SubscribeThe Forever War
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The Forever War
by Joe Haldeman - Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
- Year: 1974/2009
- Pages: 288
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- №15
In a sort of theme of futuristic sci-fi war dystopias (see Ender’s Game and Old Man’s War), I’ve decided to read Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War. It’s a famous book, and over 35 years old at this point. It’s most commonly compared to Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, but that’s a rather facile comparison, especially today when we all know better.
Last year, the movie District 9 came out to great acclaim; the most common complaint was that its symbolism (hint: it’s an allegory for apartheid) was too ham-fisted and obvious. The Forever War is a little like that, except instead of apartheid, the book is an allegory for the Vietnam War, and most particularly the reacclimation of those who fought in it to post-war civilian life.
Juliet, Naked
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Juliet, Naked
by Nick Hornby - Publisher: Riverhead
- Year: 2009
- Pages: 416
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- №14
Like a lot of readers, my impression of Nick Hornby is most influenced by High Fidelity, which is still widely considered his best novel. I can’t say for certain, but I suspect that the book’s popularity has not a little to do with its treatment of minutiae: the plot itself is somewhat tepid romantic comedy fare, but the tangents about pop records are delivered with such a characteristic force that one can’t help but pay attention.
Juliet, Naked attempts to recapture some of that juju. It’s the story of Tucker Crowe, a somewhat obscure indie musician from the 70s and 80s who very suddenly left the music scene (and any sort of public persona) after a mysterious incident in the bathroom of a Minnesota nightclub. For the next twenty years, a gaggle of his most devoted fans have speculated about his life, the cause of his exit, the merits of his music, and theories about his current whereabouts. To readers somewhat familiar with the indie rock scene, that kind of underground obsession is a familiar phenomenon—the tendency of the fanatical is to impose genius upon the mysterious. Hornby’s status as a cognoscente of the pop music scene gives the story a certain sense of slick verisimilitude that works well.
K-Pax
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K-Pax
by Gene Brewer - Publisher: St. Martin's
- Year: 2001
- Pages: 256
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- №13
Like most people (I imagine), I was first introduced to K-Pax via the 2001 film of the same name starring Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges. I hadn’t even realized until some time later that it was based upon a 1995 novel by Gene Brewer. Though I generally hate comparing books and movies, I will do so to a limited extent here because I think that the movie highlights some of the book’s failings.
Shades of Grey
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Shades of Grey
by Jasper Fforde - Publisher: Viking
- Year: 2009
- Pages: 400
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- What is 52 Books in 52 Weeks?
- №12
Jasper Fforde has accomplish a lot in a relatively short period of time. His first novel, The Eyre Affair, was published in 2001, and in the 9 years since, he has published an additional seven novels, with announced plans for 4 more. I liked The Eyre Affair when I read it three years ago, and at the time I criticized it for being a bit short on plot and long on context. With the benefit of hindsight, I realize that Fforde writes series more than he writes books, and that the world-building in Book #1 always pays dividends later on.
I should have been smarter, then, in my initial disappointment with Shades of Grey—not with the plot, which was fascinating, but with the ending, which was frustrating in the extreme; it was only after I finished and fumed a bit did I do some research and find out that Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron is only the first in a planned trilogy. This makes me feel better, though I am now emotionally-invested enough in the characters to be required to (wait for and) read the forthcoming sequels.
The Unnamed
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The Unnamed
by Joshua Ferris - Publisher: Reagan Arthur Books
- Year: 2010
- Pages: 320
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- №11
I was suitably impressed with Joshua Ferris’ debut novel, And Then We Came to the End, which was something of a black comedy. Its sometimes-serious contents were often overshadowed by the possibilities for humor or darksome whimsy when writing about an office environment, a subject which probably gained its cultural penchant for public mockery with the rise of the Dilbert comic strip.
I was surprised—though I clearly should not have been—how much Ferris’ sophomore effort, The Unnamed differed. Stripped of the inherently satirical context, Ferris’ writing is actually quite bleak—in fact, I don’t believe it is an exaggeration to say that this new book is one of the saddest and most depressing pieces of literature I have read in recent memory.
The Wild Things
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The Wild Things
by Dave Eggers - Publisher: McSweeney's
- Year: 2009
- Pages: 300
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- №8
Everyone does or should know about Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, a seminal children’s book that has brought joy to (dare I say?) millions of childrens and adults alike—perhaps even more by adults than by children. It’s a simple story of a naughty young boy who flees to his imagination and back again, but of course much ink has been expended to justify it, parse it, explain it, and praise it, and it’s been built into more of a cultural phenomenon than a book.
Since it was already an opera and a cartoon, it was only a matter of time before it became a movie in 2009. Everyone knew that Spike Jonze (he of Adaption fame, as well as other Charlie Kaufman scripts) directed it, but what I didn’t know until well after the initial spate of movie trailers is that Dave Eggers—the writer, publisher, and philanthropist—had done the screenplay. And it wasn’t until even later that I realized he also did a novelization, which brings us to The Wild Things.
Recent Comments
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Nice review, Ben. I actually hadn’t heard of this book, but I might have to look for it. True SF...
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