"Beloved" - Caitlin's POV

A woman saw me reading this on the metro and made a point of speaking to me about it. People NEVER talk to each other on the D.C. metro. Her comment which was so important to break the traditional between-stranger-silence? "That book is WEIRD!" How right she was...


GENERAL IMPRESSIONS: What the WHAT? This was by far the strangest book I've ever read. Putting aside the mystic beliefs/ghosts/reincarnated dead children, it was even bizarre to read. You could never tell what was a flashback and what wasn't. That isn't always an issue for me but when you add in that you couldn't tell what was real, what was a hallucination/vision, and what was a dream, it got pretty damn confusing. Added to that is the most bizarre plotline ever and some nontraditional discussions of slavery and voila! you have a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel! As a history major and generally socially conscious individual, I have read some of the "classics" on slavery. I'm not sure that Frederick Douglass would exactly approve of Morrison's portrayal of slavery. Obviously, it was horrible and she portrays the complete dehumanization of black women especially well but I also wonder if some of the stuff she describes about black men helps her cause. It's like she almost believes what white people were saying about black sexuality during the rape/lynching cycle in post-Reconstruction South.

SPOILER ALERT: Every surprise is heavily suggested ahead of time to so Toni Morrison will do all of the spoiling for you.

MUSINGS: I really do hate stream-of-consciousness writing and I am very thankful it only existed in one full chapter.

GRADE SHEET:
Narrator's Likeability: Depends on the Narrator, Ranging from B+ (Denver) to D (Beloved)
Readability: C
Pace: B
Satisfying Ending: B
Originality of Style: A
Creative Character Names: B+

Well, that Sucked - from Kelli

Heart of Darkness. Don't read it.

I'm concerned that who ever created this list was sadistic, because there is still more Joseph Conrad to be had. The man's thoughts are more scrambled than someone suffering from Wernicke's aphasia.

War of the Worlds - Lynn's Take

This was a quick, enjoyable read.  Mars invades and takes over man's place at the top of the food chain, due to better intelligence and better technology.  Humans' reaction to the disaster is mostly foolhardy or craven.  Martians are laid low by bacterial infection and humanity has a second chance.

"Room with a view" -Caitlin's Take

I guess reading law books all the time made me forget how much I love novels and how quickly I can read one!

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS: I've read two other Forster novels and this was pretty similar in style. Basically, some English folks go to "the Continent", some manners type stuff happens, some romance happens, and Forster tries to insert some deeper meaning into his work which is apparent but not especially thought-provoking. The book was quick, easy, sometimes funny, and very endearing. Much more optimistic and cheerful than pretty much anything else I've read for this challenge or, to be honest, anything I've ever read that is considered "literature." However, the most bizarre and maybe even interesting moment in the story (a man being killed and falling into the heroine's arms) is not given nearly enough treatment.

SPOILER ALERTS: Finally, a happy ending! Unusual for modern novels and Forster stories alike!

MUSINGS: If Mr. Beebe was a priest in every Catholic church in Iowa, Rick Santorum would never have made it on the ballot. Why can't modern Catholic priests be more like Victorian Catholic priests?

GRADESHEET:
Narrator's Likability: Average
Pace: A
Readability: B+
Satisfying Ending: A
Originality: C
Endearing Old British Men: A++

"The World According to Garp" - Caitlin's Take

My mom suggested I read Garp because she remembered enjoying it. She forget to mention that the book is 600+ pages long. Even so, two days later, I have finished it!

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS: I'm not sure why people are so fascinated by books about writers. Perhaps deep down most readers wish they were writers and want to know how to become one. Answer: become John Irving. The only other Irving novel I've read was A Prayer for Owen Meaney which is EXTREMELY different from this book (much more religious/moralistic and tame compared to the LUST!SEX!FEMINISM! of Garp) but they both exhibit what I think is Irving's greatest ability- he knows where his story is going but doesn't give away anything. PLUS he came up with the different stories within the book written by Garp and his mother AND the entire narrative was based off of made up biographies. WHO DOES THAT? GENIUS!!! Also, it's interesting to read a book which interacts with feminism so much written when 2nd wave feminism was on the up and up (I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say it's a feminist novel and I'm not sure what critics/other feminists/Irving would have to say on the subject). While sometimes I grew frustrated with all of the main characters' general flatness (even Garp was not as complex as I think he was supposed to be), the book was really a fun read.

