"A Hole in the Universe," by Mary McGarry Morris (2004) If you read (or saw the movie of) Mary McGarry Morris' great novel, "Songs in Ordinary Time," you must know what a remarkable writer she is. What I had forgotten, until I picked up this book, is that she is a New Englander, from Massachusetts, in fact, and she sets her stories within this familiar framework. "Songs in Ordinary Time" was set in a small Vermont town. "A Hole in the Universe" is set in Massachusetts, virtually on my own doorstep. I was jarred into this realization in Chapter 2, when a character used the word "mingya." If you've never heard this term before, I wouldn't be surprised; my understanding always was that folks who said "mingya" were 99% likely to be from Methuen, Massachusetts. Maybe Italian, maybe not. Maybe an urban myth, maybe not... But suddenly the story came alive for me.
The characters are strong and vivid, the dialogue is authentic, and the setting is gritty and terrifying.
This is the story of Gordon Loomis, recently released from prison after serving a 25 year sentence for murder, a murder committed when he was 18 years old. It is the story of his attempted re-adjustment into society; it is also so much more.
It is the story of the decline of a neighborhood, of a city; the fictional Collerton will be recognizable to residents of the Merrimack Valley as the real, decaying sister city downriver from my own hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts.
It is the story of Gordon's successful brother Dennis, attempting to set Gordon on the road to a good life, but whose own feet stray from the path.
It is the story of Delores, trying to build a relationship with Gordon, who can barely maintain a relationship with himself.
It is the story of 13-year-old Jada, living in the sordid world of her crack-whore mother, struggling to hang on to something, anything, in order to survive.
And as all these lives intersect, the tension builds and builds --- I was so sucked in that by the 3rd chapter that I could literally not put the book down. I read all 376 pages in one day!
Masterfully written; highly recommended.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Book 5 for 2010: "The God of Small Things"
I plucked this book off a shelf at the library based solely on its title, which intrigued me: (I think in retrospect that it reminded me of a Terry Prachett book....) "The God of Small Things," by Arundhati Roy (1997).
At any rate, it turned out to be quite a different, yet oddly similar, experience. Again, I find myself reading a story about a wildly dysfunctional family told from the perspective of a young brother and sister. Again, this family is of an ethnicity with which I have little familiarity: This family is Indian, of India, of a grindingly impoverished area on the southern-most tip of the country, what's called the "Spice Coast."
This is an amazingly convoluted story. It moves backward and forward in time; the characters have names and family names and titles and nicknames, and it is at times a bit difficult to remember who is who; and the language is rich and dense, sometimes TOO dense. I found that it often distracted me from the actual storyline. The author -- a first-time author, although with some writing experience -- uses many, many, many metaphors and made-up descriptives ("a steelshrill police whistle," "cake-crumbled voices...") and Much Use of Capitalizations.
That is not to say that it doesn't work. It does, a lot of the time. And the story she tells is, like the others I've recently read, about Life and Death, and Family and Secrets, and Love and Madness, and all those Larger Themes.
I recommend it to those who, like me, refuse to give up on a book just because the going gets a little tough. I slogged on through; you could, too.
At any rate, it turned out to be quite a different, yet oddly similar, experience. Again, I find myself reading a story about a wildly dysfunctional family told from the perspective of a young brother and sister. Again, this family is of an ethnicity with which I have little familiarity: This family is Indian, of India, of a grindingly impoverished area on the southern-most tip of the country, what's called the "Spice Coast."
This is an amazingly convoluted story. It moves backward and forward in time; the characters have names and family names and titles and nicknames, and it is at times a bit difficult to remember who is who; and the language is rich and dense, sometimes TOO dense. I found that it often distracted me from the actual storyline. The author -- a first-time author, although with some writing experience -- uses many, many, many metaphors and made-up descriptives ("a steelshrill police whistle," "cake-crumbled voices...") and Much Use of Capitalizations.
That is not to say that it doesn't work. It does, a lot of the time. And the story she tells is, like the others I've recently read, about Life and Death, and Family and Secrets, and Love and Madness, and all those Larger Themes.
I recommend it to those who, like me, refuse to give up on a book just because the going gets a little tough. I slogged on through; you could, too.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Book #4 in the Big Book Read
I borrowed a stack of books recently from my friend Lisa. She is usually my source for a good read, and I have to confess, all 3 of my thus-far postings for the Big Book Read have been books from her; number 4 is one as well. But I'm wondering how she ended up with these books that are, I now see, geared for the younger reader?!? Not that they aren't really good books! Many of my most favorite books ever are those written for a younger audience: for example, "Walk Two Moons," by Sharon Creech --- if you haven't read it, do. It's awesome. I may just have to re-read it so I can write about it here!
Book number 4 in the Big Book Read marathon is "Freaky Green Eyes," by Joyce Carol Oates, published in 2003. It's another story about a family with a secret, and this secret is so huge that even the people closest to it keep it a secret from themselves.
