Marilynne Robinson's Gilead - 2005 Pulitzer Winner

Alright, so I know that I'm TERRIBLY behind on my blogging. Pregnancy seems to have turned me into a single minded bump on the couch, much more interested in reading reviews of strollers and cribs than actually reading literature. But you read it here first, my brain (at least the part of it not controlled by these crazy hormones) is staging a comeback! So here goes, I'm finally reviewing my Grand Cayman reading list.

I have to confess that I was REALLY dreading reading Gilead. Take a look at the description from amazon: 

In 1956, toward the end of Reverend John Ames's life, he begins a letter to his young son, an account of himself and his forebears. Ames is the son of an Iowan preacher and the grandson of a minister who, as a young man in Maine, saw a vision of Christ bound in chains and came west to Kansas to fight for abolition: He "preached men into the Civil War," then, at age fifty, became a chaplain in the Union Army, losing his right eye in battle. Reverend Ames writes to his son about the tension between his father--an ardent pacifist--and his grandfather, whose pistol and bloody shirts, concealed in an army blanket, may be relics from the fight between the abolitionists and those settlers who wanted to vote Kansas into the union as a slave state. And he tells a story of the sacred bonds between fathers and sons, which are tested in his tender and strained relationship with his namesake, John Ames Boughton, his best friend's wayward son.

Let's be honest, it sounds unbearably boring. Iowa? Preachers from Maine? Don't tell me you're hooked by the description. You'd be lying. Worse, you'd be one of those people that my girlfriend A in Houston and I roll our eyes about when they say their absolute favorite book is ________ (pick the most pretentious, least likable book you can think of, and insert title here). Aren't those people the worst? But I digress.... 

Despite the snooze-fest of a synopsis, the reviews for this book by actual readers on sites like amazon or goodreads were pretty outstanding. I must say, however, I did suspect some of those reviewers came from the aforementioned group of literary snobs.... So, it was with great trepidation that I plunged into this book. 

However, I was again pleasantly surprised. It turns out the Pulitzer Committee may know a thing or two about great fiction (despite what my mother has to say on the matter). True, the subject matter is not as captivating as the latest gripping thriller, but the prose are beautifully written and the narrative voice is unique and so believable. As a soon to be first time parent, I also enjoyed the musings on parent-child relationships and the narrator's attempts to leave a legacy for his young son who he knows he will never truly know.  

John Ames is very much a simple man. He remained in his small hometown in Iowa his entire life and entered into the family vocation (preaching) without giving either much thought at the outset. He does not believe himself to be an outstanding man or even a particularly talented preacher. He is simply a man who knows he will soon die and knows that his little boy will never have the chance to know him. With this knowledge, he attempts to capture a bit of his own family history, nuggets of advice he wants to pass on to his son, and the simple truths of his own life. In this way he hopes that his son will someday get to know him posthumously. It's a simple idea that is beautifully executed. 

There were so many wonderful passages in this novel. I am typically not an underliner, but I found myself marking short passages on my Kindle while reading this book. I guess I was just drawn to John Ames' voice. As he begins his exploration of the father son relationships in his family, he muses:

You can know a thing to death and be for all purposes completely ignorant of it. A man can know his father, or his son, and there might still be nothing between them but loyalty and love and mutual incomprehension.    

See what I mean about the style and the narrative voice? I think this captures so many father and son relationships perfectly. Ultimately, Ames' son will likely know more about his father from the journal his father leaves behind for him than he otherwise would have known had he lived. 

Ultimately, I came away from Gilead with a great admiration for Robinson as a writer, but I'm not running out to buy her other books. I still need a bit more of a story.    

Grand Cayman Reading Vacation

The view from my reading
spot on our balcony.

My husband and I just got back from four nights in beautiful Grand Cayman. We soaked in the rays on the beach and spent a lot of time beachside, poolside, and on our balcony reading. Thanks to Tropical Storm Ernesto, we also spent an entire afternoon in the room with our books. My husband tackled 11/22/63 by Stephen King, which he really loved. I finished off Gilead by Marilynne Robinson; read The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright, Until It's Over by Nicci French, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak; and started reading Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith. This means I have a lot of blogging to do, so stayed tuned in for reviews of those books.  

Cutting Through Writer's Block

I must confess, I'm struggling to write this review. Last night I stared at the blank screen for a while, eventually setting aside my Mac and flipping on a movie rather than facing the task at hand. Tonight I'm committed, and I suppose my writer's block is the best place to start. 

