The Vintner's Luck by Elizabeth Knox

The Vintner's Luck is the story of the relationship between a human and an angel. In 1808, Sobran Jodeau is a young vintner who steals two bottles of the family wine and wanders off into the vineyard one night with the intention of drowning his first real sorrow in drunkenness. He literally stumbles into the angel Xas, who catches him as he falls. They spend the night discussing Sobran's rejection and agree to meet again at the same place the following year. Xas has an appetite for earthly pleasures and this meeting, between human and angel, becomes an annual event that develops into a relationship that intensifies causing much joy and sorrow.

I must say up front that I struggled during most of the book with what I considered a theological affront. The God that Knox presents is not inherently good and neither is Lucifer inherently evil; there is really very little to recommend one over the other. God and Lucifer are immortal beings focused on their own eternal battle. They maintain a remote existence from humanity while using the angel, Xas, as a pawn. This does create an empathy, especially for Xas. It is this empathy, and my own pursuit of the deeper questions underlying the story that kept me reading this book. Oh, and the writing. Gorgeous.

The writing is at once lush and succinct, and left me both dazzled and sometimes confused. I had to work hard to determine the meaning of some passages and even then they were sometimes elusive leaving a "cloudy" spot. I like the way Memory, in her review, describes Knox's writing as "rarely transparent."

The Vintner's Luck is much more than a moving story written beautifully. It is deeply spiritual and delves into the very nature of love and hatred, of good and evil ... with an intensity that made me cry at times. What does it mean to be fallen? To be redeemed? To be rejected? To be loved? How very painfully these things seem to intertwine sometimes.

So, did I like the book? I am aware that my thoughts might seem a bit conflicting without a clear answer to this question. I will say that I was both repulsed by and drawn to this story. The author was able to get under my skin and move me. I sat about thinking for hours after reading this book. These are good things. *smile*

Oscar Hijuelos Books ... OR The Pinga Post

I didn't have this book on my "to be read" list, but when I received a copy of Beautiful Maria of My Soul from the publisher through Library Thing I decided that I should probably read The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love first. You see, Beautiful Maria of My Soul is a follow up novel to The Mambo Kings. I'm glad I did this or I wouldn't have gotten the full impact of Beautiful Maria.

The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love is the story of the Castillo brothers, musicians who leave Cuba in 1949 to seek fame and fortune in New York City. The story is told by Cesar Castillo in a series of flashbacks as he drowns himself in both memories and booze seeking to relive his glory days. The setting for this walk down nostalgia lane is 1980 in a faded hotel room that keeps the past near for Cesar as he seeks to end the story of his life.

Cesar and Nestor are about as different as brothers can be. Cesar is brash and flashy. Nestor is quiet and pensive. Cesar never learns how to love and spends his life seeking one carnal pleasure after another. Nestor loves too much and dwells to obsession on beautiful Maria, the lost love who jilted him and remains in Cuba. Cesar despises the father who abused him. Nestor ... well, Nestor has an Oedipal complex and happily notes that beautiful Maria has the same name as his mother. His fondest memories are those of being coddled by his mother and embraced by beautiful Maria.

Cesar and Nestor are alike in one thing; their lack of development. Cesar and Nestor never change or mature. Ultimately, their lives have no meaning. Cesar, even while drinking himself to death, is still glorying in his stallion sized pinga. Nestor never quits longing for the past and obsessing on beautiful Maria. This lack of growth did not endear the characters to me, but it does lend itself to the creation of a deep sense of sadness and longing that permeates The Mambo Kings and washed me in waves of nostalgia. The heavy nostalgia might be a deterrent for some readers, but Hijuelos does it exceptionally well.

Another thing that Hijuelos does well is to capture the 1950s Latin music scene and Cuban-American culture of New York City. The novel is rife with details and descriptions as well as cameo mentions and appearances of Cuban-Americans like Desi Arnaz. I found it hard to tell fiction from reality sometimes as Hijuelos wove real people and places into his story.

Overall, I enjoyed The Mambo Kings for the atmosphere that Hijuelos created and for his ability to keep me reading the novel despite my loathing of his characters and the ad nauseum references to Cesar's pinga. Seriously people ... Cesar was totally overshadowed by his pinga. Should be listed as an actual character. Nuff said?

Beautiful Maria of My Soul is an expansion of the story Hijuelos told in The Mambo Kings, but this story is from beautiful Maria's point of view. In The Mambo Kings, Maria is a minor character with a major influence and presence. Maria, or the thought of her, permeates The Mambo Kings, yet we learn little about her. Who is she? Why does she reject Nestor Castillo? What happens to her?

Maria's story begins as she leaves her beloved valle (country valley) to seek her own version of fame and fortune in the big city of Havana. There she finds that it is difficult to make a living when you have no skills and are an analfabeta (illiterate). What beautiful Maria does find, is that she can capitalize on her extreme beauty and her ability to dance. She takes a series of jobs in various Havana nightclubs as a dancer and gains a certain amount of local fame. She also finds that men are willing to "take care of her."

Maria hardens over time and develops a "... general indifference to men and ... few expectations ..." as she trades a modest life and independence for the security of men with money. During a period of disillusionment, Maria meets Nestor Castillo and has an affair with him. It is a very passionate affair. Which ends. Abruptly. At Maria's request. You will have to read the book if you want to know why. Nestor is devastated, writes a haunting bolero to the painful memory of Maria and spends the rest of his life obsessing over the loss. But, this is Maria's story and Beautiful Maria keeps the focus on her.

