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

ENGLISH PASSENGERS, by Matthew Kneale

English Passengers is a wonderfully entertaining and often funny historical novel centered around the how the aboriginal natives of Tasmania were wiped out literally "to the man". It doesn't sound like a very cheerful topic, and indeed it is not, but Knowles manages to paint a picture of that particularly dark chapter in English colonial history in a vivid and clever way. The story is told from multiple perspectives, both English and aboriginal, and pieces together very nicely. Much of the humor is ironic and absurd, yet he does base his story loosely on real events, or at least events similar to real historical ones. It's very well written, and although long, remains engaging throughout.

For a review of the book by The Guardian, click here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/mar/04/fiction.bookerprize2000

EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE, by Mark Dawidziak

Designed for pop culture fans, particularly baby boomers like me, Mark Dawidziak's fun and, yes, thought provoking book Everything I Need to Know I Learned in the Twilight Zone mostly works as a concept. Rather than analyzing episodes one-by-one or engaging in deep cultural analysis, Dawidziak organizes the book according to "life lessons" such as "what doesn't kill you will make you stronger" or "pride comes before a fall." He then loosely discusses relevant episodes and points out how they support the lesson in question. It works because Twilight Zone fans (aren't we all TZ fans to some extent?) can remember and relate to the episodes. We can ponder the lessons illustrated in them that we may not have thought about. Baby boomers would have mostly been children at the time of the broadcasting of the series from 1959-1964 (for example, I was 4-9 years old) and may not have analyzed the deeper implications of the show. The book is entertainingly and humorously written, making it very readable. It's not a deep philosophical analysis but does provide insights. His "guest statements" written by a wide range of interesting media, scifi and other personalities adds interest and depth. My only complaint is that there is some redundancy as some of the same episodes are used for several chapters. Considering there were 150+ episodes, there isn't really a need to be repetitive, in my opinion. All-in-all, the book is a fun, light read with some nostalgic flavor.


For a review of the book from Popmythology, click here: https://www.popmythology.com/everything-i-need-to-know-i-learned-in-the-twilight-zone/

THE JOURNEYMAN, by Marc Bojanowski

Journeyman is a strongly-written novel about a drifter with a "still waters run deep" personality who mostly runs from and occasionally confronts his own moral compass. The book starts with the latest run from himself, which results in his "temporarily" staying with his pothead and rather paranoid brother "Cosmo" (his real name, Chance, seems more appropriate. In this seemingly idyllic northern California town, plagued at the moment by a serial arsonist, the protagonist manages both his brother and his own conscience. I was disappointed by the ending, but other than that, it is a good and engaging book.

For a review of this book from NY Times, click here: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/24/books/review/journeyman-marc-bojanowski.html?_r=0

THE NOISE OF TIME by Julian Barnes

The Noise of  Time is a good treatment of the life of Dimitri Shostakovich, the renowned Soviet-era Russian composer. There is a lot of psyching of the composer and a pretty vivid depiction of life for an artist under Stalinist control. I'm having a hard time being too moved by it probably because I had previously read a similar depiction in William T. Vollmann's great work Europe Central, which in my opinion was more engaging and better written. But again, maybe the newness of the subject matter was lost to me. The Guardian called the book "Barnes' masterpiece". At any rate, it certainly is worth a read.

For a review of the book from NY Times, click here: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/books/review/the-noise-of-time-by-julian-barnes.html?_r=0