This book was my September book club selection, but I hadn't had time to review it. Too much was going on in my personal life.
Basically, most of the members hated the book. MM said that the author wanted to show how well he could incorporate post-modernist writing in his novel. (Matt, please tell me what this means! I forgot what she said, and I can't find my Moleskin with my notes.) D mentioned that if she hadn't seen the movie, she might have had trouble understanding what went on.
Another reader and I were the only ones who really enjoyed it.
This novel is unconsciously following a trend in our bookgroup. We seemed to have chosen books with multiple storylines (Cloud Atlas, for example). And, a couple of characters in this book remind me other other characters; the girl genuises, Brod and Pope Joan.)
The novel has many stories. Jonathan (is it the author himself or how he wants to project himself?) has gone to the Ukraine to find the people who saved his grandfather from the Nazis during WWII.
Jonathan speaks only English, so he hires a translater (Alex) and a driver (Alex's grandfather.)
Alex learned English, but some of the expressions that he uses are hilarious. He refers to himself as a premium person. His mother gets irritated with him and screams, "Alex, stop spleening me!" The family dog is a female called Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior.
There are several stories going on in the novel:
- Jonathan's search for the village where his grandfather lived and the person who saved the grandfather, which uncovers some secrets that Alex's grandfather has kept hidden about what happened in that time period
- Jonathan's writings to recreate the village in the 1700s and the 1930s
- Correspondence between Alex and Jonathan, where they talk about their lives and Jonathan's work in progress. Alex freely criticizes the novel.
- Alex's recounting of his family life
There are sections in the writing that are really touching and beautiful.
In the Jonathan novel within the novel, the chapter called, Falling in Love 1791, Yankel, the father of Brod, is described as "..like a book that you could feel good holding, that you could talk about without ever having read, that you could recommend." How is that for a character reference?
Alex and Jonathan send each other real letters. In a 17 November 1997 letter, Alex tells Jonathan why he likes to write to him:
"...I want Little Igor (Alex's brother) to be able to boast to his brother, and to want to be viewed in public places with him. I think that is why I relish writing for you so much. It makes it possible for me to be not like I am, but as I desire Little Igor to see me. I can be funny, because I have to meditate about how funny, and I can repair my mistakes when I perform mistakes, and I can be a melancholy person in manners that are interesting, no only melancholy. With writing, we have a second chance."
If you read this novel, you must be ready to be challenged. You must keep your wits about you. This is not a beach book!
4 comments:
Maybe I need a book club to inspire me and walk me through this one. I've picked it up a few times and still haven't got past the first 2 chapters. Ha! It's still on my nightstand, bottom of the pile, banished.
* * *Okay...post modernism...
First of all there is a difference between postmodernity and postmodernism.
Postmodernity means the end of modernity, in the sense of those grand narratives of truth, reason, science. In short, it's more of a philosophical term
Postmodernism is more cultural and aesthetic term. You can look at it as a form of culture which corresponds to a world view. Typical work of postd=modernism is arbitrary, eclectic, hybrid, decentered, fluid, and discontinuous. It kind of spurns metaphysical profundity for a contrived depthlessness. Unlike truth and reason, postmodernist work rejects all attempts to reflect a stable reality beyond itself and exists self-consciously at the level of form or language. Think of it as a new culture, one that turns its distaste for fixed boundaries and limitations on the traditional distinction between what is "high" and what is "popular, deconstructing the borderline between them by producing artifacts (in this case prose) which are vernacular. Hope this makes sense.
Thanks for your explanation.
And now I understand why the other members hated it so much. The story line wasn't linear enough. And the voices of the various stories was similar, except in the case of Alex talking/writing in English.
In Cloud Atlas, all the voices were different. And all the stories had a connecting thread or two even though it spanned different time periods. But the time periods went from past to present to future to present to past. Like a chevron, so the stories were easier to follow.
In Everything, the stories jump everywhere. You really need to concentrate to follow what's going on. And the what is the reality gets confusing.
Since my life has been rather chaotic for the past two years, I accepted the crazy flow of the novel. Some of the other members moved back to New Orleans after the
'Kane and weren't here right when the city reopened (Oct 2005) and you were lucky to find a grocery store open for a few hours a day or a place to buy ice, before it ran out.
Oh, man, I almost got this on our slate for 2008 book club! Pshew! Some of our ladies can't handle too many stories, but I still plan on reading it for myself.
Hey, thanks for the Brad article! It took me a while to get WW100 and your real name together. Not the brightest bulb in the pack. ;D
Thanks again!
Maggie, You will enjoy the challenge!
I am glad that you liked the Brad picturues. Did you see the article in the Parade Magazine on Sunday?
He is cute when he cleans up.
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