REREADS OF INTEREST: THE MASTER AND MARGARITA, by Mikhail Bulgakov

 Rereading a beloved book is sometimes fraught with "danger." -- Will it pass the test of time and remain great or have the changes wrought by time on the reader have created such a different person that he or she can no longer relate to the book? I recently reread a book that was a favorite of mine and of my college buddies way back when...50 years ago to be precise. The book is The Master and Margarita, written in the 1930s in Stalinist USSR by Mikhail Bulgakov.  Although written in the '30s, the book was banned by Soviet authorities for some 30 years, as Bulgakov suffered the same fate as umpteen Russian artists, musicians and authors such as Nabokov, Shostakovich, etc. Bulgakov was rehabilitated in the '60s and an English translation of the novel came out in 1968, when it became wildly popular and ultimately a cult classic. Supposedly, the book was the inspiration for the Rolling Stone's song "Sympathy for the Devil" after Mick Jagger read the book (maybe an urban myth??). A precursor of the Latin American genre of "magical realism", Master and Margarita is a wild, crazy and extremely funny mix of fantasy, social satire and philosophy. It tells the story of a visit by the Devil (called "Woland") and his entourage to 1930s Moscow and all sorts of wild effects. Two people caught up in the event are "the Master", a novelist, and his lover, Margarita. Segments of the Master's novel, an unorthodox take on the condemning to death of Jesus by Pontius Pilate, are interposed into the main narrative. The novel is unique in its theme, style and the sheer joy it produces. This reread was very successful!

For a review of the book from the NY Times, click here:  https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/books/review/moscows-magic-realism.html

A BRIEF HISTORY OF SEVEN KILLINGS, by Marlon James

I tend to like books with multiple narration and "loose plot lines" and that being the case, A Brief History of Seven Killings works for me. The book won the Booker Prize in 2015, deservedly, I think. Not only is the book long (not "brief" at all at 700+ pages), it is narrated by about 30 narrators, some of whom are major characters in the plot, some of whom are there, seemingly, for "local color" and some are even dead! The book deals with the (real life) attempted assassination of Reggae icon Bob Marley in 1976, and continues into the early 1990s drug gang-invested New York. The challenging aspect of the book, for me, was the extremely graphic violence. It called to mind Roberto Bolano's novels. It's not a book for the feint of heart or for those who demand tight plot structure and clear narration, but it is a book to experience and respect.

For a review of the book from  NT Times, click here: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/books/review/a-

PRIESTDADDY, by Patricia Lockwood

Priestdaddy is a mix of memoir and "expose" (more like reflection) about an unusual family. The protagonist's father is a married Catholic priest (yes, that is possible in certain circumstances--he converted and got ordained after having established his family). The story is told from the point-of-view of the adult  daughter, a young poet, who relays the circumstances of her meeting online and marriage to her partner Jason and escaping her confining and odd life with her parents' uber-Catholic yet unorthodox household.  She finds she must return to live at home again, broke and in need of support, this time with her new husband in tow. The book illustrates vignettes of that odd life, particularly focusing on the character of her priest-daddy, an eccentric and opinionated, even carnal man with a "colorful" personality, and her mother who is obedient but not without character. Intertwined in the depiction of this odd household is the narrative of the girl's childhood and "spiritual journey" to becoming a poet and to some extent "unbeliever". She's very reflective and has a poet's gift for phrasing which is also replete with humor, much of it sarcastic and sometimes hard-edged. I found out after reading the book that the author, Patricia Lockwood, is considered "indie-poetry royalty" and is known for her love of shock appeal and unusual treatment of sexual themes, (e.g., her poem "Rape Joke", etc.) The book holds together and she avoids bitterness while at the same time mixing humor with reflection on issues of faith and the Church, family, and the love/hate dynamic at the center of her relationship with her "priestdaddy".


For a review of the novel from The Guardian, click here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/27/priestdaddy-by-patricia-lockwood-review

MILLENNIUM PEOPLE by J.G. Ballard

Millennium People is an entertaining book with a split personality. The first half of the book is a broadly satirical poke at middle class Londoners who stage an unlikely "revolution" demanding social justice over such weighty issues as street parking and availability of vegan options in their upscale neighborhood. Overlaying the fun, however, is a murder mystery of sorts as a link develops between this rather absurd social protest and a set of terrorists/anarchists who cause real damage,  including the death of the protagonist's ex-wife. So the second half of the book focuses more closely and more seriously on the detective-story plot of finding the killers and dealing with them, and with the loss they have caused. This split does give the book a lack of coherence both in plot and style. Overall, though, it's worth a read.

For a review of the novel from L.A. Times , click here: https://www.latimes.com/books/la-xpm-2011-jul-24-la-ca-jg-ballard-20110724-story.html

Your Fathers, Where are They, And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? , by Dave Eggers

Taking the form of a dialogue novel, Eggers's book "Your Fathers,..." ends up being an insightful snapshot of a moment in American history/culture seen through the eyes of one disturbed but believable narrator. The plot is basically that of a hostage story, but this time it's  multiple hostage event. The choice of people that the protagonist, Thomas, chooses as his "victims", as well as what he says to each of them, provides a window on his psyche and by extension, the psyche of contemporary America. Needless to say, it's not a pretty picture. The lack of clear conclusion of the hostage taking event (although likely resolution is suggested) and non-disclosure of Thomas's motives may be irritating to some readers, but I think it engages the thinking reader well. We have to connect the dots as we work through the many disconnected snippets of conversation with several people to construct our own coherent interpretation.


For a review of the book by The Guardian, click here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/02/your-fathers-where-are-they-prophets-live-forever-dave-eggers-review

THE FERAL DETECTIVE by Jonathan Lethem

Being a big fan of Lethem, I always enjoy his latest offering. The Feral Detective is not, you might say, typical Lethem, but what does that even mean? If anything, he's proven that he can write around diverse landscapes of genres with great skill. Like Woody Allen movies, I always associate my favorite Lethem novels with a NYC setting (Motherless Brooklyn, Fortress of Solitude, Chronic City), and this story, set on the edge of the Mojave desert in California, is about as far from that world as you can get (but then again, so is the alien planet of Girl with Landscape).  There is a NYC connection here, and it comes unexpectedly in  person of the narrator, 30-something, neurotic and female Phoebe. The plot revolves, at least in the first half, around a road trip complete with a noir-ish beat-up P.I. named Charles Heist and the ostensible quest to find the missing daughter of a friend. That plot gets played out but a new one takes its place in the second half, as Phoebe goes back to "rescue" Charles from the "Bears", one of the post-hippie tribes (the other being the "Rabbits") as he is mixed up in a deep association with the area and its feral inhabitants. I'm not sure Lethem completely pulls off his female narrator believably, but the book is enjoyable and does work as a kind of hybrid detective novel-noir piece-psychodrama.

A review of the book from the New York Times can be found at: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/16/books/review/feral-detective-jonathan-lethem.html

THE SELLOUT, by Paul Beatty

Part ironic rant, part brilliant satire, Paul Beatty's The Sellout is a very funny and profound "statement" on the issue of race relations in contemporary America. The novel won the Booker Prize last year and deserved it. The actual plot is inventive to say the least, but the asides and digressions are the most fun. Beatty has a caustic wit and spares no one in his attempt to rip assumptions and PC attitudes about race to shreds. There are many laugh-out-loud passages but all-in-all, the "message" is serious and thought-provoking...how the hell can we "make sense" of the mess of racial identity and race relations in 21st century America?

for a review of the book from the Guardian, click here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/04/the-sellout-by-paul-beatty-review-galvanizing-satire-post-racial-america