"Protodialectical inquiry" into beliefs about Yam Gods

Oblivion consists of eight short stories by David Foster Wallace. Each story is written in a detailed and complex style. Wallace's writing method is unique because he interweaves the main narration with thoughts, other activity, and irrelevant details. Each sentence has to be understood as belonging or not belonging to the main narrative. This requires more effort on the reader's part than most books.

"Another Pioneer" is one of the shorter stories and the one which matches the content and the manner of writing best. The narrator is never identified, but speaks in a polished, academic, and ironic manner about an incident recounted to him by a friend. This incident was the conversation between two men on a plane which the friend overheard. The story that one of the men recounted to the other described a boy in an unspecified village in South America who single-handedly brought about modernizing changes in his village and acted as a prophet. The story itself is not as interesting as is the narrative voice retelling it which is persuasive and manages to engage the reader in the analysis of the second-hand story:

"Structurally, this scene apparently functions as both the climax of the protasis and the as it were engine of the narrative's rising action, because at just this point we are told that the original exemplum splits or diverges here into at least three main epitatic variants" (p. 126).

It is not the story being told that is inherently interesting, but the manner in which it is told. The narrator's voice is pompously analytical and cohesive. This story contrasts with "Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature" which has a much less structured theme, but whose narrator is psychologically not a model of health.

Though this collection is worth reading the style is lengthy, and verbose. The Onion has an amusing article about how a "girlfriend" stopped reading Wallace's breakup letter at page 20. Though his writing style takes some getting used to, it is arguably more rewarding to read than most books which are written in more a friendly manner.

The best book ever - for the moment

Freedom, the newest novel from Jonathan Franzen is the book of the moment. It currently has 884 reviews on Amazon.com. The published reviews of the book are similarly numerous and listed on the Wikipedia page for Freedom. The question is what can I add to the critical reviews already available about the book?

Like any book that receives this much critical acclaim, Freedom, contains something that appeals to a wide and disparate group. It resembles Franzen's previous book, The Corrections, in its focus on a dysfunctional family. And when Franzen writes dysfunctional characters there is generally a sexual element to their relational issues. The dysfunction sexual relationships that are the centerpiece of Franzen's writing no doubt contributes to his popularity. Franzen almost had the dubious distinction of winning the Bad Sex in fiction prize for this choice passage.

A secondary element that makes the book popular, is its being held up as a model of "America," and the benefits and problems of unbridled freedom. It is claimed that it embodies some key American experiences, and to a certain extent this is true. However, due to the focus on a specific time and issues, the writing is limited and the book itself is not likely to be interesting to readers a decade from now.

One serious problem that I had with the book is Franzen's writing which leaves some characters one-dimensional, and gives the impression that they are only written in to move the plot along.

This is an interesting (mostly) readable book, but probably not a good representation of anything specifically "American." It is far more accurate to describe it as simply a flawed novel.

Light writing about heavy subjects

War Dances, by Sherman Alexie, consists of seven short stories and sixteen poems.

The title story, "War Dances," appears to be an autobiographical musing on mortality, focusing on Alexie's learning that he has a brain tumor and his experience with his father's hospitalizations. The structure of the story is unusual in that it is short (only 34 pages long) and divided into sixteen subsections. Each subsection, "My Kafka Baggage," "Symptoms," "The Symptoms Worsen," "Blankets," etc. is a succinct scene that together, cluster around and build up the story of mortality that Alexie wants to tell.

Though mortality is the subject of several of the stories, the telling is very light and humorous. This is an easy to read summer book.

Fathers, sons, and paternity issues

Go Tell it on the Mountain (James Baldwin) and Call it Sleep (Henry Roth) are thematically very similar novels. Both are centered on young boys who must cope with difficult, abusive fathers and poverty.

Call It Sleep (CIS) was published in 1934, but begins in 1907, ending around 1917. The father of the family had immigrated from Germany and the novel opens with the arrival of his wife and son. The story is recounted through the boy, David's eyes. He is very impressionable and sensitive, and his father's animosity aggravates his sensitive nature. Adjusting to life in New York's slums is a challenge. Roth's writing was unique in its use of Yiddish and vernacular speech for dialogue and the scenes that are described are evocative.

