Still Kickin'

I am still mired in Game of Thrones - finished Book 4 and now about 25% done with Book 5. I think I'll wait to review them together, since they are written in parallel, featuring different characters.

I feel like I've been reading them forever, and really I have. I've read only a few books in between, as noted below, and so far this year I haven't read anything else. I'm taking a break now to read The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey. It's a book club selection, although I didn't attend said book club meeting and just started the book. So I am, as always, one step behind. I could have skipped it and moved on to the next selection, but it's captivated me so far, so I'll finish it.

What is everyone else reading? I'm looking for some good recommendations for when I get out of this Thrones fog.

Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro

Apparently this book/recent movie is a bit of an indie sensation, but I wasn't aware of it until someone in my book club suggested we read it. Needless to say, I'm glad I did.

Never Let Me Go is at the root, a book about human cloning. However, I don't think the word cloning is ever mentioned. We read about groups of children growing up in the Hailsham School, and we know they are somehow different. The truth about their eventual lives as "carers" and "donors" is never kept a secret, yet there is still something about the whole situation and the way it is revealed to the reader that keeps it a bit mysterious. Perhaps it is the point of view of the protagonist, Kathy, who seems rather matter-of-fact about her fate. Other characters, like her friend Tommy, are more passionate and seem unsettled with the fact that this life must be accepted. Yet none of them really makes any real attempt to run away from it.

The book certainly instigated some very intense questions. The notion of an entire fleet of humans essentially bred for organ donation made me shudder - first at the confusion of the ethics (are they really "human?" Is it worth investing in education or quality of life for these "people" if their fate is simply to donate too many organs to remain alive?) and then at the possibility that technology could exist that would make this reality (is this already happening in some kind of unregulated setting, in some far corner of the world?) It's a little bit sci-fi, a little bit fiction, a little bit appalling, and a lot thought-provoking.

Some in my book club found this book difficult to get into, some just couldn't get their heads around the idea or get invested in the characters. Others, like me, loved the book, for all the reasons mentioned above and more. There is some beautiful writing, and the style is subtle enough to deal with delicate issues without throwing them in your face. I felt the stoic nature of the main character, Kathy, was reflective of the type of treatment she received as a child and as a marked member (or essentially non-member) of society. Granted, I haven't read a lot of books this year - but this is the best one by far.

4.5 of 5 stars

Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout

Small town lives collide
Waitress, son, cheating old man
Common thread Olive

Harsh yet endearing
Reality devastates
Perception of self

Books Read in 2008

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte*
Suite Francois - Irene Nemirovsky*
Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson*+
Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer+
Love Walked In - Marisa de Los Santos
Willem's Field - Melinda Haynes
Year of Wonders - Geraldine Brooks*+
Welcome to My Planet: Where English is Sometimes Spoken - Shannon Olson
O' Pioneers - Willa Cather+
Brisingr - Christopher Paolini
Twilight - Stephenie Meyer (yes, yes I did)
New Moon - Stephenie Meyer
Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer
Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer
Vanishing Moon - Joseph Coulson

15 books total
*book club
+favorites

Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe

Things Fall Apart is the story of Okonkwo, a "strong man" in an African village whose life is lived in the warrior style, fueled by anger and confusion. His attitude is upheld within his tribe as one of a leader, but ultimately it leads him to the depths of despair - and all things do, literally and figuratively, fall apart.

This book was a little slow for me at first, and I found it difficult to keep track of all the names. The main character, Okonkwo, is represented in the third person, which makes it a little hard to relate to him. He was also a very unlikeable character; admonishing his sons for displaying "female" traits, and lamenting that his sensible daughter was not born a boy. As the story went on, however, I found myself captured by his story and the torment of the way he thought he should be, and the way he felt in his heart. His own personal struggle is magnified by the tribe's struggle to hold onto its culture in the face of the white man - missionaries who are "saving" the tribe by introducing Christianity.

I also enjoyed reading something in a writing style that was more fable-like. It's not a book I would have probably picked up on my own, but I'm glad for the read, as the book is widely recognized as premier work of African literature by an African writer, and is an interesting look into the history of missionaries in Africa.

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda - Philip Gourevitch

Nice title, huh? But read this book, and it makes perfect sense. This is a very well-written account of the author's (a journalist) research and personal interviews and travels investigating the Rwandan genocide of 1994. 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed. This is a significant world event that happened in the past 15 years, that we knew little to nothing about.

What was I doing in 1994? I graduated from high school. I was spending one of my last summers at home before heading off to college in the fall. I HAD NO IDEA. Was I ignorant? Probably at that time, yes. And admittedly still a bit now. Things like this seem so far away, and what can I do about it, really?

