January 2015

Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson

"...the world is a blade and dread is hope cut open and spread inside out." 

     This is by far the best book I've read in quite a while because of the original plot, flawless prose and structure, and the questions it asks regarding charity, freedom, and social responsibility.
The protagonist Pete is by no means a great social worker; in fact, he is mediocre bordering on pathetic.  While his intentions are good, he is blind to the needs of his own family, a wife who has left him and a teenage daughter thirsty for love and acceptance.  A modern American novel wouldn't be complete with a a tinge of paranoia and anarchy, so Pete meets Benjamin Pearl and his son. Pete is introduced to the Pearls when he is called to a nearby elementary school where the boy has wandered in, dirty and catatonic with signs of scurvy and malnutrition, and appears to have been living in the woods indefinitely.  Thus, Benjamin Pearl's goal is to take down the government, or at least live apart from it, which become one and same. Pete is entangled in Pearl's drama because of his tragic big heart, and soon finds himself in danger.   The novel begs us to consider how members of a community can best serve one another while preserving individual dignity.


Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon

"What goes around may come around, but it never ends up exactly the same place, you ever notice? Like a record on a turntable, all it takes is one groove's difference and the universe can be on into a whole 'nother song." 

     Simply read this to prepare for the movie. I've never read any Pynchon, but I appreciated the style, pop culture references, and overall bizarre narration.   This novel describes a turning point in American pop culture as the sixties end and the seventies begin.

We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas

     This one was difficult due to the content (suburbia, marriage, Alzeimer's), and I found the prose itself boring and needlessly slow-paced. I did enjoy the very beginning (first 100 pages?) depicting Eileen's childhood growing up in 1950s New York to 1st generation Irish immigrant parents.  While adult Eileen is a realistic character, there is little to like about her. While likability doesn't usually 't stop me from enjoying a work of fiction, Eileen  simply got on my nerves! She seemed more like a symbol of the dissatisfied American consumer than an actual individual human begin.  Her husband Ed and son Connell are more sympathetic characters, and their relationship has bits of truth and humanity.  Probably one of the best aspects of this novel is that it deals with the evolution of the American Dream, and while these themes are important, albeit obvious, the story itself was difficult to invest in.