THE ENTHUSIAST (Charlie Haas, Harper Collins, 2009).
Loaded with Americana, this debut novel is a coming-of-age story about a young, unattached Californian named Henry who “associate edits” his way across the country. Working for many and various “enthusiast” magazines, Henry visits obscure towns and encounters strange people in his work. The entire novel is undershot with a humorist sensibility, but the reader only gains empathy for Henry in Part II of the novel when he finally commits himself to marriage and is also forced to provide emotional support for his much idealized, geek-genius brother, a stem cell researcher, who endures a debilitating head injury (7.5/10).
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
RollnSmoke Reviews: STERN MEN
STERN MEN by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin, 2009).
Before there was EAT, PRAY, LOVE, there was STERN MEN, Elizabeth's Gilbert's debut novel, originally published in 2000, about lobster fishermen living and working on the isolated islands off The Maine Coast. (Over-) loaded with fishing lore and history, the story centers on a young girl, Ruth Thomas, who grows up during the 1970’s and 80’s as an only child, living with her lobster-fishing father and without her mysterious and estranged mother. While Gilbert’s writing is lively and compelling, the story’s timeline is choppy with oddly placed backstory and burdened with distracting details, especially regarding the Courne-Haven-Fort Niles Lobster Wars. Gilbert does a much better job crafting female-female relationships (i.e. Ruth’s connection with her generous and loving neighbor, Mrs. Pommeroy) than she does with the male-female relationships (i.e. her relationship with her father which is unnatural). Even so, Gilbert keeps the reader onboard until Ruth Thomas finally exacts restitution of her family’s honor (6.5/10).
Before there was EAT, PRAY, LOVE, there was STERN MEN, Elizabeth's Gilbert's debut novel, originally published in 2000, about lobster fishermen living and working on the isolated islands off The Maine Coast. (Over-) loaded with fishing lore and history, the story centers on a young girl, Ruth Thomas, who grows up during the 1970’s and 80’s as an only child, living with her lobster-fishing father and without her mysterious and estranged mother. While Gilbert’s writing is lively and compelling, the story’s timeline is choppy with oddly placed backstory and burdened with distracting details, especially regarding the Courne-Haven-Fort Niles Lobster Wars. Gilbert does a much better job crafting female-female relationships (i.e. Ruth’s connection with her generous and loving neighbor, Mrs. Pommeroy) than she does with the male-female relationships (i.e. her relationship with her father which is unnatural). Even so, Gilbert keeps the reader onboard until Ruth Thomas finally exacts restitution of her family’s honor (6.5/10).
Thursday, June 4, 2009
RollnSmoke Reviews: THE BOSTONIANS
THE BOSTONIANS by Henry James (MacMillan, 1886).
Written during James’ “Middle Period,” this story centers on an unlikely love triangle between Olive Chancellor – a spinster Bostonian “nihilist radical” -- who befriends young and charming Verena Tarrant who sports a “mystic faculty” to speak on behalf of the cause of Women’s Emancipation. Along comes Basil Ransom, a Post-Civil War Mississippian without means, who moves to NYC and interferes with Olive’s plan to keep Verena “in the single sisterhood; to keep her, above all, for herself.” Told from a vague first person omniscient narrator, the story is dated, the language often drawn-out (“farinaceous,” “lucubrations,” “pusillanimous”) and the drama somewhat redundant. Ultimately, given Verena’s independent nature and Basil’s chauvinism, the pairing is improbable (6.5/10).
Written during James’ “Middle Period,” this story centers on an unlikely love triangle between Olive Chancellor – a spinster Bostonian “nihilist radical” -- who befriends young and charming Verena Tarrant who sports a “mystic faculty” to speak on behalf of the cause of Women’s Emancipation. Along comes Basil Ransom, a Post-Civil War Mississippian without means, who moves to NYC and interferes with Olive’s plan to keep Verena “in the single sisterhood; to keep her, above all, for herself.” Told from a vague first person omniscient narrator, the story is dated, the language often drawn-out (“farinaceous,” “lucubrations,” “pusillanimous”) and the drama somewhat redundant. Ultimately, given Verena’s independent nature and Basil’s chauvinism, the pairing is improbable (6.5/10).
