tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-269977202024-03-07T19:15:04.810-08:00Thoughts on writing and other afflictions...An amateur writer talking about writing and editing and publishing, and anything else that occurs along the way ...Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.comBlogger278125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-59643079570759310982011-08-10T08:27:00.000-07:002011-08-10T08:27:29.033-07:00Moving on...FYI, I'm no longer updating this blog. I've copied the posts and comments over to the new blog at timsusman.wordpress.com and will be working there from now on. Blogger was nice, but WordPress offers more flexibility, allows me to put stories up, and integrates with my home page at www.timsusman.com, so that's where things are going.<br />
<br />
Keep following me over there! Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-81730877404118165442011-08-08T21:24:00.000-07:002011-08-08T21:24:27.642-07:00Processing ClarionSix instructors, seventeen classmates, twenty-three friendships.<br />
Over one hundred stories read and critiqued. <br />
Seven stories written, plus two more started and not finished (one nearly done).<br />
Four new story ideas to work on, six stories to revise and possibly send out to markets, two novels awaiting application of learnings, one website to construct.<br />
<br />
Clarion was amazing, life-changing in certain ways (not as much for me as for some of my classmates), incredible fun, and incredibly intense. We saw few people apart from each other in the normal course of the day, thought about writing all the time, read an incredible variety of stories from some amazing talents, and had to think up something useful to say about each and every one. In between, we had some wonderful professionals giving their thoughts on our stories, giving us tips from their lives, and playing drinking games with us on weekends.<br />
<br />
I really loved the experience, and I'm so excited to be moving on into some story projects, finishing up other stories, working on the novels. It isn't that I feel I wasn't a writer before; none of us should have felt that, because we were told over and over that we are a talented group (otherwise we wouldn't be at Clarion). It's that I feel more confident. I know a few more tricks. I have a list of things to keep an eye out for. And I have a feel for what makes a good story, just by dint of having read wildly different stories from wildly different people. I know I can make mine better in ways I wouldn't have thought of before. It means more work, but I'm so looking forward to it.<br />
<br />
And we're already starting to plan meet-ups at future conventions. Which is cool--I already can't wait to see everyone again, and it's only been three days since we were all together last (two and a half days since I said good-bye to my roomie at the airport). We are all full of bright plans and dreams and hopefully some measures of confidence, and it's going to be a fun few years coming up. :)<br />
<br />
One thing on my list is getting my vanity domain up, with this blog moved over there and a few stories up for people to read. August is kind of a busy month, but I think I can get some of that rolling. So watch this space for pointers to the next space...<br />
<br />
Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-82689953975847015782011-08-03T14:37:00.000-07:002011-08-03T14:37:47.665-07:00Clarion ReflectionsIt's not over yet; we have two more critiquing days and three more wonderful evenings to spend together before we go our somewhat-less-separate ways. But this has been a truly remarkable experience, participating in the creation of a new community, or, perhaps more accurately, a new iteration of an existing community. We have been assured by previous Clarion graduates that we are all part of the same tribe now. Still: eighteen people from geographically and somewhat culturally diverse backgrounds have spent five and a half weeks together, and now people whose names I did not know four months ago have become close friends and trusted writing companions. And we have learned a lot about writing along the way, and learned even more about ourselves as writers.<br />
<br />
It'll be bittersweet, the leaving, because of course I love my normal life and would not trade it for anything in the world, except for possibly a life identical in every way with a healthier bank account (but who wouldn't want that?). The few occasions on which I've gotten to see my husband over the last six weeks have not been compensation for the time without (though I am dearly grateful for them). This little bubble we've lived in, though, where literally nearly everything is about writing--we critique, we write, we read, we repeat--has been a really wonderful experience. And will continue to be for three more days.<br />
<br />
It's kind of like that Avenue Q song, "I Wish I Could Go Back To College." I always have, and for this summer, for six weeks, I kind of feel like I did.<br />
<br />
(Of course, sitting in a library doing research kind of helps...)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDYwFW9qklQAZBizEn8vAaOSFJaxvzQeRnNikez1IU7vKbqSxX53I6_Ng93i9QvcXlvaXf2v01TyxkrdE6wMU1l6b3-n1Vk4tdsMM0_OHrWJfLVCOEAGfY1CySFMOmya0d7Dst/s1600/IMAG0783.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDYwFW9qklQAZBizEn8vAaOSFJaxvzQeRnNikez1IU7vKbqSxX53I6_Ng93i9QvcXlvaXf2v01TyxkrdE6wMU1l6b3-n1Vk4tdsMM0_OHrWJfLVCOEAGfY1CySFMOmya0d7Dst/s320/IMAG0783.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-59431747163001267422011-07-31T12:03:00.000-07:002011-07-31T12:03:44.219-07:00Cowboys and Aliens*cough cough* Wow, the dust in here. It's been over a year since I posted. There are a number of reasons for that, most not worth going into in a movie review post. But hey, just to catch people up: I am in my fifth week of Clarion, which is awesome in too many ways to describe without its own dedicated post (forthcoming). As a result of Clarion I will be setting up a myname.com site and probably moving this blog there sometime in the next few weeks. Also there will be stories and such so lots of work to do. Fairly warned, be ye, says I.<br />
<br />
Clarion bears mentioning because it was with several of my classmates that I saw "Cowboys and Aliens," and if you have not yet had the chance to see a badly-structured SF movie with a bunch of SF writers, then I highly recommend it.<br />
<br />
The trouble actually started, had we known, before the movie. The trailer selection was schizophrenic, including a heist movie (which actually looks fun--Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy and Alan Alda in a Bernie Madoff wish-fulfillment vehicle), a horror movie (disease--"No one is immune--FROM FEAR"), a twenty-something comedy that turns into a horror movie (sharks? really?), a SF war movie ("Battleship." Christ.), a historical drama/specfic ("Three Musketeers" with cannon-laden airships--actually looks visually awesome), and a Robert Downey Jr. Movie (Sherlock Holmes 2). I asked at one point, "Do they know what movie we're here to see?" Answer: yes. Yes, they did. <br />
<br />
"Cowboys" starts really well. I mean, for the first half or so of the movie we had nothing to say. You all know the plot from the trailers. Daniel Craig wakes up with no memory and an alien gizmo strapped to his wrist, kicks ass. The setup of the town he wanders into is pretty neat too. Paul Dano is more or less wasted as rich entitled kid of cattle magnate Harrison Ford, taking advantage of all the money his dad brings to the town. So, right, redemptive arc for the son? Not so much. Conflict is ramped up when Craig and Dano are to be turned over to the federal marshals, and Ford comes riding in to save his son. He has a beef with Craig, it turns out, which Craig doesn't remember. Pretty good, right? Decent character conflicts and motivations, a few pretty good actors, a reasonable script to that point.<br />
<br />
Then the aliens attack. The attack itself goes on probably about half again as long as it needs to. That early in the film you just want a fast exposure. But the aliens strafe the town approximately seventeen times (by my rough count) before Craig shoots one down. The other aliens get away with a bunch of the townspeople, including Dano (and pretty much ending his role in the movie). Craig is the only one who can shoot them down; Ford must go save his son. An uneasy partnership is born.<br />
