Book reviews
I don't post every book I read, rather, I stick to the best of the best that I would recommend to anyone. My first book is a little different, though. I loved it, but many people on Amazon clearly did NOT, which has left me wondering. Is this like when I hated Sue Monk Kidd's latest but really dumb people blindly liked it (for the first few months, until everyone sane realized it was baaaaadd)? Am I one of those people who can't see when fiction is bad? Anyway, if you have read Amy Tan's latest, I'd love to hear your comments.
Amy Tan, Saving Fish From Drowning
Tan's latest novel is a beautiful and comic tale about a group of San Franciscan tourists who disappeared during a trip to Burma (aka Myanmar). The novel opens with an author's note that this is a fictionalized account of tourists who did, in fact, disappear, so from the opening pages, the reader knows the fate of the group. Their ll-fated tour through China and into Burma is still captivating.
The title of the novel refers to well-intentioned but uneducated Asians who "save fish from drowning" by pulling them from the water and allowing them to breathe fresh air. The title relates to the entire theme of the novel, which focuses on the intended but many times favorable outcomes of events which are beyond our control. What is one man's unfortunate fate is another's bounty, and what appears to be a horrible fate may actually have its own rewards.
The novel is a winner due to the narrative voice of one Miss Bibi Chen, a wealthy arts patron and the organizer of the trip to Burma. She died under mysterious circumstances right before the group's departure. Events are told from Bibi's omniscient point of view, as the group falls into anarchy and foolishly departs from her exceptionally well-crafted itinerary (the spunky Bibi is not shy about declaring where she was right and others were wrong or poorly behaved). Bibi's voice, her foreshadowing, and her insight into her friends' motivations make this story a winner.
Tan's novel manages to make all 12 tourists come to life, to leap vividly off the pages of the novel. I was a bit apprehensive about my ability to follow all these people, but it works! At times, the characters may seem overdrawn as caricatures of themselves, of American tourists who bumble along and manage to offend every foreigner they come across, but the style is necessary to make the characters stand out. Every misunderstanding in a foreign shrine or with the military police is purely comic, if a little scary for the participants at the time. The novel wraps up with five "miracles" that present themselves to a tribe of Burma and to our tour group (Bibi and the reader, of course, know the truth behind what appears to be miraculous to the people of the story).
This is a thoroughly enjoyable book that can be enjoyed as a literary tale, as a history lesson, and as an expose on the political workings of the military regime in Burma.
Hmmm, now I realize that book #2 is a similar--I loved it but many others reviled it. I know I first heard about it on livejournal, so if the person who made the recommendation is out there, drop me a line with your thoughts.
Kayla Williams, Love My Rifle More Than You: Young and Female in the U.S. Army
Williams opens her memoir by declaring that all Army females are either a bitch (they won't sleep with you) or a slut (they'll sleep with everyone but you). She stayed a bitch during her tour in the Army, but that didn't stop her from being the subject of some nasty rumors.
Williams is a bit older than your typical enlistee, she's college-educated, and she's dated a Muslim man, so she provide a unique perspective on the Army and her deployment to Muslim Iraq. She's stationed for some time with 18-year-old infantry grunts, and while she has a much different (and understanding) attitude toward the locals, she understands how someone defending a position and getting attacked can do nothing but hate every Iraqi man, woman, and child as a potential insurgent.
Again and again, Williams questions the plan as a whole. Stop points and roadblocks are erected with no Arabic signage, Muslim women are afraid of strange men, and the last military in the country (Saddam's) consisted of ruthless killers, so how are local Iraqi villages supposed to understand what is going on at roadblocks? Then again, there have been plenty of female suicide bombers, so what are the soldiers supposed to expect? Williams has to use underground circuits to get her vegetarian kosher/halal meals, even though most soldiers hate them and abandon them with the trash, because she can't officially get religious meals due to a "personal dietary" (vegetarian) preference. In one heartbreaking scene, Williams interprets during the search of a Catholic monastery. Her superiors are hot-headed, interpreting service, destroying property, and ignoring the priest who reaches out to them as a brother. Later, she gets someone to do a good turn for the monastery, which leaves the reader with some hope.
