Díaz, Junot. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. NY: Riverhead Books, 2007.
R. Stuhr
This is Díaz's first novel. His previous publication is a collection of short stories, Drown.
This story is narrated by a friend of Oscar's family and is written after Oscar's death. Oscar is a Dominican-American youth who is a seriously overweight, love lorn writer and reader of fantasy and science fiction. The novel is a history of Oscar's disappointing life, his mother, her family and its curse, and the violent and tragic history of the Dominican Republic. Díaz sprinkles the novel with long foot notes that explain historical events and people from the DR, primarily from the time of Trujillo. The narrator sprinkles allusions to Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, anime, and other science fiction or fantasy works in keeping with Oscar's own interests.
Oscar's weight and geeky interests keep him from connecting with women in a way that is expected of, according to the narrator, Dominican men. His state of virginity haunts him and drives him deeper into his solitary geekiness. Towards the end of the novel, Oscar falls in love with an aging Dominican prostitute and this passion speeds him toward his inevitably violent end.
This is not an easy novel to describe or summarize. It's a look at diaspora, the pain of being a teenager and especially of being excluded, family relationships, and love and loss. The combination of fierce women, the sorrowful Oscar, and the almost-anything-goes, living-life-to-the-fullest narrator make for a meaningful and entertaining novel.
Burling Library PS3554.I259 B75 2007
Drown: Burling Library PS3554.I259 D76 1996
Monday, March 23, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
A World I Never Made
James LePore. A World I Never Made. Stamford, CT: The Story Plant, 2009.
Review by Sharon Clayton
It’s January 2004 and Pat Nolan has received a call from Paris informing him that his estranged daughter Megan (well-travelled, freelance journalist) has committed suicide. When he gets to Paris it is revealed that the body is not Megan and she has left behind a strange suicide note to stage her death. The plot thickens when he finds out she had been staying in Morocco for some time with an extended diplomatic visa and she is hiding from a powerful enemy who stops at nothing to exact revenge.
Pat’s all consuming quest is to find his daughter before her enemies do. He is aided by Officer Catherine Laurence, a hauntingly beautiful and competent Parisian detective who finds corruption in her department and puts her career on the line to help solve the mystery.
Intermixed with Pat’s story is Megan’s quest to stay alive. It starts in January 2003 with her visit to Morocco to do research and she meets Abdel Lahani, a Saudi businessman. With all her worldliness and experience with men, she has met her match and has made a dangerous mistake. Megan is running for her life, but can her father save her?
LePore’s first novel takes us to Paris, Morocco and the Czech Republic and is packed full of raw suspense, terrorism, corruption, and the love of a father who wants to save his daughter. I was hooked at the beginning and was not too surprised at the end, but I enjoyed the unique plot, diverse characters and exotic settings.
Not yet published. Available for order at virtual and actual bookstores.
Review by Sharon Clayton
It’s January 2004 and Pat Nolan has received a call from Paris informing him that his estranged daughter Megan (well-travelled, freelance journalist) has committed suicide. When he gets to Paris it is revealed that the body is not Megan and she has left behind a strange suicide note to stage her death. The plot thickens when he finds out she had been staying in Morocco for some time with an extended diplomatic visa and she is hiding from a powerful enemy who stops at nothing to exact revenge.
Pat’s all consuming quest is to find his daughter before her enemies do. He is aided by Officer Catherine Laurence, a hauntingly beautiful and competent Parisian detective who finds corruption in her department and puts her career on the line to help solve the mystery.
Intermixed with Pat’s story is Megan’s quest to stay alive. It starts in January 2003 with her visit to Morocco to do research and she meets Abdel Lahani, a Saudi businessman. With all her worldliness and experience with men, she has met her match and has made a dangerous mistake. Megan is running for her life, but can her father save her?
LePore’s first novel takes us to Paris, Morocco and the Czech Republic and is packed full of raw suspense, terrorism, corruption, and the love of a father who wants to save his daughter. I was hooked at the beginning and was not too surprised at the end, but I enjoyed the unique plot, diverse characters and exotic settings.