<br />
Except it isn't, not really. Craig has no real reason to chase the aliens except the vague memory that someone he cared about is also a kidnap victim, and the bonds of affection he is forming with the townspeople in his essentially new life. There is a powerful story buried there about reform, how a hardened criminal whose past is wiped away might be able to start anew and be a good person, but that is only one of the dozen or so stories the filmmakers were attempting to explore.<br />
<br />
From about that point, things rapidly spiral into incoherence. There are outlaws, cringe-inducingly stereotyped native Americans (both the war-whooping and mystically spiritual kind). There is a Mysterious Plot-Advancing Woman. There is a gang of outlaws who might have made Craig question his current path if they were anything more than buffoonish stereotypes themselves. There is a surrogate son--actually there are like three of them by the end of the movie, four if you include the dog who was apparently in the movie because hey, one of the people had a dog and he can sit on command and look cute. There are three dying-in-someone's-arms death scenes which would be tear-jerking if any of the dying people had enough character for the audience to latch onto. There are aliens, of course, and there are at least three moments where the "alien jumping out at you" is telegraphed so loudly that I was counting off the beats on my fingers. There is alien technology that works according to Plot Necessity (one of my classmates leaned over and said "You know who's really bad at using the alien super-weapon? The aliens."). All of the things you see set up in the first act are paid off fairly artlessly in the second half. I can't even analyze it in terms of structure because I think the main character is supposed to be Harrison Ford, but then again Daniel Craig sort of changes, but then again I can't tell where the real character change is for either of them, and hell, you know, at some point you can't build a house out of Silly Putty.<br />
<br />
On the plus side, there is a lot of pretty scenery. Daniel Craig does wear him some tight pants. And there are two attractive women with long dark hair, who seem pretty interchangeable, not only to me, but also at one point to characters in the movie. Harrison Ford is still Harrison Ford; Paul Dano does a pretty good acting job and provides some of the best comic moments. And there is some pretty alien tech. Also a cute dog.<br />
<br />
So y'know, go with a group of people and advise the people around you that you will be making whispered comments throughout and that they are welcome to join in. Or wait for the DVD and watch it with friends at home. I have a feeling that you could make a few pretty awesome drinking games out of it.Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-42416052465162782332010-02-16T22:59:00.000-08:002010-02-16T22:59:52.262-08:00Review: The Book of Basketball<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ipGZZjc0L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA240_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ipGZZjc0L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA240_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>"<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Book-Basketball-NBA-According-Sports/dp/034551176X/">The Book of Basketball,</a>" by Bill Simmons<br />
9/10, a thorough review of the history of basketball in the NBA<br />
<br />
All sports are, at their heart, human stories. We like to reduce them to box scores and statistics, but the best stories are the ones about the people behind the numbers. Simmons has been following the NBA up close for over thirty years, and he knows the people as well as the numbers. Better yet, he knows how the people and the numbers go together. Take the NBA's most famous debate: Chamberlain or Russell?<br />
<br />
Well, Simmons grew up in Boston watching the Celtics. So you can guess which side of that debate he lands on. But he backs up his conclusion, not just with numbers, but with stories and quotes from people who played the game with both.<br />
<br />
His love for the game and the players shines through on every page, and because he cares so deeply, he uncovers stories. You can feel his pain in talking about Bernard King's knees, or Chris Webber's head. You can feel the joy he feels in talking about transcendent players he's seen or watched on TV: Jordan, Walton, Bird, Magic. The majority of the book is dedicated to ranking the top 96 players ever, an admittedly futile exercise, because within months of the book's publication, the 2009 playoffs had thrown a half-dozen of his rankings into disarray.<br />
<br />
Each of the 96 rankings leads with statistics about the player. Each one then goes into that player's story, encapsulated in two or three pages. His highlights, lowlights, what other people said about him. The tragedy of the black players who had to play in towns where they couldn't stay in the hotels. The drugs that nearly ruined the NBA of the 70s and early 80s. The me-first mentality that threatened to do the same in the late 90s. Players who landed in the perfect situation; players who never reached their full potential. These are human stories, human tragedies, projected into the black-and-white world of basketball.<br />
<br />
His chapter on Shaq is one of the most fascinating. Shaq, one of the most dominant players of the 00s, could have been much better, in Simmons' opinion. Instead, he chose to be merely very good--and pursue other things he loved doing. He wasn't all about basketball, and he made sure to live life while he played the game. Ultimately, Simmons regrets not having seen the best Shaq had to offer, but he has to admit by the end of Shaq's section that in his place, he might've done the same thing.<br />
<br />
If you have any interest in basketball, you should absolutely buy this book. Simmons is a talented writer and a sports fan, and he has managed to walk a delicate line between being a fan and being an insider. Early in his career with ESPN, he seemed star-struck with the access he had, and played it up too much. Now, he is back in his fan mentality, sharing stories about stars not in a "look what I did" way, but as a friend telling you about the cool things that happened to him. The implication is that he wishes you coulda been there. You can't, but you can do the next best thing. Buy his book.Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-12045048450710047502010-01-06T11:12:00.001-08:002010-01-07T14:55:00.688-08:00Review: Empire Falls<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://content-8.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9780375726408&t=86"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 86px; height: 133px;" src="http://content-8.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9780375726408&t=86" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/17-9780375726408-28">Empire Falls</a>, by Richard Russo<br />7.5/10, a well-written but sprawling Small-Town Drama<br /><br />It seems odd to be disappointed in a Pulitzer winner, especially one recommended by a friend, but I think expectations were just high. The story of Miles Roby, manager of the Empire Grill, is an epic drama about the lives of people in a dying small town. Miles himself, at the center of the drama, is undergoing a divorce (while subjected to his ex-wife's new fiance's blunt attempts at friendship), pining over a years-long unrequited love, fending off a years-long unwanted love, resisting pressure from his brother to upgrade the diner, and dealing with the memories of his childhood that suggest, strongly, that he should have made more of his life.<br /><br />If that seems like a handful, well, just wait until you meet the other characters: the town's matriarch and owner of the Grill; the waitress who is the object of Miles' affections; his high-school classmate, now an aggressive policeman; his daughter's classmates, from the vapid girl to the popular bully to the silent loner; his crippled brother; the matriarch's daughter, still in love with him; his ex-wife; her annoying fiance, later husband; not to mention all the characters from memory who intrude and add texture to the experiences of Miles and the others.