between their bedroom and the childrens' suddenly appears, and overnight, a large dark hallway emerges out of nowhere. What is going on? He seeks help from his friend Billy Reston and finally, from famed explorer and hunter Holloway Roberts and his crew. They explore the dark hallway three times without success. Meanwhile, usually on the same page, Johnny Truant is telling the story of Zampano’s notes on the Navidson film and his own life story at the same time.
As Navidson’s life gets byzantine within the arcane house, Johnny’s life becomes one drunken sexual escapade after another as he starts losing his mind over Zampano’s papers. We meet Thumper, the stripper, and many of Zampano’s ex-scribes, with which Johnny has sex. On their fourth exploration of the dark hallway in the house on Ash Tree lane, Holloway Roberts and his crew don’t return! Periodic growls are heard in the walls, sometimes close, sometimes far away. Johnny continues to lose his mind. As he thinks about the missing cats, he says to himself, “Something else has taken their place. Something I am unable to see. Waiting.” In the interim, Will tells his distressed wife, “They’ve been in there almost eight days with water for six. It’s three in the morning...” So Will, his brother Tom, and Billy Reston decide to go into the dark hallway and find Holloway and his crew. Meanwhile, Johnny thinks to himself, “My fear’s gotten worse...My teeth ache. My head aches. My stomach’s a mess.” Back at the house, things are bleak as the house has finally started to attack! If this paragraph seems confusing, well get used to it because that’s the motif of this newfangled but extraordinary novel. I’ve only given you a taste of what’s to come! Prepare to have your blood run cold.
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: Would I ever read another ergodic novel? I would say no, but that’s what I said about China Mieville’s weird fiction novel Kraken; and since then, I’ve read three more. So, I’ll see what strikes my interest in the future. What does Danielewski think of his 709 page novel? He says, “Make no mistake, those who write long books have nothing to say. Of course those who write short books have even less to say.”
After reading this novel, it crossed my mind that this book should be studied and discussed for its newness and hidden meanings as many less worthy novels are. I found out that there was a Vanderbilt Undergraduate Research Journal done by Scarano and Krause that stated “House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski, is a novel first published in 2000 that has since developed notoriety in literary circles for its arguably unique experimentation with a multi-layered plot, varied visual typography, and multi-media format. Despite being widely read and influential over the past decade, little scholarly analysis has been done on House of Leaves. As House of Leaves could represent an entire new genre of literature, it is important that we understand its themes and the ways in which various writerly techniques function within the novel. In this paper, I analyze House of Leaves through an existential lens, specifically utilizing the ideas of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus to examine the psyche of one of the novel’s main characters, Johnny Truant. In addition to primary sources by Danielewski, Sartre and Camus, I employ a 2002 analysis of House of Leaves by Katherine N. Hayles to aid my research. I conclude that Johnny’s story, and House of Leaves as a whole, breaks down traditional notions of reality, but retains existential hope for individuals who are able to find a purpose in life, even if that “purpose” is necessarily subjective. My analysis presents an original take on House of Leaves, and contains wider implications for future novels that emulate its experimental style. Past analyses have focused on post-modern aspects of House of Leaves, but I analyze it through an existential lens. Beyond adding to the body of work on House of Leaves, my existential take on an otherwise post-modern text may prove influential to analyses of other “post-modern” novels in the future”.
With ergodic literature, there is no limit on how weird the writer can get. The name for this genre was coined by Espen J. Aarseth, author of Cybertext
. Besides the novels I mentioned in the first paragraph, see Composition No. 1 by Marc Saporta. The novel comes with loose pages in a box! You as the reader decide on what order you want to read them. My last example is Milorad Pavic’s Landscape Painted with Tea . This novel is part modern day Odyssey and a crossword puzzle. Has anybody out there noticed how unusual all the authors' names are?
Friday, February 1, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
BONE RIVER
This is the story of a very stoic group of people living in the Washington Territory of the Pacific Northwest during the mid 1800s. Megan Chance spins a tale of mystery and intrigue that grips the reader and will not let go until you have read all 386 pages. Only a person who lives in the Northwest could describe the weather like Megan does. I have not felt this cold and wet reading a book since I read Dan Simmon’s The Terror. Megan’s descriptions of the foul weather actually made the book feel cold in my hands! The constant rain, flooding, and harvesting of the oyster beds accords the proper atmosphere for this arcane novel. Before I tell you about the story, I have to give Megan Chance kudos for the critique in descriptive writing. It’s ironic that this story is set in the 1850s, because that’s the time period for some of the greatest descriptive writers, such as Hawthorne, Melville, and Dickens. I’m not saying this book is a classic, but I think her writing style draws the reader into the story’s time period and location better than most modern authors.
In the prologue, a famed ethnologist is dying and makes his seventeen year old daughter Leonie promise to marry his protege, Junius, even though he is at least 25 years her senior. In the first chapter, we flash forward 20 years. Leonie, a housewife and drawer of relics, lives in her deceased father’s cabin with her now husband Junius, a oysterman and ethnologist. Also living there is her father’s long time associate, Lord Tom, a Chinook Indian. The day after a storm (and there are many!) Leonie finds a mummy in a basket partly uncovered on the bank of the river. Lord Tom and Junius help her dig it out. Who is this female mummy? Is she a precursor to the Indians, as her father had imagined? How did she get there, and how did she die? On page 20, Leonie thought, “I looked back down at the mummy. Junius, like my father, believed there had been an advanced culture here before the primitive indians had supplanted it...” Leonie then takes charge of the find and immediately starts having nightmares about an Indian woman running in the grass trying to tell Leonie something. What was the mummy trying to tell Leonie in her dreams? At this point, Daniel Russell, Junius’s son from a previous undissolved marriage shows up presumably as a reporter for a San Francisco newspaper doing a story about the mummy. Hostilities ensue between Daniel and Junius with Leonie caught in between.
At this juncture, an Indian medicine woman named Bibi (Lord Tom says she's a fake) shows up, tells Leonie of impending danger, and gives her a charmed bracelet to wear. Junius pressures Leonie to dissect the mummy so he can send the information to Spencer Baird of the Smithsonian Museum. Leonie delays the cutting, because she is still having undeciphered dreams. Leonie consults her dad’s journals and finds out that he was working on a unknown experiment. How did this relate to her and the mummy? The dreams get worse. She starts having feelings for Daniel. Where will all this lead to? On page 148, Leonie is still unsure that the mummy is ancient, even as she remembered her father saying, “Promise me you’ll fight such sensibilities. Logic, my dear. Logic is your only friend." She still can’t decide to cut open the mummy. Something's wrong! What is it? Why does she have this lust for her husband’s son? Then she finds her father’s cave bear tooth necklace in the mummy’s dress! What’s going on! Papa has been dead for twenty years! If you want to find out what happens next, I suggest that you grab a copy of this wonderful story and start turning pages.
Some of the sidebars that I enjoyed were the Indian legends and tales told by Lord Tom, the protector of Leonie. The sprinkling in of Chinook words and sayings were particularly entertaining, such as wake kloshe (bad luck), kani (it lives), mesachie tomawanos (bad spirit), and okustee (daughter). The 16th century’s plastica theory was another incidental link to this tale that was highly instructive. On page 308, her father wrote in his journal, “I wonder if perhaps God, like an artist sketching the same thing over and over again until he reaches perfection, must have created the various human groups in experiment, trying out his vision of man in lesser forms before he settled on the last and best”. Is this the unknown experiment her father was working on before he died? If so, how is the mummy involved?
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: The Chinook Indians, who play a supportive role in this novel, lived by a strict caste system during the time period of this novel. Upper class were the warriors and shaman, who were known to have slaves. The highest class was the Flathead Indians. Some children would have their heads squeezed under the pressure of two boards thus creating the flatness. They were considered to be superior over round heads. I don’t know if this system is still in vogue. Lord Tom touched on how the Chinooks came into being with Leonie, but here is a version of that legend: “Talapas (Creator) made the earth a nice place with animals and trees. Talapas asked Tsoona (Thunderbird) to carry special eggs to a mountain called Kaheese. He did as he was told, but Old Giantess didn't want the eggs to hatch so she began to break the eggs. The Spirit Bird came down from the sky and consumed her with fire. The remaining eggs hatched and became Chinook Indian”. The Chinook Indians are known to be, as most tribal indians, great storytellers. A quick informative book about the Chinook would be Chinook Indians by Suzanne Morgan Williams.
