My purpose for reading this was mostly because it sounded similar to what I’ve tried to do with my recently finished book. This is a collection of stories, basically, about Indian people set in either the U.S. or India.
It was quite helpful to read. I’ve never read anything written by an Indian writer…or, second generation Indian, actually. But after having lived in Korea a while, I can pick up on certain Asian cultural subtleties that Indians and Koreans share, despite the fact that countries themselves are radically different.
I’m a little surprised this book won a Pulitzer Prize to be honest. Of the nine stories I’d say four or five are pretty great, I especially liked the title piece.
August 16, 2007
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
July 15, 2007
Gone Fishin’
I was in America for a few weeks visiting family and stuff. As is often the case when I go home I don’t have a lot of time to do much of the junk I would regurgitate in this space, but, of course, there were discoveries.
One thing I’ve become more certain of is my opinion of the movie The Bridge, which I outlined in an earlier post. I came to this understanding as I rode across the Golden Gate Bridge, going home from the airport.
What an utterly exploitive glorified 90 minute Youtube piece of shit that film is.
Enough said.
Having to take time from my plodding through Karamazov I found a couple other books to read while abroad. The first was A Good School, by Richard Yates. It was the second book of his I’ve read this year, the first being Revolutionary Road, which I happily place as one of my favorites of all time.
“School” isn’t as good, but considering that the tale of the prep school seems to be well-tread territory (mostly I’m thinking John Knowles here) Yates still manages to breathe life into it. The theme of homoeroticism (and sexuality in general) in prep schools is an interesting one and is something Knowles never touched to my knowledge. It’s not central to the book, but Yates tackles it. At the beginning of the book one of the boys is pinned down and masturbated as a means of embarrassing him, and throughout the book boys are seen hiding their erections from elders and females.
June 25, 2007
Brothers Karamazov
Brothers Karamazov. This is a book I’ve wanted to read for a long time, but quite honestly have been afraid to start. While doing some research about Blood Meridian I came across several comparisons between BM’s Judge Holden and Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor as being amongst the great literary villains in history.
So I knew then I had to finally read it. I’m ripe for this sort of faith vs. reason contemplation and so I’m eating up the book.
Of course, as pictured above, The Grand Inquisitor stands on it’s own as a novel, but functions in the novel as a book within a book.
I’m not going to go on with my usual brief musings about Dostoevsky or The Brothers Karamazov. I’ll just leave it as I love it.
Although I will mention one thing running through my mind. A novel like B.K., will people still be reading it thousands of years from now? As we read the Bible or the Odyssey? Can this sort of book withstand a change of civilization? One would think so.
June 12, 2007
One of the problems in finishing one of the best books you’ve ever read is that it’s hard to read others. I can’t finish and bascially don’t like The Jungle, and I started Devil in the White City, a fairly interesting piece of historical fiction about the Chicago World’s Fair in the late 1800s. But after reading Blood Meridian I just expect to be fully engaged at all times and it just doesn’t happen.
But I’ve at The Walmart Effect by Charles Fishman hanging around on MP3 for a while and have been more or less denying myself from listening to it until I finish The Jungle. But I couldn’t wait anymore.
What’s interesting about Wal-mart is the way it turns the tables on it’s suppliers; it’s such an empire with so many stores it can force companies to conform to it’s needs, often destroying companies in the process. Vlasic and Huffy are two examples that went bankrupt after increasing sales after hooking up with Wal-mart.
I’m almost done, and it’s not like Fishman is offering solutions, but he does mention, and I fully agree, is that people view capitialism as this untouchable entity, that it in order to be it cannot be touched. But the effect of Wal-mart proves otherwise. Products are getting shittier, less competition, not to mention the effect on actual people forced into poverty and so forth.
June 4, 2007
Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy and Oprah
I finished Blood Meridian. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read. I haven’t read many books where a such a feeling is built and sustained from beginning to end and on such a large scale.
It’s a shame McCarthy is so publicity shy, because it would be interesting to hear some of his intentions of the book spilled out on the table. I took it to be mostly about man’s desire for war, and the Judge character to be something like Satan or the grim reaper.
Oddly enough, McCarthy is going to be on Oprah later this week. She’s apparently a big fan. I have nothing against Oprah, meaning I have no opinion. I think it’s good that she encourages people to read.
I have to say I’m skeptical when someone who avoids publicity his entire life suddenly yields and goes on the biggest daytime television show of all time. I think it’s safe to say he was offered an amount of money he simply couldn’t possibly refuse.
Not sure if I’ll watch. Somehow I doubt he’ll be discussing about the philosophical ideas that went into a book he wrote over 20 years ago. I prefer to keep him in my mind as a reclusive wierdo who lives in the middle of nowhere on the Texas/Mexico border.
May 28, 2007
More about Blood Meridian and The Jungle
About a week ago I posted about reading these two books. I’m still rolling through them, but my opinion has totally changed. I’m a flip-flopper.
