There But For The

Having read two of Ali Smith’s earlier novels, I knew not to expect anything resembling a conventional novel when I began There But For The.  Smith is one of those novelists who seem to be just as concerned about style and experimentation with form as they are about plot and characters - and There But For The follows that pattern.  For instance, despite that the plot is largely moved along via one-on-one conversation, not a single quotation mark will be found in this novel.  Smith, too, seems to favor long, rambling, multi-page paragraphs that are as densely packed with content as their overwhelming appearance to the eye leads the reader to expect them to be.  Personally, I find paragraphs of extreme length to be tiring, almost mind-numbing, after wading through anything more than a handful of pages of them.  A lack of quotation marks, on the other hand, does not bother me when the author, as Smith does here, still makes it perfectly clear which character is speaking.

Many of Smith’s regular readers love her for her style.  I have to say that I tolerate her style, but love her work, instead, for its memorable characters and unusual plotlines, both of which are strong points of this new novel.  The story begins at a London dinner table, over which a group of near strangers are becoming better acquainted, when Miles Garth suddenly leaves the table.  Only when Miles does not return within a reasonable amount of time, is it determined that he has locked himself inside one of the home’s upstairs rooms – a room he will remain inside for hours, that turn into days, and then into weeks.  Desperate to rid her home of her newly acquired squatter, the dinner host first searches Miles’s address book for someone who might be able to talk him out of the room.

Ali Smith

That is how she finds Anna, the first of four narrators through whom we learn more about Miles Garth and how he ended up where he is.  Anna, a fortyish woman who met Miles on a high school trip to France, at first barely remembers him but surprises herself by some of the things that come back to her.  Mark, who is responsible for having invited Miles to the dinner party, is a gay man in his sixties.  May, in her eighties, remembers the kindness shown her by Miles.  And, finally, there is Brooke, a precocious little ten-year-old girl who only met Miles at the party but now feels somehow connected to him.

There But For The explores some basic questions, even to the meaning of life, but its main theme involves how differently those who pass through our lives might remember the experience than we remember it – and how little we really understand about ourselves and  those with whom, over a lifetime, we share time.  The novel’s relatively simple plot is deceptive; there is a lot going on here.

Rated at: 4.0

(Review Copy provided by Publisher)

Do You Miss Borders Yet?

It's kind of amazing to me how quickly all tracks of the old Borders bookstores are being erased from our national consciousness.  I know it's all about change, strong business models, blah, blah, blah.  But, I never thought that seeing an old Borders commercial would make me feel nostalgic so soon.  Maybe it's the season...

The Sisters Brothers

It is hard to know where to start with this one.  If I had to describe Patrick deWitt’s western novel, The Sisters Brothers, in one word, for instance, I would probably choose “irreverent.”  But that word has too many connotations to capture the essence of the book cleanly.  Perhaps, it will help to say that if you are a fan of Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove, Quentin Tarantino movies like Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs, or Coen brothers movies like True Grit or O Brother, Where Art Thou?, you will probably love this book. 

Eli and Charlie Sisters have been working for the Commodore for a long time, and have established a formidable reputation of their own by killing, over a number of years, many of the man’s enemies.  As The Sisters Brothers opens, the pair is preparing to make their way from Oregon City to Sacramento where they are to kill the Commodore’s latest nemesis, one Herman Kermit Warm.  Mr. Warm, it seems, has something he refuses to share with the Commodore, a secret formula that will make its owner a very rich man.

It was a long trip from Oregon City to Sacramento in the 1850s frontier, even for two men like the Sisters Brothers, leaving plenty of time and opportunity for things to go wrong along the way. As importantly, there was enough time for Eli Sisters to look back on his life and begin to begin to doubt the validity of the way he and Charlie made their living.  And that is precisely why, and when, the fun starts.  Between Oregon City and Sacramento, the boys encounter a long list of wild women, ruthless businessmen, incompetent gold prospectors, rough cowboys, unfortunate horses, and hustling townspeople guaranteed to keep the reader entertained from the first page to the last.

Patrick deWitt

Eli Sisters might just be my favorite fictional character of 2011.  Ever loyal to Charlie, his older brother, Eli is struggling with the conflict between that keen sense of family loyalty and the guilt he feels about the violent manner in which he and Charlie have lived their lives.  Newly self-aware, Eli concludes that Charlie, to his own advantage, has manipulated him since they were small boys – and that he has allowed Charlie to get away with it.  Despite their frequent bickering, and Charlie’s dominance, however, the relationship between the brothers is a close one.  But, now, Eli is looking for a way out of the life, and watching him ease Charlie toward that frame of mind is a treat.

Bottom line: if you come to The Sisters Brothers with the right mindset, this one is great fun.

Rated at: 5.0

Murder in Mount Holly

Publication of this “new” novel by Paul Theroux will certainly catch the eye of longtime fans of the man’s work, but this time there is both good and bad news for fans to consider.  The good news is that Theroux’s Murder in Mount Holly is, indeed, a “new” novel to most American readers because it has never before been published in this country; the bad news is that the novel is actually forty-two years old and most definitely shows its age.  The American version of this short novel first published in the U.K. in 1969 - and republished there in 1998 as part of a Theroux collection -  is finally being released tomorrow (December 6, 2011). 

Murder in Mount Holly is a dark comedy set during the turbulent years of American history during which the generations were largely split by angry debate over the rightness or wrongness of the Vietnam War.  Theroux uses an assortment of characters thrown together by chance to illustrate how this unpopular war affected Americans of all ages and political beliefs.  The over-the-top approach to storytelling he uses here, despite not always working well for Theroux, does make this short novel a hard one to forget.