Williams also deals repeatedly with female leaders who put their soldiers at risk, don't understand the mission, don't grasp the political situation, and are incompetent when it comes to dealing with her group's equipment. Williams disagrees with the military system of promoting people due to time in grade unless something really bad happens. She comes across too many people promoted to leadership roles who don't have the skills to back their position up, but they happened to have served long enough to move up. In her closing comments, she discusses how the Army gives you no incentive to excel at your job--the bare minimum is just fine, and it will get you promoted just fine.
Williams provides an unparalleled view of life on the ground floor of the war in Iraq. She never provides any solid answers, choosing instead to reveal how confused and frustrated she was, yet how rewarding some parts of the experience were. Another reviewer commented that the memoir might be a little early, when her anger over certain situations was still too fresh. I rather like the fact that she is honest about her love/hate relationship with the Army and the mission in Iraq, and she transports the reader to the point of view of a foot solider. I would have liked to learn a little more about what her tasks were doing signal intelligence for 12-hour shifts (on occasion), but perhaps she got legal advice not to reveal those secrets of the US Army.
Anthony Kiedis, Scar Tissue
Anyone coming for an autobiography of the Red Hot Chili Peppers might be a little disappointed in this book. Kiedis focuses more on his personal journey through life, and especially on his formative adolescent years. The Chili Peppers are a part of his life, to be sure, but this story is truly Anthony's personal struggles to be a sober, straight-living man.
Anthony spends a significant amount of the book on his teenaged years. He was essentially his father's roommate (not his son, not his "charge) in Los Angeles from the age of 12. He experienced more drugs and debauchery before the age of 18 than most people could live through in their entire life. In describing his experiences, however, Kiedis used an inviting tone; he never bragged about his exploits or tried to paint himself in an excessively rosy light. He simply invited the reader along to explore his personal experiences and emotions.
Scar Tissue is truly a book about drug addiction, about the lifelong slippery slope of trying to obtain (and maintain) sobriety. It is amazing that Kiedis can keep his dozens of periods of abuse and relapse straight in his mind, much less transform them into a compelling narrative journey for the reader. Life on drugs was in no way glamorous--Kiedis spent many years at rock bottom, barely surviving, and scrounging for his existence. He also fooled many people about his drug use, and managed to escape any arrest or scrutiny for possession. Reading about how Kiedis has to consider and seize his sobriety each and every day (he's been clean since 24 December 2000) will surely inspire anyone who is struggling with their own personal demons.
It's amazing that the Chili Peppers have been as successful as they are, considering their poor record management in the early days, the excessive personnel changes, and the rampant drug abuse. I'd love to read a tell-all from Flea next!
Tommy Lee, Tommyland
Tommy Lee is an icon as a rock n' roll bad boy and playboy who has married some of the most beautiful and high-profile women in the world. His memoir, brilliantly co-authored with Anthony Bozza, is neither a reckless tale of debauchery nor an attempt to make Tommy out to be sophisticated and wise. Tommyland is heartbreakingly honest and very self-exploratory for its main subject. I found it incredibly revealing. Tommy left no subject untouched, and I read this with profound respect.
If there is one word to describe Tommy, it is "intense." His intensity about music, about drugs, about love, about life, about anything he pursues leads, to his volatility. He lives hard, loves hard, and falls hard.
The book does not tell Tommy's life from birth to the present in a linear fashion. Instead, he addresses the various phases of his life in discrete chapters on various subjects such as his marriage to Heather Locklear, life in Motley Crue, life and love and hard times with Pamela Anderson, life in jail, and so on. This story-telling style allowed him to really expound upon each subject in great detail. His days in jail were heartbreaking, intensely revealing, and are a great read for anyone who has gone through hard times. When talking about life with Pamela, he allows her to contribute a chapter with her version of the events, which puts a lot of things in perspective.
The backstory behind Motley Crue is terrific. The band invented glam rock fashion and styles. Tommy also invented all his own insane drum kits, and had to search for engineers and technicians willing to put together his revolving kit, his flying kit, his disappearing kit, and the never-realized roller-coaster drum kit.
Don't miss out on this great memoir about life in the fastlane. Enjoy the rock n' roll lifestyle from your armchair!
