Let me start by saying this is NOT a book review. This is more of a commentary on an uber-popular series and the fact that I just don't get it.
After reading two of the finest books recently published; ONCE UPON A RIVER by Bonnie Jo Campbell and STATE OF WONDER by Ann Patchett I aimed to take a break from losing myself so completely in a book that I could barely breathe after finishing it/them so I decided to tackle this series that has taken the book world by storm. Maybe I am merely a woman of "un certain age" or perhaps I am just too damn picky, I don't know. I do know that a book of only 250 plus pages should have been finished by now. I just don't have the wherewithal to be excited about this novel. I get it, I get the premise and the authors attempt to make a commentary about modern society; Reality TV shows, the great sucking maw that is professional sports and our fascination with watching people implode publicly and with great fanfare. Yet as I am attempting to read this book the one thing that keeps running through my mind is ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell. I keep comparing this book to that seminal novel and in finding similarities and correlations I am continuously left feeling that this book is covering old ground and not introducing anything new or relevant.
I am going to guess that this series is so popular today only because ANIMAL FARM may feel dated to younger readers. However, when in sixty years they compile a list of classics I am going to guess THE HUNGER GAMES and it's sequels will not make the cut.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
daphnesbooks: ONCE UPON A RIVER by Bonnie Jo Campbell
daphnesbooks: ONCE UPON A RIVER by Bonnie Jo Campbell: ONCE UPON A RIVER is probably the best book I have read recently. To put this in perspective I can often read ten books a week. Yes, a...
Monday, September 19, 2011
ONCE UPON A RIVER by Bonnie Jo Campbell
ONCE UPON A RIVER is probably the best book I have read recently. To put this in perspective I can often read ten books a week. Yes, a week. So there you have it.
ONCE UPON A RIVER is a perfectly and poetically rendered tale of 15 year old Margo Crane and her life on the the Stark River in Michigan.
Margo Crane, a flawed and courageous young girl takes to the river after a series of horrible and violent events unfold around her. Lost and alone she finds comfort and salvation in taking her Grandpa's teak rowboat far away from the life she knows. With her rifle and her wits and her beauty she embarks on a journey that transforms her in so many ways.
Many readers might find her unlikable in the beginning, as did I, but with continued reading one begins to understand and empathize with her and develop a relationship with Margo that far outstrips any preconceived notions of her
character. I believe this is at the heart of what Ms. Campbell is getting to; we don't really know someone until we can understand their life and their decisions and that we should never judge nor condemn anyone until we know their complete story.
Lyrically, this book sings with every bird that flies overhead, every frog and muskrat and turtle that lives on the river banks. Every fish. every raccoon and every deer are given their voice in this book. Even the puffball mushroom and the fiddlehead ferns are given their due.
I am not what you would call a "nature girl"; I don't hunt, I don't wander the woods and I only fly fish as an art (to catch and release) and I have never once
shot a deer. I have never wanted to become that girl, it's not in my DNA. However ONCE UPON A RIVER made me wish I was more in touch with the natural world, that I could in fact move through rivers and forests and fields and that I could live truly and honestly off the land.
ONCE UPON A RIVER takes the reader on an incredible journey; one that it is heartbreakingly brutal and at the same time, gloriously wonderful and beautiful. Just like a river.
ONCE UPON A RIVER is a perfectly and poetically rendered tale of 15 year old Margo Crane and her life on the the Stark River in Michigan.
Margo Crane, a flawed and courageous young girl takes to the river after a series of horrible and violent events unfold around her. Lost and alone she finds comfort and salvation in taking her Grandpa's teak rowboat far away from the life she knows. With her rifle and her wits and her beauty she embarks on a journey that transforms her in so many ways.
Many readers might find her unlikable in the beginning, as did I, but with continued reading one begins to understand and empathize with her and develop a relationship with Margo that far outstrips any preconceived notions of her
character. I believe this is at the heart of what Ms. Campbell is getting to; we don't really know someone until we can understand their life and their decisions and that we should never judge nor condemn anyone until we know their complete story.
Lyrically, this book sings with every bird that flies overhead, every frog and muskrat and turtle that lives on the river banks. Every fish. every raccoon and every deer are given their voice in this book. Even the puffball mushroom and the fiddlehead ferns are given their due.
I am not what you would call a "nature girl"; I don't hunt, I don't wander the woods and I only fly fish as an art (to catch and release) and I have never once
shot a deer. I have never wanted to become that girl, it's not in my DNA. However ONCE UPON A RIVER made me wish I was more in touch with the natural world, that I could in fact move through rivers and forests and fields and that I could live truly and honestly off the land.