SPOILER ALERTS: Too many deaths. But I think that's Irving's thing.

MUSINGS: It's interesting to read a book full of debauchery/cheating/sluts/sex/death/other bad stuff which has absolutely no reference to religion.

GRADE SHEET:
Narrator's Likability: A
Pace: A
Readability: A
Satisfying Ending: B+
Sense of Humor: B+
Supporting Actresses: A-

Mrs. Dalloway is a Shallow Bitch - Lynn

Mrs. Dalloway is about one day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway.  Published in 1925, this book is considered  ground breaking because all of the action occurs in a single day and because of Woolf's extensive use of interior monologue and stream of consciousness.  The book is also one of the first to address the subject of shell shock (PTSD, as we call it today).

All the groundbreaking is well and good, and I don't doubt that Mrs. Dalloway should be on the top 100 list, but that  doesn't mean that the book is enjoyable.  It's not.

Woolf's writing style is dense and non-sequitur, with run-on sentences frequently requiring rereading and re-rereading. Ugh.  And Clarissa Dalloway becomes less and less likeable as the story unfolds.  She typifies upper-crust England in the 1920's; her concerns surround appearance and propriety and her world is circumscribed by class-based conventions. Also, none of her friends are likable.  For that matter, neither are her enemies.  Her daughter is downright detestable.  And her husband is a loser.  It's hard to get into a book when there's no one to root for.  Or almost no one, anyway.

The most sympathetic character in the book is Septimus Smith, a WWI veteran who was exposed to horrific events during his honorable service and is now going mad.  On this day, Septimus has been taken to a specialist, Sir William Bradshaw, who determines that Septimus needs to be committed.  Unwilling to give up his independence, and haunted by the apparition of his dead comrade, Septimus jumps out of his window and kills himself.  Sir Bradshaw is called to the scene, which irritatingly (to him) makes him late to Mrs. Dalloway's party.

Upon his arrival to the party with his wife, Lady Bradshaw informs Mrs. Dalloway of the reason for her husband's lateness.  Mrs. Dalloway's first reaction is to be angry at him for ruining her party with a mention of death.  This is when I decided I downright disliked her.  Upon further reflection, Mrs. Dalloway decides that Septimus killed himself to preserve his 'treasure', his happiness.  This is when I decided I hated her.

Tender is the Night - It's not what you think! (Lynn)

When I told her that I was reading Tender is the Night, Kelli warned me that it was 'terrible'. She'd abandoned it because of it's 'old-fashioned' writing. At that point, I was about 20 pages in, and I told her that I thought it was great so far.  And I did end up liking it, but it sure wasn't the story I thought I was getting when I started reading it.

I enjoy Fitzgerald's writing; his descriptive passages are so evocative that they seem like pictures instead of words.  I could almost feel the oppressive stillness of the night in this description, "It was a limpid black night, hung as in a basket from a single dull star." I also like his au courant syntax.  Young people's feelings of rootlessness and restlessness in post WWI Europe are pefectly captured in his writing.

Tender is the Night opens in the summer of 1925 with Rosemary, a young American actress, arriving at a Mediterranean resort and meeting the Divers, Dick and Nicole.  Impressionable and unexperienced, Rosemary soon finds herself falling in love with the carefree, fun-loving, patrician Divers, especially Dick.  Over the next 129 pages, Fitzgerald develops a Rosemary into a very likable protagonist, and develops the relationship between Dick and her to the point of crisis - Dick is also in love with Rosemary, but will he betray Nicole?

On page 130, Fitzgerald throws us a huge curveball.  Suddenly we're in Zurich in the spring of 1917, and we're learning how Dick and Nicole met.  At this point, I presumed that this back story was needed to further build the dilemma that Dick was facing.  But I was wrong.  Turns out, this story isn't about Rosemary, it's about Dick and Nicole.  Rosemary was a device Fitzgerald used to introduce the appearance of the Divers before explaining the reality of the Divers.  And it turns out, Dick isn't such a nice guy.  And it turns out, Nicole is anything but carefree.

