The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton

This novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1921, Wharton was the first woman to receive that honor. I've read another of her books, Ethan Frome and I decidedly preferred The Age of Innocence.

Our protagonist, Mr. Newland Archer, is a well-to-do young man in Old New York. He's a respected member of society, about to become engaged to a lovely, nice girl from one of the best families in the city and he values the old New York propriety and tradition. Of course, that all goes straight to hell right from the get-go. The night he and May announce their engagement, Newland falls in love with May's cousin the Countess Olenska who is recently estranged from her Polish husband.

Wharton writes with one eye on the excruciating detail necessary to give the reader the true picture of the structured and suffocating New York society and the other on the complex characters who are each lovable in their conventional and unconventional strengths and weaknesses.

I find it interesting that the story is told from Newland's perspective, not that of his loyal and proper wife or his troubled love. Perhaps it is telling of the opportunities for philosophy and freedom that were the domain of men at that time. Anyway, despite his determination to buck convention and abandon the society that carefully raised him, Newland is after all a slave to propriety. He cannot even articulate his desires to anyone but the Countess, who remains largely an enigma in the story. Their meetings are infrequent, and though they are passionate and emotional the two are never physical. This is actually the one thing I recall from Ethan Frome, Frome is in love with someone other than his wife and the culminating act of betrayal in the novel is when the two hold either end of a handkerchief.

I enjoyed this book, and would recommend it. Wharton's tone conveys irony and disgust with the conventionalities of the society she was raised in and there is a subtle humor that is really enjoyable. Lastly, though the plot is far from complex, it kept me guessing and I found the ending to be quite a surprise. It was sad, part bittersweet part disappointment, but it doesn't pander.

Incidentally, I'll move the film to the top of my Netflix queue and do a follow-up on the movie interpretation. The film was directed by Martin Scorsese and stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer and Winona Ryder. Generally I dislike the film version of books I enjoy, but the cast and Scorsese factor have me a bit excited.

Defeated Sigh

Well, that looks kind of terrible.

Now I need to reread The Time Traveler's Wife just so I can remind myself that it's really a fantastic, painful, romantic, heartbreaking book. I knew it would be rough to transition this story to the screen, but this trailer looks like they've taken all the depth and darkness out of the book and just left in the love story. Which mostly defeats the purpose of the book. The book was terrifically dark, and the strength of the story was showing how these two people were able to able to pull joy from a life and love that was ultimately doomed. And I really really hate that they show her pregnant in the trailer. Either they just gave away a huge plot development, or they cut out the part about Clare's miscarriages. Which was possibly the biggest struggle of their marriage, and therefor the most rewarding when they finally get little Alba.

Who has my copy? It's not on my bookshelf. Bessman?

The Egg and I - Betty MacDonald

"A beloved literary treasure for more than half a century, Betty MacDonald's The Egg and I is a heartwarming and uproarious account of adventure and survival on an American frontier. "

Betty MacDonald's autobiographical novel does a few quick pages on childhood and launches headlong into a painstaking account of her first few years of marriage on a chicken ranch in Washington state. MacDonald fills the stories with humor, self-deprecating humor, panic, loneliness, achievement and some more humor. I laughed constantly through this book.

I also learned a bit. Apparently early 1900's farm life is centered heavily around growing, preserving and eating your own food. MacDonald revels in the fare available and discusses in excruciating detail nearly every aspect of the planting, tending, harvesting, preserving and preparing fruits and veggies, and the birthing, raising, butchering, preserving and preparing meat. And that's before she even gets into the chickens.

I highly recommend this book, its a quick read from a very clever female writer with an early feminist voice. Oh, and did I mention that the old Ma & Pa Kettle movies are based on MacDonald's neighbors in this book? Yep, they are.

The Keeper by Sarah Langan

The Keeper is a pretty good horror novel. Sure the story's been done before (unspeakable evil destroys small Maine town), but Sarah Langan is a very talented writer. I actually started losing my shit when I thought bad things were about to happen to my favorite character (bad things did happen, but not what I thought). The characters and relationships are all handled very well, even the tertiary characters. Langan manages to bring depth to characters who only get maybe a few paragraphs. It's impressive, really, that by the end you feel like you know the people in Bedford, you're familiar with the different families. It's great because when you care so much about so many characters, it makes it really difficult to predict who is going to be killed off. In lesser novels you may only be really introduced to a few characters, and it's usually pretty easy to pick out which ones are being set up to die. Not so in The Keeper.