In the prologue, a famed ethnologist is dying and makes his seventeen year old daughter Leonie promise to marry his protege, Junius, even though he is at least 25 years her senior. In the first chapter, we flash forward 20 years. Leonie, a housewife and drawer of relics, lives in her deceased father’s cabin with her now husband Junius, a oysterman and ethnologist. Also living there is her father’s long time associate, Lord Tom, a Chinook Indian. The day after a storm (and there are many!) Leonie finds a mummy in a basket partly uncovered on the bank of the river. Lord Tom and Junius help her dig it out. Who is this female mummy? Is she a precursor to the Indians, as her father had imagined? How did she get there, and how did she die? On page 20, Leonie thought, “I looked back down at the mummy. Junius, like my father, believed there had been an advanced culture here before the primitive indians had supplanted it...” Leonie then takes charge of the find and immediately starts having nightmares about an Indian woman running in the grass trying to tell Leonie something. What was the mummy trying to tell Leonie in her dreams? At this point, Daniel Russell, Junius’s son from a previous undissolved marriage shows up presumably as a reporter for a San Francisco newspaper doing a story about the mummy. Hostilities ensue between Daniel and Junius with Leonie caught in between.
At this juncture, an Indian medicine woman named Bibi (Lord Tom says she's a fake) shows up, tells Leonie of impending danger, and gives her a charmed bracelet to wear. Junius pressures Leonie to dissect the mummy so he can send the information to Spencer Baird of the Smithsonian Museum. Leonie delays the cutting, because she is still having undeciphered dreams. Leonie consults her dad’s journals and finds out that he was working on a unknown experiment. How did this relate to her and the mummy? The dreams get worse. She starts having feelings for Daniel. Where will all this lead to? On page 148, Leonie is still unsure that the mummy is ancient, even as she remembered her father saying, “Promise me you’ll fight such sensibilities. Logic, my dear. Logic is your only friend." She still can’t decide to cut open the mummy. Something's wrong! What is it? Why does she have this lust for her husband’s son? Then she finds her father’s cave bear tooth necklace in the mummy’s dress! What’s going on! Papa has been dead for twenty years! If you want to find out what happens next, I suggest that you grab a copy of this wonderful story and start turning pages.
Some of the sidebars that I enjoyed were the Indian legends and tales told by Lord Tom, the protector of Leonie. The sprinkling in of Chinook words and sayings were particularly entertaining, such as wake kloshe (bad luck), kani (it lives), mesachie tomawanos (bad spirit), and okustee (daughter). The 16th century’s plastica theory was another incidental link to this tale that was highly instructive. On page 308, her father wrote in his journal, “I wonder if perhaps God, like an artist sketching the same thing over and over again until he reaches perfection, must have created the various human groups in experiment, trying out his vision of man in lesser forms before he settled on the last and best”. Is this the unknown experiment her father was working on before he died? If so, how is the mummy involved?
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: The Chinook Indians, who play a supportive role in this novel, lived by a strict caste system during the time period of this novel. Upper class were the warriors and shaman, who were known to have slaves. The highest class was the Flathead Indians. Some children would have their heads squeezed under the pressure of two boards thus creating the flatness. They were considered to be superior over round heads. I don’t know if this system is still in vogue. Lord Tom touched on how the Chinooks came into being with Leonie, but here is a version of that legend: “Talapas (Creator) made the earth a nice place with animals and trees. Talapas asked Tsoona (Thunderbird) to carry special eggs to a mountain called Kaheese. He did as he was told, but Old Giantess didn't want the eggs to hatch so she began to break the eggs. The Spirit Bird came down from the sky and consumed her with fire. The remaining eggs hatched and became Chinook Indian”. The Chinook Indians are known to be, as most tribal indians, great storytellers. A quick informative book about the Chinook would be Chinook Indians by Suzanne Morgan Williams.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
THE DOG STARS
This novel by Peter Heller has more of a survival/adventure flavor than other apocalyptic novels. There have been many plague driven post-apocalyptic novels written going all the way back to 1826 when famed Frankenstein author Mary Shelley wrote The Last Man, a story of a plague destroying mankind in the year 2100! How about another famed author, Jack London, publishing The Scarlet Plague in 1912. In 1954, Algis Budrys wrote Some Will Not Die, a plague story centered in Manhattan. Peter Heller’s novel is somehow different. I know that it is minor, but in this book, the population is dying from a super flu. Since the story takes place about 25 years from now, the world is also experiencing the effects of global warming. The waters are warmer (trout have died off), the rivers are receding, and droughts are more prevalent. All of these calamities are handled very subtlety. The author only hints at how all the events happened and instead concentrates on the survival of the four main characters and a dog named Jasper. The cause of the flu isn’t even mentioned until page 253, when Cima, a doctor, theorizes the “Mutation of a superbug, one of the ones they’d been watching for two decades. In the water supply etc. Combined with bird flu. We called it the Africanized bird flu, after the killer bees.” Global warming is hardly mentioned except when the reader finds out that elk, tigers, and elephants are apparently gone due to the change in the weather.
The hero of the story is Hig, a recent widower, a builder, and writer before all this happened. He lives in a hanger on an Erie, Colorado airport with his dog, Jasper, and a “shoot first, ask questions later” tough guy named Bangley. Hig flys his 1956 Cessna ("The Beast") around their perimeter patrolling for attacks from other humans. And, there are a lot of invasions and plenty of bloodshed. Hig likes to hunt and fish, but he is always in the peril of an ambush from intruders seeking food. The whole story takes place nine years after the flu wiped out most of America (Did the Arabs do it?). Hig had heard a call from an airport tower in Grand Junction three years previous, and now it haunts him into wanting to go on a flying adventure to see if there is civilization elsewhere. Bangley stays at the airport while Hig flies solo to Grand Junction. On the way, the reader meets the two other characters: Cima, a doctor and flu survivor, and her crusty father, Pops, a farmer and ex-U.S.Seal. This is where the story finally takes off and becomes entertaining. It took a long time to get to this point, but the rest of the book is clear sailing and finishes with an interesting climax.
The writing style of Peter Heller at first was a little annoying, but I got used to it half way through the novel. It seems to this reviewer that Heller has adapted the style of Cormac McCarthy, who according to enotes.com: “He said he always thought there was no reason for all of these marks to muck up the page. He also said that if you write well enough and clearly enough there is no reason for quotation marks.” Well said, but I still like the original style, and by the way, McCarthy’s isn’t always clear, is he? I do think that Heller’s choice of only four characters is reminiscent of McCarthy’s The Road. (I don’t know why I always bring up that book when I’m reviewing a post-apocalyptic novel, because I didn’t even like it!) But when a writer chooses to have only two to four characters, there is plenty of time to develop the characters with an abundance of empathy. The empathy part is one of my main gauges to determine whether I enjoyed the book, or not. I also thought Heller’s use of sidebar elements and characters was expertly done. For example, the docile group of Mennonites gave the author the chance to introduce a derivative malady (a new blood disease) into the plot. The element of guilt is very strong in this story. Hig is always wondering if killing is the right choice for survival in this new world. On page 245 he wonders, “Could I say that we murdered a young boy in the middle of the night? That we didn’t make him into dog food. That we murdered a young girl in broad daylight who was running after me with a kitchen knife probably wanting my help.” There are a lot of strong messages in this novel. This was Peter Heller’s first foray (a convenient word!) into fiction, and it was a good one.
RATING: 4 out of 5 stars
Comment: In one of the books of the New Testament, John has a revelation that the world will end with a victory of good over evil. Hence, the apocalypse theory. The Mayan’s 12/21/12 event didn’t happen, but many religions hang on to the possibility that it will happen. Is this the reason there are so many novels and movies about it? According to bibleprobe.com: “The Apostle John is the author of the Book of Revelation. He wrote it when he was about 92 years old, while a prisoner of Rome on the remote desert penal colony of Patmos, an island in the Aegean Sea”. Can one focus on writing a “novel” at 92 years old as a prisoner? I don’t know, but it does cause some skepticism to learned men.
There have been many movies made about the apocalypse, including the following favorites: Mad Max, I Am Legend, Dr. Strangelove, and Planet of the Apes. Books? There are too many excellent ones to choose from or enumerate. When did these novels start? Well according to bestbooksrecommendations.com: “Noah’s Ark and the flood that wiped earth clean of evil mankind is a very early example of post-apocalyptic stories and writings. For the modern genre of 'End of the World' literature can be tracked back almost two hundred years to Mary Shelley’s The Last Man published in 1826. Even though some writers were able to imagine doomsday scenarios in Victorian times, the genre didn’t really take hold until after World War II. The atomic bombings of the cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan showed how civilization and civilized societies now had the ability to destroy each other and the world. The 1950s was a decade where the end of world was a common theme on the bestseller’s lists.”
The only difference in the latest novels compared to the older ones is the degree of seriousness we are giving to our planet’s survival. Most notable are the use of nuclear weapons and global warming. Hopefully. mankind will heed the warnings, and we will avoid an apocalyptic event and Godzilla! Just kidding!