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
RollnSmoke Recommends: Best New Non-Fiction
DREAMS FROM MY FATHER (Barack Obama, Three Rivers, 2004). Not at all new -- but at-the-moment essential for a momentous present. Obama’s memoir was originally published in 1995 -- before Obama was a father, a senator or the 44th President of the United States and was written in “the belief that the story of [his] family, and [his] efforts to understand that story, might speak in some way to the fissures of race that have characterized the American experience.” (9.5/10 – See full review at RollnSmokeRecords.blogspot.com).
THE NINE: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court (Jeffrey Toobin, Anchor Books, 2008). A fascinating and educational primer about the longest-seated Supreme Court in American history. 9/10.
THE POST-AMERICAN WORLD (Fareed Zakaria, Norton, 2008) A direct and clear rendering of the forthcoming Post American World whereby the glorious sheen that U.S. has enjoyed for hundreds of years gives way to “the rise of the rest.” 8.5/10.
SERVICE INCLUDED: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter (Phoebe Damrosch, Harper, 2008). An entertaining (debut) account of an 18 month stint as a waiter at a newly-opened, ultra-swanky Manhattan restaurant. (9/10 – See full review at RollnSmokeRecords.blogspot.com).
OUTLIERS: The Story of Success (Malcom Gladwell, Little Brown, 2008). This nifty study of why geniuses who are successful become successful (right time, right place, right conditions and practice, practice, practice!) reads like a long, engaging magazine feature. 8/10.
BEAUTIFUL BOY (David Sheff, Houghton Mifflin, 2008) along with TWEAK (Nic Sheff, Atheneum, 2007) An interesting side-by-side analysis of a father-son relationship where the father looks back and sees his part in the evolution of his son’s full-fledged addiction and where the son navigates his spiral. 9/10.
THE NINE: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court (Jeffrey Toobin, Anchor Books, 2008). A fascinating and educational primer about the longest-seated Supreme Court in American history. 9/10.
THE POST-AMERICAN WORLD (Fareed Zakaria, Norton, 2008) A direct and clear rendering of the forthcoming Post American World whereby the glorious sheen that U.S. has enjoyed for hundreds of years gives way to “the rise of the rest.” 8.5/10.
SERVICE INCLUDED: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter (Phoebe Damrosch, Harper, 2008). An entertaining (debut) account of an 18 month stint as a waiter at a newly-opened, ultra-swanky Manhattan restaurant. (9/10 – See full review at RollnSmokeRecords.blogspot.com).
OUTLIERS: The Story of Success (Malcom Gladwell, Little Brown, 2008). This nifty study of why geniuses who are successful become successful (right time, right place, right conditions and practice, practice, practice!) reads like a long, engaging magazine feature. 8/10.
BEAUTIFUL BOY (David Sheff, Houghton Mifflin, 2008) along with TWEAK (Nic Sheff, Atheneum, 2007) An interesting side-by-side analysis of a father-son relationship where the father looks back and sees his part in the evolution of his son’s full-fledged addiction and where the son navigates his spiral. 9/10.
RollnSmoke Recommends: Best New Fiction
THE STORY OF A MARRIAGE (Andrew Sean Greer, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2008). “We think we know the ones we love” is how this story of a marriage, set in 1953 San Francisco, kicks-out. Pearlie marries Holland Cooke, a loyal, decent soldier whose truths are revealed when, one day, a stranger appears at her doorstep, a conscientious objector whom Holland knows from days spent in wartime “mental deferral.” (8/10 – See full review at RollnSmokeRecords.blogspot.com).
THE MAYTREES (Annie Dillard, Harper Perennial, 2008). This portrait of an abiding marriage lived in P-Town, Cape Cod – a varying patchwork of glimpses into a long-lived relationship -- is old school, its words poetic and often formal. (8/10 – See full review at RollnSmokeRecords.blogspot.com).
