The Magicians :: Lev Grossman

Title: The Magicians

Author: Lev Grossman

Read: NYC, Boston

Format: Kindle

It took me a long time (3+ weeks) to read The Magicians because, well, it wasn't very interesting. Friends and the internets alike suggested that the book was like The Secret History meets Harry Potter meets Narnia meets etc. And it was. It just somehow managed to be boring too. Because those great books were much more than just their great concepts, they were peopled with nuanced, three-dimensional characters and fascinating, page-turning plots.

The Magicians follows Quentin Coldwater as he grows from bookish, awkward nerd to powerful magician to fantasy adventurer. The first half or so chronicles Quentin's discovery of his magical gifts and his years of training at Brakebills, the magic college. Grossman lingers in this setting for far too long and somehow manages to do it no justice. By the time Quentin graduates I was left feeling like Brakebills was a shallow sketch filled with a series of experiences. It lacked dimension even after taking SO LONG to get through.

After graduation, Quentin and his friends move to New York City where they do standard Reality Bites-ish, angsty things until they find themselves busy with an adventure. The adventure takes them to Fillory - the imaginary-or-is-it setting of a children's book series. They see crazy things and meet amazing creatures. They fight for their lives and the liberation of this fantasy world.

The book is ambitious in scope and creativity, but I think in the end falls short of being truly good. Rather than a rich world with an exciting, adventurous arc, we get a string of fantastical scenes and vignettes. Grossman fails to create a world, despite pages and pages of effort. I don't mean to be as harsh as I sound, there's just a lot of squandered potential in these pages. If The Magicians was 25% shorter and had a little more story editing, I think it could have been really memorable and even great. As it is, though, I think it's really just okay.

I don't regret reading it, but I don't quite recommend it either.
3 out of 5 stars, but only because I'm feeling kind of generous

The Russian Debutante's Handbook :: Gary Shteyngart

Title: The Russian Debutante's Handbook

Author: Gary Shteyngart

Read: NYC, Paris, Boston

Format: Trade paperback

I read - and loved - Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart this summer. Shortly after finishing it, I went to see the author read at the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He was funny and nice and I decided to buy the only one of his novels I hadn't read and I had it signed - woo!

The next night, I was at the bar in Brooklyn I always go to and who should sidle up to the bar stool next to me? Gary Shteyngart. I did not talk to him because I am shy. However, I did take it as a sign that clearly I should read Russian Debutante asap.

And I would have. I mean, I started it asap. But despite being told by the sales associate at the Tenement Museum (and others) that this was the best of his books, I just couldn't latch on. I loved Absurdistan and Super Sad True Love Story and I'm very glad I read them first. Had I started with Russian Debutante, I would not have picked the others up.

I don't mean to say that TRDH was bad, because it was certainly not. However, plot-wise I found it unwieldy - even meandering at times - and I never did grow fond of Vladimir, our narrator, either. Plus, while I'm interested in some of the themes explored (immigration, assimilation, otherness, success, expectations, legitimacy), I felt that they exploded into a lot of directions and the result felt unruly.

All that said, I like Shteyngart's prose style. As a writer, he skillfully can turn a clever (yet not glib) phrase all while being sincere (and never saccharine). It's a difficult balance, but one Shteyngart achieves in all of his novels.

Some prefer Absurdistan to Super Sad True Love Story, but I don't. I think Shteyngart's work has steadily improved and even though I didn't love Russian Debutante, I look forward to reading all this author's future works. I like his style and sometimes that beats all.

Good writing in need of a story editor:

3 out of 5 stars.

Richard Yates :: Tao Lin

Title: Richard Yates

Author: Tao Lin

Read: NYC, JFK > CDG

Format: trade paperback

The fluff on the back of Tao Lin's novel Richard Yates describes Lin as "Kafka for the iPhone generation." That was exactly stupid enough to get me to read it. Also, I liked how it's just a little bit hard to tell who the author is and what the title is from the cover.

Basically, Richard Yates is the story of a young writer and his underaged girlfriend. Their names, amusingly (or maybe annoyingly), are Haley Joel Osment and Dakota Fanning. The two are kind of screwed up and even though it's sometimes disturbing and ridiculous, it's very often sweet as well. By way of plot, not much happens really. And while many serious themes are discussed (statutory rape, eating disorders, suicide, guilt, control, neurosis, depression, etc), they are not explored deeply and certainly not moralistically, which is nice.

Lin's writing is spare and can feel distant, but by the end you feel invested in the characters - and their relationship - nonetheless. When I was a full 25 percent into the book, I still wasn't sure if I liked it or not. Like, maybe the names were too gimmicky or the writing too pretentious or something. I'm glad I stuck it out, though, because I did enjoy Richard Yates, all told. Besides, it's a testamant to Lin's ability that despite these affects, he is still able to produce a story and characters that sustain your interest. And while I'm not rushing out to buy his other novels, I would recommend this one to certain friends.

