1984

1984

by George Orwell








This post contains spoilers below the fold.

When I first heard about 1984, I assumed it was a science fiction about the physical and psychological toll inflicted on humans by an over-reaching government system, much like Animal Farm (although, I admit, I read that when I was 12 so I may not have grasped some of the deeper themes). What I didn't expect was a philosophy text, a metaphysical journey, questioning the meaning of truth and reality, and exploring how the human mind can simultaneously believe conflicting things, which Orwell calls doublethink but we know it as cognitive dissonance (although there are differences which Orwell outlines, I found cognitive dissonance the easiest avenue from which to explore the concept of doublethink).

The Poisonwood Bible

The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel

by Barbara Kingsolver








The Poisonwood Bible begins in 1959 when minister Nathan Price moves his family from suburban Georgia to the Belgian Congo (which we now know as Zaire) to serve as a missionary in the village of Kilanga, which can only be reached by plane or riverboat, since days of travel are required to reach any neighboring village by road. The family soon learns that everything they painstakingly packed to bring with them, including their ideas and prejudices, are utterly useless: Nathan Price is fond of exclaiming "Tata Jesus is bangala!" which is supposed to mean "Father Jesus is Precious!", however in his deliberate ignorance of pronunciation and nuance of the Kikongo language, actually means "Father Jesus is Poisonwood!" His ministry further alienates the local people when he insists that their children must be baptized in a river that is rife with crocodiles, or they will suffer hell. How will the Price children survive when their father has alienated the entire town, the only people who can help them learn how and what to eat?

The story of the Price family is told mostly by the children of the family- Rachel, twins Leah and Adah, and Ruth May (in order of age)- with introductions to each section narrated by the mother, Orleanna. Each narrator has her own unique voice: Orleanna is unobtrusive and bittersweet; Rachel is self-centered, terrified, and humorous; Leah is the moral voice who moves from a child unquestioning of God and her Father to a native African; Adah, who is hemiplegic, writes riddles that pierce the heart of the truth; and Ruth May, who states poignant facts in a way only little pitchers with big ears can. The Poisonwood Bible is an apt interpretation of the old adage that one must bend, or one will break. Some members of the Price family will be broken by Africa, and some will learn to bend to it, as they live through the revolution of the forming of the Republic of Congo, when it flings off the rule of Belgium.

I found The Poisonwood Bible a very enjoyable read. Kingsolver researched her subject well, and is able to write with such nuance that she is able to tell a story that is not only an amazing adventure, but is also philosophical and speaks to modern thought and prejudice regarding Africa. The reader can both enjoy a story and learn something both about themself and the world around them through this novel.

Ahab's Wife

Ahab's Wife: Or, The Star-Gazer: A Novel

by Sena Jeter Naslund








Ahab's Wife is the life story of Una Spenser, the only wife of Moby Dick's Captain Ahab. The novel begins with her exile from her childhood home at the age of 12, when she is shuttled to live with her aunt, uncle and cousin on a lighthouse island in New England. Naslund goes into sometimes painstaking detail of the day to day life of Una with a lyrical style that reflects Melville and other 18th century authors. Naslund wrote the book with the idea to tell the story of 18th century women, since the vast majority of literature from that period barely acknowledge their existence. Una is not a woman to stay at home, gazing worriedly for her lost lover, although she does spend some time doing just that. Throughout Una's adventures, she runs away to become a cabin boy on a whaling ship, marries and divorces a probable schizophrenic, hobknobs with Margret Fuller and Ralph Waldo Emmerson, births and raises a live child and a stillborn, becomes involved in the Abolitionist movement and much, much more. Una's story is as much of an epic adventure as Ahab's.

Ahab's Wife reads in fits and starts; it took me just as long to get through the first 100 pages as it took me to get through the next 400, and slightly less time to get through the last 100 or so. Una's life was punctuated with periods of unactivity and periods of frantic exploits. While I could appreciate Naslund's prose from a literary perspective, it was a bit bourgeois for me. At times it was prose for prose's sake, rather than prose for descriptive or philosophical ends. I also wish Una's philosophical ponderings were a bit deeper than your basic philosophy 1o1 questions. Overall Ahab's Wife was a fairly enjoyable read, if not a quick one, but I found myself constantly yearning for something deeper, as I felt was promised but not quite fulfilled.

Maybe Baby

Maybe Baby

by Tenaya Darlington








I received this book from a friend as a Christmas Gift, and it took me nearly a year just to get to it, I was so backlogged on books!