THE WHITE TIGER (Aravind Adiga, Free Press, 2008). A provocative debut novel short-listed for the Man Booker Prize, this is the sardonic, epistolary narrative of a “1/2-baked”who resists his ingrained sense of servitude and refuses to live his life in the Great Indian Rooster Coop and ultimately moves from hunted criminal to pillar of Bangalore Society, treading a fine line between loyalty and betrayal. ( 9/10 – See full review at RollnSmokeRecords.blogspot.com).
A GOLDEN AGE (Tahmima Anam, Harper Perennial, 2009). This brilliant debut novel explores the exotic landscape and gritty realities of the war for Bangladeshi Independence from (West) Pakistan in 1971 and the strained divisions across generations and disintegrating family. (9/10 -- See full review at RollnSmokeRecords.blogspot.com). 9/10.
NETHERLAND (Joseph O’Neill, Pantheon, 2008). In the uncertain wake of 9/11 and during the subsequent separation between the protagonist, a big Dutchman named Hans, and his British wife, Hans develops an unusual love for the game of cricket and carves an unlikely social niche for himself among West Indians in New York. 8.5/10.
BRIGHT SHINY MORNING (James Frey, Harper Collins, 2008) At once a history of Los Angeles and a cat’s cradle weaving of its varied personifications, (controversial author) Frey draws his readers into a narrative web that satisfies. 8.5/10.
THE CONDITION (Jennifer Haigh, 2008) Centering the reader in the midst of a dysfunctional family, Haigh astutely explores the natural truths of challenged family relationships. 8.5/10.
THE TEN YEAR NAP (Meg Wolitzer, Riverhead, 2008) In her witty and insightful way, Wolitzer hits a rings-true funny bone in her portrayal of smart and educated women who leave the work force to forge family-centered lives but want to return at age 40. 8/10.
THE MAYTREES (Annie Dillard, Harper Perennial, 2008). This portrait of an abiding marriage lived in P-Town, Cape Cod – a varying patchwork of glimpses into a long-lived relationship -- is old school, its words poetic and often formal. (8/10 – See full review at RollnSmokeRecords.blogspot.com).
THE WHITE TIGER (Aravind Adiga, Free Press, 2008). A provocative debut novel short-listed for the Man Booker Prize, this is the sardonic, epistolary narrative of a “1/2-baked”who resists his ingrained sense of servitude and refuses to live his life in the Great Indian Rooster Coop and ultimately moves from hunted criminal to pillar of Bangalore Society, treading a fine line between loyalty and betrayal. ( 9/10 – See full review at RollnSmokeRecords.blogspot.com).
A GOLDEN AGE (Tahmima Anam, Harper Perennial, 2009). This brilliant debut novel explores the exotic landscape and gritty realities of the war for Bangladeshi Independence from (West) Pakistan in 1971 and the strained divisions across generations and disintegrating family. (9/10 -- See full review at RollnSmokeRecords.blogspot.com). 9/10.
NETHERLAND (Joseph O’Neill, Pantheon, 2008). In the uncertain wake of 9/11 and during the subsequent separation between the protagonist, a big Dutchman named Hans, and his British wife, Hans develops an unusual love for the game of cricket and carves an unlikely social niche for himself among West Indians in New York. 8.5/10.
BRIGHT SHINY MORNING (James Frey, Harper Collins, 2008) At once a history of Los Angeles and a cat’s cradle weaving of its varied personifications, (controversial author) Frey draws his readers into a narrative web that satisfies. 8.5/10.
THE CONDITION (Jennifer Haigh, 2008) Centering the reader in the midst of a dysfunctional family, Haigh astutely explores the natural truths of challenged family relationships. 8.5/10.
THE TEN YEAR NAP (Meg Wolitzer, Riverhead, 2008) In her witty and insightful way, Wolitzer hits a rings-true funny bone in her portrayal of smart and educated women who leave the work force to forge family-centered lives but want to return at age 40. 8/10.