Book Review: TransAtlantic by Colum McCann

Author: Colum McCann
Title: TransAtlantic
Publication Info: New York: Random House, 2013
ISBN: 9781400069590
Previously Read by Same Author: Let the Great World Spin
Summary/Review:

I’m privileged to review an advanced reader’s copy of this forthcoming novel courtesy of the Library Thing Early Reviewer‘s program.

This is a novel of contrasts.  It’s an epic story covering three centuries and as the title implies crossing back and forth the Atlantic from Ireland to Canada and the United States.  And yet it is a very personal book with detailed character studies of four men and four women.  The men are well-known historical figures: American abolitionist Frederick Douglass on a speaking tour of Ireland, Jack Alcock and Teddy Brown making the first nonstop transatlantic flight, and US Senator George Mitchell brokering the Good Friday Agreement.  The women are four generations of the same family whose lives briefly intersect with the historical figures: an Irish housemaid Lily Duggan inspired to go to America by Douglass, the journalist Emily Ehrlich who settles in Newfoundland, the photographer Lottie who marries an RAF airman from Northern Ireland, and Hannah Carson whose loses her son in The Troubles and as we read her story in her own voice in the present time is on the verge of losing all of her family history to the bank.

Just as in Let the Great World Spin, McCann does not interweave the stories, yet characters from other stories appear later on.  The stories are also connected by an unopened letter which acts as kind of a McGuffin and is one of the less effective aspects of the novel to me.  Other than though, the writing in brilliant and McCann has a special gift for capturing the human experience in words.  The fictional figures seem as real as the historical figures and the historical figures are so detailed as to appear as fully-realized literary characters.  This is another great novel by McCann and I highly recommend it.
Favorite Passages:

“What they need are the signatures.  After that, they will negotiate the peace.  Years of wrangling still to come, he knows.  No magic wand.  All he wants is to get the metal nibs striking hard against the page.  But really what he would like now, more than anything, is to walk out from the press conference into the sunlight, a morning and evening jammed together, so that there is rise and fall at the same time, east and west, and it strikes him at moments like this the he is a man of crossword puzzles, pajamas, slippers, and all that he needs is to get on a plane, land, enter the lobby of the apartment on Sixty-Seventh Street, step into his own second chance, the proper silence of fatherhood.” – p. 120

Recommended books: A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle, A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan  and Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
Rating: ****

Book Reviews: The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

Author: Chad Harbach
Title:  The Art of Fielding
Publication Info: New York : Little, Brown and Co., 2011.
ISBN: 9780316126694
Summary/Review:

Set at a liberal arts college in Wisconsin, this novel focuses on shortstop phenom Henry Skrimshander and the Westish College catcher and captain Mike Schwartz who recruits him for the school and team.  The early part of the novel focuses on Henry’s fish out of water at college and his sassy gay roommate Owen Dunne.  Owen seems to good to be true as he not only writes plays but also is on the baseball team (and gets away with reading books in the dugout) .  The novel takes an unexpected turn when the college president Guert Affenlight becomes the central character as he deals with reconciling with his estranged daughter Pella and an obsession with Owen.  Eventually the stories of all five characters come together, although the unlikelieness of their grouping based on a number of coincidences is one of the weaknesses of the story (especially the actions of these characters at the conclusion of the novel which just don’t ring true).  The strengths of the novel are strong characterization and beautiful prose.  Harbach is adept at describing baseball like a great sportswriter but also fills his novel with literary references (most obviously to Herman Melville, but the novel often seems to be channeling John Irving).  The Art of Fielding is not a perfect novel but it is an enjoyable read with unforgettable characters.

Recommended books:  A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger, and The Little Book by Selden Edwards.

Rating: ***

Book Review: Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín

Author: Colm Tóibín
Title: Brooklyn
Publication Info: New York : Scribner, 2009.
ISBN: 9781439138311
Summary/Review: Set in the 1950s, this novel tells the story of young Irish woman named Eilis who gets the opportunity to emigrate to New York, work in a shop, and begin studying accounting and law.  At its best, the story captures nuances of everyday life from the small kindnesses to the petty jealousy, homesickness to new love.   Unfortunately, Eilis has a problem in that she seems incapable of making decisions for herself and thus allows others to shape her life for her.  This comes to a head in the final section of the book which I found so frustrating and didn’t know if should be angry at Eilis for having no spine or angry at everyone in society who made her this way.  Nevertheless, while unsatisfying on the narrative level this is a well-written and honest novel.

