Saturday, October 28, 2006
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
I really enjoyed this, though it wasn't quite what I expected. It was the first Zadie Smith novel I've read (I'm sure I'll get round to White Teeth one day). I think I was expecting something a bit more explicitly feminist and/or about race, but this is very subtle writing.
Until about halfway through, it could almost have been one of those middle-class academia novels that David Lodge does so well - but then I began to realise that this is actually a very subversive novel, one that raises lots of questions and can be read on many levels. It is a family drama, an academic drama, it discusses race & class & gender, considers issues of art & politics...
I wondered for a while why the story is set (mainly) in the United States, and eventually came to the conclusion that it is to do with how the family is removed from any comfortable cultural context. As a mixed race family from working-class roots, situating them in an American college allows Smith to examine issues of identity. The different generations face different problems - for the teenage children there are issues of identity, for the parents there are mid-life crises & the difficulties of maintaining a relationship. College politics gives Smith the opportunity to raise questins about the validity of affirmative action, and Monty Kripps offers an alternative to the liberal voice of the left. All the characters in the book struggle to successfully communicate with each other, and there is real humour in the mistakes and assumptions they make about each other.
The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
This book is made up of 3 stories: 'City of Glass', 'Ghosts', and 'The Locked Room', and they are linked by theme. In each Auster himself is evident either as a character or as ominscient narrator. The stories are all multi-layered meditations on the nature of identity, the process of writing, and how the two relate to each other. Auster asks: how do we know who we are? do we create our selves? and if so, how do we do it? Where does one self end and another begin? And how do our selves change and survive? He questions the reliability of identity and wonders whether we can ever truly know our selves and each other.
The New York Trilogy was an absorbing read, though not a particularly optimistic one. Baffling at times, but intelligent and interesting.
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
This started out well, but I suddenly found myself bored with it about halfway through. I think I probably just wasn't in the mood for it, as it seemed to be well written. But there are so many books waiting to be read that I'm afraid I gave up on this one.
I really enjoyed this, though it wasn't quite what I expected. It was the first Zadie Smith novel I've read (I'm sure I'll get round to White Teeth one day). I think I was expecting something a bit more explicitly feminist and/or about race, but this is very subtle writing.
Until about halfway through, it could almost have been one of those middle-class academia novels that David Lodge does so well - but then I began to realise that this is actually a very subversive novel, one that raises lots of questions and can be read on many levels. It is a family drama, an academic drama, it discusses race & class & gender, considers issues of art & politics...
I wondered for a while why the story is set (mainly) in the United States, and eventually came to the conclusion that it is to do with how the family is removed from any comfortable cultural context. As a mixed race family from working-class roots, situating them in an American college allows Smith to examine issues of identity. The different generations face different problems - for the teenage children there are issues of identity, for the parents there are mid-life crises & the difficulties of maintaining a relationship. College politics gives Smith the opportunity to raise questins about the validity of affirmative action, and Monty Kripps offers an alternative to the liberal voice of the left. All the characters in the book struggle to successfully communicate with each other, and there is real humour in the mistakes and assumptions they make about each other.
The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
This book is made up of 3 stories: 'City of Glass', 'Ghosts', and 'The Locked Room', and they are linked by theme. In each Auster himself is evident either as a character or as ominscient narrator. The stories are all multi-layered meditations on the nature of identity, the process of writing, and how the two relate to each other. Auster asks: how do we know who we are? do we create our selves? and if so, how do we do it? Where does one self end and another begin? And how do our selves change and survive? He questions the reliability of identity and wonders whether we can ever truly know our selves and each other.
The New York Trilogy was an absorbing read, though not a particularly optimistic one. Baffling at times, but intelligent and interesting.
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
This started out well, but I suddenly found myself bored with it about halfway through. I think I probably just wasn't in the mood for it, as it seemed to be well written. But there are so many books waiting to be read that I'm afraid I gave up on this one.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Penguin Lost by Andrey Kurkov
As strange and surreal as Death and the Penguin, but not quite as good. The story is a real rollercoaster, galloping along, taking bizarre and sudden twists and turns, but it seemed a bit patchy. Some sections were very detailed, while others just sketched. It almost felt like there were bits missing, or as if the translating was rather perfunctory in places (although the same translator worked on both Penguin books).