ONCE UPON A RIVER takes the reader on an incredible journey; one that it is heartbreakingly brutal and at the same time, gloriously wonderful and beautiful. Just like a river.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
STATE OF WONDER by Ann Patchett
Transportation. Noun. The act of conveying or the process of being conveyed.
STATE OF WONDER involves the absolute transportation of the reader. This book is a good book, it might even be considered a "Great book" by critics and readers alike. It, however, is not an easy book. Ann Patchett writes so lyrically and expressively that one truly enters the fecundity of the Amazon jungle. You totally experience every drop of sweat, every malarial mosquito and every vine that wraps itself around your body. It is not easy in that while it is hard to put down one needs a respite from the emotion and the twisted plot that twines around you like the anaconda. Honestly, perhaps this novel is too well written. I had to read it in segments, it was so evocative that I needed a break in order to return to reality. While reading this book I was totally transported; I breathed the moist and humid air of Brazil, felt as though, I too, was taking a boat into the jungle and that I was part and parcel of the Lakashi tribe.
This is definitely not a book for those who wish merely to be entertained in a sort of light and temporary divergence from ones normal life. STATE OF WONDER is truly a wonder in it's depth, it's absolute ability to transport the reader to a wholly different existence and mindset.
I would give this novel a very high rating yet I give it with a disclaimer and warning. Do not attempt to read this book unless you are totally willing to fall into a very different world. There's no going back.
STATE OF WONDER involves the absolute transportation of the reader. This book is a good book, it might even be considered a "Great book" by critics and readers alike. It, however, is not an easy book. Ann Patchett writes so lyrically and expressively that one truly enters the fecundity of the Amazon jungle. You totally experience every drop of sweat, every malarial mosquito and every vine that wraps itself around your body. It is not easy in that while it is hard to put down one needs a respite from the emotion and the twisted plot that twines around you like the anaconda. Honestly, perhaps this novel is too well written. I had to read it in segments, it was so evocative that I needed a break in order to return to reality. While reading this book I was totally transported; I breathed the moist and humid air of Brazil, felt as though, I too, was taking a boat into the jungle and that I was part and parcel of the Lakashi tribe.
This is definitely not a book for those who wish merely to be entertained in a sort of light and temporary divergence from ones normal life. STATE OF WONDER is truly a wonder in it's depth, it's absolute ability to transport the reader to a wholly different existence and mindset.
I would give this novel a very high rating yet I give it with a disclaimer and warning. Do not attempt to read this book unless you are totally willing to fall into a very different world. There's no going back.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
CONQUISTADORA by Esmeralda Santiago
I really, really, really wanted to love this book. It just sounded so damn interesting and received so many great reviews. (Note to self: never take a review at face value when it is written in the same magazine that gives rave reviews to Snooki, Tara Reid, Tori Spelling et al and their "memoirs".)
The premise and idea of this novel is so intriguing; a wonderful history of Puerto Rico and its inhabitants, from the natives to the conquerers and to their subsequent offspring. It had all the qualities and machinations to make an outstanding work of historical fiction. The characters and the rich sensory images of Puerto Rico and San Juan could have been woven to create a masterpiece. Sadly it did not.
I know it has been likened to GWTW but it nowhere near came close to drawing me into the narrative. Most of the main characters had few empathetic traits and the characters that were worthy of the readers sympathy were glossed over and their stories incomplete.
I am not saying that this is a bad book nor a poorly written one, it is not. But I do want to place a huge CAVEAT EMPTOR upon it. If you are looking for a truly excellent work of Latin American fiction read WAITING FOR SNOW IN HAVANA. If you want to be mildly entertained and are not too picky about character development and originality of plot then you would enjoy this book.
The premise and idea of this novel is so intriguing; a wonderful history of Puerto Rico and its inhabitants, from the natives to the conquerers and to their subsequent offspring. It had all the qualities and machinations to make an outstanding work of historical fiction. The characters and the rich sensory images of Puerto Rico and San Juan could have been woven to create a masterpiece. Sadly it did not.
I know it has been likened to GWTW but it nowhere near came close to drawing me into the narrative. Most of the main characters had few empathetic traits and the characters that were worthy of the readers sympathy were glossed over and their stories incomplete.
I am not saying that this is a bad book nor a poorly written one, it is not. But I do want to place a huge CAVEAT EMPTOR upon it. If you are looking for a truly excellent work of Latin American fiction read WAITING FOR SNOW IN HAVANA. If you want to be mildly entertained and are not too picky about character development and originality of plot then you would enjoy this book.
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