Beautiful Maria of My Soul, like The Mambo Kings, has a strong sense of nostalgia and longing. Nestor longs for Maria. Maria always longs for what she can not have and late in life shows a suppressed regret when she says, "None of us can go back. All those memories are what? Just little dreams." Huh. Just little dreams. I didn't like Cesar or Nestor and I don't like Maria. Another "stellar" Hijuelos character. I wonder if I would hate all of his characters? But like The Mambo Kings, Hijuelos kept me reading Beautiful Maria. The scenes of Havana are both beautiful and gritty and the reader gets a sense of the changes brought about by Castro's revolution which drove so many Cubans to the United States seeking a new life. Hijuelos has an excellent ability to bring his settings to life and in Beautiful Maria he tells a story that made me want to weep for the passage of time and the "what could have been."

I won't give away the ending (or the clever bit of the novel that took me by surprise), but Beautiful Maria has a delightful and satisfying end. Hijuelos brings the story 'round and ties The Mambo Kings and Beautiful Maria, the past and the present, together into a lovely whole.

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P.S. Since the alternate title of my post is The Pinga Post, I thought y'all might want to know that pingas do not play as prominent of a role in Beautiful Maria (thank goodness) and Hijuelos manages to insert some rather amusing commentary in this newest novel about his notable exposure of pingas in The Mambo Kings.

BOOK REVIEW: Silk by Alessandro Baricco

Herve Joncour is a French silk breeder who lives in the small town of Lavilledieu. It is 1861 and epidemics have decimated the silkworm eggs in Europe, so Joncour travels once a year to Egypt and Syria to obtain healthy eggs. Joncour's friend, Baldabiou, tells of the extraordinary silk of Japan and encourages Joncour to travel "to the end of the world" to obtain Japanese silkworm eggs. Joncour travels to Japan four times, each time leaving behind his faithful and loving wife Helene. He always takes the same route, travelling by train, horseback and ship. Japan is closed to the world at this time and Joncour must deal secretly with a local Japanese baron named Hara Kei. While negotiating with Hara Kei, Joncour is enamored by Kei's concubine with "eyes [that] did not have an Oriental slant." We learn nothing more about the concubine than this smallest of physical details. She neither speaks to nor touches Joncour, yet he falls instantly in love with this beautiful woman. He believes his love to be reciprocated and looks for her during his three subsequent visits. Civil war tears Hara Kei's village apart and forever separates Joncour from the enigmatic woman he believes he loves. Joncour no longer travels and settles down to a quiet village life with his wife until, one day, a letter arrives covered with Japanese ideograms that look like

a catalog of little bird tracks, compiled with meticulous folly. It was surprising to think that in fact they were signs, that is, the ashes of an incinerated voice.

The peacefulness of Joncour's life from that moment on is tinged with the sadness of unfulfillment.

Silk is a simple story, told simply, using language that makes you want to weep. Silk is a novella, but the language and pacing make this little book seem more like poetry. What is left unsaid is just as important as what is said. The often sparse narration adds to the beauty and creates images that speak more intensely than a flurry of words. Take for instance the moment that Hara Kei's concubine looks at Joncour for the first time. She has been laying, perfectly still, with her head on Hara Kei's lap, her hair spread around her. Joncour and Hara Kei are negotiating when

Suddenly,
without moving at all,
that girl
opened her eyes.
Herve Joncour did not pause, but instinctively lowered his gaze to her, and what he saw, without pausing, was that those eyes did not have an Oriental shape, and that they were fixed, with a disconcerting intensity, on him: as if from the start, from under the eyelids, they had done nothing else.

I am in awe of Baricco's ability to tell a story with such depth and emotion using such sparse language. His storytelling is like pulling the lightest of silks across your skin. It will make you shiver with delight. Read it.

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Also reviewed by:
Eva at A Striped Armchair

BOOK REVIEW: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Title: Gilead
Author: Marilynne Robinson
Publisher: Picador
Year: 2004
Reason for reading: Battle of the Prizes challenge

First line: "I told you last night that I might be gone sometime, and you said, Where, and I said, To be with the Good Lord, and you said, Why, and I said, Because I'm old, and you said, I don't think you're old."

Gilead is an epistolary novel written by a Congregationalist minister to his young son. John Ames came to fatherhood rather late in life and regrets that he won't be able to watch his son grow to manhood. There are so many things he wants to tell the boy that can't be told to a six year old, and so he begins to write his letter in a journal.

"Your mother told you I'm writing your begats, and you seemed very pleased with the idea. Well, then. What should I record for you?"

As a minister who comes from a long line of minsters, John Ames is concerned with the human condition and the deeper things of the soul. There is much about the nature of love, friendship, faith and prayer in Gilead. Even the hard questions of Christianity are addressed as Jack, the son of John's lifelong friend, posits the philosophical query:

"Do you ever wonder why American Christianity seems to wait for the real thinking to be done elsewhere?"

John has kept pages and pages of sermons he has delivered over the years in which he "[tried] to say what was true." It is this pursuit of truth and personal integrity that seems to haunt John in his twilight years. The relationship between John and Jack has been strained for a very long time. These two men repeatedly attempt to understand each other and John feels deeply his failure, as both a minister and an elder, to comprehend and forgive the younger man. As John struggles to right this relationship, he reaffirms that redemption is neither simple nor easy.