Not yet published. Available for order at virtual and actual bookstores.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Jamie Ford. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. NY: Ballentine, 2009
I count Jamie Ford as an Internet acquaintance and wasn’t disappointed when I bought his Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet as soon as it was published. I was emotionally satisfied with this debut novel, but impulsively wanted to tag it. So many hot buttons—all of interest to me—popped up: Asian-Americans, coming of age, 1940s jazz, Seattle, World War II, racism and parental conflict. I was biased in the book’s favor by feeling an immediate connection to these tags by having grown up in the Northwest during post-Pearl Harbor tensions.
The story of a widower reflecting on his youth and lost love is a traditional trope, but setting the locations in the city’s ethnically separated streets and an internment camp added dynamic tension to the plot. It was further enriched by the bond that a lost jazz recording has between Chinese Henry Lee and Japanese Keiko Okabe. Ford alternates events and plot developments during 1942 and 1986, providing a literary parallelism that leads the reader ineluctably to an ending in which all the questions are answered. Ford’s language is simple, straightforward and strong, although 13-year-old Henry’s voice sounded anachronistically adult.
A few minor characters might, I hope, lead Jamie Ford to write a sequel surrounding the white high school cook (who secretly supports young Henry’s forbidden infatuation) and Sheldon (the black street corner musician who’s a foil to Henry’s quests). Even old Henry’s son Marty and his Caucasian fiancée, Samantha, are a story worthy of an Amy Tan novel. More fiction—and Ford’s diligent research—needs to be published to examine this period, its strained ethnic relations and what it means to be an American.
Happily, friends tell me, Hotel is earning sales in the U.K. and Australia, although there it’s tagged as “American history.”
Walt Giersbach '61
http://allotropiclucubrations.blogspot.com
Available (actually checked out or on hold at most locations!) at Des Moines, Ames, and Marshalltown Public Libraries in Iowa, Delaware County Public Library System (PA) and Central Parkway of the Free Library of Philadelphia.
I count Jamie Ford as an Internet acquaintance and wasn’t disappointed when I bought his Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet as soon as it was published. I was emotionally satisfied with this debut novel, but impulsively wanted to tag it. So many hot buttons—all of interest to me—popped up: Asian-Americans, coming of age, 1940s jazz, Seattle, World War II, racism and parental conflict. I was biased in the book’s favor by feeling an immediate connection to these tags by having grown up in the Northwest during post-Pearl Harbor tensions.
The story of a widower reflecting on his youth and lost love is a traditional trope, but setting the locations in the city’s ethnically separated streets and an internment camp added dynamic tension to the plot. It was further enriched by the bond that a lost jazz recording has between Chinese Henry Lee and Japanese Keiko Okabe. Ford alternates events and plot developments during 1942 and 1986, providing a literary parallelism that leads the reader ineluctably to an ending in which all the questions are answered. Ford’s language is simple, straightforward and strong, although 13-year-old Henry’s voice sounded anachronistically adult.
A few minor characters might, I hope, lead Jamie Ford to write a sequel surrounding the white high school cook (who secretly supports young Henry’s forbidden infatuation) and Sheldon (the black street corner musician who’s a foil to Henry’s quests). Even old Henry’s son Marty and his Caucasian fiancée, Samantha, are a story worthy of an Amy Tan novel. More fiction—and Ford’s diligent research—needs to be published to examine this period, its strained ethnic relations and what it means to be an American.
Happily, friends tell me, Hotel is earning sales in the U.K. and Australia, although there it’s tagged as “American history.”
Walt Giersbach '61
http://allotropiclucubrations.blogspot.com
Available (actually checked out or on hold at most locations!) at Des Moines, Ames, and Marshalltown Public Libraries in Iowa, Delaware County Public Library System (PA) and Central Parkway of the Free Library of Philadelphia.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Teen Critics at the Overbrook Park Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia
Helen Perelman and Peter Barsocchini. Turn Up the Heat. High School Musical. NY: Disney Press, 2008.
Teeyanna Harris,a 6th grader at Lamberton School in Philadelphia, wrote the following summary and assessment of Perelman and Barsocchini's Turn up the Heat.
Summary: A baking program has a cake contest and Zeke, Troy, Gabriella, and Sharpay are in it.
