The Great Gatsby

Don't give me that look. You've probably read The Great Gatsby at some point in your life. But let me tell you, the third read-through of such a novel is a wake-up call. I had to read this book so I could teach it to my 11th grade class, which made me really analyze the book so I could teach my students how to analyze it. But since I have almost 15 years more experience than they do, there were things I caught that they did not. And I wondered if The Great Gatsby, known to be a timeless classic, is starting to, well, age. Not of it's own avail, mind you, but the initial interpretation has gone to hell with a new generation of readers with new moral understanding.

For example, the novel is told through the eyes of Nick Carraway. He tells you information out of order and he says he's the "most honest man he knows." This manipulation of facts in sequence makes Nick an unreliable narrator. You truly can't trust him, because what else could he be holding back until a later time? But my students argued that he was honest and it didn't matter when he told you something...as long as he told you. I then posed the question, "Well, he held a number of secrets from his own friends. And he never planned to tell any of them. He knew Tom was cheating on Daisy, Daisy was cheating on Tom, and he never told them. Is that being honest?" And they still argued, "Yes, that information isn't his to tell Tom or Daisy. That's none of his business." So, to the Internet Generation, holding back crucial information still makes you an honest person...and supposedly, a good friend. I wonder if F. Scott Fitzgerald would agree.

There is something lovely about this tragic tale, though. Reading the story again made me really sympathize with Gatsby (though my students had no sympathy for him - he was a creepy stalker in their eyes) and it mirrored our current society's lack of responsibility for poor judgment and actions. There is no justice at the end of the novel. Tom and Daisy stay together, no one gets arrested for the hit and run of Myrtle Wilson, and Gatsby is murdered even though he wasn't the one driving the car. It's like all those corrupt companies that get a little tap on the fingers with a ruler and then keep on going about their business.

And so I rate The Great Gatsby a 7/10. -1 for a confusing beginning, -1 for lengthy sentences that sometimes can put a reader to sleep, and -1 for lacking a real plot until around Chapter 6, when things start to pick up.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

It was a 2008 Bestseller and I've heard enough about it to have entered into my bookclub JUST to read this book. (Ironically, I don't think I'll be able to make the bookclub talk, because I'll still be traveling home from an out-of-state wedding).

Nonetheless, let's talk about Stieg Larsson's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. This gripping mystery is set in Sweden and follows three distinct storylines: 1) Journalist Mikael Blomkvist is convicted of libel for publishing a story against corporate giant Wennerstrom. Blomkvist knew he was on to something, that Wennerstrom was definitely up to no good, but needs more time and evidence to nail the corporate leader once and for all. 2) To get away from the shame of libel conviction, Blomkvist agrees to work for former CEO of Vanger Industries, Henrik Vanger, to write the Vanger family history and moreover, do his best to find out what happened to Vanger's niece, Harriet. Harriet went missing - no body was found and the circumstances of her disappearance are to say the least, suspicious. 3) Punk/Goth/Weirdo Lisabeth Salander (aka the girl with the dragon tattoo) works for a security firm. She's absolutely amazing at doing background checks and other investigations. But she has no social skills. In fact, she's a ward of the state due to not being "mentally or emotionally" capable of handling herself and her private affairs.

Corrupt corporations, murder, sex, secrets, lies...this book has it all. It's intricate, suspenseful, memorable, and just a pleasure to read. There were some downsides, though. The beginning of the book was a little dry, but it did set up a nice profile of just who Blomkvist and Salander were as people. The middle - totally awesome! The very, very end of the novel felt forced. There were details given that were unneeded and it just seemed like Larrson was trying to wrap up the loose ends and be done already. I would have been happy with the book ending on page 553 of the paperback. Nonetheless, WELL DONE.

My score: 9.5/10.

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson - The Next Book You NEED To Read

Contemporary mystery has never really grabbed my attention as a reader. I took a Mystery Story course as an undergraduate and felt that contemporary mystery either was too old-fashioned (very Sherlock Holmes) or very CSI (a TV show I don't watch).

But Case Histories by Kate Atkinson is different. It may be set in England, but it's very contemporary. It doesn't have a sleuth with a magnifying glass nor medical examiners with magical insight. It doesn't make far-fetched connections and that's probably the most satisfying part of reading this book.

Oh right, what is this book ABOUT? Well, there are three "cases" which are introduced in the beginning of the book. One involves a missing little girl, another involves the shooting of an 18 year old woman working at a law firm, and the third is about a wife who splits her husband's head open with an ax. These three cases fall into the lap of Jackson Brodie, a retired investigator who opened his own practice. The novel follows Jackson through his process to investigate these cases, but that's only half the novel. The author also writes chapters to give us wonderfully detailed glipses into the lives of other characters involved in these cases, which move the story along and lets the reader begin to put pieces together. This dramatic irony makes the book exciting from cover to cover!

The suspenseful plot, intricate detailing for each and every character, and smooth writing make this one of the best books I've read in a long, long time. (Perhaps since The Other Boleyn Girl.) The only drawback I saw in this novel was the sheer amount of characters. At one point, I picked up the book after 3 days of an unfortunate non-reading spell, and couldn't remember who certain people were. (These people, by the way, were people that "enhance" your understanding of main characters...and there's a lot of "enhancement characters.")

My rating: 9/10. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this mystery and I think you will, too.

Finished "Excellent Women"

Yes, just as I expected, the ending to "Excellent Women" has not changed my rating for the book. It was a fitting ending to say the least. She doesn't get married (though maybe they're hinting at it?) and she gets new neighbors (but oh crap, they're not regular Catholics...they're those Roman Catholics!).