Recommended books: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, ’Tis, a Memoir by Frank McCourt, and Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann.
Rating: ***

Book Review: A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Author: Jennifer Egan
Title: A Visit From the Goon Squad by
Publication Info: Anchor (2011)
ISBN: 0307477479
Summary/Review:

I think it took me a good 70-80 pages to get into this collection of intertwined short stories and vignettes, but from that point on I was won over.  Egan does a good job of establishing characters with seemingly minor characters from one story emerging as the main protagonist in a later story.  She also does a great job of writing in many different styles, most remarkable with an emotionally touching story written as a Power Point slideshow.  This type of experimental literature has been done before, but Egan effectively uses these devices without pretension to tell a story of ordinary people facing life and love and morality (as well as music).  The only part I didn’t like was the final story set in the future which had too many cutesy gimmicks that didn’t ring true to the rest of the book.  All the same, A Visit From the Goon Squad is in the running for one of my favorite books read this year.
Recommended books: Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann, Jazz by Toni Morrison, and Ulysses by James Joyce.
Rating: ****1/2

Book Review: American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Author: Neil Gaiman
Title: American Gods
Publication Info: New York : W. Morrow, c2001.
ISBN: 0380973650
Books Read by the Same Author:

• Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
• The Graveyard Book
• The Sandman, Volume 1: Preludes and Nocturnes

Summary/Review:

Shadow is released early from prison when his wife and boss die in a car crash.  With no future ahead of him, Shadow accepts a job from the shady Mr. Wednesday.  I don’t expect it’s a huge spoiler that Mr. Wednesday is actually an incarnation of the god Odin who ushers Shadow into the worlds where the gods of antiquity have fallen on hard times in competition with the modern “gods” of technology, drugs, and celebrity.  Gaiman’s characterization is well-done as he introduces many complex figures of gods in human form.  I also like how places that Americans value like roadside attractions become temples and places of power. I am curious though why Gaiman chose to ignore the God of Abraham and the many churches, synagogues & mosques as a rival (or even the questionable “gods” of televangelists and religious extremists).  Shadow is true to his name in that he often seems to have no identity, following Mr. Wednesday with seemingly no good reason, but then there are moments of compassion where his humanity shines through and sets him apart from his godly companions and leads to a satisfying conclusion.

I have to admit that this book was a struggle to read and had it not been for Gaiman’s reputation and that I was reading this for a book group, I may have given up.  In fact the rest of my book group hated this book and we haven’t met since.  Although this is not something I would usually recommend, if you find yourself struggling through the early pages of the book, just read a summary online and skip ahead to page 150.  It gets much better from there on.
Rating: ***

Book Review: Saturday by Ian MacEwan

Author: Ian MacEwan
Title: Saturday
Publication Info: Recorded Books (2005)
ISBN: 1419332872
Books Read By Same Author: Atonement
Summary/Review:

MacEwan’s novel follows a seemingly ordinary day in the life of a London neurosurgeon as he goes about his tasks and ruminates analytically on his life and work.  It’s interesting how seemingly major things (like a car crash) are detailed with less intensity than the  seemingly mundane (a game of squash).  Towards the end of the novel things come together too neatly with a dramatic twist that I think undercuts the more interesting stream-of-conciousness aspects of the early part of the novel.  Still an interesting read with a good focus on developing character and internal monologue.

Favorite Passages:

“What a stroke of luck, that the woman he loves is also his wife.”

Recommended books: Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro, and White Teeth by Zadie Smith.
Rating: ***

Book Review: All Clear by Connie Willis

Author: Connie Willis
Title: All Clear
Publication Info: New York : Spectra, 2010.
ISBN: 9780553807677

Previous Works By Same Author:

• Lincoln’s Dreams
• Doomsday Book
• Bellwether
• To Say Nothing of the Dog
• Passage
• Inside Job
• Blackout

Summary/Review:

As noted in my review of Blackout this book is less of a sequel and more of a direct continuation of one lengthy work about three time travelers studying life in England in the early years of World War II.  Both books are part of a larger series of  loosely connected works by Connie Willis about a future Oxford University where graduate students in history are able to study the past by traveling through time via a mechanism known as the net.  I enjoy Willis’ approach to time travel fiction and particularly am impressed with her well-researched and detailed descriptions of contemporary life.

