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In Honour of the ALA’s Banned Book Week: A Book Review!
by John J. Madonna
Everyone reads The Catcher In The Rye in high school. I did, my parents did, my children—err… my hypothetical children will. J.D. Salinger's oft-banned book is oft lauded as a classic tale of teenage angst. Holden Caulfield, the would-be titular catcher and the smoking, drinking, prostitute-soliciting (for conversation only, mind you,) prep-school-flunking antihero has angered parents since his first publication. Even though not all teenagers smoke and drink (or flunk or solicit) Holden is a typical teen, rebellious and occasionally preoccupied with the opposite sex. Of course, to write this off as merely a wonderful story of teenagerism would hardly give it enough credit (slight spoilers ahead.)
Despite his teenage everyman qualities, Holden lost his brother/best friend to leukemia (a personal tragedy he has yet to move past) and saw a kid kill himself at prep school after being bullied. These two experiences, hardly everyday for teens, put Holden in his unfair world full of phonies. I don’t mean to downplay the idea that teens can get a lot from this book, but I also don’t want to downplay the fact that this is also a unique character study about a young man angry at the fact that his innocence is gone.
When I told an English professor I didn’t like Charles Dickens, she said, “Of course you don’t you read it in high school.” The joke, of course, was on her—I read it in middle school—but her point was clear enough: I was not old enough to appreciate it. Likewise, when I revisited Catcher a few years after I had read it, and having in the interim read the other three books by Salinger, I knew I hadn’t been old enough to truly appreciate it. It’s hard to explain outside of the vague, but in his last three books, Salinger’s books teemed Zen Buddhism and other asceticism also present in Catcher. Not to mention that the critical, cynical, sarcastic protagonist like Holden is one of Salinger’s favorites (take a look at Buddy or Zooey Glass) often represents his own voice.
I’m trying to keep this more fawning praise of The Catcher In The Rye, rather than a long discussion, but this book, combined with Nine Stories, Raise High The Roof Beam, Carpenters, and Franny and Zooey make up such a compelling collection of writing, and present such a frustrating collection of writing too. Whereas Salinger’s devoted fans eagerly await the release of everything Salinger has privately written and not published up to now since 1965 (a.k.a., the last year he officially published a new story,) we also know that it will never see the light of day until he dies. Tough position.
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Fabulous Fiction Firsts #87
by muffy
Shortlisted for the Orange Prize, Chinese author Xiaolu Guo’s first novel written in English, A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers is at once sexy, sad and funny .
Zhuang ("Z"), a 23-year-old Chinese woman from rural China is in London enrolled in English classes. Loneliness and her attraction to a much older man at an artsy film soon make them live-in lovers. His bisexuality bothers her less than his vegetarian diet. It becomes clear to the readers that her ever-improving English does not help her understanding of western culture and gets her in some dangerous situations.
“Guo's U.S. debut ...(is)a compelling and moving tale of first love. An often-charming exploration of learning, love and loss.” ~ Kirkus Reviews
Xiaolu Guo was born in 1973. After graduating from the Beijing Film Academy, she published a number of books in China. Since 2002, she has been dividing her time between London and Beijing. She has written and directed award-winning documentaries including The Concrete Revolution; her first feature film, How Is Your Fish Today?, was screened at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2007 International Women’s Film Festival.
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Fabulous Fiction First #86
by muffy
If you liked The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, or Andrew Greer's The Confessions of Max Tivoli, you would enjoy Camille DeAngelis' debut novel Mary Modern.
Though not strictly time travel, critics are calling it "imaginative, near-future, genre-bending" and "a literary mix of love story, s(cience)f(iction) and thriller".
The year is 2009. Frustrated geneticist Lucy Morrigan decides to clone her own grandmother when both academic tenure and pregnancy elude her. A blood-stained apron and her father's experimental equipment in the basement of the family home produces an indignant 22-year-old version of Lucy’s grandmother, Mary. While finding life in the 21st century challenging, Mary quickly adjusts, with the help of a little book called Everyday Life in the Twenty-First Century, penned by another mysterious time-traveler.
What Lucy does not anticipate is for her lived-in boyfriend, a classics professor to fall hopelessly for Mary. What is Lucy to do?
The plot-twists, competent characterization, and inventive storytelling will keep you turning pages. The religious-moral-ethical issues at the heart of the story would make this a good book group choice.
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Fantastic Fiction Firsts #84
by muffy
Emergency room physician Vincent Lam’s debut collection of linked stories - Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures* is the 2006 winner of The Scotiabank Giller Prize, Canada’s premier literary prize for fiction. It revolves around four young multicultural Toronto medical students. (Think Grey’s Anatomy!)
Along with the requisite sex, death and sleep deprivation crucial to any hospital drama, it's action-packed and insightful. "The stories' quiet strength lies in Lam's portrayal of the flawed humans behind the surgical masks". ~Publishers Weekly
For a clear-eyed look at what it is like to be a doctor-in-training, try The Soul of a Doctor: Harvard Medical Students Face Life and Death, and Audrey Young's What Patients Taught Me: A Medical Student's Journey.
