Tag: Fiction

Endless Love

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Spencer, Scott. Endless Love. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987.

At the center of Endless Love is David Axelrod. David starts his story remembering how, as a 17 year in love, he set fire to his girlfriend’s house. Not as an out-of-anger act of revenge but more of an uncontrollable response to an all-consuming love for his girlfriend, Jade Butterfield, and her family. Having been banished from the Butterfield home David’s plot is to ignite the house in the hopes the fire will give him the perverse opportunity to become the hero and ultimately rescue the entire family from the inferno he started. His desire to be needed by the entire family is blinding. Of course David’s plot doesn’t work out so smoothly…and thus begins Unless Love. It is a dark and tangled tale about obsessions and the inability to see past them. It is about dysfunctional families that use one another to seem normal. It is about struggling relationships set against the ever turbulent late 1960s. In the middle is confused, young, obsessed David Axelrod. He reminds me of Llyod Dobler from ‘Say Anything’ – an all-around nice guy with little direction and not much more ambition who can sum up his life in one sentence, “I just want to be with your daughter….sir.”

My favorite quotes are on the subject of love: “Love gives us a heightened consciousness through which to apprehend the world, but anger gives us a precise, detached perception of its own” (p 40) and, “If endless love was a dream, then it was a dream we all shared, even more than we all shared the dream of never dying or of traveling through time, and if anything set me apart it was not my impulses but my stubbornness, my willingness to take the dream past what had been agreed upon as the reasonable limits, to declare that this dream was not a feverish trick of the mind but was an actuality at least as real as that other, thinner, more unhappy illusion we call normal life” (p 162).

I think the reason why I liked Endless Love so much is because every character was a head-scratcher. It wasn’t just David Axelrod who had a personality worth paying attention to. the story of his parents held mysteries to be explored. Every member of Jade Butterfield’s family kept the story alive and buzzing with intrigue. The questions most asked – who would defend David? Who would forgive him? Who wouldn’t forget?

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in two different chapters. First, in the chapter called, “First Lines to Remember” (p 87), and again in “Sex and the Single Reader” (p 218).

May ’10 Is…

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  • Endless Love by Scott Spencer ~ in honor of Lust Month
  • Samuel Johnson is Indignant by Lydia Davis ~ in honor of National Short Story month
  • Wobegone Boy by Garrison Keillor ~ in honor of May being the month Minnesota became a state
  • The Victorians by A.N. Wilson ~ in honor of Antique Week
  • You Make Me Feel Like an Unnatural Woman: Diary of a New (Older) Mother by Judith Newman ~ in honor of Mother’s day

Promises. Promises. I should know better. With the Just ‘Cause walk happening (finally) this month I will refrain from writing any more than than this…

April ’10 was…

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April was that kind of month that just flew by without warning. When Just’ Cause is over I will get back to writing in the real sense… for now here is the literary month of April.

For books it was:

  • Affliction by Russell Banks ~ can’t wait to see the movie
  • Belshazzar’s Daughter by Barbara Nadel ~ speaking of movies, this should be one
  • Truth & Bright Water by Thomas King ~ probably my second favorite read of the month
  • South Wind Through the Kitchen by Elizabeth David ~ a collection of “best of” Elizabeth David
  • Without End by Adam Zagajewski ~ a collection of poetry
  • Water Witches by Chris Bohjalian ~ my favorite read of the month

For poetry it was:

  • “Luncheon on the Grass” by Carl Phillips (In the Blood, 1993.)
  • “Rebus” by Jane Hirschfield (Given Sugar, Given Salt, 2002.)
  • “Hospital” by Karl Shapiro (Poems: 1040-1953, 1953.)
  • “A Secret Life” by Stephen Dunn (Landscape at the End of the Century, 1999.)
  • “The Welcoming” by Edward Hirsch (Earthly Measures, 1994.)
  • “Prophet” by Carl Dennis (Practical Gods, 2001.)
  • “Funeral II” by — (New & Collected Poems, 2000.)
  • “Days of Pie and Coffee” by — (Shroud of the Gnome, 1997.)
  • “Try to Praise the Mutilated World” by Adam Zagajewski (Without End, 2002)
  • “Kaddish” by Allen Ginsberg (Kaddish and Other Poems 1958 – 1960, 2001)
  • “Wisdom of the Desert Fathers” by Katha Pollitt (the mind- body problem, 2009)
  • “Forgetfulness” by Billy Collins (Sailing Alone Around the Room, 2002)

For poetry set to music it was Natalie Merchant’s long awaited Leave Your Sleep. This is the track listing for the fantastically amazing album:

