A Winter Read

Image of Antartica is from NSIDC

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin
New York : Ace Books, 2000, c1969.
304 p. ; 21 cm.

It's been a brutal winter in the Midwest, so this was an excellent book to finish out winter with, and welcome in spring.  Le Guin's masterpiece is set on the planet Gethen - nicknamed "Winter" by the first visitors from earth.  The novel is told from the viewpoint of Genly Ai  - an envoy from earth, who is sent alone to the planet to try and persuade its humanoid dwellers to join the Ekumen - a loose confederation of eighty-plus planets peopled by other human species.

The great twist of Le Guin's novel is that on Winter the humans have no gender until they enter estrus - and the gender that emerges during the 5-7 period of "kemmer" is not set for an individual but is dynamic and requires a partner to fully proceed.  Le Guin uses this lack of fixed gender to explore many political, social and cultural concepts that could play out in such a gender free - and non monogamous culture.  Imagine a world in which individuals might be both a mother and father and in which there was a bond with "kemmer" partners, but not usually a lifelong bond.  Le Guin's spins out her story of Gethen with its two competing "nations" - Karhide and Orgoryen - with skill and creativity, and her storytelling seems effortless and completely believable.

The novel is exciting, interesting, contemplative, and wonderfully satisfying.   I would definitely recommend it to any student who likes science fiction, and would recommend it to any student looking for a really intelligent but fun to read novel.

The Sad Tower

The Proud Tower by Barbara Tuchman
New York, Macmillan [1966]
xv, 528 p. illus., ports. 25 cm.

Barbara Tuchman intrigues me.  A woman who made her mark with several classic histories back in the 1960s when it must have been a daunting task to be a woman trying to get scholarly work published in the field of European history.  Not only did she get published, but is recognized for - not one - but several classic volumes of history such as A Distant Mirror, The Guns of August, and this book, The Proud Tower.  Every May as I've conducted the inventory of our collection, I've seen The Proud Tower, and thought, "I'm going to read that." In this 100th anniversary year of the start of WWI, I've finally gotten around to reading it.  It is a magnificent read, but probably one that would swamp most high school students.  I greatly enjoy history - and European history - but I have to admit that it was a long, dense - though enjoyable - read.

The Proud Tower is subtitled, A Portrait of the World Before the War: 1890-1914, and though, I'd call it a portrait of the Anglo-European-Slavic world, it is a monumental history.  Tuchman surveys the great political and cultural trends that defined the end of the 19th century and the run up to WWI: the declining power of the British aristocracy, the rise of naked US imperialism, Anarchism, Socialism, music, philosophy, and militarism.

I'm glad I read it, especially since I hope to read at least one of the new WWI books that have come out recently.  I can't say that I'd recommend it to just any high school student interested in history.  But if a student is a European history aficionado, or just looking for a rich book on Europe before the "Great War" then I'll definitely think of Tuchman's masterpiece.

A Tough One

Inexcusable by Chris Lynch
New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, c2005.
165 p. ; 22 cm.

I nearly didn't post on this book, mainly because it's getting a bit old (2005), but it was such a powerful and tough little book that I had to write up a review.  I've wanted to read the book since my son read it years ago, and I'm glad that I finally did.  Inexcusable is the story of a date rape and is written from the point of view of Kier Sarafian, the perpetrator, who relentlessly tries to excuse and justify his deed.  The book moves right along, and - with it's strong character development, nice sports angle, and dramatic relationship crises - should appeal to both young men and women.  

The novel received a lot of praise when it came out, including being a National Book Award finalist. And after reading it, I can see why.  The strength of Lynch's book, as pointed out by reviewers, is his ability to keep the book from being an easy "black and white" case of good guy / bad guy.  Instead  Lynch gives us a character study of the kind of "good guy" whose charm, recklessness, immaturity, arrogance and self-denial are, in fact, the very components of a self-centered and self-serving sexual user and potential rapist.