Assessment: Teeyana writes, "I think that the winner of the contest desrved their prize. Also, I think that when Troy and too many people started showing up to help cook, that is when the problems started. The end was great because, before Zeke or anybody got too crazy and annoyed, they made a beautiful dessert and won."
Teeyana rates the book for popularity and quality:
Popularity: "A lot of teens will REALLY LIKE it!"
Quality: "Well written!"
You can find this novel at public libraries, including Des Moines and Ames area public libraries in Iowa, the Delaware County Library System in SE Pennsylvania, and 50 branches of the Free Library of Philadelphia, including Overbrook Park 7422 Haverford Avenue.
Teeyanna Harris,a 6th grader at Lamberton School in Philadelphia, wrote the following summary and assessment of Perelman and Barsocchini's Turn up the Heat.
Summary: A baking program has a cake contest and Zeke, Troy, Gabriella, and Sharpay are in it.
Assessment: Teeyana writes, "I think that the winner of the contest desrved their prize. Also, I think that when Troy and too many people started showing up to help cook, that is when the problems started. The end was great because, before Zeke or anybody got too crazy and annoyed, they made a beautiful dessert and won."
Teeyana rates the book for popularity and quality:
Popularity: "A lot of teens will REALLY LIKE it!"
Quality: "Well written!"
You can find this novel at public libraries, including Des Moines and Ames area public libraries in Iowa, the Delaware County Library System in SE Pennsylvania, and 50 branches of the Free Library of Philadelphia, including Overbrook Park 7422 Haverford Avenue.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Jonathan Safran Foer. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005.
If you are familiar with Foer's first novel, Everything is Illuminated, you will recognize his unconventional use of narrative and chronology. As in his first novel, Extremely Loud deals with loss in both the present and the future. Oskar, the nine year old protagonist in this novel, is coming to terms with the death of his father in the World Trade Center attack of 9/11/2001. By accident he finds a key at the bottom of a vase in an envelope with the word "BLACK" on it. After determining that Black must be a last name, he sets out on the improbable quest of visiting every one in the phone book with the last name of Black to see if they can help him find the lock that fits the key.
Oskar's grandmother, Mrs. Schmidt, lives in the apartment building across the street and Oskar visits her daily and talks with her at all hours of the night using a baby monitor set as walkie-talkies. Oskar's grandfather, Thomas, left before Oskar's father (also Thomas) was born. Oskar's grandmother and Thomas, grew up as neighbors in Dresden, he was in love with her sister Anna, and were separated after the fire bombing at the end of WW II. Anna, pregnant with Thomas's child, did not survive the fire bombing. Thomas's intense grief led to the loss of his ability to speak and when he and Oskar's grandmother met again in New York after the war, he could only communicate by writing. The story of their marriage and their individual efforts to recover from trauma and loss of the fire bombing constitute a second plot line.
The two plots intersect as the novel draws to a close; both Thomas and Oskar find a certain amount of resolution and healing.
Foer's writing is imaginative and beautiful. This novel includes typographical effects and photographs to enrich the prose. It is funny and sad and a moving remembrance of the loss of life during the fire bombing of Dresden and the 9/11 attacks. As we continue to fight wars with excessive and tragic loss of civilian lives, a novel such as this one keeps us in mind of the sorrow and pain of each innocent death-- so many deaths; sorrow and pain beyond comprehension.
Burling Library 3rd Floor PS3606.O38 E97 2005
Everything is Illuminated
Burling Library 3rd Floor PS3606.O38 E84 2002
If you are familiar with Foer's first novel, Everything is Illuminated, you will recognize his unconventional use of narrative and chronology. As in his first novel, Extremely Loud deals with loss in both the present and the future. Oskar, the nine year old protagonist in this novel, is coming to terms with the death of his father in the World Trade Center attack of 9/11/2001. By accident he finds a key at the bottom of a vase in an envelope with the word "BLACK" on it. After determining that Black must be a last name, he sets out on the improbable quest of visiting every one in the phone book with the last name of Black to see if they can help him find the lock that fits the key.