Part I

  1. Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience by Charles Causley
  2. Equestrienne by Rachel Field
  3. Calico Pie by Edward Lear
  4. Bleezer’s Ice-Cream by Jack Prelutsky
  5. It Makes a Change by Mervyn Peak
  6. The King of China’s Daughter by Anonymous
  7. The Dancing Bear by Albert Bigelow Paine
  8. The Man in the Wilderness by Mother Goose
  9. maggie and milly and molly and may by E.E. Cummings
  10. If No One Ever Marries Me by Laurence Alma-Tadema
  11. The Sleepy Giant by Charles Edward Carryl
  12. The Peppery Man by Arthur Macy
  13. The Blind Men and the Elephant by John Godfrey Saxe

Part II

  1. Adventures of Isabel by Ogden Nash
  2. The Walloping Window Blind by Charles Edward Carryl
  3. Topsyturvey World by William Brighty Rands
  4. The Janitor’s Boy by Nathalia Crane
  5. Griselda by Eleanor Farjeon
  6. The Land of Nod by Robert Louis Stevenson
  7. Vain and Careless by Robert Graves
  8. Crying, My Little One by Christina Rossetti
  9. Sweet and a Lullaby by Anonymous
  10. I Saw a Ship A-Sailing by Anonymous
  11. Autumn Lullaby by Anonymous
  12. Spring and Fall: to a young child by Gerard Manley Hopkins
  13. Indian Names by Lydia Huntley Sigourney

For LibraryThing’s Early Review program it was: a browse through a weight training book. Full review coming next month…

For fun it was: The Book of Calamities by Peter Trachtenberg

“Funeral II”

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Szymborska, Wislawa. “Funeral II.” New and Collected Poems. New York: Mariner Books, 2000. p 206.

This poem disturbed me to the core. To read it quite literally it is people standing around before (or after, or anytime in between) a funeral and gossiping. This sort of thing happens all the time. Events like funerals and weddings bring people together. Conversations are bound to happen, especially when people haven’t seen each other since the last milestone – wedding, or funeral…
I think what disturbed me the most is that I could identify with it so readily. I, too, have stood around making small talk; commenting on the people strangers around me. Call it catty. Call it human nature. It happens.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called, “Poetry Pleasers” (p 189).

Water Witches

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Bohjalian, Chris. Water Witches. Hanover: University Press of New England, 1995.

This is the story of environmentalists against developers. The storyline is simple. A Vermont ski resort needs to expand in order to stay in business. They are looking to clear trees and tap into a river in order to build more ski trails and man-made snow. That means obtaining permits and permissions. For lawyer Scottie Winston, working for Powder Peak, this means more jobs for the community…or so he says over and over again. Is he trying to convince himself? The trouble is Scottie is married to a water witch with minimal skills. More so, his sister-in-law is considered the most talented dowser in the country. Her abilities to find water, and even missing travelers is legendary. She is marrying the region’s most vocal environmentalist who opposes Powder Peak’s expansion. To make matters worse, Scottie’s own daughter is proving to be an even more accomplished water witch than her aunt…Scottie must chose between his job and his family especially when a drought complicates things not only for Powder Peak but for the entire community.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called, “Ecofiction” (p 77).

Note: this review is lame because somehow I lost the one I thought I had already written….I didn’t have the energy to write it twice.

“Forgetfulness”

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Collins, Billy. “Forgetfulness.” Sailing Alone Around the Room: New & Selected Poetry. New York: Random House: 2002. 29.

You know that point in a conversation when someone says something so true and indisputable all you can do is nod in emphatic agreement? “Forgetfulness” is that point in the conversation. How many of us read something, whether it be an article, book or poem and couldn’t remember who wrote it a week later? A week after that and now we can’t remember the title of what we read. We find ourselves saying stupid things like, “I read this great book about the tenth largest island in the world by…by..oh what was his name? Anyway, it was really interesting.” I also like Billy’s imagery of a brain making room for something else to remember. When a new address or phone number is added to the brain, the author or title of a book must come out. For every new piece of information stored, something older must come out and slip away. Who knows where it goes? Billy has the answer:
“…to a little fishing village where there are no phone lines” (p 29).

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called, “Kitchen-Sink Poetry” (p 138).

“Days of Pie and Coffee”

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Tate, James. “Days of Pie and Coffee.” Shroud of the Gnome. Hopewell: Ecco Press, 1997. pp 2 -4.