My book discussion is on Sunday and I'm not sure how much commentary I'll be able to contribute. What's there really to say about a passive main character who loves church and does everyone else's bidding? I get a feeling the older people in my book discussion group are going to praise this book. That's gonna be awkward :-)

Excellent Women - Not So Excellent

The second book of my Book Discussion group is "Excellent Women" by Barbara Pym. I'm starting to understand the selection of these books after going to my first discussion last Sunday. I was at least 20 years younger than everyone there. Though funny enough, many of the people in the discussion group felt exactly as I did about "Nathan Coulter" (see my review of that book below).

As for "Excellent Women," it has tinges of my gripes about "Nathan Coulter." This is a weird prim-and-proper English novel. It follows the life of a 30-something single woman named Mildred, who doesn't seem all that interested in getting married. She acts like she's 60, though, maybe even 70. If I had to make a Match.com profile for her, it would be "LIKES: Church, church jumble sales, tea, cooking books, everything boring. DISLIKES: Drama, men, science, liquor, everything interesting." This is no joke. Mildred loves church, loves solitude, and everything that infringes upon those loves is considered a bother...not that this isn't interesting, but rather an amusing undertone throughout the whole book. In fact, her commentary on her dislikes are hilarious. How she frets over every boring thing is hilarious. ("Oh no, the tea is not strong enough! How dreadful!") And whenever something comes up that contradicts her beliefs, well, please let the hilarity ensue! For example, her pastor, her married neighbor downstairs (Rocky), and Rocky's wife's business partner, Everard, are all interested in her. But #1 - She doesn't think pastors should marry. #2 - Rocky is married and apparently a playboy. He also seems to only like her because she possesses two qualities his wife lacks - Mildred can clean AND make tea. WOW!! And #3 - As perfect as Everard is for her (he even goes to church!), he's also an intellectual, which doesn't seem to thrill Mildred. My guess is that she hates science since it's interesting (and also tends to turn people atheist).

It's set in post-WWII England, but it might as well be 1850. The dialogue is just so sickeningly proper that sometimes I feel like writing a curse word somewhere to liven it up. Even on important subjects like DIVORCE, CHEATING, BREAK-UPS, and DEATH, Mildred takes a tone of, "Oh, of course one must miss one's husband when he leaves." Uh-huh. Way to state the obvious.

Despite the prim-and-proper plot, dialogue, and character (no stockings?! YOU REBEL!), the book is actually quite enjoyable. I won't rate it as the best book I've ever read, but I won't rate it as the worst either. Seeing as how I'm 20 pages from the end, I know the ending won't change my mind about this book. So, I'll tell you now. I'm giving it a 6/10 for easy reading, good character development, and a rather entertaining non-plot. Oh yes, non-plot...not nothingness like "Nathan Coulter," but more along the lines of nothing happens but everything happens. It's a very internal plot.

I'll let you know how the ending goes.

Nathan Coulter - Reviewed

I finished Nathan Coulter last night. Grandpa finally died in the last 2 paragraphs of the book. It was anti-climatic at best. Though there wasn't really a climax to begin with.

So, let's recap - This book was a book about a farming family in Kentucky. The 118 pages of the book (there's 118 pages, not 114 as noted in my last post) describe Kentucky landscape, farm life, and hick characters that do nothing. The Kentucky landscape is nice, but author Wendell Berry feels the need to remind me of what it looks like every few pages. It's repetitive. Farm life - I'm not really sure 50+ pages need to be devoted to describing how to put in a fence post, pulling vines, harvesting tobacco, and planting seed. Berry wants the reader to feel that the relationship between farmer and land is romantic, despite all the hard work. I get that. But to describe that bond is NOT a PLOT. And then we reach the hick characters. You've got the drunk, the one-eyed guy, the bible-thumper, etc. Nathan looks up to the drunk, his uncle, as a role model. Ridiculous. Am I really supposed to feel something for these characters? If so, it's downright disgust. The "Shooo-eeey" knee-slapping hillbillies are not likable characters because they're one dimensional. And just plain annoying.

I don't know why, but I'm rating this book a 3/10. I'm pretty sure you were expecting a 1/10, but I have to give this book some credit. The fact that it's a book about nothing and yet it still made me interested enough to read it to the end must mean there's something good about this book. It did have some really great descriptions and the the writing was easy to read. It flowed. But due to lack of interest, lack of plot, lack of complicated characters, and some grievous repetition, I have deducted 7 points from the book's score.

Nathan Coulter receives a 3/10.

A Story About Nothing

"Nathan Coulter" is turning out to be a story about nothing. But not in the good Seinfeld way. I'm about 30 pages from the end of the book and if you asked me what the plot of the book is, I'd say, "Nothing." There's no climax, there's no PROBLEM, there's just page after page describing the river and the farm and hick-farm people in Kentucky. If I didn't have to read this book for the book club, I would have deserted it a long time ago.

The strange thing about this book is that it's a quick read. I'm not sure WHY or HOW, but it is. I mean, the book is only 114 pages long which is perhaps one of its endearing qualities. I still find myself reading it wondering if something is FINALLY going to happen. I read the back of the book - Grandpa is supposed to die. Perhaps that's what's driving me to the end. I'm waiting for this old guy to DIE. Maybe while the authors at it, he (she?) can kill off the narrator, too. He has no mind of his own, a sort of BLANK SLATE NARRATOR who just reports, does whatever he's told, and always seems to have the word "Huh?" floating over his head at all times. Nathan Coulter must also die.

Death is a good way to end a book. I've done it in many of my novels. The tragic ending...oh so satisfying!

Well, next time, I'll report on the ending of this book and rate it. But I'm sure you can already guess my rating. Til next time!