Quickies: I Want to Show You More & The Guy’s Guide to Feminism

I Want to Show You More by Jamie Quatro

Publisher/Year: Grove Press, 2013
Format: Ebook
Pages: 224
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

What it is: A collection short stories, many of which have elements of fantasy or center on the subject of infidelity.

Why I read it: In this case, my awesomely scientific method behind choosing this book amounted to,”I feel like reading short stories. What does Grove Press have? Ooooh, I like this cover! Oh, and I need a Q author for my A-Z reading challenge. Done!” For real. I don’t even remember reading the book’s description! (Why Grove Press? I trust them enough to go on these random reading journeys of mine because I have yet to read a book I hate that they’ve published.)

What I thought: This is a quirky little collection. I wasn’t expecting Amy Bender-ish weirdness, so running into that in this book was an interesting surprise. As a whole the collection was hit-or-miss for me, but Quatro really is an amazing writer. A lot of the stories are more atmospheric rather than plot-driven, and are instead propelled by the characters’ rich internal lives. Some of my favorites were “Decomposition: A Primer for Promiscuous Housewives,” about a woman whose infidelity manifests itself by the the sudden presence of her dead lover in her bed; “Ladies and Gentlemen of the Pavement,” quite possibly the most disturbing story about running a marathon you will ever read; and “1.7 to Tennessee,” about an 89-year-old woman who decides to take an uncharacteristically long walk.

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The Guy’s Guide to Feminism by Michael S. Kimmel and Michael Kaufman

Publisher/Year: Seal Press, 2011
Format: Paperback
Pages: 208
Source: Publisher

What it is: An A-Z primer on feminism for guys.

Why I read it: I like reading Intro to Feminism-type books.

What I thought: Kimmel and Kaufman give a lot of presentations at schools, and I can see this book being useful in that context. The “chapters” are short and touch on dozens of feminist buzz words (H is for Honor Killings, M is for Macho/Machismo, N is for No, V is for Vaginas/Vulvas, etc.; many letters have multiple entries). I could see this book coming in handy in a classroom or in a small group setting; it only takes a minute or two to read most of the chapters, and that would serve as a good starting point for discussion. That said, the book is very, very basic. It’s good for people who have little to no knowledge of feminism, but people with a basic understanding of feminism might not get as much out of it. And personally, I found the style a little grating. Guy jokes are sprinkled in liberally, and I know the whole point is to cater to guys? But sometimes it felt like the equivalent of feminist primers that gear themselves toward teen girls by assuring them that they can still be feminist and wear pink, etc. There’s a market for that, and people do sometimes need those assurances, but it gets annoying after a while.

Quickies: Purple Hibiscus & Blasphemy

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Publisher/Year: Recorded Books, 2011 (book first published in 2003)
Format: Audiobook
Length: 10 hours, 53 minutes
Narrated by: Lisette Lecat
Source: Library

What it is: Kambali is a privileged, 15-year-old Nigerian girl growing up under the harsh rule of her abusive father, a well-respected man in their community. A brief stay at her aunt’s house shows her just how different life could be, but a military coup soon shatters her peaceful environment.

Why I read it: I had never read anything by Adichie (I know, I know), so I figured I should start at the beginning.

What I thought: I wanted to like this book more than I did. Parts of it were amazing. Adichie was wonderful at creating the tense atmosphere as a result of the domestic violence taking place inside Kambali’s home, and this fear extended to nearly every aspect of Kambali’s life, guiding her actions and shaping the way she interacted with others. At fifteen, she’s soft-spoken and naive about so many things that girls her age — even those less privileged — take for granted. But overall, I felt it dragged too much and was at times a chore to get back to. It probably didn’t help that the narrator was the slowest reader ever.

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Blasphemy by Sherman Alexie

Publisher/Year: Grove Press, 2012
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 480
Source: Library

What it is: A collection of old and new short stories, mostly dealing with male Native Americans from Spokane.

Why I read it: I’m an Alexie fan.

