Fall reads

Anthony Doerr's masterpiece set in Nazi occupied France is one of the best reads of my year.  My grandmother loaned me her copy, but I ended up listening to the majority of the novel while I was overcoming the flu. I recommend listening to this novel!  Marie-Laure, one of the story's two protagonists, suffers from a childhood illness leaving her blind.  Marie-Laure loves to read, and as a young teen, her father presents her with full novels in Braille, including the classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which acts as a  parallel text to Doerr's.The novel's second protagonist, with whom I fell completely in love, is Werner, a young German boy, who ends up serving Germany despite his talent and passion for fixing radios and electronics, and his selfless devotion to his sister and others. 

   Marie-Laure's and Werner's paths eventually intersect, but in a much more meaningful and quiet way than I expected. While the book is detailed with countless metaphors for light, the language does not seem cliche or trite.   Marie-Laure loves walking to the ocean and collecting shells from snails.  Her father builds wooden locks and miniature houses.  Werner teachers himself trigonometry from a dusty, old forbidden textbook. T his is a World War II novel less focused on the destruction of nations and more attuned to individuals' sacrifice of their personal and intimate humanity than the destruction of nations. 


     Station Eleven chronicles the world before and after a deadly flu pandemic kills off the majority of the human population. Main characters are connected, and the story is told achronologically, so you understand characters' lives before and after the pandemic and first ten years of anarchy. The  plot of the novel mainly focuses on a troupe of traveling Shakespeare actors (and orchestra) bringing art and refinement to an otherwise barbaric Michigan. Overall, the book questions ideas of fame, materialism, survival, and personal connection.  I believe the book has gotten some negative views for its lukewarm handling of such a dark topic as an apocalypse, but just as a I tell my students, how this book mirrors are current world, rather than a literal future world, is much more worthy of our discussion.

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
No cats, self-involved, and sub-par writing. A generous two stars.