David's father has a very belligerent character and doubts that David is actually his own son. Because of this doubt he treats his wife and son cruelly. His cruelty, Roth implies, pushes the mother and son to be unnaturally loving and close. Frequently David's love for his mother seems to cross over into a sexualized feeling. There are frequent references to his mother's bosom, jealousy of a family friend who attempts to seduce her, etc. For example, after an upsetting incident David says: "'Mama! Mama! Mama!' Only the sheltering valley between her breasts muffled his scream of fear to her heart."

Or earlier,
"With knees drawn up, David watched her wipe the linoleum beneath his chair. The shadow between her breasts, how deep! How far it - No! No! Luter! When he looked! That night! Mustn't! Mustn't! Look away! Quick!"

The relationship between David and his mother (who's name, Genya, is used rarely) appears to not be healthy, and until the end of the novel the reader wonders if David will end up having a mental breakdown as he does not seem functional. He also does not seem like a realistic 4-12 year old boy. However, not having been a boy perhaps I am not an authority on the subject.

Go Tell It On The Mountain starts with John, a 14 year old narrating his family story, living in Harlem. His parents had migrated North to New York as young adults and he is the first generation to grow up in the "liberal" North rather than in the "segregated" South.

In contrast to CIS, the narration switches between John, his aunt, his father, and finally his mother. Due to this multiplicity of perspectives the story is recounted in a more realistic way. John's father dislikes him, but the secret to his dislike is hidden from John. Just as David's father doubts his paternity, John's father also has paternity issues. With the four narrative voices of the story the reader understands better what has shaped the characters and life histories of the narrators. John has deep scars from his father's dislike though which emerge when he enters a trance-like religious state in church:

"Then his father was upon him; at his touch there was singing, and fire. John lay on his back in the narrow street, looking up at his father, that burning face beneath the burning towers.

'I'm going to beat it out of you. I'm going to beat it out.' His father raised his hand. The knife came down. John rolled away, down the white, descending street, screaming: 'Father! Father!'"

The father seems to symbolize both John's father and God who is invoked by each character as an overpowering presence who must by appeased, despite uncertainty as to what his wishes are. John's vision seems to be a way of reaching an understanding of his father and his relationship with him.

Both of these novels deal with similar issues of immigration, cultural assimilation, ethnicity, and father-son relationships. Both fathers are violent, rather hateful people, both mothers loving and virtuous. And both fathers hate their sons because they suspect or know that they are not genetically their own. Both sons grow up with a hatred of their "fathers" that is violent.

Walking on a wire

Let The Great World Spin is a novel which centers on Philippe Petit's tightrope walk between the Twin Towers on August 7th, 1974. This single event has been taken as the starting point by Colum McCann from which the lives of a multitude of individuals are effected.

Each individual is given a chapter to delineate their world. There is the Irish priest and his brother working in the South Bronx and the prostitutes that the priest is attempting to help. Another story is added by a wealthy housewife whose son was killed in Vietnam. With each narrative strand added to the story it becomes clearer how all of their lives are intertwined. The final chapter is set in 2006 and brings the story to a satisfactory conclusion.

McCann's strategy in this novel allows in-depth views of his characters on the days before the tightrope walk, and the day of the walk. Notably absent are any details about Petit, but perhaps that is because he is a real person.

Pets in America

Best Friends: The True Story of the World's Most Beloved Animal Sanctuary is a very upbeat account of how the sanctuary and organization began and expanded. Best Friends is now a large nonprofit which accepts volunteers and gives tours. Their motto is "kindness to animals builds a better world for all of us."

The book begins in 1982 when a large group of friends decided to pool resources and buy a 3,000 acre property in Utah. The purchasing of the property is the subject of part 1. A multipart animal sanctuary with a "Dogtown" and a "Cat World" as well as a "Piggy Paradise" and a "Horse haven" is described. The second part focuses on one of the founders - Faith Maloney - and her role in Best Friends. The lengthiest and final section, describes the financial struggle and growing pains that made Best Friends the functional nonprofit that it now is.

The author, Samantha Glen, manages to describe the personalities that started the sanctuary, the difficulties with growth, and the tales of animals reaching happier states of being with a straightforward narrative.

Ancient Egypt

Christian Jacq is a French Egyptologist and author of fifty books about ancient Egypt. Acquiring several of his books, it seems suitable to review them together as they make a more coherent story taken together.

