On the Road

I'll give you fair warning on this one. I didn't go for academia. I went for annoyed rant. Read at your own peril and don't expect intellectual thoughtfulness.
 

On the Road was a book that has been sitting in my to read pile for quite some time. I come across people who constantly recommend it, saying that it is their favorite book. So to all those people (Jimbo & Taylor esp.) I apologize in advance. On the Road did nothing for me besides make me incredibly happy that I didn’t grow up in the Beat Generation.

            You all know that I don’t like to start a review off on such a negative note, so allow me to explain myself. I have no problem with author Jack Kerouac’s actual prose. In fact his style was such a departure to what I normally read that I found myself drawn into the language in a way that I haven’t experienced in a while. As his characters get excited so do Kerouac’s words, stacking one on top of the other in a stream of consciousness wave, creating combinations that shouldn’t work but somehow are exactly right. His paragraphs run or jump or simply stroll along as needed and this style is certainly suitable for a novel about rootless people who spend their lives in various states of travel and excitement. So I truly have no problem with the words. The characters however are a completely different story.

            The narrator Sal has no backbone whatsoever and I constantly wanted to hit him and tell him he was being an idiot, following his aimless friend into hopeless situations time and time again. He idolizes Dean, a man with no purpose in life who lives without recognizing there are consequences to his actions. It is a mystery to me why anyone would want to follow around such a fuck up. Dean is a terrible friend to everyone, Sal in particular, and yet no one seems to wise up and leave him behind until the very end of the novel. There has to be more to life than sex and drugs and wild nights and yet no one in this story seems to agree. Perhaps my view of this is skewed by having not lived in the Beat Generation. I didn’t grow up during WWII and have the horrors of life thrust into my face early on. I don’t feel the need to prove to myself that I am alive by “digging” everything around me, partying and traveling and refusing to settle into a life that could easily be taken away. Maybe you need that perspective to enjoy this novel. Maybe you just need to know what if feels like to have no direction, no purpose or ambition. I don’t know. I’m lucky enough to have all of those things and so I can’t get to the level Sal and Dean and the rest of their cohort are operating on. I can’t imagine leaving behind a steady job to hitchhike across the country with no plan or money in my pocket. Instead of being inspired by the spontaneity and freedom with which these characters live their lives I am turned off by it and have no desire to join them even with the novels pages as my shield.

            So that’s my initial rant. A more concrete reason as to why I dislike Sal so much is that his character is woefully inconsistent when it comes to the details of his life. I can’t pin him down, and as one of the more stable characters I am presented with, that bothers me.

            As I’m writing this I realize that I really didn’t like this novel at all. I would try and spin things so that I could at least talk about the language with a higher regard, but I honestly can’t. I found the novel boring, the characters infuriating, the language meandering with moments of brilliance and that is the sum of it. That being said, On the Road is in the great literary cannon for a reason and even if I couldn’t find it there is no reason you shouldn’t. Take a chance. Hitch a ride. Maybe the Beat Generation is for you.

An Interesting Interview

Well, I've never actually read anything by Jodi Picoult, mainly because I've formed a strange stigma about her work in my head. My elitist brain tells me that her work isn't worth reading because it's been so commercialized. Clearly my elitist brain needs to get a swift kick in the ass. Having read so many different genres and so many different authors by now, I know that making a judgment about a book just because it has been mainstreamed is awfully hipster of me. I mean, I've made an academic study of young adult novels. Clearly I'm not the one to be judging any writer or reader. That being said, I love how sassy Picoult is in this interview and will definitely be picking up some of her work in the future. Enjoy the read!

Interview with Jodi Picoult

The Name of the Wind

It’s hard to write a review after I’ve just named Night Circus as my favorite book of the year. Reading something else isn’t hard, and falling in love with it isn’t hard either, although I’m sure some sort of literary cheating is occurring. I’m willing to risk that though to talk about The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss’s debut novel. This book is a genius example of how the ideas of storytelling can still change and it was truly a pleasure to read.

