TWIB-II 35
Jun. 9th, 2008 12:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akujunkanThis was a big reading week, despite starting the new job--I finished four books, really suggest you read, just as soon as it's published.
1) The Corpse Walker - Liao Yiwu
This excellent volume consists of 27 interviews conducted by Liao with individuals from China's forgotten underclass. There's a lot of searing imagery here, and the experiences of Liao's subjects (as well as his own life story) provide a pretty damning indictment of the way the PRC has treated its people throughout its 50-year history. Apologists for the "new China" would do well to take heed of lessons evident in the personal histories of Liao's subjects. The stories collected in this volume are as horrifying as any Holocaust or gulag memoir, and one comes away with the impression that they represent the typical situation of far too much of China's population.
The original Chinese volume contained almost three times as many interviews, and although I would have preferred that they all be translated, I understand the publisher's decision to not go that route, given America's current aversion to learning and knowledge for their own sake. That said, I do wonder if the editors didn't select those stories whose narratives were best able to emphasize China's "otherness" over its familiar aspects; hopefully the entire original will one day be available in English translation.
At any rate, I definitely recommend this book. It is riveting and horrifying and well worth one's time.
2) Three Incestuous Sisters - Audrey Niffenegger
I'm sure we've all read at least one interview with a favorite author/director/musician where he states that once he became famous, he was finally able to write/film/record the novel/movie/album he always wanted to make. In many cases, this is a good thing; publishers/studios/record labels are notoriously conservative and unwilling to take chances on genius, and many valuable artistic works would not be widely available had their creators not established a level of name brand recognition.
That said, the problem with becoming famous is that it allows artists to release mediocre works by capitalizing on their pre-established fame. Audrey Niffenegger's Three Incestuous Sisters is a case in point. This picture-book-for-adults does contain some striking images, but that's about all that can be said in its favor. According to Niffenegger's afterward, it's based on a story she's longed to tell for years, one that's become so familiar to her over the passage of time that she cut out almost all the prose for the published version, in order to let the pictures speak for themselves.
Unfortunately, they don't, and although the author seems to believe there's some great meaning or message hidden in the volume, it struck this reader like nothing more than a drug addict's surreal and confused ramblings--nothing that would ever have made it off the presses of a major publisher had its author not already penned a wildly successful novel. Give this overpriced vanity project a miss.
3) Alive In Necropolis - Doug Dorst
How ironic it is that first time author Doug Dorst has penned the book Christopher Moore has spent ten novels trying and failing to write.
Folks, this book is GREAT. Okay, I admit to intially having been somewhat skeptical of its premise. Set primarily in and around Colma, California--site of a very small town and a much, much vaster cemetery complex--it follows rookie cop Mike Mercer as he is drawn ever deeper into an investigation of the near death of a famous director's young son, an investigation that grows to encompass not only a vast cross section of the city's populace, but many of its dead residents as well. It's something one can imagine Neil Gaiman writing, but this is no two-bit copy of that author. Alive in Necropolis is emphatically its own book.
Dorst's characters are, in both their strengths and failings, unapologetically real human beings, not just names and attributes typed onto the novel's pages, and I loved them for it. I had to put the book down several times because the tension whenever they found themselves in danger was unbearable. And there is some pretty serious tension in here: it's been a long time since I've encountered such a believable depiction of people's lives unraveling.
Which isn't to say that that's all there is to this novel, not at all. Alive in Necropolis contains some of the most natural, quirky, and funny dialogue I've encountered in ages. It's what Moore has been trying for and achieving only occasionally, but Dorst, who has an excellent feel for repartee and the absurd, manages it pretty much every time he tries. It's a rare book that can reduce me to belly guffaws, but this one did on scores of occasions.
Yes, it is not 100% perfect. The ending is rushed and should have taken at least another 100 pages to unfold, a disappointment only magnified by the care and attention Dorst spent building the narrative up prior to its climax. The resolutions to some of the secondary characters' story arcs were inadequate. And some of the most intriguing aspects of the story's premise (Root and the fringe religions) are woefully underdeveloped.
That said, these gripes are well worth the price of admission. In the mood for a cop story? Read this book. A supernatural thriller? Read this book. A good laugh? Read this book. A creepy psychological downward spiral? Read this book. A meditation on maturity, relationships, and the meaning of life? Read this book. Chances are you'll be torn between wanting to finish it in a single sitting and making it last as long as possible, because odds are it will be awhile before you pick up something as inventive, fun, and engrossing again.
4) The Great Awakening - Natalie Goldberg
This slim volume contains Natalie Goldberg's (a well-known author of books on Zen and writing, none of which I've read) meditations on her difficult relationship with her emotionally abusive father, her reaction to her Zen teacher's betrayal of her sangha's trust, and her recovery following their deaths.
Goldberg is a direct and honest author, and her story is compelling without wallowing or coming off as self-absorbed. Her portrayals of both men and their failings, as well as her own, are spare but true in their insights, and hit the mark more often than they miss. I doubt this book has much by way of broad appeal, but to anyone looking for a meditation on family, death, grieving, or further anecdotes about Dainin Katagiri, it will be worth the quick read.
I've read 61 books this year, as of today. If you'd like to see what other LTers are reading, click here.
That will be all.
1) The Corpse Walker - Liao Yiwu
This excellent volume consists of 27 interviews conducted by Liao with individuals from China's forgotten underclass. There's a lot of searing imagery here, and the experiences of Liao's subjects (as well as his own life story) provide a pretty damning indictment of the way the PRC has treated its people throughout its 50-year history. Apologists for the "new China" would do well to take heed of lessons evident in the personal histories of Liao's subjects. The stories collected in this volume are as horrifying as any Holocaust or gulag memoir, and one comes away with the impression that they represent the typical situation of far too much of China's population.