The Lady of Abu Simbel (TLAS), and Under the Western Acacia (UTWA), are the last two books in a five part "Ramses" series. They describe the final decades of Ramses reign (1303-1213 B.C.). TLAS opens in the middle of the protracted battles with the Hittites. Ramses, with his lion, Invincible, and his army, attacks some rebellious Canaanites and brings them back into the Egyptian fold. There are multiple battles throughout the book, plots, domestic and foreign, to unseat Ramses, but he is always prepared. Moses is presented as a leader of the Hebrews who is rather zealous and unreasonable. The story of the plagues is retold as a failed public relations attempt to spin natural phenomena:

“Aaron stretched out his staff and declared loudly, 'Since Pharaoh still refuses to allow the Hebrews to leave Egypt, here, after the water that changed into blood, is the second plague Yahveh inflicts on the oppressor: Frogs, thousands of frogs, millions of frogs, which will go everywhere, into the workshops, the houses, the bedchambers of the wealthy!”...

“Satau smiled. Neither he nor Kha would have to do anything to combat this plague. Aaron should have consulted Moses before uttering a curse which wouldn't frighten a single Egyptian. At this time of year, the frogs' proliferation was quite normal – in fact, the people considered it a good omen. In hieroglyphs, the sign of the frog served to indicate the figure 'a hundred thousand', that is, an almost incalculable number, proportional to the abundance brought by the Nile flood.” (pg. 299)

This reinterpretation of the Hebrew story is quite interesting and made me wonder whether there is good reason to believe that this was in fact the Egyptian perspective on events.

However, Jacq's portrayal of Ramses not just as the representative of the Gods, but as a God, with no human failings quickly makes any historical accuracy questionable. Ramses is although not monogomous only capable of loving one woman. IN UTWA Ramses states that, “The Royal Children – those are simply honorary titles” (pg. 24). Yes, although Ramses had two wives, and a harem, he only had three children, and all those historical records documenting his progeny actually refer to the official titles bestowed on them rather than to any genetic relationship. Ramses only love was Nefertari, who dies at the conclusion of TLAS.

A second point of difficulty in the book is the slavery issue. In UTWA Ramses travels to Tyre, Phoenicia and attempts to end slavery:

“This is the real reason for my journey. No Tyrian who wishes to trade with Egypt must traffic in slaves.

The Phoenician was shocked, and it was all he could do to be keep calm and not protest vigorously. 'Majesty,' he said, 'slavery is a law of nature. Trading societies have always practiced it.'

'There's no slavery in Egypt,' said Ramses. 'Human beings are the gods' flock and no individual has the right to treat another as an object without a soul, or as merchandise.'

Narish had never heard such wild talk. If the speaker had not been the Pharaoh of Egypt, he would have thought him a madman.

'Weren't your prisoners of war reduced to slavery, Majesty?'

'They were sentenced to hard labour for periods that varied according to the seriousness of the accusations made against them. When they were freed they could do as they pleased. Most of them remained in Egypt, and many of them founded families.'....

[Ramses] 'Do you think the pyramids and the temples could have been built by gangs of slaves?' (pg. 290)

Reading this exchange was for me quite strange. Logically the answer to the question is that only slavery would enable the building of the pyramids. No people in their right minds would willingly do that kind of work. Whether the Egyptians call it slavery or indentured servitude is irrelevant.

A third book, The War of the Crowns, is the middle book in the “Queen of Freedom” series. The queen in this case is Ahotep (1560-1530 B.C.), who lived well before Ramses. This was a slightly more interesting book, in that Ahotep, although Godlike, is in a much more difficult position and there appears to be some doubt as to her success, and the survival of Egypt. The enemy at this time were the Hyksos. The Egyptian empire had been reduced to a shadow of itself. The Hyksos have horses and the Egyptians do not. Despite the inequality in strength and infrastructure the Egyptians manage to triumph due to their superior gods and righteousness.

If you like to read about ancient Egypt and learn about the history of the ancient kingdoms that existed these are probably worth reading. Unfortunately, though Jacq has a degree in Egyptology his books seem to be heavy on imagination and light on reality. A little less fancifulness and more reality would improve the books. Perhaps Jacq chose to write this way in fear of alienating people with modern ethics? But to make the ethical systems of the ancient Egyptians resemble that of modern Western Europeans so closely just makes the reader skeptical of the entire proposed world.