<br /><br />Miles and Tick occupy the bulk of the narrative, though his ex-wife has a bit of her own story going on, never really resolved. In fact, most of the issue I had with the book was that few of the storylines <i>are</i> resolved. There's a climax at the end, which wraps up some things quickly and neatly; others persist through the end of the book. You all know how I feel about endings; this one bothered me a little. <br /><br />The other issue I had with the book was stylistic. In a Pulitzer winner, I expected a little better than some of the awkward, heavy-handed description that I found in "Empire Falls." There were a few compelling story arcs, but they weren't that compelling. A lot of the description was telling rather than showing. <br /><br />That said, there was a lot of good writing in it. There were passages that made me laugh out loud. Russo has a good sense of irony, and a great talent for description and imagery. I thought the characters were distinctive and interesting, so there's definitely a lot to recommend the book, here. It just felt like it could've been better, which is not a feeling I got from the other Pulitzer winner I read recently, <a href="http://timsusman.blogspot.com/2009/07/review-age-of-innocence.html">"The Age of Innocence"</a>. Still, it's worthwhile, though I understand the movie is pretty good, too. Maybe you should just rent that.Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-92223417314752246392009-12-29T23:02:00.000-08:002009-12-29T23:54:06.839-08:00Review: Self-Help<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://content-9.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9780307277299&t=86"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 86px; height: 132px;" src="http://content-9.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9780307277299&t=86" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780307277299-0">Self-Help</a>, by Lorrie Moore<br />8/10, an evocative collection of short stories with wonderful language but little story<br /><br />I first heard of Lorrie Moore in a writing class, because of her short story "How To Become A Writer," included in this collection. It's a wry look at the writer's life in the second person ("Begin to wonder what you do write about. Or if you have anything to say. Or if there even is such a thing as a thing to say. Limit these thoughts to no more than ten minutes a day; like sit-ups, they can make you thin."), a format that most of the stories in this collection follow.<br /><br />They're much more than just a gimmick, though. Moore has a real gift for language and description, real situations and three-dimensional characters. The stories are all rather depressing in tone, but the writing is lovely and immersive. Moore creates a world rich with detail, full of characters and places, and her eye for the important details is terrific.<br /><br />What I missed from this collection was some sense of resolution to the stories. Moore's characters move through their situations, changing and reacting, but their situations rarely come to any character resolution. While the stories themselves are engaging and quite well written, a real pleasure to read, none of them stayed with me long after reading the book. <br /><br />To study the craft of writing, Moore is a great read. Learning how to pace a story, what details to include, how to build characters and situations, all of that is here in these stories. But it's harder to figure out what to take away from the stories. Don't worry too much about that and you'll enjoy this collection.Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-59746857686503570432009-12-29T12:24:00.000-08:002009-12-29T12:27:09.788-08:00Review: Number 9 Dream<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31NPR5Z8SRL._SS500_.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 500px;" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31NPR5Z8SRL._SS500_.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Number9Dream-David-Mitchell/dp/0375507264/">Number 9 Dream</a>, by David Mitchell<br />8.5/10, a surreal multi-layered coming-of-age adventure<br /><br />The beginning of "Number 9 Dream" is tough to get into. Eiji Miyake, a young man in Tokyo for the first time, is searching for clues to the identity of his father, but sorting out his fantasies from reality is challenging; like the flood that overtakes him (or does it?), we are plunged into his narrative with little preparation or context. But the story eventually sorts itself out, the magical realism elements fall into their place, and Eiji's story moves along.<br /><br />Each of the first eight sections of "Number 9 Dream" is split between the present day narrative and some other narrative, whether youthful fantasies, dreams, letters or memories from the past, or something else. In most cases, the "background" narrative provides support and foundation for the ongoing one. In a couple of the chapters, the foreground narrative actually becomes more bizarre than the background. Through all of it, Mitchell explores the lines of reality and fantasy, desire and expectation, promise and hope with all the skill you'd expect from his other works. <br /><br />One of the reasons I think he likes to play with split narratives ("Black Swan Green" is his only single-narrator book) is that he is so good at character voice. Eiji has a distinctive voice, but so do his fantasies, so do the memories and the other characters he encounters, and so, in fact, does each setting he passes through, from his job at the train station to the gleaming corporate tower where his father's attorney works to his filthy apartment with its transient feline roommate to the countryside where he grew up. <br /><br />If there is one flaw in "Number 9 Dream," it is that, being used to Mitchell's transcendant endings, the finale of this one does not quite measure up. Either it requires a bit more study and thought than I've put into it, or it simply leaves the narrative somewhat unresolved--which, given the rest of the story and the style, is fine. I'm not sure what I was expecting, only that "<a href="http://timsusman.blogspot.com/2009/08/revew-ghostwritten.html">Ghostwritten</a>," "<a href="http://timsusman.blogspot.com/2006/06/review-cloud-atlas.html">Cloud Atlas</a>," and "<a href="<br />http://timsusman.blogspot.com/2009/05/review-black-swan-green.html">Black Swan Green</a>" all had terrific endings, with "Cloud Atlas" and "Black Swan Green" among the best in modern fiction.<br /><br />Still, as with a few creators like Kazuo Ishiguro, Pixar, and the Beatles, the weakest of Mitchell's books is still a delightful, thoughtful experience, well worth picking up and enjoyable from beginning to end. Its complexity makes it probably the first of his books I would want to re-read, if only because of the feeling that there were connections between the various parts that I'd missed. If nothing else, it's instructive to see him develop the techniques that allowed him to write "Cloud Atlas," and to see parts of the stories begun in "Ghostwritten" continued here.Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-52893308798564159472009-12-24T19:54:00.000-08:002009-12-24T19:55:38.679-08:00Flood of ReviewsYes, I'm catching up on all the books I'm behind on reviewing. I want to have a clean slate to start the new year. Sorry for the flood, but hopefully you'll have some interesting things to pore over when setting up your New Year's resolutions for what to read next year. :)Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-2934013117469695762009-12-24T17:02:00.000-08:002009-12-29T23:54:48.499-08:00Review: A Pale View of Hills<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://content-0.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9780679722670&t=86"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 86px; height: 134px;" src="http://content-0.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9780679722670&t=86" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780679722670-2">A Pale View of Hills</a>, by Kazuo Ishiguro<br />8.5/10, a beautiful, haunting tragedy of a woman reminiscing about her life in Japan<br /><br />I've made no secret of my writer-crush on Ishiguro in reviews of <a href="http://timsusman.blogspot.com/2009/06/review-artist-of-floating-world.html">An Artist of the Floating World</a>, <a href="http://timsusman.blogspot.com/2006/09/review-never-let-me-go.html">Never Let Me Go</a>, <a href="http://timsusman.blogspot.com/2006/12/review-when-we-were-orphans.html">When We Were Orphans</a>, and even <a href="http://timsusman.blogspot.com/2008/12/review-unconsoled.html">The Unconsoled</a>. "Pale View" was the last of Ishiguro's published books on my list at the time I read it (he has a <a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/18-9780307271020-0">new collection</a> out now), and it was his first published novel.