Matt’s Book Review #3

Well, I haven’t had much to comment on lately in my day-to-day life and I’m not in any mood to do some offbeat political commentary, so I figured it was about time I did another of these. As always the books are loosely listed in the order I liked them, and, yes, I’m well aware the vast majority of you don’t care about these books (and the remaining of you don’t care about my opinion), but I’m anal and likely to start making “lists” of the books anyway, so I figure I may as well make it a diary entry so that it seems semi-normal. And off we go . . .
 
1) South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami: I once read a Murakami quote that can be paraphrased in: “The more serious I get, the weirder I get.” If this is the case, then South of the Border can probably be termed light Murakami, as it’s fairly normal, at least by Murakami standards. That said, I still loved it, though not quite as much as the noticeably similar Norwegian Wood.
 
2) Bloodshed and Three Novellas by Cynthia Ozick: It seems a little unfair to toss all of these together since they’re really four fairly lengthy and complete stories (A Mercenary, Bloodshed, An Education, and Usurpation), but being that none are readily available separately, I’ll have to toss them all in one pot. And, as usual with Ozick, it’s a very good pot indeed. Still, this is more Ozick completist stuff, and I’d advise starting off with one of her wonderful full-length novels as opposed to this, although this is admittedly wonderful in itself.
 
3) Atonement by Ian McEwan: Here is a book where the author’s patience with his characters’ development is both the novel’s triumph and downfall. While I was very impressed with McEwan’s willingness early on to develop his characters before reaching the inevitable turning point that it seems most authors rush into, once McEwan finally hits this turn (and hits it perfectly), he fails to properly capitalize on the story he has established. Instead, he focuses on long war sequences that are generally unrelated to the first half of the novel, and, while these sequences are generally well-presented, they belong in another book. Once again, as is so often the case in more literary novels, the author has blundered by trying to turn a perfectly good book into a classic book. Still, my criticisms withstanding, I enjoyed this a lot, and there’s certainly more good than bad (and even the bad isn’t so much bad as misplaced), so it’s an easy recommendation overall, especially if you enjoy more literary novels.
 
4) Cotton by Christopher Wilson: This is a book that examines southern culture during the civil rights movement through every possible perspective in a rather humorous and creative way. Honestly, I’m at a loss as to how a Brit can capture the southern atmosphere so well, but no matter, this is a fun read, especially if you’re a fan of southern literature. If you can’t find Wilson’s Mischief, then this is a suitable way to be introduced to his writing brilliance.

5) Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky: Amazingly quick and easy read, this is probably the best “young adult” book I’ve ever read, including the obviously comparable Catcher in the Rye. Recommended to pretty much anyone, though how the protagonist’s issues resolve themselves so easily was a little hard to swallow for me.

6) Who’s Sorry Now? by Howard Jacobson: A relatively funny sex novel, though I’m not sure Jacobson really achieved what he wanted here, which was to compare the differences of committed relationships to having multiple sexual partners. But, still, Jacobson has an amazing ear for dialogue, and he sorta reminds me of a less-ambitious version of Bret Easton Ellis, which is a good thing.
 
7) Voss by Patrick White: I know I could be murdered in some literary circles for putting Perks ahead of Voss, but Chbosky’s novel is definitely more enjoyable, even if it doesn’t have nearly as much depth. Patrick White is a serious writer, and Voss is very serious quality literature, but accessible it isn’t.
 
8 & 9) The Virgin in the Garden and Still Life by A.S. Byatt: These are the first two novels in a series of 4 from Byatt (which I mistakenly read out of order), a series that I am unlikely to finish. Byatt has very obvious writing talent, and I was at times impressed, but her wordiness is simply exhausting. I didn’t find her to be much of a storyteller either, and I admired particular sequences apart from the novel as a whole more than anything. Still, if you can stomach her unbelievably rambling style, then there’s talent here too.
 
10) Gilead by Marilynne Robinson: One of the more religious novels I’ve read in a long while, I thought this was interesting at times, if a bit dry. Robinson’s a competent writer, and people who are more captured by the philosophies she espouses in the book likely won’t find it as tedious as I did in places. Worth looking into if you like this sort of thing.
 
11) Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury: I’d never read this dystopia classic, and since I’m generally a sucker for the genre, I thought I’d give it a try. I was moderately disappointed, as I was generally unimpressed by Bradbury’s writing, and his dystopia as a whole just seemed less convincing (and less complete) than several of its counterparts. Still, I am a sucker for this stuff, and I thought a lot of this was ok, but it’s just been done better before.
 
12) Carry On, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse: This is a collection of short stories involving Wodehouse’s most famous characters, Bertram Wooster and his beloved servant Jeeves. Generally speaking I found it to be well-written stuff, but anyone who’s ever read more than one Jeeves novel knows they all follow the same story arc, and, unfortunately, it becomes even more noticeable in a series of short stories. By the end I found the repetitiveness tiring. Still, Wodehouse is a very fun writer if you’ve never read him, but I’d definitely opt for a novel instead of short stories.
 
And that concludes the fiction portion of our semi-annual book review. As for nonfiction, I haven’t really read much that warrants mentioning, but I did enjoy Everyday Irrationality by Robyn Dawes. Most of what else I read was junk though, so I’ll spare you a detailed listing of those.
 
And with that we wrap this up for another 6 months.