Book Reviews
"Work Antonio; work, Antonio; work and never stop working."
~~found on Michelangelo's worktable, a note to his apprentice
Only literary fiction will be reviewed on this main page to save space. Popular fiction and non-fiction will be reviewed seperately on their own pages. This is not to pass judgement upon the "worth" of various works, however. Remember, Jane Austen, Chaucer, and Poe were all considered writers for the popular market in their own time.
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
The Awakening starts a bit slow with the background of Edna Pontellier's marriage, a situation that while materially and physically comfortable, is dull and spiritless. The reader is not even given Edna's given name for some time, an early indication of the feminist message that this novel will have. The ambiguity of Edna's character is part of the reason The Awakening met with intense hostility when it was published in 1899, along with its desperate feminism and daring plot points. Edna eventually begins an affair with the artist Alcee Arobin, but this is not the crux of the plot. Arobin, while genuinely loved and cherished, is not really what Edna lacks, but rather that ineffible self that she had declared she would never give up. In Edna's well-to-do New Orleans world, she is not allowed to have a self, nor taught how to find one in any case, and her soul yearns for it.
The Awakening is short and to the point, relying upon the intense characterization of Edna to carry the day. People who want humour or a snappy plot will be dissapointed, but may be sucked into the novel's dreamlike world and desperate truths. Kate Chopin delves into the Creole culture of turn-of-the-century New Orleans and returns with the true message of a woman's heart and a society's ills. If you like A.S. Byatt or F. Scott Fitzgerald, you'll like this. Get the Norton version if you can; the criticism in the back is particularly interesting and illuminating.
Grade: B+
Order The Awakening from Amazon.com today.
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid's Tale provides a look at the dystopia from both feminist and environmental viewpoints. A cautionist tale, the novel presents a society where most of the citizens are sterile and the group of fertile women who service this society by conceiving and then bearing the child of powerful people in the best tradition of Hebrew law. The handmaid of the title is Offred, though that is not her real name, a woman with a husband and daughter she longs to rejoin. She is forbidden to live with them, however, because she is fertile and must do her duty to the state in bearing child after child to infertile government couples.
Not meant to be a possible future, she presents this novel as a reductio ad absurdum in order to investigate current social trends, such as the poisoning of the environment and the continually increasing governmental control over personal lives. The novel is tightly woven, carefully constructed to build upon itself to the final climax and revelations. Each detail of the novel, from Offred's lack of a real name to the fact that she must cut her hair, work together to provide a seamless world of despair and pain that is in some ways all too familiar a picture.
Presenting the undeniable connections between politics and sex, The Handmaid's Tale looks at the ways almost anything can be made a tool of oppression from religion to fashion, and how only the power of the human spirit can combat this. Atwood issues a call for human beings to act like human beings, in other words to keep each other safe and free, creating a world of hope and light rather than despair and oppression. This book is not an easy read, but shows the errors that are all too easy to make if we are honest about how easily every person can be led by the people who have any kind of power over us.
Grade: B+
Read it for yourself and decide what the major social culprit is.
Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin
Maturin's novel relates the story of Melmoth, a scholar who traded his soul to Infernal powers in return for answers to all of his questions about the Universe. He has 100 extra years to live; in that time, if he can find someone to volunteer to take his place in Hell, he is free. Otherwise, at the end of the 100 years, Melmoth will be damned.
Melmoth the Wanderer is a Gothic novel in the highest tradition of the Romantic period. It's structure, however, makes it unique. It folds in upon itself, beginning with the present and ending with the future, but somewhere in between moving progressively backwards as the narrator tries to unlock the secrets of Melmoth's life, just as Melmoth tried to unlock the secrets of the Universe.
The characters, Melmoth, Emmalee, the many Jews who help Melmoth, are beautifully written and engaging. The novel is worth reading for Maturin's virtuoso touch with structure alone, but also for the wonderful touches and passages, particularly where Melmoth struggles with his conscience and reveals that even fiends have a soul. The novel questions what it means to search for knowledge, to have a family, to be in love, and to accept responsibility for your own fate. Melmoth the Wanderer asks questions about why mercy is so hard to find, why supposedly pious people often cause the most suffering, and what it might take to redeem a minion of Hell. An ambiguous ending caps off the novel and allows you to answer these questions for yourself.
Grade: B+
Defend or damn Melmoth for yourself.
The Monk by Matthew Lewis
Lewis' The Monk is a winding Gothic tale of love, revenge,
secrets, blood, the Inquisition, and pain. It discusses the fall of virgins, the wisdom of fools, and the death of good nuns, all centered around the evil of one man, Ambrosius or the Monk. Ambrosius is obsessed with his own supposed goodness and too proud of his reputation for virtue and glory in the eyes of Madrid. The clergyman has never before been tempted, and therfore never been tried, until he falls into a dark love for an unmolested virgin, Antonia. There are enough side plots and characters to complicate the story nicely without overburdening the plot.