This is such a simple image. A man is walking his dog (a golden retriever no less) along a country road. He and the dog are startled by a motorist roaring up and looking for directions. A stranger in this part of the world is such a shock to the man and yet he finds easy conversation with the stranger…as if they are sitting down to a meal of pie and coffee.

I like the powerful descriptions in the poem. It’s not just a poem, it’s a story when you can see the images and feel as if you are there. The act of being startled because you don’t expect a motorist in your little part of the world. A conversation that haltingly starts with mistrust and grows easier with familiarity.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called, “Kitchen-Sink Poetry” (p 138). Note: this missed getting included in the index.

“Wisdom of the Desert Fathers”

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Pollitt, Katha. “Wisdom of the Desert Fathers.” The Mind-Body Problem. New York: Random House, 2009, p.76.

If my father were alive he would want this poem to read “Wisdom of the Dessert Fathers” because he had such a voracious sweet tooth. Don’t know why I decided to say that. Just felt it was right. (And, and. And! I refrain from inserting a, “so there!”)

The first three times I read “Wisdom of the Desert Fathers” I almost wished desert were spelled with a double s. I didn’t get it at all. The wisdom of a dessert father I would get because they would say things like, “it is best to eat your whoopie pie before the broccoli,” or “ice cream melts faster in the sun,” or “there’s no such thing as bad chocolate.”  That kind of wisdom I can wrap my brain around and eat wholeheartedly. This desert stuff is something dry and different. I need to step outside the literal because maybe the word ‘father’ is not patriarchal in nature, but rather spiritual…dare I say religious?

I do. The more I read “Wisdom of the Desert Fathers” I saw religion in the picture. It was if the narrator was saying, “If you follow the scripture too closely life will pass you by.” You take the wisdom of the fathers quite literally and life happens without you. It was the line, “Even the demons hardly come round anymore with their childish bribes of money and sex” (p 76) that did it. I highly doubt I am right about this.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called, “Poetry Pleasers” (p 188).

“The Welcoming”

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Hirsch, Edward. “The Welcoming.” Earthly Measures. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994. p 54.

This was one of my favorite poems of the month. It’s not complicated in a tangle of words meter or rhyme, but rather complicated in a tangle of emotions. The pain of not being able to have children. The frustration over the red tape of adoption. the anticipation of bringing a newborn home. The hope of parenthood and perfection. The poem spans the duration of agony and heartbreak to excitement and hope. The travel is worth reading about.

My favorite line, “jet lag instead of labor” (p 54).

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter “Poetry Pleasers” (p 188).

“Secret Life”

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Dunn, Stephen. “A Secret Life.” Landscape at the End of the Century. New York: W.W. Norton, 1991, p 72.

“A Secret Life” has got to be one of my favorite poems of the month. Stephen Dunn isn’t exactly explaining why people have secret anythings. He’s more of the understanding nature. He simply gets it – the idea that people simply must have something they keep to themselves. The line, “It becomes what you’d most protect” defines the secret life perfectly. It isn’t wholly formed from the start. It grows and progresses. It becomes. I think a secret life starts early in the way that an obsession starts without notice. There is no cause for concern when the hoarder furtively buys and smuggles home one china cat, but about the 1001th one when it comes tumbling out of a closet?

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter, “Poetry Pleasers” (p 188).

“Prophet”

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Dennis, Carl. “Prophet.” Practical Gods. New York: Penguin Poets, 2001, 16.

The tone of this poem is didactic and more than a little condescending. It’s as if the speaker is the all-knowing on how to be a prophet and cannot keep from sharing his knowledge. “You’ll never be much…” are the first four words of the poem. There is a sense of prophesy, “you’ll land…” and “you’ll have to…” and “you’ll be…” It’s almost as if the speaker wants the wanna-be prophet to think like Jonah in the whale, making comparisons of journeys by whale and donkey. There is no kindness in this poem, only stern words of how it’s going to be. And yet…yet, I liked it.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter, “Poetry Pleasers” (p 188).

Affliction

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Banks, Russell. Affliction. New York: Harper & Row, 1989.

Wade Whitehouse could be an ordinary guy. He could be that small town, hard-working, have a beer with the boys, all-around nice guy. Except bad luck not only follows Wade like a hungry dog, it bites him when he’s down. No matter how caring Wade Whitehouse is on the inside, no matter how well-meaning he is, when things go wrong people know not to stand in his way. The smarter ones walk away. The entire tiny town of Lawford, New Hampshire knows Wade and his troubles. It’s no secret he has a mean streak that runs to the center of his very core. Alcohol and a nagging toothache only widen that streak until it takes over his whole being. In theory it’s not all Wade’s fault. Abused by his father during his formative years, Wade loses his wife, home and daughter when he himself turns violent. All he wants is more time with his daughter, a decent paycheck and a simple way of life. When none of these things come easily Wade sets out to unveil the truth and right the wrongs, using violence as the vehicle to do so. What makes Wade’s story so fascinating is that it is told from a younger brother’s perspective. Being in Massachusetts he is a comfortable distance from both his brother and the memories that have scarred him as well.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called, “Oh, Brother” (p 180).