            The reader first meets an innkeeper called Kote, standing alone in the “three part” silence of his empty inn. The silence, delicately imagined with a variety of imagery, falls back into this man, as though he were a black hole. Rothfuss writes, “It was the patient, cut-flower sound of a man who is waiting to die.” What the hell sound a cut flower makes, I couldn’t begin to tell you, but the fact that Rothfuss makes it make sense in this context says a lot for his newly revealed literary talent. From the beginning of the novel I had a sense of foreboding, but not the heavy handed foreshadowing that so often fantasy novels fall prey to in some sort of prologue. That sense is heightened as the usual crowd gathers in the inn, only to be interrupted by one of their fellows bursting in covered in blood and holding the corpse of what can only be described as the most terrifying spider ever imagined. Think legs like razor blades and a body like stone, nearly impossible to kill and out for your blood. Yeah, I agreed with the local men when they dubbed it a demon and was happy they were dealing with it in the confines of the book. But I digress.

After the high impact demon filled opening of the novel, it settles into a more subdued pace, as Kote, now known to us as Kvothe, begins to tell the story of his life to a scribe who has sought him out. We learn that Kvothe is a legend and curiosity is piqued as to how a man who has killed a dragon and entered the University at a crazy young age somehow ends up in a backwater tavern. Kvothe spins his tale carefully, telling Chronicler (the scribe who is way more important than is let on) of his childhood as a traveling player, his days of poverty in a frightening city and finally his acceptance into the University. Most of the novel’s action takes place at the University as Kvothe begins to grow up and learn about the great and dangerous powers of the world that are his to control. The story seems to meander through time as Kvothe remembers particular things, and yet the through line of the narrative remains clear and moving steadily forward. There is even a wonderful meta-narrative sort of thing happening, as Rothfuss artfully takes us out of the story Kvothe is telling and reminds the reader that this novel is a layered experience with brief interludes taking place in the novel’s present time.

This novel is a brick and I’ll do my best to not make this review a reflection of that. I didn’t feel like I was reading over seven hundred pages though, and I believe that it is a testament to Rothfuss knowing how to pace himself that didn’t have me throwing the book down half way through. He knows that an adventure story gets boring and so he gives Kvothe a romantic interest that keeps things lively. He knows that only using one setting stagnates a story and so his tale takes us through mountains and cities, universities and taverns, tapping into the characters populating each to create a rich world that rivals that of Middle Earth and Westeros. Rothfuss isn’t following the traditions of epic high fantasy to the letter, but he’s clearly been inspired by them and I look forward to his next novel in the series to see how these base themes he’s laid down hold up over a longer story arch. In particular I look forward to his continued treatment of magic as more of a science than a mystical force of the universe. I think this concept will slowly be abandoned for some reason, although I can’t quite put my finger on why I think so. Maybe any of you who read this can let me know your thoughts on the matter afterwards.

Oh dear, I’m quickly heading towards brick-ness. I’ll finish off with a quick run down of my likes and dislikes, to help you know what you’re getting into. I like Kvothe, his outlook on life, his intelligence and refreshing normalcy. I like the university in general and his life there. I like that he notices girls while still living up to the greatness we know he is destined for. I’m not a huge fan of the moments in the present, since that story has yet to come together as well. I’m dying to know why Kvothe and Kote are such different people despite being one man. I think that I don’t have dislikes so much as I have questions that need answers. That’s not a terrible place to be after finishing a book though, so I’ll take it. So there you go. Check it out; go on an adventure and perhaps you’ll find The Name of the Wind draws you in the way it did me.

Night Circus

The advent of a new year often brings about a great deal of reflection about the one slipping into the past. What milestones occurred? What were your favorite movies, songs, sporting triumphs and other such listable things? Of course, here at Musings from a Leather Chair, what I really care about is the best books of 2012, at least out of the ones I read. It seems almost serendipitous that I would read what I hands down consider to be the best book of this year (and perhaps this decade) right at the end of the year, just in the nick of time. Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern enthralled me for the last week of 2012 and is how you should usher in 2013.

