A Monster Calls

“Your mind will believe comforting lies while also knowing the painful truths that make those lies necessary. And your mind will punish you for believing both.” 
  
A beautiful story about a 13 year old boy, Connor, whose mother is dying of cancer.  The plot may sound a bit morbid but this really is a lovely little book.  Even though it is pitched at a pre-teen level, there is plenty here to delight and move adults.  I cried and my husband admits to feeling a "prick of tears".  It received unanimous approval at our Slim Tomes Book Club.

I am still thinking about the 2 parables that the monster tells to Connor.

The book is embellished by the gorgeous illustrations of Jim Kay, who used "everything for beetles to breadboards to create interesting marks and textures.  The illustrations are so beautiful that I just have to include a couple here.

The illustrations below are from Jim Kay's website: http://www.jimkay.co.uk/Jim_Kay_Illustrator/A_Monster_Calls.html 

The Monster sitting on Grandma's office.

The Monster in Grandma's sitting room.

 

Atonement

"Come back, she used to whisper.  It's only a dream.  Come back."

“It wasn't only wickedness and scheming that made people unhappy, it was confusion and misunderstanding; above all, it was the failure to grasp the simple truth that other people are as real as you.”

"“How can a novelist achieve atonement when, with her absolute power of deciding outcomes, she is also God? There is no one, no entity or higher form that she can appeal to, or be reconciled with, or that can forgive her. There is nothing outside her. In her imagination she has set the limits and the terms. No atonement for God, or novelists, even if they are atheists. It was always an impossible task, and that was precisely the point. The attempt was all.”

Another great McEwan novel.  I read it in just 2 days.  I could barely put it down.   McEwan is a fantastic story teller and creates such fascinating and believable characters. 

** Spoiler Alert **
The sense of foreboding and tragedy over through out was deliciously unbearable.  So I was surprised in the last few chapters to see things panning out so well.  How satisfying then to read the final section and feel the story reach its ending in just the way it should.

My question now is whether to watch the 2007 movie adaptation.  I don't usually enjoy watching Keira Knightly in serious period dramas.  What a botch she made of Elizabeth Bennett, and how overwrought was her performance in A Dangerous Method?  Though I think she shines in comedy.  However, the film has an 83% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is a fair recommendation, so I guess I will put it on my list of movies to watch.

Hell's Angels

A rambling account of a journalist's time hanging out with a lot of Hells Angels in the 60's.  Yep, that about sums it up.

I found the overall structure of the book felt almost random.  There was a very, very loose chronology but a lot of the information seemed to be stuck in haphazardly.  A "stream of consciousness" is one thing, but to me the style of this book just felt a little lazy. 

The book presents a lot of information, opinions about the "Hells Angels phenomenon" from a variety of people, and some analysis by Thompson himself.  I think one of my favorite aspects was the insertion of relevant quotes from a spectrum of sources: poets, news articles, literature, policemen and of course from members of the Hells Angels.

My least favorite aspect of the book is the misogyny.  Actually, perhaps "misogyny" is perhaps too generous a word as it is not really hatred, dislike, or mistrust of women.  It is more like a complete failure to recognize the autonomy and person-hood of women.  Certainly this may just be a reflection of the Angel's attitudes towards women.  But I don't think this adequately excuses Thompson's failure to present a female perspective.   Surely he could have found time to interview one of the "mummas" or one of the the alleged "rape" victims.  Or if he felt this would have endangered his standing with the Angel's he could have at least commented on this, or presented some further assessment of the Angel's disregard for the rights of women.

The absence of female perspectives led me to wonder how much the Angel's attitudes influenced Thompson.  He is credited with pioneering Gonzo journalism and as such he can be seen as an integral character in his book.  He immersed himself in the lifestyle and culture of the Angels and so he is able to present us with (almost) an insider perspective.  Overall the technique is effective and makes for interesting reading.  We know he participated in drug use, risk taking on his motor cycle and alcohol soaked partying.  I respect his right to do so and thoroughly enjoyed his account of this lifestyle.  However, I was left wondering if he also participated in the appalling attitudes and behavior towards women.  If so, this is something I cannot respect or take lightly.