“Luncheon on the Grass”

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Phillips, Carl. “Luncheon on the Grass.” In the Blood. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1992. p 33

Art examining art. That is how I see “Luncheon on the Grass.” Carl Phillips is commenting on Edouard Manet’s oil painting of the same name. In Carl’s poem, two individuals are having lunch on deserted property. The speaker is in a similar state of undress as the woman in Manet’s painting, yet the unknown companion is fully dressed, same as the men in Manet’s piece. There is a sarcasm to the voice in the poem, “Luncheon on the Grass” that mimics the visual caustic attitude in the painting. There is a feeling of fake in both pieces. While Carl is comparing surroundings – poem to art – the voice is childish, “you didn’t remember I hate chicken salad.”

I found the poem funny because without knowing Manet’s piece you wouldn’t even begin to understand Carl Phillips’s poem of the same name.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter, “Poetry Pleasers” (p 188).

Truth & Bright Water

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King, Thomas. Truth & Bright Water. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1999.

The title of this book fascinates me. Here’s why: I’m reading the book in honor of April being National Dog Month (indeed there is a dog named Soldier in the book), yet the story is about two coming-of-age Native boys. The title comes from the geography. Truth is an American town on one side of a river and Bright Water is a reserve on the Canadian side of the same river. Truth and Bright Water are sister cities, or tiny towns to be exact.

Truth & Bright Water is more about a Native teenage boy named Tecumseh than it is about the small towns of Truth and Bright Water which he calls home. Tecumseh is fifteen and life for him consists of keeping peace with his separated parents, keeping his abused cousin company, learning how to drive, trying to find a job, understanding what it means to be Indian during tourist season, unraveling the mysteries surrounding his aunt, and finding things like a baby’s skull with his dog, Soldier. While Tecumseh is an average kid his community is anything but. Truth & Bright Water opens with Tecumseh and his cousin, Lum, spying on a woman who not only empties a suitcase over a cliff, but appears to have jumped off after it. Was it suicide? Then there is Monroe Swimmer, a famous artist returned home, who lives in a church and has big plans to make said church disappear. And what of the baby’s skull found with a ribbon threaded through its eye holes?

There are several quotes that I liked. Here’s one, “…maybe ground squirrels… are just like people. some are lucky, and some aren’t. Some get to drive nice cars, and some end up by the side of the road” (p 91).

There are several scenes that I also liked. I thought the dialogue between Tecumseh and any adult was amusingly accurate. Tecumseh would ask a question and to avoid answering it the adult would ask a different question over it or simply ignore his question completely. In several instances Tecumseh and the adult are having two different conversations that only converge if the subject isn’t sensitive. Here’s an example of a conversation between Tecumseh and his mother who has been gone on vacation:
“So, how was Waterton?”
“”You need to put your sleeping bag away,” says my mother.
“Did you stay at that fancy hotel?”
“And you forgot to knock all the mud off your shoes.”
“I suppose you took the bus out to the lake” (p 203).

Tecumseh wants information about where his mother went and she is clearly ignoring the questions. Tecumseh sums it up later by saying, “Sometimes the best way to get my mother talking about a particular topic is to change the subject and then work your way back to where you wanted to be” (p 204). Classic. The whole book is full of scenes like this. I liked King’s writing so much that I’m definitely adding him as a favorite author on LibraryThing.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in two different chapters. First, in “American Indian Literature” (p 23) and again in “Great Dogs of Fiction” (p 104).

“Rebus”

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Hirshfield, Jane. “Rebus.”Given Sugar, Given Salt. New York: Perennial, 2002. p. 12

I took Jane Hirshfield’s “Rebus” quite literally. Picturing clay and honey to mean words like emotions. “You work with what you are given,” she says. I took that to mean your life is what you make of it. Feelings like grief and stubbornness are something to work with, an element of something bigger. I liked the imagery of a river best of all. The idea that we are what we make of ourselves and that are choices can go either way – much like the unpredictability of a river’s current.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter, “Poetry Pleasers” (p 188).