College student Herbie Gneiss, at the insistence of his recently widowed mother, decides to leave school so that he can financially support her huge grocery consumption pace (this is one very large woman).  This will prove to be an exceptionally poor decision when  young Herbie is drafted just weeks after finding work at the Kant-Brake company, a firm that produces detailed and realistic war toys for America’s children.  Rather unfortunately for his mother, as it will turn out, Herbie has already introduced her to the new love of her life, Mr. Gibbon, an older man he met at his boarding house.  When Herbie leaves for basic training, his mother moves into that boarding house to be near Mr. Gibbon- and the trouble begins.

The rest of this short novel involves the planning and execution of a farcical bank robbery by Mr. Gibbon, Herbie’s mother, and their landlady, Mrs. Ball.  Despite the ensuing violence and tragedy that follows, the cartoonish nature of Theroux’s approach to the story makes it difficult, if not impossible, for his anti-Vietnam-War message to make much of an impact on the reader.  Murder in Mount Holly is not Paul Theroux’s finest effort - far from it, in fact.  It will, however, interest the type of reader that feels compelled to read every page written by a favorite author, if simply to understand better that author’s progression from mediocrity to excellence over the years.

Rated at: 2.0

Should Libraries Return to Their Core Business?

Ryan Garza | The Flint Journal

At a time when so many libraries are having to cut back on the number of hours, or even days, they are open, here's an interesting choice for library patrons to consider:

1.  Continue to add new DVD, CD and e-book material at the current pace by reducing the number of hours the library doors are open, or 

2.  Focus more heavily on the library's core business of making books, magazines, and newspapers available to patrons and maintain present library hours

My own library, part of the Harris County Library system, decided several months ago that it could no longer afford to offer its services on Sundays, a decision that has caused me problems ever since - yet it continues to stuff its shelves with the latest movies and pop music.  If money is so tight that the system can no longer support the costs of keeping its branches open for the few hours they used to be open on Sundays, whey continue to throw money at what is, more times than not, just junk?

According to the Toronto News, that city's budget chief is asking the same question:

“Should the city library become a Blockbuster?” Del Grande said. “Is that what we should be doing? Is that our core program or is that program creep?”

[...]

“Are we an international library? What proportion of our budget should go for non-English movies and books, etc.? The argument would be made this is what makes the city great, but I would dare say our common language is English.”

“We’re spending tons of money for ESL. Should we not have a discussion of how much of the library budget should go for non-English resources? And if we are to be an international language library, let’s talk about how we do that. But right now, we are a computer centre, we’re in the movie business, we’re in the circulation business of non-English language programming.” 

It's an interesting debate, for sure.  Personally, I would prefer to have my Sunday hours back (as, I'm sure, would those library employees having to make do with smaller paychecks) and fewer movies and pop albums on the shelves.  Others, I'm sure, would vote for the first option.

Grant's Final Victory:Ulysses S. Grant's Heroic Last Year

The much deserved fame and prestige that Ulysses S. Grant gained during America’s Civil War carried him all the way to the White House where he served two terms as President of the United States (1869-1877).  Prior to the war, most who knew Grant probably considered him a failure.  Within a few years of the end of his presidency, however, the Grants were in good financial shape, confident that they had the means to live comfortably for the rest of their lives.

Grant had very little personal understanding of investing, but at his son’s recommendation, he associated himself with two men whose judgment he trusted: Ferdinand Ward and Hamilton Fish.  Grant’s contribution to the firm they created, Grant and Ward, was strictly that associated with his personal fame and reputation.  He had almost nothing to do with the day-to-day operations of the company.  Consequently, he was as surprised as anyone when, in 1884, he learned that all the money supposedly invested by the firm for others was gone.  And, like all the rest, Grant was left penniless.  Not only was Grant suddenly broke, he still owed thousands of dollars in personal debt that he was determined to repay.

 But even worse news was to come, for Grant was soon to learn that he was suffering from incurable throat cancer.  Grant’s chief concerns were twofold: how to finance his beloved Julia’s remaining years, and how to repay his existing debts.  Recognizing that he could earn the kind of money he needed only one way, Grant began a race against the clock to complete his personal memoirs before his illness could claim him.  With the help of key players like Mark Twain and William Vanderbilt, Grant would win that race and complete his work only three days before he died on July 23, 1885.

Charles Bracelen Flood

Grant’s Final Victory offers a detailed look at what Ulysses S. Grant’s last year of life was like, a year during which he continued to write and edit daily despite his ever worsening physical condition.  The book explores Grant’s personal relationships with the rich and famous of his day, as well as with the members of his immediate family.  Fortunately, most of those who found themselves in Grant’s inner circle during those final months were there to help him achieve his goal of providing for Julia.  Particularly selfless were men like Mark Twain who published the memoirs and made sure that Grant got the largest royalty payday imaginable and William Vanderbilt who continued to support the Grants financially despite all the money they already owed him.  Of course, there would also be hangers-on who were there simply to increase their own fame and fortune by association with Grant during his final days.

Charles Bracelen Flood truly does “bring to life” General Grant’s last year, a year during which Grant’s personal heroism is as sorely tested as it was even during the Civil War.  His “final victory” may have been won just three days before his death when he signed off on his memoirs.  Or, it may have been won by the bravery he displayed by dying in such a public manner, all the while maintaining his great personal dignity.  Or, perhaps even more importantly, that victory might have been the way the all-inclusive tone of his memoirs helped to heal the remaining animosity between the northern and southern sections of the country.  Whichever of these victories one chooses, there is little doubt that U.S. Grant was an American hero.

Rated at: 4.0