Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje
Fiction, 2007, 273 pages
Rating: 4.0 (4.0 Amazon)
Book Club: Naples Critics Choice - February, 2008
Summary: From Publishers Weekly
Ondaatje's oddly structured but emotionally riveting fifth novel opens in the Northern California of the 1970s. Anna, who is 16 and whose mother died in childbirth, has formed a serene makeshift family with her same-age adopted sister, Claire, and a taciturn farmhand, Coop, 20. But when the girls' father, otherwise a ghostly presence, finds Anna having sex with Coop and beats him brutally, Coop leaves the farm, drawing on a cardsharp's skills to make an itinerant living as a poker player. A chance meeting years later reunites him with Claire. Runaway teen Anna, scarred by her father's savage reaction, resurfaces as an adult in a rural French village, researching the life of a Gallic author, Jean Segura, who lived and died in the house where she has settled. The novel here bifurcates, veering almost a century into the past to recount Segura's life before WWI, leaving the stories of Coop, Claire and Anna enigmatically unresolved. The dreamlike Segura novella, juxtaposed with the longer opening section, will challenge readers to uncover subtle but explosive links between past and present. Ondaatje's first fiction in six years lacks the gut punch of Anil's Ghost and the harrowing meditation on brutality that marked The English Patient, but delivers his trademark seductive prose, quixotic characters and psychological intricacy.
Showing posts with label Naples Critics Choice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Naples Critics Choice. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
The Uncommon Reader
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
Fiction, 2007, 120 pages
Rating: 4 (Amazon 4.5)
Recommended by: Dr. Elaine Newton (Phil's Critics Choice leader)
Recommendation: An interesting book, quick read, with insight into the power of literature.
Summary:
From Publishers Weekly: Briskly original and subversively funny, this novella from popular British writer Bennett (Untold Stories; Tony-winning play The History Boys) sends Queen Elizabeth II into a mobile library van in pursuit of her runaway corgis and into the reflective, observant life of an avid reader. Guided by Norman, a former kitchen boy and enthusiast of gay authors, the queen gradually loses interest in her endless succession of official duties and learns the pleasure of such a common activity. With the dawn of her sensibility... mistaken for the onset of senility, plots are hatched by the prime minister and the queen's staff to dispatch Norman and discourage the queen's preoccupation with books. Ultimately, it is her own growing self-awareness that leads her away from reading and toward writing, with astonishing results. Bennett has fun with the proper behavior and protocol at the palace, and the few instances of mild coarseness seem almost scandalous. There are lessons packed in here, but Bennett doesn't wallop readers with them. It's a fun little book.
From Bookmarks Magazine: .....A political and literary satire, it pokes fun at the British monarchy while revealing the lasting power of literature. Reviews suggest that "The Uncommon Reader" should be enjoyed like the sort of reading it espouses: casually, but with a sensitivity to serious things as well.
Favorite Passages:
pg 29:....'I can understand,' he said. 'Your Majesty's need to pass the time.'
'Pass the time?' said the Queen. 'Books are not about passing the time. They're about other lives. Other worlds. Far from wanting time to pass, Sir Kevin, one just wishes one had more of it......'
Fiction, 2007, 120 pages
Rating: 4 (Amazon 4.5)
Recommended by: Dr. Elaine Newton (Phil's Critics Choice leader)
Recommendation: An interesting book, quick read, with insight into the power of literature.
Summary:
From Publishers Weekly: Briskly original and subversively funny, this novella from popular British writer Bennett (Untold Stories; Tony-winning play The History Boys) sends Queen Elizabeth II into a mobile library van in pursuit of her runaway corgis and into the reflective, observant life of an avid reader. Guided by Norman, a former kitchen boy and enthusiast of gay authors, the queen gradually loses interest in her endless succession of official duties and learns the pleasure of such a common activity. With the dawn of her sensibility... mistaken for the onset of senility, plots are hatched by the prime minister and the queen's staff to dispatch Norman and discourage the queen's preoccupation with books. Ultimately, it is her own growing self-awareness that leads her away from reading and toward writing, with astonishing results. Bennett has fun with the proper behavior and protocol at the palace, and the few instances of mild coarseness seem almost scandalous. There are lessons packed in here, but Bennett doesn't wallop readers with them. It's a fun little book.
From Bookmarks Magazine: .....A political and literary satire, it pokes fun at the British monarchy while revealing the lasting power of literature. Reviews suggest that "The Uncommon Reader" should be enjoyed like the sort of reading it espouses: casually, but with a sensitivity to serious things as well.
Favorite Passages:
pg 29:....'I can understand,' he said. 'Your Majesty's need to pass the time.'
'Pass the time?' said the Queen. 'Books are not about passing the time. They're about other lives. Other worlds. Far from wanting time to pass, Sir Kevin, one just wishes one had more of it......'
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