Legs McNeil, The Other Hollywood : The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry
Despite weighing in at a hefty 620 pages, McNeil's book is a breeze to read through. This tome is organized into short chapters on specific subjects, spanning time from 1950 up to 1998. The Other Hollywood takes on every aspect of the porn business, starting with the (really tame and probably boring) Nudie Cuties of the 1950's, through Deep Throat as the explosive entrance of adult film in the full length feature world, the early stars like Linda Lovelace and Marilyn Chambers, the mafia involvement in the industry, a years-long sting operation on the mafia, John Holmes and the Wonderland murders, pandering trials, Traci Lords' brief and explosive career, the advent of AIDS, the rise of video and star Ginger Lynn, and into the modern day.
McNeil has constructed this story entirely out of first-hand quotes from the participants. He doesn't editorialize or expound on the quotes, choosing instead to tell the story entirely through the placement of the words of different interview subjects. Often, he will have sources all discussing the same issue, so the reader can decide for himself what the generally accepted truth of the matter is. Particularly enlightening were the chapters on Linda Lovelace and Traci Lords, two stars who later said they were forced into porn. Their comments in their heyday and the comments of those around them certainly contradict their later revisionist history. The Holmes involvement in the Wonderland murders is also explained from dozens of points of view (similar to how it was done in the excellent 2003 film Wonderland). Dawn Schiller (girlfriend) and Sharon Holmes (estranged wife) provide commentary on Holmes that make the reading of this book worth it all on its own.
It helps to have some basic working knowledge of the legends of the porn industry, like Lords, Lovelace, and Holmes, because there isn't unnecessary explanatory detail in this book. As someone who has only heard a few of the larger-than-life tales, this book was able to introduce me to many new subjects. The MIPORN undercover sting operation was fascinating and on-going throughout many years in the industry. It actually wreaked havoc on the lives of the undercover officers involved, one of whom became addicted to his porn-world larger-than-life personality. Another excellent treatment was of the AIDS scare in 1984, which started as Gay Related Immunodeficiency Disease (GRID). The players of the time explain their confusion about the "gay cancer," how it was spread, and what it meant to those afflicted. Holmes eventually contracted and died from AIDS. Many actors and directors also commented on the transition from film to video, which meant that shoddier, cheaper movies could be churned out faster, with less focus on plot and feature-length aspects.
McNeil has made an important contribution to the historical works on the adult film industry. The main complaint of readers is the light treatment of 1990's porn and the lack of detail on the modern-day queen of the industry, Jenna Jameson. As a book on the early days, the rise, and the legal battles of adult films, this book is unparalleled.
Cross-posted to booktards, hipsterbookclub, and my own journal.
Amy Tan, Saving Fish From Drowning
Tan's latest novel is a beautiful and comic tale about a group of San Franciscan tourists who disappeared during a trip to Burma (aka Myanmar). The novel opens with an author's note that this is a fictionalized account of tourists who did, in fact, disappear, so from the opening pages, the reader knows the fate of the group. Their ll-fated tour through China and into Burma is still captivating.
The title of the novel refers to well-intentioned but uneducated Asians who "save fish from drowning" by pulling them from the water and allowing them to breathe fresh air. The title relates to the entire theme of the novel, which focuses on the intended but many times favorable outcomes of events which are beyond our control. What is one man's unfortunate fate is another's bounty, and what appears to be a horrible fate may actually have its own rewards.
The novel is a winner due to the narrative voice of one Miss Bibi Chen, a wealthy arts patron and the organizer of the trip to Burma. She died under mysterious circumstances right before the group's departure. Events are told from Bibi's omniscient point of view, as the group falls into anarchy and foolishly departs from her exceptionally well-crafted itinerary (the spunky Bibi is not shy about declaring where she was right and others were wrong or poorly behaved). Bibi's voice, her foreshadowing, and her insight into her friends' motivations make this story a winner.
Tan's novel manages to make all 12 tourists come to life, to leap vividly off the pages of the novel. I was a bit apprehensive about my ability to follow all these people, but it works! At times, the characters may seem overdrawn as caricatures of themselves, of American tourists who bumble along and manage to offend every foreigner they come across, but the style is necessary to make the characters stand out. Every misunderstanding in a foreign shrine or with the military police is purely comic, if a little scary for the participants at the time. The novel wraps up with five "miracles" that present themselves to a tribe of Burma and to our tour group (Bibi and the reader, of course, know the truth behind what appears to be miraculous to the people of the story).
This is a thoroughly enjoyable book that can be enjoyed as a literary tale, as a history lesson, and as an expose on the political workings of the military regime in Burma.