I had a really hard time readjusting my perspective when the story changed.  I had far too much invested in Rosemary to easily give up on her story.  And maybe that's why I came to so dislike Dick.  Although Dick appears to be a charming, loving guy, he turns out to be an ethically challenged parasite who is using Nicole for her money and as a cover for his lack of career advancement.  As time goes on, Dick is less and less able to maintain his charming facade. By the end of the novel, he has been shunned by his former circle of friends, as he so richly deserves.

Rosemary returns in a supporting role near the end of the book, and - perhaps because she's so closely associated with Dick, or perhaps because she's no longer an innocent - she  is far less likable.

The book has a big surprise, which I haven't revealed here.  It's that surprise (hint - it involves Nicole) that  ultimately redeems this book and makes it worth the read.

1/4 of the Way - from Kelli

Phew. Skating in barely before my winter break ended (literally, 30 minutes before my "school days" bedtime), I finished "In Cold Blood" - which is the best book I've read so far in this challenge. Perhaps because I'm a sucker for crime stories, but also because Truman Capote's ability to realistically recreate feelings, thoughts, and images is astounding. If you haven't read it - stop reading this post and go buy it.

"Catch-22" ended up being pretty great. The last 160 pages of the novel went much more quickly than the first 300. It just took some stamina and determination. I think the reason the book was so hard to read for me was because Joseph Heller's writing presents its own imaginative, wonderful logic. The irrationality of the book (a reflection, I believe, of Heller's view on war) made it difficult to read chapter by chapter. You really have to get into the mindframe of the book - a challenge when you're only reading 20 or 30 pages each time before you hit the sack. My recommendation for the book: pick a time when you have nothing to do all day and power through it. The book is a delightful challenge to the American status-quo and will leave you feeling satisfied.

This year, Caitlin, Marie and I (Caitlin and I currently at 25 books a piece, and Marie at 27) need to keep a pace of approximately 1 book for every 2 weeks to keep on track for a 2014 finish date. My mother, however, can take a more leisurely approach (especially considering she's been reading as fast as I have!). She needs only 56 more books to declare victory!

Summary scoring of 2011 books:

"Slaughterhouse Five": A+++ (this is the book, never blogged about, that actually roused my interest in partaking of the challenge)

"Lord of the Flies": B-

"Franny and Zooey": C

"In Our Time": B+

"Catch-22": B

"In Cold Blood": A++

"The Portrait of a Lady" - Caitlin's Thoughts

This is the most I have ever struggled with any book and if it weren't for the challenge, I would have put it down by page 35 (of 548).

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS: Blech, blech, and more blech. If Henry James' goal was to make you want to punch the heroine of the book only slightly less than you want to kill it's author, than he was immensely successful. I am frustrated in real life by people who are determined to be unhappy and the book puts them on a pedestal. The titular character, the lady- Isabel Archer, shows promise in her first introduction as she is intelligent, independent, and unabashedly American. But then James starts heaping on insanely boring and annoying descriptions of personality traits as the minimalistic plot requires them to give him something to write about. Every single thing I wanted to happen in this book didn't. Plus, when something was actually interesting, James spent an uncharacteristically short amount of time describing it (the loss of an infant child is mentioned in a fleeting half sentence while the way the main character turns the page of a book is granted a full chapter of description). Essentially, this was everything I don't like (too much description, unrelatable characters, non-existent plotlines, and self-imposed angst) all in one book. Besides the obvious outdatedness of the book (wasting away illnesses making people "invalids", lords/ladies, dutiful wives, children being raised at convents, shocking age differences in marriages, etc...) there was one modern concept which still exists in other books on the list which frustrate me (i.e. On the Road)- an obnoxious preoccupation by characters with their self-imposed unhappiness. Just makes me want to punch them all.

SPOILER ALERTS: The most action of the book occurs in the last 55 pages. You'll want to gouge your eyes out with the corner of your book until then.

MUSINGS: Why are my favorite characters consistently referred to as "simple"? Complex people can be happy too. Suck it, Henry James. Also, this book shouldn't even be on this list because it was written in the 19th century.

GRADE SHEET:
Narrator's Likability: F
Pace: D-
Readability: C
Satisfying Ending: B-
Impressively Long Paragraphs: A
Use of French: B+ (I understood most of it without translations! Which was good because my book didn't have any...)