 The three main characters Polly, Eileen, and Michael finally met up toward the conclusion of Blackout and now begin working together to find a way to an open drop in the net that will return them to Oxford.  The mysterious characters of the previous book turn out to not be so mysterious after all and are woven fairly well into the narrative, although through unlikely coincidences that approach the edge of plausibility.   And yes, they do get out of the past (well, sort of) but the conclusion is satisfyingly unexpected.

I did find the greatest flaw of both of these novels is that a character will come up with an idea, will then discuss the same idea, and then carry out the idea which created a lot of unnecessary repetition  (especially since every attempt to return to the future is a flop).  If Willis could have tightened up the novel and created more tension if she did more showing and less telling, perhaps even condensing the story to one volume.  Still I found these lengthy tomes to be mesmerizing and read straight through to find out what would happen next, so it’s still an engaging work with a great attention to detail.

Rating: ***1/2

Book Review: Blackout by Connie Willis

Author: Connie Willis
Title: Blackout
Publication Info:
ISBN: 9780553803198

Previous Works By Same Author:

• Lincoln’s Dreams
• Doomsday Book
• Bellwether
• To Say Nothing of the Dog
• Passage
• Inside Job

Summary/Review:

Connie Willis is one of my favorite sci-fi/fantasy authors and I particularly enjoy her take on time travel fiction in works such as Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog so I eagerly sought out this book once I learned of it.  This book like the two previous I mentioned is set in a future Oxford where graduate students in history study the past by traveling through time through a device known as the net.  Blackout shares some of the supporting characters of the earlier novels but focuses on three young historians studying England in the early days of the second World War.  Polly, the main protagonist of the novel, is an experienced time traveling historian observing people in shelters during the London Blitz.  Eileen is a new historian spending time working with children evacuated to the countryside.  Michael is hoping to learn about heroism by visiting various battles including the evacuation of Dunkirk.

<Spoilers Begin Here> All three historians find themselves unexpectedly trapped in their time.  Furthermore, they find themselves participating in major historical events and seemingly affecting their outcome, something that the time travel theory of the net says should be impossible.  The main conflict of the novel becomes whether Polly, Eileen, and Michael can find a way out of the past which means first they must find one another. <Spoilers End Here>

I find the best part of this novel is that it captures the everyday life of English people during the War in great detail, almost as if Willis were a time traveler herself shedding light on the ordinary life of the past.  Willis’ thorough research and attention to detail carries the novel through even at times when the plot and dialogue are a little flat.  There are other characters introduced in the novel who are seemingly dropped although their resolution is made clear when I realized that the next book All Clear is not so much a sequel as a direct continuation of a lengthy work.

Rating: ***1/2

Book Review: Consequences by Penelope Lively

Author:Penelope Lively
Title: Consequences
Publication Info:
ISBN:  9780670038565
Summary/Review:

This novel begins when a woman from a wealthy family and a poor artist meet, fall in love, and marry with parental disapproval in 1930s London.  What follows is a narrative of three generations of women in the family today.  It’s a lyrical text that seems oddly plotless, just kind of multi-generational vignettes.  In fact the title is an interesting choice.  All fiction in a sense is about consequences – a protagonist makes a choice and then must respond to the consequences.  Yet this book seems to be less about consequences than your typical novel.  Anyhow, it’s a short book but it took me forever to complete, so I think that says something.

Rating: **1/2

Book Review: The Boneshaker by Kate Milford

Author: Kate Milford
Title: The Boneshaker
Publication Info: Boston : Clarion Books, 2010.
ISBN: 9780547241876
Summary/Review:

Don’t let the Young Adult label fool you, this is a terrific eerie thriller involving bicycles, carnivals, patent medicines, automatons and the Devil.  Set in a mysterious Southern town near the crossroads, the narrative follows young Natalie Minks as she tries to deal with a nefarious patent medicine troupe who are bewitching the townspeople.   Built on legendary elements, this book is totally original and a compelling read.

Recommended books: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury and Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston.
Rating: ****