The pace of the writing is very meditative and requires the reader to slow down and take up the tempo of an old man. While this was an effective device most of the time, I found my mind wandering far from the novel at other times. There are no chapter breaks, but there are "thought" breaks in which the author may pick up the same thread or shift to a new one. This format took a bit of getting used to, but once I adjusted it seemed appropriate for the teller of the story. The writing is spare and straightforward, which fits the setting and time -- a small prairie town of the 1950s populated by those who have seen much hardship.

"To me it seems rather Christlike to be unadorned as this place is, as little regarded."

Gilead is a beautifully written book that, at times, will take some work to read. I don't think that the religious tone of the book should disturb those who follow a faith other than Christianity or those who follow no faith at all. What the author truly addresses in her pages is the human condition of which we are all a part.


Gilead is my review of a Pulitzer Prize winner for The Battle of the Prizes reading challenge.

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Note to other reviewers: If you've written a review for this book, please let me know by posting the permanent URL for your review in the comments. I'll be happy to add a link to your review with my post.

Also reviewed by:
hopeinbrazil at Worthwhile Books
Rose City Reader

BOOK REVIEW: The Road from La Cueva by Sheila Ortego

Title: The Road from La Cueva
Author: Sheila Ortego
Publisher: Sunstone Press, Santa Fe
Year: 2008

This beautifully written novel tells the story of one woman's journey of self-discovery. The novel not only contends with Ana Howland's increasing sense of being smothered by a domineering and controlling husband, but also shows her growing realization that she has always lived under the overbearing weight of an oppressive relationship. Neither her authoritarian mother nor her dictatorial husband can accept her as a separate and imperfect person.

The Road from La Cueva is full of metaphor and in the hands of Ortego, the use of this device brings a richness and poetry to a topic that might seem trite in other hands. We are given a deeper glimpse into Ana's struggles through the images of the hostile road from La Cueva, the stubborn clay shaped by the potter, and the Changing Woman Ceremony (sometimes called the Sunrise Ceremony).

The road to and from Ana's home is a very tangible representation of those oppressive relationships in her life. When this dirt road is dry, it is as hard and unyielding as rock ... ready to tear up and break what dares to pass over it. Wet, the road is even worse. It oozes over and sucks everything into it with "a satisfied, brown belch."

The beauty of the imperfect is gorgeously represented through the craft of pottery. As Ana learns this craft from Michael, a co-worker, she notices that one of his creations has an uneven rim.

He ran his fingers around the rim of the cup. "See how this isn't even? The Japanese call this shibui, the flaw that makes something beautiful. The shape has to have some room, some freedom." ... "Like with people," he said, and she nodded.

It is this very room and freedom that is lacking in Ana's life. She has allowed the oppressive behaviors of others to weigh down her very being and she knows that it is something only she can change.

One of the most beautiful chapters in the book is the one describing the Changing Woman Ceremony, a Native American ceremony celebrating the change from girlhood to womanhood. Ana already knows that the means to change her life is within reach. It becomes more apparent as she watches the ceremony and recognizes her own internal strength and power as a woman. No longer will she be passively shaped by others. Ana already has the ability to gain command over her weaknesses, to be physically and emotionally strong, and to endure and suffer with dignity. Before the readers' eyes, "[she is shaped] ... into the woman she [is] to become." Her deep compassion and resilience form a strong core around which to emerge.

The Road from La Cueva is an encouraging look at the power we all have to shape our own lives. The passion and beauty of the writing is something that will draw me back to this story repeatedly.

Rating: 5 of 5

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Author Website:
For more about Sheila Ortego, visit the author's website.

Articles:
Article by Sheila Ortego about The Road from La Cueva at The Huffington Post.

Awards:
2008 New Mexico Book Awards Finalist
Finalist in the ForeWord Magazine 'Book of the Year' contest

Also reviewed at:
In Spring it is the Dawn
Terra's Book Blog

BOOK REVIEW: Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh

The Ibis is a two masted schooner that was used as a slave transport ship to run the coasts of Africa. The slave trade is no longer legal under British law in 1838, and this particular ship is unable to outrun the law ... so she must be repurposed. Purchasd by an Englishman with a lucrative business in the opium trade, Ibis is renovated. Her hold is cleared of those elements used to restrain human cargo and she is instead made ready to carry opium. It should not be lost on the reader that the Ibis, despite renovation, is still in service to slavery. She no longer carries saleable human cargo, but her new cargo is just as enslaving. The opium trade is very lucrative and those in charge of this business hold mastery over both the producers and consumers of this product.

Before her turn at transporting opium to China, Ibis is to take a trip across the Indian Ocean to the island of Mauritius. She carries indentured migrants who can hardly be discerned from slaves. It is the prelude to and first part of this voyage that is the setting for Sea of Poppies.

Along the journey, the reader is privy to some very interesting conversations on freedom and just war. The arrogance of the British trade barons is such that freedom, to them, applies to their right to freely trade in whatever lucrative business is at hand.

'D'you mean to use [the Ibis] as a slaver, sir? But have not your English laws outlawed that trade?'
'That is true,' Mr Burnham nodded. 'Yes indeed they have, Reid. It's sad but true that there are many who'll stop at nothing to halt the march of human freedom.'
'Freedom, sir?' said Zachary, wondering if he had misheard.
His doubts were quickly put at rest. 'Freedom, yes, exactly,' said Mr. Burnham. 'Isn't that what the mastery of the white man means for the lesser races? As I see it, Reid, the Africa trade was the greatest exercise in freedom since God led the children of Israel out of Egypt. Consider, Reid, the situation of a so-called slave in the Carolinas - is he not more free than his brethren in Africa, groaning under the rule of some dark tyrant?'