The hero of the story is Hig, a recent widower, a builder, and writer before all this happened. He lives in a hanger on an Erie, Colorado airport with his dog, Jasper, and a “shoot first, ask questions later” tough guy named Bangley. Hig flys his 1956 Cessna ("The Beast") around their perimeter patrolling for attacks from other humans. And, there are a lot of invasions and plenty of bloodshed. Hig likes to hunt and fish, but he is always in the peril of an ambush from intruders seeking food. The whole story takes place nine years after the flu wiped out most of America (Did the Arabs do it?). Hig had heard a call from an airport tower in Grand Junction three years previous, and now it haunts him into wanting to go on a flying adventure to see if there is civilization elsewhere. Bangley stays at the airport while Hig flies solo to Grand Junction. On the way, the reader meets the two other characters: Cima, a doctor and flu survivor, and her crusty father, Pops, a farmer and ex-U.S.Seal. This is where the story finally takes off and becomes entertaining. It took a long time to get to this point, but the rest of the book is clear sailing and finishes with an interesting climax.
The writing style of Peter Heller at first was a little annoying, but I got used to it half way through the novel. It seems to this reviewer that Heller has adapted the style of Cormac McCarthy, who according to enotes.com: “He said he always thought there was no reason for all of these marks to muck up the page. He also said that if you write well enough and clearly enough there is no reason for quotation marks.” Well said, but I still like the original style, and by the way, McCarthy’s isn’t always clear, is he? I do think that Heller’s choice of only four characters is reminiscent of McCarthy’s The Road. (I don’t know why I always bring up that book when I’m reviewing a post-apocalyptic novel, because I didn’t even like it!) But when a writer chooses to have only two to four characters, there is plenty of time to develop the characters with an abundance of empathy. The empathy part is one of my main gauges to determine whether I enjoyed the book, or not. I also thought Heller’s use of sidebar elements and characters was expertly done. For example, the docile group of Mennonites gave the author the chance to introduce a derivative malady (a new blood disease) into the plot. The element of guilt is very strong in this story. Hig is always wondering if killing is the right choice for survival in this new world. On page 245 he wonders, “Could I say that we murdered a young boy in the middle of the night? That we didn’t make him into dog food. That we murdered a young girl in broad daylight who was running after me with a kitchen knife probably wanting my help.” There are a lot of strong messages in this novel. This was Peter Heller’s first foray (a convenient word!) into fiction, and it was a good one.
RATING: 4 out of 5 stars
Comment: In one of the books of the New Testament, John has a revelation that the world will end with a victory of good over evil. Hence, the apocalypse theory. The Mayan’s 12/21/12 event didn’t happen, but many religions hang on to the possibility that it will happen. Is this the reason there are so many novels and movies about it? According to bibleprobe.com: “The Apostle John is the author of the Book of Revelation. He wrote it when he was about 92 years old, while a prisoner of Rome on the remote desert penal colony of Patmos, an island in the Aegean Sea”. Can one focus on writing a “novel” at 92 years old as a prisoner? I don’t know, but it does cause some skepticism to learned men.
There have been many movies made about the apocalypse, including the following favorites: Mad Max, I Am Legend, Dr. Strangelove, and Planet of the Apes. Books? There are too many excellent ones to choose from or enumerate. When did these novels start? Well according to bestbooksrecommendations.com: “Noah’s Ark and the flood that wiped earth clean of evil mankind is a very early example of post-apocalyptic stories and writings. For the modern genre of 'End of the World' literature can be tracked back almost two hundred years to Mary Shelley’s The Last Man published in 1826. Even though some writers were able to imagine doomsday scenarios in Victorian times, the genre didn’t really take hold until after World War II. The atomic bombings of the cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan showed how civilization and civilized societies now had the ability to destroy each other and the world. The 1950s was a decade where the end of world was a common theme on the bestseller’s lists.”
The only difference in the latest novels compared to the older ones is the degree of seriousness we are giving to our planet’s survival. Most notable are the use of nuclear weapons and global warming. Hopefully. mankind will heed the warnings, and we will avoid an apocalyptic event and Godzilla! Just kidding!
Saturday, January 12, 2013
The PLUM TREE
Ellen Marie Wiseman’s riveting debut novel allows the reader to peer into the life of a German teenager and her family in World War II torn Nazi Germany. The author states that the book was inspired by her own mother’s actual experiences in Germany and by the author’s numerous trips to the Fatherland visiting relatives. This is a dynamite novel about a German girl falling in love with a Jew. The novel reveals three engrossing forms of terror during the years 1938 through 1945. The first was the ravaging of the Jews and ordinary German citizens by the SS Troopers. One of the books Wiseman read pertaining to this was Frauen: German Women Recall the Third Reich by Alison Owings. The second torment experienced by the German families was the U.S. bombing campaign of German cities, backed up by The Fire: The Bombing of Germany, 1940-1945 by Jorg Friedrich. The third affliction in the story discloses how the non-Nazi German civilians were treated after the war’s end. This was verified by James Bacque’s Crimes and Mercies: The Fate of German Civilians Under Allied Occupation, 1944-1950 . This was an eye-opening trifecta of maladies combined in one novel. This reviewer wonders what Wiseman will do for an encore?
The milieu for this novel is Hessental, Germany, an ordinary peaceful German village of mostly hard working poor families. The focus is on the Bolz family and their struggle to put food on the table. Our heroine, Christine, and her mutti (mother) work on the estate of the Bauermans, a rich Jewish family. Christine and Isaac Bauerman are in love and plan to announce that fact at a December party at the Bauermans. But before that can happen, Hitler prohibits Jews from employing Germans, radios are confiscated and replaced with propaganda channeled radios, Jews are banned from public buildings, and the mandatory greeting is decreed as “Heil Hitler”. On page 54, Christine and Isaac wonder, “Will we ever be allowed to be together, to live like everyone else, happily married, with a house and children, to enjoy the most basic human rights?” This is a very sad novel. Slowly but surely, the Jews of Hessental are shipped by train to Dachau. On page 150, Christine thinks she saw Isaac and his family on the Dachau train and thinks to herself, “He can’t be inside one of those boxcars, she thought. He’s too smart and too beautiful to be carted away like an animal. His father is a lawyer, his mother an aristocrat.” This where the story takes ”the brakes off” and rumbles through 387 pages of breathtaking drama!
For a fledgling author without any creative writing background, I thought her characterization was superlative. I had plenty of empathy for vater (father), oma (grandma), opa (grandpa), and even the reluctant Nazi, Lagerkommandant Grunstein of the Dachau Camp. The sprinkling of German words, titles, and names was expertly done, such as: scheissekopf (shithead), gruppenfuhrer (group leader), sonderkommandos (work units of Nazi death camp prisoners), and blockfuhrer (a block leader in the death camps). At one point in this marvelous novel, Christine wonders why prisoners would be shot at a death camp: “Why would they shoot those men when they have an efficient method of extermination right here?” The flavor of the novel is exactly how Wiseman states it is on her website: “I love reading and writing about ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Fiction offers us a rare chance to slip into the lives of others, and to ask ourselves how we would react under challenging conditions, be it during WWII, the witch craze in Europe, or the Great Depression.” This is a love story, historical fiction, and a sad drama all rolled into one tumultous story. I highly recommend this first time novel by Ellen Marie Wiseman. I guarantee her second novel will not be rejected 72 times!
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: Whether you read this novel, William L. Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich or Diary of Anne Frank, the reader finds it hard to believe that Hitler could have been so cruel to a group of people who considered themselves loyal Germans and who were the leading contributors to the country’s economy. Hitler was truly mad. Historicalnovels.info states: “Adolf Hitler rose to power in the aftermath of World War I as Germany struggled under the economic burden of reparations imposed on them by the Versailles Treaty. A dynamic speaker, Hitler scapegoated various groups including German political leaders, liberals, capitalists and Jews for Germany's troubles. By 1933, his popularity resulted in his appointment as Chancellor, a position he used to undermine the existing government and become dictator.”
Hitler published Mein Kampf (My Struggle) in 1925, giving the world the first taste of his building hatred towards the Jews. Wikipedia states; “Mein Kampf has also been studied as a work on political theory. For example, Hitler announces his hatred of what he believed to be the world's twin evils: Communism and Judaism. The new territory that Germany needed to obtain would properly nurture the "historic destiny" of the German people; this goal, which Hitler referred to as Lebensraum (living space), explains why Hitler aggressively expanded Germany eastward, specifically the invasions of Czechoslovakia and Poland, before he launched his attack against Russia. In Mein Kampf Hitler openly states that the future of Germany "has to lie in the acquisition of land in the East at the expense of Russia.” Unfortunately, the German working-class had to pay for Hitler’s hostilities by being bombed into oblivion by the U.S. and the British R.A.F.