<br /><br />Some of the rough edges show, the techniques he would perfect in "Remains of the Day." The narrative is by no means straightforward, skipping back and forth between present day in the West and many years ago in Japan. Etsuko, the main character, has gotten a visit from her daughter, which begins her reminisces of her years in Japan and a young woman she befriended there with her recalcitrant daughter, Mariko. As the narrative winds its way through the past and present, without the urgency of "Artist of the Floating World" or "Remains of the Day," it is still engaging and fascinating, and it includes an element those later books did not: a touch of horror. Especially in the interactions between Mariko and Etsuko, Mariko behaves oddly (even for an Ishiguro child) and has a creepy fixation on odd details.<br /><br /><i>Mariko turned over her hand and the spider crawled into her palm. She closed her other hand over it so that it was imprisoned.<br />"Mariko, put that down."<br />"It's not poisonous," she said, coming closer to me.<br />"No, but it's dirty. Put it back in the corner."<br />"It's not poisonous, though."<br />She stood in front of me, the spider inside her cupped hands. Through a gap in her fingers, I could see a leg moving slowly and rhythmically.<br />"Put it back in the corner, Mariko."<br />"What would happen if I ate it? It's not poisonous."<br />"You'd be very sick. Now, Mariko, put it back in the corner."<br />Mariko brought the spider closer to her face and parted her lips.</i><br /><br />Despite the odd, semi-fantastical nature of the reminisces, Ishiguro still manages to build up to a revelatory climax that is emotional and shattering. Though this isn't the most masterful of his works, and it takes a good bit of thought to read through, it's still a terrific, skilful work. And it depresses me that it was his first book because it's still really good.Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-30365800152170505952009-12-24T16:18:00.000-08:002009-12-24T16:53:16.393-08:00Review: The Wife of Martin Guerre<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://pan.priceminister.es/photo/445394330_M.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 130px; height: 130px;" src="http://pan.priceminister.es/photo/445394330_M.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wife-Martin-Guerre-Janet-Lewis/dp/0804003211/">The Wife of Martin Guerre</a>, by Janet Lewis<br />7.5/10, a dry but fascinating tale of family and mistaken identity in 1500s France<br /><br />This story was published as a way to document the second ever documented case of circumstantial evidence, but Janet Lewis finds a human drama within the case as well. Bertrande de Rols is married to Martin Guerre at the age of eleven, and returns to live with him a few years later. His father, a stern disciplinarian, has rubbed off on Martin to some extent, but also bred in him a rebellious streak. After one particularly daring act of rebellion, fearing reprisals from his father, Martin flees, promising Bertrande and their young son that he will return soon.<br /><br />Years go by. Martin's father never forgives him for his transgression, not until he dies. And the year following his death, Martin returns, looking much different and acting more considerate and erudite. Perhaps the years have softened him? Bertrande welcomes him back into her bed; her family welcomes him as head of the farm. But as the years go by, she becomes convinced he is not truly the Martin who left her. She can only convince one old uncle that she is right, but when a soldier appears who seems to back her story, she gains enough credence to bring her returned husband to court to prove his identity.<br /><br />Lewis hews closely to the facts of the case as they were presented, elaborating on some of the human interactions and the feelings of Bertrande. Bertrande's sense of justice and propriety may seem a little outdated to us, but they're important to her sense of honor, and they form the basis of her character. The story is short but clear, and the twists and turns are the more engaging for being real, or at least based in reality. <br /><br />The story ends somewhat abruptly, but that's where the reality of the story really takes hold. It would have been nice to have a clean wrap-up and a more emotionally satisfying conclusion, but all the ending does is remind you that these were real events and real people. After the conclusion of the case, there was no need to keep track of the litigants, so there are no records, and Lewis is forced to speculate. Though brief, her thoughts really tie up the narrative.<br /><br />This was made into a movie, which I haven't seen, but the premise itself is fascinating. For as long as we've been telling stories, we've been fascinated by the nature of identity and personality, and this story speaks strongly to those themes.Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-83867653801193009272009-12-23T23:31:00.001-08:002009-12-23T23:57:16.688-08:00Review: The Magicians<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://content-3.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9780670020553&t=86"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 86px; height: 131px;" src="http://content-3.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9780670020553&t=86" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/2-9780670020553-1">The Magicians</a>, by Lev Grossman<br />9/10, a wonderful tale that brings fantasy and magic into the real world<br /><br />"Harry Potter for grown-ups." An odd thing to say, since most of the Harry Potter fans I know are over 21. "Like a real-world Narnia." Another odd thing to say, because Narnia was supposed to be based in the real world of 1940s England, from which the Pevensies escape to Narnia. But those phrases do aptly describe "The Magicians," the most accomplished modern fantasy in years.<br /><br />Quentin has just graduated from high school and is preparing for his alumni interview with Princeton. When his interviewer turns up dead, he gets another mysterious invitation and finds himself in a large exam room taking an exam that he doesn't fully understand. After some on-the-spot interviews, Quentin is admitted to Brakebills, a school for magicians hidden away in upstate New York. <br /><br />It's not Hogwarts. The students drink, use drugs, have sex, and make mistakes. Magic, like many flashy things, is a lot more tedious on the inside, requiring not only talent, but dedication and attention to detail. Quentin makes friends and enemies, and graduates with little idea what he wants to do in life. Then one of his friends comes by with the bizarre claim that he knows how to get to the magical land of Fillory, the subject of a popular set of children's books.<br /><br />From there, the story goes on, but even in the magical fantasy land, it doesn't get any less "real." And besides the engaging journey, the book leaves you with a lot to think about afterwards. The characters learn more than magic; as we follow them through school, we watch them learn that the point of an education is not the learning, it's what you do with it. <br /><br />Grossman (who is on Twitter as @leverus and is entertaining to follow) writes well and creates a fascinating cast of characters, a terrific world to explore, and an engaging and thought-provoking plot. He eschews or subverts the conventions of fantasy, making pointed references to quidditch at one point, but the book stands on its own even if you're one of the three people who's unfamiliar with both "Harry Potter" and "Narnia." <br /><br />"The Magicians" is a terrific read from beginning to end, and I highly recommend it for anyone who liked "Narnia," "Harry Potter," or any other contemporary fantasy. It'll leave you with a wistful longing, but only because it feels so difficult to say good-bye to the characters after having been with them through so much.Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-46691540774077513492009-12-23T23:14:00.000-08:002009-12-23T23:31:10.789-08:00Review: Mothers and Sons<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://content-2.