Archive for October, 2007
Water For Elephants
Tuesday, October 30th, 2007
Today I finished Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen, a book I happened to find by chance at the airport last month.
Water For Elephants, set in the early days of the Great Depression, is the story of 23 year-old Jacob Jankowski. Jacob, on the verge of graduating Cornell University to become a veterinarian, is orphaned, skips out on taking his final exam, jumps a train and ends joining the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth.
The details of Depression-era circus life were so carefully researched by the author for this book, that they are as intriguing as the story itself. The conditions of circus life… The tensions between performers and workers… These added so much depth and realism to the story, making it a pleasure to read.
Jacob’s time in the circus is intertwined with Jacob remembering the story as an old man in his nineties. This back and forth between the 23 year-old Jacob and the 90 (or 93) year-old Jacob effectively gives us two stories to follow: first, the young Jacob’s struggle to ingratiate himself in the circus as their veterinarian, and his love for Marlena, a star performer in the circus and wife of August, the head animal trainer; and second, old Jacob’s coping with old age and his awaiting his family’s arrival at the nursing home he lives in on the day the residents are going to circus that has come to town. However, 23 year-old Jacob’s story is an overwhelming majority of the pages and is the primary story being told. How the two stories come together at the end, and where it takes the old Jacob was fantastic.
I’ve never been to a circus, so I am not sure what exactly drew me to the purchase the book. I’d never read Sara Gruen before, and I am disappointed I didn’t discover this book sooner, as this book easily is one my favorite novels read this year, if not the favorite. I expect to read more of Sara Gruen’s work in the near future.
Fever Pitch
Thursday, October 25th, 2007I am currently reading Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch. That’s correct, as big a fan of Nick Hornby as I am, this is my first time reading Hornby’s football (soccer for us Americans) memoir. I have absolutely no knowledge of British football, and despite my interest in Hornby’s writing, I wasn’t sure if Fever Pitch would be as interesting to me as Hornby’s fiction. However, at the suggestion of a fellow Hornby fan at the reading and signing last week, I decided to pick up a copy last week while I had a two hour delay at the airport.
I finished about half of it on my trip, and have been finishing it on my morning and even commutes this week. I’m nearly finished now, and I wished I’d read this sooner, but also believe that reading it for the first time now gives me an interesting perspective.
At the reading and signing last week, Hornby said that the main characters in his novels have become less and less like him since Fever Pitch. Even though Fever Pitch is a memoir, I can see pieces of the characters that would appear in his later novels in the pages.
Hornby’s obsession with Arsenal reminds me of Captain Ahab’s obsession with killing the white whale in Moby Dick, or Victor Frankenstein’s agony over his creation of the monster in Frankenstein. It’s painful and exhilarating and keeps you interested in the journey.
Brookline Booksmith Hosts Nick Hornby
Thursday, October 18th, 2007Tonight I attended a Nick Hornby reading and book signing, hosted by Brookline Booksmith. Nick Hornby is currently on tour promoting his latest novel, Slam (which I have reviewed here). I got in a bit early, and ended up second in line to get in … which was good because I got to grab a seat in the front row, and there was supposed to be as many as 300 people there.
I’d never been to an author reading before… Before he began reading, he held up some gel and head wipes from Bald Guyz, joking with the audience, saying if anyone ever doubted the need for the war on terror, that products like that demonstrate the kind of freedom we have. It got a good laugh.
It was an interesting experience to see Nick Hornby read from the novel. It may not sound like the most exciting thing in the world, but as the author, Hornby knows the voice of his characters and it was great to see him give life to the voice of Sam, the main character in Slam.
The Q&A session was interesting. A few people in the audience stole my thunder by asking questions similar to ones I wanted to ask. Questions ranged from what Hornby thought about the potential buyout of Arsenal, what books he’s been reading (one book he mentioned was The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta), why did he choose to write about a kid obsessed with skateboarding, has he heard from Tony Hawk (he has, he spoke to him before he wrote the novel, to get his blessing for making him a central part of the story), how it was writing from the perspective of a teenager, and what kind of advice he had for aspiring writers. In response to the latter he said, kind of jokingly to get an agent, but also said, more seriously that whether or not you can write full time and quit your day job or write while keeping your job, that you’re still a writer. Another explanation he gave which I liked was when he said that in bookstore, the only thing that is the same about the authors of all the books is that they are writers. Other than that, he said “Good luck.”