The milieu for this novel is Hessental, Germany, an ordinary peaceful German village of mostly hard working poor families. The focus is on the Bolz family and their struggle to put food on the table. Our heroine, Christine, and her mutti (mother) work on the estate of the Bauermans, a rich Jewish family. Christine and Isaac Bauerman are in love and plan to announce that fact at a December party at the Bauermans. But before that can happen, Hitler prohibits Jews from employing Germans, radios are confiscated and replaced with propaganda channeled radios, Jews are banned from public buildings, and the mandatory greeting is decreed as “Heil Hitler”. On page 54, Christine and Isaac wonder, “Will we ever be allowed to be together, to live like everyone else, happily married, with a house and children, to enjoy the most basic human rights?” This is a very sad novel. Slowly but surely, the Jews of Hessental are shipped by train to Dachau. On page 150, Christine thinks she saw Isaac and his family on the Dachau train and thinks to herself, “He can’t be inside one of those boxcars, she thought. He’s too smart and too beautiful to be carted away like an animal. His father is a lawyer, his mother an aristocrat.” This where the story takes ”the brakes off” and rumbles through 387 pages of breathtaking drama!
For a fledgling author without any creative writing background, I thought her characterization was superlative. I had plenty of empathy for vater (father), oma (grandma), opa (grandpa), and even the reluctant Nazi, Lagerkommandant Grunstein of the Dachau Camp. The sprinkling of German words, titles, and names was expertly done, such as: scheissekopf (shithead), gruppenfuhrer (group leader), sonderkommandos (work units of Nazi death camp prisoners), and blockfuhrer (a block leader in the death camps). At one point in this marvelous novel, Christine wonders why prisoners would be shot at a death camp: “Why would they shoot those men when they have an efficient method of extermination right here?” The flavor of the novel is exactly how Wiseman states it is on her website: “I love reading and writing about ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Fiction offers us a rare chance to slip into the lives of others, and to ask ourselves how we would react under challenging conditions, be it during WWII, the witch craze in Europe, or the Great Depression.” This is a love story, historical fiction, and a sad drama all rolled into one tumultous story. I highly recommend this first time novel by Ellen Marie Wiseman. I guarantee her second novel will not be rejected 72 times!
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: Whether you read this novel, William L. Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich or Diary of Anne Frank, the reader finds it hard to believe that Hitler could have been so cruel to a group of people who considered themselves loyal Germans and who were the leading contributors to the country’s economy. Hitler was truly mad. Historicalnovels.info states: “Adolf Hitler rose to power in the aftermath of World War I as Germany struggled under the economic burden of reparations imposed on them by the Versailles Treaty. A dynamic speaker, Hitler scapegoated various groups including German political leaders, liberals, capitalists and Jews for Germany's troubles. By 1933, his popularity resulted in his appointment as Chancellor, a position he used to undermine the existing government and become dictator.”
Hitler published Mein Kampf (My Struggle) in 1925, giving the world the first taste of his building hatred towards the Jews. Wikipedia states; “Mein Kampf has also been studied as a work on political theory. For example, Hitler announces his hatred of what he believed to be the world's twin evils: Communism and Judaism. The new territory that Germany needed to obtain would properly nurture the "historic destiny" of the German people; this goal, which Hitler referred to as Lebensraum (living space), explains why Hitler aggressively expanded Germany eastward, specifically the invasions of Czechoslovakia and Poland, before he launched his attack against Russia. In Mein Kampf Hitler openly states that the future of Germany "has to lie in the acquisition of land in the East at the expense of Russia.” Unfortunately, the German working-class had to pay for Hitler’s hostilities by being bombed into oblivion by the U.S. and the British R.A.F.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
SLOW APOCALYPSE
One of my favorite writers, John Varley, writes a “been there, done that” book. What I mean is that there are only so many ways you can pen a apocalypse/survival novel. Is this novel similar to William R. Forstchen’s One Second After and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road
? You betcha! After the disaster, do refugees flee the big cities? Yes! Do people run amok seeking food and shelter? Yes! Do we have a societal breakdown with gangs pillaging the land? Yes! Finally, does the reader follow a group of people who become the champions of the story? You bet your sweet bippy! So you might ask, “What’s different?" Well how about adding a 9.3 to 9.8 magnitude earthquake in the Los Angeles area, and top that off with a massive fire a few days later. Look, I’m not saying that I didn’t like the book, but writers are running out of ways to tell this story. This is the tenth novel that I’ve read by this author, so I think I’ve earned my say. John, stay away from these kind of stories! If you want to write another, then ape Michael Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain . At least in that novel, the focus was on the cure of the problem (the strain mutates to a benign form with a final surprise). I’ll give the author a pass, because the writing was terrific, and the characterization was top-notch.
The novel begins with screenwriter Dave Marshall interviewing Ex-Colonel Lionel Warner (USMC, ret.) about the possibility of a new movie. The Colonel tells him that a disgruntled bacterial scientist has deployed a bacteria in Saudi Arabia that freezes oil thus rendering it useless. The scientist is seeking revenge for 9/11. Marshall doesn’t know if the Colonel is telling him the truth or not. After Marshall leaves the hotel interview, mysterious police arrive at the hotel, and Marshall observes the Colonel being shot and ejected from the eleventh floor window! Now what is Dave Marshall going to do? He has to believe he's been told the truth, so he cashes in his credit cards and buys survival supplies. He calls in his fellow writing staff (the posse) and tells them what happened. Do they believe him? Some do, and others are skeptical, while his wife Karen leaves him, and his daughter Addison is unsure. Later, the news reports that oil wells throughout the world are on fire! My God, the bacteria has gone airborne and is affecting every oil field. As Staffer’s Book Reviews states: “Like anything created in a government lab things don’t go as planned, and oil across the world begins to harden, in many cases with explosive results”. Next, the L.A. oil fields blow up, and the L.A. tar pits explode causing massive damage in urban Los Angeles. Now his writer friends and his wife Karen are starting to trust his story. The posse, led by Dave Marshall and Bob Winston, decides to head to Oregon for safety; but then, a monumental earthquake delays them. Finally, just as the Marshalls are ready to depart for the second time to the Winstons to form a caravan out of the L.A./Hollywood area, a conflagration starts in Hollywood. Now the Marshalls are on the run in their packed Escalade, dodging bullets from gangs and the advancing flames. Readers: this all happens in the beginning of the book; I’m not giving away the story.
From here onward, the great trek to safety begins. This is where this novel becomes analogous to Lucifer's Hammer, The Stand, and On the Beach. How many of these kinds of novels can one read? Somewhere out there is an author writing the ultimate apocalypse novel with a completely fresh take on the revelation that John hears involving the battle of good over evil with God appearing at the books end. Now that's a story! There are certain truisms we learn in these types of books. The first is on page 77 when Dave Marshall realizes that “Millions of Americans were discovering that what they did for a living was no longer something anyone would pay them to do”. The second truism is on page 185 when Dave says, “The big question was, say you’ve made a shelter just big enough for your family. The alarm goes off, the bombs are on the way. You seal up your shelter...and the neighbors come knocking. Do you let them in?” The third thing Dave thought about was “What did you talk about after civilization had crumbled? Dave tried to recall what they had talked about before the oil went bad, it was already getting hard to do”. Though this book was similar to lots of novels I’ve read, it was still illuminating and humanizing. I don’t want to abash the reader who hasn’t read these types of books, but read this novel with a grain of salt.
RATING: 4 out of 5 stars
Comment: On John Varley’s official website, he states: “Slow Apocalypse is NOT like anything I've written before. I am so pleased to see my old friend George RR Martin raking in the dough; this is my attempt to reach a larger audience, like he has, beyond all you lovely people. It is my hope that my long-time readers will enjoy it, too.” John, I have to tell you I loved your trilogy of Titan, Wizard, and Demon much better. I also thought that Mammoth was the best novel John Varley ever wrote. According to Wikipedia, John isn’t happy with his Millennium experience in Hollywood. He states: ”We had the first meeting on Millennium in 1979. I ended up writing it six times. There were four different directors, and each time a new director came in I went over the whole thing with him and rewrote it. Each new director had his own ideas, and sometimes you'd gain something from that, but each time something's always lost in the process, so that by the time it went in front of the cameras, a lot of the vision was lost." Sciencefiction-Lit.Com states the following about Varley’s characters: “Single handedly Varley has trashed the long history of the SF heroic figure - and good riddance in my opinion. His bad guys are usually likable and sympathetic, his good guys are often pathetic and desperate, basically like so many people we actually know in real life. And the women... I defy anyone to find me an author, in any genre, who writes women as well as Varley. Hell, with sex changes in his books, a good percentage of his characters start in one sex and end in another and through each change you can tell. It's subtle, but it's there. That is true understanding of the sexual differences and similarities.” I’m a big fan of John Varley!
