Another bit of a hit and miss by Tabucchi. The more traditionally told stories I enjoyed, but his run-on endless paragraph monologue stories I had trouble focusing on and following - too much effort for what they were.
I suspect his big work is Sostiene Pereira.
Tuesday, 11 August 2015
Time's Arrow - Martin Amis
A brilliant project, but somewhat of a better idea than read, though still compelling enough. The original idea is to retell the main character's life story backwards from old age to birth. Movements are backwards, interactions are backwards, even conversations are backwards - it sometimes requires a fair bit of effort to picture exactly what is happening. The main character is also a former Nazi involved in the work and death camps.
Something about the recounting of events backwards makes them all the more creepy and horrific. For example, exhuming corpses, bringing them back to life and restoring them to their homes. In some way, it rehumanizes all these small horrors. The narrator (a person or voice living inside the narrator's head) constantly refers to the amazing power of creativity in the universe - all the humans dug up from the earth, pulled in from the smoke in the air, brought to life in the gas chamber on the back of a van. The astounding ability of a foot to create an ant by simply lifting itself from the ground. Somehow this again underlines the incredible destructive force of Nazis in particular but also of humans in general.
In recounting the human interactions backwards, especially those focused on women, you also get a sense of the violent emotional swings that run through troubled relationships.
An incredible feat of imagination on Amis' part.
Something about the recounting of events backwards makes them all the more creepy and horrific. For example, exhuming corpses, bringing them back to life and restoring them to their homes. In some way, it rehumanizes all these small horrors. The narrator (a person or voice living inside the narrator's head) constantly refers to the amazing power of creativity in the universe - all the humans dug up from the earth, pulled in from the smoke in the air, brought to life in the gas chamber on the back of a van. The astounding ability of a foot to create an ant by simply lifting itself from the ground. Somehow this again underlines the incredible destructive force of Nazis in particular but also of humans in general.
In recounting the human interactions backwards, especially those focused on women, you also get a sense of the violent emotional swings that run through troubled relationships.
An incredible feat of imagination on Amis' part.
The Devil's Cave - Martin Walker
Another well-written mystery, detective novel. This time he links arms trading, shady property development and international finance with the small village in Dorgodgne through a holiday development proposal. Same big shootout at the end, but not as Ramboesque as in the last one I read.
Still want to read more.
Still want to read more.
Tuesday, 4 August 2015
Madness in the Family - William Saroyan
Bit of a forgotten writer.
Some amusing short stories about life and the Armenian community in Fresno in the early and mid-20th c.
His stories seem very light, and not typical of the more angst ridden work of the 20th century, but he actually addresses some deep, almost mystical issues in some of them. There is almost a sense of Sufi wisdom, or traditional wisdom and social insight of traditional middle-eastern societies.
The influence of his Armenian-ness, his cultural background is what makes him interesting in this book.
Try a couple more.
Some amusing short stories about life and the Armenian community in Fresno in the early and mid-20th c.
His stories seem very light, and not typical of the more angst ridden work of the 20th century, but he actually addresses some deep, almost mystical issues in some of them. There is almost a sense of Sufi wisdom, or traditional wisdom and social insight of traditional middle-eastern societies.
The influence of his Armenian-ness, his cultural background is what makes him interesting in this book.
Try a couple more.
Fenland Chronicle - Sybil Marshall
A reference from the book "Fields".
A lovely chronicle of life in another time - a small village and farming community on the fens at the end of the 19th C and the beginning of the 20th C. The original manuscript was started by the author's father in the wonderful voice of a man of little education of the time - lovely vocabulary and turns of phrases. It reads more as spoken word than as writing. The author finished off the book after her father's death and then went on to collect her mother's story.
A great evocation of life in another time before so much of what has shaped our life in the course of the 20th century, when people's worlds were much smaller.
A lovely chronicle of life in another time - a small village and farming community on the fens at the end of the 19th C and the beginning of the 20th C. The original manuscript was started by the author's father in the wonderful voice of a man of little education of the time - lovely vocabulary and turns of phrases. It reads more as spoken word than as writing. The author finished off the book after her father's death and then went on to collect her mother's story.
A great evocation of life in another time before so much of what has shaped our life in the course of the 20th century, when people's worlds were much smaller.
Bruno - Martin Walker
A mystery/detective novel. Well-written, evocative of place (Dordogne region, small village) with a nicely maintained building tension. This part I really enjoyed, like a Louise Penny on steroids. But the end of the book is very American - irresistible sexual attraction between two main gun-toting characters, bit shoot out with a paramilitary flair. Reads well at the time, but after the tension wears off, it seems a bit stereotyped in structure.
Will try a couple more before finally deciding.
Will try a couple more before finally deciding.
Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin - Timothy Snyder
A history of Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Baltic States and Western Russia from the late 20's (Stalin's takeover) to the end of WWII. An account of the upheaval, planned murder, mass relocations and the effects of war in this area that was occupied three times over that period - first by Russia and Germany, then by Germany and finally by Russia.
The history of this time period is not well-presented in the West's version of WWII.
Some facts:
In this period, Germany and Russia killed roughly the same number of people.
Most Jews who were killed in the war came from Poland - Western European Jews represented a small percentage.
As many Poles were killed by the Russians and the Germans as Jews.
Belarus lost half of it's population at that time.
Jews represented less than 1% of the German population at the start of the war.
More Jews were killed in one day by a bullet to the head than all the people who died in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped.
The Allies actually did not see any of the German death camps - they were all liberated by the Russians. The Allies saw the work or concentration camps, and more people survived in those than died.
The Russian's system of concentration camps was far larger than what was established by the Nazis.
There is also some discussion of why Hitler and the Nazis developed the war plans they did, and also why Stalin was involved in so much ethnic and political cleansing (or Terrors).
A good read for a revision of our picture of WWII and where the action really was.
The history of this time period is not well-presented in the West's version of WWII.
Some facts:
In this period, Germany and Russia killed roughly the same number of people.
Most Jews who were killed in the war came from Poland - Western European Jews represented a small percentage.
As many Poles were killed by the Russians and the Germans as Jews.
Belarus lost half of it's population at that time.
Jews represented less than 1% of the German population at the start of the war.
More Jews were killed in one day by a bullet to the head than all the people who died in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped.
The Allies actually did not see any of the German death camps - they were all liberated by the Russians. The Allies saw the work or concentration camps, and more people survived in those than died.
The Russian's system of concentration camps was far larger than what was established by the Nazis.
There is also some discussion of why Hitler and the Nazis developed the war plans they did, and also why Stalin was involved in so much ethnic and political cleansing (or Terrors).
A good read for a revision of our picture of WWII and where the action really was.
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