A just war is one that will force China to legalize opium ... for the good of free trade, of course.

'...No one dislikes war more than I do - indeed I abhor it. But it cannot be denied that there are times when war is not merely just and necessary, but also humane. In China that time has come....'
'Quite right, sir!' said Mr. Doughty emphatically. 'There is no other recourse. Indeed, humanity demands it. We need only think of the poor Indian peasant - what will become of him if his opium can't be sold in China? Bloody hurremzads can hardly eat now: they'll perish by the crore.'

These British businessmen can not see that they are the source of poverty and starvation among the "Indian peasants." There are no fields with which to grow nourishing grains and vegetables due to the mandate to exclusively plant and harvest poppies, and the money collected by the peasants for their crops is not adequate to feed their families. The peasants get no help from their countrymen because of a caste system that declares them "unclean" and less than human.

Sea of Poppies is not just a sad tale that portrays the ugly history of British traders and a restrictive Indian caste system. The story is character driven and is, at heart, a story of transformation and changeability. Some of those who find themselves on the Ibis learn the veracity of the saying that they "are all on the same ship." They are, as one character claims, "ship siblings." Neither caste, nor skin color, nor gender really matters. These are worldly complexities that can be overcome.

Sea of Poppies is the first in a proposed trilogy. Though the author does not leave the reader with a cliffhanger ending, the journey is incomplete and at a point of transition and transformation. It is gorgeously written and promises to be an epic tale indeed.

Rating: 4 of 5

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Note to other reviewers: If you've written a review for this book, please let me know by posting the permanent URL for your review in the comments. I'll be happy to add a link to your review with my post.

Also reviewed by:
Jackie at Farm Lane Books
Eva at A Striped Armchair

BOOK REVIEW: The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

The nameless narrator of The Gargoyle is, on the surface, one of the "beautiful people," but beauty truly is only skin deep for this self-centered, cynical and unhappy man. So it is ironic that the very thing that defines him, his beautiful outer shell, is severely burned turning him into a "monster." He is determined to commit suicide and constructs an elaborate and fool-proof method to end a life that he believes has no meaning without his physical beauty.

Marianne Engel is a psychiatric patient who appears at the narrator's bedside. She claims that they were once lovers in medieval Germany. She is, like Scheherazade, a teller of tales and draws this devastated man into her stories of enduring love. Instead of saving her own life though, she saves the life of the narrator through her continuing tales.

Marianne is more than a storyteller though. She is a sculptor of gargoyles, or grotesques. Again, it is ironic that a man who has become a living grotesque, should fall in love with a woman who carves them from stone. Both living grotesque and stone grotesques are shaped through pain and suffering. While the narrator does indeed suffer through multiple physical "sculptings," what is more significant is the inner shaping of his heart, turning it from stone to a living thing overflowing with love.

I wanted to read this book quickly, but I forced myself to slow down and savor this beautiful novel. The Gargoyle is an unusual love story that captures the nature of true, lasting and redeeming love. Davidson weaves several tales of love within his own tale and creates what I think is a beautiful tapestry with unexpected connections. After reading The Gargoyle, I'm even more convinced that love really is something that endures beyond the life we know.

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Note to other reviewers: If you've written a review for this book, please let me know by posting the permanent URL for your review in the comments. I'll be happy to add a link to your review with my post.

Also reviewed at:
Marj at Reading Adventures
Jackie at FarmLaneBooks
Margaret at BooksPlease
Chris at book-a-rama

BOOK REVIEW: Asleep by Banana Yoshimoto

Asleep is a collection of three short novellas, all of which focus on some aspect of death and also a sleeping, either literal or psychic, born of trauma.

Night and Night's Travelers
"Night and Night's Travelers" is a tale of the literal death of one and the resulting temporary emotional death of another. The narrator is Shibami and she tells the story of her "vibrantly charismatic" brother Yoshihiro and her dreamy cousin Mari. Yoshihiro and Mari are not only cousins, but lovers. After Yoshihiro's death, Mari withdraws and enters a year of dreamlike fog and sleepwalking.

Love Songs
"Love Songs" tells of the haunting of one woman by another. Fumi has found herself at the end of an affair and drinking to excess. She often hears a "soothing voice singing." This voice belongs to Haru, a dead woman with whom Fumi once shared her ex-lover. Fumi is drawn to this voice from the beyond and, through consultation with a midget psychic, is able to meet with Haru. In life, the two women were in a relationship of bitter resentment and jealousy, yet in this meeting of life and afterlife they find peace and friendship.

Asleep
"Asleep" is the story of Terako who shares the deep sleep of her lover's comatose wife. Mr. Iwanaga has an unusual effect on women ... he puts them to sleep. His wife is in a coma and his lover, Terako, becomes increasingly sleepy. As Terako separates herself from Mr. Iwanaga and creates her own life, she finds a new energy.