By telling the novel from the point of view of the accused, Lynch is able to explore the blurred morality of a perpetrator who refuses to accept that he has done anything wrong.  In this way he is able to draw the reader into the same moral questions around consent, manipulation, and violation.  Students who read it will have to wrestle with how reliable a narrator Kier is and just how much of a "good guy" is he.  The book would be a great book for sparking discussions and would pair well with Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak.

Slow Start, Awesome Finish

If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric Gansworth
New York, NY : Arthur A. Levine Books, 2013.
359 p. : ill. ; 22 cm. 

When friend and scholar (and author of the invaluable American Indians in Children's Literature [AICL] blog, Debbie Reese, told me at the end of the summer that I should read this YA novel by Eric Gansworth, I made a note to myself to do that.  Well, a lot has happened since the end of the summer and I have finally gotten around to reading If I Ever Get Out of Here, and I'm glad I did.  It's a great little treasure of a book about friendship, being poor, fitting in / not fitting in, bullying, racism, family ties, and the wonderful (and not so wonderful) moments of coming of age in junior high.

I have to confess that beginning the novel, I was a bit suspicious that this was going to be simply a rehash of Sherman Alexie's wonderful The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian.  There are some striking echoes of that book in the beginning - a dorky (smart, scrawny, funny, likable) Indian kid who is in a school program of nearly all white kids and has to deal with the prejudices at school and the resentments and hassles from friends and family on the reservation. Fortunately the similarities are only that and Gansworth's novel stands on its own charms and strengths. 

I also have to say that the novel started out a bit slow for me, but shortly after the midpoint of the book, I was hooked and had a hard time putting it down. The coming together of several plot lines and dramatic events really makes the last third of the novel a wonderful read.

I can't say enough good things to convey the quality of this book.  The heart of the novel is the friendship between two middle school boys - Lewis, a Tuscarora Indian, and George, son of an Air Force Dad whose family lives on a base and is always threatened with having to up and move.  The boys first bond over their love of music - especially the Beatles and Paul McCartney (and so the picture at the top of this post), but soon learn how hard it is to really be truthful and steady in friendship.  I love that Gansworth manages to weave together several (many!) important strands with passion, grace, humor, intelligence and - dare I say - love.  Seriously, we have a book of two boys in junior high becoming friends in the deepest sense, of the frictions between minority and majority culture, of the love of making and listening to popular music, of military life, of the complicated good and bad bonds of family life, of bullies and their accomplices, or life in the 70s...wow! Additionally the book includes a playlist of all the songs touched on in the book - and you can access this playlist on the author's website.

Sometimes I read a YA book and it has such promise and then falters with what feels like gimmicks meant to make it more appealing to a teen audience.  I really didn't experience that in this fine novel.  I will definitely recommend this to any student who has enjoyed Diary of a Part-time Indian (it's in our school's curriculum) and will be sure it gets on the radar of teachers looking for another author who can lay down a good story, shine a light on what it's like to grow up Indian in the US, and keep it real.   

Lovely Love Story

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
New York : St. Martin's Griffin, 2013.
328 p. ; 22 cm.

Eleanor is an outsider (who thinks she's fat) in a family with a volatile, creepy step-Dad, and Park is a quiet Korean-American who is neither popular nor unpopular. These two "somewhat-misfits" find each other on the first day of 11th grade on the bus - and after a slow start, fall in love.

Rowell has managed to create a really engaging and interesting love story - built on strong characters, dialog and conflict.  The story manages to be both mature, but incredibly sweet and almost naive.  I think the thing I loved best about this book is that instead of building on the myths of romantic love with all its surface appeal, she manages to convey how two young people can develop a real appreciation for each other's uniqueness, intelligence, and sweetness (while also falling for each other physically).

I especially appreciated Rowell's ability to convey some of the misgivings that a love partner can have (what will others think of me dating this outsider, this strange-dressing kid, this unpopular person?).

There is also a nice play-off in this book between the loving home of Park (who has a manly but kind Dad and an appearance-concerned, but sweet mom who is Korean) and Eleanor who lives in a poor family with several young kids, a kind but wimpy mother who ultimately sides with Eleanor's dangerous, alcoholic stepfather.