            Night Circus was a novel I had been hearing about for quite a while. I would see it in bookstores and be drawn to its artsy cover that uses only red, black and white. I wouldn’t know this design was important to the actual plot of the story, but somehow I would feel connected to the book. Of course, I would then hem and haw about paying full price for a hard cover and walk away empty handed. That is until I was in my favorite used bookstore and found a paperback copy. I had it up at the counter as fast as I could move and dove into it as soon as I got home. Instead of then continuing to frantically read, flipping pages in a frenzy of energy, I slowed down. Night Circus is the first book in a long while that I savored. I read carefully, the plot pulling me along at just the right pace, keeping me engrossed in the story but not hurling too much at me at once. I had time to get a feel for each of the different characters and to understand how their lives would intersect by means of the most extraordinary circus ever imagined. It definitely helps that I happened to be on vacation when I was reading the majority of Night Circus. A beach in Jamaica will make anyone pause and linger over something enjoyable, and so I spent my days in the sun with Night Circus in hand, not wanting the story to end but dying to know what would happen next.

            The novel focuses on two competing magicians and their respective protégés, both of whom are pitted against each other in a lifelong competition of endurance and skill. The two young competitors know they are playing against each other but the scope of this test takes time to sink in, and as they each work within the circus to create wonders that are actually magical but taken as enchanting tricks, they slowly fall in love. It is an all-encompassing love that fills them and drives the second half of the novel to its thrilling and completely unexpected conclusion. It is also a relatively believable love, as far as stories go. Marco and Celia, the two illusionists, go through separation and jealousy and all the rest of the hurdles life throws at lovers, and it is their struggle that makes them human. There is something incredibly erotic about the dark setting of the circus and their competition against each other that suits the adult who wants to be enchanted but not coddled. Marco and Celia may possess magic of sorts, but magic isn’t a savior in Night Circus. It is more of a tormenting force kept at bay and twisted for good instead of consuming the world for evil.

            Most of the story takes place within the confines of Le Cirque de Reves, or the Circus of Dreams, a creation thought up by an English theatrical producer and several intriguingly quirky dreamers who attend his infamous Midnight Dinners. What the creators do not know is that one of those dreamers, the mysterious Mr. A.H, is actually Marco’s teacher and building up the circus as the arena for the competition. Still, competition space or no, the circus thrives when it finally becomes a reality, delighting audiences’ world wide with its mystery and its wonders. The circus only opens after dark and while it holds the same features of a circus in the late 1800’s, it also hides magic behind every corner. Think the circus from Water for Elephants plus an infusion of The Prestige type magic with a dash of Harry Potter for flavor. All in all, a delightful space for a novel to tell its story.

            Morgenstern takes an interesting approach to novel writing, splitting her sections into the past and present and working from multiple points of view. Her sections in the present are written in second person and immediately gripping, while her sections in the past are written in the present tense and seems to involve the reader more intimately than other stories. She is skilled at leaving mysteries for the reader to figure out. A character is never presented from all sides. There are parts to everyone that are left in the dark and we never fully get to figure any one person out. This makes for an active reading experience, as I was certainly always trying to piece things together and figure out the puzzle before the story would let me. I believe it is the mark of Morgenstern’s elegance and craft that this mystery did not distract me from the story but made me love it even more. Her words are straightforward but intoxicating, poetic but crisp at the same time. By the end of the novel I agreed with every review that was calling Night Circus “hauntingly beautiful” because that is exactly what it is.

            If you want magic, love, adventure, growing up, deception, action, dark fairytales and a down right beautifully suspenseful novel, read Night Circus. I am dubbing it the best book of 2012 and certainly looking forward to any more work Morgenstern produces in the future.

Vision Quest

When I first started reading Vision Quest all I could think about was how different it was from the movie. I’d only seen the film about a week before and still had scenes playing back through my head. I know it’s a horrible thing to see the movie before you read the book in certain literary circles, but this time I don’t mind. Once I settled myself into the book, I discovered that what Terry Davis created in his words was a story that is touching and relevant and something a film can only dream of capturing.

