The Inheritance of Loss - #2

The most stand-outish (What? That is totally a word! STOP JUDGING ME!) element of this novel was the suspension of time. I read and read and kept on thinking it was modern day. It was only mention of payphones and cassette that drew me back to the 1980s.

/aside Nothing is wrong with the 80s. Lots of important and interesting things happened in them. Like me.  /end aside

Maybe it is this colonialist idea in me of that that is what India is like that makes placing the time so hard. This idea of a romantic place of caste and servants, which as an educated person is so abhorrent to me, yet so exotic. The idea of the underclass uprising and attempting to over throw it's oppressors... Oh, it appeals to so many parts of my own conflicting identity it's astonishing...

(Maybe that is the point? Clever little sausage!)

*cough*

The novel does explore interesting issues of belonging, of "having" and "loss". The most empathic character for me was Sai. Nothing that happened was asked for, in fact was almost imposed on her.  I would love to know what happened to her as a young woman. To the same extent, I would love to know what happened  to Biju once he had come home.

I am also incredibly interested what this area of India looks like now, with Indians (with their tea houses or not), the Nepali's, the Tibetian's and the Gurkha's. Viewing my own father's set of Gurkha knives frequently, the awe of the people of this area has been instilled into my little Australian being from a very young age.

Addressing my own personal issues with that Booker Prize thingo. This book, along with the Life of Pi, is my counter to those absolutely terrible books I have mentioned before. There is a reason why this prize exists. And while I personally do not think that this book is exceptional, I do think it is a much more worthy recipient than many others. That is really my way of saying 4/5



Next: Estonia with Purge

An Aside

So, I read one book for my trip around the world. And then one weekend I left my book at work. So I decided I would get a head start on the next book. My partner had a different idea. He decided I should read Faerie Tale by Raymond E Feist, and didn't stop bugging me until I started it in the interests of domestic harmony.

Life I feel cannot be so bad when the worst thing that happens on the weekend is that your partner harasses you to read a book. In the scheme of things, that is pretty damn good. To be fair as well it caught my eye when I first looked at his bookshelves all those years ago and I just hadn't gotten around to picking it up.

So I picked it up. And waddled through it. It felt like I was reading one of those all-American good feeling books for the first half. With the baseball playing boys, the horse-riding, western girl, the move from California to "real America". It was a little nauseating. But honestly, that could be my own biases.

Then we got the fairies, who in their own right where an interesting mixture of all Faey mythology and quite interesting to read. At the end of the book when we had more fairy stuff and less America, it was really interesting. I wanted to know more about that world. That was interesting. And only about 170pp long. Unlike the 350pp before that could have been condensed, and I still could have learnt about the characters, and their discovery as well as the build up to the climax of the book.

Speaking of climaxes, this was my main beef (haha) with the book. What the hell is with all the penises? Everyone was pantless half the time it seemed, and if not they were talking or thinking about their penis. I really felt that Raymond E Feist may have issues he should talk to someone about. And stirrings in groins and nipples hardening and give it up already!! I understand the idea of the Faey having almost sexual control over humans. That is established, but it isn't necessary to be waving it all over the place. And the human on human interactions didn't really need it either.

In the end an enjoyable read, once I tuned out the over abundance of members. Maybe I need to be a teenage boy to love the book as much as those who recommended it to me (who read it as teenage boys).

The Blind Assassin - #1

I have a love-hate relationship with the Booker Prize. I love the idea of having a prize to reward and recommend the best of the best English language books of the year. And I love some of them, The Life of Pi for example. I hate it because it also rewards self-indulgent wank as literature, such as The Finkler Question. For me, The Blind Assassin falls more into the later category than the former.

I found the book slow to get into. Which would have been fine, if it was 200pp long instead of pushing 600pp. When it is such a brick, it makes you wonder if you will ever see the end of the damn thing. It was disjointed to begin with I felt, with me trying for the life of me to work out why I was reading about lizard men from outer space. Slowly, ever so fricking slowly, you start to work out what is happening and how the lizard men or the people sacrificing virgins fit in. Finally you want to know what happened to the Blind Assassin much more than the trendily unlikable characters in the “real world”.

Oh don't get me wrong, I felt sympathy for Iris. I liked to some extent Laura. Agreed with Reenie. And cared slightly for Alex even though he was a dick in his own way as well. And it was because of this I finished it. But if I am honest, mainly as I saw the “twist” about 300pp in and then wanted the smug satisfaction of knowing I was right. Which may confirm that I am in my own way as self-indulgent as the Booker winners I hate. Bugger.

So in the end:

 

Next: The Inheritance of Loss  - Darjeeling, India.

Around the World in 52 Books

I stumbled across this Goodreads group late last year - A 2012 Challenge Around the World in 52 Books - and I thought it was a brilliant idea. As most things do, especially in my life these days, that's as far as it went. But I rediscovered the idea again the other day and decided to pull my finger out and get on with it.

I worked out last year with the Novel Challenge that I am much more diligent with my reading if I have a goal, so this seemed like a good one with the end result of me reading a lot of different things for different, exotic places that I wouldn't otherwise. However, I have modified the rules to make them more "me" friendly.

The Rules

1. Choose 52 books.

2. Each book has to be from a different country, with a spread of books from around the globe.

3. Only one book per author.

4. The place the book is set in, is usually the country it is from. Two exceptions to this rule are: i) I already own the book and I need to choose the Author's place of birth to make it fit the system. Thus reading some of the books on my shelves before buying more books (and therefore achieving some semblance of domestic harmony in our house). ii) It is a sci-fi book in a different setting so authors place of birth is chosen, as long as there is a cultural link too.
5. While the Goodreads group is aiming to read one book per week, I realise that I am usually far too busy/lazy to make that happen. This goes on as long as needed to get through the 52 books.

