Casual Vacancy, Canada, "Conflicted Children" and more

It was a bit of a surprise when I looked at my last post on this blog and saw that it's dated October 23rd!   I knew it had been awhile, but didn't realize just how much time had passed.  November and December were busy times but very good times, and I guess jotting down my thoughts on what I was reading just didn't make it into the mix.  It doesn't mean I haven't been reading; I'm ALWAYS reading something, and if I'm not, my husband says I'm cranky, so for the sake of our marriage, I guess I'll have to keep on with it.  We all have to make sacrifices ;)

While I normally just focus on one book per blog, I'm going to include several titles in this blog in order to get back on track.  And be briefer (hopefully) about each one than I usually am (but no promises; I tend to get carried away when talking about books.  Ask anyone in my Book Club).

I'll start with Little, Big by John Crowley.  It was published in 1982 and received extraordinary praise and won many accolades.  One of my sons recommended it; he knows I enjoy a touch of magic in my stories.  One of my faves from a ways back is Possession by A.S. Byatt,  a beautifully written many-layered story that involves Victorian poets, faeries, and obsessive love.  It was a terrific read.  Little, Big  was absolutely an EPIC take on the some of the same aspects but written on a much grander scale.  It's the story of the Drinkwater Family and their long-intertwined relationship with the hidden world of faeries.  It is much more a fantasy than anything I had read in quite awhile, and while I enjoyed getting to know the outrageously eccentric Drinkwaters and their very long, very involved past, present and futures, I have to say I breathed a sigh of relief when I turned the last page.  If you think you might enjoy dipping a toe into the land of faeries, I'd start with Possession by Byatt.

Canada and The Sportswriter by Richard Ford: Ford's latest novel, Canada, was released in the fall to a good deal of fanfare.  It seems he had previously written a trilogy of books in the late 80s, early 90s referred to as the "Bascombe Trilogies" one of which, Independence Day, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1995.  Canada is a story told by Dell Parsons, 15 years old when the novel opens: "First, I'll tell about the robbery my parents committed.  Then about the murders, which happened later. The robbery is the most important part, since it served to set my and my sister's lives on the courses they eventually followed." Dell tells of the calamitous events that befall he and his twin sister as the consequences of their parents' actions play out.  Ford is a terrific writer and you feel Dell's struggle to overcome the devastation of his expected most-ordinary life.  It's an introspective story, very thoughtfully and beautifully written.

After finishing Canada, I decided to read the "Bascombe Trilogies" and have recently finished the first one: The Sportswriter.  It's the story of Frank Bascombe, who is indeed a sportswriter (with that unfinished novel sitting in a desk drawer) and takes place over a long Easter weekend in New Jersey.  Again, it it a very reflective work, with the reader spending the vast majority of time inside Frank's head as he interacts with his ex-wife and two children,  continues to deal with his grief over a lost son, embarks on an ill-advised date, and finds himself intertwined with a very lost member of the  Divorced Mens' Club.  Although there is a certain amount of very dry humor, it is for the most part a serious look at a man's life.  Frank's observations on life fill every page and are often thought-provoking: "Better to think that you're like your fellow man than to think that no man could be you or take your place, which is crazy and leads straight to melancholy for a life that never existed, and to ridicule." I agree with that; we are, none of us, irreplaceable in the BIG picture.  I didn't love it, but will read the second and third parts of the trilogy. I mean the guy won the Pulitzer Prize for heaven's sake; other than Confederacy of the Dunces (which is a completely inexplicably praised novel as far as I could understand it), there's probably something to Ford's ability as a serious chronicler of American life. He's smart and observant; the prose flows beautifully.

Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling: I wrestled with the idea of reading this first adult novel from the author of the Harry Potter series.  I liked, even loved a few of,  the HP books but I didn't know if her skill would carry over to a completely grown-up world, and I didn't want to be disappointed. (I'm weird that way; it's the same way with Disney World: we had a perfect family vacation there and I don't want to ever go back and have the least bit disappointing experience. I can do that anywhere; I need DW to remain perfect.)  But, finally, I couldn't resist finding out if she could carry it off and the good news is...yes, she did!  At least in my opinion ( I know the critics' reviews have been mixed), Rowling's take on a small village in England dealing with both the political and personal lives of a variety of inhabitants is smart, occasionally funny, sad, and spot-on.  There are many characters and keeping track of them at least in the beginning can be on the daunting side, but eventually you will grab onto them; it's worth the effort.  Rowling's characters are complex and interesting; the pace is quick, and the plot is multi-layered.  The level of interaction and deception in and among the village's families (middle class, working class, and poor) is very finely wrought and will sweep you into its web completely.  I was not disappointed.

Finally, The Scientists: A Family Romance ( my "conflicted children" reference in this posting's title) by Marco Roth, is the deeply angst-filled memoir of an teenage boy growing up "amid the vanished liberal culture of Manhattan's Upper West Side."  How hard can life be?  Well, there are obstacles and struggles wherever one finds oneself, I imagine, and Marco had his share.  His father (a scientist) and his mother ( a classical pianist) have provided Marco with a very privileged childhood.  However, as he enters his teens years, he begins to realize that much of their history and life together is based on secrets and as his father dies very slowly  from AIDS, Marco becomes more and more confused about truthfulness, loyalty, and love. He has been given a classical education as an only child and his basis for understanding life is strongly tied to literature.  There are many references to French and Greek classics, most of which I certainly have not read.  Roth's relationship with books, though, did hit a chord with me: "There were books that had changed my life, usually in subtle ways...books that allowed me to understand how other minds worked, how my own mind might work, books that gave me a certain vocabulary for emotions, or books that made me a safe spectator of situations I would otherwise be afraid of..."

This is why I read.