(no subject)
bookelfe is basically the master booklogger of the universe, and while I know I read a lot, most of it isn't in book form -- which, as an obsessive reader and Maroon, distresses me! So I'm going to keep track of it the only way I know how anymore... on LJ.
The first book of the year is Biggest Elvis by P.F. Kluge. I bought this at a used book store a couple of years ago at one end or another of a long trip, and it never quite managed to get read. Given that it's about a trio of Elvis impersonators, how did that manage to happen? The conceit is actually the thing that's the most fun: the book shifts around between POVs, many of them belonging to the three Elvises, whose act chronicles the rise and fall of the King. There's Baby Elvis, who sings the earliest stuff; Dude Elvis, the jaded movie star; and Biggest Elvis, the culimination. Baby Elvis and Dude Elvis are brothers born in West Virginia and raised in Guam; Biggest Elvis is a washed-up English professor named Ward Wiggins, and somehow their act becomes this happening at a come-and-go club in Olangapo, the Philippines.
To be truly honest, I'm not sure how to approach most of what I read about the Philippines and the Pacific here. Obviously colonialism and the American military were a huge feature, and Kluge paints a very vivid picture of how the presence of an American military base affects the island. The book... hmm. It doesn't seem to have much focus, plot-wise: it meanders throughout, and the fourth and fifth act kind of spiralled out of control, despite having some heart-wrenching situations with very sympathetic characters. We hear a lot about (and from) the Filipina women, and how they survive and suffer and support each other (or don't). We hear a lot about contract workers, and how they're perceived and treated. One of the POVs is a Catholic priest, who's an interesting, complicated guy. I wish I could offer actual intelligent commentary, but truly, I don't feel like I'm even close to leaving the "listen until you have something to add" point, and I have a lot more listening to do. It's a book that takes on a lot of problematic perspectives and events, and I don't have the history to know more than that I'm unsettled.
(Really, though, the book's problem as a book is that it's all over the place. I do know that much. I was definitely invested in the characters, though, so it had that going for it.)
Next up is 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, which I also imagine won't be a clearcut topic. I started it on the train this morning, though, and it seems very conscientious of the complexity of what it's attempting. We'll see!
The first book of the year is Biggest Elvis by P.F. Kluge. I bought this at a used book store a couple of years ago at one end or another of a long trip, and it never quite managed to get read. Given that it's about a trio of Elvis impersonators, how did that manage to happen? The conceit is actually the thing that's the most fun: the book shifts around between POVs, many of them belonging to the three Elvises, whose act chronicles the rise and fall of the King. There's Baby Elvis, who sings the earliest stuff; Dude Elvis, the jaded movie star; and Biggest Elvis, the culimination. Baby Elvis and Dude Elvis are brothers born in West Virginia and raised in Guam; Biggest Elvis is a washed-up English professor named Ward Wiggins, and somehow their act becomes this happening at a come-and-go club in Olangapo, the Philippines.
To be truly honest, I'm not sure how to approach most of what I read about the Philippines and the Pacific here. Obviously colonialism and the American military were a huge feature, and Kluge paints a very vivid picture of how the presence of an American military base affects the island. The book... hmm. It doesn't seem to have much focus, plot-wise: it meanders throughout, and the fourth and fifth act kind of spiralled out of control, despite having some heart-wrenching situations with very sympathetic characters. We hear a lot about (and from) the Filipina women, and how they survive and suffer and support each other (or don't). We hear a lot about contract workers, and how they're perceived and treated. One of the POVs is a Catholic priest, who's an interesting, complicated guy. I wish I could offer actual intelligent commentary, but truly, I don't feel like I'm even close to leaving the "listen until you have something to add" point, and I have a lot more listening to do. It's a book that takes on a lot of problematic perspectives and events, and I don't have the history to know more than that I'm unsettled.
(Really, though, the book's problem as a book is that it's all over the place. I do know that much. I was definitely invested in the characters, though, so it had that going for it.)
Next up is 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, which I also imagine won't be a clearcut topic. I started it on the train this morning, though, and it seems very conscientious of the complexity of what it's attempting. We'll see!