"Hanna's Daughters"

Hanna's Daughters: A Novel of Three Generations is the type of book that one would expect to be on Oprah's book club list, due to its focus on women's histories and lives. Beginning in 1871 and ending in 1986 the lives of Hanna, Johanna, and Anna are traced through personal and social history. Hanna's story is told in a narrative story form, but Johanna and Anna speak from the first person. There is a thread of magic running through the book which never quite solidifies, but maybe that is required in Swedish writing.

The book starts at Hanna's family's farm in Dalsland. After a traumatic rape and pregnancy when only thirteen, Hanna's life assumes a more hopeful trajectory when she is married to a gentleman-miller. As a miller's wife, hunger which had killed four of her siblings, becomes a worry of the past, and Hanna is able to increase her children's fortunes and social status. Due to the geographical proximity to Norway, the threat of war between Norway and Sweden in 1905 was a significant regional catastrophe for the family. The mill, unfortunately dependent upon the region's farmers, falters as the farmers depart en masse for the cities forcing the family to also move. The culture shock experienced by Hanna and her family in Göteborg is intense and exceeded only by the economic shock. The events in these individual's lives mirror those of the larger society in its trend at that time for greater urbanization, greater opportunity and as a result disruption of the social fabric.

So, it is not surprising that Johanna grows up to reject her mother's sense of social order and becomes a socialist. By gaining the education that her mother lacked she also gains the ability to be independent. Despite that Johanna is the most dependant of the characters, thus showing that women's happiness revolves around the men in their life.

Anna provides the framework for this history in that she is writing a book about Hanna and Johanna. As a “modern woman,” who has two daughters of her own, she is attempting to heal her own emotional scars by examining those of her mothers. Beginning and concluding the novel, Anna is the shaper of the narrative and is the most lost of the women because she is the one who must make her own choices without family or society dictating to her.

All in all, this is an excellent book to read on a weekend. One small problem I had with it was the fact that Hanna did not tell her own story. Instead it was told from an omniscient point of view. Though this may have been Marianne Fredriksson's deliberate choice, to show that women have gained more control over the narratives of their lives, Hanna seems to be inordinately slighted in the retelling of her story.

"Stories of Five Decades"

Hermann Hesse's Stories of Five Decades is a collection of twenty-three short stories originally written between 1899 and 1948. Many of the stories have as their subject a young man's learning about life and love. The town of Gerbersau is the location of many of the stories and is alternately a pleasant, or stultifying environment for the characters.

“The Latin Scholar” is a typical story in this collection. Karl Bauer, a sixteen-year-old student who is boarding in a large town, is at a formative age. Due to the meager portions he is given as a boarder he has taken to filching snacks from the larder and it seems clear that his honest character is in danger of deforming without some moral intervention. Luckily the housekeeper, Babette, becomes aware of Karl's need for both food and guidance and provides both. When Karl falls in love with a maid and must deal with unrequited love he learns more than he has during his academic studies.

“An Evening with Dr. Faust” is a short and humorous story of looking into the future. Dr. Eisenbart and Dr. Faust listen in on the future with the help of a specially modified gramophone. What they hear is both shocking and disturbing to them. Considering that Dr. Faust is such a willing disciple of the devil it is amusing that it is possible to shock him with “evil.”

“Walter Kömpff” is one of the lengthier stories (35pgs.) and follows Walter from cradle to grave. The story begins with a description of Walter's pious mother and shopkeeper father and the deathbed promise extracted from the twelve year old that he would take on the family business. Unfortunately, Walter neither wants to be a shopkeeper, nor has any other career in mind, and spends his life uselessly struggling without knowing what he does want.

The story which I found most appealing was “Tragic.” Johannes an elderly compositor (a typesetter) is meeting with the newspaper's editor-in-chief and when asked, rhetorically, if his work is going well, he launches into a mournful monologue concerning the devolution of grammar. Johannes says, “Just as in Borneo and all those other islands they have extirpated the bird of paradise, the elephant, and the king tiger, they have destroyed and abolished all the lovely sentences, all the inversions, all the delicate play and shading of our dear language” (p. 272). The complaint of Johannes is interesting not only because it is poetic in its form, but also because it shows that linguistic customs are constantly changing. Insisting that a language conforms to outmoded grammar rules is unrewarding, but seemingly unavoidable.