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9781416534662&t=86"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 86px; height: 130px;" src="http://content-2.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9781416534662&t=86" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9781416534662-1">Mothers and Sons</a>, by Colm Tóibín<br />8/10, a melancholy collection of stories of Irish families<br /><br />Tóibín, author of <a href="http://timsusman.blogspot.com/2009/06/review-brooklyn.html">Brooklyn</a>, penned this collection of stories about families in Ireland. Loosely following the theme of mothers and sons, he tracks happy and sad families--but mostly sad.<br /><br />The overriding theme, actually, seems to be "things aren't great, but we'd rather they not change." The characters in the stories are presented with opportunities to change their lives, to learn something, and in nearly every case, they put aside that chance.<br /><br />That doesn't make the stories bad. They're engaging and interesting, written with Tóibín's lovely touch with language, if not the humor of "Brooklyn."<br /><br /><i>Every day he had planned his return [from military service], longed for it in detail, lived in the ordinary future where the smallest domestic detail--the sound of a jeep starting up, a chainsaw, a hunter's gun, or a dog's bark--would signify that he had returned, that he had survived. He had imagined this homecoming in all its satisfying comfort and freedom so closely that he had put no thought into how soon [his younger brother] Jordi's turn would come, how soon his brother would have to submit himself to the humiliation of the haircut and the standing in the cold waiting for the lorry to take him to Lerida. Miquel knew how bad it would be for his brother, and it was as though some more vulnerable and innocent part of him were going to have the haircut, leaving an empty bed behind.</i><br /><br />I have remarked before on the uniqueness of Irish writing. If you enjoy it, then this collection will not disappoint you. It's a beautifully-written, sad world that is worth visiting.Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-62716593240675956952009-12-23T22:50:00.000-08:002009-12-23T23:10:08.319-08:00Review: Amsterdam<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://content-3.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9780385494243&t=86"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 86px; height: 132px;" src="http://content-3.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9780385494243&t=86" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/17-9780385494243-0">Amsterdam</a>, by Ian McEwan<br />7/10, a technically competent story that falls short of actual meaning<br /><br />After seeing "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0783233/">Atonement</a>", I became curious about Ian McEwan's stories. I found "Amsterdam," recommended in various places as a "dark comedy tour de force," or variations thereon, and I thought it'd be worth a read.<br /><br />Certainly, McEwan creates memorable characters and extraordinary situations. The setup for "Amsterdam," loosely, is two friends reminiscing over affairs with a woman at her funeral, and mutually despising a politician with whom she was most recently taking up. The friends are a newspaper editor and a composer, and their lives become further disrupted when some photos of the politician surface that might be embarrassing. Over the seemingly minor question of whether the editor has a moral obligation to publish the photos, the two friends have a falling-out, which leads to further extraordinary situations and a fairly unbelievable ending.<br /><br />It might be called "dark humor"; I find that a lot of people who attempt dark humor end up sliding too far to the "dark" and not including enough "humor." That's the case here, where a macabre and grotesque situation is supposed to be funny simply because it exists. There isn't enough time given to the setup of the two men and their friendships for us to appreciate the quick twists and turns of the story, and the extremes to which they go seem incongruous with the rest of the world they inhabit. Without giving too much away, the hinge of the whole moral dilemma seems weak, but perhaps that's just my unfamiliarity with British customs and traditions as regards their politicians. Still, in a country that outdoes the U.S.A. for tabloids, I find it hard to believe that there would be that much furor over embarrassing photos.<br /><br />I do have a thing about endings, and the head-shaking nature of this one rather ruined the experience for me. It's possible that McEwan's other books are more worthwhile, but I wouldn't recommend this one.Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-12207814492801800972009-12-20T18:51:00.000-08:002009-12-20T21:57:34.230-08:00Movie Review: Up In The AirSince taking some screenwriting classes, our standards for movies have risen, slowly but surely. We pick at plot holes more, we attack dialogue, we scorn useless characters and sometimes entire movies ("Benjamin Button"). Yes, movies have been somewhat ruined, as our teacher warned us, but on the other hand, when we find a movie that really shines, the reward is that much greater.<br /><br />"Up In The Air" is one of those rewards. It succeeds in a variety of areas: snappy dialogue, great acting, a great premise and imagery, good direction, and a story that makes you think for a while after you leave the theater.<br /><br />It's suited to our modern times. George Clooney plays a contract firer, a person hired to travel around the country and announce layoffs to people for companies that don't want to make the announcement themselves. He has seen all kinds of reaction from the people he's laying off, and he knows how to deal with it all. He loves to travel, and he loves the life he's living. <br /><br />Enter Anna Kendrick, playing a young business school grad who's come to Omaha to change the company. She thinks the company can cut costs by firing people over webcam--which would mean Clooney would no longer be required, or permitted, to travel.<br /><br />Also enter Vera Farmiga, a fellow traveler with whom Clooney shares a passionate night. They have an amusing moment of trying to synch up their travel schedules so they can meet again, and she seems the perfect companion for him.<br /><br />Between these two women, Clooney's world is in for some drastic changes, some of which he'll handle better than others. But the movie is subversive: Anna has a steady boyfriend and expounds on the joys of stable relationships, and Clooney is required at one point to attend his sister's wedding, leading one to think that this is going to be just another parable about the benefits of a family and how lonely the single life is. And then it turns it all on its head.<br /><br />What this movie is about, as Clooney says eloquently in a speech to J.K. Simmons, is opportunity. Choices. Not limiting yourself to one thing, whether that thing be family, a job, or a way of life that keeps you on the road. In its own way, his addiction to travel is as confining as his sister's complete inability to travel. And the movie is artfully done, with subtle touches and great performances from Clooney, Kendrick, and Farmiga, not to mention Simmons, Jason Bateman, and a host of other small parts. <br /><br />The dialogue snaps and crackles, as good as the dialogue Clooney delivered with such panache in "Ocean's 11." Toward the later part of the movie, it becomes less amusing and more serious, but it never drags.<br /><br />Along with "Up," coincidentally, this is one of the best movies I've seen this year. It's not getting much attention--perhaps Clooney, in his third movie in as many months, is overexposed--but it deserves an Oscar nom.Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-68539700068334395742009-08-18T18:20:00.000-07:002009-08-18T18:42:06.169-07:00Revew: Ghostwritten<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://content-3.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9780375724503&t=86"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 86px; height: 133px;" src="http://content-3.