After finishing reading the book I did some further digging.  (Google comes in very handy sometimes.)  I found this YouTube video which you might find interesting.  It restored my esteem of Thompson and took the murky sheen off my assessment of his book.  It refers to an incident that occurred after the book was published.  Apparently Thompson tried to intervene to stop an Angel from beating up his wife.

In case you don't catch it, the Hells Angel's representative says"

"If a guy wants to beat his wife and his dog bites him, that's between the three of them...."
You walked right up to him and said "Only a punk beats his wife and dog....
To keep a woman in line you have to beat them like a rug once in a while..."

Shockingly the audience applauds and laughs at this!!

Thompson was a fascinating person with a colorful life.  He "partied hard" in the 60's and 70's and has made an impressive contribution to our record of these times.  He took his own life in 2005 at the age of 67 years old.  According to the wiki page: 

Artist and friend Ralph Steadman wrote:
"...He told me 25 years ago that he would feel real trapped if he didn't know that he could commit suicide at any moment. I don't know if that is brave or stupid or what, but it was inevitable."

For more information:
The Hells Angels Website.  Does this combination of words strike you as bizarre?
Wiki article on Gonzo journalism
Wiki article on Thompson. 

The Brothers Karamazov

A longer quote than usual to start with.  It is the first book I have given a 5 Star rating to so surely it deserves to be quoted (and indeed it often been quoted).

"Can you understand why a little creature, who can't even understand what's done to her, should beat her little aching heart with her tiny fist in the dark and the cold, and weep her meek unresentful tears to dear, kind God to protect her? Do you understand that, friend and brother, you pious and humble novice?Do you understand why this infamy must be and is permitted? Without it, I am told, man could not have existed on earth, for he could not have known good and evil. Why should he know that diabolical good and evil when it costs so much? Why, the whole world of knowledge is not worth that child's prayer to dear, kind God'! 
...
It's not worth the tears of that one tortured child who beat itself on the breast with its little fist and prayed in its stinking outhouse, with its unexpiated tears to 'dear, kind God'! It's not worth it, because those tears are unatoned for. They must be atoned for, or there can be no harmony. But how? How are you going to atone for them? Is it possible? By their being avenged? But what do I care for avenging them? What do I care for a hell for oppressors? What good can hell do, since those children have already been tortured? And what becomes of harmony, if there is hell? I want to forgive. I want to embrace. I don't want more suffering. And if the sufferings of children go to swell the sum of sufferings which was necessary to pay for truth, then I protest that the truth is not worth such a price. 
...
Besides, too high a price is asked for harmony; it's beyond our means to pay so much to enter on it. And so I hasten to give back my entrance ticket, and if I am an honest man I am bound to give it back as soon as possible. And that I am doing. It's not God that I don't accept, Alyosha, only I most respectfully return him the ticket."

An amazing book!  I hardly know where to start or what to say about it.  It is so dense, rich and engaging that my comments inevitably seem superficial.  There are so many thought provoking ideas crammed into this novel.  

The book is like a series of philosophical essays interspersed in a fantastic story full of fascinating characters.  Sometimes when authors try this you end up with a clunky, preachy, over-wrought mess.  But Dostoevsky manages to balance the plot and the philosophizing so perfectly that it never feels bogged down.  

The quote above is from Ivan, grappling with the problem of evil.  This passage affected me deeply when I first read it about 8 years ago.  I was still in the grips of religious fundamentalism at the time but the needless suffering in the world was steadily eating away at my faith.  I was shaken to find how strongly I could empathize with Ivan's declaration: "I most respectfully return him the ticket"

It is such a shame that Dostoevsky did not live long enough to write the sequel he had planned.  I would love to know how he would have unfolded the further adventures of the brothers, but also of Katya, Grushenka, Lise, Kolya and others.

So, which brother am I most like?  Which brother are you most like?  Is there some Karamazov in all of us?