These stories are quite good and well worth reading. Some are too parable-like (“The Island Dream”), but most deal with psychological and emotional growth which are just as relevant now as when the stories were first written.

magical aphorisms

In the magical realism tradition of Milan Kundera, and Gabriel García Márquez, Milorad Pavić's writing is absurd, amusing, and fantastical. It is also poetical and aphoristic, “Some women cannot manage a house and theirs are always in disarray. Others cannot manage their own souls and these are in disarray. Things have to be straightened up at the right time; afterward is too late. Because any similarity between the house and the soul ceases in that afterward. Vitacha obviously did not know that” (p. 164). Vitacha, the heroine of Landscape Painted with Tea, has a very tumultuous life in East Central Europe. The stories of Vitacha and her second husband Atanas Svilar, later Atanas Razin, form the backbone of this book. But what is most engaging for the reader about this , and perhaps all of Pavić's writing is the format. Book One is a mostly continuous story. Book Two is “A Novel for Crossword Fans.” Two small crossword puzzles are given with clues. Each of the following chapters are entitled by number and direction according to the crossword puzzle. The solution to the crossword puzzle corresponds to the words composing the index (reordered of course). Due to the structure of the novel the reader is free to read in a variety of orders, and as with choose your own adventure stories, the ending is entirely dependent on the reader!

First published in Serbian in 1990, Landscape Painted with Tea, was translated into English the same year. For an author interested in exploring the potentials of storytelling, the internet is an amazing system and Pavić's latest work is published online: D A M A S C E N E: A Tale for Computer and Compasses.

"The Historian"

The Historian by Elisabeth Kostova is a suspenseful historical journey to find the burial site of Vlad Ţepeş, more commonly known as Dracula. The narrator, who remains nameless throughout the first half of the book is a 16 year old girl living in Amsterdam, with her diplomat father, Paul. The story unfolds in letters spanning from the 1930-1950's written by Paul, and his college advisor about their search to discover the truth about Dracula. Beginning with how Paul was drawn into the hunt not by inclination, but by the appearance of a blank book bearing the name Dracula, of unknown provenance, in the library one day; the letters document his subsequent research into the dark mystery. The search takes Paul from Oxford to Turkey, Belgrada, Budapest, and Sofia with a mysterious and beautiful Romanian anthropologist.

The suspense is maintained throughout the book by the interweaving of the letters documenting the past search for Dracula and the present day narrator's attempts to rescue her father from Dracula's minions. A brief excerpt will show how Kostova heightens the reader's anxiety: "The man behind the newspaper was so still that I began to tremble in spite of myself. After a while I realized what was frightening me. I had been awake for many long minutes by now, but during all the time I had been watching and listening, he had not turned a single page of his newspaper" (p. 228). At this point the story jumps back to Paul's letters and the reader must keep reading about the past in order to learn what will happen in the present.

I recommend this book for the engaging quality of the writing. The merging of the European and Turkish accounts of Dracula fact and legends in a quasi-academic way makes for entertaining reading. The journeys through Central-Eastern Europe illuminate the history if those states, but of course in a somewhat fantastical way.

"An Academic Question"

An Academic Question a novel by Barbara Pym is a rigidly light-hearted portrayal of a woman, Caroline, trying to figure out what she should be doing. Married to an academic, and dissatisfied with being a housewife she attempts to fill her time by reading to residents at a retirement home. Her husband becomes very interested in the individual that Caroline is reading to, and steals a manuscript to further his research.

The cynical disrespect and disregard that Caroline, her husband, and all the characters exhibit for ethics or pretense of social feeling is no doubt intended to amuse. Since her best friend is a hedgehog-fancier one cannot help but imagine that this is supposed to be a comedic story. Perhaps it is the distance in time (the book was published posthumously in 1986), but rather than humorous the characters are repellent, the plot depressing, the racism irritating. This is the type of book that might be interesting when published, but is quickly outmoded.

The Gregorio Mysteries

The no longer extent state of Prussia is the setting for the mystery series written by Michael Gregorio.

Critique of Criminal Reason introduces Hanno Stiffeniis, a young magistrate who lives and works in a small town within the Prussian empire of 1804. Called to Königsberg (modern day Kaliningrad) to investigate a mysterious series of murders, Stiffeniis is assisted by his mentor Immanuel Kant. Years ago Kant had suggested that Stiffeniis study law. Now Kant is determined to guide his protege through the maze of logic and evidence to find a serial killer. Stiffeniis is not an ordinary magistrate, due to his birth into the Junker aristocracy, and subsequent European travels. This book introduces Stiffeniis, his troubled relationship with Kant, and paints his background on the canvas of Prussian history.

