Some Recent Books

One of the nice thing about commuting each day is I've been able to read a lot more (somewhat ironic since my last job was working for a book company, but life is oh-so-hilarious that way). Here are some of the books I've recently read, and a brief review of each:

Nicole Krauss is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors - her prior novels (Man Walks Into A Room, The History of Love) were very impressive, and her latest, Great House, was one of the books I anticipated in 2010, even before it showed up on almost every Best of 2010 list in existence.

Great House tells four separate but linked stories, each chapter switching to another story told by another character. They are all linked together by, of all things, a writing desk (though in truth, one story is so subtly linked to this that I missed it while reading it - or, more accurately, I wasn't sure I'd grasped it.) The connections between the stories is clever, and much more than a gimmick; the characters here are also all sad, desperate and searching for something. Krauss' mastery of language and story makes this worth every bit of praise that it received.

One of these days, I'm going to write a blog post that I've been noodling on for awhile - the top 12 authors I'd like to publish one new book a year (that is, one for each month). When I do, Krauss seems well poised to make the list.

Review: 9.0/10.0

Another writer I'd admired before was Myla Goldberg - her debut novel Bee Season was fantastic, though her follow-ups were not as well received. However, her 2010 novel The False Friend received a great deal of praise, so I picked it up.

I'm not sure I've ever read a book faster that I was so unsure about; I never really liked it, but I finished it in less than three days. It's the story of Celia Durst, who returns home 20 years after her best friend Djuna disappeared. Celia is convinced that despite telling her friends and family that Celia had gotten into a strangers car, the truth was worse: she'd seen Djuna fall into a hole in the forest but left her there, filled with childhood anger. Her latent responsibility and guilt has finally caught up with her, and she wants to reconnect with those old friends and own up - or discover - the truth. It's a good premise - and Celia discovers some things that I found genuinely interesting - but The False Friend fails because of one main thing: Nobody is likable. Celia, in particular, is depressed to a degree that probably rings true but ... depressed people aren't fun. And the ending isn't particularly satisfying either ... in short, I think it's a successful story, but really not enjoyable. I can't recommend it.

Rating: 5.5/10.0

Another book I recently read that suffers from a less than likable narrator is The Ask, by Sam Lipsyte. In this case, it's Milo who works for a private college in Manhattan, trying to raise donations for the school. (The title refers to the request for those funds.) Milo loses this job quite quickly, then gets it back, and things go worse from there. The book is mainly a satire, and is often quite funny - but, at the end of the day it's hard to root for Milo, and that's pretty much required here to find it satisfying. As is often the case in satire, the story spirals into something a bit crazy and implausible, but those flaws are made more obvious through the lack of a faithful narrator.

What's more, it seems like Lipsyte knows this. Here's a quote (and yes, there's a character named Vargina; she's a former crack-baby whose name was adjusted by a charitable hospital nurse who has made something of her life):

"I'm not very likable, am I?"

"You're likable enough," said Vargina.

"No, I mean, if I were the protagonist of a book or a movie, it would be hard to like me, to identify with me, right?"

"I would never read a book like that, Milo. I can't think of anyone who would. There's no reason for it."

"Oh."

For that bit of self-acknowledgment, I'll give The Ask an additional half-point. But as biting satire, it falls short - and as a modern commentary, it feels watered down. (A far better example of this would be, among others, The Financial Lives of the Poets.)  It's quite enjoyable, but not much more than that.

Rating: 7.0/10.0

I expected to like The Ask and The False Friend more than I did, based both on the stories and the authors. With Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, I knew literally nothing about the book except how many people liked it. Had I known the plot, I'm not sure I would have actually even picked it up.

It is, as my mother described it to me after I'd read it, a modern-day Jane Austen. (Yeah...I didn't think I'd read that either.) Major Ernest Pettigrew is retired, living in a provincial seaside English town. The book begins with him hearing that his brother has died; he finds an unlikely sympathetic friend in Mrs. Ali, a Pakistani shopkeeper in town who has lost her husband. The story doesn't necessarily tell all that much - a major plot point is what will happen with his expensive set of collector Churchill hunting rifles - and the conclusion seems all but evident quite early on, debut novelist Helen Simonson creates a riveting, completely absorbing story. Pettigrew is a codger, disgusted with the way modern society has stripped all the elegance and ritual out of daily life; his son Roger is sadly a prime example of this (and one of the funnier characters I've discovered in some time). Mrs. Ali has to deal with the relatives of her deceased husband giving the store over to her fundamentalist nephew. The two develop a late life love story (hey, say that five times fast) that is incredibly moving, funny and tender.

As the story builds, I was worried that the ending would be forced or contrived, but I honestly was suprised and engaged by it, and it's incredibly satisfying.

Let's be clear - this is not my kind of book. But perhaps it should be - frankly, regardless of the plot, any book that is as satisfying as this - more, please.

Rating: 8.5/10.0