Hmmm, now I realize that book #2 is a similar--I loved it but many others reviled it. I know I first heard about it on livejournal, so if the person who made the recommendation is out there, drop me a line with your thoughts.
Kayla Williams, Love My Rifle More Than You: Young and Female in the U.S. Army
Williams opens her memoir by declaring that all Army females are either a bitch (they won't sleep with you) or a slut (they'll sleep with everyone but you). She stayed a bitch during her tour in the Army, but that didn't stop her from being the subject of some nasty rumors.
Williams is a bit older than your typical enlistee, she's college-educated, and she's dated a Muslim man, so she provide a unique perspective on the Army and her deployment to Muslim Iraq. She's stationed for some time with 18-year-old infantry grunts, and while she has a much different (and understanding) attitude toward the locals, she understands how someone defending a position and getting attacked can do nothing but hate every Iraqi man, woman, and child as a potential insurgent.
Again and again, Williams questions the plan as a whole. Stop points and roadblocks are erected with no Arabic signage, Muslim women are afraid of strange men, and the last military in the country (Saddam's) consisted of ruthless killers, so how are local Iraqi villages supposed to understand what is going on at roadblocks? Then again, there have been plenty of female suicide bombers, so what are the soldiers supposed to expect? Williams has to use underground circuits to get her vegetarian kosher/halal meals, even though most soldiers hate them and abandon them with the trash, because she can't officially get religious meals due to a "personal dietary" (vegetarian) preference. In one heartbreaking scene, Williams interprets during the search of a Catholic monastery. Her superiors are hot-headed, interpreting service, destroying property, and ignoring the priest who reaches out to them as a brother. Later, she gets someone to do a good turn for the monastery, which leaves the reader with some hope.
Williams also deals repeatedly with female leaders who put their soldiers at risk, don't understand the mission, don't grasp the political situation, and are incompetent when it comes to dealing with her group's equipment. Williams disagrees with the military system of promoting people due to time in grade unless something really bad happens. She comes across too many people promoted to leadership roles who don't have the skills to back their position up, but they happened to have served long enough to move up. In her closing comments, she discusses how the Army gives you no incentive to excel at your job--the bare minimum is just fine, and it will get you promoted just fine.
Williams provides an unparalleled view of life on the ground floor of the war in Iraq. She never provides any solid answers, choosing instead to reveal how confused and frustrated she was, yet how rewarding some parts of the experience were. Another reviewer commented that the memoir might be a little early, when her anger over certain situations was still too fresh. I rather like the fact that she is honest about her love/hate relationship with the Army and the mission in Iraq, and she transports the reader to the point of view of a foot solider. I would have liked to learn a little more about what her tasks were doing signal intelligence for 12-hour shifts (on occasion), but perhaps she got legal advice not to reveal those secrets of the US Army.
Anthony Kiedis, Scar Tissue
Anyone coming for an autobiography of the Red Hot Chili Peppers might be a little disappointed in this book. Kiedis focuses more on his personal journey through life, and especially on his formative adolescent years. The Chili Peppers are a part of his life, to be sure, but this story is truly Anthony's personal struggles to be a sober, straight-living man.
Anthony spends a significant amount of the book on his teenaged years. He was essentially his father's roommate (not his son, not his "charge) in Los Angeles from the age of 12. He experienced more drugs and debauchery before the age of 18 than most people could live through in their entire life. In describing his experiences, however, Kiedis used an inviting tone; he never bragged about his exploits or tried to paint himself in an excessively rosy light. He simply invited the reader along to explore his personal experiences and emotions.
Scar Tissue is truly a book about drug addiction, about the lifelong slippery slope of trying to obtain (and maintain) sobriety. It is amazing that Kiedis can keep his dozens of periods of abuse and relapse straight in his mind, much less transform them into a compelling narrative journey for the reader. Life on drugs was in no way glamorous--Kiedis spent many years at rock bottom, barely surviving, and scrounging for his existence. He also fooled many people about his drug use, and managed to escape any arrest or scrutiny for possession. Reading about how Kiedis has to consider and seize his sobriety each and every day (he's been clean since 24 December 2000) will surely inspire anyone who is struggling with their own personal demons.
It's amazing that the Chili Peppers have been as successful as they are, considering their poor record management in the early days, the excessive personnel changes, and the rampant drug abuse. I'd love to read a tell-all from Flea next!
