THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY, by Michael Chabon

Michael Chabon's 2004 Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is a wonderful, tragic yet humorous and spirited story of an unlikely team of creative geniuses (a loner Jewish kid from Brooklyn and his immigrant cousin from Prague) who find themselves in the midst of a pop culture movement - comic books - at the right time in history. The story runs from 1939 to 1954, from the heady pre-war golden days of the superhero comics, to the genre's decline in the postwar suburban culture. The narrative of the pair, Sammy and Joseph is sometimes told together and sometimes separately, as their lives and that of their loved ones take interesting turns. Steeped in the "colorful" comic book subculture, the book is rich with NYC late 30s-early 50s culture, reminiscent of Doctorow's treatment. The book also brings another great novel that is immersed in comic book culture, Jonathan Lethem's Fortress of Solitude. It's a beautifully written book from an important contemporary writer of great strength.

For a review of the book from NY Times (and a link to an interview with Chabon and chapter one of the book), click here: http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/09/24/reviews/000924.24kalfust.html

 

CLOUD ATLAS, by David Mitchell

Cloud Atlas is an amazing multi-voiced novel that spreads across several centuries and explores the mysterious connections that spread across time and space, ranging from 1840s Polynesia, to 1930s Belgium, dystopian 2045 Seoul, more remote future dystopian Hawaii, early 21st century Scotland, etc.. The novel is an unusually constructed set of six individual stories with subtle thematic links. Each story is told in a completely different style, with different narration. The book is structured so that each story is not told as a complete whole, but rather told in pieces, forcing the reader to struggle to understand the connections among them and to wait for the resolution of each story.  The effect is like an interesting verbal puzzle with growing connections and profound implications. It's a wonderfully written book and a triumph of the kind of polyphonic writing that is hard to get right but very enjoyable to read.

For a review of the book from NY Times, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/29/books/history-is-a-nightmare.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm


Cloud Atlas was recently made into a film (amazing idea in itself) starring Tom Hanks and Halle Berry in multiple key roles. It's a very strong effort that of course takes liberties with the plots to an extent but keeps the themes intact. It's visually stunning and strongly acted, and although 3 hours long, flies along at breakneck speed.

For a review of the film by NY Times , click here: http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/10/26/movies/cloud-atlas-from-lana-and-andy-wachowski-and-tom-tykwer.html?_r=0

 

AMERICAN GODS, by Neil Gaiman

If you want to catagorize American Gods in terms of genre, you'd probably say, like the Guardian reviewer, that it is a fantasy. No doubt this is true, but it has little in common with the kind of pop fantasy series like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter that mention of the genre generally brings to mind. In fact, it reminds me more of the often dark magical realism of the S. American writers like Garcia Marques or even Murakami. American Gods is Gaiman's multiple prize-winning effort to get under the skin of the American psyche by exploring its mythical underbelly. Part road-trip and part hallucination, the novel traces the journey of one "Shadow Moon", a noir type antihero caught up in a magical and harrowing battle between the old imported gods of the old country and "new" gods of materialistic modern America.  To call the narrative bizarre would be an understatement, yet it is riveting and beautifully written.

For a review of the book from the Guardian, click here http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/aug/19/american-gods-neil-gaiman-book-club

 

 

BLACK DOGS by Ian McEwan

Black Dogs is an engaging book that very intensely examines conflicts of world views and personalities non-chronologically across five decades. The most interesting thing about it is the complex narrative structure, as the story is told from the perspective of three people. The main narrator learns the story of his mother-in-law Jean shortly before her death, from various perspectives. Along with some interpolated stories along the way, a portrait is composed of Jean and her struggle to live a life with integrity. Central to her journey is the incident that gave rise to the book's title, during which she encountered two black dogs during a hike with her husband. The book is philosophical without being abstract, with strong characterization and vivid writing. The only other book I had read by McEwan is the booker-award winning novel Amsterdam, but I much preferred Black Dogs.

For an interesting overview of McEwan's writing byThe New Yorker, click here: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/02/23/090223fa_fact_zalewski

 

HALLUCINATING FOUCAULT, by Patricia Dunker

Hallucinating Foucault is the  Dillions Prize winning first novel by Patricia Dunker. It's a strange story of obsession, madness, and insight, mostly set in France in the late 20th century. The protagonist is an English doctoral student doing research on a fictional homosexual, iconoclastic French contemporary novelist named Paul Michael. The writer is purported to have had an intense intellectual relationship with Michael Foucault, which plays into the plot. The main plot involves the unnamed grad student going on a "rescue mission" to find and free Paul Michael, who had been locked up in an asylum for a decade because of his bizzare and violent schizophrenic behaviour. He is able to spend some time with him and learns much about the writer, himself, life, etc. It's well written, intellectually challenging and unpredictable. Filled with interesting, even bizarre characters, the book is a very strong piece of writing, particularly for a first novel.

For a review of the book from NY Times, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/02/16/reviews/970216.16lincolt.html

YOU DON'T LOVE ME YET, by Jonathan Lethem

Being a big Lethem fan, I was looking forward to reading the one book of his that I hadn't gotten around to yet. Well, I didn't find it anything close to his best effort. The story is about an as-of-yet undiscovered band who has a moment of potential glory due to the strange intercession of a mysterious person who connects with the female bass player via a "complaint line" that is actually a kind of conceptual art event. The relationship between the two, and between other members of the band play out, as does the band's fortunes. The plot is mildly interesting and there are flashes of brilliance, but the characters and setting (so solid in his best works like Motherless Brooklyn and Fortress of Solitude) do not inspire. He does not capture the soul of LA like he does the gritty NYC of the above-mentioned books. And apart from a few interesting marginal characters, there's no main character who carries the story, least of all the protagonist, Lucinda the bass player. No doubt, even a weak Lethem book is enjoyable (like a bad pizza) but it failed to meet my admittedly high expectations.

For a review of the book from The Guardian, click here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/jul/14/featuresreviews.guardianreview19

DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? by Philip K. Dick

After the end of the edition of the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? that I happened to read is the following quote from Erik Davis, "If the '70s and '80s...belonged to William Burroughs, the millenium belongs to Philip K. Dick." It's an interesting observation about an author who has transcended the often modest goals of scifi to write profound, witty and biting yet human social commentary couched in the inventive world(s) he creates. Other than a few short stories (e.g., "The Eyes Have It") this was my first foray into one of those inventive worlds. All I can say is that I now understand how influential Philip K. Dick has been for many contemporary writers, such as Jonathan Lethem and Steven Alyett. Do Androids... is a very readable and even riveting tale that gets into the interiority of the inhabitants of the dystopian, environmentally-poisoned world of 2025 San Francisco. The borders between organic and artificial, reality and imagination, human and non-human are constantly blurred in very interesting ways. The book, written in 1968,  is said to be the inspiration for the movie "Blade Runner."  It's a great introduction to this  influential and very entertaining writer.

For a review of the book from The Guardian, click here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/apr/29/do-androids-dream-electric-dick-review