Tag Archives: book reviews

On Beauty by Zadie Smith

Posted by melydia on December 6, 2008 None comments

On Beauty by Zadie Smith: Whenever I review a book, I feel a need to at least briefly sum up the plot. It’s hard to decide if one might want to read something without even knowing vaguely what it’s about. Unfortunately, I’m having a bit of a tough time with this one. See, this book is about family and infidelity and race relations and Haiti and Britain and New England and intellectualism and hip hop and poetry and more. The main characters are the Belseys: white British art history professor Howard, his black American wife Kiki, and his three very different children. Jerome is experimenting with Christianity and conservatism, Zora is an insatiable intellectual, and Levi is struggling to discover what it means to be black. My favorite character by far was Kiki. She was warm and friendly without being a doormat for her idiot husband. (Yeah, I didn’t have a whole lot of sympathy for Howard.) The story itself was interesting, more or less covering one turbulent year in the lives of the Belseys. Unfortunately, once it reached the (rather predictable) climax, there was a big time skip, followed by a sort of lackluster coda, like the author ran out of steam. I don’t need tidy endings with everything all neatly tied up, but I would have liked a little more detail on what happened between the Big Drama and the fizzle of a conclusion. If you’re the sort of person who likes reading page by page, enjoying the sensation of being in someone else’s life, you’ll probably enjoy this one. The characters are realistic and recognizable. Personally, I like books that go somewhere, where at the end I can tell why the author felt a desire to tell that particular story. This one left me a little disappointed.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Brush Up Your Mythology by Michael Macrone

Posted by melydia on December 5, 2008 None comments

Brush Up Your Mythology! by Michael Macrone: Oddly enough, this book appears to have been originally titled “By Jove!”, which would have been far more fitting. Though you will learn (or relearn) a number of famous tales, the purpose of this book is not to function as a primer, but rather to describe the Greek/Roman mythological roots of common English words and phrases. And in that capacity it does an excellent job, covering terms from the obvious (dionysian) to the obscure (syringe), with a healthy peppering of amusing commentary interspersed. If you’re a fan of language or mythology, this is a fun read.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Kiss Me Like a Stranger by Gene Wilder

Posted by melydia on November 29, 2008 1 comments

Kiss Me Like A Stranger by Gene Wilder: Though I enjoy his movies, I would not consider myself a Gene Wilder fan. I’m not sure I’ve ever thought about him outside the characters he’s portrayed. It was kind of a weird experience reading the life story of a complete stranger, especially one as brutally honest as this. Wilder tiptoes around nothing. Still, it was surprisingly readable, at once touching and funny. I got a little choked up reading about Gilda Radner’s final days. Wilder focuses mostly on his personal life and romantic relationships, though there is also a fair amount of information about his experiences as an actor and later writer. It’s refreshing to read a memoir written at the proper time in a person’s life: after they’ve settled down with the right person, are more or less retired from what made them famous, and have the time to sit back and reflect. While I wouldn’t recommend this to someone who hates Gene Wilder movies, you certainly don’t have to be a fanatic to enjoy this tale of self-discovery.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Posted by melydia on November 26, 2008 3 comments

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde: Now here is a story for literature buffs. Thursday Next works as a kind of literary detective in a world gone mad for books. Kids trade character cards, author homes are top tourist destinations, and (my personal favorite) some theaters put on a regular performance of Richard III a la Rocky Horror Picture Show, complete with audience participation. That last had me giggling. The story is clever and the characters amusing, but I think I would have gotten a lot more out of it had I read the prerequisite novels. Specifically having read Jane Eyre and Martin Chuzzlewit would have helped immensely, but even just a penchant for 18th century literature (Dickens, Bronte, Austin, et al) would have been a huge advantage. After all, it is for those fans that this story was really written. Though there is a whole series of Thursday Next books, I think my next Fforde book will probably be one of his fairy tale retellings. I already know those stories.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Posted by melydia on November 25, 2008 4 comments