The novel begins with screenwriter Dave Marshall interviewing Ex-Colonel Lionel Warner (USMC, ret.) about the possibility of a new movie. The Colonel tells him that a disgruntled bacterial scientist has deployed a bacteria in Saudi Arabia that freezes oil thus rendering it useless. The scientist is seeking revenge for 9/11. Marshall doesn’t know if the Colonel is telling him the truth or not. After Marshall leaves the hotel interview, mysterious police arrive at the hotel, and Marshall observes the Colonel being shot and ejected from the eleventh floor window! Now what is Dave Marshall going to do? He has to believe he's been told the truth, so he cashes in his credit cards and buys survival supplies. He calls in his fellow writing staff (the posse) and tells them what happened. Do they believe him? Some do, and others are skeptical, while his wife Karen leaves him, and his daughter Addison is unsure. Later, the news reports that oil wells throughout the world are on fire! My God, the bacteria has gone airborne and is affecting every oil field. As Staffer’s Book Reviews states: “Like anything created in a government lab things don’t go as planned, and oil across the world begins to harden, in many cases with explosive results”. Next, the L.A. oil fields blow up, and the L.A. tar pits explode causing massive damage in urban Los Angeles. Now his writer friends and his wife Karen are starting to trust his story. The posse, led by Dave Marshall and Bob Winston, decides to head to Oregon for safety; but then, a monumental earthquake delays them. Finally, just as the Marshalls are ready to depart for the second time to the Winstons to form a caravan out of the L.A./Hollywood area, a conflagration starts in Hollywood. Now the Marshalls are on the run in their packed Escalade, dodging bullets from gangs and the advancing flames. Readers: this all happens in the beginning of the book; I’m not giving away the story.
From here onward, the great trek to safety begins. This is where this novel becomes analogous to Lucifer's Hammer, The Stand, and On the Beach. How many of these kinds of novels can one read? Somewhere out there is an author writing the ultimate apocalypse novel with a completely fresh take on the revelation that John hears involving the battle of good over evil with God appearing at the books end. Now that's a story! There are certain truisms we learn in these types of books. The first is on page 77 when Dave Marshall realizes that “Millions of Americans were discovering that what they did for a living was no longer something anyone would pay them to do”. The second truism is on page 185 when Dave says, “The big question was, say you’ve made a shelter just big enough for your family. The alarm goes off, the bombs are on the way. You seal up your shelter...and the neighbors come knocking. Do you let them in?” The third thing Dave thought about was “What did you talk about after civilization had crumbled? Dave tried to recall what they had talked about before the oil went bad, it was already getting hard to do”. Though this book was similar to lots of novels I’ve read, it was still illuminating and humanizing. I don’t want to abash the reader who hasn’t read these types of books, but read this novel with a grain of salt.
RATING: 4 out of 5 stars
Comment: On John Varley’s official website, he states: “Slow Apocalypse is NOT like anything I've written before. I am so pleased to see my old friend George RR Martin raking in the dough; this is my attempt to reach a larger audience, like he has, beyond all you lovely people. It is my hope that my long-time readers will enjoy it, too.” John, I have to tell you I loved your trilogy of Titan, Wizard, and Demon much better. I also thought that Mammoth was the best novel John Varley ever wrote. According to Wikipedia, John isn’t happy with his Millennium experience in Hollywood. He states: ”We had the first meeting on Millennium in 1979. I ended up writing it six times. There were four different directors, and each time a new director came in I went over the whole thing with him and rewrote it. Each new director had his own ideas, and sometimes you'd gain something from that, but each time something's always lost in the process, so that by the time it went in front of the cameras, a lot of the vision was lost." Sciencefiction-Lit.Com states the following about Varley’s characters: “Single handedly Varley has trashed the long history of the SF heroic figure - and good riddance in my opinion. His bad guys are usually likable and sympathetic, his good guys are often pathetic and desperate, basically like so many people we actually know in real life. And the women... I defy anyone to find me an author, in any genre, who writes women as well as Varley. Hell, with sex changes in his books, a good percentage of his characters start in one sex and end in another and through each change you can tell. It's subtle, but it's there. That is true understanding of the sexual differences and similarities.” I’m a big fan of John Varley!
Sunday, December 23, 2012
the CATCHER in the RYE
J.D. Salinger published this reputed American classic in 1951, which was probably the most censored book in high schools and libraries until the mid 1980s. I’m unsure why it’s considered a classic other than the fact that professors and publishers like looking for hidden meanings in each chapter. I’m not saying that I didn’t like the novel because I did enjoy it, but mainly because, I think, Salinger’s descriptions and language usage of the late 1940s was terrific. I forgot about the word “crumby”, meaning inadequate, or “phony”, meaning pretentious. The narrator and protagonist of the novel, Holden Caulfield (a seventeen year old boy) uses those words a lot. And how about “flitty” or referring to people as “old” this or that? The writing is very strong, but the story is moderate at best to this reviewer. I don’t see myself debating hidden meanings with anybody. I’m assuming it was censored in schools because of sexual allusions, the morality codes of the 1940s and 50s, family values, and some coarse language (very mild compared to today’s language). I'm very puzzled by the title of the book. What’s up with the title of the book? Shmoop states: “What's up indeed. The first mention we get of this mysterious catcher in this mysterious rye is when Holden overhears a little kid singing, 'If a body catch a body coming through the rye.' Momentarily, it makes him feel not so depressed, in part because Holden is a fan of little children, and the only things better than little children are little children who are singing.” Apparently misconstruing Robert Burns’s 1796 poem, Holden sees himself as the catcher in the rye catching the children as they fall off a cliff. Who knows? Salinger was a kind of recluse and didn’t give many interviews.
The book starts with Holden Caulfield in a hospital in Southern California narrating the story of his previous December’s adventures in Pennsylvania and N.Y.C. The reader doesn’t know whether it’s a mental or physical hospital. Maybe that is one of the debatable points of this book. Anyway, he is being expelled from Pencey Prep in Pennsylvania. The reader gets the feeling that this isn’t the first school that he’s been thrown out of. He doesn’t seem to see why learning is important, doesn’t get along with his teachers or roommates, and doesn’t seem to respect his very successful parents. And what does his "red hunting hat" symbolize? He heads to N.Y.C. several days before his parents will receive the expulsion letter from Pencey Prep. There, he books a cheap hotel and pines about his life. He likes to drink, smoke, and make an ass of himself. He contacts a previous girlfriend, Sally, and makes a mess of things. He constantly thinks about calling Jane, another old flame, but never does. He contacts his sister Phoebe and an old teacher Mr. Antolini. The crux of the story is what happens on his adventures in N.Y.C, and the big debate with literary scrappers is: What’s up with his mental health, and what does his movements mean? As far as this reader is concerned - who cares, just read and enjoy!
I wonder after reading this book if this Holden Caulfield character is really J.D. Salinger as a young man. I had the same feeling when reading John Irving’s In One Person . Anyway, you literary debaters, I think if you re-read page 170 you will find out how Holden Caulfield really feels about school and life: “You ought to go to a boy’s school sometime. Try it sometime,” I said. “It’s full of phonies, and all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to be able to buy a goddam Cadillac some day, and you have to keep making believe you give a damn if the football team loses, and all you do is talk about girls and liquor and sex all day, and everybody sticks together in these dirty little goddam cliques”. Metaphorically speaking, I think Holden was drowning in boredom. Anyway, enough thoughts about Holden Caulfield’s mental state that is being puppeteered by the cloistered J.D. Salinger! Just grab a copy and form your own opinions.
RATING: 4 out of 5 stars
Comment: After Salinger’s death, The New Yorker magazine said on 2/8/10: Salinger was an expansive romantic, an observer of the details of the world, and of New York in particular; no book has ever captured a city better than “The Catcher in the Rye” captured New York in the forties. Has any writer ever had a better ear for American talk? (One thinks of the man occupying the seat behind Holden Caulfield at Radio City Music Hall, who, watching the Rockettes, keeps saying to his wife, “You know what that is? That’s precision.”) A self-enclosed writer doesn’t listen, and Salinger was a peerless listener: page after page of pure talk flowed out of him, moving and true and, above all, funny. He was a humorist with a heart before he was a mystic with a vision, or, rather, the vision flowed from the humor. That was the final almost-moral of “Zooey,” the almost-final Salinger story to appear in these pages: Seymour’s Fat Lady, who gives art its audience, is all of us."
On 1/16/12, two years after Salinger’s death, Salon.com’s Kenneth Slawenski wrote: “When it came to his work, J.D. Salinger was the ultimate control freak. He strove for absolute perfection in his writing and sought complete power over its presentation. He ordered his photo be removed from the dust jacket of “The Catcher in the Rye,” fought with numerous publishers over his book’s content and presentation, and his disdain for editing was legendary. When a copy editor at the New Yorker dared to remove a single comma from one of his stories, Salinger snapped. “There was hell to pay,” recalled William Maxwell, and the comma was quickly reinstated. Recently uncovered letters demonstrate how the author repeatedly refused any film adaptation of his classic novel. He felt no actor could properly fill the role of Holden Caulfield, although he quipped to Ernest Hemingway that he might be persuaded to play the part himself.” Readers, J.D. Salinger was and still is a legendary writer.