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9780375724503&t=86" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/17-9780375724503-0">Ghostwritten</a>, by David Mitchell<br />9/10, a sprawling lovely tapestry that presages "<a href="http://timsusman.blogspot.com/2006/06/review-cloud-atlas.html">Cloud Atlas</a>" <br /><br />I've made little secret of my admiration for "Cloud Atlas," Mitchell's award-winning novel. "Ghostwritten" was his first, and in it you can see the elements he later wove more successfully into "Cloud Atlas": the global setting with specific and eloquently described locations; distinct and wonderful character voices; a unifying theme rather than an overarching plot; a rather dramatic conclusion.<br /><br />But "Ghostwritten" is not as complete a book as "Cloud Atlas," lacking depth in many of its component parts. It spans the globe rather than time, traveling from Okinawa to Tokyo, Hong Kong, China, Mongolia, St. Petersburg, London, Ireland, and New York. In "Cloud Atlas," the stories were linked with sometimes-thin devices; here, too, the linking feels forced at times, the more so because it's not always clear what the stories have to do with each other. They all share a theme of power and brutality, like the stories in "Cloud Atlas," but here Mitchell takes the theme in a decidedly different direction.<br /><br />In some cases, the protagonists of the stories are the ones with power; in other cases they believe they have power; in some cases they are merely victims. But in all cases, Mitchell displays the marvelous gift for voice and description that made "Cloud Atlas" stand out to me, and even if some segments dragged a little, I never felt bored, never wanted to put the book down. <br /><br />It's not a quick read, but it's a worthwhile one. As I've said in the past, if you want to learn about character voice, there are few people you could pick up lessons from better qualified than David Mitchell. So far, none of his books have disappointed, and if you've finished "Cloud Atlas" and are looking for something to remind you of it (complete with recurring characters such as Luisa Rey), pick up "Ghostwritten."Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-76678215825489829452009-08-12T09:46:00.000-07:002009-08-12T10:20:16.725-07:00Review: Un Lun Dun<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://content-5.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9780345458445&t=86"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 86px; height: 129px;" src="http://content-5.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9780345458445&t=86" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/2-9780345458445-2">Un Lun Dun</a>, by China Mieville<br />10/10, a brilliant, engaging "otherworld" adventure<br /><br />My only previous exposure to China Mieville had been a short story read in our fabulist class, about a pile of garbage that comes to life through the devices of a shaman, and staring at the spine of "Perdido Street Station" in our bookshelf for five years. "Un Lun Dun" had gotten some good buzz, and when I picked it up in the bookstore and saw that the first chapter was titled, "The Respectful Fox," well, it was like Mr. Mieville was reaching into my pocket and taking out nine dollars.<br /><br />And you know what? I don't mind at all. The fox only appears in the first chapter and then is gone, but I didn't care. He bows to Zanna, the latest in a series of odd incidents that have occurred to the young British girl, and soon she and her friend Deeba are in Un Lun Dun--from "Un-London," one of a multitude of "abcities," where all the refuse and unwanted things from the real cities end up, along with some people and animals, and some things in between.<br /><br />Zanna, it turns out, is the "Shwazzy," destined to save Un Lun Dun from the horrible Smog. The quest she and Deeba set out on takes them to a town of ghosts, a large market where they meet a man who sews clothes from books, a ride on an old double-decker bus, to a bridge that has no fixed location, but joins any two places you can think of. That's where they meet the Propheseers and the Book, which contains all information known about the world, and is happy to share it smugly. They also meet the master of un-brellas (broken umbrellas) and a cadre of ninja-like garbage bins.<br /><br />And from there, things get weird.<br /><br />I can't share any more about the plot, because discovering it is part of the joy of the book. But there are so many other joys: the beautiful writing that manages to be both cinematic and literary (one of the side jokes I loved was in the Library of Un Lun Dun, where they keep all the books that haven't been written, one of the Librarians mentions going on a search for "Oh, All Right Then: Bartleby Returns"), the imaginative characters Mieville invents, the personalities and problems they all have, the illustrations (provided by the author), the humorous moments...<br /><br />This book reminds me of curling up in bed at the age of ten with a fantasy novel. The way all fantasy feels to you at that age is the way this novel feels to me now. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It owes a lot to Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere," but it is lighter than Gaiman, brighter without being less sound. I enjoyed "Neverwhere." I loved "Un Lun Dun."Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-37446463916635263512009-07-11T11:54:00.000-07:002009-07-11T22:51:43.697-07:00Review: The Age of Innocence<a href="">The Age of Innocence</a>, by Edith Wharton<br />9/10, a funny, insightful, and engaging look into class and society in late-1800s New York<br /><br />The first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction was Edith Wharton in 1921, for this novel. "The Age of Innocence" is the story of Archer Newland, a young man in New York society in the late 1800s, engaged to be married to May Welland (note the names: New-land, Well-land). She is everything he could want in a society wife: she always knows just the right thing to say and do. And yet, sometimes he feels dissatisfied, because he knows she is only saying what Society has scripted for her. He feels he will never get to know the "real" woman.<br /><br />Enter Countess Olenska, Ellen, a scion of the family who has fled an abusive marriage. She knows little of New York Society, but after a couple faux pas (attending the party of a common artist! where there is dancing!), she is accepted into their ranks. Archer falls in love with her free spirit and sees in her the same desire he himself has, to show the Society folks how much of a sham their posturing and elegant disguises are, to show that they are insulating themselves from life.<br /><br />And yet, and yet...every time he steps boldly toward Ellen, she retreats; when she makes a move in his direction, he seeks the shelter of the familiar. But they grow closer and closer to running away together even as his wedding to May grows nearer and nearer.<br /><br />Wharton's grasp of character and story is marvelous. Archer is a tortured and complicated person, no less so than Ellen, but the side characters are simply wonderful: the old dowager who defied expectations to become highly respected and influential, who now is too large to get upstairs in her own house and now has the unconventional arrangement of having her bedroom on the ground floor; the van Luydens, one of the most influential families in Society by birth who nonetheless seem to prefer solitude to the company of people; the lynchpin of society, the aging dandy who knows all the gossip because everyone invites him everywhere to hear the gossip he knows, and in the process he learns theirs (and he lives with his unmarried sister, whom he sometimes sends to the less important engagements)...it's a marvelous cast of characters, and it makes for a terrific story.<br /><br />Through it all, as through this review, runs the thread of Society, the unwritten code by which Archer and his peers say certain things and leave others understood; do certain things and leave others undone. Archer continues to question Society, pointing out to himself the ridiculousness of it even as he digs himself deeper into its grip. <br /><br />A highly enjoyable and most recommended read. I will certainly be looking up more of Edith Wharton's work.Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-17302764141192333822009-07-05T18:21:00.000-07:002009-07-05T18:32:50.969-07:00Review: Strange Itineraries<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://content-0.