Supernatural occurrences seem natural throughout the stories in Asleep. The language is sparse, creating silences and the stories lack any attempt to draw the reader in emotionally. Yoshimoto's writing style reminded me of minimalist Japanese decor. The setting is sparse, but what is there is beautiful. The writing often seems like a prose version of haiku:

Late at night the trees in my garden seemed to shine.
Awash in light from the street, the quiet glittering green of the
leaves and the deep brown of the trunk seemed startlingly vivid.

Those looking for an exciting read will not find it in Asleep. What the reader will find is a quiet and beautiful collection of stories that take the vicissitudes of life in stride.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

This title was read as part of the Japanese Literature Challenge II hosted by Bellezza.

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Note to other reviewers: If you've written a review for this book, please let me know by posting the permanent URL for your review in the comments. I'll be happy to add a link to your review with my post.

Also reviewed by:
nymeth at things mean a lot

BOOK REVIEW: Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

Everything is metaphor. Nothing is metaphor. Metaphor is reality. Murakami takes the reader on a surreal trip that will leave you breathless while also leaving you to wonder what you missed.

Kafka on the Shore is, in part, a quest. Fifteen year old Kafka Tamura runs from home in order to pursue his past, to find his mother and sister who haven't been seen since he was a little boy, and to find out who he is apart from his father. His quest begins as he seeks for answers to his past, but at some point in the journey he realizes the futility of this and turns to pursue his future instead. The story alternates between Kafka and an elderly gentleman by the name of Mr. Nakata. Nakata wants to find the half of himself that was lost when he was a young boy during World War II. A mysterious event left Nakata unable to read, and in his own words, "not very bright." As he journeys, Nakata is not sure where he is going or what he is looking for, but intuits that he will know it when he sees it.

The mysterious event of World War II, which took a part of Mr. Nakata, remains a blurry element of the novel. It is never looked at directly, but is something that is seen in the "peripheral vision" and is similar to those things that, in the darkness, are better seen when looked at indirectly. Mr. Nakata can not remember what happened and suffers an amnesia that might be metaphor for a national amnesia surrounding the events of World War II. I am aware of the concept of national amnesia, but am hardly an expert in this area and so will leave this thought to be pursued by those better qualified.

Murakami is known for his use of magical realism, and Kafka on the Shore has plenty of opportunity for the reader to suspend his or her disbelief. Talking cats, fish raining from the sky, and appearances by Johnny Walker and Colonel Sanders should not surprise Murakami's readers. If this isn't enough to confuse many of us, Murakami also takes occasional jaunts into the metaphysical realm.

The novel is often confusing and requires the reader to simply follow where Murakami leads. The ending is ambiguous, but somehow the book makes sense without a coherent resolution. Murakami has written a novel that is hopeful and speaks of the human capacity to go forward and reach for that "brand-new world" that is constantly before us.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

This title was read as part of the Japanese Literature Challenge II hosted by Bellezza.

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Note to other reviewers: If you've written a review for this book, please let me know by posting the permanent URL for your review in the comments. I'll be happy to add a link to your review with my post.

Also reviewed at:
Trish at Trish's Reading Nook
nymeth at things mean a lot
Bellezza at Dolce Bellezza
Tanabata at In Spring it is the Dawn

BOOK REVIEW: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

First line: "The story that follows is one I never intended to commit to paper."

The Historian is the interweaving of three stories. One from the 1930s, another from the 1950s, and the main narrative from the 1970s. The common denominator for all three stories is the quest for answers to the truth about Vlad Tepes (the Impaler), also known as Dracula. These interweaving stories involve mysterious old books, castles, crypts and a realization by the characters that the undead do exist.

Kostova provides plenty of atmosphere and uses a rather old fashioned way of revealing her story that reminds me of Bram Stoker. I'm sure this was intentional. Her novel could have easily devolved into mere cliche, but Kostova put her own twist on the vampire legend. She also avoided too much focus on the grotesque and instead created tension using the sinister. There are plenty of castle ruins, secluded monasteries, underground crypts, sinister librarians, and ominous Eastern Bloc secret police to hold the reader in suspense.

Kostova was able to use her characters to promote the idea that history is not dead and it is not just a story to be told. People actually lived and experienced the events from which we feel so removed. The horrors and the joys of the past were real to someone. Kostova also brought the historical research process to life and showed it as something active and exciting and even dangerous. The map of Cold War Europe on the front and end pages of the book was extremely helpful and gave some sense of place to the story.

At 642 pages (hardback version), the book is a commitment but I found it a good read that held my attention throughout.

Rating: 4 out of 5

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Note to other reviewers: If you have written a review of this book, please leave the permanent URL to your review in the comments section and I will be happy to add your link to my post.

Also reviewed at:
Bookworms and Tea Lovers (Samantha)
What Kate's Reading
Musing of a Bookish Kitty (Literary Feline)
The Written Word (Stephanie)
Things Mean a Lot (Nymeth)
Out of the Blue (Alessandra)
ReviewsByLola's Blog (Stephanie)

BOOK REVIEW: After Dark by Haruki Murakami

I find myself thinking about Murakami's books long after I've read them. Murakami compares writing to jazz music and with his writing it is true. Just as I find myself humming memorable bits from songs like Take Five, I also come back again and again to passages of Murakami's novels and short stories. I don't always recognize the deeper meaning in his works right away, but like a piece of music his writing continues to work on me over time.