Book Club Choices

Here is the book list for the next five months:

June: Purge/Puhdistus by Sofi Oksanen
July: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
August: Women by Charles Bukowski
September: Through a Glass, Darkly/I et speil, i en gåte by Jostein Gaarder
October: The Shadow of the Wind/La sombra del viento by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Unreflecting

Rosie Carpe is a novel (by Marie NDiaye) that is supposed to be about the woman of that name – but in fact seems to recount her story in a distant and disconnected way. It could also be said to be about identity, maternal connections, or the lack thereof. Though all of these elements are present it is not easy to make a claim that the book is about any one of them.

Briefly, Rosie, who is in her mid-twenties, arrives in Guadaloupe with her five year old son, Titi, and pregnant with a second child, of unknown paternity. Lagrand, Lazare's purported friend, picks her up from the airport. From him, Rosie learns that much of what she believed concerning her brother and parents is false. Rosie attempts to shape a new identify for herself in Guadaloupe, separating herself from her impoverished, colorless, insensate existence in Paris. In this attempt she seems to fail.

The first two chapters of the novel are narrated by Rosie. The third is split between Lagrand and Rosie and the final chapter is narrated by Lagrand. Of the two narrators, Rosie is both less trustworthy and less sympathetic. The first chapter, 36 pages describing hours waiting in the airport and the car ride home, details Rosie's generalized uncertainty, self-pity, and distaste for her son. The sense that Rosie is either mentally unstable or deficient becomes increasingly clear. Throughout the internal recounting of her life, in the second chapter, Rosie appears to be dull, unreflective, and not a real champion when it comes to decision making. Halfway through the book the reader can not help but feel disconcerted by Rosie's neglect of Titi and fundamental instability.

When Lagrand takes over the narrative role it is a relief since he is not only the only moral character in the book, but also (seemingly) honest about events in the world. He feels drawn toward Rosie, seemingly inexplicably, desiring her company despite sensing that she is lacking in an ethical center.

That Lagrand is a black Guadaloupean, and the Carpe family are white is no doubt significant from the author's point of view. Lagrand, who's mother was institutionalized, grew up with his grandparents and reflects that perhaps he was better off for it. Titi, who is an adult by the conclusion of the book, is also raised by his grandparents, but turns out less well. Lagrand, who became motherless, was able to identify that Titi was in a precarious position with his mother and to rescue him. Perhaps it is because of his own mother's abandonment that he can forgive Rosie and still love her.

Other aspects of the book which seem portentous are the names, Lazare, who disappears and seems to rise from the dead throughout the book; Lagrand, who is a great person; Rose-Marie (Rosie), the sister of Lazare; the family name of Carpe, perhaps. Unfortunately, attempting to find clues justifying the plot of the novel is a futile activity. Perhaps it is an elaborate parable about motherhood, love, and redemption, but it is more likely just what it appears to be – an unhappy novel about pathetic people.

Padan & Pigs

“Get moving! Quick, the ship is going under!”

Down in the hold the pigs were still squealing desperately.

“Save the pigs!”

“Why?”

“One should never go into the sea without a pig!”

Because these animals have an unrivaled sense of direction. They can orient themselves in the sea even during a storm. You throw them in the water and: TAK! They immediately point their snouts in the direction of the closest shore... When they go “OINK, OINK, OINK, OINK!” four times, you're headed to land, and they're never wrong!

And that's why the Genoese people say: “On every ship you should always bring aboard an authentic pig...besides the captain...who's just an ordinary pig.”

If I am ever on a sinking ship I hope there are pigs available! This is just one of many helpful ideas embedded in the narration of Johan Padan and the Discovery of the Americas by Dario Fo. This is an unusual story in that it is told in a nontraditional manner with illustrations, and it is an alternate history, on the small scale, of interactions between Europeans and Native Americans.

Interestingly, the text is intended as a script for a one-man standup performance. It was originally composed in Italian “dialect,” then translated to standard Italian, and then again into English (by Ron Jenkins and Stefania Taviano). The oral nature of the text is illustrated by the use of many words for sound effects. The narrative is told through dialogue and monologue. Despite the fact that this was composed as a script Fo started by drawing pictures to capture his ideas. From these pictures Fo then wrote his story. The line drawings illustrating the story are not high art, but they do show the scenes that were envisioned and mesh closely with the text.