The book starts with Holden Caulfield in a hospital in Southern California narrating the story of his previous December’s adventures in Pennsylvania and N.Y.C. The reader doesn’t know whether it’s a mental or physical hospital. Maybe that is one of the debatable points of this book. Anyway, he is being expelled from Pencey Prep in Pennsylvania. The reader gets the feeling that this isn’t the first school that he’s been thrown out of. He doesn’t seem to see why learning is important, doesn’t get along with his teachers or roommates, and doesn’t seem to respect his very successful parents. And what does his "red hunting hat" symbolize? He heads to N.Y.C. several days before his parents will receive the expulsion letter from Pencey Prep. There, he books a cheap hotel and pines about his life. He likes to drink, smoke, and make an ass of himself. He contacts a previous girlfriend, Sally, and makes a mess of things. He constantly thinks about calling Jane, another old flame, but never does. He contacts his sister Phoebe and an old teacher Mr. Antolini. The crux of the story is what happens on his adventures in N.Y.C, and the big debate with literary scrappers is: What’s up with his mental health, and what does his movements mean? As far as this reader is concerned - who cares, just read and enjoy!
I wonder after reading this book if this Holden Caulfield character is really J.D. Salinger as a young man. I had the same feeling when reading John Irving’s In One Person . Anyway, you literary debaters, I think if you re-read page 170 you will find out how Holden Caulfield really feels about school and life: “You ought to go to a boy’s school sometime. Try it sometime,” I said. “It’s full of phonies, and all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to be able to buy a goddam Cadillac some day, and you have to keep making believe you give a damn if the football team loses, and all you do is talk about girls and liquor and sex all day, and everybody sticks together in these dirty little goddam cliques”. Metaphorically speaking, I think Holden was drowning in boredom. Anyway, enough thoughts about Holden Caulfield’s mental state that is being puppeteered by the cloistered J.D. Salinger! Just grab a copy and form your own opinions.
RATING: 4 out of 5 stars
Comment: After Salinger’s death, The New Yorker magazine said on 2/8/10: Salinger was an expansive romantic, an observer of the details of the world, and of New York in particular; no book has ever captured a city better than “The Catcher in the Rye” captured New York in the forties. Has any writer ever had a better ear for American talk? (One thinks of the man occupying the seat behind Holden Caulfield at Radio City Music Hall, who, watching the Rockettes, keeps saying to his wife, “You know what that is? That’s precision.”) A self-enclosed writer doesn’t listen, and Salinger was a peerless listener: page after page of pure talk flowed out of him, moving and true and, above all, funny. He was a humorist with a heart before he was a mystic with a vision, or, rather, the vision flowed from the humor. That was the final almost-moral of “Zooey,” the almost-final Salinger story to appear in these pages: Seymour’s Fat Lady, who gives art its audience, is all of us."
On 1/16/12, two years after Salinger’s death, Salon.com’s Kenneth Slawenski wrote: “When it came to his work, J.D. Salinger was the ultimate control freak. He strove for absolute perfection in his writing and sought complete power over its presentation. He ordered his photo be removed from the dust jacket of “The Catcher in the Rye,” fought with numerous publishers over his book’s content and presentation, and his disdain for editing was legendary. When a copy editor at the New Yorker dared to remove a single comma from one of his stories, Salinger snapped. “There was hell to pay,” recalled William Maxwell, and the comma was quickly reinstated. Recently uncovered letters demonstrate how the author repeatedly refused any film adaptation of his classic novel. He felt no actor could properly fill the role of Holden Caulfield, although he quipped to Ernest Hemingway that he might be persuaded to play the part himself.” Readers, J.D. Salinger was and still is a legendary writer.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
This satirical novel is the story of Huck Finn and his adventures down the Mississippi River on a raft trying to escape his drunken father. It is the sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and one of the first novels to be written in the local vernacular. How about this from Jim, the slave: “I tuck out en shin down de hill, en ‘spec to steal a skift ‘long de sho’ som’ers ‘bove de town, but dey wuz people a-stirring yit, so I hid in de ole tumble-down cooper-shop on de bank to wait for everybody to go ‘way. Well, I wuz dah all night. Dey wuz somebody roun’ all de time.”? Is that great or what? I've never seen so many words go red for misspellings on Google as I did writing this review. The language does slow the reader down, but conveys all the local color of the mid-1850s.
I loved this book because Twain made me feel like I was in the milieu of the South living on a Mississippian river raft. I could actually feel the heat of the day! He did an absolutely great job of recreating the atmosphere of the South before things became chaotic and uncontrollable; in another words, this novel is set just prior to the Civil War. This is the second novel that I’ve read recently pertaining to this time period in the South, and quite frankly, I’m stunned by the Southerner’s cavalier attitude towards the suffering of their slaves. Yet, Mark Twain made this novel jocular; I guess that’s all part of his satirical style of writing. This version of the novel has 148 illustrations and is a reproduction of the original 1885 masterpiece now published by Piccadilly Books, LTD.
Does the adage “boys will be boys” mean it is hard, often fruitless, to attempt to curb the natural playfulness and tendency to mischief of most growing boys, or does it mean Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn? I think the latter. This novel is the continuing saga of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, two 13-14 year old rascals. This story opens with Huck now living with the Widow Douglas and her sister Miss Watson. Huck has a considerable amount of money in trust with Judge Thatcher, garnered from Injun Joe in the previous book. Huck’s drunken Pap wants that money and somehow gets control of Huck’s guardianship and leaves with Huck to a cabin on the banks of the Mississippi River. There, Huck is constantly abused, so he fakes his death and heads down river in a canoe. He gets to Jackson’s Island (between Missouri and Illinois) and discovers that Miss Watson’s slave, Jim, is there on the run from Miss Watson because he found out that she was going to sell him for $800. Huck learns that the folks back home think either Jim or Pap killed him. They set off on a raft for incredible adventures. Jim wants his freedom, and Huck wants to get away from Pap.
On Huck’s journeys, he faces many difficult circumstances and makes harrowing escapes. The first is in a shore village where he meets the Granderfords feuding with the Shepherdsons. The ensuing big shootout causes Huck to make egress to the river again. Huck, now back with Jim, meets two incredible grifters on the run from a mob of angry townspeople. They hitch a ride with Huck and Jim on the raft. The scams they pull off with Huck are hilarious! One of these swindlers says he is the rightful Duke of Bridgewater, and the other claims to be the exiled and rightful King of France. I will not tell you anything else, but the plot thickens, and the real fun reading begins at this point in the novel (chapter XIX, page 100).
According to an article from Wikipedia: “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an often scathing look at entrenched attitudes, particularly racism”. The problem is as I read the novel, I was not convinced one way or the other whether Twain was being real or satirical. I guess it’s too late to ask him. Wikipedia also states: “To highlight the hypocrisy required to condone slavery within an ostensibly moral system, Twain has Huck's father enslave him, isolate him, and beat him. When Huck escapes – which anyone would agree was the right thing to do – he then immediately encounters Jim "illegally" doing the same thing”. Later in Twain’s career, he became the harbinger of satirical comedy, but was he the future Will Rogers or Don Rickles? Regardless of my confusion, I have to recommend this novel as it is considered one of the Great American Novels.
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: How is this novel rated by other great writers? Well, Ernest Hemingway said: "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called 'Huckleberry Finn.' All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.” Norman Mailer said: "The mark of how good 'Huckleberry Finn' has to be is that one can compare it to a number of our best modern American novels and it stands up page for page, awkward here, sensational there - absolutely the equal of one of those rare incredible first novels that come along once or twice in a decade." The reader would have to admit this is high praise from two credentialed authors. Some of Twain’s quotes include: "When in doubt, tell the truth."; "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them."; "Where prejudice exists it always discolors our thoughts."; "Fleas can be taught nearly anything that a Congressman can.", and my personal favorite is: "I have been an author for 20 years and an ass for 55." However you look at Mark Twain, one has to admit that he was a remarkable human being.
I loved this book because Twain made me feel like I was in the milieu of the South living on a Mississippian river raft. I could actually feel the heat of the day! He did an absolutely great job of recreating the atmosphere of the South before things became chaotic and uncontrollable; in another words, this novel is set just prior to the Civil War. This is the second novel that I’ve read recently pertaining to this time period in the South, and quite frankly, I’m stunned by the Southerner’s cavalier attitude towards the suffering of their slaves. Yet, Mark Twain made this novel jocular; I guess that’s all part of his satirical style of writing. This version of the novel has 148 illustrations and is a reproduction of the original 1885 masterpiece now published by Piccadilly Books, LTD.
Does the adage “boys will be boys” mean it is hard, often fruitless, to attempt to curb the natural playfulness and tendency to mischief of most growing boys, or does it mean Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn? I think the latter. This novel is the continuing saga of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, two 13-14 year old rascals. This story opens with Huck now living with the Widow Douglas and her sister Miss Watson. Huck has a considerable amount of money in trust with Judge Thatcher, garnered from Injun Joe in the previous book. Huck’s drunken Pap wants that money and somehow gets control of Huck’s guardianship and leaves with Huck to a cabin on the banks of the Mississippi River. There, Huck is constantly abused, so he fakes his death and heads down river in a canoe. He gets to Jackson’s Island (between Missouri and Illinois) and discovers that Miss Watson’s slave, Jim, is there on the run from Miss Watson because he found out that she was going to sell him for $800. Huck learns that the folks back home think either Jim or Pap killed him. They set off on a raft for incredible adventures. Jim wants his freedom, and Huck wants to get away from Pap.
