Up with the Lark

Arlington Park

About 5 pages into Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk I thought - this book will have a character named Jocasta -  and sure enough, 50 or so pages later on she comes (albeit in a bit part). If you laughed in recognition then that's probably all you really need to know about this book.  If you didn't get it then I'll tell you that Arlington Park is about a bunch of women. These women are English, middle class with certain pretensions and aspirations thwarted (they feel) by marriage and motherhood. These women are unhappy, unfulfilled, resentful and sometimes downright angry.  I've read a few of Cusk's books and she seems quite put out by children, although she's had a lot of publishing mileage out of them.  As a writer she always strikes me as a surly adolescent screaming "alright I'll have a sodding baby, but you can't make me like it!"  What exactly are these women in Arlington Park so miserable about?  I don't know.  Their husbands are not philanderers. They are not physically or emotionally abusive and they all have responsible, respectable jobs.  Their children are not handicapped, chronically ill, autistic, or even particularly plain looking.   I've read critics of Cusk's previous work who talk about social satire, but I don't find it here.  Cusk is a really tight, insightful writer - her prose is quite wonderful to read and she doesn't waste a lot words, but thematically I find it a bit hard going.Buy at Amazon

Bang/Crunch – Neil Smith.

Hugh Alter wrote this review.

There is a particular merit to the short story form. It allows you to skate by on pure literary talent when purpose you are working with a premise that would not stand up to anything longer. Neil Smith has clearly perfected this art; Bang/Crunch is a collection of stories that are charming, perfect, and beautifully written, but would be completely insufferable were they any longer.

Of the nine short stories in the collection, there are a few that have frustratingly mundane concepts – including the after school special topics of a teenager questioning his sexuality and one about surviving cancer. These premises, although dull, are rescued to a one by delicate and finely crafted prose; there're few words out of place in the book, and not a sentence that doesn't feel like it has been distilled down. 

Those stories where the quality of the concept matches the writing – the title foremost among them – are marvelous things, and all of the stories do end up compelling. I don't mean this to be a negative review, because Bang/Crunch is wonderful to read and the product of a spectacular writer. It's just that it feels a bit like a nice new paint job on a rickety shack. Very nice on the outside, but I wouldn't want to stay long. Buy at Amazon

Special Topics In Calamity Physics

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl is a book that I was really looking forward to reading.  I loved the character of Blue and her pedantic professor father. I loved Pessl's writing style, her imagery, her language.  The love affair lasted until roughly the end of the first third.  Then I considered writing to the publishers to suggest that they retitle it Marisha Pessl's Big Book of Similes.  By page 200 I was counting the number of similes per page, then by paragraph.  This was not a good sign.  By page 250 I was ready to throw the book across the room and I was only about half way through it.  I get annoyed when authors write very long books when it isn't necessary.  I get annoyed when editors don't say "You know this book would be much better minus about 150-200 pages".  I start mumbling under my breath about Tolstoy.  The centre section of this novel had me thinking that Pessl is a clever writer but more flash than substance with a certain amount of self conscious "look at what I can do" to her.  But I thought about how much my son said he loved the book so I plowed onwards.  And I'm glad I did.  Around the beginning of the final third of the novel Pessl throws in a plot twist (whatever you do, don't read the back of the dust jacket) and the book takes off.  Suddenly I was totally engrossed in the story and back in love with our narrator, Blue. The writing became tight and focussed with somewhere to go and something to say.  That part of the novel met my expectations..  This is a first novel for Pessl and I'm hoping she will realize that she can write and that she doesn't need to put in every beautiful phrase that has ever come to her.  She can save some for her next novel. Buy at Amazon

Restless

What a fun ride it was reading Restless by William Boyd.  A bit of a mystery, a bit of an English spy story and a bit of a family drama all rolled into one.  The book is broken into two narrative streams.  The first is Ruth who teaches English to foreigners rather than finishing her doctorate. The second is the story of her mother Sally (real name Eva)  who in fact, was a Russian who gets hooked into spying for the English immediately prior to and during World War II.  The sections surrounding Ruth are fine and have the aura of a small town mystery story as she is surprised to learn about her mother's past, but it is really Eva's story we want to know about.  Those sections crackle with a real sense of danger as Eva makes her way through the world of espionage while trusting no one.  I liked the juxtaposition of Ruth's mundane, simple post-war life with the covert life of Eva, truly surviving only by her wits.  I'll never look at a very sharp pencil the same way again. The story is clever, as are the historical twists and Boyd tells it in an engaging style. This is a something akin to a literary page turner and it's about the length that you could curl up one evening and devour whole. Buy at Amazon