Nevertheless, I still enjoyed it, and will read more Kurkov when I get the opportunity.
As strange and surreal as Death and the Penguin, but not quite as good. The story is a real rollercoaster, galloping along, taking bizarre and sudden twists and turns, but it seemed a bit patchy. Some sections were very detailed, while others just sketched. It almost felt like there were bits missing, or as if the translating was rather perfunctory in places (although the same translator worked on both Penguin books).
Nevertheless, I still enjoyed it, and will read more Kurkov when I get the opportunity.
Monday, October 16, 2006
Green Grass Running Water by Thomas King
Fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I love the magic of Coyote stories, and this one was no exception. King's novel is funny and spiritual, a fine yarn, and probably includes some of the best written women (in a novel by a man) that I have come across in a long time. He has woven Native American creation myths into modern politics and environmentalism, highlighting the way that white society continues to sideline Native peoples, but at the same time providing a positive message that we can continue to create and recreate the reality that we need.
I want to read lots more Thomas King.
Fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I love the magic of Coyote stories, and this one was no exception. King's novel is funny and spiritual, a fine yarn, and probably includes some of the best written women (in a novel by a man) that I have come across in a long time. He has woven Native American creation myths into modern politics and environmentalism, highlighting the way that white society continues to sideline Native peoples, but at the same time providing a positive message that we can continue to create and recreate the reality that we need.
I want to read lots more Thomas King.
Friday, October 13, 2006
Glad to see Orhan Pamuk's work has been given the recognition it deserves, but unfortunately some of his fellow countrymen disagree - Nobel prize for hero of liberal Turkey stokes fears of nationalist backlash. If you've read this blog before you'll know that I really enjoyed Snow and My Name is Red. Pamuk's examination of east-west cultural & political relations, and the difficulties of integration or balancing cultures is fascinating, and skillfully done.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Didn't get very far with White by Marie Darrieussecq. I think the author was trying to be too clever with the narrative perspective, writing from the viewpoint of ghosts watching the characters, and these ghosts sometimes referred to themselves - but this was mixed in with narrating characters' dreams, and I found it difficult to work out which bits were dreams, and which bits were ghosts, and which bits were just attempts at poetic description. So I gave up. Never mind - can't win 'em all. And anyway, I have Penguin Lost waiting to be read - sequel to Death and the Peguin that I enjoyed so much earlier this year.
Killing me softly...
"Just when you’ve managed to wipe the grin off you face after recent ads by BP claiming that using their fuels in your car will save the planet, BAe Systems – the British arms manufacturing giant - is ‘going green’ with a new range of environmentally friendly weapons. Next time you’re dusting your machine gun down for a bit of a homicidal rampage down at your local high school, how about having a thought for the environment and using BAe System’s new ‘lead free’ bullets – because, as BAe say, lead bullets “can harm the environment and pose a risk to people”.
And to help save the planet, BAe Systems will be offering jets, fighting vehicles and artillery with lower carbon emissions. Ahh!
The initiative is backed by the MOD which has also hopped on board the climate change gravy train and proposed “quieter warheads to reduce noise pollution and grenades that produce less smoke.” It’s nice to know that both corporate and state murderers are coming to together and accepting their social responsibility. Anyone know where to get organic Fairtrade anthrax?"
From Schnews
"Just when you’ve managed to wipe the grin off you face after recent ads by BP claiming that using their fuels in your car will save the planet, BAe Systems – the British arms manufacturing giant - is ‘going green’ with a new range of environmentally friendly weapons. Next time you’re dusting your machine gun down for a bit of a homicidal rampage down at your local high school, how about having a thought for the environment and using BAe System’s new ‘lead free’ bullets – because, as BAe say, lead bullets “can harm the environment and pose a risk to people”.
And to help save the planet, BAe Systems will be offering jets, fighting vehicles and artillery with lower carbon emissions. Ahh!
The initiative is backed by the MOD which has also hopped on board the climate change gravy train and proposed “quieter warheads to reduce noise pollution and grenades that produce less smoke.” It’s nice to know that both corporate and state murderers are coming to together and accepting their social responsibility. Anyone know where to get organic Fairtrade anthrax?"
From Schnews