As alternate history, The Discovery of the Americas is a small-scale story about the successful revolt of one group of Native Americans against a group of Spaniards with the help of Johan Padan. Padan, after spending several years with various native groups no longer sees them the same way as Europeans do (or as he did when he first arrived). So, when he encounters Europeans again he is surprised/reminded by their barbarity towards natives and casts his lot with them.

This is a thoroughly recommendable book. Though it is salacious and Eurocentric in parts it seems essential to the character of Johan Padan and the European world/belief systems being portrayed. The unique form also makes this a book that is engaging.

Blasé in Berlin

The Summer House, Later: A book about the moment before happiness, is a collection of nine short stories by Judith Hermann. Each story can be said to be distinct, but each is unremittingly depressing, full of meaninglessness, and sadness.

In each story when a character does not know what to do/say he/she will invariably light a cigarette. There is much drinking, drug taking, and a little sex, all starkly described. At no point does anyone seem to enjoy themselves.

My favorite story from the collection is “Hunter Tompson Music” which is set in New York rather than Berlin. Hunter, an elderly man, lives in a seedy residential hotel. His greatest pleasure is listening to his classical music collection. When a young woman knocks on his door and introduces herself he is impressed that she can identify the music playing as Bach. This brief interaction is more human contact then Hunter is used to and when a dinner date is made there is a certain suspense to learn the outcome of an event that is sure to be traumatic. “Hunter remembers that he hasn't eaten out for years, that he doesn't know any good restaurants, that he can't tell her anything about the city, that he knows nothing at all.” In the event the dinner does not take place and the attempt to establish a human relationship has ambiguous results. What I particularly like about this story is the sense of pathos Hermann invokes for Hunter.

It is this same lack of pathos, which I dislike about most of the other stories in the book. The characters seem to be too underdeveloped to be either likable or dislikable in much of the book. This might be due, in part, to the translation. Though it is not fair to be too critical of translators, whose task is nearly impossible, this translation leaves the English reader wondering exactly how the book could have been so well-received. The translator is Margot Bettauer Dembo who is a contributor to Words Without Borders. An excellent site for reading literature in translation.

Totalitarian Dystopia

We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin, is one of the very first science fiction novels. Zamyatin sets the story in a dystopic universe controlled by the One State and led by the great Benefactor. The individuals of the One State are identified not with names but as Numbers. The family as an institution has ceased to exist. The inhabitants of this dystopia live in apartments with glass walls, making solitude impossible though every individual lives alone.

The narrator of the tale is D-503, who is purportedly recording his thoughts as part of a larger social writing project sponsored by the One State. D-503 is the chief engineer of The Integral, a spaceship bound for outer space. This space ship will carry the writings of the many Numbers to other lands and life (though the details of space life forms are left deliberately vague). However, with each entry D-503 adds to his notes, the more his life seems to veer away from the prescribed patterns given by the One State.

The instigator behind D-503's unorthodox actions and thoughts is I-330, a woman who seems to have taken an interest in him simply because he is interesting. She invites him to the Ancient house where she asks him questions and challenges his views of the world. As he is challenged D-503 seems to lose his stability, and to swing back and forth between the official version of reality as given by the One State and alternate possibilities proffered by I-330. The effect is disconcerting as D-503's entries become increasingly confused – reflecting his states of mind. His ability to be confused at all is threatened when the One State decides to perform imagination lobotomies on all Numbers.

The One State is a prefiguring of a totalitarian regime, and many people suggest that it resembles Stalinist Russia which came into existence after the novel. The book is not hampered by being told through D-503's diary entries, but it is limited to the perspective of D-503. As he is an unreliable narrator it would be useful to hear the perspective of another character.

The delineation of individuals is done succinctly (and repetatively) by describing specific features. I-330, for instance, is delineated by the sharp lines of her face. O-90, D-503's assigned partner, is described in terms of circles and roundness. This technique is particularly appropos for the setting of the book where individuals have been shorn of their identities – they are still individualized by features that can not be erased. Originally published in Russia in 1920-21 I read the translated version by Mirra Ginsburg, published in 1972.