What I thought: Of all the Alexie books I’ve read (I think this was the fifth) this is definitely the one with the darkest undertone. About half of the stories had been previously published and I’d read several of them, but much of the newer material had an angrier and sadder edge to it. As with most of his books, his characters often face the some of the more common problems affecting Native American communities — mostly racism, alcoholism, depression and poverty — and the stories only show a tiny snippet of the characters’ lives. There were a few weak stories, but it was interesting to compare his older and newer work side by side.

Second Person Singular

The lawyer, one of the nameless narrators of Second Person Singular, seems to have it all: he’s one of the best Arab criminal attorneys working in Jerusalem, and he’s treated with respect in a city where Arabs are often disenfranchised. The lawyer is always trying to improve himself, and of the of the ways he does this is by attempting to be well-read. One day he stops by a used bookstore and picks up a copy of Tolstoy’s The Kreutzer Sonata. When he gets home and begins flipping through the pages, he discovers a love note written in his wife’s handwriting that’s addressed to a man named Yonatan.

From here the book splits into two different stories. The lawyer, it turns out, is an intensely jealous type. Without even talking about it to his wife, he becomes convinced she’s having a passionate affair and is determined to find out who Yonatan is; as a successful criminal attorney, he certainly has the connections to begin investigating.

At this point, we’re also introduced to the second narrator, who knows all about Yonatan. Where the lawyer’s point-of-view is pretty singularly focused on thoughts of his wife’s affair, the second narrator’s point-of-view is what contributes to most of the plot. This narrator is almost exact opposite of the lawyer; he too is an Arab living in Jerusalem, but he’s poor, works as a social worker, and is witness to more of the ethnic tension and stereotyping that many Arabs face.

Quickies: The Plague of Doves & A Confederacy of Dunces

The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich

Audiobook Publisher/Year: HarperAudio, 2009
Narrators: Peter Francis James & Kathleen McInerney
Source: Library

What it is: The brutal murder of a white family on a farm in North Dakota sends an angry group of men out to the nearby Ojibwe reservation in search of the murderer. The injustice of what happens will have repercussions for years to come. Two generations later, a part-Ojibwe/part-white girl named Evalina is trying to piece together her family’s involvement in what happened.

Why I listened to it: I’d never read anything by Erdrich before, and I picked it up on a whim when I saw it at the library.

What I thought: Parts of this book were positively breathtaking–I was often stunned by Erdrich’s poetic prose. Unfortunately, I can’t say this about the book as a whole. There is a lot to keep track of: multiple genrations, multiple narrators, side plots, etc. I wonder if it would have been easier to follow along if I’d read the book because I usually have no problem juggling different characters and plots. I read somewhere that the book originally started as short stories. If that’s the case, I can see how the book turned out somewhat disjointed; read as stories, some of the chapters would have come off as phenomenal. Overall, I didn’t not like it, but it wouldn’t be the first Erdrich book I’d recommend to people.

If this book were a beverage, it would be: whiskey.

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A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

Publisher/Year: Grove Press, 2002 (reprint)
Format: Paperback
Source: Library

What it is: A tragicomedy about the misadventures of Ignatius J. Reilly, an obese, offensive, haughty 30-year-old medievalist who lives with his mother in New Orleans. He’s often mistaken for a vagrant because of his unkempt appearance, and he can’t hold down a job, but that doesn’t stop him from looking down upon everyone.

Why I read it: For my Pulitzer Project.

What I thought: I kind of don’t even know what to say. Toole was a talented writer, and so much of this book is hilarious; the secondary cast of characters takes Ignatius everywhere, from jail to a second-rate strip club, to the flamboyant, wealthy gay scene in the French Quarter. The book is fantastic in small doses, but if I tried to read it for long stretches of time it started to get on my nerves. I spent most of my time wanted to strangle Ignatius, but I was also dumbfounded by the extent of his willful obtuseness. I really have to hand it to the 1981 Pulitzer voters for going so far off the beaten path and choosing Confederacy as the winner for that year.

If this book were a food, it would be: a hot dog.