Preserving typical Gothic elements, such as ghosts, murder, bleeding nuns, corrupt churchmen, and illegitimate children, the plot stays interesting even when a bit predictable, and it is understandable why Matthew Lewis came to be called "Monk" Lewis when this book was published c.1800. Like Shakespeare's Lear, when you think it can't get any more depressing, it does, and then it does again. A reflection of the human soul in all its glory and debasement, The Monk also manages to be entertaining and fun.
Grade: B
Fall with the monk and seek the light.
The Plague by Albert Camus
The Plague, set in Algeria, looks at what it means to be human when surrounded by death and decay. Based in the city of Oran during a quarantine, the characters must determine what it is they value and how much they value human life. While some believe that this novel is not Camus' best technically (due to semi-flat characters), they often agree that it may be one of his best philosophically. If anything, the intentional flatness of the characters allows them to more effectively stand for everyone and anyone, not only specific, distinct individuals of the author's creation.
The Plague is probably Camus' most uplifting novel, demonstrating a will to survive even the most difficult and absurd surroundings. Life becomes the dominant theme of the novel, along with a triumph of basic human decency and the existential will to survive over selfishness and the darkness of despair. The characters are true to themselves, sometimes great, sometimes frail and small, but they are always honest about what they feel and can therefore cope effectively with their faults and properly use their strengths. In the world of The Plague, even the littlest man does what he must and has the willpower to accomplish great tasks. They are perhaps not the most fully realized characters in all of fiction, but they do their job: reveal Camus' vision.
Camus wrote this novel in 1944 in the town of Le Chambon, where 5,000 Christians saved 5,000 Jews from death. Humanism triumphed then over prescribed behaviour, over what narrow-mindedness can destroy when given free reign. In this novel, Camus is trying to accomplish this sort of miracle and teach the value of human decency and life against all obstacles and odds in the face of selfishness, paranoia, and modern life. The Plague teaches that believing in each other and in the intrinsic sacredness of life is the highest calling of all, and to shirk one's duty to other human beings is the greatest of all crimes.
Grade: A-
See if you agree with the Existentialist vision or you think it's all about abandoning hope.
Possession by A.S. Byatt
Possession, a Booker Prize winning novel, is an investigation via faery tale imagery of the psyches of modern academics. The "possession" referred to in the title could mean many things: the possession of love, of work, of poetry and art, or a literal possession by the people and things of the past. Like the title, this novel, set mostly in the present, works on many levels. The main characters, Roland and Maud, are researching the lives of two Victorian poets, R.H.Ash and Christobel LaMotte, respectively. Roland and Maud find out that their poets were involved during their lives, and the subsequent novel is part romance (in the old sense of the word), part mystery, and part tragedy, all with a healthy dose of comedy. Byatt integrates different genres in the novel, such as poem snippets and faery tales, to enrich and enliven the text, drawing the reader into the past with the characters.
I firmly believe that Byatt's personal experience in Academia is telling here. She knows what it is like. Some people have complained that the novel is very dense and is therefore rather slow reading--but, oh, the payoff is superb. If you have plenty of time to yourself to enjoy an intricate, but not overdone, novel, pick this one. It isn't a light read, but it doesn't require a PhD in literature either. If you read only one modern novel that isn't "beach reading" your entire life, make it this one.
Grade: A
Order A.S. Byatt's Possession from Amazon.com.
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility is the story of three sisters, Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret Dashwood, whose father dies, leaving them in the care of their half-brother, John. John's wife Fanny talks him into keeping most of the money from their father's estate, essentially leaving the girls destitute. The rest of the novel concerns mostly Marianne and Elinor and their attempts to find happiness in early Victorian England. They are all stock Victorian characters, but Austen is able to weave them together so splendidly that they actually take on a life of their own.
Sense and Sensibility has the grace that some Victorian novels lack. It does not have the social protest of many George Eliot novels, nor the pure outrage of Charles Dickens, but it is sweet. If you are longing for something to make you feel better about life and regain your fresh-faced innocence that evil is punished in this world and that the good will triumph, then this is the book for you. If you want anything more than mild rebellion at the place women are put into in Victorian society or some insight into the seedy underbelly of London gentry, then this is not the book for you. But all in all, it is a fine example of Austen's work. See my review of the movie version on my Movie Reviews page.
Grade: B
Order Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility from Amazon.com.
Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins
In Still Life, Robbins explores what makes a person an outlaw, as opposed to just a criminal. The main characters are Princess Leigh-Cheri, who brings to mind most of Robbins’ other female leads, particularly Cherry of Skinny Legs and All, and Bernard Wrangle, aka The Woodpecker. Natural
redheads, they eventually learn that they are descended from an advanced race that crashed on the earth and had known all about true love, passion, and anything worth knowing about.