The story is actually pretty complicated to spell out here, but if you're interested AlabamaPink (RIP) did a wonderful review over at Pajiba. The Basics: Susan Marley, once a pretty, normal girl, has withered away, both physically and mentally. She wanders the town daily (and through the dreams of the townfolk), never speaking. People say she's a witch. Her former lover, Paul Martin, failed-husband, high school teacher, and town drunk, tries to help Susan and unwittingly sets in motion events that lead to horrifying evil being released upon Bedford. Susan's sister, Liz, is the protagonist of the story, but it's hard to say if she's the main character. Liz and her boyfriend Bobby (the son of Bedford's only doctor) have dreams of moving out of Bedford and never returning, but Susan has other plans for them.

Really there are so many secondary and tertiary characters that it's impossible to even begin to list. And I can't tell my favorite parts of the story without giving away some of the plot. It's not the best horror novel I've read (that title still belongs to King's 'Salem's Lot) but it's definitely worth a read.

Spook - Review 2

Miranda read this last year. 

Her synopsis is good. I really enjoyed this book, it took me less than a week to read, although it was a week in which I spent a good amount of time in airports. 

I found Roach funny and refreshing. As an engineer (with a scientifically inquiring mind) I question somewhat her devotion to science. She skips over a lot of conversation with scientists with the excuse that its scientific jibberish (which it likely is to anyone without a graduate degree in physics or chemistry or neurobiology) but it does sort of hurt her scientific credibility. I would have enjoyed a little more science, but I'm probably a minority. Its a perfect science book for non-scientists. Its really a read for optimistic skeptics.

The facts and fictions are surprising and amusing and they made me want to subscribe to the American Journal of Paranormal Sciences. That seems to be a longstanding page-turner with some stories.

So I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the afterlife, in the bizarre corners of science, or in the history of humans search for the meaning of life. Really anyone could enjoy this book, and I fully intend to read Roach's other works as well.

Red Azalea - Anchee Min

A while ago I read Becoming Madame Mao by Min, which was a semi-fictional accounting of the life of Madame Mao. This is the nonfictional accounting of the life of Anchee Min during roughly the same time period. She grew up during the cultural revolution in China and her recounting of the time is really moving.

Min tells of her sort of typical childhood in Shanghai through a painfully personal lens. Unlike some biographies that are dryly factual trying not to over-value their own experiences or others that seem written to make the writer the victim, to justify their actions, Min tells her story with emotions bared, not qualifying or trying to make sense of the events. Perhaps the strange circumstances of time and place make it feel like a period piece. For me as a reader, it can only be a deeply personal account because I have no alternative telling against which to compare it.

Min's life is in fact atypical for a young woman of the cultural revolution. She spends years working on a communist 'model farm' as do thousands of youths, but is later brought back to the city to act in a film version of a new opera by Madame Mao. Instead of fame and status she's rebuffed and falls into a low position but befriends a man with a high position under Madame Mao and learns the true nature of Communist China's government.

Min begins as an enthusiastic communist, full of energy to dedicate to fulfilling all the propaganda promise of the new China, but as she rises she is pushed back by the ambition and pettiness of those around her. Her patriotic zest is further destroyed by love and friendship for which she forsakes her communist ideals and becomes a more complete person longing for acceptance and loyalty. 

The love story between Min and her friend Yan is particularly powerful, not just taboo as a relationship between two women, but creating a personal loyalty unacceptable on the farm. Later Min must suffer the relationship between Yan and a new boyfriend which nearly destroys Min and (I think) colors all of her self-destructive actions thereafter. 

The book is well-written and paints a really fascinating picture of a time and place that is difficult to know. Min is a natural protagonist and you feel for her throughout her struggle, even when you disagree with her actions. It is difficult to imagine being as friendless and alone as she is and still soldiering on. I highly recommend this book, I found it better than Becoming Madame Mao (particularly the style, which I found distracting in Becoming). 

And, yes. I love some books about China. It's my thing.

He's a Stud, She's a Slut by Jessica Valenti

- Miranda

I had originally intended to do a real review of this book, including references to specific passages, but Abby was in town this week and I handed the book off to her, so this is going to be yet another lame review from me. Today's subject: He's a Stud, She's a Slut and 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know by feministing.com founder Jessica Valenti.

Parts of this book were wonderful. Unfortunately, while the 50 double standards makes for an interesting title, it hurts the book. Each chapter is only about 2 pages long, which is another problem. Many of the subjects in deserved to be delved into deeper than is possible in two pages. 

Even with the short chapters, it sometimes felt like Valenti was stretching to make her topics fit the 50 double standards. Many of them are very similar, and especially as I was reaching at the end it seemed like she was repeating herself.

Despite its flaws, it's a good book. The information in the book is very important and interesting, and Valenti is a good writer, as she's demonstrated on feministing.com. And the length of the chapters is nicely bite-size, so even if you only have a few minutes to read, you can polish off a whole chapter. I'm hoping to check out some of Valenti's other books in the future, and hopefully they'll be just as good/better than this one.