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9781892391230&t=86"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 86px; height: 130px;" src="http://content-0.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9781892391230&t=86" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9781892391230-0">Strange Itineraries</a>, by Tim Powers<br />7.5/10, an inventive collection of short stories<br /><br />Continuing with my summer of reading my favorite authors, I took this Christmas present off my book stack. I'd already read <a href="http://timsusman.blogspot.com/2009/06/review-drawing-of-dark.html">The Drawing of the Dark</a>, an early Tim Powers novel, and I was hoping for more of the same.<br /><br />When it comes to imagination, Powers never disappoints. All the stories in the collection are based off brilliant ideas, and the writing is generally quite good. He has a way of introducing the protagonist's problem in very matter-of-fact language, where ordinary tasks pose huge issues or carry immense weight: the picking up of a baby's bottle, for instance, or walking across a closed bedroom.<br /><br />But the stories lack the coherence and drive of his novels, for the most part. "Where They Are Hid" is the best of the bunch, a gripping time-travel story in which consequences and actions are mingled and unfold with perfect precision. Many of the others settle for being weird, which is just fine--Powers does weird with his own particular touch, and I love reading it. I'm just used to his stories having more texture and depth, and perhaps that's a limitation of the short story form.<br /><br />Because they're short stories, though, they don't require a large investment of time to read. If you're looking for a taste of Tim Powers and you don't want to embark on one of the novels, this isn't a bad place to start.Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-92188639478389012602009-06-16T09:22:00.000-07:002009-06-16T15:24:54.865-07:00Review: An Artist of the Floating World<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://content-3.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9780679722663"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 120px; height: 185px;" src="http://content-3.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9780679722663" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/17-9780679722663-0">An Artist of the Floating World</a>, by Kazuo Ishiguro<br />8.5/10, a journey through the past and present of post-war Japan from the point of view of an elderly painter<br /><br />Masuji Ono, a retired painter living in post-war Japan, is anxious for his younger daughter, Noriko, to be married. She is twenty-six, and one set of negotiations has already fallen through. Setsuko, his elder daughter, is happily married with a son, and the two of them visit Noriko and Ono frequently. Ono was a painter of high regard before the Second World War, but has not worked since the disastrous ending of the war. <br /><br />We learn about this in flashback and memory, as Ono tries to understand the cause of his daughters' attitudes toward him through his memory of events. He frequents a local bar and has some friends there, but slowly they all disappear. He remembers his break from his own teacher, who wanted only to paint images of pleasurable areas in the entertainment district--the so-called "Floating World." Ono prefers to paint images of important things, things that will help Japan on the path to greatness, and in fact that path leads him to some recognition and prominence.<br /><br />But the war has changed everything. We don't learn this in plain revelation; instead, we have to come to understand it in the way Ono does. We begin with his preconceptions and we see, perhaps somewhat before he does, that they are no longer valid. Ultimately, he finds, his own world was no more permanent than the "floating world" he derided.<br /><br />As with most of Ishiguro's work, the journey is the real pleasure. There are many similarities between "Floating World" and his next novel, "The Remains Of The Day," both being reminisces of men after wartime whose certainty in their decisions slowly erodes. But where "Remains" has a powerful revelatory ending (one of my favorite things in any book ever), "Floating World" leaves the revelation up to the reader to parse. <br /><br />It is, as always, a marvel that this narrative holds together as well as it does, given how much it rambles and wanders. Ishiguro never loses track of what's important, though, and he establishes his characters with swift, sure strokes, building up mystery around them. Does Ono's prize pupil hate him for his pre-war work, or is there another reason? Ono's wife and son were killed in the war, but who feels that more acutely, himself or his daughters? What is the reason the marriage negotiations broke down for Noriko, and will the current ones go well?<br /><br />Some of the lesser questions go unanswered, but not in Ono's mind. He is a beautifully drawn character struggling to accept the changes in his world and to bear his responsibility for them. While this is not quite up to "Remains of the Day" or "<a href="http://timsusman.blogspot.com/2006/09/review-never-let-me-go.html">Never Let Me Go</a>," it is certainly a worthwhile and engaging read.Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-2402779975529412852009-06-12T09:27:00.000-07:002009-06-12T09:29:35.929-07:00Online Book!A college roommate of mine has written a book about the life of his cat. I've seen the whole thing, and I really enjoy its spare style, which manages to be humorous and emotional all at once. He's <a href="http://www.vitothecat.com/">posting chapters online</a> in an attempt to get it more exposure, so if you like cats, and stories about cats, go take a look and leave him a comment!Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-72567818558025807442009-06-10T15:47:00.001-07:002009-06-10T15:49:10.460-07:00Are Workshops Valuable?There's an interesting <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2009/06/08/090608crat_atlarge_menand?currentPage=all">New Yorker article</a> by Louis Menand that addresses a recent book on the topic. I love the writer's conclusion:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">I just thought that this stuff mattered more than anything else, and being around other people who felt the same way, in a setting where all we were required to do was to talk about each other’s poems, seemed like a great place to be. I don’t think the workshops taught me too much about craft, but they did teach me about the importance of making things, not just reading things. You care about things that you make, and that makes it easier to care about things that other people make.</span><br /><br />(h/t <a href="http://lancemannion.typepad.com/lance_mannion/2009/06/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-loveof-writing.html">Lance Mannion</a>)Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-69372860123211502292009-06-08T19:16:00.000-07:002009-06-08T22:40:22.029-07:00Review: Brooklyn<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://content-1.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9781439138311"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 120px; height: 182px;" src="http://content-1.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9781439138311" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9781439138311-0">Brooklyn</a>, by Colm Tóibín<br />9/10, a beautiful story about a young Irish emigrant to New York<br /><br />I saw Colm Tóibín <a href="http://timsusman.blogspot.com/2008/01/colm-toibin.html">read a passage</a> from <span style="font-style:italic;">Brooklyn</span> a year and a half ago, and promised then that I would buy it when it came out. I fulfilled my promise when I saw it on the shelf recently, and I'm pleased to say that the book lives up to the promise of the reading.<br /><br />It's the story of Eilis, an Irish girl who emigrates to America in her late teens or early twenties. She builds a life there on her own, and then a tragedy calls her back to Ireland (it's very like <a href="http://timsusman.blogspot.com/2007/11/review-dive-from-clausens-pier.html">The Dive From Clausen's Pier</a> in that way).