After Dark takes place in Tokyo between the "witching" hours of midnight and dawn. The nighttime setting lends itself to the loneliness and alienation of the characters. We are never drawn too close to these characters, but instead we watch and listen, along with the narrator, as though through a camera as it zooms in or out and then pans around at times giving us mere glimpses of the wider setting. The story is told in scenes of dialogue between six characters within segments of sequential time. Mari is a 19 year old university freshman who perceives herself as plain and dull, especially compared to her beautiful older sister Eri. Mari has for some reason, known only to her, decided to stay up all night reading at a Denny's. She is joined several times throughout the night by Tetsuya, a young jazz musician. Mari is unexpectedly drawn into the lives of a large female ex-wrestler who now manages a "love hotel," a Chinese prostitute, and two women with mysterious backgrounds who hide under cover of night and transient jobs.

These scenes are interrupted occasionally as we, the camera, look in on Mari's older sister Eri who sleeps. Her sleep is reminiscent of that deep and complete slumber of Sleeping Beauty. Several months previous to the night our story takes place, Eri announces to her family that she is "going to sleep for awhile"; she has not woken since. On this particular night she is watched by something or someone menacing. Eri has withdrawn completely and may or may not find her way back. We are not sure if she is being controlled by the menacing presence or if her continued slumber is by choice. The scenes with Eri are eerie and unexplained.

Much in this short novel is left unexplained. In one of the more magical scenes, an image of a man wavers, his outline bends, quality fades, static rises. Murakami's story is very much like the image of this man. We can't always see clearly what it is that the author is showing us. I don't think this is an accident or poor writing. I believe Murakami does this intentionally and the reader must look for meaning in a less cognitive way. As the author says through his character Tetsuya,

"You send the music deep enough into your heart so that it makes your body undergo a kind of a physical shift, and simultaneously the listener's body also undergoes the same kind of physical shift. It's giving birth to that kind of shared state."

Murakami's works are very much a shared state. Not everyone will find his writing to their liking, but those who can resonate with the author will find themselves coming back for more.

Rating: 4 out of 5

More Murakami: "Understanding Murakami" my post about Murakami; "Jazz Messenger" essay by Murakami in the NYT Sunday Book Reviews

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Note to other reviewers: Let me know if you've written a review of After Dark or other Murakami works and I'll add a link to your review in my post. Please leave the permanent URL to your review in the comments.

Other Murakami reviews:
Books 'N Border Collies (Lezlie): After Dark
My Own Little Reading Room (guatami tripathy): Kafka on the Shore
In Spring it is the Dawn (tanabata): Kafka on the Shore, After Dark
Things Mean a Lot (nymeth): Kafka on the Shore, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Stainless Steel Droppings (Carl V.): After Dark
Bibliophile by the Sea (Diane): After Dark
A Book Sanctuary (Tracey): After Dark

BOOK REVIEW: The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie

Title: The Enchantress of Florence
Author: Salman Rushdie
Publisher: Random House
Date: June 2008

First line: "In the day's last light the glowing lake below the palace-city looked like a sea of molten gold."

The Enchantress of Florence begins with a mysterious yellow-haired stranger standing astride a bullock cart as he enters the domain of the emperor of India. He is godlike in stance, yet in appearance he is as a fool with his overly pretty face and particolored coat. The city to which he arrives is one of the grand cities of the world in both scale and wealth. Even the nearby lake seems to be made of gold. This of course is just an illusion brought about by the setting of the sun, but is an appropriate introduction to the story since it will become difficult to separate the real from the imagined as the story progresses.

The yellow-haired man is a teller of stories and he has arrived to tell a story to the Mughal of India that will either bring him fortune or cost him his life. This young man has represented himself to the Emperor Akbar as an emissary of Queen Elizabeth I. The emperor challenges the stranger's identity and would dismiss him except the yellow-haired man, who calls himself first Uccello of Florence and then Mogor dell'Amore (mogul of love), begins to weave the enchanting story of Qara Koz, the enchantress of Florence, who he claims is his mother.

But what is the Emperor to make of the stranger's story? What are we to make of the story we are reading? Identities and reality are not always clear within this magical novel. Who is the story-telling stranger? Is Qara Koz really the stranger's mother? Even the Emperor is not sure if he is simply an "I" like everyone else or a "we" of divine royalty. Reality is tenuous. Characters are imagined yet given "space" and relationship. Painters disappear into their own paintings. The story-teller feels himself fading away to nothingness when kept from telling his story. Is he merely defined by his story and without it has no existence? To add to the tenuous atmosphere created by questions of identity and reality, women are sometimes mere echoes and mirrors of someone or something else. They whisper and murmur and are ghostlike as they glide behind curtains and veils.

The author has woven layers of story around his readers, and enchants and draws us into his creation. We would come back night after night, for 1001 nights, to hear the story he has to tell. He shows us that story has power ... the power to enthrall, the power to rend apart and the power to create.

The Enchantress of Florence is first and foremost a story. It is secondarily an affirmation of the power of story. I found that I had to let go and allow Rushdie to take me where he would in order to fully enjoy this work. My criticism is limited to passages that seemed unnecessary and clumsy (e.g. the potato witches) and I wonder if the author wasn't too anxious to use as much of his extensive research as possible. The appended bibliography of works consulted is quite impressive and I look forward to reading from that list in order to expand my understanding of those historical elements that went right over my head.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Advance Reader's Copy of The Enchantress of Florence graciously provided by Random House through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

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Note to other reviewers: I like to provide links to other reviews of the same book. If you would like me to add a link to your review of this book, please leave a permanent link to your review in the comments section and I will include it as a part of this post.