Passing

Caucasia is a book that traces the boundaries of race, even within families in America. The book is narrated through the eyes of Birdie, who is the daughter of an African American father and a white mother. She appears "white" while her older sister, Cole, appears "black." Caucasia opens in 1975 Boston when Birdie is seven years old and Cole is ten.

In the First section of the book, "Negritude for Beginners" Birdie describes her life living with her sister Cole and her parents in Boston. Both parents are involved in the Black Power movement. Dad is an academic, while mom is working in more informal channels. The breakup of Birdie's family along "racial" lines occurs as the Black Power movement seemingly becomes a more dangerous activity and as it becomes clear that a white wife and daughter are a liability for someone espousing Black Power philosophy. Mom also believes that the authorities are after her for her "revolutionary" activities. After the breakup of their parents, Birdie is taken by her mom and Cole is taken by her dad.

The next third of the book covers the period that Birdie spends with her mother living itinerantly in motels and communes. To protect her daughter and herself from the expected reaction to miscegenation in rural New England (and of course the Authorities), mom renames them both, coaching Birdie with the history of her father being a Jewish intellectual who has passed away. They settle in New Hampshire where Birdie attempts to fit into the white society. Being part black, without anyone knowing it, she finds the casual racism of those around her alienating. When her mother takes up with a local man who typifies the racist bumpkin, Birdie runs back to Boston.

By revisiting people who knew her family she hopes to figure out where her father and Cole have gone. Supposedly they had fled to Brazil to escape the authorities. Her efforts do pan out and she finds out her father was living in Oakland. So, visiting her estranged (and conveniently wealthy) maternal grandmother she gets money to buy a ticket for Oakland.

Reunited with her father and Cole Birdie realizes that her mother's fear of the FBI might have more to do with a persecution complex than reality. Hoping to come to terms with why and how her father abandoned her after promising to find her when it was safe, she realizes that his academic theories of race are separate from how he is able to function in the world. Though race does not exist he had chosen to divide his daughters according to where they fit into racial categories. Cole was equally disappointing in her explanation for why they had not sought out Birdie. Cole only wanted to know why her mother had not tried to find her. Birdie realizes, in the end, that the family members she had been separated from could not answer the questions she had about why she had not been wanted.

This is an excellent novel about coming to terms with family, race, and identity. It is sad that racial categories are so important as recently as 1975, but humans are fond of categorizing the world, including themselves.

Civil War in El Salvador

One Day of Life is told by the matriarch of a peasant family in El Salvador. Originally published in 1980 at the start of the civil war in El Salvador, it is an account of the persecution of one family by government-backed soldiers. Through flashbacks we learn that the son of the matriarch has already disappeared due to his "Communist sympathies."

Lupe, the matriarch, begins her day like any other. Her 14 year old granddaughter, Adolfina, goes out with her younger siblings to get tortillas in the village. By noon a group of soldiers arrive at the family home. They want to take Adolfina to see if she can identify a "wounded man." Since we know that the wounded man was "wounded" by these soldiers it is clear that their intentions are not good. Lupe refuses to let Adolfina go and eventually the soldiers bring the man, near death, to be identified. Only Lupe recognizes him, with grave consequences.

The tension of this story builds gradually throughout the day and the conclusion is unpredictable. As it is describing the tactics Salvadorean soldiers used to intimidate and torture their fellow peasants, all in the name of preventing communist tendencies, it is a story of the viciousness of humanity.

The author of this story, Manlio Arugeta, is better known as a poet in the Spanish-speaking world. He was exiled from El Salvador for nearly two decades, due to his political views. The Salvadorean Civil War lasted from 1980 until 1992. Much credit for the duration is attributable to the generous funding of U.S. administrations, especially Bush I. The UNHCR summarizes the Bush policy in El Salvador succinctly.

Any sufficiently boring history of magic is indistinguishable from boring history

Sometimes a book is published that seems to be exactly the type you will enjoy, but turns out to be a disappointment. An excellent example of such a book is Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. This book details how magic is revived by two magicians in England in 1806. It is an alternate history. What the book does well is provide a rich literature for British magic in footnotes, create believable historical characters, and engage the reader to the end. The book falls short though in ending badly, in creating unsympathetic (arguably stupid) characters, and giving the female characters no personality or agency.