Oskar's grandmother, Mrs. Schmidt, lives in the apartment building across the street and Oskar visits her daily and talks with her at all hours of the night using a baby monitor set as walkie-talkies. Oskar's grandfather, Thomas, left before Oskar's father (also Thomas) was born. Oskar's grandmother and Thomas, grew up as neighbors in Dresden, he was in love with her sister Anna, and were separated after the fire bombing at the end of WW II. Anna, pregnant with Thomas's child, did not survive the fire bombing. Thomas's intense grief led to the loss of his ability to speak and when he and Oskar's grandmother met again in New York after the war, he could only communicate by writing. The story of their marriage and their individual efforts to recover from trauma and loss of the fire bombing constitute a second plot line.
The two plots intersect as the novel draws to a close; both Thomas and Oskar find a certain amount of resolution and healing.
Foer's writing is imaginative and beautiful. This novel includes typographical effects and photographs to enrich the prose. It is funny and sad and a moving remembrance of the loss of life during the fire bombing of Dresden and the 9/11 attacks. As we continue to fight wars with excessive and tragic loss of civilian lives, a novel such as this one keeps us in mind of the sorrow and pain of each innocent death-- so many deaths; sorrow and pain beyond comprehension.
Burling Library 3rd Floor PS3606.O38 E97 2005
Everything is Illuminated
Burling Library 3rd Floor PS3606.O38 E84 2002
Monday, March 2, 2009
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
Charles Mackay. Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. New York: L.C.
Page and Company, 1932 [1841]).
Reviewed by T. Hatch
As the title suggests Mackay is looking at the world through a Gibbonesque lens. Instead of concerning himself with the vagaries of the collapse of the Roman Empire Mackay's interest in mass human irrationality is more systematic. Starting with the Mississippi and South Sea bubbles (originally my interest in the book); he deals with alchemy; magnitisers; the Crusades; witchcraft; dueling and a short list of other topics which provide fertile ground for nurturing the ubiquitous seeds of credulity in human beings. In reading this 702 page frolic of a page-turner it was impossible to confine myself to the pertinent chapters that I hoped might reveal some larger truth pertaining to the current financial meltdown/tsunami/clusterf@#k and the inherent irrationality of financial markets.
Barnard Baruch, in his forward to the 1932 edition of this work, lamented that “All economic movements, by their very nature, are motivated by crowd psychology.” Whether the source of speculation is Peruvian gold mines or a perpetual ascent in real estate values any notion of caveat emptor is quickly discarded as unworthy of the popular imagination. Although it was three centuries ago when Robert Walpole argued against the South Sea Act in the British Parliament he might very well have been speaking of any number of more recent financial calamities e.g. the Savings and Loan debacle, the subsequent bubbles in bonds, telecommunication stocks, or more recently the credit derivatives market. “It would hold out a dangerous lure to decoy the unwary to their ruin, by making them part with the earnings of their labour for a prospect of imaginary wealth.” In fact, it appears as if it has.
The disappointing aspect of this book is that so many chapters might have been written after 1841. MacKay had no way of anticipating Joseph Smith, the modern treatment of Santa Claus, the fascination with UFOs, assassination conspiracy lovers, or (the cherry on the parfait) the zealotry of the 9/11truth.org adherents. What the world really needs is another Burckhardt or Huizinga to pen something like “The Persistence of credulity: Why 30,000 years of natural selection have not yet made any difference.” A guy can dream.
Burling 1st floor AZ999 .M2 1932
Page and Company, 1932 [1841]).
Reviewed by T. Hatch
As the title suggests Mackay is looking at the world through a Gibbonesque lens. Instead of concerning himself with the vagaries of the collapse of the Roman Empire Mackay's interest in mass human irrationality is more systematic. Starting with the Mississippi and South Sea bubbles (originally my interest in the book); he deals with alchemy; magnitisers; the Crusades; witchcraft; dueling and a short list of other topics which provide fertile ground for nurturing the ubiquitous seeds of credulity in human beings. In reading this 702 page frolic of a page-turner it was impossible to confine myself to the pertinent chapters that I hoped might reveal some larger truth pertaining to the current financial meltdown/tsunami/clusterf@#k and the inherent irrationality of financial markets.
