Leaving: A Novel
by Roxana Robinson
"How do know what you'll need to know before you marry someone?" Dialogue from Leaving (12/5/2023)
Several decades after the abrupt end of an intense affair in young adulthood, a chance encounter re-ignites the connection between a married man and a long-divorced woman. At 60, the two are now are embarking on the final chapters of their lives. How is a man to reconcile late-life passion with the complex ethics of abandoning a stultifying marriage that also encompasses a deeply gratifying parental bond?
Fans of Edith Wharton and Henry James will find this novel's central conflict particularly appealing as it plays out in a contemporary framework. Book clubs too will find grist for spirited exchanges on the merits of choosing personal happiness over 'doing the right thing.'
This is a quietly churning read that in a lesser talent's hands might have produced mere operatic angst. But seasoned readers, particularly those looking back on choices/decisions made in early adulthood and are now dealing with the long-term repercussions thereof, will appreciate Robinson's ability to delineate in luminous prose the cumulative layers of sorrow that arise from sacrificing one type of love for another.
Greek to Me: Adventures of the Comma Queen
by Mary Norris
Not just for Word Nerds (2/20/2019)
Mary Norris' first book, Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen, provided a lively account of her (now 40-year) career as a copy editor at New Yorker magazine. Along the way she also furnished an entertaining and educational narrative on the topics of grammar and punctuation.
Ms. Norris' new book chronicles her challenges in achieving (semi-)fluency in Greek, which she studied diligently by day while copy editing through the graveyard shift at the New Yorker to pay her bills. The book is also a paean to the richness of the Greek contribution to Western Civilization as well as a travelogue documenting her visits to multiple locales cited in Greek mythology. Here and there she alludes to elements of that mythology poignantly reflected in incidents from her personal life (see Tragedy). If you neglected to take "Greek Civ 101" back in the day, this erudite but wryly entertaining book will nicely fill that gap.
So Much Life Left Over
by Louis de Bernieres
Well-suited to Anglophiles (8/4/2018)
This novel packs an impressive range of settings and period detail into its 273 pages and 20 year time frame. Secrets, betrayals and multiple love triangles abound, marking the profound reckonings faced by a group of British friends as they try to adapt to peacetime life following The Great War. Fans of this author's style and depictions of this era (think Merchant Ivory, only racier ) will enjoy the wide cast of characters and profusion of sub-plots involving shifting societal norms and cross-cultural misadventures. I found the structure (50 short chapters, or episodes told from different characters' perspectives.) interesting, if perhaps too busy. Also, I was personally challenged by the frequent and often arcane "veddy British" colloquialisms, references and place names. This book won't make my "Best of 2018" list, but it provided some interesting background on cultural imperialism and poignant insights into both the sunset of the British Empire and the long-term social and psychic casualties of war.
The Orphan Master's Son: A Novel
by Adam Johnson
Harrowing, nightmarish, surreal (11/19/2011)
Imagining the tale of an individual living under North Korea’s dehumanized and repressive regime was a heroic undertaking, and the author’s exhaustive background research for the book was masterly. But I had trouble throughout with the story’s fragmented chronology, and several key plot elements seemed implausible to me. For example, the narrative states that the protagonist Jun Do, an uneducated orphan, had only one year of English instruction (by an Angolan at that), but as part of a delegation to Texas really? he served as interpreter, demonstrating vast fluency in speaking to and understanding his American hosts. Perhaps it was the author’s ironic intent, but all the characters present in this brutally inhumane setting seemed flat and one-dimensional. I labored to get through this book and would not recommend it.
In Search of the Rose Notes: A Novel
by Emily Arsenault
Plus-es and minus-es (6/6/2011)
Some snappy dialogue, witty descriptions and very "of the moment" characters will appeal to younger readers, as will the themes of the angst and confusion that accompany entrance into adulthood. But I thought the pacing was far too slow to sustain interest in the ostensible central event--i.e., what the heck HAPPENED to Rose??--for the book to fall into the "mystery" category. The story line simply meandered, and abrupt shifts in the time frame were confusing to me at times. I found the author's earlier book, The Broken Tea Glass, more grounded and appealing.
The Discovery of Jeanne Baret: A Story of Science, the High Seas, and the First Woman to Circumnavigate the Globe
by Glynis Ridley
A skillfully told tale (1/6/2011)
Academic historian Glynis Ridley did formidable research on the state of scientific inquiry and social class in 18th century France for this book. Yet her account of the overlooked heroism and privations suffered by Jeanne Baret is laid out in a lively and readable narrative—by turns fascinating and appalling. Meticulously citing historical records, Ridley bears witness to Baret's courage and accomplishment despite years of brutish living conditions and physical and psychological assaults, not to mention the loutish behavior she bore from her lover, Philibert Commerson, the botanist whose career she helped advance and for whom she embarked on the round-the-world voyage.
Reading this book in the comfort of an easy chair brings awareness of the ease and privileges enjoyed by Western women of today. In solidarity with Ms. Baret, one should consider reading the book in low candlelight, perched on one’s haunches in a bare, drafty room. Either way it’s compelling and engrossing non-fiction.
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