If the book had had an ending to suit its length it would make up for much, but instead the ending seems patched on. After 782 pages I expect to feel that my reading time was well spent. It is apparent from the fact that "darkness" covers the world at the novel's end that Clarke intends to write a sequel, but why would I read a sequel to a book if the plot can not not be brought to some kind of conclusion in so many pages? One problem many books seem to have is being too long. I think this is a problem of the author not knowing how to end the novel and not doing enough revision. If something could be told in fewer pages then it probably should be.

A second problem with the book is the unsympathetic and boring characters. Neither magician is sympathetic. Jonathan Strange is particularly unpleasant, pompous and self-important. Granted this could be said to be true to the literary form of the British novel, but the plot would be more interesting if the main characters are likeable.

Second, I must object to the comparisons of this book with those by Jane Austen (review). The characters in Austen's novels have personality - both the female and the male characters. In this book the female characters are dull and uninteresting. That the women are boring characters is quite surprising since Jonathan Strange's wife, Arabella Strange, plays a significant role in the book. The issue is the total lack of agency that she has. She has no particular skills or intelligence. When she "dies" her husband finds another young woman to marry, though their marriage is forestalled when Arabella revives. The message of the book seems to be that women are replaceable, but necessary. That is why it is unfair to compare this to Austen. Though Austen's characters had limited agency they did manage to accomplish things, in the private realm. Clarke's female characters are singularly unaccomplished.

The fundamental problem with the book is the concept - making an alternate history of a magical Britain and creating it to be as dull as an actual history. The magic has been taken out of magic.

Puerile Science Fiction

Jupiter, by Ben Bova, is part of the "Grand Tour series" through the universe. In terms of space adventure this is an interesting book, but the human personalities and interactions are so stunted and underdeveloped that one can only imagine Bova was intending it for a readership of 12 year old boys.

Briefly, Grant Archer is a doctoral student in Astrophysics on an Earth of some indeterminate future. On this future earth the political fighting is fierce and comes down to science versus religion. One faction, the "New Morality," is anxious to learn what is happening at the space station orbiting Jupiter. Choosing Grant as their spy, he is sent to the station with the assignment of finding out what secrets are being withheld. As a newly married man he is very upset to leave his wife on Earth four years, possibly more, but given no choice. When Grant arrived on the Jupiter station he discovers that he must study the dynamics of the Jovian ocean which will not allow him to work on his dissertation.

"Finding any kind of alien life was seen as a threat to belief in God. Every time scientists discovered a new life-form anywhere, some people gave up their faith. Atheists crowed that the Bible was nonsense, a pack of scribbling by ancient narrow-minded men steeped in superstition and primitive ignorance." This is one of Grant's inner thoughts used to position his belief system and understanding of the relation between faith and science. This statement could plausibly be applied to today's earth as well, although no extraterrestrial life has yet been discovered.

Grant is not only a brilliant scientist, a prerequisite for a science fiction hero, but he is also quite religious. Due to his religious feeling his understanding of morality is inflexible. Excerpts such as the following force me to think that the book has been written for pubescent boys:

"His bedsheets were tangled and soaked with his perspiration. With a lurch in the pit of his stomach, Grant realized he had made a nocturnal emission." Reading this I thought, maybe Bova's trying to make this appeal to young boys? But then it continues, "It's all right, he told himself, while that stubborn buzzing noise kept ringing in his ears. Wet dreams are natural, beyond your conscious control. There's nothing sinful about them as long as you don't take pleasure from the memory." This statement, while consistent with Grant's character, is not a really reassuring statement for the boy readers I thought Bova might be aiming for. Since Grant is going to be apart from his wife for four years, the message seems to be that he will take refuge in prayer and Bible reading for the duration.

Though this is an interesting book, especially when focusing on the space adventure aspects, the emotional maturity of the main character makes for some truly painful reading. Additionally, though it was published in 2001, it feels like it was written in the 1970's. Perhaps that is just a sign that Bova's writing is frozen, in terms of human interaction.

Homeland

"Sometimes you dream of hearing only the beating of your own heart, but this has never been the case. You have never been able to escape the pounding of a thousand other hearts that have outlived yours by thousands of years. And over the years when you have needed us, you have always cried "Krik?" and we have answered "Krak!" and it has shown us that you have not forgotten us."