How Eleanor and Park fall in love and how they will handle the impossibilities of Eleanor's situation drive the story forward and provide an interesting and poignant end to the novel.

Rowell's book was a Printz honor book this year, and I can see why!

Velvet Gloves and Iron Fists

From the Wikipedia article on the 1848 revolutions

1848: Year of Revolution by Mike Rapport
New York : Basic Books, 2010, c2008.
xii, 461 p. : ill., map ; 24 cm.

You might remember that a while back I wanted to read Barbara Tuchman's Proud Tower, but realized that my background knowledge of 18th and 19th century Europe was sorely lacking - and so read a slim little volume about the Napoleonic Wars - and then was going to read 1848. Well, I've read it, and what an intense and complicated time 1848-1850 was!  Revolutions in Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Venice, Rome, Buda and Pest, Naples, and Florence (among others) pitted liberals, reactionaries, nationalists, imperialists, Papists, monarchists, socialists, revolutionaries, the peasantry, and the nobility in violent conflicts to determine the future of regions, kingdoms, and  Europe as a whole.  By the time 1850 rolled around, the forces of authoritarianism, conservatism and reaction sadly had triumphed - but what an incredible time it was...

In spite of the extreme complexities involved (maps would have been an invaluable addition to this book), Rapport writes well and is able to convey many of the significant underlying themes, conflicts, causes and effects of the year 1848.  His book really is relevant, since much of what stoked the conflicts still exists - extreme wealth and extreme poverty, ethnic versus nationalist tensions, majority rule versus minority protections, and individual rights versus the common good.

I can't say I'd recommend this book to just any student, but if there were a student who loved history and was interested in European history, then this is definitely an excellent read!

I Hate Killers

Cain by Henri Vidal, Paris

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
New York : Little, Brown, 2012
359 p. ; 22 cm.

"Serial murder is a relatively rare event, estimated to comprise less than one percent of all murders committed in any given year. However, there is a macabre interest in the topic that far exceeds its scope and has generated countless articles, books, and movies." -- FBI Serial Murder Report, 2005

I guess I'm just a bit of a contrarian when it comes to many things that popular culture offers as entertainment, and the popularity of serial killer entertainment (e.g. Silence of the Lambs or Dexter)  is one of them.  It's a form of entertainment that leaves me feeling manipulated and repulsed - and that's how I felt after reading Lyga's serial killer novel - I Hunt Killers. I know this puts me in a minority, because the novel is very popular.

The novel attempts to be a compassionate and complex thriller whose hero is Jasper, a 17 year old raised by his now imprisoned father who is a sadistic, methodical, diabolical, and sickeningly brilliant serial killer.  The father exposed young Jasper to all the gruesome details of his crimes in the hopes of turning him into a killer like himself.  And so the conflict - as Jasper becomes a man, will he be a normal person, or is he fated to become like his father - a remorseless pathological killer?  And this conflict plays out in Lyga's novel with the onset of a series of gruesome murders in the town where Jasper lives and grew up.  Jasper - wrestling with his tortured history and trying figuring out his identity - is determined to use his intimate knowledge of serial killers to help the police catch and stop the murderer.

The novel features many of the tropes of serial killer entertainment - some gruesome gore, a riveting battle of wits, an evil genius of a serial killer (ala Hannibal Lecter), and heart stopping danger and action.  Oh, and the novel ends with a plot twist that sets up the novel for it's sure sequence, Game, which we also have.

I think one of the things that saddened me about this novel, is that Lyga is really a very talented writer.  His plotting and dialog are very effective - and he is able to skillfully convey the ambiguity of self that confronts anyone trying to come to terms with his or her identity.  But it ultimately feels sleazy and voyeuristic to me.

I do understand that people are fascinated with gruesome crimes and events - I'm not immune to it myself.  There is a certain thrill of terror and relief to knowing what horrible things could and have happened - and yet that one has so far avoided.  The world is definitely filled with horror and terror, but for myself, I'd rather read true histories or case studies, and wrestle with my own existential questions of "Why?" - instead of be taken though a fictional - supposedly entertaining - and at times manipulative account of murderers and murders.