Also reviewed at:
Red Room Library (Sarah)

BOOK REVIEW: Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya

Bless Me, Ultima is set in a small village on the edge of the plains (the llano) of New Mexico during the 1940s. It is a coming of age novel from the Hispanic perspective. Six year old Antonio must grapple with many conflicts as he strives to grow into a man in a multi-faith, multi-cultural setting.

Antonio has been born into a Catholic family and looks forward to his first Communion, but he has many questions about his natal faith. Paganism is native to this area of the Southwest and Antonio finds much to admire in this belief system. Antonio has a keen eye and mind that is open to many ideas as he searches for what is true. Both world views are present within his home. His mother is a strong Catholic while his elderly aunt Ultima (La Grande) is a curandera (healer) who aligns with a more pagan world view with its focus on the natural world.

Being in the Southwest, Antonio must also live in two cultures simultaneously. His native tongue is Spanish. When we first encounter Antonio, he speaks no English. He learns the English language and Anglo culture at school and is such a quick learner that he is promoted directly from first to third grade after his first year at school. He has a naturally inquiring mind that works well in a scholarly environment.

Antonio's mother is extremely proud of her little scholar since she has aspirations for him to become a priest and fill a role that has been missing for generations from her agrarian family. Antonio's maternal grandfather and uncles are the Lunas. They are peaceful farmers connected to the land and the flowing of seasons. Mama wants her Antonito to grow into a gentle and quiet man who fits into the Luna family mold. Antonio's father hopes for his son to become, like all Marez men, a plainsman of the llano. This group are a free spirited and wild bunch who prefer the wide open spaces and nomadic life. Alongside this parental struggle to bestow identity upon their son, is Ultima who teaches Antonio the healing arts and encourages him to listen to his own mind and heart. Ultima tells him that he must decide for himself what kind of man he will become.

Antonio experiences change as a palpable thing that affects him deeply as he searches for identity and embarks on his journey to manhood. I was transported back to that youthful hypersensitivity to change as Antonio tells his brother:

"I don't know--sometimes I get the feeling that I will come home, and it will all be changed. It won't be the same anymore--" I could not tell him that I wanted the castle of giants to stand forever, that I wanted the goat path and the hill to be for always. But I had misgivings, I was beginning to learn that things wouldn't always be the same.

Bless Me, Ultima is a poignant novel that engaged my emotions while it wrapped me in beautiful prose that made it hard to put down each night. I was drawn into the story. I felt sadness and terror and confusion. I also felt happiness and peace and hopefulness. Anaya's descriptions of the natural world were absolutely stunning and, at times, brought me to tears. I have only one real criticism -- Antonio would have been more credible if he had been twelve or thirteen. At six, Antonio was not really on the cusp of manhood nor would he have had the philosophical thoughts presented. Even so, I will not soon forget this book.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Note to other reviewers: I would be delighted to add a link to your review if you have reviewed this book. Please leave a permanent link to your review in the comments and I will include it as a part of this post.

Also reviewed by:
Eva at A Striped Armchair

BOOK REVIEW: Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell

Title: Dreamers of the Day
Author: Mary Doria Russell
Publisher: Random House
Published: to be published March 2008

Advance Reader's copy of Dreamers of the Day graciously provided by Random House through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

First Line: "I suppose I ought to warn you at the outset that my present circumstances are puzzling, even to me."

Dreamers of the Day is a historical novel set mostly in Egypt during the Cairo Peace Conference of 1921. Agnes Shanklin is a forty-year-old, unmarried, Ohio schoolteacher who has lived through the Great War (WWI) and the Great Influenza of 1919. Having lost her family and inherited a great fortune, Agnes determines to take a trip to Egypt and the Holy Land. She arrives in Cairo with only her long haired dachshund as company. Very soon after arriving, Agnes meets and falls into the company of T.E. Lawrence, Winston Churchill, and Lady Gertrude Bell. We know these luminaries of history for their roles inventing the modern Middle East.

Ms. Russell sets her novel during this momentous time in history, but the story does not so much focus on the historical facts as they do on the characters themselves. We meet Lawrence, Churchill, and Lady Gertrude Bell in a way that gives insight into the personalities that drove the redrawing of Middle Eastern borders; decisions that continue to affect relationships between people groups and world events to this day.

The character of Agnes is fictional and tells the story of a middle-aged woman coming of age in a very romantic setting. Imagine lush hotels with marble floors and columns, potted palms, and blue tiled pools of water. Further imagine a trip by camel to visit the Great Pyramid and the mysterious Sphinx ... a journey into the desert that includes a full British tea under tents hastily erected by servants who serve the meal on fine bone china and silver. It is in this bigger-than-life setting that Agnes interacts with the aforementioned historical characters. It is also in this setting that she experiences her first love affair and comes to know her own mind and heart as a woman. Agnes' discovery that Karl, her lover, is a German spy adds an element of intrigue to the already full plate of historical, coming of age, and romantic aspects of the novel.

Ms. Russell shows great insight into human nature within the context of her characters and their relationships. One such insight occurs during a painful yet illuminating conversation between Agnes and Karl -- a conversation about her mother and the nature and effects of tyranny. Ms. Russell does not neglect cultural and political commentary in her novel, but I found these a bit jarring as they come from the mouth of a character enmeshed in a "history" still in the making. It seemed a bit of 21st century hindsight was leaking into early 20th century cultural and political insight, but this small "bump" in presentation did not affect my overall enjoyment of the book.