On Huck’s journeys, he faces many difficult circumstances and makes harrowing escapes. The first is in a shore village where he meets the Granderfords feuding with the Shepherdsons. The ensuing big shootout causes Huck to make egress to the river again. Huck, now back with Jim, meets two incredible grifters on the run from a mob of angry townspeople. They hitch a ride with Huck and Jim on the raft. The scams they pull off with Huck are hilarious! One of these swindlers says he is the rightful Duke of Bridgewater, and the other claims to be the exiled and rightful King of France. I will not tell you anything else, but the plot thickens, and the real fun reading begins at this point in the novel (chapter XIX, page 100).
According to an article from Wikipedia: “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an often scathing look at entrenched attitudes, particularly racism”. The problem is as I read the novel, I was not convinced one way or the other whether Twain was being real or satirical. I guess it’s too late to ask him. Wikipedia also states: “To highlight the hypocrisy required to condone slavery within an ostensibly moral system, Twain has Huck's father enslave him, isolate him, and beat him. When Huck escapes – which anyone would agree was the right thing to do – he then immediately encounters Jim "illegally" doing the same thing”. Later in Twain’s career, he became the harbinger of satirical comedy, but was he the future Will Rogers or Don Rickles? Regardless of my confusion, I have to recommend this novel as it is considered one of the Great American Novels.
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: How is this novel rated by other great writers? Well, Ernest Hemingway said: "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called 'Huckleberry Finn.' All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.” Norman Mailer said: "The mark of how good 'Huckleberry Finn' has to be is that one can compare it to a number of our best modern American novels and it stands up page for page, awkward here, sensational there - absolutely the equal of one of those rare incredible first novels that come along once or twice in a decade." The reader would have to admit this is high praise from two credentialed authors. Some of Twain’s quotes include: "When in doubt, tell the truth."; "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them."; "Where prejudice exists it always discolors our thoughts."; "Fleas can be taught nearly anything that a Congressman can.", and my personal favorite is: "I have been an author for 20 years and an ass for 55." However you look at Mark Twain, one has to admit that he was a remarkable human being.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Uncle Tom's Cabin
On 1/10/1776, Thomas Paine published a 48 page pamphlet titled Common Sense, which was an argument for freedom from British rule. In 1851, Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin as an argument for the freedom of all slaves in the United States. Both books ignited a firestorm of debate. Stowe’s book sold over 300,000 copies in its first year. Only a year previous, the United States passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 prohibiting aiding and abetting escaping slaves. President Millard Fillmore and Congress passed that law as a compromise between the North and the South to avoid hostilities. What were they thinking? Luckily, many Northerners didn’t heed the law, especially the Quakers. Stowe met President Lincoln at the White House in 1862. He called her “the little woman who started this great war.” According to Stowe the characters were drawn from real life, and the incidents described are real. That’s explosive information because this book was (and still is) an emotional time bomb in disguise. She was asked many times whether the narrative was a true one, and her general answer was “The separate incidents that compose the narrative are, to a very great extent, authentic, occurring, many of them, either under her own observation, or that of her personal friends. She or her friends have observed characters the counterpart of almost all that are here introduced; and many of the sayings are word for word as heard herself, or reported to her.”
The character Uncle Tom is probably one of the most enduring of all time in the world of literature. Who could forget this honest, loyal, and pious Christian slave, who is so maltreated? Stowe fashions Uncle Tom’s trials and tribulations to that of Jesus Christ. Who can overlook the angelic and tragic life of little Eva, the daughter of the kindly white estate owner, Augustine St. Clare? The slave Eliza carrying her baby across the Ohio River, dashing over ice chunks while being pursued by slave catchers is a documented fact. The slaves Cassy and Emmeline are two of the best side characters that I’ve come across covering all genres of writing. Then we have the most infamous and scurrilous character of all time, Simon Legree, the hated owner of a cotton plantation in New Orleans. The empathy and revulsion that the reader experiences reading this novel are monumental.
As Uncle Tom passes from one slave owner to next, the reader hopes for the best. The slave owners see nothing wrong with breaking families up at auction, ripping away a child from its mother, and selling the crying child to a different plantation! Woe is me! Yet the slaves held on to the hope that Jesus Christ would save them. According to Stowe, she believed that the slaves would eventually be “no longer despised and trodden down...” because to paraphrase ”of their gentleness, affection, and facility of forgiveness”. Even the kind owners of the slaves did them wrong by not protecting them from unforeseen factors. If a considerate owner suddenly died without preparing freedom papers for his slaves, his widow would auction the slaves off to pay the estate’s debts, thus breaking up families again. This happens many times in this saddest of sad novels. On page 475, Stowe writes “We have walked with our humble friend (Uncle Tom) thus far in the valley of slavery; first through flowery fields of ease and indulgence, then through heart-breaking separations from all that man holds dear.” Uncle Tom was sold the first time because the estate owner, Mr. Selby was heavily in debt, and Tom was his most valuable asset. So his reward for loyalty is to be sold away from his wife and children! Woe is me!
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s brilliant novel is actually two stories in one. You already know about the trials of Uncle Tom. The parallel story is that of Eliza, her baby, and her husband George Harris, a mulatto slave from a neighboring estate. Eliza is also on the estate of the troubled Shelbys and finds out that Mr. Shelby has sold her baby to the despicable slave trader, Dan Haley. That evening she tells Uncle Tom that she is fleeing to Canada! Meanwhile, her husband on a different estate has had enough of abuse and also heads for Canada. Their adventures occupy many chapters and the final result is most rewarding to the reader. Uncle Tom didn’t try to escape because Eliza also heard Mr. Shelby say that if he couldn’t sell Tom, he would have to sell all the other slaves instead. That’s something our hero, Uncle Tom, wouldn’t abide. So poor Uncle Tom is separated from his wife Aunt Chloe, his two sons, and his baby! Woe is me! Will he ever see them again? I’m not going to tell you. This is the most meaningful novel that I’ve ever read. Do yourself a favor and read this piece of American history. It is an awesome event!
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: Gradesaver says: “Even today, with literature constantly crossing more lines and becoming more shocking, Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin remains one of the most scandalous, controversial, and powerful literary works ever spilled onto a set of blank pages. Not only does this novel examine the attitudes of white nineteenth-century society toward slavery, but…” Folks you must read this novel. According to America’s Story: “Harriet Beecher Stowe cared deeply about human rights. Her family was active in the Underground Railroad, helping slaves escape to freedom in the North. (The Underground Railroad was a system formed by a group of people who were against slavery. These people helped escaped slaves secretly reach the North.) For 18 years she observed a slave-holding community in Kentucky just across the Ohio River from where she lived in Cincinnati. She didn't like what she saw.” Was she a great lady, or what? Her last book was The Poor Life published in 1890. She died in Hartford, Connecticut at the age of 85. God Bless her.
The character Uncle Tom is probably one of the most enduring of all time in the world of literature. Who could forget this honest, loyal, and pious Christian slave, who is so maltreated? Stowe fashions Uncle Tom’s trials and tribulations to that of Jesus Christ. Who can overlook the angelic and tragic life of little Eva, the daughter of the kindly white estate owner, Augustine St. Clare? The slave Eliza carrying her baby across the Ohio River, dashing over ice chunks while being pursued by slave catchers is a documented fact. The slaves Cassy and Emmeline are two of the best side characters that I’ve come across covering all genres of writing. Then we have the most infamous and scurrilous character of all time, Simon Legree, the hated owner of a cotton plantation in New Orleans. The empathy and revulsion that the reader experiences reading this novel are monumental.
As Uncle Tom passes from one slave owner to next, the reader hopes for the best. The slave owners see nothing wrong with breaking families up at auction, ripping away a child from its mother, and selling the crying child to a different plantation! Woe is me! Yet the slaves held on to the hope that Jesus Christ would save them. According to Stowe, she believed that the slaves would eventually be “no longer despised and trodden down...” because to paraphrase ”of their gentleness, affection, and facility of forgiveness”. Even the kind owners of the slaves did them wrong by not protecting them from unforeseen factors. If a considerate owner suddenly died without preparing freedom papers for his slaves, his widow would auction the slaves off to pay the estate’s debts, thus breaking up families again. This happens many times in this saddest of sad novels. On page 475, Stowe writes “We have walked with our humble friend (Uncle Tom) thus far in the valley of slavery; first through flowery fields of ease and indulgence, then through heart-breaking separations from all that man holds dear.” Uncle Tom was sold the first time because the estate owner, Mr. Selby was heavily in debt, and Tom was his most valuable asset. So his reward for loyalty is to be sold away from his wife and children! Woe is me!
