The Assistant (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

The Assistant by Bernard Malamud

This is the mid-1900’s, Jewish version of the Russian novel, where nothing really happens and everyone is depressed.   Morris and Ida have worked all their lives to build a grocery business, but it is failing miserably.  Suddenly, an Italian wanderer has made his way to the store and offers his help with running the store.  The daughter of the grocers, Helen, catches the eye of this non-Jewish wanderer and the plot thickens.

The writing is very authentic and gritty, in spite of there being almost too much detail in the everyday.  Because of the detail, though, the book does have a sort of an existential feel to it.  The mundane, repetitive life of an ordinary man who is struggling to be an individual and striving for meaning and just about accomplishing the basic necessity of working to make a living so that he can work.  The yearning for doing something “big” and never getting around to it.  There is that sense from almost every character in the story.  This gives it a literary context, but it also makes the story overwhelmingly gloomy.

I think this book would be valuable in a literature class where it could be dissected for its merits; meanwhile, as a reading experience for an individual, it was devoid of humor and of hope and hard to get through.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette? (migrated from bookblogger)

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Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

This book was surprisingly fun to read!  It is written by an author who has written for Mad About You, Ellen and Arrested Development, so you can guess that the humor in it was sharp and utterly sarcastic. The story is about a teenage girl, Bee, who has done so well in school over the year that her parents agree to take her on her dream trip — to Antarctica.  The problem is that Bee’s mom, Bernadette, has become something of a recluse and does what she can to avoid going out of their house and seeing people.  Because of a number of crazy incidents, including a dispute with the neighbor gone haywire and the use of an online assistant, to accomplish the simplest of tasks, by Bernadette, Bee’s father becomes concerned that Bernadette really has lost it.  The story sort of takes flight and goes so much further than you expect it to.  Maybe some of it is even just a little too out there, but I have to admit that it is still just fun!

What I like also about this book is the various voices that are utilized.  It is mainly told from the perspective of Bee, the daughter.  However, there are also letters and emails and even police reports that piece together the story.  Each one gives the reader a fresh view of the characters and it really enhances the telling of the story.

This is certainly not going to be on the reading list of a classics English course, by any means, but it’s definitely good for a few giggles and a happy read!

The Traitor’s Wife (migrated from bookblogger)

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The Traitor’s Wife, by Kathleen Kent

I came upon this book in my favorite bookstore, the Strand.  It had not been recommended to me by anyone and I’m not sure how popular it ever was/is, but I found this book intriguing.  It is the story of a strong-headed, outspoken woman, Martha, who gets involved with a mysterious man with a complicated past in the mid-1600’s in the British colonies of New England.  It seems that the man has a connection to the uprising and killing of the British King Charles I by Oliver Cromwell and the current King Charles is seeking revenge.

It is a time that I’ve rarely read about and the history here was fascinating to me. (I am a poor student of history — a baby, really!– and need to be fed the details of history within the context of a personal story.)  There is romance and intrigue and suspense in this story but it is based very closely on real events.  It is also written in a sometimes flowery and sometimes very coarse language that matches the goings on in the story.  The author also creates some wonderful and some evil characters that are extremely engaging.  I particularly loved Martha, whose fault was that she spoke her mind in a time when woman were seen as witches when they did so.

I found it to be a quick, intriguing read and learned a lot from it.  Hope you enjoy it!

Love in the Time of Cholera (migrated from bookblogger)

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Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

This book had been recommended from so many sources and it’s even won the author a Nobel Prize — but I’m sorry to say that it did not impress me.  On the contrary, I felt it was work to read this book.  In fact, I could not wait to finish it in order to move onto something more engaging.

     I will grant that the author has a great imagination and that his writing is very lyrical.  He goes about describing this love story in a very detailed, sometimes poetic and sometimes graphic prose.  He does create imagery that is vivid and stark.  Unfortunately, there is really not much substance to the story and a great deal of it does not make much sense, in my mind.  It is the story of a man who falls in love with a young girl, really from a distance, and they begin this love affair all with letters.  They have not met even once directly and have not had a single conversation.  When they finally are able to get together, she decides just in a split second that no, she really isn’t in love with him and it’s all over for her.  For him, on the other hand, it is not over and he pledges his love to her in his mind.  He lives his whole life in waiting for her even as she continues living her life without him.

   I guess I’m just a realist and feel, as I did with Romeo and Juliette, that a lasting, true love cannot be founded on a glance or an image of someone and that it has to grow from really knowing the person.  And since the premise of the book is based on such a dreamer’s fallacy, I think the whole book is something of a farce.  More importantly, the story gets a bit lost in the quagmire of details that the author heaps upon the reader.  There is also a paucity of dialogue, and I love hearing what a character actually has to say.

   All in all, I was sorely disappointed and would not recommend this book, in spite of its auspicious awards!