Different and modern, but not cold:

3 out of 5 stars

A Short History of Women :: Kate Walbert

Title: A Short History of Women

Author: Kate Walbert

Read: NYC

Format: Trade paperback

Kate Walbert's A Short History of Women is a multigenerational story that begins in 1914 with a British woman, Dorothy Trevor Townsend, who starves herself in the name of women's suffrage. The legacy of her sacrifice informs the lives and identities of the generations of daughters and granddaughters that come after her, both in the UK and America. All told, it's a beautiful, stirring story.

In the telling, though, it was a tiny bit uneven at times. Specifically, Walbert jumps around both in time (throughout the 20th century) and in voice (through the voices of Dorothy Townsend's descendants). This can be a moving device when wielded properly, but it falls a little short here, for me anyway. Personally, I just found certain stories/contexts more interesting than others and it made reading through less affecting segments seem chore-like at times. Not to say that any parts were weak, they certainly weren't; more that certain plot lines were especially wrenching.

Add it to your pile of to reads, I'd say. But it doesn't have to sit at the top.

Beautiful writing, great characters.

4 out of 5 stars.

This is Where I Leave You :: Jonathan Tropper

Title: This is Where I Leave You [anything goes book club selection, TG]

Author: Jonathan Tropper

Read: NYC

Format: kindle

This September, the book club decided to go the contemporary fiction route with Jonathan Tropper's This is Where I Leave You.

At the beginning of the novel, the recently separated (and cuckolded) Judd Foxman learns his father has died. He heads to his childhood home to sit shiva with his child psychologist mother and neurotic adult siblings. Over the course of his days at home, secrets, grudges, and grief (over his lost father and his lost youth) are explored. It kind of sounds insufferable, but Tropper's sharp wit and at-times beautiful writing steer the novel clear out of maudlin waters (for the most part). Even when he's being angsty and poignant (the novel is ostensibly about death and aging, after all), Tropper's easy humor makes those pills go down pretty smoothly.

I read this book during a very difficult time. The one year anniversary of my brother's death was looming and the reality of mourning and grief was as real as the building anxiety as the exact date drew closer. I cried a lot while reading as I was genuinely moved by the honesty in the characters' sadness and in the different ways it manifested.

I also found the relationships between the adult siblings really interesting. Over the years I've thought a lot about how adulthood reshapes the way we interact with our siblings when your (or at least my) understanding of them as people was born in a long-ago-far-away place. A lot of the way Judd is both a part of his family and apart from his family is so familiar to me. As is the fact that that there's really nothing like tragedy to wrench you out of that in-between place and make you realize you simply have to make choices about the way you want your relationships to be and then go with it.

This write up really doesn't do any justice to how light and funny the book really is. It's a fast read and, in my opinion, worthwhile. But, I can't promise that if I had read this book 14 months ago I would have had the same experience.

Sad and provoking. Also funny and sweet.

4 out of 5 stars.

Little Bee :: Chris Cleave

Title: Little Bee

Author: Chris Cleave

Read: NYC

Format: Trade paperback

Little Bee is about a young Nigerian refugee who makes her way to the United Kingdom and tracks down a young couple with whom she shared a traumatic experience on a beach in Nigeria. In its telling, the story is told in alternating voices: that of Little Bee herself and Sarah (the wife in the aforementioned British couple - her husband has recently died).

Now, here's the thing with this book. I liked it well enough while I was reading it. I wanted to know what happened to Little Bee and the British couple in Nigeria. I also wanted to know what would happen to them now that she is squirreled away with Sarah in England (illegally). But something sat funny with me while I was reading, despite the fact that I was actually engaged.

Once I finished and knew what was what, I became more aware of what was nagging at me. It was a couple of things:

1) Sarah did not seem to be too torn up over her husband's death; I found this unbelievable regardless of the circumstances/challenges of their marriage
2) I got a little of that exoticism that I disliked in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency in the voice of Little Bee
3) I don't like when men write women in first person; I think at best it is natural (very rare), at worst it is offensive
4) So much build up (intriguing histories to be uncovered, intriguing futures to be planned), but it all falls kind of flat upon resolution

I don't want to dog on Little Bee completely. I enjoyed reading it. I just wasn't super thrilled with it once it was all over.

A quick, engrossing read, but not without some (annoying) flaws.
3 out of 5 stars

The Case of the Missing Servant :: Tarquin Hall

Title: The Case of the Missing Servant

Author: Tarquin Hall

Read: NYC

Format: Trade paperback

Vish Puri is a rotund Punjabi private detective with an overblown sense of his own ability and an incessant hankering for fried treats. In this first installment of his adventures, he has to solve the mystery of his own attempted murder, find a missing servant (of course), and investigate the character of a wealthy client's future son-in-law. With the aid of his mother, a team of crack assistants, and, indeed, his own ability he manages to get to the bottom of everything. Though it takes a minute to get used to, the telling is charming and fun to watch unfold.

