Roger's Version starts out with both barrels blazing, presenting two opposing sides (each persuading and well-constructed in its own right) of a God-vRoger's Version starts out with both barrels blazing, presenting two opposing sides (each persuading and well-constructed in its own right) of a God-vs-science argument between Roger, a jaded divinity professor, and Dale, a brash young grant candidate at his university. However, the book begins to bog down as outside forces in the characters' lives begin to chip away at Dale's once-unassailable beliefs and Roger's self-assured perceptions of moral superiority. Like a lot of Updike's work, the book explores dark regions of the male sexual identity, venturing into cringe-inducing seediness at times (like Philip Roth, Updike often gives the disturbing impression that the c-word once enjoyed a decades-long run of dominance as the euphamism of choice for female genitalia). The pacing of the book is appropriate, given the increasing complexity of the subject matter as the narrative moves forward. As the characters' beliefs and self-identities are alloyed through trying personal experiences, the prose becomes less clear and my reading slowed over the course of the book from an exhilirating sprint in the first 100 pages to a crawl through mud in the last 80 or so. While that may not make for an aesthetically enjoyable read, it's a rewarding allegory for how the more we learn about ourselves and our world, the more unclear our search for existential answers becomes....more
Flannery O'Connor was a master of little details that place the reader squarely in the story. One can even smell the smells in virtually any scene conFlannery O'Connor was a master of little details that place the reader squarely in the story. One can even smell the smells in virtually any scene constructed in this collection. It doesn't take long to recognize a pattern of violence in these stories, and I came to dread the inevitable shock as I got closer to the climax of each one. O'Connor's main themes are all at work here, with nearly every story set against the backdrop of race relations in the South, populated largely by ugly characters, physically and otherwise, who reveal volumes about human frailty through their petty judgments of others. ...more
Tom Brokaw returns to the well of generational stories for this document of the lives of a time much more difficult to characterize than the WWII geneTom Brokaw returns to the well of generational stories for this document of the lives of a time much more difficult to characterize than the WWII generation, that of the 1960s. Brokaw doesn't take sides in the resulting 40-year cultural debate and wisely qualifies this dispassionate stance by saying that whatever side one falls on, the Sixties were a complex time of cultural change. Merely commenting on the significance of that change and acknowledging that history is still judging the Sixties leaves the reader to decide for himself whether that change was for better or worse. Boom!'s greatest asset, however, doubles as its main shortcoming: the analytic feel that keeps it from oversimplifying the events of the time keep the reader from developing much of an emotional attachment to a time that was nothing if not emotional. Brokaw would have been better served telling fewer stories and going into greater detail. As a factual account of the 1960s, Boom! is a well-written, if clinical, account. But to get the facts without the grit is to miss the full story of the Sixties....more
I read somewhere that Philip K. Dick, for all his science fiction success, had difficulty getting his work outside the genre published, so a lot of hiI read somewhere that Philip K. Dick, for all his science fiction success, had difficulty getting his work outside the genre published, so a lot of his work set in contemporary times was released after his death. If such a scenario is the case with Mary and the Giant, it would go a long way toward explaining this novel's shortcomings. The story of a young woman trying to find her way in 1953 small-town America, with its visionary undercurrents of feminism and racial prejudice, could perhaps have been one of the defining works of the second-half of the 20th century. Instead, it reads like a first draft, with characters too hazily defined for the reader to connect with and a prose style that, while beautiful at times, is in sore need of sharpening. Had this book been published in his lifetime, I imagine the author could have made significant headway toward these issues in the editing and rewriting process. ...more
The Book of Daniel is a thoughtful, pointed critique of the dark inner workings behind McCarthy-era America's atmosphere of fear and intimidation. E.LThe Book of Daniel is a thoughtful, pointed critique of the dark inner workings behind McCarthy-era America's atmosphere of fear and intimidation. E.L. Doctorow shifts from third-person to first-person and employs several characters as narrators, giving the literary equivalent of a cubist rendering of a family based on the Rosenbergs. ...more
So many of the elements of John Irving's better works are present in the Fourth Hand, yet for one reason or another, the piece as a whole doesn't workSo many of the elements of John Irving's better works are present in the Fourth Hand, yet for one reason or another, the piece as a whole doesn't work. As he has repeatedly done elsewhere, Irving builds interesting characters and puts them in interesting situations, yet there is something disjointed about the way those parts fit together. It took me three months of convincing myself to keep picking this one up; that certainly can't be said about anything else I've ever read from this normally brilliant author....more
Since the first time I read this book years ago, I bet I haven't gone 24 hours without thinking about it in some way. It's not my favorite book in theSince the first time I read this book years ago, I bet I haven't gone 24 hours without thinking about it in some way. It's not my favorite book in the series, but it's the emotionally rawest thing I've ever read. A recurring image in the book is that of things spilling over, appropriate for a novel in which the title character's frustration with his life can no longer be contained. Updike chronicles the caustic results caused by Rabbit's inner restlessness that surfaces, then boils over, when he realizes that he's wasted his life preparing for a present and future that are in no way remarkable. It's a book about the pendulum swinging wildly between mindless comformity and selfish individualism, destroying everything in its path. ...more