            It’s not often that I pick up a book about a sport I haven’t played. High school wrestling is one of those niche markets that most authors don’t try and hit. But the book came highly recommended by my boyfriend, a former high school wrestler himself, and so I wanted to give it a go. I’m actually not that out of the loop when it comes to the high school wrestling scene. I had several friends in high school that wrestled and I sat through lunch with them, commiserating as I lost weight for pole vaulting and they for their respective weight class. They were good guys, most of them smart and funny and absolutely intent on being the best wrestlers in the state. The indoor track team of which I was a member also practiced in the gym at the same time as the wrestling team. I’ve witnessed practices like those Davis describes in the book and let me tell you, he isn’t making a single thing up. Wrestling is hard and sweaty work.

            Now to get back to the actual novel. Vision Quest is the story of senior wrestler Louden Swain. Louden has decided in his senior year to drop down to the 147 weight class instead of wrestling in his usual 154 place in order to wrestle against Gary Shute. The entirety of the story leads up to this match between the two, following Louden as he loses the weight and lives his life preparing for a moment that may define him for the rest of it. Between the opening lines and the handshake of the match against Shute, the reader discovers a boy who you can’t help but like.

The novel is character driven, concentrating more on the people within in the story instead of the story itself. The plot moves along, but falls in secondary to the exploration the author is making of teenagers on the brink of adulthood. Louden is at times the “muscle-bound, sex-crazed” jock that one might expect from this novel. He utterly kills himself for the sake of his sport, and spends an awful lot of time contemplating and having sex with his girlfriend Carla. Carla conveniently lives in the Swain house, a stray of sorts brought into the family through a bad car deal.  She and Louden make a cute couple. Carla is a free spirit, uninhibited and a little goofy. Actually Carla is a refreshing take on a teenage girl. She doesn’t seem concerned with fitting in and impressing people. She’s comfortable being herself, making up funny names for animals and following through on her generally crazy ideas. Louden is the same. He’s a kid who likes to think about things and the prose follows his mental wanderings as he connects his life now to moments in his past. It would be easy to become fed up with how Louden’s narration jumps from thought to thought and seems to follow a winding trail to no particular point, but he draws you in. He’s a nice person who appreciates his life and the chance he’s been given and all he wants is to understand the world he’s living in. He’s dedicated and funny and sweet, the kind of kid every high school teacher loves.

Louden is a rare literary treat in a sea of coming of age novels where the protagonist is angst ridden or arrogant or down right unlikable. John Irving has been quoted saying Vision Quest is “the truest novel about growing up since The Catcher in the Rye,” and I am willing to go out on a limb and say this surpasses Catcher by a mile. Louden realizes what he feels as he prepares for the Shute match is a sense of growing up. His self-awareness is remarkable and I fear to write more about him because I’ll simply ramble on about what a lovely protagonist he makes. However, I do want to address the sports genre as a whole and how Vision Quest magically avoids the pitfalls that usually come along with it.

We’ve all gone to see a sports movie or read a sports book and right from the get go we know that the end will result in one of two things. Either the protagonist will win and everything will work out in the end or they will lose but still triumph in having tried their best. Remember the Titans: They win the state championship and rise above racial segregation. Yay. Cool Runnings: They lose but gain the respect of the world. With each of these endings the audience is left just slightly unsatisfied. If they win then we all scoff and say “well of course, the entire movie was about them,” but if they lose then we are sad because who wants to watch a movie that ends on a downer? Vision Quest deftly handles this question. No I’m not telling you the ending. I’m telling you that you might be surprised.

So what do we have? We have a likeable character living out a slightly impossible dream. We have a sports novel that’s more about growing up and figuring out who you are than the final score of every match. We have a book that is worth the read, despite your age and interest in high school wrestling. I’m giving total credit to my boyfriend for encouraging me to read this one and am now telling you to do the same. Enjoy!

Greetings from afar.

Hello folks. I've been remiss about posting lately. It's certainly not that I haven't been reading. In fact it could have been a case of reading too much and not being able to stop myself from jumping into the next book I had waiting on my shelf.
Anyways, here are several snippet reviews. Have fun!

