I started writing a post about two plays I read recently, the theatre in general and Walter Benjamin’s essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. But I realized I needed to sit down with the essay again before finishing out my thoughts. Hopefully I’ll get a post out about it later this week. Instead, I think I’ll do some catching up on two of the reviews I’ve had pending.
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. I wrote about a part of my reaction to this novel last week but I think I’d like to expand those thoughts a teensy bit. This was my first experience with Patchett and I will definitely go back and read her again. Perhaps I’ll try her first novel, The Patron Saint of Liars, if only for the title. Here is the shortest plot summary I can come up with – Hugely wealthy people attend a birthday party, complete with a famous concert soprano, in a small, unstable South American country and are taken hostage by a ragtag band of terrorists.
The novel requires the reader submit to a complete suspension of disbelief and I’m not 100% certain it earns the right to that request, but that’s about my only real criticism. I admired Patchett’s facility with language and how she jumped smoothly from character to character, giving us just the right detail to create a series of interesting individuals out of two stereotypical groups. In this way, she manages to both satirize and humanize the hostages as well as the terrorists.
The Fall of Rome by Martha Southgate. I can’t remember anymore what made me look for and subsequently mooch this book but I am so glad I did. A thoughtful and engaging novel about ethnic tension in America. The story follows three individuals and their experiences at an exclusive private boys’ school in Connecticut: Jerome, a black classics teacher who has worked at the school for nearly thirty years, Rashid, a black freshman student, and Jana, a recently hired English teacher, who, like the rest of the faculty and the majority of the students, is white.
The novel quietly examines many of the more difficult questions regarding ethnic prejudices in contemporary America. Southgate tells a compelling and realistic story. Her characters are authentic – both flawed and fragile and their interactions complicated. I found once I got started, I wanted to read straight on to the end.
The rest of the week is filled with wonderful stuff. I’m finishing my reread of Longinus’s On the Sublime, moving into the second half of Carson McCullers’s The Ballad of the Sad Café (which I am really enjoying) and marching forward with Book Fifteen of The Iliad. I’ve been reading more Classics these days than usual and am on the look out for a really good contemporary novel. Anyone have a suggestion? I have some choices on the shelf already – Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go, Ian McEwan Saturday or Amsterdam, or Ann Packer The Dive from Clausen’s Pier. Any votes?
9 responses so far ↓
tommy wilhelm // March 4, 2008 at 12:23 am
I’d be interested to hear what you think of the Ishiguro. It’s interesting to see voice-oriented writers dipping a toe into plot, since it’s something we’re seeing a lot of lately. As usual with Ishiguro, understatement is the favored tactic, but it’s hard to do sci-fi that way. Still, he pulls it off.
Sarah // March 4, 2008 at 4:54 am
I’ll be interested to hear about the Ballad of the sad cafe as I’ve been meaning to read it for ages.
I’d suggest you stay away from Saturday if you’re after a good contemporary novel- I thought it was ridiculous and pointless.
verbivore // March 4, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Tommy - Thank you for leaving a comment. I had no idea that Never Let Me Go was Ishiguro’s attempt at a more plot-oriented novel. I’m very curious to read it now. I’ve only read The ARtist of the Floating World so my experience with Ishiguro is a bit limited. Perhaps I should know more of his work before trying this one?
Sarah - I am loving the Ballad of the Sad Café. McCullers is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors. Thanks for the tip on Saturday. I read an excerpt of it in The New Yorker just before it was published and felt fairly so-so about it. McEwan is an author I still have’t made up my mind about.
Dorothy W. // March 5, 2008 at 2:57 am
Oh, Never Let Me Go, definitely! I loved that book. I love everything Ishiguro has written actually.
Ann Darnton // March 5, 2008 at 5:27 pm
The only Patchett I’ve read is ‘Bel Canto’ but at one of my reading groups last night a friend was raving about ‘The Magician’s Assistant’. I’m just about to read my first McCuller, ‘The Member of the Wedding’ for another book group. It’s been really quite difficult to get hold of. Given how well known some of her titles are she seems to be becoming rather a cult author here.
verbivore // March 5, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Dorothy - Your recommendation seals the deal, I’ll get started on it soon!
Ann - I’d like to try another Patchett so we’ll see. I’ll keep The Magician’s Assistant in mind. I can’t wait to hear what you think about McCullers, I’ve been so impressed by her. Can’t wait to read her entire oeuvre.
ravenous reader // March 6, 2008 at 3:30 pm
I really enjoyed The Dive from Clausen’s Pier. Anne Packer writes with great insight into her characters, and her writing style is spare and intense, which fits this novel quite well. I recently read her latest novel, Song Without Words, and enjoyed it as well.
All this talk about McCullers - I must go find my copies
verbivore // March 6, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Ravenous Reader - Good to hear some praise for Ann Packer. I’ve had the book on my shelf for a few months but haven’t started it. It will be my first experience with her and I’m looking forward to it.
H.A. Page // March 6, 2008 at 9:41 pm
I loved studying Walter Benjamin working on my master’s in media studies and I greatly appreciate the link you have provided. Marshall McLuhan is another theorist I have found to be extremely prescient with new media and, like Benjamin, the thinking and ideas are so applicable now and in different ways to the changes in technology, communication and media.
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