I'm having writer's block not because I have nothing to write but because I'm undecided about how to review this book. This is a strange predicament. Usually I read or watch something and know immediately how I feel about it, but that's not the case with Cutting for Stone. I was terribly unengaged for the first 30% of this book and felt like the book could have benefited from some judicious editing. I just couldn't get through it. I found myself coming home from work and watching old reruns of Law and Order rather than picking up my Kindle. Then, after the initial hurdle, which in a 541 page book was significant, it got really good. I found myself wanting to come home just so I could slip back into Marion's, the main character's, life.

The story begins when Sister Mary Joseph Praise falls in love with the young and brilliant surgeon, Thomas Stone, on a cargo ship from India to Africa. They work together for years at Missing Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and one day, to everyone's (including Stone's) surprise, Sister Mary Joseph Praise turns out to be pregnant. I did question how even a nun's habit could conceal 9 months of pregnancy weight, but I guess suspension of disbelief is sometimes necessary for a good book. Anyway, she delivers conjoined twins Marion and Shiva whose bodies are separated from each other at birth, but who will always remain as one, ShivaMarion. Cutting for Stone is their story. 

The twins are raised by adoptive parents Hema and Ghosh, Missing's other two doctors, after Sister Mary Joseph Praise dies in childbirth and Thomas Stone flees the scene, abandoning his sons. The book explores Marion's childhood, the love he develops for a woman who will ruin him over and over again, his passion for medicine, and most importantly, his relationship with his other half, Shiva. Once Verghese gets his readers out of Operating Theater 3 on the day of ShivaMarion's birth, the story is captivating. It just takes him a while to get there. 

Addis Ababa looks much like I pictured.

And, the writing is terrific, no question. Verghese is a master of character development. My favorite character was Ghosh, Marion's jovial and wise adoptive father, and Missing's internal medicine specialist turned surgeon. I suspect that he is  everyone's favorite character. He is the voice of reason, the one who always seems to intuit how other people are feeling, and a hero for stepping into the role of surgeon and father almost simultaneously when Marion's birth father and Missing's only surgeon runs away. Verghese also seemingly effortlessly transports his readers to Addis Ababa and Missing Hospital, and in a way, these places are like characters in the book, they are so alive. I particularly loved learning about Ethiopian foods, music, politics, and history through Marion's eyes. I suspect that as I think more and more about this book, I will like it increasingly, and perhaps that is a hallmark of a great book....    

The Song Remains the Same: What Would You Do If You Couldn't Remember Anything?

The Song Remains the Same is the story of Nell Slattery, one of two survivors of an airplane crash who wakes up in an Iowa hospital room unable to remember who she is or any details of her life before the crash. She doesn't even recognize her own face in the mirror. I loved how Nell imagines that she had a life like Rachel Green on Friends because wouldn't that be what you would assume if you woke up with amnesia? Most of us wouldn't wake up without any recollection of our lives before and imagine we are married to a schlub, that we haven't lived out our dreams, or that we lead a boring life.  As Nell pieces together who she is, she slowly learns that some of the things about her old life aren't what she imagined, and she attempts to use the plane crash as a chance for a new start. Nell explores whether people can and do change. Ultimately, she comes to terms with the fact that while we may not change at our core, we can learn to have a new outlook, and we can make different choices that change our lives. 

So here's a thought, what about your life would you be disappointed to learn if you woke up one morning remembering nothing? I'm happy to report I can't come up with an answer. I may not be Rachel Green (I was always a bit more of a Monica), but I do lead a pretty terrific life with a wonderful husband and a really loving, supportive group of friends and family some of whom are probably reading this blog right now, which is nice to know because I'm not sure that anyone else is!     

This was a very quick read and was just the type of summer read I was looking for, so thanks to my friend A in Houston who recommended this to me. I can always count on her for great book recommendations. 

   

I Suck at Girls Made Me Laugh So Hard I Cried

I Suck at Girls by Justin Halpern is the funniest book since Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. Halpern examines his failed attempts to understand and impress girls, and with each story he gets older but no wiser, beginning as a young boy tormenting the girl who sits next to him in elementary school, stealing porn from homeless men in middle school, backpacking through Europe in a desperate attempt to get laid, a summer job at Hooters in another attempt to score with the waitresses, and culminating with a long distance romance with his now wife. After putting the book down, I would find myself giggling hours later, as I was making dinner or folding laundry. My advice, buy this book in hard copy, not on an e-reader (like I did), because you are going to want to loan this out. I'm already planning on buying a copy for my husband.    

