I don't have time to blog tonight, but I'm doing it anyway. I finished "What I Saw and How I Lied" today and it was like kiddie Noir. I loved it. Something about this book brought to mind the flavor of Lauren Bacall's autobiography, it was that authentic. This book is rich, beautiful, and unguarded. I was also reminded of Sidney Poitier's description of Florida as well, how he described seeing it as a young man in his autobiography. The story is gripping, deep, and gritty. There were some obvious modern sensibilities and prospectives in it, but not so much that I felt that I was thrown out of the world of the book. I found the heroine, Evie, to be engaging though narrator, though the story was definitely told solely through her eyes it was still possible to see other perspective with a few hints from the author.
In the end there was so much in this story about choices: about how and why me make them, their repercussions, and how we live with the consequences. It was also about familiar relationships and identification. I did not want to put it down until I had turned the last page, I would definitely recommend it.
Showing posts with label 3 stars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 3 stars. Show all posts
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Love of Seven Dolls by Paul Gallico
I am of two mind about this story. On one hand it was beautiful, psychological, and fascinating. On the other it was sexist, racist, and unrealistic. A young, suicidal woman finds hope and redemption in a troupe of seven dolls, whose puppet master is fierce and cruel. The dolls reach out to her, talk to her, and encourage her. The puppet master has no sympathy, no kindness. People are drawn to the interaction between the young girl, whose nickname is Mouche which means mosquito, and the puppets, which increases the revenue of the show.
We eventually discover that the puppet master has rid himself of any ability to feel, that this is a post World War II world, and his only emotions are played out in fantasy with his puppets. It is the destruction of concentration camps that really helped me understand this story, to understand why the characters were so broken and so desperate. It was at times sexist, and racist, but this is to be expected of a novel from this period. If taken to be a literal story, the conclusion is juvenile. If seen as a psychological tale, it makes a little more sense. I really liked the theme from the movie, Lili, and picked up the book in curiosity. There were several things in the movie which made no sense that worked much better in the novel, and overall I enjoyed reading it.
We eventually discover that the puppet master has rid himself of any ability to feel, that this is a post World War II world, and his only emotions are played out in fantasy with his puppets. It is the destruction of concentration camps that really helped me understand this story, to understand why the characters were so broken and so desperate. It was at times sexist, and racist, but this is to be expected of a novel from this period. If taken to be a literal story, the conclusion is juvenile. If seen as a psychological tale, it makes a little more sense. I really liked the theme from the movie, Lili, and picked up the book in curiosity. There were several things in the movie which made no sense that worked much better in the novel, and overall I enjoyed reading it.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Margarettown by Gabrielle Zevin
This book was an interesting crossroad between Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac and Elsewhere, but in a good way. I still preferred Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, but I think that is mostly because this book was just a bit too full of gritty reality to suite my taste.
Margarettown is a deeply psychological that borders on magical realism and explores the mind of a woman as seen by the man who loved her as told to the daughter he is leaving behind. A little complex, no? The book is supposedly written for the daughter of the narrator, as the narrator is dying of cancer. The narrator makes several references to the woman's anatomy such as her pubic hair which puzzled me since it was written by the father for the daughter once she is old enough, though at the time of the account being written the girl is only nine.
Once I got used the the strange way the plot twisted, and the reality of the story turned, I found it to be very interesting. There are several places in the book where the importance of perspective is stressed, that life can be seen from a great many directions. A lot of the themes explored here are echoed in her young adult book Elsewhere, which is completely fantasy, and somehow made less sense to me.
This book basically represents the fact that truth is not always what you believe it to be, and that reality hinges on perspective. We see the main character slip up into several people: May as a child, Meg as a teen, Greta as a young adult, Maggie as young woman, Marge as a woman past her prime, and finally old Margaret. I think that it is true that a woman is many people in her life, though Margaret is established as particularly complex character, and the narrator no entirely trustworthy.
If you want to read this book, you must accept that it will not entirely make sense, that the truth will only be eluded to, and that you are left to a large part to draw your own conclusions. I enjoyed this abstract voyage into a relationship, as this is a subject on which Zevin is particularly eloquent. I enjoyed this book well enough, and was sympathetic to the openly flawed characters. This book is not at the top of my favorite books, but it was thoughtful read and I am not sorry I read it.
Margarettown is a deeply psychological that borders on magical realism and explores the mind of a woman as seen by the man who loved her as told to the daughter he is leaving behind. A little complex, no? The book is supposedly written for the daughter of the narrator, as the narrator is dying of cancer. The narrator makes several references to the woman's anatomy such as her pubic hair which puzzled me since it was written by the father for the daughter once she is old enough, though at the time of the account being written the girl is only nine.
Once I got used the the strange way the plot twisted, and the reality of the story turned, I found it to be very interesting. There are several places in the book where the importance of perspective is stressed, that life can be seen from a great many directions. A lot of the themes explored here are echoed in her young adult book Elsewhere, which is completely fantasy, and somehow made less sense to me.
This book basically represents the fact that truth is not always what you believe it to be, and that reality hinges on perspective. We see the main character slip up into several people: May as a child, Meg as a teen, Greta as a young adult, Maggie as young woman, Marge as a woman past her prime, and finally old Margaret. I think that it is true that a woman is many people in her life, though Margaret is established as particularly complex character, and the narrator no entirely trustworthy.
If you want to read this book, you must accept that it will not entirely make sense, that the truth will only be eluded to, and that you are left to a large part to draw your own conclusions. I enjoyed this abstract voyage into a relationship, as this is a subject on which Zevin is particularly eloquent. I enjoyed this book well enough, and was sympathetic to the openly flawed characters. This book is not at the top of my favorite books, but it was thoughtful read and I am not sorry I read it.
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