*= Starred Reviews
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The End of Mr. Y
by Van
The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas
I like novels that incorporate the texts of other imaginary books and provide scads of non-fiction detail about topics on which I would be unlikely to read an actual non-fiction book. Add an interesting narrator, a little narrative drive, and The End of Mr. Y becomes an excellent choice to read. The book within the book shares the title and is by the nineteenth-century writer Thomas E. Lumas. The scads of non-fiction detail involve Derrida and French deconstruction, Samuel Butler, Einstein and thought experiments, theoretical physics, and homeopathy. Ariel Manto is a poor graduate student working on a dissertation about Lumas. The library classifies the book as Science Fiction, not unreasonable since it involves the ability to jump into the minds of others in the troposphere (the world of the mind). This ability is brought on by drinking a mixture of Carbo Vegetabilis and holy water then staring at a white card with a small black circle at its center. A fantastical story, most compelling before the author has to bring the story to an end.
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A fine postapocolyptic Robinsonade
by annevm
Among the best books I read this summer was The Road by Cormac McCarthy. The genre is Robinsonade, which means it bears some resemblance to Robinson Crusoe. But this is the story of a father and his son walking alone through a totally devastated, burned America. Normally I don't choose this type of book, but my brother assured me that the warmth of the father-son relationship would carry me right through the darker parts. He was right. After it came out last year, this book became an Oprah's Book Club pick, a National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist, and a New York Times Notable Book.
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Fabulous Fiction Firsts #83
by muffy
Sarah Addison Allen’s enchanting debut Garden Spells* is a real charmer.
Claire Waverley, never very good with people, lives alone in the family’s Queen Anne mansion, tending the garden that yields the edible flowers used in her successful catering business. These are no ordinary flowers, especially the ones that grow around the curious apple tree that flowers in the winter.
When Sydney, her sister who ran away as a teenager returns home to Bascom, NC with a young daughter in tow, Claire’s world is turned upside down, especially when their new neighbor, art professor Tyler Hughes, pursues her single-mindedly.
Adding to the spot-on rendering of sibling rivalry, family feuds, small town dynamics, are the delightful story of first loves and second chances; quirky, lovable characters; culinary alchemy; and the magic of place dipped in charm.
Magic Realism fans would know Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic (1995), but have you read Jennifer Cruise's The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes (2007)? Just two more suggestions to keep you totally spellbound.
* = Starred Reviews
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Lolita
by jaegerla
Although it has always been considered a controversial book, you haven't read nothin' until you've read Lolita. It is the most beautifully written book of all time (in my opinion). The lyrical style of prose is a device used by Vladimir Nabokov to distract the reader from the sordid nature of the tale and to disguise the satire completely. Through what could be described as a sleight of hand trick, he lulls the reader under a complacent spell, ignoring what the narrator is saying and instead focusing on how lilting the speech itself is. It has been a highly contested book from all sides since its date of publication, with some arguing it is pornographic while others consider it above all other novels. If you are interested in hearing more about critics' reviews of the book, follow the links below.
National Review Critique
Atlantic Monthly Review
New York Times Review
Village Voice Review
And last but not least, if you would like to undertake a very interesting interpretation of the novel check out Reading Lolita in Tehran. While the main focus of the book is on Lolita, it also includes intriguing reviews on other novels (including The Great Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice, and Daisy Miller amongst others).
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Fabulous Fiction Firsts #82
by muffy
The Chicago Way*, is a debut thriller by Michael Harvey, a Chicago-based attorney and the co-producer of the A&E award winning documentary Cold Case Files: The Most Infamous Cases (1998), which inspired the likes of CSI and Cold Case.
Michael Kelly, “the latest incarnation of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe”, (Library Journal) is an ex-Chicago cop turned PI, “ with a taste for liquor, (and an) esoteric penchant for classical literature". When his former partner turned up dead after asking Michael for help on an 8 year-old rape case, and the local brass showed up at his door, Michael smelled cover-up, big time!
In this “… fast-paced thrill ride through Chicago's seedy underbelly” Harvey has created a tough, smart crime fighter (think Spenser and Sam Spade). What stand out in this first novel are not only Harvey's knowledge of forensics and his firm grip on criminal investigations, but also how Chicago is rendered in all its many moods and facets.
For another recent debut of note set in the Windy City, try Marcus Sakey's The Blade Itself
* = Starred Review
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A Dangerous Innocent, An Accidental Heroine
by muffy
It has been a long wait for fans of Amy Bloom, but her new novel since Love Invents Us (1997), will be payback enough. It's heartbreaking, romantic, and completely unforgettable.
Away*, a historical novel set in the 1920s, is based loosely on the life of Lillian Alling, as documented in Cassandra Pybus’ meticulously researched The Woman Who Walked to Russia (2002).
In Away,, Lillian Leyb, a 22-year-old Jewish immigrant arrived in New York City alone, mourning the loss of her young daughter. Sheer determination got her the much sought-after job as a seamstress at the Goldfadn Yiddish Theatre and the attention of the handsome lead actor and his very connected father.
But when word came that her daughter might be alive in Siberia, Lillian was determined to make her way there. The journey was arduous, to say the least.
“Encompassing prison, prostitution and poetry, Yiddish humor and Yukon settings, Bloom's tale offers linguistic twists, startling imagery, sharp wit and a compelling vision of the past. Bloom has created an extraordinary range of characters, settings and emotions. Absolutely stunning.” ~Publishers Weekly
* = Starred Reviews (see the August 20th New York Times Review).