Sweetland

Sweetland by Michael Crummey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

[Audio Version] I picked up “Sweetland” hoping that it might be the Canadian equivalent of Steinbeck’s ‘Sweet Thursday”. I’ll state here that there is a real possibility that this unrealized expectation may have affected my ability to appreciate the first couple of chapters but I don’t think so. I’ll describe those chapters as plodding but necessary in order to create a solid foundation for what followed.

What followed was the unfolding of the life of 70-year old, Moses Sweetwater. While adopting a bit of the persona of a grumpy-old-man Moses is neither an evil man running from a long-history of mis-deeds nor a super-hero saint. He just is. Life happens and he regularly, dutifully confronts occurrences as needs be, without excuses and without an expectation of pity or accolades for any of his actions.

Now, if that sounds dull, blame this reviewer. “Sweetland” succeeds in bringing Moses Sweetland to life. Once that happens and the reader (or listener) comes to know and empathize with the characters, then outcomes matter. And that is what makes for a rewarding reading experience.


View all my reviews

New Earth

New Earth by Ben Bova
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

[Audio Version]
Imagine a future where climate change is threatening the human population. Imagine the good fortune of finding an earth-like planet waiting to be explored and possibly colonized. Unfortunately, it will take your team 80 years to get there, 8 years before earth receives their first transmissions and another 80 before they get home. So far, so good. Except, I guess things are so bad on earth that it’s unthinkable to send their best. So somehow they manage to put together a team consisting of the dumbest experts imaginable.

Had I been reading this book either in a traditional format or on a Kindle I think I might have put it down and continued on to something else after a chapter or two. It’s possible that because an actor was reading to me, and I was stuck in traffic anyway, that I was a little more patient in allowing this story to play out than was warranted.

So, without going into spoilers, how can I be so down on the book and yet listen through to the end? I can’t say. It may be that this book was the sci-fi novel equivalent of an episode of Gilligan’s Island. You know what happens in the end. You know that the castaways will do something petty and stupid to bring about that end. Yet, because you like some of the actors you stick around and watch the inevitable take excruciatingly long to happen.

I’ve not read Ben Bova before. It’s my understanding that he is a well-respected author and that this may not represent his best work. Oh well, while I’m not about to rush out looking for another Bova novel to read, I won’t let this one stop me from picking up another should it appear that it might interest me.


View all my reviews

The People in the Trees

The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is one tough book to review.

I almost gave up early on. Basically this is the fictional autobiography of an especially unlikable narcissist and probably sociopath who's only redeemable characteristic is that be is a brilliant, or maybe just extremely lucky, medical researcher who goes by the name of Norton. I may have quit the book early on except that Norton's rat-a-tat-tat narration, somewhat like Oskar in "The Tin Drum", kept me intrigued. It wasn't that I particularly liked the experience, but the book seemed in a hurry to get somewhere and I wanted to get there too.

That somewhere actually turned out to be a lost civilization known as the "Dreamers", the people in the trees. They represent an amazing discovery with a twist that yada-yada could change the world. As events proceed Norton, when he's not behaving like a petulant child appears, almost appears human. Will he ever atone for his sins? Maybe. He rescues (adopts) children from the land he helped destroy. Guilt?

--Spoiler--

Nope, As it turns out Norton is even worse than I'd imagined. This brought up the question: What was I reading and why?

If execution is everything then this novel is worthy of three stars--probably more. Yet I can't recommend it. Maybe as an expose of the mind of a sociopath it has merit--maybe. As for me, I feel as though I was led through a dark and dreary labyrinth. There were hints of light along the way, but not much. I think there was a Catholic moment that may have thrown me off: penance, forgiveness, and time spent in Purgatory. But, after turning the final corner it turn out the glimmer of light was actually a pile of shit! This book is definitely not for everybody. As it turns out it wasn't even for me. Yanagihara may someday be considered a great author, but this is not the book that will have me looking up whatever other work she may have out there.


View all my reviews

"Tunnel in the Sky" by Robert A. Heinlein

Tunnel in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Going into this book I knew the author and the title and little more.

I wasn’t surprised in the beginning when it appeared as though this might go all space wizardry with worm-hole like transport to distant planets. However the story didn’t take the Tom Swift route. It turned slightly domestic as it followed the main protagonist, a teenage student named Rod Walker, from lollygagging about, to his trip through a tunnel from the east coast to his home in the southwest, dinner with his parents and sister, his school, and finally the survival assignment that would set the main stage for the novel; a weekend on an unexplored but hopefully habitable planet.

