The Natural by Bernard Malamud

The Natural by Bernard Malamud
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

[Audio Version]
The 1984 adaptation of Bernard Malamud's The Natural featured  Robert Redford as Roy Hobbs. As played by Redford, Hobbs was a a wild-eyed, mildly arrogant innocent, cocky but ultimately likable. The result was a pleasant and upbeat film with a tried and true Hollywood happy ending. There was barely a hint of the calculating dark side that motivated the Hobbs of the novel. Sure, Redford had a few questionable moments and associated with a few too many shady characters, but nothing that the movie version of Roy Hobbs couldn't rise above.

I had heard, or perhaps read, that the book was considerably darker than the film. While I enjoyed the Redford interpretation I was looking forward to something a little meatier than the sugar-coated movie treatment.

I have no rule for myself about reading the book before seeing the movie. Movies don't wreck the book for me. Nor do I shy away from downbeat novels.

The Natural's reputation was of being one of the better baseball stories ever written. However, even though I was a captive listener as I drove in rush-hour traffic twice a day, I don't think that I could have gotten through the 6-disk set without the memory of Robert Redford’s Hobbs in the back of mind. It gave me hope that the thick as a brick novel-version of Roy Hobbs might find some sort of redemption before it was all over.

From the beginning, Roy Hobbs comes across as a self-centered, borderline narcissist. His only virtues are his conceit, his arrogance and his ability to throw a baseball. Hobbs is a completely humorless figure oblivious to the needs or insidious designs of those around him. The problem is that Hobbs is so unlikable that whether people are intent upon doing him harm, or in some cases good, it is impossible to care. Whenever it appears that Hobbs might actually take a turn towards likability, it is his own boorishness that ultimately undermines any progress. He never shows any serious growth or maturation. Instead he wallows in self pity, bemoaning his run of bad luck, which is considerable, but mostly of his own doing.

The Natural is not the only book to feature an unlikable jerk as its main protagonist, but without much of a hook beyond the main character being a gifted underachiever, there is little about Hobbs that is engaging or even interesting. It's hard to feel for a self-centered character who has no understanding of consequences and never accepts responsibility for his actions, whether it's engaging in a one-night stand that almost cost him his life, fathering a child that he'd rather not acknowledge or causing the death of the scout who signed him.
 

Nevertheless, perhaps because of the memory of that Redford movie, I persevered with hope that Hobbs might turn a corner towards self-redemption. No such luck. The closest that Hobbs ever comes to introspection is his regret about being caught fixing a game. It ends up costing the backstabbing Roy whatever remained of his career. By the time a former fan, a young boy approachs Hobbs and ask, “Why did you do it?” I had ceased to care.

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Charlie Martz and Other Stories: The Unpublished Stories by Elmore Leanord

Charlie Martz and Other Stories: The Unpublished Stories by Elmore Leonard
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

(Audio)
Charlie Martz and Other Stories is, as the title suggest, a collection of some of the unpublished works of Elmore Leonard.
As can be expected there are several variations of the same story. Several of the stories feels as though they were never really completed--not surprising when a dead author releases a new book. Nevertheless, this remains a must-read collection for any would-be writers interested in the evolution of a style. In spite of a few rough spots it should also be an entertaining collection for any readers, or listeners.

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And the Trees Crept In by Dawn Kurtagich

And the Trees Crept In by Dawn Kurtagich
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This applies only to the audio Version

If what we are discussing is the production values of the audio product then this would be a 5 star review. However, as a novel-length story And The Trees Crept In was lacking. Although at times it could be atmospheric and even creepy, it failed to sustain that effect. Eventually tension gives way to boredom and frustration due, in no small way, to the main character's inertia. In the end this felt like it could have been a decent short story or maybe even a novella. As it is, it is a short story stretched to novel length without the benefit of any additional material.

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Avenue of Mysteries by John Irving

Avenue of Mysteries by John Irving
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Image that T.S. Garp and Owen Meany were brother and sister. Next imagine that they started life as poor Mexican dump kids. (Is there any other kind, but poor?) And rather than calling themselves Garp and Owen their new names are now Juan Diego and Lope.

Now imagine that Juan Diego is an author of books that sometimes appear to have much in common with some of John Irving’s more famous, and infamous, works. But don’t read too much into that similarity because as Juan Diego often protests, his books are not autobiographical. Although, I do have a suspicion that he does protest too much.

“Avenue of Mysteries” contains miracles or possible miracles. There is religious ambiguity as well as sexual ambiguity. There are several John Irving style deaths, meaning comical, tragic and untimely. There are ghosts, or at least potential ghosts, or at least we hope they really are ghosts. They might be.

Juan Diego’s life plays in the present day, on a pilgrimage of sorts, to the Philippines where a somewhat obnoxious former student serves as his host. It’s is on this trip that he meets two women who may or may not be mother and daughter, who may or may not even be flesh and blood, at least not of the type we are used to. Juan Diego's past returns to visit him often, in his dreams and in his imagination.

If you have read John Irving in the past and you liked his work, I think you will really appreciate “Avenue of Mysteries”. It is not a re-tread of past glories, but a re-imagining of many. There is much that is familiar and, perhaps, I got too caught up in the “That’s from…” game. However, this doesn not feel like re-hashed leftovers—OK, maybe a little bit—although maybe more like a fresh serving of a favorite dish, with just enough that is new to keep it interesting.

I think the best books are the ones where the characters become more than props in an opera and, for whatever reason, whether you want them dead or alive, you give a damn. In that way I think this book is a grand success.


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Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham

Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

(Audio version)
This is a bona-fide john Grisham novel, so naturally the central character is a lawyer in a mid-size southern town.
Sebastian Rudd doesn't bother with the ordinary cases. His clients are the type of people who are just shy of beyond a reasonable doubt guilty. He drives around town in his mobile office, a black bullet-proof van.
Unlike most Grisham novels, at least the ones that I have read, "Rogue Lawyer" is not driven by a single tale of moral dilemma. Instead, several key episodes in the life of Sebastian Rudd are interwoven into a well-paced tale.

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The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

(audio version) Great use of POV.
Rachel, Anna, Megan, Tom and Scott. One is an alcoholic. One, well actually three, are cheaters. One, maybe two is abusive. One keeps secrets. One is a liar. One is a very good liar. Two are trying to regain control of their lives. Three think they are in control of their lives. They are all wrong. Four don't realize that they are in danger. Two will die. One is a killer. And these are their good traits.

The story is told from the point of view of Rachel, Anna, and Megan. And as is usually the case, people observing the same event often perceive things differently. Some books use this POV gimmick to have each character tell their version of events. "The Girl on the Train" avoids that tedium by keeping the narrative moving forward regardless of whose eyes we are looking through.

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A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After approximately 1000 words, I was almost to the point where enough is enough. The dialogue is stilted; the characters, like the actors in a high school play, seem overly mannered. However, read on and the world takes shape, events become important and the high-school players turn into real people, living real lives, in troubled times.

Unlike most modern novels which attempt to live by the rule that you must grab the reader in the first page or two “A Tale of Two Cities” requires a small act of faith by the reader. It’s a very small investment in stage-setting that pays out big in the end. I knew there had to be a good reason this is considered by many to be a timeless classic.

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