The original Chinese volume contained almost three times as many interviews, and although I would have preferred that they all be translated, I understand the publisher's decision to not go that route, given America's current aversion to learning and knowledge for their own sake. That said, I do wonder if the editors didn't select those stories whose narratives were best able to emphasize China's "otherness" over its familiar aspects; hopefully the entire original will one day be available in English translation.
At any rate, I definitely recommend this book. It is riveting and horrifying and well worth one's time.
2) Three Incestuous Sisters - Audrey Niffenegger
I'm sure we've all read at least one interview with a favorite author/director/musician where he states that once he became famous, he was finally able to write/film/record the novel/movie/album he always wanted to make. In many cases, this is a good thing; publishers/studios/record labels are notoriously conservative and unwilling to take chances on genius, and many valuable artistic works would not be widely available had their creators not established a level of name brand recognition.
That said, the problem with becoming famous is that it allows artists to release mediocre works by capitalizing on their pre-established fame. Audrey Niffenegger's Three Incestuous Sisters is a case in point. This picture-book-for-adults does contain some striking images, but that's about all that can be said in its favor. According to Niffenegger's afterward, it's based on a story she's longed to tell for years, one that's become so familiar to her over the passage of time that she cut out almost all the prose for the published version, in order to let the pictures speak for themselves.
Unfortunately, they don't, and although the author seems to believe there's some great meaning or message hidden in the volume, it struck this reader like nothing more than a drug addict's surreal and confused ramblings--nothing that would ever have made it off the presses of a major publisher had its author not already penned a wildly successful novel. Give this overpriced vanity project a miss.
3) Alive In Necropolis - Doug Dorst
How ironic it is that first time author Doug Dorst has penned the book Christopher Moore has spent ten novels trying and failing to write.
Folks, this book is GREAT. Okay, I admit to intially having been somewhat skeptical of its premise. Set primarily in and around Colma, California--site of a very small town and a much, much vaster cemetery complex--it follows rookie cop Mike Mercer as he is drawn ever deeper into an investigation of the near death of a famous director's young son, an investigation that grows to encompass not only a vast cross section of the city's populace, but many of its dead residents as well. It's something one can imagine Neil Gaiman writing, but this is no two-bit copy of that author. Alive in Necropolis is emphatically its own book.
Dorst's characters are, in both their strengths and failings, unapologetically real human beings, not just names and attributes typed onto the novel's pages, and I loved them for it. I had to put the book down several times because the tension whenever they found themselves in danger was unbearable. And there is some pretty serious tension in here: it's been a long time since I've encountered such a believable depiction of people's lives unraveling.
Which isn't to say that that's all there is to this novel, not at all. Alive in Necropolis contains some of the most natural, quirky, and funny dialogue I've encountered in ages. It's what Moore has been trying for and achieving only occasionally, but Dorst, who has an excellent feel for repartee and the absurd, manages it pretty much every time he tries. It's a rare book that can reduce me to belly guffaws, but this one did on scores of occasions.
Yes, it is not 100% perfect. The ending is rushed and should have taken at least another 100 pages to unfold, a disappointment only magnified by the care and attention Dorst spent building the narrative up prior to its climax. The resolutions to some of the secondary characters' story arcs were inadequate. And some of the most intriguing aspects of the story's premise (Root and the fringe religions) are woefully underdeveloped.
That said, these gripes are well worth the price of admission. In the mood for a cop story? Read this book. A supernatural thriller? Read this book. A good laugh? Read this book. A creepy psychological downward spiral? Read this book. A meditation on maturity, relationships, and the meaning of life? Read this book. Chances are you'll be torn between wanting to finish it in a single sitting and making it last as long as possible, because odds are it will be awhile before you pick up something as inventive, fun, and engrossing again.
4) The Great Awakening - Natalie Goldberg
This slim volume contains Natalie Goldberg's (a well-known author of books on Zen and writing, none of which I've read) meditations on her difficult relationship with her emotionally abusive father, her reaction to her Zen teacher's betrayal of her sangha's trust, and her recovery following their deaths.
Goldberg is a direct and honest author, and her story is compelling without wallowing or coming off as self-absorbed. Her portrayals of both men and their failings, as well as her own, are spare but true in their insights, and hit the mark more often than they miss. I doubt this book has much by way of broad appeal, but to anyone looking for a meditation on family, death, grieving, or further anecdotes about Dainin Katagiri, it will be worth the quick read.
I've read 61 books this year, as of today. If you'd like to see what other LTers are reading, click here.
That will be all.
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no subject
on 2008-06-11 11:39 pm (UTC)Also, I also went out and got The Time-Traveler's Wife. Interesting read. I can't say I loved it but I didn't hate it. One thing that I continue to notice in fiction is that authors tend to use actions to flesh out characters and completely FAIL when it comes to dialog. Am I expecting too much?
no subject
on 2008-06-13 01:56 am (UTC)a profound lack of a social lifea commitment to "grassroots" book reviewing.) Necropolis'll be out on the 17th though.I still haven't read Time Traveler's Wife although I think my dad mentioned enjoying it. I tend to find that, even more than dialogue, authors try to flesh out characters by long, extended, massive, never-ending, gigantic, piled-on clusterfucks of exposition instead of actually writing action or dialogue. If you're expecting too much, so am I;-)