As an adult myself, it's easy for me to be aware that all kinds of people can be in major denial about the things going on in their lives, in their families. In my work, I have learned that children often love and cling to those who may be abusing them, feeling that this is all they know, and that this is all they have. I also know that adults, especially women, often behave the same way toward an abuser.
In "Freaky Green Eyes," Francesca "Franky" Pierson, 15 years old, tells us, in a first person narrative, the story of her family: her dynamic, charismatic father; submissive, artistic mother; timid 10-year-old sister Samantha; college football-playing brother Todd. And Franky herself, who discovers at age 14 another voice inside her head, strong and not a little scary, a voice that tells the truth. She names this "other" -- "Freaky Green Eyes." And it is Freaky that finally helps Franky see what has been going on in her life, in her family.
As Franky narrates her story, we, her audience, begin to see very clearly what it is that Franky and her siblings can't - or won't. A father who is a celebrity, former pro football star now sportscaster, for whom image matters a great deal, for whom family matters a great deal. A disciplinarian who maintains order in this family through psychological manipulation, physical punishment, and terror. A mother desperate, frightened - and stuck. A younger sister so suppressed her true feelings can only come out in nightmares. And an older brother so inured to the situation, he believes all is well, all is right, and who is on a path that will only create a monster like his own father in himself sooner rather than later.
The tension in this story builds and builds to a terrible event, and we wonder if Franky will listen to the voice of Freaky in time to save any of them.
Joyce Carol Oates has a deserved reputation as a writer, and "Freaky Green Eyes" will stick in your head.
Book number 4 in the Big Book Read marathon is "Freaky Green Eyes," by Joyce Carol Oates, published in 2003. It's another story about a family with a secret, and this secret is so huge that even the people closest to it keep it a secret from themselves.
As an adult myself, it's easy for me to be aware that all kinds of people can be in major denial about the things going on in their lives, in their families. In my work, I have learned that children often love and cling to those who may be abusing them, feeling that this is all they know, and that this is all they have. I also know that adults, especially women, often behave the same way toward an abuser.
In "Freaky Green Eyes," Francesca "Franky" Pierson, 15 years old, tells us, in a first person narrative, the story of her family: her dynamic, charismatic father; submissive, artistic mother; timid 10-year-old sister Samantha; college football-playing brother Todd. And Franky herself, who discovers at age 14 another voice inside her head, strong and not a little scary, a voice that tells the truth. She names this "other" -- "Freaky Green Eyes." And it is Freaky that finally helps Franky see what has been going on in her life, in her family.
As Franky narrates her story, we, her audience, begin to see very clearly what it is that Franky and her siblings can't - or won't. A father who is a celebrity, former pro football star now sportscaster, for whom image matters a great deal, for whom family matters a great deal. A disciplinarian who maintains order in this family through psychological manipulation, physical punishment, and terror. A mother desperate, frightened - and stuck. A younger sister so suppressed her true feelings can only come out in nightmares. And an older brother so inured to the situation, he believes all is well, all is right, and who is on a path that will only create a monster like his own father in himself sooner rather than later.
The tension in this story builds and builds to a terrible event, and we wonder if Franky will listen to the voice of Freaky in time to save any of them.
Joyce Carol Oates has a deserved reputation as a writer, and "Freaky Green Eyes" will stick in your head.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Book 3
Book #3: "Departures" by Lorna J. Cook. The main characters in "Departures" are two teens, brother and sister, and the narrative shifts back and forth between their perspectives. Suzan VanderZee is seventeen; her story is a fairly typical coming-of-age tale: she feels misunderstood, is impatient and critical of the rest of her family, at odds with her mother. She lives in her head, and her head is full of the Brontes, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, The Secret Garden. She dreams of fleeing the confines, the constraints, of home. And she has a secret.
Brother Evan is fifteen, and is struggling with typical 15-year-old boy issues: girls. One girl in particular. He, too, dreams of escape from family, from small town life. But all families have secrets and complexities and tensions and vulnerabilities, and the VanderZees are no exception. How their lives play out over the course of this telling, a space of several months, demonstrates well that what appears to be an average American family is, like most, anything but average.
While I enjoyed the book overall, I occasionally felt that the main characters were a little too, shall we say, insufferably self-aware for a couple of youngsters. At times I couldn't decide who the intended audience was for this story, whether it was directed more toward young adults than the more mature variety. Either way, it was a relatively quick read, and had a few twists that kept it interesting.
Brother Evan is fifteen, and is struggling with typical 15-year-old boy issues: girls. One girl in particular. He, too, dreams of escape from family, from small town life. But all families have secrets and complexities and tensions and vulnerabilities, and the VanderZees are no exception. How their lives play out over the course of this telling, a space of several months, demonstrates well that what appears to be an average American family is, like most, anything but average.
While I enjoyed the book overall, I occasionally felt that the main characters were a little too, shall we say, insufferably self-aware for a couple of youngsters. At times I couldn't decide who the intended audience was for this story, whether it was directed more toward young adults than the more
Book #2 in the Big Book Read 2010
Book 2: "Still
"Still
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