Edwidge Danticat describes a call and answer storytelling tradition of her Haitian homeland at the conclusion of Krik? Krak! as an interaction between the living and their ancestors.

The first story in the collection, "Children of the Sea," is told through letters from a young man escaping Haiti by boat, and the thoughts of the young woman he left behind. This nameless girl and boy recount the details of what occurs around them, naming individuals while they themselves remain nameless. Though they boy never reaches Miami and the letters are never sent the two remain connected.

The last story, "Caroline's Wedding," is set in New York. It describes the wedding of a Haitian American woman through her sister's eyes. It is a simple story that shows the difficulty of living in multiple cultures. It contrasts the American lifestyle with the poverty and suffering in Haiti, yet somehow the culture of Haiti is realized in color and New York is little described.

The connecting theme for all the stories is "Ville Rose" a small town which is the natal village of many of the individuals in the stories. This linking of the stories makes them seem more like a continuous narrative then they would be which is better, I think, then short story collections with discrete stories. Unsurprisingly, the stories are quite unremittingly sad, despite which they are worth reading.

Joys

The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta is the story of Nnu Ego's life from conception to death. It is a novel rich in irony as the title suggests "the joys" are not realized, but instead the imagined joys that women are supposed to have according to cultural tradition.

When Nnu Ego marries for the first time she does not conceive and is put aside. When she marries a second time she has eight children. By having many children Nnu Ego should, culturally be considered a happy woman. Unfortunately, over the course of her lifetime culture has changed. Her husband fights for the British in WWII, which is impoverishing and does not result in more comfortable living for the family. Her eldest son does well in school and leaves Nigeria to study in the U.S.A. Nnu Ego hopes that he will come back and support her in her old age as was the cultural expectation that she grew up with.

This is an interesting novel both because of the familial relationships that are described and the shifting cultural environment that serves as a backdrop. The story is told exclusively in Nnu Ego's voice. I thought this book was engaging though it would have been interesting to get more of a sense of personality from Nnu Ego. She is rather archetypical.

"The great Indian rooster coop"

Continuing the theme of narrators who feel trapped by the society in which they live, Balram Halwai, a young Indian man, recounts his life history in The White Tiger. This is an epistolary novel and Balram is writing to Wen Jiabao. Hearing on the radio that Wen Jiabao wants to meet Indian entrepreneurs Balram volunteers to recount how he became an entrepreneur. Over the course of seven nights he tells his story.

As a boy Balram was successful in school and aspired to leave his village for the city. Learning how to drive he succeeds in becoming a driver, a prestigious occupation for someone of his background. Unfortunately, as he outlines philosophically, he (and all Indians) are constrained by "the great Indian rooster coop" which prevents any one individual from escaping their prison of indebtedness and familial obligations to become really free. As soon as someone tries to escape they are dragged back down with the rest of the chickens. Balram, however, has found a way out of the coop as only a white tiger can.

I did not find Balram to be an admirable or likable character. His lack of familial responsibility or affection is aberrant by any cultural standard.

Stuck

A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews, amusingly was translated as "Ein komplizierter Akt der Liebe." This is a direct translation, but has a very different connotation. "Akt" can mean a pornographic picture, so the German title leads one to believe that perhaps a complicated sexual act of love is the topic of this book. This is quite misleading though, as the novel is a bildungsroman about a teenage girl living in a Mennonite community in Canada.

Nomi, the narrator, lives with her father, as her mother and older sister have both left home. Their disappearance focuses the story as Nomi tries to work out where and why they left. Normal life unravels for Nomi as her father gradually sells all the household furniture. Speaking to the guidance counsellor about future aspirations Nomi says she wants to become a city planner. To explain why she says: "That our main street has two dirt fields on either end of it is weird to me. Shouldn't it lead somewhere?" The guidance counsellor suggests that she needs both math and engineering skills rather than responding to the problem which Nomi has pointed out - that their is no way out of the town, figuratively. There is nothing to which the school or work within the town can lead to. Unsurprisingly, Nomi gradually stops going to school.

This book is quite interesting as it deals with reality in ways that books about teenagers don't generally. It won the Governer General's Literary award and Canada Reads 2006.