A STRANGENESS IN MY MIND, by Orhan Pamuk

I'm a huge fan of the Turkish Nobel laureate writer Orhan Pamuk, so I read his latest novel A strangeness in my Mind with great anticipation. I found the book to be vintage Pamuk. In this family saga, the great, complex and beloved city of Istanbul itself shares the limelight with the protagonist, Mevlut, one of the millions of people who migrated to Istanbul from the Anatolian countryside in the last quarter of the 20th century. The story is as much about the changes and transformation of the city as it is of the eventful life events of Mevlut, who moves there in 1975 and still wanders its streets as the novel timeline ends in the early 21st century. The narrative has two interesting characteristics. First, we begin the story in media res, at an event that seems to be a minor one in the life of the protagonist, but which has psychic significance (Mevlut gets mugged on the street while selling "boza", a traditional beverage). The narrative thereafter brings us backward to 1975 and then later, forward, past the book's first narrated event. Secondly, Pamuk uses multiple narration to tell the story from the perspective of various key characters. It is a somewhat clunky artifice but does round out the narrative and provide depth to the characters, many of whom are minor players in the events they describe.

Central to the story (indeed, alluded to in the title) is the particularly local version of melancholy that infects Istanbul's millions of inhabitants and that Pamuk comes back to time and time again in his novels (e.g., in The Museum of Innocence, The Black Book, Snow). Pamuk here links it to a general sense of dislocation that is no doubt exacerbated by the extreme and rapid changes to his beloved city over the course of four decades, as the population explodes from 3 to 13 million, the landscape is radically changed, and traditional ways of life are eradicated. Symbolic of the later is Mevlut's profession (or really, avocation) of selling Boza on the street.

The book is a meditation on the sadness of that change, and, like many of his books, has a quiet and nostalgic tone. It's warmly written and quite a good read, particularly for Pamuk fans who enjoy being immersed in the strange and compelling world of the lovely, crazy, lonely, bustling, unique city of Istanbul.

For a review of the book from The Guardian, click here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/02/strangeness-in-my-mind-orhan-pamuk-review-istanbul-novel

 

THE SYMPATHIZER, by Viet Thanh Nguyen

The Symphathizer is a remarkable book, both heavy and funny. It's the ultimate "insider's" view of the Vietnam War (called "the American War" by the Vietnamese, by the way) written with deep insight. The protagonist is a 1/2 French, 1/2 Vietnamese man whose worldview and sympathies literally mirror his mixed heritage. He has the ability (?) or curse to understand both sides of the equation, which gets him in some trouble as he is a communist mole in the S. Vietnam military intelligence. He escapes on the day of the fall of Saigon and spends some time in America. His observations about the differences in Asian and American culture are expressed with tremendous wit but jarring wisdom. His involvement as the cultural liaison for an Apocalypse Now-like war film, romantic connection with a university clerk and "professional" relationship with the "Oriental scholar" in the Asian dept are all high points. It's hard to believe, but The Symphathizer is Nguyen's first book; it deservedly won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2015. For those of us who have consumed fiction and movies depicting the War from the American perspective for decades, this book is a welcome eye-opener.

For a review of the book from NY Times, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/books/review/the-sympathizer-by-viet-thanh-nguyen.html?_r=0

DEPT. OF SPECULATION, by Jenny Offill

Dept of Speculation is an intense, deeply personal story of a marriage, told from the perspective of the wife (the book uses the 3rd person, in fact) over an extended period of time. The wife is a teacher, and goes through being newly married, having a miscarriage, then a daughter, then a rocky relationship with her husband, emotional distress, etc. The "plot", in as much as the book actually has a plot, is carried via a series of vignettes that are loosely connected to various periods or major or minor actions that take place. Perhaps for that reason, it is punchy and intense and forces the reader to fill in the gaps and internalize the emotion that is often only suggested. Rather than feeling abstract, this technique forces the reader to engage emotionally to a surprising extent. The book was listed as one of the 10 best books on 2014 and deserves the accolades it has received.