Maybe Baby is a strange little book following the Glide family as their youngest daughter, Gretchen, gestates and births the first grandchild. The story, while revolving around this birth, is more about how the Glide parents, Judy and Rusty, try to reconnect with their three offspring, all of whom they had alienated into practical disownment after highschool. We learn throughout the book that Judy and Rusty are a fairly typical sheltered, white, middle-class, midwestern couple who have children that go on to be a gay theatre major, a rock star, and a women's studies major, all of which frighten and anger Rusty. Judy allows him to drive his children out of their lives, but decides to reconnect with her daughter in a fit of breaking-and-entering when she learns of Gretchen's pregnancy. Through an odd series of events, this brings home their other two children, Carson and Henry, and gives Rusty and Judy a chance to reconnect with them.

The meat of the story revolves around Gretchen's unusual lifestyle. Gretchen and her boyfriend Ray - an eccentric modern dancer whom Rusty nicknames "The Chimp" - are founding members of a somewhat reclusive society dedicating to raising children in a completely gender-neutral way, including names, clothing, and toys. No one but the children's parents are to know the baby's biological sex, hence the title Maybe Baby (Maybe a boy, maybe a girl). Gretchen and Ray insist upon strict rules involving clothing and language around their baby that Rusty and Judy, and Ray's mother Sunny and her boyfriend Klaus, must agree upon to be a part of the child's life. Can these grandparents come to terms with the rules, or will they surreptitiously try to break them? The answer may surprise you.

I found Darlington's writing plain and straightforward; she is more concerned with exploring her ideas on social interactions than she is on perfecting her prose. While at times this made the book sound more like a story a friend was telling you over coffee rather than literature, it allowed the reader to be brought into the tale more easily. Many of the characters in Darlington's book are a bit two-dimensional, although Judy is very well-developed and eventually Rusty is, as well, although it takes most of the book to get there. I would have liked more character development with Gretchen, Henry and Carson, as well, however the book is more concerned with the parent's perspectives than that of the children. The author's primary concern is: How do typical Midwestern meat-and-potatoes middle-agers come to terms with the culture shock of modern gender and sexuality, especially when it is thrust upon them by their immediate family? I also felt that Darlington too much effort describing the minute details of the actions of the characters, and that it distracted her from exploring the deeper motivations of her characters.

Overall Maybe Baby was a fairly easy and enjoyable read. It had potential to inspire deeper thought into the social constructs of gender and sexuality and how they are percieved by a generation that came of age in a time where such matters were not discussed, but ultimately fell a bit short of that goal.

The Ocean in the Closet

The Ocean in the Closet: A Novel

by Yuko Taniguchi











An interesting read. This book was fraught with symbolism and simile. Overall an enjoyable read, although there is not a definite climax or denouement (and perhaps this was intentional). The parts written from Hideo's perspective are excellent: poignant and complete. The parts written from Helen's perspective, however, are often too simple, matter-of-fact, and abrupt; the style is more appropriate of a child 3-4 years younger than Helen is supposed to be (9).

Brave New World

Brave New World

by Aldous Huxley














The first two thirds of this book were wonderful! Excellent social commentary with pretty good character development. Unfortunately, the further I read this book the more I realized Huxley was more trying to make a specific point than to write a naturally progressing novel. Much of the ending was simply contrived. Huxley would have done more justice to his ideas had he let the plot flow and left his own diatribes to essays rather than a novel.

A Wrinkle in Time

A Wrinkle in Time

by Madeleine L'Engle











I thought this was a great book, although it would have been better if I hadn't read it the first time as an adult. Interesting social commentary, and a great integration of theoretical physics into a children's novel.

The Bell Jar

The Bell Jar

by Sylvia Plath















This book read more like a memoir than a novel. This book has a very real, chillingly accurate description of how one thinks when suffering from depression. A fairly easy read, The Bell Jar does not follow the typical denouement and resolution pattern of a novel but more the pattern of real life with all its uncertainties. I appreciate that it was not wrapped up and delivered in a neat little package.

Life of Pi

Life of Pi: A Novel

by Yann Martel











A good read. Unlike others who read this book I wasn't mad at the ending, just a little confused. I understood what Martel was getting at but he could have explained a little better. An interesting tale about the lengths a human would go to to survive, peppered with naturalist and religious philosophies.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

by Mark Haddon












Wow was all I could think when I first finished this book. Haddon writes in an easy to understand style and really steps into the mind of an autistic boy. Simply wonderful.

We Need to Talk About Kevin

We Need to Talk About Kevin

by Lionel Shriver

A very good book that draws you in the further along you are. Fairly well written, although parts of the ending are too predictible. I really liked the way the author used a high school killer as a platform to explore the mother-child bond.