But seriously. 800,000 people killed, and by such methods that you can't even believe. Killed violently with machetes by people who once co-existed with them as neighbors, co-workers, friends. Simply because they were Tutsis, or because they were Hutus who sympathized with Tutsis. A barrage of propaganda egging them on, urging them to kill, make sure you kill the women and children too, and take care that any unborn Tutsi fetus is also disposed of. And these same people just a short time later were asked to discard the Tutsi/Hutu labels, and be just "Rwandan," living and working beside the same people who killed their family members. Could you do it? I don't know if I could.

This is an extremely poignant and engaging book, despite the subject matter. It delves into the conflict without getting too gruesome, but still holding true to what in fact was a horrific and gruesome act. The author talks with survivors, explores reactions (and inaction) from the rest of the world, and ponders the root behind the conflict itself. Definitely not a light read, but you will leave it enlightened.

Eva Luna - Isabel Allende (Book Club)

Eva Luna is name of the protagonist in this book, and her story actually begins with her mother, Consuelo, as a young girl. Consuelo's story is important because it leads us to the unique circumstances of Eva Luna's conception, how she received her name, and the strong link she had with her mother.

Tragedy strikes and Eva goes through life working as a servant in different households, paying her wages to the madrina in whose care she has been left. Her hardships are offset by her talent for telling stories, and she shares them with anyone who will listen. Her patrona goes a bit crazy and Eva runs away, and in the ensuing years her personal relationships are with those as unique as she is: a Turkish shopkeeper, a young revolutionary, a madame, a transsexual, and a young reporter and filmmaker named Rolf Carle.

Parts of the book also chronicle Rolf Carle's life as a young boy with an overbearing father, growing up in a stifling village, the boundaries of which Rolf longs to escape. He does get out, and makes a career as a controversial filmmaker, who gets deeply involved in the work of revolutionists, which leads him to Eva.

I couldn't really tell where this book was going at first, and had a difficult time staying interested. I even though of ditching it and reading something else (which I rarely do), but it was the first mention of Rolf Carle and his family that got me hooked. I do have to say that the book does weave a tale of extraordinary and sometimes unbelievable circumstances; particularly the presence of multiple sexual experiences that I wasn't sure were integral to the story itself. Not graphic descriptions by any means, but a few seemed out of place and a little farfetched...particularly Eva's encounter before leaving the village of Agua Santa.

This is one of our book club selections, but unfortunately I can't make the upcoming meeting. I will be interested to hear what other members thought of the book. Overall I believe the book was worth the read, and this strange tale may be a stroke of brilliance to some, but it wasn't really my style. The language was beautiful, but I just couldn't get into the story.

March - Geraldine Brooks (Book Club)

The inspiration for this book was taken from the book Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott. The father of the March family has little mention in the original novel. From Little Women we know that Mr. March left his family to serve in the war as a chaplain, an occasional letter was written home and read aloud to his daughters, a telegram arrived informing Mrs. March that her husband was very ill, and that he did eventually return home to his family. March tells the story of what Mr. March was up to during his time in the war.

Throughout the novel the reader gets a birds-eye view of Mr. March’s activities as part of the Union Army, for which he served as a chaplain and later a teacher to “freed” slaves and their children. In his journey he stumbles upon a house he had known in his past, and in it the same slave women, Grace, whom he developed a special relationship with as a younger man. Grace is a strong presence throughout his year of service, and one of the strongest characters in the book. Mr. March himself is a very complex character, and the author does a wonderful job of helping the reader to feel his emotions and the weight of the difficult decisions he has to make. Often Mr. March is caught between a rock and a hard place; whatever decision he chooses will likely result in some terrible consequence, mostly to those whom he has come to assist. But he must often choose the lesser of two evils, and in his heart and actions attempts to hold true to his religious and personal ideals. His relationship with Grace and his attachment to the other slaves make his decisions all the more personal and tough to bear. He holds himself to such high standards that his guilt nearly becomes his death, and he learns a hard lesson from the woman he held on a pedestal for so many years.

Overall I really enjoyed this book, and it spurred some very good conversation in our book club. Mr. March was a changed man when he returned from the war, both physically and mentally. He carried a lot of guilt for what he had seen and done, and felt helpless that he could not do more to see results. His family at home had also changed, but in different ways. These are issues that ring very true in today’s time as well, with the war going on in Iraq.

No need to have read Little Women to enjoy or understand this book, it stands on its own. You don’t even have to be that interested in the Civil War to like it. The characters are excellent and well-developed, and you’ll find yourself wrapped up in Mr. March’s conflict and asking yourself “what would I do?”