For a review of the book from NY Times, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/09/books/review/jenny-offills-dept-of-speculation.html?_r=0

BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME, by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Between the World and Me is a piece of non-fiction. That's an understatement. As a reader who "likes to think of himself as white", as Coates would say, I find it interesting to read a book that is clearly not addressed to me. At least not directly. The book is framed as a letter to the author's 15 year-old-son, telling him about the reality of being black in America, surrounded by the majoritarian "dream." To the extent that I can comprehend what it must be like to live under those conditions in a country that prides itself on being "the greatest country the world has ever known", I can only find the message courageous and disheartening. Coates does not offer his son any real hope that the dream will change, but just wants him to survive, which is not a given considering the real dangers facing young black men in America today. Two personal observations: (1) race is the defining feature of life in America and there is a legacy of sick race relations that has not been resolved; (2) just as Fredrick Douglass said in his discussions of slavery, racism negatively impacts both the oppressed and the oppressor. Without being able to truly understand it, I can feel the blast of the rage that motivates the book. Oprah said that it's a "must read" for everyone, and I do agree with her assessment.


For a review of the book from NY Times, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/17/books/review/ta-nehisi-coates-between-the-world-and-me.html?_r=0

WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS, by Daniel Mendelsohn

Waiting for the Barbarians is an entertaining eclectic collection of critical essays on a wide range of literary and pop culture works (e.g., Spider Man, Mad Men). It helps that the author is a classicist, as he reviews both classical works (e.g., The Illiad), and more modern works (e.g.,Franzen's The Correction), often through a classical lens. He also discusses several works from a gay or queer theory perspective that seems appropriate to his choices (e.g., Wilde, Sontag, Edmund White). He is an exacting and outspoken critic with well thought-out views that are written in a wonderfully readable style.

For a review of the book by The Guardian, click here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jan/06/waiting-barbarians-daniel-mendelsohn-review

THEFT: A LOVE STORY, by Peter Carey

Theft is a fascinating novel by Australian-born Booker Prize winning novelist Peter Carey. It's the story of the protagonist, artist Michael (Butcher) Boone, a modern artist with working class roots who rose from the family butcher shop in small-town Australia to the international art world ( although on a downward spiral as the novel begins). The plot revolves around the theft of a piece of art from the home of Michael's neighbor in north NSW. Michael was accused of the theft but along the way (before and after) connects with the mysterious Marlene Lebowitz, who is married to Oliver, the son of Jacque Lebowitz, who happened to have painted the missing painting. Oliver also happens to be the authenticator of Lebowitz's art. An added complication is that Michael is guardian and babysitter to his mentally deficient younger brother, Hugh, who seems to have a kind of autistic condition. The story is narrated alternately by Michael and Hugh, who give rather different insights into the meaning of the plot. The dual narration adds dimension and interest. Although the plot is complex, the focus on the three main characters and their relationship provides an emotional anchor.


For a review of the book from The Guardian, click here: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/may/27/hayfestival2006.hayfestival

LITTLE FAILURE, by Gary Shteyngart

Little Failure is a humourous and touching memoir  by writer Gary Shteyngart. The book riffs on, and is an homage to the long traditions of emigre lit, Jewish lit, Russian lit, growing up novels, memoirs, etc. (Nabokov, Roth, Salinger, etc.) It's told with considerable heart and humor of the self-deprecating kind. My fav comment from the book is that unless you come from a Jewish, Russian, Italian or Chinese family, you won't be able to comprehend the claustrophobic expression of love/control a family can dish out (I'm paraphrasing here). Whether or not it makes sense for such a young man to write a memoir, the book works as an open-ended narrative of a past dealt with.


For a review of the book by NY Times, click here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/books/review/little-failure-by-gary-shteyngart.html?_r=0