As usual, Robbins tries to incorporate renegage theology into his book, but this time, it doesn’t quite seem to gel. His research is usually much more plausible or even accurate, but this time, he just flies by the seat of his pants, perhaps reflecting the chaotic interests of Bernard. It was dissappointing, however, that the interesting and creative use made of myth or at least pseudo-myth in Skinny Legs and All or Jitterbug Perfume was missing from Still Life. The characters are interesting though perhaps harder to actually like, and Robbins as always has interesting comments to make about society and modern life, but the commentary lacks the sincerity and conviction of other novels. The section dealing with the alternate world inside the pack of Camel cigarettes is the most realistic and interesting, though surreal, part of the novel, though that could have been what Robbins had in mind to emphasize the absurdity of society and the foolishness of the people surrounding the protagonists.
Like his other novels, Robbins incorporates sexuality almost casually within the novel, as causually as contemporary society does. Robbins points out the hypocrasies and harsh realities that lie within our society and are (alas) taken for granted--after all, he asks us, why should his novel be shocking when child abuse isn’t to most people? Why the selective indignation? Why should we judge his characters harshly
when all kinds of people do the same thing and we forgive or pretend not to notice?
All in all, Still Life is not Robbins’ best work, but is par for the course as far as his usual themes go. He is interested in the absurdities of life and how to maybe, just maybe make things more meaningful, always a good attempt. It is not on a level with the life-changing Skinny Legs and All
or Jitterbug Perfume, so you may be dissappointed, but give it a shot. There are flaws within this novel that are not present in some of his others, but Still Life is still worth the read.
Grade: B-
Order Tom Robbins' Still Life with Woodpecker today from Amazon.com and compare with his other works for
yourself.
The Stranger (L'Etranger) by Albert Camus
The Stranger follows the "adventures" of Meaursault, a French-Algerian, as he tries to make his way through the Universe in a life he neither asked for, nor understands, but is doing his best to navigate. The action is muted and secondary to the motivations and thoughts of Meaursault and the revealing of Camus' philosophy.
If you haven't read anything else by Camus, you probably had to read The Stranger in high school. But now may be a good time to give it another chance. Straightforward and simple, the novel presents its plot clearly enough, a good foil for the philosophy of the author. Camus said of this book that it portrayed "the nakedness of man when faced with the absurd" and every life is absurd. Meaursault is not what you would expect as the hero of a novel; he is just an everyday guy, perfect for the role, really, since his job is to reveal the author's version of the truths that are universal, not applicable only to a few. As an atheist, he has no preconceptions about his life or the direction it should take and is at the "mercy" of the world.
The novel falls into three parts, each marked by a death. In the beginning of the novel before the narration properly begins, Meaursault's mother dies and begins Meaursault's descent. The middle of the novel contains the death of an Arab, and the third section, precipitated by the Arab's death, ends in the final death of the novel. The three segments of the novel each reveal a different aspect of Meursault, but each time, he is only being true to himself, though a progressively frailer version of himself. He never tries to act as if he is anything other than what he is: an average human being with no pretensions. He destroys the security blanket that the people around him have woven around themselves, their pretense toward civilization, and for this draws their wrath.
An Existentialist, Camus is not always a bundle of laughs to read, but always has interesting commentary to make about the world and the importance of accepting who you are and learning to deal with your true strengths and weaknesses. It isn't saying you should be this or that, but saying that you should just be. Don't concentrate on becoming some other person's version of success, because, after all, we're all just going to end up dead anyway. A kind of Existentialist carpe diem message for anyone who has ever felt like a stranger, and that's probably everyone. As Meaursault himself would say, "the truth shall set you free." It is a difficult read in some ways, but it will leave you changed.
Grade: B
Give it a chance and decide for yourself.
When Nietzsche Wept by Irvin D. Yalom
At the instigation of a friend of Nietzsche's, Lou Salome, Freud's mentor, Josef Breuer, attempts to cure Friedrich Nietzsche of suicidal despair and existential angst. Because the poverty-ridden and proud philosopher would accept no help, Dr. Breuer attempts to cure Nietzsche with an experimental
psychoanalytic "talk" therapy completely without Nietzsche's knowledge by pretending to be a "patient" of Nietzsche's instead. Dr. Breuer, you see, has problems of his own. He, too, lives in despair, plagued with nightmares, an obesession with a former patient, and insomnia. Nietzsche, unable to refuse Dr. Breuer's compromise, begins the series of daily talks. The novel becomes more and more compelling as first Dr. Breuer and then the reticent Nietzsche reveal the origins of their the desires, fears, and pains.
Yalom has carefully recreated the psyche of one of the most brilliant minds in the history of philosophy, a man whose work continually effects us today. Yalom has also carefully constructed the mind of a man in the midst of a mid-life crisis, and the good doctor's life is balanced precariously on what he maintains of the respectable life he has created around him. The novel revolves around the idea of choice, do we in bear the responsibility for what happens to us as Nietzsche alleges, or can we be caught up in the plans of others and forced to do their bidding? The novel resolves these issues and more, with enough twists and philosophical ponderings to serve as a class on Nietzsche, but much more fun.
Take a dip in the Existential pool.
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