I downloaded the audio to the unabridged version of Blood Meridian and it’s made a big difference for me. Part of this is due to the fact that the McCarthy doesn’t always make it clear who’s talking, and uses very little diction. The reader sounds a little like Charton Heston, which for a Western noir style fits quite well.
One of my favorite passages from the book so far takes place at a banquet honoring some of the mercenaries (the main characters, mostly Americans, who are essentially trolling the Texas/Mexico border for scalps).
Patriotic toasts were drunk, the govenor’s aides raising thier glasses to Washington and Franklin and the Americans responding with yet more of their own country’s heroes, ignorant alike of diplomacy and any name at all from the pantheon of their sister repulbic.
One of the major themes in the book is the way that countries, bands, and armies run across land, take it from others, build their civilizations, but in the end the land is the only thing that stays the same. Dust is dust and so on. The land is the only thing that will remain long after the next thing comes along.
McCarthy is definately making this point throughout the book, which is a little jarring considering it’s a western.
Still like The Jungle, but a little less than initially. I find the tone a tad condescending in parts. I still love a good class struggle story, but a few times Sinclair refers to the protagonists as “our friends,” and that puts me off a bit. It reminds mea little of Lars Von Trier’s Dogville. I liked that movie, as I’m liking The Jungle. My friend, who also recently read The Jungle totally disagrees with my idea.
May 23, 2007
Currently attempting for the second time
A friend gave me Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy last year. I read about 50 pages of it and lost interest.
Part of the problem is I was reading it and another book, and I would usually read the Cormac book before bed.
My point is I was willing to take the blame on this one and give it another try. This time I’m trying to whiz through it and not give myself the chance to lose interest.
It’s a tough read, because while there isn’t much going on outside of the physical action and McCarthy can be tricky with his descriptions. He doesn’t use proper English. The narrator is 3rd person and omniscient but written in what I’d presume to be the language of the time. Reminds me of Faulkner.
This is the sort of book that scholars, critics and writers alike love to rub their sex on in order to say something about themselves and/or their own intellect. There are multiple possible interpretations, and it’s based on events that only a historian local to the area would know about. The fact that McCarthy doesn’t do interviews just adds fuel to the fire.
Frankly, in my opinion, the violence here is a bit masturbatory. I also dislike the untranslated Spanish and the sometimes impenetrable vocabulary from a time I have no experience or knowledge of.
However, at the end of the day I have to say I really like the mood of the book. Bone dark, hopeless, vile. The people of this time were neanderthals.
May 22, 2007
Back in the Jungle
I’m listening to Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, which I’ve always wanted to read, but, as a meat eater, have always hesitated to read.
What a heartbreaking and mesmerizing book this is. Firstly, it makes me consider my own ancestors who came to America from Germany, Italy and Ireland around the turn of the 20th century.
I wonder about the conditions they lived and worked in…and ultimately I wonder why they came to America in the first place. I don’t mean that as a slag on America. I honestly wonder what truly brought them there. Greed? Pride? Hope? Bad luck? Good fortune? Sure the standard line would be “they came to make a better life.” But I wonder why they really came.
Oddly the location of The Jungle, the old Stockyards of Chicago, is an area I’m relatively familiar with. The yards are gone, though the gate apparently still stands.
I’m sure I’ll have more to say about the book as I read on.
May 17, 2007
The Zen of Writing
I was a little surprised to find Ray Bradbury has a book called “Zen in the Art of Writing.” I would never have guessed Bradbury, who is a relic in the truest sense both in term of style and age, would have anything to do with Zen.
I’ve read a few of his books over the years…The Martian Chronicles in high school, Fahrenheit 451 after I watched the Truffaut adaptation on film, and a short story book. I don’t remember the title. He’s extremely prolific and claims to have written about 1000 words a day since he was 12.
But it wasn’t until I interviewed him on the phone for a newspaper article that I appreciated him at all. As I said above, I had some knowledge of his work, but this guy is a living legend, so I felt a little ashamed to be cranking out 1 of my weekly 4 or 5 stories about him, not having the time or the inclination to research him or his work.
But he was a class act all the way, very well spoken and never gave the impression he didn’t enjoy the interview or questioned why he was talking to someone unfamiliar with his legacy. You’d be surprised how many others do talk like that, or, act like they have a legacy when they don’t.
The “Zen Writing” book is a nice read. Mostly insights into his creative process and his passion for the craft of writing. Cheers to Ray.
May 15, 2007
Can you Camus?
Just finished The Stranger by Camus.
I was thinking of rereading The Trial, and then remem’d that I had this on the shelf. I guess I could have guessed they’d be fairly similar.
I love the way the book builds, until the end when he’s grabbing and screaming at the chaplain.
I’ll refrain from saying much here, since I’m sure people regularly write disertations on the book. I did find it interesting to read that aside from The Cure song, that the creator of Howard the Duck names Camus as a major influence on his work.