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s brilliant novel is actually two stories in one. You already know about the trials of Uncle Tom. The parallel story is that of Eliza, her baby, and her husband George Harris, a mulatto slave from a neighboring estate. Eliza is also on the estate of the troubled Shelbys and finds out that Mr. Shelby has sold her baby to the despicable slave trader, Dan Haley. That evening she tells Uncle Tom that she is fleeing to Canada! Meanwhile, her husband on a different estate has had enough of abuse and also heads for Canada. Their adventures occupy many chapters and the final result is most rewarding to the reader. Uncle Tom didn’t try to escape because Eliza also heard Mr. Shelby say that if he couldn’t sell Tom, he would have to sell all the other slaves instead. That’s something our hero, Uncle Tom, wouldn’t abide. So poor Uncle Tom is separated from his wife Aunt Chloe, his two sons, and his baby! Woe is me! Will he ever see them again? I’m not going to tell you. This is the most meaningful novel that I’ve ever read. Do yourself a favor and read this piece of American history. It is an awesome event!
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: Gradesaver says: “Even today, with literature constantly crossing more lines and becoming more shocking, Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin remains one of the most scandalous, controversial, and powerful literary works ever spilled onto a set of blank pages. Not only does this novel examine the attitudes of white nineteenth-century society toward slavery, but…” Folks you must read this novel. According to America’s Story: “Harriet Beecher Stowe cared deeply about human rights. Her family was active in the Underground Railroad, helping slaves escape to freedom in the North. (The Underground Railroad was a system formed by a group of people who were against slavery. These people helped escaped slaves secretly reach the North.) For 18 years she observed a slave-holding community in Kentucky just across the Ohio River from where she lived in Cincinnati. She didn't like what she saw.” Was she a great lady, or what? Her last book was The Poor Life published in 1890. She died in Hartford, Connecticut at the age of 85. God Bless her.
Monday, November 26, 2012
THE OX-BOW INCIDENT
Walter Van Tilburg Clark wrote this classic western in 1940 that challenges previous westerns by tearing down the usual cliches. This novel is the forerunner of my favorite westerns: Shane
( 1949 ) and High Noon
( 1952 ). While Shane studies greed and High Noon cowardice, The Ox- Bow Incident analyzes many emotions, including regret, sorrow and remorse. It rivals To Kill a Mockingbird for themes covered in one book. According to CliffsNotes, the reviewers loved this bellwether novel: “The Initial response of the critics to The Ox-Bow Incident was that here, at last, was the classic western cowboy novel: His motive for writing The Ox-bow Incident was largely personal. He wanted to recreate, for his own psychological satisfaction, a nineteenth-century American West in its true dimensions, and to see what kind of story would grow out of that”. This is the story of an incident that happened in 1885 Nevada.
The novel begins with our narrator, Art Croft, and his cowpoke friend, Gil Carter, riding into the town of Bridger’s Wells. They go into Canby’s saloon to drink and play cards. Would they have gone anywhere else? During the card game, Gil gets into a fight with a cowboy named Farnley, who accuses Gil of cheating. At the same time, a young cowboy rides into town and tells everybody that a cowhand named Kinkaid has been shot in the head and cattle rustled at Drew’s Ranch. This incites the crowd since rustling has become an epidemic for the town’s ranches. Farnley, a rancher named Bartlett, and Major Tetley (an ex-Confederate officer) incite the crowd into forming a lynch mob. A preacher named Osgood and a store owner named Davies try to talk the crowd out of pursuing the perpetrators. Judge Tyler warns the mob of legal action against them, but his words go unheeded. Off they go looking for rustlers with no real idea of what actually happened at Drew’s Ranch. This is a disaster in the making. I’m not going to tell you what happens, but I will tell you that it is sad drama! If you are into reading classics, then put this excellent novel on your list.
Without using descriptive writing, Mr. Clark has somehow bewitched the reader with plenty of empathy for the characters. How did he do that? There were at least 30 characters in this novel, and I felt like I knew all of them. Even minor characters are clear in the mind of the reader: Sparks ,the ex-slave; Butch Mapes, the bully deputy; Ma, the boarding house owner and Monty Smith, the town drunk. The University Writing Center states:”Characters are the most important component of any narrative. Without them, there would be no story. Character development is an important skill to master because characters are important parts of any creative writing from books and short stories, from biographies and autobiographies, to poetry”. Well done, Mr. Clark! This is a novel that leaves the reader with a taste of incongruity for the mob and feeling of agitation for the sitting ducks.
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: Clark was born in East Orland, Maine, but was raised in Nevada where his father was president of the University of Nevada. The Ox-Bow Incident is considered the first modern western. When writing, Clark went into a self imposed isolation and was known to have thrown completed manuscripts into the fireplace and start all over again. Nevada Magazine states that later in his career: “Clark continued to write, but published very little post-1950. There are 600 handwritten pages of a manuscript entitled Dam, which may be a rewrite of Water. He attempted a final project, a Western trilogy: Admission Day, Way Stations, and Man in The Hole. Three simultaneous projects was a new way of working for Clark. Each had a wire-bound notebook hopefully titled and some chapter outlines and character studies inside”. Clark’s thoughts on his epic western was as follows: “True law, the code of justice, the essence of our sensations of right and wrong, is the conscience of society. It has taken thousands of years to develop, and it is the greatest, the most distinguishing quality which has developed with mankind...If we can touch God at all, where do we touch him save in the conscience? And what is the conscience of any man save his little fragment of the conscience of all men in all time?” Clark was known to be a very eccentric man; as a professor at the University of Montana in the 1950's, he would wear the same clothes for every day of the term! Why he didn't publish much after his four books is still a mystery. His last published book (1950) was The Watchful Gods And Other Stories, and yet he didn't die till 21 years later. Very strange!
The novel begins with our narrator, Art Croft, and his cowpoke friend, Gil Carter, riding into the town of Bridger’s Wells. They go into Canby’s saloon to drink and play cards. Would they have gone anywhere else? During the card game, Gil gets into a fight with a cowboy named Farnley, who accuses Gil of cheating. At the same time, a young cowboy rides into town and tells everybody that a cowhand named Kinkaid has been shot in the head and cattle rustled at Drew’s Ranch. This incites the crowd since rustling has become an epidemic for the town’s ranches. Farnley, a rancher named Bartlett, and Major Tetley (an ex-Confederate officer) incite the crowd into forming a lynch mob. A preacher named Osgood and a store owner named Davies try to talk the crowd out of pursuing the perpetrators. Judge Tyler warns the mob of legal action against them, but his words go unheeded. Off they go looking for rustlers with no real idea of what actually happened at Drew’s Ranch. This is a disaster in the making. I’m not going to tell you what happens, but I will tell you that it is sad drama! If you are into reading classics, then put this excellent novel on your list.
Without using descriptive writing, Mr. Clark has somehow bewitched the reader with plenty of empathy for the characters. How did he do that? There were at least 30 characters in this novel, and I felt like I knew all of them. Even minor characters are clear in the mind of the reader: Sparks ,the ex-slave; Butch Mapes, the bully deputy; Ma, the boarding house owner and Monty Smith, the town drunk. The University Writing Center states:”Characters are the most important component of any narrative. Without them, there would be no story. Character development is an important skill to master because characters are important parts of any creative writing from books and short stories, from biographies and autobiographies, to poetry”. Well done, Mr. Clark! This is a novel that leaves the reader with a taste of incongruity for the mob and feeling of agitation for the sitting ducks.
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: Clark was born in East Orland, Maine, but was raised in Nevada where his father was president of the University of Nevada. The Ox-Bow Incident is considered the first modern western. When writing, Clark went into a self imposed isolation and was known to have thrown completed manuscripts into the fireplace and start all over again. Nevada Magazine states that later in his career: “Clark continued to write, but published very little post-1950. There are 600 handwritten pages of a manuscript entitled Dam, which may be a rewrite of Water. He attempted a final project, a Western trilogy: Admission Day, Way Stations, and Man in The Hole. Three simultaneous projects was a new way of working for Clark. Each had a wire-bound notebook hopefully titled and some chapter outlines and character studies inside”. Clark’s thoughts on his epic western was as follows: “True law, the code of justice, the essence of our sensations of right and wrong, is the conscience of society. It has taken thousands of years to develop, and it is the greatest, the most distinguishing quality which has developed with mankind...If we can touch God at all, where do we touch him save in the conscience? And what is the conscience of any man save his little fragment of the conscience of all men in all time?” Clark was known to be a very eccentric man; as a professor at the University of Montana in the 1950's, he would wear the same clothes for every day of the term! Why he didn't publish much after his four books is still a mystery. His last published book (1950) was The Watchful Gods And Other Stories, and yet he didn't die till 21 years later. Very strange!
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