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand: It’s a shame that an opinion about this book is taken as a political statement, because the story’s actually really good. In a nutshell: the government decides that competition is unfair and starts regulating trade and production. In response, the producers disappear one by one, abandoning (or destroying) their mines, factories, and mills. Chaos ensues. Our protagonist is Dagny Taggart, head of Taggart Transcontinental Railroad. Objectivist women are evidently hard to find; she had so many admirers I almost wanted to rename the book “Everybody Loves Dagny.” But that’s neither here nor there (though the sex scenes were a touch disturbing); it is she who struggles to keep her railroad running as increasing government regulation and a decreasing population of competent people bar the way. At times I was reminded of Animal Farm, which is no surprise considering Rand grew up in Bolshevik Russia. What starts with good intentions rapidly devolves into a miasma of bribes, favors, and threats.

My favorite character was Francisco d’Anconia, CEO of d’Anconia Copper and childhood friend of Dagny. I just love his snarkiness. Everything he does seems calculated to piss off the looters (so the enemies of individuality are called) while remaining impeccably polite. As an aside, I also found it telling that so many of the looters had ridiculous names, such as Tinky or Chick.

I found this story fascinating from an intellectual and philosophical viewpoint. A lot of people seem to treat capitalism as a given (or as the enemy); I’ve never read such a detailed defense of it. And while I do not purport to completely understand Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism, these are the nuggets I gleaned from this story:
* Logic and facts are paramount.
* You are entitled to nothing and must earn everything. Needing something – anything – does not entitle you to it. Even food and shelter.
* Government involvement in private enterprise screws everything up.
* The worst thing is to live a life without purpose.
* Every man working in his own self interest ultimately produces the most good for all.

I’m not going to go into my own personal philosophy here, but these views definitely made for some interesting reading. Certainly better than The Fountainhead. (Howard Roark struck me as petty.) Once again, this is a book that made me think, and that is always high praise coming from me.

I listened to this on audiobook, which I think was the only way I would have gotten through it. Not only is the book incredibly long, the characters spend a lot of time making speeches, most notably John Galt’s famous three-hour speech near the end. (Yes, you do learn the answer to “who is John Galt?” in the third section.) These speeches are unquestionably an integral part of the book, both the plot and the philosophical ideals, but they can get a little tiring. On audio they come across much more naturally.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Myth of You and Me by Leah Stewart

Posted by melydia on November 17, 2008 1 comments

The Myth of You and Me by Leah Stewart: As I was browsing an OBCZ in Westminster, Maryland, I happened upon this book. On the spine, instead of the title, are the words “For anyone who has ever lost or found a friend.” That piqued my interest enough to pull it off the shelf, but the BookCrossing label inside was what spurred me to take it with me. It’s not my usual type of book; it looked really glurgey. But for some reason, instead of simply passing it along, it stayed on my shelf.

The basic germ of the story is familiar: awkward teen meets troubled teen and they become best of friends. However, this friendship fell apart some eight years before. The story begins with Cameron receiving a letter from Sonia, completely out of the blue, asking her to be the Maid of Honor at her wedding. Cameron doesn’t reply, but her aging boss begins corresponding with Sonia behind Cameron’s back. After her boss passes away, he leaves Cameron a package to be delivered to Sonia – in person. Thus begins a tale of journeys and memories, weaving past and present together. The emotions are almost painfully realistic; I felt fierce sympathy for Cameron, and recalled with some sorrow the day the friendship died between my best friend and myself.