Tommy Lee, Tommyland
Tommy Lee is an icon as a rock n' roll bad boy and playboy who has married some of the most beautiful and high-profile women in the world. His memoir, brilliantly co-authored with Anthony Bozza, is neither a reckless tale of debauchery nor an attempt to make Tommy out to be sophisticated and wise. Tommyland is heartbreakingly honest and very self-exploratory for its main subject. I found it incredibly revealing. Tommy left no subject untouched, and I read this with profound respect.
If there is one word to describe Tommy, it is "intense." His intensity about music, about drugs, about love, about life, about anything he pursues leads, to his volatility. He lives hard, loves hard, and falls hard.
The book does not tell Tommy's life from birth to the present in a linear fashion. Instead, he addresses the various phases of his life in discrete chapters on various subjects such as his marriage to Heather Locklear, life in Motley Crue, life and love and hard times with Pamela Anderson, life in jail, and so on. This story-telling style allowed him to really expound upon each subject in great detail. His days in jail were heartbreaking, intensely revealing, and are a great read for anyone who has gone through hard times. When talking about life with Pamela, he allows her to contribute a chapter with her version of the events, which puts a lot of things in perspective.
The backstory behind Motley Crue is terrific. The band invented glam rock fashion and styles. Tommy also invented all his own insane drum kits, and had to search for engineers and technicians willing to put together his revolving kit, his flying kit, his disappearing kit, and the never-realized roller-coaster drum kit.
Don't miss out on this great memoir about life in the fastlane. Enjoy the rock n' roll lifestyle from your armchair!
Legs McNeil, The Other Hollywood : The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry
Despite weighing in at a hefty 620 pages, McNeil's book is a breeze to read through. This tome is organized into short chapters on specific subjects, spanning time from 1950 up to 1998. The Other Hollywood takes on every aspect of the porn business, starting with the (really tame and probably boring) Nudie Cuties of the 1950's, through Deep Throat as the explosive entrance of adult film in the full length feature world, the early stars like Linda Lovelace and Marilyn Chambers, the mafia involvement in the industry, a years-long sting operation on the mafia, John Holmes and the Wonderland murders, pandering trials, Traci Lords' brief and explosive career, the advent of AIDS, the rise of video and star Ginger Lynn, and into the modern day.
McNeil has constructed this story entirely out of first-hand quotes from the participants. He doesn't editorialize or expound on the quotes, choosing instead to tell the story entirely through the placement of the words of different interview subjects. Often, he will have sources all discussing the same issue, so the reader can decide for himself what the generally accepted truth of the matter is. Particularly enlightening were the chapters on Linda Lovelace and Traci Lords, two stars who later said they were forced into porn. Their comments in their heyday and the comments of those around them certainly contradict their later revisionist history. The Holmes involvement in the Wonderland murders is also explained from dozens of points of view (similar to how it was done in the excellent 2003 film Wonderland). Dawn Schiller (girlfriend) and Sharon Holmes (estranged wife) provide commentary on Holmes that make the reading of this book worth it all on its own.
It helps to have some basic working knowledge of the legends of the porn industry, like Lords, Lovelace, and Holmes, because there isn't unnecessary explanatory detail in this book. As someone who has only heard a few of the larger-than-life tales, this book was able to introduce me to many new subjects. The MIPORN undercover sting operation was fascinating and on-going throughout many years in the industry. It actually wreaked havoc on the lives of the undercover officers involved, one of whom became addicted to his porn-world larger-than-life personality. Another excellent treatment was of the AIDS scare in 1984, which started as Gay Related Immunodeficiency Disease (GRID). The players of the time explain their confusion about the "gay cancer," how it was spread, and what it meant to those afflicted. Holmes eventually contracted and died from AIDS. Many actors and directors also commented on the transition from film to video, which meant that shoddier, cheaper movies could be churned out faster, with less focus on plot and feature-length aspects.
McNeil has made an important contribution to the historical works on the adult film industry. The main complaint of readers is the light treatment of 1990's porn and the lack of detail on the modern-day queen of the industry, Jenna Jameson. As a book on the early days, the rise, and the legal battles of adult films, this book is unparalleled.
Cross-posted to booktards, hipsterbookclub, and my own journal.