Before the End, After the Beginning

I first discovered Dagoberto Gilb’s work while taking an undergrad Chicano/a literature course at Texas State University and immediately fell in love it, so I was upset to learn that he’d had a stroke in 2009. Although Gilb permanently lost some vision in both eyes, he recovered enough use of one hand to return to writing about six months after his stroke. Before the End, After the Beginning is a collection of ten short stories. A couple of the stories in the book have appeared in other places–I read “Uncle Rock” over a year ago in The New Yorker–but most of this book is comprised of new material. Though not much has changed in terms of his style–Gilb is a gifted storyteller whose protagonists are usually male–this collection does seem a lot more introspective compared to his other works that I’ve read.

If the elephant in the room is his stroke, Gilb acknowledges it head on in the first short story, “please, thank you”. The main character, Mr. Sanchez, has suffered a stroke. Once a strong man, Mr. Sanchez is knocked down by his health. The reader sees him through the early days of disorientation and follows along as he makes small victories in his recovery over the next few months. The story is at turns humorous and touching. It is also typed by Mr. Sanchez, who only has limited movement in one hand; as such, there are no capital letters in the story because Mr. Sanchez can’t reach the shift key. It’s a beautiful story, and one of my favorites.

Another favorite was “Uncle Rock,” about a young boy and his single mother. No matter who his mother dates, Erick refuses to warm up to them. It’s no different when she begins dating Roque; Erick can see that Roque adores his mother, but no matter how much Roque tries to engage with Erick over, Erick remains indifferent. Knowing that Erick loves baseball, Roque takes them to see a game at Dodgers stadium. Still, Erick tries to look nonchalant. But then something happens at the game, and Erick can keep his composure no more. The end left me smiling.

Say Her Name

I was first intrigued by Francisco Goldman’s Say Her Name when I saw the genres it was listed under, two of which included “literary fiction” and “memoir.” If you’re doing a double take and trying to sort that one out in your head, I assure you, so did I.  Truth be told, I kind of still am–the best way I can describe it is an autobiographical novel that reads like a memoir. But categorizing Say Her Name in the right box is largely irrelevant because in the end, the book takes on a life of its own in the form of a spirited young woman named Aura Estrada.

In 2007, just a month shy of their two-year wedding anniversary, the author and his wife took a much-anticipated vacation to the beaches of Mazunte, Mexico. While the couple was bodysurfing in the waves, Aura broke her neck in a freak accident and died the next day. In the months that followed Goldman sunk deeper and deeper into his grief, mourning the loss of his vivacious young wife while dealing with accusations from Aura’s mother and uncle that her death had been his fault.

The book takes readers into the depths of Goldman’s grief, but it also celebrates Aura’s life and the fleeting years she and Goldman had together. Aura was a PhD student from Mexico and a promising writer. She was fiercely intelligent and impulsive; everyone was drawn to her. Goldman was much older, but he was immediately taken with her when they first met, and the two eventually began a relationship that was bursting with love. The book celebrates her quirks and her desires and recounts the volatile realms of her past; when it is over, you’ll feel like you knew Aura, too.

It is also gorgeously written. This is a passage where Goldman describes some of the things Aura thought about as she sat at the beach:

At one end of the beach rose a steep bluff with a large solitary cross on top. Millennia of erosion had opened a triangular window in the formation of enormous boulders jutting into the ocean at the foot of the bluff, the beach’s eponymous window, in which sunsets were framed like detached pieces of sky; she spent much time trying to imagine when and how wind and ocean had penetrated the rock, the instant when light and spray had first broken through, what could that have been like?

War Dances; How I Became a Famous Novelist; Never Let Me Go

I’m so behind on reviews!  I was slammed with work/life in May, and I let my writing slide–but not the reading!  I’m now soaking up all the free time I have before summer session begins and I have to get back to work.  Some quickie reviews to catch up:

War Dances

Sherman Alexie, where have you been all my life?

I vaguely remember reading a short story of his a long time ago, but War Dances, which won this year’s PEN/Faulkner Award, was my first real experience reading Sherman Alexie.