A Tiger In Eden

It is not very often that opinion at our "Slim Tomes" Book Club is unanimous.  This book prompted one of those rare occasions.  We all disliked it.  I found the main character annoying, the "transformation" unconvincing and the conclusion fulfilling.  Flynn played with lofty ideas but his superficial treatment of grief, remorse and the desire to start anew was so badly done that it was annoying.  Overall a banal book that did not even redeem itself with the humor promised by the reviews on the cover.  The only good thing - it was a short little book and a quick, easy read, so it did not waste much of my time.  I don't think I will be reaching for a Chris Flynn book again anytime soon.

Neuromancer

We recently joined a new Book Club and Dear Husband suggested Neuromancer for the first book as he had just purchased a copy. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  The world of Neuromancer is fantastically imagined and communicated by Gibson.  The characters are fascinating enough to be absorbing, even though I found it hard to feel any empathy for them until nearing the end of the novel.  The plot is fast paced but I did get a bit lost in the action occasionally.  A few times I would read a couple of pages, feel a little hazy about what was going on, and then something would suddenly click and cause an "oh, so that's what just happened" moment. 

It was really interesting reading this and keeping in mind that it was written 28 years ago, in 1984.  Gibson is truly visionary.  He coined the term "cyberspace" in his 1982 short story "Burning Chrome" and popularized it with his novel Neuromancer.  He is also responsible for popularizing the term "matrix" and his work had a big influence on "The Matrix" film trilogy.  He is considered responsible for launching the sub-genres of Cyberpunk and Steampunk.  Honestly, this guy is truly a legend in his own time!  

"Neuromancer became the first novel to win the triple crown - Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick awards - and, in the process, virtually single-handedly launched the cyberpunk movement."   http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/gibson_interview.html 

Of course the vegan apprentice in me loved this snippet:
"Jesus," Molly said, her own plate empty, "gimme that.  You know what this costs?" She took his plate.  "They gotta raise a whole animal for years and then they kill it.  This isn't vat stuff." 
I wish that more people would see the meat on their plate in this light.  Could they then realize the absurdness of their dietary choices and the effect on our fragile planet?

For more on William Gibson:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gibson
For more from the man himself - he is a tweet meister:  https://twitter.com/#!/GreatDismal

I was about half way through Neuromancer when Dear Husband informed me that it is the first book in a trilogy and that he had already ordered a copy of the next two books.  Hooray!  I love a good trilogy.  Can hardly wait to read more Gibson.

The problem is, with all of this fabulous fiction sitting enticingly on the bookshelf, and belonging two Book Clubs which guarantees I will read at least two fiction books per month, how am I going to keep up with reading my Non-fiction quota for this year?

The Sense of an Ending

"We thought we were being mature when we were only being safe.  We imagined we were being responsible but were only being cowardly.  What we called realism turned out to be a way of avoiding things rather than facing them.  Time... give us enough time and our best-supported decisions will seem wobbly, our certainties whimsical."

"I had wanted life not to bother me too much, and had succeeded - and how pitiful that was."

I enjoyed this short novel - apparently much more than anyone else in our book club.  So I found myself feeling like an advocate for the book.  Maybe I enjoyed it more because I didn't even know it was a Booker Prize winner when I started reading it (yes I spend most of my time under a rock) so I just approached it as a something to relax with, rather than judging its merits as a Booker winner.  

I found it to be a real page turner.  So much so that I had to exert self-discipline to put it down for a day or two so that I could savour the ending even more.  

I liked the way Barnes dealt with the unreliability of memories and examined how our version of the past may not be as accurate as we like to believe.  I found the idea of corroboration of memories thought provoking, and it lead me to want to journal more regularly so that I will have more of my own "in the moment" reflections to look back on in years to come.  That's not to say I won't be interested in your version of the past too - so try to lay down some accurate memories please.  :)

He did manage to surprise me with the final twist, but I found the 'twist' convincing and believable.  It wasn't a sky hook and did not induce an "how dare he trick me" fit as all the necessary clues were there, they were just more subtle than the usual bleeding obvious "look here is an important detail" kind of clues.

Maybe the novel was particularly engaging for me as memories and our view of ourselves is something I have been thinking about lately.  I started raving on about memories, neurons and psychobabble but decided to move that discussion over to Mandy's Musings where it belongs.