Meeting Nick Hornby was great. We talked about the High Fidelity musical. He expressed his disappointment about it not doing so well. I got to ask him his thoughts on the forthcoming movie version of A Long Way Down. I told him it was my favorite of his novels so that made me equally excited and worried about the film adaptation. He eased my concerns when he told me the script was good, which was good to hear. I didn’t know the script had been finished yet - I was under the impression it was still in the process of being written. So, knowing the that script has met his approval, I really hope production of the movie starts soon.
It was great chatting with Nick Hornby for a few minutes. I’ve read and enjoyed his work for quite a while now and there’s so much I could probably talk to him about … and it was like talking with a regular person.
It was a great event, and I was thrilled to meet Nick Hornby and get a book signed (I had him sign my copy of A Long Way Down). I hope to go to more Nick Hornby readings in the future.
UPDATE: More from another blogger who was at the reading/signing. And some video from The Phoenix of Nick Hornby jinxing the Red Sox.
PKD Update II
Wednesday, October 17th, 2007I’ve now finished the first volume of Philip K. Dick’s collected short stories.
In my last update, I gave a list of my favorite stories from which I’d read up to that point. It’s hard for me to say which of the short stories I’d like to add to that list, because, literally, they were all good. If I have to pick some, I would say I really enjoyed The Infinites, The Variable Man, The Indefatigable Frog, The Crystal Crypt, Meddler, and of course Paycheck (which I’d read before and loved). I also should mention The Great C, Colony, and Prize Ship for also being good stories that kept me hooked until the end.
I’ve never been really into science fiction before, but PKD’s short stories have been an absolute pleasure to read. I like how they keep you entranced to the end, wondering what’s going to happen, or trying to guess just where PKD is going to take a particular theme — and usually being wrong, but not disappointed.
So, one volume down, four more to go. I am debating whether or not I should space things out a bit and read a PKD novel in between the volumes of short stories.
Review: Slam, by Nick Hornby
Saturday, October 13th, 2007
Ever since I read A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby, I’ve been a big fan. I had only previously read High Fidelity (which I must admit I only read after having seen the movie) but have since read all of his novels. After catching up and reading all his novels, I was then in need of new material. Hornby’s soon-to-be-released new novel, Slam, did not come soon enough.
Some months ago, I received an advanced copy of Slam. With its U.S. release only days away now, I want to offer my thoughts on the book for Hornby fans who have anxiously been waiting for his latest novel, and for readers everywhere (and of all ages) who have yet to experience Nick Hornby’s fiction.
Slam is intended for young adults, but adult Hornby fans can rest assured that Slam will still be as enjoyable to them as Hornby’s prior novels.
The novel is about Sam, a teenage skater (as in skateboarding) who seeks advice on life from Tony Hawk’s autobiography and talks to a poster of Hawk on his wall. Early in the story Sam meets Alicia, the two begin dating and shortly thereafter have sex and conceive a child. The story, written from Sam’s point of view, is about Sam’s dealing with the fact he is soon to become a teenage father.
I wasn’t sure at first what I thought about Hornby writing for young adults from the perspective of a teenager. His initial success came from books with male protoganists, but also has written a novel with a female narrator in How To Be Good, as well as book with four different narrators, two male and two female, in A Long Way Down, quite successfully. As a fan of Nick Hornby, I believe it will be easy for other Hornby fans to welcome his first attempt at the teenage fiction genre. His fans will appreciate his unique style and dialogue, which compensates for the clearly teenaged target audience the novel was written for.
Hornby fans know very well of the depth of his characters’ introspections in novels. Whether the subject is music, divorce, suicide, etc., Hornby gives an extraordinary and authentic voice for his characters. But, how does Hornby handle writing the voice of a 15-year-old kid struggle to come to terms with the fact he is going to be a father?
Hornby’s unique style works quite well with the narration of his main character, Sam. As How To Be Good proved his style was not gender specific, Slam proves that his style is also not age specific.
One of my favorite moments of Sam’s introspections comes when he contemplates running away from the problem of his now ex-girlfriend Alicia, by leaving for Hastings:
I knew I was being a coward, but sometimes you have to be a coward, don’t you? There’s no point in being brave if you’re just going to be destroyed. Say you walked round the corner and there are fifty al-Qaida there. Not even fifty. Five. Not even five. One, with like a machine gun, would be enough. You might not feel good about running for your life, but what are your choices? Well, I had walked around the corner, and there was an al-Qaida with machine gun, except he was just a baby, and he didn’t have a machine gun. But in my world a baby, even without a machine gun, is like a terrorist with a machine gun, if you think about it… (p. 109)
Hornby convincingly writes from the perspective of a teenager overwhelmed with the burden of consequences of his actions and tackles the issue of teenage pregnancy with bluntness and honesty.