Updated: 10/25/11
THE SENSE OF AN ENDING by Julian Barnes.
Alfred A. Knopf, Fiction, $23.95.
Ed LOVED this compact novel where every precisely crafted sentence counts! The Story unfolds through the recollections of the sincere (but unreliable?) narrator, Tony Webster. Are we capable of reimagining past events to coincide better with our own sense of self, to edit and erase our own memories? This is a thoughtful and unsettling novel, with concluding scenes that grip like a thriller, a whodunnit of memory and morality!
Ed loved and highly recommends!
THE MARRIAGE PLOT by Jefferey Eugenides. Farrar Straus and Giroux, fiction, $28.00
The swirl of speculation surrounding THE MARRIAGE PLOT (specifically regarding its contested status as a Roman A Clef - one of the characters bears an uncanny resemblance to David Foster Wallace) belies its strengths. Jeffery Eugenides' latest novel examines the ways in which literature and philosophy inform his character's experiences, for better and for worse.
The story, set in 1983, follows literary traditionalist Madeleine Hanna, who love affair with the conventions of Jane Austen and Henry James is complicated when she decides to get hip to the times by taking a course in semiotics., There she becomes enamored of both the work of Roland Barthes and charismatic fellow classmate Leonard Bankhead, a tobacco-chewing, manic-depressive, bandana-clad genius. This comes as a blow to Madeleine's lovelord friend Mitchel Grammaticus. A religious studies major with a penchant for asceticism, Mitchell sets off on a pilgrimage to India after Madeleine rebuffs his advances. As the story proceeds, Eugenides dissects his character's self-constructed mythologies. The result is an agreeably nostalgic and bitter sweet novel.
Katharine recommends.
ZONE ONE by Colson Whitehead.
Doubleday Books, fiction, $25.95.
The now ubiquitous zombie-apocalypse story gets a literary spin in Whitehead's terrifying, deeply affecting novel about endangered humans in NYC who are every bit as compelling as the flesh eating undead. In a testament to his fine abilities as a writer, Whitehead plays off the jitters of our post 9/11, post-Katrina, pandemic-panic era, suggesting the flimsiness of society's order of things.
Compelling and scary stuff. Ianni recommends!
LUMINOUS AIRPLANE by Paul La Farge.
Farrar Straus and Giroux, Fiction, $25.00.
I found Paul La Farge's "experimental" postmodern LUMINOUS AIRPLANES oddly moving and totally satisfying. What I loved best was his ability to weave many disparate threads and seemingly random digressions into a smart, cohesive narrative that is filled with wonder and infatuation.
The story continues! www.luminousairplanes.com
Ed recommends!
HAND ME DOWN WORLD by Lloyd Jones.
Bloomsbury Publishing, Fiction, 25.00.
At its simplest level, HAND ME DOWN WORLD is a migration narrative, the story of a young African mother, a poor maid in Tunisia, and her grueling journey to Berlin to reclaim her abducted son.
Multiple points-of-view and voice are important here: New Zealand writer Lloyd Jones challenges the reader to piece together Ines's identity from a series of fragmentary testimonies given by the people she meets along the way, until she finally tells her own story.
This structure works perfectly here, focusing on the way our identities are shapes by others, and how our stories are really not our own. I admire the novel's disturbing beautiy and quiet elegance; it is contemporary and cosmopolitan, compelling, well-crafted, and superbly disconcerting.
Ed loved, loved, loved, and highly recommends. This is certainly one of his favorite novels of the year!
ON CANAAN'S SIDE by Sebastian Barry.
Viking Books, Fiction, $25.95.
ON CANAAN'S SIDE would be the very best novel to read aloud - to truly experience the lyricism and stunning language (I read this novel very slowly, and mouthed the words as I read!) It is the story of 89-year-old Lily Bere; over 17 days Lily offers the story of her life, which is really the story of the 20th century.
The novel is about grief, about memory and reminiscence, about America as the land of Canaan (Irish writer Barry has set this novel in the US.)
Ed loved this gorgeously written novel!
THE SWERVE: HOW THE WORLD BECAME MODERN by Stephen Greenblatt.
W.W. Norton and Co., Non-Fiction, $26.95.
Part biography, part historical narrative of pre-Renaissance Europe Greenblatt tells the story of the loss and subsequent re-discovery of one of the most important texts of the Renaissance: Lucretius' ON THE NATURE OF THINGS by an intelligent but unassuming papal cleric.
Greenblatt smartly highlights just how many texts have been wiped away through time and how fragile our collective human knowledge is, and further underscores just how temporary it can be the more it is digitized.
Greenblatt deftly interweaves the discover and what-could-have-beens into a great readable narrative that never becomes too esoteric or dense and relishes in the details of epicureanism and what it actually meant for Western society.
Truly it was revolutionary.
Stefan loved this book!
EVA BRAUN: LIFE WITH HITLER by Heike Gortemaker.
Alrfred A. Knopf, Non-Fiction, $27.95.
Who exactly was Eva Braun? Why was her existence and role in Hitler's life kept secret?
In this compelling biography of "Hitler's mistress," Gortemaker debunks many commonly held beliefs about the mysterious woman who shared Hitler's life AND death.
Was she just the "vapid blonde," uninterested and ignorant of the political and social turmoil caused by Hitler, or was she supportive of Naziism? Was she just a slave to Hitler who stayed with him for the luxurious life he offered, or did she truly love him and share his political aspirations? Braun's life was sparsely documented, but what we do know about her life reveals much about the private, intimate world of Hitler. It is very difficult to write about the "emotional" life of Hitler without somehow humanizing him - indeed, reading about Hitler's hobbies, love of animals, and preferences of tea is a bit odd, and somewhat distributing. But Gortemaker does a good job of objectivity exploring their emotional lives without ever sympathizing with them. Hitler destroyed millions of lives, and in the end, Eva Braun was just another victim, albeit a willing one.
A fascinating read. Shane recommends!