I'm guessing we won't have a lot of intellectual discourse at book club this week about this book, but I bet we'll have lots of laughs. After our last two book club books, Vaclav & Lena by Haley Tanner in May, which I really liked but brought me to tears three times, and Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman in June, which I've already reviewed, we needed a good laugh before we got back to our usual fare.   

Booth Tarkington's The Magnificent Ambersons - 1919 Pulitzer Winner

Yesterday while I was finishing The Magnificent Ambersons my husband kept asking me if everything was alright. I guess my heavy sighs tipped him off. The main character, Georgie Amberson Minafer, is so despicable I couldn't help myself. Georgie ranks among the most egomaniacal fictional characters I have ever come across, and his character flaws result in the misery of pretty much every woman in this book. I know that every great novel needn't feature an Atticus Finch, but it certainly helps when you have someone to root for.    

This is the second book in a trilogy, but Tarkington provides enough in the way of background to make jumping in with book two easy. The Ambersons are an ostentateously wealthy family, building what would today be considered a McMansion and indulging in numerous extravagances (my favorite of which is that they purchase, wait for it, a dog). Major Amberson is the patriarch of the family, and his daughter Isabel was, we are told, the belle of every ball. However, after Isabel's preferred suitor (Eugene) makes a drunken blunder while serenading her one evening, she dismisses him for good and marries the boring Wilbur Minafer. They have only one child, Georgie, and Georgie is the Major's sole grandson. Georgie is literally spoiled rotten, and he wreaks havoc everywhere he goes resulting in a unanimous desire by the townspeople that he get what he has coming to him, which he, of course, ultimately does but only after ruining many lives.  

The story begins with Georgie home from college and attending a ball in his honor. He falls for the beautiful and popular young Lucy, and for the life of me I could never figure out why, but she falls for him. He is arrogant, rude, lacking in charm, and determined to do nothing with his life. What girl wouldn't succumb to such a young man? 

It turns out that Lucy is the daughter of Eugene who disappeared from the town 20 years earlier after Isabel rejected him. Eugene is now a widower, and he has returned to town with his only daughter and dreams of designing automobiles. Georgie dislikes Eugene from the start and mocks the invention of the automobile as a fad. Despite Georgie's distaste for him, Eugene and Isabel rekindle their old friendship, and after Wilbur dies it seems that Isabel and Eugene may finally marry. But, oh no! Georgie gets word that his mother is being gossiped about because of the time she is spending with Eugene (over a year after her husband's death), and he sends Eugene away, forbids his mother ever to see him again, and packs both himself and his mother off to Europe in order to save the Amberson name. This is made worse by the fact that Isabel is a supremely likable character who is kind to everyone despite her supreme wealth and wants to make her son happy more than anything else. 

Georgie's actions part him from the young Lucy, and because of that Georgie thinks he's making a real sacrifice. Tarkington tries to make us believe that Georgie is terribly in love with Lucy, but it was hard to imagine that Georgie actually had time to care a lick for Lucy (or anyone else) with all of the time he spent thinking about himself. He finally brings his mother back to America the day before she dies, but he refuses to allow Eugene to see her. She dies saying it would have been nice to have seen him one last time. Pretty awful, right? In the meantime, beautiful Lucy can't get over Georgie, and she never marries.

The Major dies shortly after Isabel, and it turns out the Amberson's are dead broke. At this point, we are supposed to believe that Georgie has changed because he loses his entire fortune and takes a hazard pay job handling nitroglycerin in order to support his aunt Fanny who he has pretty much terrorized for the past 25 years. He gets hit by a car and Lucy and her father come to the hospital, and we are left with the thought that all will be well. Well, you know what, I don't think he deserves it, and poor Lucy definitely deserves more than this brainless, arrogant ass. 

I did think the book was historically interesting, as Tarkington explores ideas of urban sprawl, class, and the changes resulting from the invention and popularization of the automobile. I just couldn't get over Georgie Amberson Minafer, the most unlikeable of heroes.  

What Are You Reading?

I apologize for the lag in postings, but I have been struggling through my latest book, The Magnificent Ambesons (check back later this evening or tomorrow for a review). What is it about summer that makes us all want to read something a little bit more light and flighty even when we aren't on the beach? I would love some good recommendations, so let me know what some of your favorite books are and what you're reading right now that you love.