Dreamers of the Day will take you on a leisurely journey through an intriguing place and time in world events using both historical and fictional characters. It is a well written and atmospheric book that I did not want to end.

"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible."
-- T.E. Lawrence from Seven Pillars of Wisdom

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Also reviewed by:
Rose City Reader

BOOK REVIEW: So ... What IS the What?

The book club I attend has been reading What is the What by Dave Eggers. We haven't discussed it yet but I'm looking forward to the meeting. Briefly stated, What is the What is an autobiographical novel about one of the Lost Boys of Sudan named Achak Deng. What most inspired me going into this read was the chance to learn about something to which I've only given peripheral attention. I'm guilty of tuning out when I hear news about warfare and genocide in Africa. I've become numb to reports of yet more tragedy (hardly a strong enough word) on this continent that has seen and continues to see so much human degradation. I've turned the other way to avoid the discomfort of dealing with another person's pain.

The last paragraph of the book speaks to people like me -- people who are able to go about their lives in fair comfort and view the troubles of the rest of the world from a distance.

Whatever I do, however I find a way to live, I will tell these stories. I have spoken to every person I have encountered these last difficult days, and every person who has entered this club during these awful morning hours, because to do anything else would be something less than human. I speak to these people, and I speak to you because I cannot help it. It gives me strength, almost unbelievable strength, to know that you are there. I covet your eyes, your ears, the collapsible space between us. How blessed are we to have each other? I am alive and you are alive so we must fill the air with our words. I will fill today, tomorrow, every day until I am taken back to God. I will tell stories to people who will listen and to people who don't want to listen, to people who seek me out and to those who run. All the while I will know that you are there. How can I pretend that you do not exist? It would be almost as impossible as you pretending that I do not exist. (Emphasis is mine.)

I have no glorified view of myself running out and hurling body and soul into the cause of the Lost Boys after reading What is the What, but my view of other people has been altered. I will find it impossible to pretend that those who are different than me don't exist; to look the other way because someone makes me feel uncomfortable or I can not bear to see their pain. The very least I can do is look people in the eyes and thereby acknowledge they are there ... that we have crossed paths and that they have a story that is just as important as my own -- probably even more important.

Achak's story doesn't begin with suffering and loss. In fact, he is a typical 6 year old boy in the village of Marial Bai. Traditions and wisdom are passed from generation to generation by stories. One of these stories involves the beginning of time. Achak's father is asked to tell this story at a gathering. The story goes as follows:

--When God created the earth, he first made us, the monyjang. Yes, first he made the monyjang, the first man, and he made him the tallest and strongest of the people under the sky....
--Yes, God made the monyjang tall and strong, and he made their women beautiful, more beautiful than any of the creatures on the land....
--[A]nd when God was done, and the monyjang were standing on the earth waiting for instruction, God asked the man, "Now that you are here, on the most sacred and fertile land I have, I can give you one more thing. I can give you this creature, which is called the cow...."
--Yes ... God showed man the idea of the cattle, and the cattle were magnificent. They were in every way exactly what the monyjang would want. The man and woman thanked God for such a gift, because they knew that the cattle would bring them milk and meat and prosperity of every kind. But God was not finished....
--God said, "You can either have these cattle, as my gift to you, or you can have the What...."
--But... What is the What?
--Yes, yes. That was the question. So the first man lifted his head to God and asked what this was, this What. "What is the What?" the first man asked. And God said to the man, "I cannot tell you. Still, you have to choose. You have to choose between the cattle and the What." Well then. The man and the woman could see the cattle right there in front of them, and they knew that with cattle they would eat and live with great contentment. They could see the cattle were God's most perfect creation, and that the cattle carried something godlike within themselves. They knew that they would live in peace with the cattle, and that if they helped the cattle eat and drink, the cattle would give man their milk, would multiply every year and keep the monyjang happy and healthy. So the first man and woman knew they would be fools to pass up the cattle for this idea of the What. So the man chose cattle. And God has proven that this was the correct decision. God was testing the man. He was testing the man, to see if he could appreciate what he had been given, if he could take pleasure in the bounty before him, rather than trade it for the unknown. And because the first man was able to see this, God has allowed us to prosper. The Dinka live and grow as the cattle live and grow....
--Yes, but uncle Deng, may I ask something? ... You didn't tell us the answer: What is the What?
--We don't know. No one knows.

I contemplated this question throughout the entire reading of the book -- what exactly IS the What? The story above actually gave away the answer to this question. It was not done overtly, but if one remembers that the first man chose cattle over the What -- that he chose contentment with what he had been given -- then the What seems more obvious. The What is the opposite of living contentedly with what one has. The What is the striving to gain what one does NOT have -- the grasping for power and wealth ... sometimes at great expense to others.

Achak's people experienced the fury of the What firsthand and were forced to flee their villages. The hope of the fleeing Sudanese was to arrive in a land flowing with milk and honey -- a paradise of peace and contentment. But instead of paradise, Achak finds that his relocation -- first to Ethiopia, then to Kenya, and finally to the United States -- does not leave behind the What. The What is all around him and he cannot escape this most ugly part of humanity. Assuredly this ugliness is more obvious and terrible in some places than in others, but in the end no people group and no place is immune from the What.

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Also reviewed by:
Lezlie at Books 'N Border Collies