The Wonder Boys

Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I have a sort of literary crush on Michael Chabon. The first novel I read of his was Kavalier and Clay and loved it. Then I read most of this subsequent novels and thought he was amazing. But stepping back in time...well, let's just say this novel hints at the great writer Chabon is about to become--you can even see the evolution of ideas for his future novels--but he's not quite there yet. His main characters are interesting, but not likeable. The plot is far fetched but entertaining. And in the end his main character learns...that he should not smoke so much pot. The thing I really missed was the way Chabon commands the English language to tell a story that is entirely its own universe. That gift is only nascent here. I did like the observations about authors, how they have doppelgangers that give them something to write about but are their own worst enemy, and how authors go through their life and nights sleepwalking, living out the stories in their heads.



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Gilead

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


As I was carrying this book around forever trying to finish it, I told everyone it was eh, ok. It was a story without much of a plot, just a lot of ruminations about religion, faith, forgiveness, and it was murder to get through. But then I finished it and I thought there were a few good quotes that I wanted to re-read, and I ended up reading the whole thing again. The whole thing. It isn't a book that excites you, it definitely is not a page turner, but the letter by a dying priest to his young son born in his old age is full of gems of wisdom. The themes of the prodigal son resonate throughout--what it means to be a son in need of forgiveness, what it means to be a loving father, what it means to be the righteous son feeling unjustly looked over. In the end, it culminates into a beautiful story of what it means to love and to live. If you can barely get through it the first time, read it again.



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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was a great telling of the story of Henrietta Lacks, who went to Johns Hopkins for cervical cancer treatment and while there had her cells biopsied. Her cancer cells became a perpetually growing medium, a boon to medical research forever after. Skloot explains how her cells became immortal, how they helped science, and the story behind the woman who died while her cells lived on. There are a hundred issues that the story raises, questions of black rights, of rights of patients over their own tissues, of how experiementing on humans became regulated. Skloot touches on all these, but I wish she could have devlved in even deeper. Toward the end, Skloot inserts herself too much for my taste and talks about her relationship with Deborah, Henrietta's daughter. That material is for Skloots memoir--give us more of those fascinating cells!



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Peace Like a River

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This was a book club read, and although I wouldn't have chosen it I didn't hate it. I liked that it reminded me of all the miracles that happen all around us, we just have to take notice of them. I even liked that though the father could heal his enemies and walk on air and even greater miracles, he could not make his son, Davy, think like he did. That the ability of choice is so sacred not even the most holy among us can bend our will to theirs. I did not like that the father found his spirituality and then promptly stopped going to college to become a doctor and instead became a janitor--why do "good" people feel like they must be poor? Wouldn't he have been more useful as a dr.? I didn't like that the father's headaches were never addressed. Did the miracles have a physical effect or was it just to show that he wouldn't/couldn't use the power on himself? And I didn't like the way it ended, that Davy went from being a great older brother to a fugitive that wouldn't turn himself in, that the climax fell flat, and that Rueben ended up marrying his "sister". Sorry, but that was wierd.



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One Day

One Day by David Nicholls

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I heard the book was amazing and the movie was a dissappointment. But I watched the movie after I read the book,and thought the movie was a fair adapatation of the novel....I just think the novel wasn't as good as it was touted to be. It follows the lives and loves of Emma and Dexter by checking in on them the same day each year. The characters are richly drawn, believeable, though not usually likeable. Their friendship goes through ups and downs, though honestly I couldn't see how they helped each other. They get together after Dex finally gets sober and Em finally gets some sense of who she is,though they make these breakthroughs without eachother. The ending is emotional, but a little too neat in some ways. What else was the author going to do with them? A fun, fine end of summer read. Full of nostalgia (for someone my age, anyway).



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Bel Canto

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Imagine one of the worst senarios you could be in....being taken as hostages in a foreign land by terrorists, then throw in a translator, a piano, and an opera singer and instead of being a story of terror and fear, it becomes a story of hope, love, art, and what it means to be friends, enemies, lovers, family. Through their experience the hostages and terrorists question what they really need to be happpy and how maybe the things they valued in their former life did not fulfill them like they thought it did. In the interview with Patchett, she confesses that she did not love opera when she started this book, but through her research she grew to have a passion for it. And thank goodness. I don't think this book would have worked if Panchett weren't able to translate the strong feelings for song and music her characters had as well as she did. Her descriptions of the music were some of the most beautiful passagess in th book. It made me want to go to an opera, or at least listen to classical radio. There are parts that drag a bit in the middle, and some of the events tend to challenge the believeable, but it is a beautiful book, and definitely one that makes you think and feel.



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Freedom

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I read this in one weekend, although it's almost 600 pages long. Mainly because I flew cross country in the same weekend and had 12 hours to kill on planes and airports. I felt like I was immersed in the family drama of the Berglands and when I surfaced, I felt like I'd lived a few lifetimes. This is mainly due to Franzen's wonderful writing, that draws you and makes you care for (almost) all his characters. The novel is (not surprisingly) about Freedom--what it really means to be free, the sacrifices we make in the name in freedom, and how we may not really want the freedom we're all so desperate for. At one point, the husband, Walter, meets up with his homeless, alcoholic brother, Mitch, who spends his days fishing--he has no responsibility, no cares--"I'm only good at taking care of me," he declares. Walter replies, "You're a free man." "That I am." And yet, who would envy a drunk by the river?

The only character I didn't care for was the son, Joey. His chapters were filled with more post-adolescent sexual angst than I cared to know about. Besides, I never quite understood what changed him from selfish and self-serving to being the great husband/son he became. There is a bit too much ranting, and most of the characters go through a period of depression which can be depressing to read, but all in all it is a believeable, interesting family drama.



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