This novella contains one of the best studies in dialogue I have ever read. It's a tribute to storytelling as much as it is a meaningful and compellinThis novella contains one of the best studies in dialogue I have ever read. It's a tribute to storytelling as much as it is a meaningful and compelling story....more
If you weren't living in Seattle in 1999 it's likely you can't remember or never even knew this event (the WTO protest) took place. I'm glad this authIf you weren't living in Seattle in 1999 it's likely you can't remember or never even knew this event (the WTO protest) took place. I'm glad this author takes it up as an opportunity to examine one particular event that still resonates today in our contentious political climate -- what is the value in nonviolent resistance? What is the point of marching in the streets? How do "the people" claim a voice from inside the nexus of globalization and corporate power? Is risking personal bodily harm worth the message a collective can muster? Is there no alternative beyond nonviolent resistance leading to brutal police response?
This fictional telling of an historical American moment should be informing us, 17 years later, how to answer these questions, or at least take stock of the state of our democratic right to protest in the new Trumpworld. But here's the hump: Sunil Yapa does not have the chops to pull it off. He's got a trippy, flowery style, but without the precision and discipline to control it, so images come off half-baked and random. He's in love with the simile to a fault. His tone is sanctimonious. His characters are righteous to the point they're boring. The fact of their diversity alone does not make them relatable. For instance, we know one cop because she is the one from Guatemala, yet I have no understanding of what it means to her to be Guatemalan, only that it's the label I've been given to distinguish her. That's just one example, and there are plenty of moments where characters did certain things, took certain actions, that left me flummoxed, and I'm guessing it's because the author used markers for that character that meant something to him, but didn't translate for me. Yapa is far more skilled in his descriptive sense of place than in his depiction of human character.
I'll admit I almost quit this thing halfway through. (The damn similes...) But the last twenty pages or so achieved something that made it worthwhile, and gave some definition to the reasons we should be examining this moment in history more closely, as our democracy might depend on it.
So here's what happens when you're reading this book at the same time that you are taking a course in critical theory: Scientific method, the traditionSo here's what happens when you're reading this book at the same time that you are taking a course in critical theory: Scientific method, the traditional model for creating and classifying new knowledge, requires hypotheses for validation, using the logical formula if/then. This method comes in very handy when forced to perform useful procedures like making water to survive. That's a need that doesn't come up too often in the traditional lab, but a lab on Mars is certainly not traditional, and though Mark Watney is fluent in bunches of scientific discourses like chemistry, physics, aerodynamics, calculus, etc., that knowledge only takes him so far. What makes Watney a hero is that he is also fluent in another form of discourse, a discourse born out of a very different model for creating new knowledge. Hans Vaihinger theorizes a philosophy of "as if," using fictions as placeholders that allow us to problem-solve as if the problem could be understood in ways we already understand. Watney is able to survive over 500 days on Mars because he proceeds as if his challenges conform to his own experience. As readers, we are compelled by his ingenuity and creative applications of scientific method in a domain that skews all the formerly-known trusted rules of Earth-bound science. We, the readers, are also experiencing an "as-if," celebrating his triumphs and empathizing in his pain as if we were abandoned on the planet ourselves. So is this a book about scientific knowledge, or is it a book about imagined "as-if" knowledge? If it were just about science, I'd have quit reading in the first 10 pages. I am compelled by the book's invitation to explore the possibilities of creative thinking.