Anna Karenina
I've been meaning to read this book forever. It's been placed on a pedestal in the cannon of literature, and I would have felt awfully guilty if I went to see the movie this Christmas and hadn't read the source material for it. To be honest, I should have saved myself the trouble.
Tolstoy's crowning achievement is a sweeping family epic to be sure, following the lives of multiple families whose lives all seem to intertwine. For the first two hundred pages I was swept up in a world of unhappy marriages, illicit affairs, romance and scandal all glossed with the faint chill of Russian Aristocratic society. I would have been happy had the book ended there, with the title character in the throes of her affair and the rest of the characters generally wallowing in misery. Alas, it does not end there.
The novel continues. It goes on and on, bogging down in the middle as Tolstoy explains the plight of the Russian peasant and the varying views on agriculture held in the day. His characters become internal, each locked inside their own heads, barely acknowledging the feelings of others because they are too busy analyzing every moment of their own lives. I fault Tolstoy for creating people that must feel everything in such a catastrophic and melodramatic way. The slightest glance askew from a lady at the table sends a man into an existential crisis, or a fit of melancholy. There is no reality in this attempt to create just that. I will say that Tolstoy gets Anna's characterization spot on. She is unhappy in her marriage, finds a new man who thrills and loves her, but soon finds that even the man of her dreams cannot make her happy. Anna has a quick wit and a confidence about her that I enjoyed, in the beginning. Sadly by the end I'd grown tired of her whining about how she was unhappy despite not making any effort to change her circumstances.
Please don't get me wrong. I respect Tolstoy and the great achievement that this novel is. Anyone who can even vaguely carry on a story for at least seven hundred pages deserves some sort of credit. In this case however, there are too many words and I was lost in them as they washed over me. By the end of the novel I didn't even care that a character had thrown themselves under a train. It was one sentence among thousands, and the singular mention of that particular characters fate.
I would be willing to delve deeper into Russian Literature and find out why this characterization of intrinsic thinking seems to be such a theme among authors of that time and place. I like the pursuit of academia. For the lay reader though, I will give you this advice. See the movie. It's most likely combined all the parts of the novel that are exciting into one coherent story and left the Russian peasants for high school history lessons.

Protector of the Small Quartet
Now here are novels that I can get behind. This is another series by my favorite young adult author Tamora Pierce. The four books follow the story of Keladry of Mindelan, the first girl to openly try for her knighthood. The story is set in the familiar medieval and magical world of Tortall and is full of characters who have already had Pierce quartets of their own.
Kel is headstrong and has no magical ability. She succeeds based on her sheer strength of will, which while coming off a bit outrageous when she's eleven, forms a character that women can both relate to and respect as Kel comes of age. Her group of friends are funny, smart and loyal and the novels move along at a good clip, never spending too much time stressing any one particular idea.
I love Tamora Pierce because she writes characters that I would want to be friends with, and Kel is no exception. I'm loathe to go on about this series too much more, because it will only be me fan-girling my way through the entire plot. I'll leave it at this. If you want action, romance, friendship and one bad ass woman making her way in the world, then this is the series for you.  I can whip through each of the books in a few hours so it's perfect when you want a quick escape into a world of fantasy where you don't need to think an awful lot to be swept up in the story.

Well if you've stayed with me this far then you are definitely the ones I want reading this last bit. I need you folks to spread the word about me and my blog. I've graduated from college, I"m working on my master's in the summer but right now I'm trying to find a job. Substitute teaching (where I am at this very moment in time) is a rewarding gig right now, but I want to write and share books with people like you. If you know of people looking for writers/editors/someone to read manuscripts and decide what should get published, leave me a message here and tell me about it. I will even reward you with a review of your choice. Or a short story. Or brownies. Take your pick.

One last side note! I know, I can just see you rolling your eyes and closing the page right now, but wait. I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month and am about half way through right now. If anyone else is doing this, let's be writing buddies. You can find me under "thinking of the sea"

Cheers!

So Many New Books!

Hi everyone. The New York Times book section just published this article about all the fantastic books coming out this fall. I'm definitely getting my hands on some of them, most exciting being McEwan and Rowling's new works!

Yay New Books

In the meantime, more quick reviews coming as well as a longer one once I finish the novel I'm reading now. Cheers!