The book is a collection of short stories and poems.  Though the works are not related to one another, all are written with with undercurrents of humor, loneliness, sadness.  I particularly loved how Native American culture and questions of identity permeated the book.  And though I’m not usually a fan of poetry, some of Alexie’s poems blew me away.

I think my favorite story in the collection was “Breaking and Entering,” about a Native American film editor who has to decide whether to confront a person who has broken into his home.  I was completely mesmerized by the protagonist and his internal (and external) dilemmas.

The title story, “War Dances,” is up in the New Yorker archives.

Publisher/Year: Grove, 2009
Source: Library
Format: Print

How I Became A Famous Novelist

Pete Tarslaw is an ethically-challenged college graduate who writes people’s college application essays for a living.  Upon getting laid off by his equally shady boss, Tarslaw tries to think up the easiest way to get rich and famous before his ex’s impending wedding.  His plan is to smugly show up and make her regret ever dumping him.  Eventually, Tarslaw decides the easiest way to do so is to write a best-selling novel.

If the plot sounds ridiculous, that’s because it is.  Tarslaw studies the NY Times bestseller list  to see what kinds of books people eat up, ending up with a checklist for his own book that involves things such as World War II and a road trip.  He decides on the title The Tornado Ashes Club, and plows ahead with his writing.

I’m not usually a fan of comedies, but I was pleasantly surprised by How I Became a Famous Novelist.  The situations that Tarslaw finds himself in are ludicrous, but Hely’s parodies of various aspects of the publishing world are pretty funny.

Publisher/Year: Grove, 2009
Source: On loan from a friend
Format: Print

Never Let Me Go

Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, a 2005 Booker Prize finalist always caught my eye in bookstores, but I had never picked it up until now.  Going in, I didn’t even know what the book was about.  For some reason, I’d had a vague impression that it was a science fiction novel.

When I finally did start reading the book, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is somewhat of a sci-fi novel.  The book revolves around a small group of friends who grew up at Hailsham, a boarding school of sorts in the English countryside.  I don’t want to give too much away because their identities and experiences are a central part of the plot, but the book follows this group of friends through their youth, then jumps forward several years into their futures.

Although the book was beautifully written, I was a bit underwhelmed overall.  Ishiguro is a very quiet writer, taking his time as he teases out the intricacies of his protagonists’ experiences and inner thoughts (sometimes to a fault).  What I did really like was the timelessness of the environments.  Although Ishiguro does give readers the actual years of the events, it was very easy for me to imagine the book taking place in an older time period; this made it all the more disconcerting when the sci-fi elements of the book subtly revealed themselves.

Publisher/Year: Vintage, 2006
Source: Library
Format: Print

Book of Clouds

Book of Clouds is the first novel by Mexican American author Chloe Aridjis.  The book is about a Mexican woman named Tatiana who won a national language contest and was awarded a year of study in Berlin.  She stays in Berlin after her scholarship is up, living a fairly solitary life and working odd jobs to get by.  She eventually lands a job transcribing the dictations of a local historian.  Through this job, she meets other people and has the opportunity to explore the darker parts of Berlin.

Aridjis is a master at detail.  Much of the novel takes place in Tatiana’s head in the form of her observations about Berlin and its inhabitants.  She often creates narratives for the strangers and foreign areas of the city she encounters.  For instance:

With the division of the city, its public transportation system, like everything else, was cut in two…The stations became ghosts at places where the city was not neatly split and Western trains had to cross sections of the East in order to continue their journey to other destinations in the west…As for West Berliners passing through in their trains, many of them, over time, became desensitized and stopped looking out.  Others felt like Orpheus crossing the Underworld, forced to continue on a path without looking back.  It was an eerie experience, Weiss said, to travel through this hushed realm where even the lights had muted to a whisper.

Aridjis brings Berlin and its dark history to life.  What struck me most about this book was its ethereal quality; reading it is very much like walking through a fog.  It’s a very slow, quiet book that takes its time to develop, but it remains strange and amusing enough to keep the reader’s interest piqued.  I look forward to reading whatever Aridjis writes in the future.

Publisher/Year: Grove, 2009
Source: Online purchase
Format: Print