Ben Winters has conjured one of the most complicated, mmm-layered, intriguing narrators I've encountered in a good long while. This could have been faBen Winters has conjured one of the most complicated, mmm-layered, intriguing narrators I've encountered in a good long while. This could have been fantasy, noir, epic poetry -- it wouldn't matter to me as long as I could hang out with this fascinating character. But the bonus is the genre -- speculative fiction noir? -- is its own fantastic hybrid self, and the plot ramps up as the political resonance pricks up the tiny hairs on the back of your neck. One of my top five favorite novels of the year so far. Going to need to read some more Winters. ...more
Might this be the Victorian version of Stoner? Or, more correctly, is Stoner a mid-20th century retelling of this, but "literature" plays the proxy toMight this be the Victorian version of Stoner? Or, more correctly, is Stoner a mid-20th century retelling of this, but "literature" plays the proxy to "freedom"? (Both even feature a man named Archer...)...more
Enchanting. Admiring what other people do with food is my favorite escapist hobby -- I get hooked on cooking shows on Netflix, I daydream about sharinEnchanting. Admiring what other people do with food is my favorite escapist hobby -- I get hooked on cooking shows on Netflix, I daydream about sharing a spread with Anthony Bourdain in some hole-in-the-wall in Chiang Mai; when I travel my plans are centered on bakeries and bistros, street food, farmers' markets, I buy exotic ingredients with the best intentions but with rarely enough gumption to follow through. I am no great-shakes of a cook, but I am an excellent admirer. This book took me to that special reserved place in my brain for luxurious food porn. But even so, this book is not just about food. I think it's about making choices and staying true to them. It's about purity and resolve and honesty. These things can be reflected in our relationship to food and our culinary traditions just as they are reflected in our relationships with family, with partners, and with our own sense of ourselves. I recommend this one for book groups, especially book groups that eat and drink together, and especially book groups that eat and drink together with a view of a cornfield not far out their dining room windows. ...more
Funny-sad, and occasionally hitting a nerve. Like bubble gum-flavored polish at the dentist's. For writing style, this author nails introspective flasFunny-sad, and occasionally hitting a nerve. Like bubble gum-flavored polish at the dentist's. For writing style, this author nails introspective flashbacks and specificity, but I'd like to see more variety in her structure. This book reminds me a little bit of Gone Girl in her characterization of a woman who, over chronological and reconstructed time, is revealed to be more complex than we originally assumed....more
I dutifully read the first 100 pages in an attempt to keep up with my ladies' book group. Like many other reviewers here, I felt the telling of KeckleI dutifully read the first 100 pages in an attempt to keep up with my ladies' book group. Like many other reviewers here, I felt the telling of Keckley's experience in the White House rather benign and derivative. But I was determined to finish the book, and I was pleasantly surprised. Halfway through, (spoiler alert: Lincoln does not outlive his presidency, an event that is curiously and frequently foreshadowed in this narrative, as if it is an unexpected climax) the novel departs from Civil War historia and an unnecessary re-visioning of Keckley's own memoir into a fascinating and tragic account of Mrs. Lincoln's widowhood and Keckley's last decades as her business manager, an author, and a college professor. While I'm sure there are more detailed (and accurate) biographies out there, Chiaverini's fictionalization of Keckley's story was an unexpected pleasure in a novel I 'd not had high hopes for. This book has encouraged my interest in reading Keckley's original manuscript. ...more
We read this in our prison book group. Out of around 20 guys, only four read the book from beginning to end. Nevertheless, we had one of the best discWe read this in our prison book group. Out of around 20 guys, only four read the book from beginning to end. Nevertheless, we had one of the best discussions of the year. This is a challenging read for even the most experienced reader, and I have nothing but admiration for the guys who struggled and cursed, yet pulled something from it to add to our discussion. There is so much to work with in this novel, even a few pages provides enough to chew on for an hour at the least. This was a very rewarding experience. A particular theme that rewarded insightful discussion: Is our purpose to survive with nothing to live for, or do we die for something we care about? (page 115)...more
I loved the complex storytelling and spending time with characters that have such a huge capacity for awe and wonder directed outside themselves. OverI loved the complex storytelling and spending time with characters that have such a huge capacity for awe and wonder directed outside themselves. Over 500 pages flow forward, pushed by the momentum of awe for the natural world: the whelk, the circuit, the long, slow birth of diamonds. The Second World War is only a frame for riffing on the extraordinary experience of living....more
How strange that I happened to read this preceded by More Than This, and that both plots would immerse me in a future world that has abandoned real liHow strange that I happened to read this preceded by More Than This, and that both plots would immerse me in a future world that has abandoned real life in pursuit of the virtual. While Cline's book did introduce me to an interesting perspective and a whole new way of describing a rather complicated world, I am easily annoyed by conceits that allow magic to solve plot conflicts. It could have been worse, Cline does manage to restrain himself, but. And lord, how depressing that it is the decade of the eighties that leaves a legacy. Surely the advances of virtual technology will encourage us to move forward and explore new, undreamed of realities, and not the tawdry stuff whose only redeeming qualities are as spawn and nostalgia for techie innovators. Although similarly bleak, I found Ness's narrative more accessible (and possibly more tame) but I enjoyed the fact that our narrator was as clueless as we were. Cline's Wade knows too much, knows more than we know, and conveniently knows all the answers just as he needs them. And if not, there's an app for that. Too easy. And finally, I did enjoy the backwards comments Cline makes on real world society -- social inequalities, capitalism, racism. Interesting that both novels give front stage to a (view spoiler)["fat black chick" (hide spoiler)]in what is notoriously a "geeky white guy" genre....more