Rod is dropped off, as are numerous others, for his weekend of survival. However catastrophe leaves them stranded on the planet and soon Rod does begin encountering fellow students. His first conscious encounter, after having been mugged, is with Jack. Jack is actually the female Jackie but, it appears due to her competence, Rod never actually catches on that she is not a male. It is another student who first makes this observation.

Eventually the colony attracts others. It is here that the story takes a turn that reminded me of Lord of the Flies. However, in Tunnel in the Sky the stranded survivors attempt to avoid any sort of regression by recreating the civilization that they left behind. They form a governmental body with marriage certificates, and stabs at democracy.

The book was written in the mid-fifties and it’s hard to totally ignore the times from which it came. The women are on the cutting edge of equality when survival is questionable but expected to fall back into the traditional roles of domesticity as conditions allow; skirts for formal square dancing and all. This isn’t a criticism; just interesting. At the time it was probably a bold step forward; today it reads like one foot stuck firmly in the door.

I did have a problem with the main character. It may be a 50’s thing but by the end of the story, in spite of being portrayed as a savior of the community, I think he’s evolved into a whiney, who- gives-a-damn hindrance to the colony. For reasons that aren’t logical he decides against his own proposal of moving to a safer, defensible area. When rescue does happen he acts sullen and spoiled, like a dictator who enjoys the illusion that he was overwhelmingly elected.

In the end this is a well-written, sometimes exasperating book. The characters are observed and recorded but their motivations weren’t , at least to me, very clear. Lately, I find , that I prefer books that are more involving yet able to avoid crossing the line into navel gazing. Three stars seem fair. This is a good book, but not one that I’ll be thinking about much after this review..


View all my reviews

"The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet" by David Mitchell

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Judge a book by its cover and you might think that “The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet” is simply the story of Jacob De Zoet, a clerk for the Dutch East Indies Company who arrived in Dejimi, a port off the coast of Japan in 1799. But this book is a thousand times more ambitious than simply the story of an honest clerk. It’s about everybody he meets, and the culture, and the crime, customs, traditions unrequited love, and forbidden practices. De Zoet is not some superhero who marches into all these situations and saves the day. In some cases his influence barely rates a ripple; in others he remains forever unaware.

The story is broken up into sections that sometimes feature a cast of characters within only the slightest connection to De Zoet. Yet, De Zoet never feels far from the action even when separated by time and distance.





****Possible Spoiler***




I clicked on the 4-start rating and immediately felt as though I had clicked one-star too few. This is easily a 5-start book—almost.

While reading I did get caught up in the life of De Zoet; what he did, what he might do, what he should do. The novel is certainly involving on that level. Maybe my disappointments with De Zoet are actually my own. After nearly 20 years living off the coast of Japan he remains unavoidably affected yet essentially unchanged. When he is forced to leave, leaving his son behind, one hopes for a desperate action, even if knowing it would be doomed to failure. No desperate action happens and De Zoet returns “home” where he is celebrated as a wartime hero. The extraordinary life that De Zoet’s has lived seems to have had little effect on him. For better or worse he lives out the remainder of his days as the same humble, honest, hardworking and loyal man that he sought to be from the beginning.

A great novel, a truly great novel, but I think I’ll leave the 4-star rating—at least for now. The book is put away, yet the story continues to play in my head. What was, what could have been—but wait! It’s only fiction. Probably the highest 4-star rating I’ll ever leave.


View all my reviews

Ghostwritten by David Mitchell

Ghostwritten by David Mitchell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A 1-Star Review of a 5-Star Novel.

Attempting to even write an adequate review of a novel as grandiose as Ghostwritten is intimidating. It can lead you to drop pretentious words like grandiose into a sub one thousand word review in hope of compensating for a paucity of proper words. I’m primed for a great review but as a word-smith I'm feeling overwhelmed by the task at hand. Prepare for disappointment.

Unfortunately, I have to begin by admitting to a cheat. I did not actually read “Ghostwritten”. I listened to it as I drove to and from the office every day. The experience left me undecided as to whether or not being unable to flip back a page or two is truly a disadvantage. There were several occasions where I played a disk twice. Normally, I would not want to hear the same passages read back to me so soon after having heard them the first time. But I found that a second listen allowed for a greater appreciation for what I had heard. It allowed me to pick up subtleties that I had missed.

Back to point, on the surface “Ghostwritten” may appear as a disjointed collection of short stories. That’s primarily because it is. Yet each tale is woven into the others in ways that are not immediately obvious. Mitchell manages to create a full world where the parts are as inextricably connected as they are disjointed. Separate yet together, playing upon and dependent upon one another.


In the end the magic of “Ghostwritten” is not about getting caught up in the adventures of any particular protagonist. It is about getting caught up in a world where the connections that bind us are made real while the barriers that would divide us are swept away.

View all my reviews