Days of Atonement picks up in 1807, after Napolean's army has overrun Prussia at Jena. During the intervening years Hanno Stiffeniis and his wife Helena have suffered from privation and uncertainty brought about by the invading army. When Colonel Lavedrine arrives in Lotingen and requests Stiffeniis assistance in solving the ghastly murder of a family, Stiffeniis cannot refuse. The investigation must be carried out quickly as the populace is eager to have either a French or a Jewish scapegoat. Helena assists the two detectives, who must work together despite ideological differences to preserve the uneasy peace.

A Visible Darkness is the third and longest (452 pgs.) book in the series. Procurator Stiffeniis is attempting to maintain Prussian orderliness in Lotingen despite the French invasion, when he is abruptly summoned to investigate the death of a Prussian “amber girl.” Stiffeniis quickly discovers that the murder was not straightforward. The question is: was it a Prussian or a French murderer? The complicated times in which the book is set cause Stiffeniis to act both quickly and carefully to find the murderer in chaotic war-torn Prussia. This book provides a very interesting look at the amber industry at that time. The details of how it was mined and processed in the Baltic might cause you to think that blood diamonds were gained less violently!

The character of Stiffeniis seems to be carefully crafted to invoke a Prussian magistrate of his time as he is class consious, misogynistic, racist, and a prude. The author's intent was not to paint a picture of an elevated and humanitarian man. Rather he is evidently supposed to be like his fellow aristocrats, in that he has a clear class system and resents the (imposed) French principles of universal freedom. According to him Prussia was better when serfs knew their place. Stiffeniis is to often shocked or waylaid by women in the novels. For instance in Critique of Criminal Reason Stiffeniis thinks that a midwife, “Anna Rostova was evil. Evil! Lublinsky claimed that she was a witch. Was that it? Had she enchanted me?” (p. 210). As a professed (and portrayed) devotee of logic and rationalism it is disappointing that Stiffeniis is so quick to blame witchcraft for his attraction rather than his own lack of self-control. These character flaws are consistently expressed throughout the series. The French invaders are portayed as efficient, just and liberal. The Prussians are ignorant, superstitious, and lazy. The Napoleanic invasion appears to be a fortunate event for Prussia.

A more positive aspect of the book is the evocative description of the socio-political situation, the environment and the weather. An excerpt from Days of Atonement is illustrative: “Nature had been as dour and unforgiving as the occupying French in the past two months. Cold, tumultuous winds had gusted down from the Arctic circle throughout the month of August, turning the melancholy green waters of our Baltic shore wild and black, sending huge white-capped waves crashing in upon the seashore” (p. 3).

I do recommend these books, conditionally. If you like to solve the mystery before the detective does you will enjoy it. During the second half of each book one is anxious for the detectives, but can't help but feel that Stiffeniis is blind to what is obvious. Meanwhile more people are dying. In fact there is a very high death rate in Critique of Criminal Reason and A Visible Darkness. Not only are there the murders committed by the killer being pursued, but there are also murders which come about due to the actions of Stiffeniis and other characters. So, if you don't mind if likeable characters might be offed then you will enjoy these books. Days of Atonement is more circumspect in its violence and develops the personalities of Stiffeniis and his wife, Helena, more than either the preceding or following books.

“The Snow Geese: A Story of Home”

by William Fiennes
This book will entertain those who enjoy travel memoirs, natural history-lite, and don't mind long forays into description and philosophy.

This nonfiction book was inspired by Paul Gallico's, The Snow Goose (1940). The author begins with a recollection of this story and then briefly describes his experience at the young age of 25 with a protracted illness. After returning to his family home to recover Fiennes decides to take a journey to trace the snow goose's spring migration. Starting in Austin, Texas, and tracing the flight of birds in rental cars, greyhound busses, and Canadian trains he arrives at Baffin Island where the birds have their summer mating and foraging grounds.