I wouldn’t say this book is for anyone who’s ever lost or found a friend, but for those who have known that sort of bond with another person, this can be an engrossing read. It helps that the descriptions of Boston and Texas are as vibrant as the emotions they invoke in the characters. I finished this one quickly, always wanting to turn the page, to find out if Cameron and Sonia ever find each other, or if Cameron returns to her nomadic existence forever.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

We Thought You Would Be Prettier by Laurie Notaro

Posted by melydia on November 15, 2008 1 comments

We Thought You Would Be Prettier by Laurie Notaro: In this collection of humorous (and often downright hysterical) autobiographical essays, Notaro recounts episodes from her life with blunt honesty and hilarious commentary. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I did get a real kick out of her correlation between her diets and the reappearance of popcorn chicken at KFC. I laughed out loud many many times at this book, and now I’m going to be poor because I need to go out and find the rest of her books. If you like David Sedaris, you’ll probably like Laurie Notaro. Very funny.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Cancer Vixen by Marisa Acocella Marchetto

Posted by melydia on November 5, 2008 None comments

Cancer Vixen by Marisa Acocella Marchetto: This is the true story, told as a graphic novel, of a NYC cartoonist and her battle with breast cancer. She is diagnosed mere weeks before her wedding to restauranteur Silvano Marchetto, and between that, her job, and the constant nuisance of models hitting on her fiance, things start to get a little harried. The comic format lends levity when needed, but never detracts from the serious parts. Since Marchetto describes every excruciating step of her diagnosis and treatment in great detail, I learned a lot about the process. My mom had breast cancer a few years ago (she survived and is doing fine now, thank goodness), but since I was living 700 miles away at the time I didn’t really experience it first-hand. I don’t usually like reading survivor stories, but this one was pleasantly non-glurgy, even if I couldn’t always relate to her fashionista tendencies. This is something I would urge all women to read, especially those dealing with a recent diagnosis. It’s funny and touching and ultimately uplifting.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

Posted by melydia on November 4, 2008 1 comments

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson: To be perfectly frank, I don’t get it. The story begins with a man named Hackworth creating an interactive primer for his young daughter, but before he can give it to her he is mugged by a gang of boys. One of these boys grabs the book and brings it home for his little sister, Nell. The book itself is awesome: interactive, multifunctional, and just all around nifty. I wish I had one. Unfortunately, after this things start getting confusing. Hackworth lives with a group called the Drummers, who share a collective consciousness and have a lot of orgies. Then there’s this group called the Fists of Righteous Harmony who start making trouble, and then there are a quarter of a million little Chinese girls getting together, and then there’s this mysterious group called Cryptnet… Part of me feels what I’ve felt when reading other Stephenson books: that while he’s excellent at world-building, he’s not so hot at endings. There’s also a possibility that I’m simply not smart enough to appreciate his work. I’m fine with that. I was kind of surprised at how meh I felt about the latter half of this book, since I enjoyed Snow Crash and Zodiac so much, but perhaps this marks a turning point in his writing. The next book he wrote was Cryptonomicon, on which I gave up after 250 pages. I guess I should stick with Stephenson’s older works from now on.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Posted by melydia on October 24, 2008 3 comments

Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon: The gorgeous governess Lucy marries the much older and wealthier Sir Michael Audley, much to the dismay of his daughter Alicia. Michael’s nephew Robert visits with his recently widowed friend George Talboys, who then mysteriously disappears. I was a little disappointed when I figured out the titular secret in the second chapter, but as I read on I discovered that solving that mystery is not the point of the book. This story is not a whodunit so much as it about the battle of wits between Robert and Lucy, all carefully kept within the bounds of Victorian propriety.

I am usually wary of so-called “classics”, after so many bleary-eyed attempts in school to discover the symbolism and hidden truths lurking somewhere between the lines, so I was pleasantly surprised to discover Braddon was a writer of thrillers for the general public. The footnotes in this particular edition were especially helpful given the large number of pop culture references. These take away from any timelessness this story might have had, but it was still fun to watch Robert connecting the dots and building up evidence.

Robert is an intriguing character as he makes the slow transformation from lazy trust fund kid to passionate mystery solver. Alicia is delightfully obnoxious as well. The ending did not impress me much – it felt too neat, especially the final word on George Talboys’s disappearance – but after hundreds of pages of build-up I suppose there wasn’t much else to be done. It felt almost as if Braddon had written herself into a corner. All the same, it was a pleasant way to pass the time, if not a terribly memorable story.

Also posted on Blog a Penguin Classic and BookCrossing.

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