Barnard Baruch, in his forward to the 1932 edition of this work, lamented that “All economic movements, by their very nature, are motivated by crowd psychology.” Whether the source of speculation is Peruvian gold mines or a perpetual ascent in real estate values any notion of caveat emptor is quickly discarded as unworthy of the popular imagination. Although it was three centuries ago when Robert Walpole argued against the South Sea Act in the British Parliament he might very well have been speaking of any number of more recent financial calamities e.g. the Savings and Loan debacle, the subsequent bubbles in bonds, telecommunication stocks, or more recently the credit derivatives market. “It would hold out a dangerous lure to decoy the unwary to their ruin, by making them part with the earnings of their labour for a prospect of imaginary wealth.” In fact, it appears as if it has.
The disappointing aspect of this book is that so many chapters might have been written after 1841. MacKay had no way of anticipating Joseph Smith, the modern treatment of Santa Claus, the fascination with UFOs, assassination conspiracy lovers, or (the cherry on the parfait) the zealotry of the 9/11truth.org adherents. What the world really needs is another Burckhardt or Huizinga to pen something like “The Persistence of credulity: Why 30,000 years of natural selection have not yet made any difference.” A guy can dream.
Burling 1st floor AZ999 .M2 1932
Humpty Dumpty was Pushed
Marc Blatte. Humpty Dumpty was Pushed. Tucscon, AZ: Schaffner Press, 2009.
Review by Sharon Clayton
“Humpty Dumpty was pushed. Nothing happens by accident and lightening can strike twice in the same spot.”
Who murdered the big man with the yellow socks? This story takes us from a hip-hop recording studio to a New York City nightclub to a socialite’s home in the Hamptons.
Detective Salvatore Messina, aka Black Sallie Blue Eyes, is a smart cop with a criminal profiler mind. He dreams of keeping the streets safe, but this case has got him working to keep his captain, the record producers and the socialites from breathing down his neck AND, as fate has it, his ex-wife is back in New York City.
Scholar, gritty ex-con, has a dream to be a top hip hop executive, but money and the higher ups are getting in his way. Even his cousin Biz, record producer, can’t help him reach his goal.
Vooko, Albanian nightclub bouncer, dreams about finding his cousin’s killer. Moving from a war torn country to the streets of New York City wasn’t much of a transition. It’s bad enough with the language barrier, but the traditions and ways of life are even more challenging.
Kal Kessler, wealthy socialite drug addict, dreams of earning his father’s approval. Unfortunately, he hangs with “the boys”, enjoys fast cars and hard drugs.
Marc Blatte’s first novel is “da bomb”. The suspense, colorful hip-hop slang, character nicknames and humorous banter kept me turning the pages. He has created the first “wonderful hip-hop noir mystery” that even a farm girl from Iowa couldn’t put down.
Available at Iowa City Public Library and Delaware County (PA) Public Library System.
Review by Sharon Clayton
“Humpty Dumpty was pushed. Nothing happens by accident and lightening can strike twice in the same spot.”
Who murdered the big man with the yellow socks? This story takes us from a hip-hop recording studio to a New York City nightclub to a socialite’s home in the Hamptons.
Detective Salvatore Messina, aka Black Sallie Blue Eyes, is a smart cop with a criminal profiler mind. He dreams of keeping the streets safe, but this case has got him working to keep his captain, the record producers and the socialites from breathing down his neck AND, as fate has it, his ex-wife is back in New York City.
Scholar, gritty ex-con, has a dream to be a top hip hop executive, but money and the higher ups are getting in his way. Even his cousin Biz, record producer, can’t help him reach his goal.
Vooko, Albanian nightclub bouncer, dreams about finding his cousin’s killer. Moving from a war torn country to the streets of New York City wasn’t much of a transition. It’s bad enough with the language barrier, but the traditions and ways of life are even more challenging.
Kal Kessler, wealthy socialite drug addict, dreams of earning his father’s approval. Unfortunately, he hangs with “the boys”, enjoys fast cars and hard drugs.
Marc Blatte’s first novel is “da bomb”. The suspense, colorful hip-hop slang, character nicknames and humorous banter kept me turning the pages. He has created the first “wonderful hip-hop noir mystery” that even a farm girl from Iowa couldn’t put down.
Available at Iowa City Public Library and Delaware County (PA) Public Library System.
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