See my List on the other page. I will edit that as books change or as I complete them.

So with that all in mind, I am starting this all with the book I am currently reading, which is The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood and is based in Canada. This book is a brick and is one of the reasons I started this. To motivate me to finish it.

So on with the journey!

Heroes

I just finished Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones the other day and I was thinking. So many adult books are about anti-heroes now. It is not trendy to write about heroes these days. What is trendy is to write about the most unlikeable, repulsive, horrible human beings possible. Heroes won't win you a Booker and frankly belong in "genre fiction" which us educated people know is fluff and not worth our time.

And you know what I think? Fuck it.

I picked up this "kids" book and loved it. Mainly because the fact that the good guys were good. And likeable. And I was on their side. They were flawed like all humans but they worked through things, or overcame their flaws and did good stuff. And the bad guys weren't all bad. They were understandable, and not just an arse for the sake of it.

I finished the book with a large smile on my face and a sense of satisfaction and I worked out why. The people I meet everyday, 90% of them are good people. They aren't perfect but they try to do the right thing. If we were all thrown into a bad situation, I'm pretty sure most of them would try and help everyone as best they could. Only a small amount of people I meet are completely and utterly reprehensible. And I hate that 90% of our fiction talks and glorifies this type of people. In fact, I move on from these people as quick as I can in life. Why on earth do I want to read 500 pages of wank about them in my down time?

Well you know what? I'm not going to any more. I am embracing the hero. Bring on the kids books, the Austen-esq literature and the genre fiction. Embrace that goddamn neglected hero and make him or her the most valued thing in your reading for a while. It may not be trendy but it will make you feel better as a human being.

Catch Up

Post from the 27 October 2011

I've got a Feeling...


1 week to go! Thank you to everyone that has come in help us raise some more money in the last stretch. And thank you to those who have donated twice! You’re generosity is overwhelming!

I can talk about “We Need to Talk About Kevin” now. It was an unsettling book. Not just because of the teenage murderous rampage, but all the characters where all just a little off. It was a good read, but not one I need to relive again and therefore I think I will skip seeing Tilda Swinton in the movie. But as she is unsettling in general, I think she is a perfect fit for the part of Eva.

Maybe the most unsettling thing was I could understand where at least Eva and Kevin where coming from. Eva wanted to connect with her son and be a good mother but never could. Whether that caused him to become a sociopath or whether he just was one doesn’t really matter to me. The fact that she was longing to be a good mother and have her child manipulate her life to show that she wasn’t was distressing. The fact that this child destroyed a relationship was understandable as well. Although from Kevin’s point of view, all he wanted was a reaction and in some ways to feel something. He seemed to be so emotionally numb that I can understand trying to do something so horrible in order to feel something.

A world without feeling seems like a horrible place to be in. Thank goodness we all have at least books to help us feel something, even if it is unsettling.



Post from the 15 October 2011

Close to the Finish Line

So, I really want to talk about "We Need to Talk About Kevin" but I can't. Book Club embargo. Which is why I haven't posted in so long as I had to read something else to post about.

I chose Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne, because I have meant to read something of his for years and haven't gotten around to it. Maybe I had my expectations set too high for Jules Verne. I have him categorised in my mind as steampunk/adventure/sci-fi and I wish this book had lived up to that expectation.

I spent the whole 180 odd pages waiting for the twist or the adventure, and am still left wanting. Although it sounds like I have picked the wrong Verne book to start with, and will try again once I'm over this disappointment.

I will say though I have sourced a brilliant quote now because of this book. 'When science has uttered her voice, let babblers hold their peace'.

Now this being all said and done, I honestly probably only have time to read one more book for October. I think I shall throw it open to the masses to decide what that should be. Let me know if you have an idea.

Slack

I've been so busy at work I've been slack on this blog. So catch up.

The Finkler Question was disappointing. I was excited to have a "humorous" read for Book Group. But this book was neither humorous nor deserving of a Booker imho. Most of the characters were unlike-able, the story went no where and it didn't really do anything good for Jewish people living in London. Just made them all look like knobs.

Lemony Snicket was one I have been meaning to read for years after being recommended it by one of the many nephews. Unfortunately it didn't translate into an easy read for adults I felt. It used big words and then stopped the flow of the story to explain the meaning. Which would be a great way to teach an 8 year old what the words meant but for an adult (well, one who was familiar already with the words) it was clunky.

Nick Hornby started bringing the level back up after 3 shit books in a row. However, I still find him overrated. He's fun and fluffy but not as spectacular as I am led to believe. That being said High Fidelity was a nice change and pretty decent read. I think I have seen a grand total of 15 mins of the movie which I found out is at the business end of the book, so that was slightly annoying. But it was a fun look at being 30something and waking up and realising that you have no idea how your life has quite got to how it is.

Finally we get to the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. This book flicked between a YA read and an adult read for me, but both of them were welcome. Christopher is both someone I understood and was bewildered by. Obsessed by the logical but his life was driven by illogical impulses. What differentiates him however most people was he could recognise he was illogical and fallible. Not the nicest story in the world but one that endeared you the main character and made you want to keep on reading to find out what happens to Christopher and how everything turns out.