Describing the migratory pattern of snow geese could be a straightforward and dry narrative, but intertwined with the geese's journey is Fiennes's personal homeward journey propelled by the people he meets along the way and seemingly the philosophical musings sprinkled throughout the book. An example of the tangential flights of fancy which the author takes is that of homesickness. First drawing on those who first identified and defined homesickness as a malady, and then expanding with literary illustrations such as The Odyssey, Fiennes describes his feeling of homesickness. Unfortunately the connection between homesickness and seasonal bird migration is not made, nor can it be really.

The description of people and places in this book are detailed. Sometimes too much so. Since the people described are frequently peripheral to the story, fellow passengers on the bus or train, the story sometimes loses focus. The natural scenes in contrast are more apt and so the detail is not begrudged: “There were hills and swales in all directions, drawing away on the curve of the sphere, and clouds massing in the south, above the sea” (p. 240). The combination of natural description, and the description of all people encountered joined with the personal rumination of the author makes for an odd amalgamation of literary genres. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, it is an enjoyable book. It is the kind of book you can put down frequently and not regret the interruption.

"The Grand Complication"

The Grand Complication by Allen Kurzweil is a fantastic (as in improbable), and superficial story. Within exactly 360 pages it chronicles the adventures of Alexander Short, reference librarian, and his involvement with a mysterious patron. In a fine play on words, Henry James Jesson III, is both a patron of the library, and soon Alexander's employer. Ensnared in a wild, and highly improbable hunt to make complete a collection of antiquities for Jesson, Alexander rapidly moves from the “safety” of the card catalog to interacting with a range of strange people and institutions. In the process Alexander alienates his wife Nic, and risks his career at the library.

At the end of 360 pages it does not feel like one understands either Alexander or his employer adequately. Particularly what motivates Jesson? The characters motivations are lacking partly due to the lack of depth to Alexander, Nic, and Jesson. Without greater characterization the reader is hard pressed to either believe the story or to like the characters. Due to the farcical nature the novel is less engaging than it could be. There is a great deal of focus on card catalogues, the Dewey Decimal system, and general bibliomania. It is enjoyable reading, but the only similarity to (claimed by the dust jacket) Umberto Eco is due to the action occurring in a library, and the mystery which they are trying to solve.

"In The Courts of The Sun"

December 2012 seems to be the date current among apocalypse lovers. This despite the fact that Maya scholars categorically deny that there is a connection between Mayan sources and doom. Based on the number of sites that are generated in a search for 2012 many people are very interested in the coming end.

Feeding directly in to this interest is the book, In The Courts of The Sun, by Brian D'Amato. An enjoyable (and at 682 pgs. lengthy) read for all those who like a good end-of-the-world story.
This novel describes Jed DeLanda's attempt to save the world from an unknown doom. Jed is descended from Mayan peasants in Guatemala. From his mother he learns the “sacrifice game” which he uses to discover answers about possible future events. Jed uses this game to play the commodities market, but turns his playing to darker purposes when he learns that the Maya were purportedly predicting the end of the world. Assisting and guiding Jed is a professor who is trying to figure out the archetypical game from which all games are descended (Which is kind of a stretch - why would there be one game from which all games are descended?) A mysterious corporation is providing the funding for the research and experimentation. The quest for understanding what will be happening in December 2012 is the elusive goal. Unfortunately the version of the sacrifice game known in 2012 is a watered down version and so not informative enough. To learn how to play the game correctly Jed volunteers to go back (strictly in the form of brain waves) to 664 CE to learn from the masters of the game. In this ancient environment Jed describes the cities, people, language and cultures he encounters. He travels to Teotihuacan in search of the secrets of the sacrifice game.

The book ends abruptly as this is the first installment in an intended trilogy. This being the case this review is by its nature incomplete. What makes the book worth reading are its vivid descriptions of Maya cities, culture and people. I would not be surprised if this feature of the book could be criticized by Maya scholars, but even if the portrayal is not accurate, it still makes for an enjoyable novel. The character development of Jed is excellent, but sometimes at the expense of other characters.

The major issue I have with this book is the language. Jed speaks a dialect of Maya which is thought to be “particularly conservative.” Due to the language being “conservative” Jed has little difficulty understanding the language being spoken in 664 CE. Though there might not have been a lot of change between modern Ch'ol and the Ch'ol spoken in 664 CE it seems implausible that he would have so little difficulty. For comparative purposes if you analyse modern English with Old English, say in the form of Beowulf you find a great deal of difference. No modern English speaker could just go back to that period and be able to speak and understand the language.

Overall this book is a recounting of an exciting adventure in a fantastical past.