THE SAVAGE DETECTIVES by Roberto Bolano

Having worked my way through Bolano's posthumously-published 2666 some time ago, I was curious to read the book that kickstarted his international fame, the equally complex and almost as long The Savage Detectives. I found that the book was written in a familar style with some differences. Detectives is somewhat autobiographical, at least in its broad outline. Also, Detectives uses multiple narration to an extreme in order to paint a picture (?) of the characters, major and minor, as well as the avant-guard literary milieu mirroring Bolano's own involvement ("viseral-realists" vs. real-life "intra-realists"). There are even a few crossovers, such as the trip to Sonora (Sta Theresa) and mention of the fictional author Arcimboldi.

The Savage Detectives solidified Bolano's position as a South American writer of great power as the new generation took the mantle from the "Boom" generation of Latin American literary legends such as Garcia Marquez, Vargas-Llosa, Borges, Puig, etc. I have yet to read other writers in this new generation and am looking forward to doing so if they are even remotely as gifted and engaging as Bolano.

See a review of the book from New Yorker      at: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/03/26/vagabonds

KNOWN AND STRANGE THINGS, by Teju Cole

Having read the quiet yet deep novel Open City, I already respected the articulate intellectual ability of Teju Cole. Although the book Known and Strange Things is a completely different book, being a number of short critical pieces previously published in The New Yorker, many about photography, different writers and their works, and interesting personalities and experiences, it reinforces my respect for him. I found some of the entries more interesting than others, and it did take me quite a long time to get through. Like many similar compilations, it is a book you can browse through in no particular order, which makes it enjoyable in a different way.

For a review of the book from The Guardian, click here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/aug/07/known-and-strange-things-teju-cole-review-essays

THE RED-HAIRED WOMAN, by Orhan Pamuk

A new book from Orhan Pamuk....one of the joys in life. His 10th novel, The Red-Haired Woman, published in 2017, is an interesting read. Heavily intertwined with twin Oedipus themed tales (from the Greek & Persian traditions), the story traces the narrator's young adulthood, centering on an unusual occurrence when he was working as a well-digger's apprentice during his teen years. Although the ending of the novel had some degree of predictability, the interweaving of the Oedipus themes with the personal narrative was clever and worked. The red-haired woman, while not exactly central to the main narrative, was certainly central to the way the theme played out.

Click here to read a review of the book from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/03/the-red-haired-woman-by-orhan-pamuk-review-secrets-of-fatherhood

A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING, by David Eggers

A Hologram for the King is a kind of globalized update of Death of a Salesman, with a post-modern but equally pitiable and insecure protagonist, Alan Clay as 21st century Willie Loman. Alan worked for years at Schwinn bicycle company, surely a poster-boy for American business failure in the globalized economy. He now works for Reliant, a huge conglomerate. The book is set in Saudi Arabia as Clay and his team try (intend is a better verb I think) to sell an IT package to the king relevant to the planned (and largely fantasy) future economic city/dream of King Abdullah Economic City (stereotypical white elephant ego fantasy of a developing nation's leader). All does not go well, as the story meanders through empty time and space, strange chance encounters that do not pan out, and general meaninglessness. It's well written but tends to go nowhere, which, I guess, is the point.

Click here for a review of the book from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jan/30/hologram-for-king-eggers-review

THIN ICE SKATER, by David Storey

I had no idea that David Storey was such an esteemed British novelist when I picked up his 11th novel, published in 2004, entitled: Thin Ice Skater. The novel traces a period in the coming of age of a bright but not very well adjusted, young man, Richard, as he struggles to belong in a strange and rootless household headed by his significantly older playboy film producer half-brother Gerry. The title refers to the recurring metaphor of Gerry (Richard too?) "skating" frantically through emotional "thin ice" as if his life depends upon it. The stripped down style, much of it reduced to terse dialogues between the above two characters, followed by reflection and a bit of action, gives the book a strange feel, appropriate to the socially disassociated characters. Some family revelations of a disturbing and surprising nature get played out. The bulk of the story is set in 1971 suburban London, but it turns out the whole thing is told in retrospect 30 years on by Richard. I'm not sure if the book is a good introduction to Storey or not, but it is an interesting piece of modern domestic fiction.


For a review of the book from The Guardian, click here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/feb/14/featuresreviews.guardianreview11

WHAT WE LOSE, by Zinzi Clemmons

What We Lose is a moving journey through the emotional life of a young woman of mixed race (called "coloured" in the apartheid parlance of her ancestral homeland of South Africa) as she lives her life in America. Coming from a relatively privileged background in S.A., she grows up in a warm upper middle-class household in Pennsylvania that is dominated and centered around her strong and loving mother. Most of the book deals with the death of the mother and the protagonist's long struggle to deal with the almost overwhelming loss. There are ripple effects through all aspects of her life, including her marriage, her own motherhood, etc. The somewhat conventional topic of the novel is kept from pure sentimentalism and predictability by the unconventional and non-linear writing style that mixes genres and chronologies while keeping the force of the emotion intact. It's not a happy book, but one that makes you glad you worked your way through it.

For a review of the book from The Atlantic, click here: https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/08/what-we-lose-confronts-the-dilemma-of-authenticity/535065/

TROPIC OF KANSAS, by Christopher Brown

Tropic of Kansas is a timely dystopian trip through an imagined but imaginable future that is dark and violent in the extreme, yet sort of hopeful in a messy, realistic way. The book traces an underground revolutionary movement against an entrenched system that is part kleptocracy, part fascist, part redneck crazy. The plot revolves around two narratives about two players in the events: Sig, child of the revolution who is a kind of Rambo mixed with "swamp rat" and Tania, a government security employee who slips into a confusing under-cover mission in an attempt to free her mother from imprisonment and connect with Sig, who is her foster "brother" who she hadn't seen for many years. The revolution is played out through the eyes and actions of both characters. Although there is a propensity for "deus ex machina" escapes by Sig, and some ping-pong effect in the shortest chapters, all-in-all, the book works well and is both disquieting, thought-provoking and timely. And yes, hopeful at a time in American history when hope sometimes feels in short supply.

For a review of the book by NPR, click here:http://www.npr.org/2017/07/09/534768934/tropic-of-kansas-rips-dystopia-from-the-headlines