Old Filth

Old Filth is an exquisitely wrought novel by the English novelist Jane Gardham. It is the story of Teddy Feathers, nicknamed Filth (Failed in London, try Hong Kong).  It's a heartbreaking tale of a "Raj Orphan" so called because they were sent back to England from the East at the age of 4 or 5 for their schooling and many never saw their parents again.  Filth becomes a soliciter and joins the monied and titled of society.  The writing is crisp and conveys the nuances of the upper classes; the schools, the families, their friendships. At the heart of this novel is a secret from Filth's childhood which he has repressed. The book works its way back and forth through time uncovering bits about his childhood, his war years, his marriage and eventually the secret which has been hinted at is revealed. Gardham has a terrific sense of character.  She portrays Filth from his earliest days running barefoot in Malay through his school years, his awkward adolescence, his young adulthood to his end as the stiff Sir Edward Feathers.Buy at Amazon

Hardboiled & Hard Luck

These two stories by Japanese writer Banana Yoshimoto reveal very deep emotions while at the same exercise exquisite restraint.  Both stories centre on the lives of young women touched by the untimely death of other young woman.  Hardboiled is a ghost story where the ghost appears on the first anniversary of her death. Hard Luck has the ghost-like spectre of a woman who is just about to die.  There is serious grief involved in both stories, but with an air of detachment that is completely believable. Yoshimoto's prose is spare and delicate and cuts directly to the heart.  These stories are deceptively simple. There is sadness and grief but there is also the resurgance of hope that fuels the two narrators by the end.  I think this is a book you could keep on your shelf and take down every few years and find a new insight on rereading. Buy at Amazon

The Emperor's Children

I found The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud a bit of a disappointment.  I think part of my problem with the book is the huge amount of hype it has received.  It's not that it's a bad book - it was quite readable, but it's really just another novel about tedious 30ish New Yorkers who haven't achieved the great things they expected.  The characters are predictable - Marina the beautiful, wealthy, vapid daughter of a literary lion Murray, Danielle the quirky smart artistic best friend, and Julius the poverty stricken gay guy who rounds out their trio.  Messud offers up some interesting plot (and character) possibilities, but she doesn't really follow through with them.  Murray's nephew Frederick insinuates himself into their lives, writes a damning article about his uncle and then literally disappears without his character having any of the impact on the others that the reader is led to expect.  Messud also builds a sense of impending doom regarding the upcoming marriage of Marina and Ludo, an Australian journalist. Why the his serious interest in her father?  Why the whirlwind romance?  What is it that he really wants from her? Why do all of the characters other than Marina mistrust and dislike him?  Then the whole situation fizzles out after the nuptuals and nothing happens. The section that really delivers is between Julius and his lover. I was constantly torn between enjoying Messud's writing and wondering why she wasn't delivering more. Buy at Amazon

The Uses of Enchantment

The title of this novel by Heidi Julavits refers to the classic book The Uses of Enchantment by Bruno Bettelheim regarding the telling of fairy tales and their effects on the minds and development of children.  While the story unfolds we begin see the connection.  As a teenager, the character of Mary is abducted and returns one week later.  But was she abducted or is it an elaborate fantasy that she has concocted?  The novel is broken into three interlocking sections.  We see Mary as a teenager with The Man who may or may not have taken her, notes from Mary's psychologist and then Mary as an adult returning to her childhood home after the death of her mother. This is a compelling novel that keeps you wondering about fact and fantasy, about the secret lives of girls and their sexuality and how they come to view themselves in the world. Buy it at Amazon

Paula Spencer

I’m a big fan of Roddy Doyle’s writing and I always read his books as a matter of course. His newest novel, Paula Spencer is a return to the character he first introduced in The Woman Who Walked into Doors. Unlike his more humourous efforts such as The Commitments, and The Snapper, this is serious stuff indeed.  It is the story of a woman who begins to take stock of her life and tries to salvage what remains. She faces her alcoholism, the memory of her brutal husband and the damage she has inflicted on her four children. Although Doyle is unswerving in ascribing her guilt especially in relation to her children he always manages to make her completely sympathetic. Buy at Amazon