I obviously enjoyed Hall's series debut even though it wasn't particularly innovative insofar as the mysteries are concerned. But it was light and Puri is truly a lovable new character (even if he is, apparently, Poirot-ish). What I find interesting in my own reaction is that even though a white, British man writes this Indian tale (set in Delhi), it doesn't bother me. Not in the way McCall Smith's Ladies Detective Agency series troubled me. Maybe because the voice that Hall is inhabiting is a man and therefore the difference is smaller and easier to overlook. Or maybe it's because Hall doesn't exoticize his protagonists culture in the same way that McCall Smith does. Somehow, I feel like it's more respectful. I could totally be projecting that, th0ugh.

Anyway, I really enjoyed The Case of the Missing Servant for what it is: a light, charming, fun read. And while I didn't run out to buy the second installment (now still in hard cover), I expect it's just a matter of time.

Fun, colorful, charming.

4 out of 5 stars

The White Tiger :: Aravind Adiga

Title: The White Tiger [book club selection, VM]

Author: Aravind Adiga

Read: NYC

Format: Kindle

White Tiger is a gripping, darkly-comic view into modern India told - with gusto - by Balram Halwai, our entrepeneurial, car-service-owning narrator. Ostensibly, the story is about Balram's rise as a businessman, but through his tale we are exposed to the grave disparity among Indians even today. Some of the dualities explored include: Hindu vs Muslim cultures; abject poverty vs burgeoning global power; the urban vs the rural; individual vs familial responsibilities; obedience vs corruption; and western assimilation vs national loyalty.

Clearly, White Tiger is dense with meaning, but it falls shy of actually indicting any one villain for these problems, which is refreshing. Instead, it paints the perhaps heavy-handed portrait of a changing nation.

Told as a missive from the charming, if mentally-unbalanced, Balram to the Prime Minister of China, the novel is at times as funny as it is wrenching. The epistolary structure (if you can call it that, at this length) serves as a great mechanism for Adiga to pull out of some of the more heartbreaking/shocking assessments of India by injecting Balram's humorous voice. Adiga also then returns the reader to the absurd format of an earnest letter from a ridiculous man to a world leader.

Anyway, I liked The White Tiger. I liked the narrator (sociopath or not). I was intrigued by the portrait of India. But, it did leave me (and my fellow book-clubbers) wondering about how exaggerated the account is. But maybe that's part of the point? That is, this depravity (or some degree of it anyway) exists and nobody really knows (or cares to know) exactly how bad it might be.

Provoking and funny. An unusual combination worth checking out.

4 out of 5 stars

Lark & Termite :: Jayne Anne Phillips

Title: Lark & Termite

Author: Jayne Anne Phillips

Read: NYC

Format: Trade paperback

Lark & Termite is a multigenerational epic-y tale of the mentally and physically handicapped boy called Termite and his older sister Lark. To understand their lives, we have to first understand their troubled mother - the sister of the aunt with whom they live - and the father that died in the Korean War. While their family is filled with loss, heartache, drama, etc, it's also not wanting for love. The family unit that the youngsters' aunt creates for them is both warm and loving.

Sometimes contrived, but always touching, I do recommend Lark & Termite for it's ability to keep the reader engaged - captivated even - as it unwinds. Phillips' writing, too, is noteworthy. The perspective and time jumps around and even though the character perspective shifts, the changes are never jarring. Phillips maintains consistency in sentences that are always sparse and modern, but never unfeeling. All together it has an almost-musical quality to it; at times it's even beautiful.

Put it on your list.

4 out of 5 stars

Oracle Night :: Paul Auster

Title: Oracle Night
Author: Paul Auster
Read: May 2009; Madrid
Format: kindle

Oracle Night is yet another one of Auster's lonely-writer, nested-narrative novels.

Suffering from an undetermined illness and recovering from a recent episode, Sidney Orr returns to writing. In his convalescence, he had been filling his days with mundane activities: lunch, errands, etc. However, one day he visits a mysterious stationery store in his Brooklyn neighborhood. There, he purchases a mystical, Portuguese notebook and begins to write after a long drought. The story that Sidney begins to write is complicated and I don't care to recall it. Just know that it begins as an exercise, but then the writing pours out of him and what he creates becomes fuller and darker.

Like much of Auster's writing, Oracle Night concerns itself with the process of writing and the relationship between writer, life, and work.

Auster, to me, is a go-to author when you want to read something substantive, but you don't want to commit a lot of time to it. He's brilliant with mood and meaning; through this he's able to construct layers that are readable and suspenseful, but also challenging. We come to expect this from the author, but Oracle Night took it a little too far, I think. Maybe one layer too many? Maybe we could have dialed back the alienation a bit? Though, maybe that was me. I read this while traveling alone in a foreign city.

Anyway, it was an interesting read. And since it's not much of a time commitment, it's worth picking up. But don't be shocked if you find yourself on the verge of an eye-roll every once in a while.

Captivating and well-paced, with a healthy dose of mystery.

3 out of 5 stars