January book reviews
I plan to keep listing and commenting on my reading this year. This is mostly for my own record of what I read. I have gotten some good suggestions from other ljer's and want to return the favor.
The Voyage Out, Virginia Woolf. Rachel, a 24 year old very sheltered Englishwoman travels to South America with her aunt and uncle. She meets the tourists at the local hotel and falls in love. She becomes ill and dies. Comment: Woolf seems to have interpreted the events in the inner life of the character Rachel, and her mentor, Mrs. Ambrose, as enough for the drama of the novel. But I found the people of the story remarkably distant from me, the keener and more interesting ones were minor characters and the butt of some humor. The primary subjects of the novel kept wanting me to say, "Oh get something useful to do". The only one who has any occupation is Mr. Ambrose who is endlessly retranslating Greek poetry. I thought perhaps Woolf was being critical of the suffocatingly idle or effete life, but I am not sure. She certainly has no contrasting characters or characters critical of the others.
The Soloce of Leaving Early, Haven Kimmel. Don't read this plot summary if you want to read the book. The story of each character is told in interrupted parts as you might yourself learn them if you came to know the people. STOP HERE. A woman in her 30's walks out of her PH.D. orals when she sees that the professor lover who betrayed her is on the committee. She goes home to her parents in a small Indiana town. Meantime, two little girls have been orphaned by the death of both parents when the father attempts to shoot them all. The a local minister is trying to organize his own life - both personal and theological. Everyone's stability is vulnerable from tragic experiences in earlier life. Comment: More theology and philosophy than I cared to wade through, but I read the story to the end. I found the people recognizable and the plot as well. My friend who recommended the book found the murder shocking and a central upsetting part of the book. I could see it coming from the beginning, but I thought the characters in the book reacted in understandable ways.
Assassination Vacation, Sarah Vowell. I did not go more than half-way through this book. Vowell who says she is a journalist, got the kind of reviews that must have made her mother and her college mentor proud:
The SF Chronicle said she was "one of the more important voices of her generation." Sheeeeeeeesh. I thought she was one of those people that you do not want to be seated next to on a plane. She did not seem to have any idea how to sort and prioritize detail. Everything that came to her mind was related in some way - including the muffins at the B&B where she stayed while going on some trip. And while the data is swirling by, there does not seem to be any thing interesting to say about any of it.
Any Place I hang My Hat, Susan Isaacs. Passable. I put it here to remind myself that I read it and not to buy it again.
The Harmony Silk FActory, Tash Aw. Very interesting novel. The setting is Malaya immediately before the Japanese invasion. Johnny Lim, abused by English mine operators as a boy, makes a slow but steady improvement in his situation through marriage, hard work, deceit, and possibly murder. He might be the leader of the communist underground, or the secret informant to the Japanese occupation governor, or both. The last part of the book is a truly strange story of a camping trip on a remote island that leaves the characters stranded for weeks.
The Voyage Out, Virginia Woolf. Rachel, a 24 year old very sheltered Englishwoman travels to South America with her aunt and uncle. She meets the tourists at the local hotel and falls in love. She becomes ill and dies. Comment: Woolf seems to have interpreted the events in the inner life of the character Rachel, and her mentor, Mrs. Ambrose, as enough for the drama of the novel. But I found the people of the story remarkably distant from me, the keener and more interesting ones were minor characters and the butt of some humor. The primary subjects of the novel kept wanting me to say, "Oh get something useful to do". The only one who has any occupation is Mr. Ambrose who is endlessly retranslating Greek poetry. I thought perhaps Woolf was being critical of the suffocatingly idle or effete life, but I am not sure. She certainly has no contrasting characters or characters critical of the others.
The Soloce of Leaving Early, Haven Kimmel. Don't read this plot summary if you want to read the book. The story of each character is told in interrupted parts as you might yourself learn them if you came to know the people. STOP HERE. A woman in her 30's walks out of her PH.D. orals when she sees that the professor lover who betrayed her is on the committee. She goes home to her parents in a small Indiana town. Meantime, two little girls have been orphaned by the death of both parents when the father attempts to shoot them all. The a local minister is trying to organize his own life - both personal and theological. Everyone's stability is vulnerable from tragic experiences in earlier life. Comment: More theology and philosophy than I cared to wade through, but I read the story to the end. I found the people recognizable and the plot as well. My friend who recommended the book found the murder shocking and a central upsetting part of the book. I could see it coming from the beginning, but I thought the characters in the book reacted in understandable ways.
Assassination Vacation, Sarah Vowell. I did not go more than half-way through this book. Vowell who says she is a journalist, got the kind of reviews that must have made her mother and her college mentor proud:
The SF Chronicle said she was "one of the more important voices of her generation." Sheeeeeeeesh. I thought she was one of those people that you do not want to be seated next to on a plane. She did not seem to have any idea how to sort and prioritize detail. Everything that came to her mind was related in some way - including the muffins at the B&B where she stayed while going on some trip. And while the data is swirling by, there does not seem to be any thing interesting to say about any of it.
Any Place I hang My Hat, Susan Isaacs. Passable. I put it here to remind myself that I read it and not to buy it again.
The Harmony Silk FActory, Tash Aw. Very interesting novel. The setting is Malaya immediately before the Japanese invasion. Johnny Lim, abused by English mine operators as a boy, makes a slow but steady improvement in his situation through marriage, hard work, deceit, and possibly murder. He might be the leader of the communist underground, or the secret informant to the Japanese occupation governor, or both. The last part of the book is a truly strange story of a camping trip on a remote island that leaves the characters stranded for weeks.