Beach Music (migrated from bookblogger)

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Beach Music by Pat Conroy

You must read this book!  Whether you like historical fiction, or suspense, or comedy, or tragedy, you must read this book, because it has it all.  In developing the story, Conroy creates stories within the story, which enriches both the plot and the character development.  The basic story is about a young Southern father named Jack, whose wife has committed suicide and he’s made a new life for himself and his daughter in Rome.  He’s vowed to separate himself from his family because of their layered, painful past, but he receives a call that his mother is dying of leukemia and that he must come home.  This initiates a journey into his past as well as the past of others who have surrounded him since his youth.

Pat Conroy is a genius — a magician with words who can create such imagery that you feel you are seeing what he’s seen, even if it’s in his imagination.  The dialogue between the characters is brilliant, rapid-fire sarcasm at its best.  The dramatic stories of the characters’ pasts are so vividly drawn that it’s hard to believe they are not real.  And the characters are all so beautiful that when you finish the book, it’s quite sad — you have to say goodbye to these loving and lovable people.

 

I loved this book and I’d recommend it heartily.  A MUST read!

Crossways (migrated from bookblogger)

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Crossways by Sheila Kohler

This is a book I found in my favorite bookstore, the Strand (in Manhattan).  It was not recommended by anyone and I had no real expectations.   It was like seeing a movie or a play without having read the reviews or having seen a trailer.  How often does that happen nowadays??   I like having no information sometimes!

The story is about a woman, Kate, whose sister has suddenly died in a car accident in South Africa (where she was raised) and left her husband in an intensive care unit and 3 children at home in the care of her mother and their Zulu housekeeper, John.  Slowly, there is doubt raised about the nature of the accident and the story rises to a surprising crescendo toward the end.

I felt that the story had a slow start, but did build into an interesting twisting tale.  I also loved learning a little more about the classes in South Africa, including the Zulu servant, the Boers, and the wealthier British.  There is a lot that is disturbing in this book and there are some slower parts, but it is overall a pretty good read (and probably the potential makings of an intriguing movie).

 

 

The Typist (migrated from bookblogger)

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The Typist by Michael Knight

This is an unusual story about Van, a GI from the south who is stationed in Japan at the very end of WWII.  Because of his unique ability to type as fast as 100 words per minute, he has captured the attention of General MacArthur and therefore has been promoted to work as part of his typing team.  From this perspective, the reader learns about the politics and chaos of Japan at this time and the efforts made by MacArthur to build a democracy and resist Communism.

The story is unusual in my mind in that it is a WWII story that does not focus on Europe or on the Holocaust.  There is, at least in my view, very little written about this period in Japan’s history and about the relationship between the U.S. and Japan in the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  This is a little piece of historical fiction that fills in some of that era.

It is a simply-told, well-written story, with solid characters.  For anyone who likes historical fiction, this is a solid read.

Heartburn (migrated from bookblogger)

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Heartburn by Nora Ephron

This is true vintage Nora Ephron, a book where not much happens, but she has you laughing through much of what she has written.  The story, such as it is, is about a woman who is 7 months pregnant with her second child and discovers that her husband is cheating on her.  This is, of course, her second husband and it feels as if everyone she’s surrounded by is cheating or has been cheating as well.  In addition, she happens to be an author of cook books, and so interspersed with the story are recipes.  It’s a bit of a bizarre story, but it is cute.  (Evidently, it was also made into a movie awhile ago as well.)

Not exactly high literature, but it was a light, quick read on the beach!

And the Mountains Echoed (migrated from bookblogger)

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And the Mountains Echoed: A Novel by Khaled Hosseini

     Once again, Mr. Hosseini (author of the Kite Runner) has demonstrated his brilliance in telling a story.  The central story is about a brother, Abdullah, and his sister, Pari, who live in a small village outside Kabul and are separated by dire circumstances.  What is unusual is how the story is told:  sometimes through letters, sometimes through first person narratives, changing subtly and smoothly so that the story unfolds over the years of their lives.  Sometimes there is a break and the connection to the story is not known for a few pages, but always it is captivating, warm and moving.  When you do realize how each part is connected, there is that “aha” moment and you feel like you’ve found the most important piece of a large puzzle.

   In the telling, there is also a subtle history of Afghanistan and the impact of its history on its people.  It is not something that hits you over the head, it is more quietly told.  But it is there in a way that is more human and more inner-reaching.  Because the characters are very human and likable, the reader has an easy attachment to them and you find yourself caring so much about what happens, feeling their pain and their joy.

   This is a beautiful, tragic, and real-life story and in my opinion, a must-read!

The Interestings (migrated from Bookblogger)

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The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer

I believe that further editing might have saved this book.  The idea is good — kids meet at an arts camp and, seeing themselves as destined for greatness, form a sort of club.  Over the years, these characters’ lives remain entwined, partly because of the true friendship that is there and partly because of a tragic incident.  Unfortunately, there is just too much detail and too much bouncing around from time period to time period and from character to character to keep it really engaging.  In addition, the “foreshadowing” that the author uses is in so much detail, that it feels the story is being told over and over again.

I think a shorter, simpler version of this book would have been so much more “interesting.”