<br /><br />Like <a href="http://timsusman.blogspot.com/2008/01/review-cheating-at-canasta.html">William Trevor</a>, Tóibín writes in what I can only describe as a very Irish way. He writes lyrically, in a narrative that has direction but not urgency, in which things happen in their own time and the pleasure is in the journey. We meet people and get to know them, and they're all important in Eilis's life in one way or another. But I don't get the sense that each incident is necessary to explain the progression of the story--it's not critical to show that she spends Christmas Day helping in the parish, or her attitude toward the African-American women who come in to the store. What each little incident does is build up the picture of her life in America, to contrast with her life in Ireland, and it's in these pictures that the story comes to life.<br /><br />I do <a href="http://timsusman.blogspot.com/2006/11/review-other-peoples-worlds.html">love William Trevor</a>, but Tóibín might be a little ahead of him in my bookshelf now. Although they write with the same lyricism, Tóibín writes with a lighter touch. The scene with Eilis's first Atlantic crossing, which he read at Stanford, involves their neighbors locking the door to the shared bathroom, and poor Eilis not only forced to pee in a mop bucket, but becoming violently seasick later in the night. Fortunately, her feisty companion comes to the rescue, showing her how to pick the lock on the bathroom door and <i>really</i> lock the neighbors out, with the aid of a heavy steamer trunk.<br /><br /><i>Brooklyn</i> is a joy to read, and it moves along quickly. Eilis is, surprisingly, not always a sympathetic protagonist. She does occasionally behave cruelly, and is unapologetic about it (rather than thanking her landlady for a nice gesture, she is suspicious of the motive behind it and remains cold, so that she won't be in the lady's debt). But if you don't always agree with her choices, Tóibín gives you enough of a wide window into her thoughts that you always understand them. It is particularly interesting to contrast the people in Ireland, whom he tinges with a sort of inborn hopelessness, with the people Eilis meets in America, who are some of them Irish, some Italian, and some simply American: open to possibilities and bright with energy. It's no accident that the Italian family she grows close to is planning to buy property on Long Island and set up a homebuilding business, while all her friends in Ireland see no further than continuing the family business, doing what their parents have done and their parents before them. And that, ultimately, is the choice Eilis must make.Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-79797776476850381232009-06-06T07:50:00.000-07:002009-06-06T13:37:44.021-07:00Review: The Drawing Of The Dark<a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/2-9780345430816-6">The Drawing of the Dark</a>, by Tim Powers<br />8/10, a somewhat scattered supernatural adventure in medieval Europe<br /><br />It is a fairly well-established fact that I am a <a href="http://timsusman.blogspot.com/2009/01/review-declare.html">huge Tim Powers fan</a>. I haven't posted reviews of all his books--I read "Expiration Date," "Earthquake Weather," and "Last Call" before starting this blog--but I have reviewed <a href="http://timsusman.blogspot.com/2006/04/review-anubis-gates.html">The Anubis Gates</a>, one of my favorite time-travel "Olde Worlde" stories.<br /><br />So I was looking forward to "The Drawing of the Dark," another chapter in his Fisher King universe, which is just like ours except for the supernatural/occult world that underlies it, a world ruled by Kings, in the east and the west. In Vienna in the 1600s, the West is weak, and the King of the East, wielding the Turkish army like a sword, intends to strike at its heart. <br /><br />None of this is known to Irish mercenary Brian Duffy. All he knows is that he's hungry and friendless in Venice, until a mysterious old man offers him the job of bouncer at a tavern in Vienna. He sees some strange things on the road to Vienna, but arrives there safely, to find that Epiphany, the girl he loved many years ago, is now a widow working in the kitchen. The tavern is a converted monastery, and also a brewery, whose famous Herzwesten Bock beer is due to be released in Easter.<br /><br />Strange things continue to swirl around Duffy, from a ship of Vikings sailing down the Danau to hideous flying creatures attacking him. When the old man joins Duffy in the tavern, he reveals that the Herzwesten Dark beer, due to be drawn on All Hallow's Eve, is actually a source of power and renewal for the Western King, and that the Turkish army's attack has been planned to steal the Dark, or corrupt it if that is not possible.<br /><br />Duffy himself is excellently drawn as the reluctant hero, though there is more hero in him than he knows. Powers paints a vivid picture of medieval Vienna, with his usual cast of eccentric and delightful characters, and the ins and outs of magic are as well thought-out as usual. But Duffy's reluctance to get involved and distance from the center of the action makes him a difficult vantage point to narrate the story from. In "Last Call," Powers has a similar hero, but his own story is more compelling in this case, and he is much more of a central figure. All Duffy wants is for things to quiet down so he can rest.<br /><br />While the story is still engaging and tense, with several twists and turns, it isn't quite up to the rest of Powers' works. For a completist (like me), it's definitely worth reading, but if you're looking for an introduction to Powers, try The Anubis Gates, Last Call, or Declare.Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997720.post-13609208503227470982009-05-28T22:49:00.000-07:002009-05-28T23:15:40.164-07:00Review: Black Swan Green<a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/17-9780812974010-0">Black Swan Green</a>, by David Mitchell<br />10/10, a coming-of-age story that is evocative and engaging<br /><br />Life is tough when you're thirteen, and nobody knows that better than Jason Taylor. In the English parish of Black Swan Green, we are introduced to the ranks of Jason's class of schoolboys through an afternoon on a frozen lake, in a game of British Bulldogs, played thus: they split into two sides, and when the non-Bulldogs capture a Bulldog, he has to join their side on the next attack. Jason hates this game, not just because of the physical nature of the attacks, but because you're forced to turn and betray your friends.<br /><br />Jason peppers his narrative with observations like that, coming across as a thirteen-year-old making discoveries about life. He walks us through the life of a boy who not only has to navigate the perilous social strata of the schoolyard, but also a tumultuous family life and a personal issue, a stammer that comes up so subtly that he almost sneaks it up on us. He personifies the directions in which his teenaged pysche pulls him, assigning a personality to each of his impulses. One of the strongest is the Hangman, the one who seizes his tongue and makes him stammer. It's no coincidence that his biggest fear is his stammer being discovered.<br /><br /><a href="http://timsusman.blogspot.com/2006/06/review-cloud-atlas.html">Cloud Atlas</a> proved Mitchell to be gifted at narrative voice. We see that gift here, not only in Jason, but in the personalities of his world in Black Swan Green parish. And although the story reads at first like a series of diary entries, it soon acquires a coherence thanks to the different plot threads that recur: his sister's boyfriends and transition to law school; his parents' struggle to maintain their marriage; his own personal trauma involving his grandfather's watch; the odd social stratification in the parish that is rarely brought to the surface but always lurks just beneath it.<br /><br />But Black Swan Green is much more than simply an exercise in character. It's a full-fledged story, engaging enough to bring me back to it night after night, with (a rarity) a believable and satisfying (and beautiful) ending. You might find the slang difficult to follow at first, but Mitchell knows just how to use it with enough context to give you the meaning, and eventually you won't even ask what "poncy" or "sarky" mean.<br /><br />If you thought Cloud Atlas was too esoteric, give this one a whirl. It's more accessible and just as good.Tim Susmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354987680992285327noreply@blogger.com0