Month: September 2015

Circling the Sun-Paula McLain

/ a literary explorer

Circling the Sun is Paula McLain’s newest novel-centering on the life of Beryl Markham from her childhood in Africa to her famous solo transatlantic flight. Growing up in Kenya during the golden age of British Colonialism she spent her childhood training horses with her father and as a young adult mingles with Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen), Bror Blixen, Denys Finch Hatton and the Happy Valley set.

Although well-known and somewhat infamous in her time Beryl Markham became more of an aviation footnote until the 1980’s when a letter was found from Hemingway detailing how great her memoir West with the Night was-leading to a reissue of the memoir and more interest in her remarkable life.

Having read West with the Night and McLain’s The Paris Wife I was eagerly anticipating this fictionalized account of Markham’s life. McLain does an excellent job of capturing the spirit of her childhood, her romances and her unconventionality. Markham a great beauty was the first registered female horse trainer in Kenya-she worked hard, took chances, made mistakes and did not shrink from the consequences.

I thoroughly enjoyed the richness of Circling the Sun and wanted to spend more time with Markham and her exploits.

A God in Ruins-Kate Atkinson

/ a literary explorer

A God in Ruins is considered a companion novel to Life after Life-both center around a member of the Todd family of Fox Corner during WWII and in the case of AGIR including post WWII. I am admittedly a huge Kate Atkinson fan loving both Life after Life and Behind the Scenes at the Museum (I have not read any of her mysteries)-so I was very excited to finally sit down and start A God in Ruins.

Teddy is the golden boy of the Todd family-he is the source for all of his Aunt Izzie’s wildly popular fictional character Augustus’ escapades. He is closest to his sister Ursula whose story(ies) is(are) told in Life after Life. When the war breaks out Teddy becomes a bomber pilot/wing commander/hero/much loved by his squadron/POW camp survivor-after the war marries Nancy Shawcross (literally the girl next door), they have a daughter Viola who in turn has two children-Bertie and Sonny. The narrative does not adhere to a strict chronological timeline-companion chapters such as his childhood/Bertie and Sonny’s are lumped together contributing to the tension of some of the story lines.

Some of the most compelling passages are the flashbacks of Teddy’s wartime experiences reminding me that this really is a novel of WWII. The flashbacks are haunting in their brutality both in what is experienced and what is done. His last bombing mission to Nuremberg is as vivid as they come. By contrast Teddy’s life is rather ordinary after the war-he is a man best suited to country life, becomes a nature writer, a husband, father and grandfather. Where Teddy is extremely likable-he decided if he survived the war he would always be kind- Viola is unlikable albeit very funny at times-she is a terrible mother,has difficulty with loving,being loved and is deeply resentful of her father. Her pivotal moment comes late in the book which is also one of the crucial turns in the novel.

As Teddy’s post war life unfolds I found myself pondering the often asked question of how does an ordinary life compare to having participated in extraordinary circumstances. Teddy’s post war life is somewhat bland-yet Teddy still retains all of the qualities that made him a hero and when asked by Nancy to commit a specific act he evaluates his role in the war.

Atkinson known for turning our perceptions of storytelling on its proverbial head jolts the reader near the end of the novel. I must admit I was not expecting this and it took a little time to digest and appreciate but I do and am so glad that I read AGIR. The novel ends with hands down one of the best final lines for a novel:

“But please stop reading now.”

The Bridge of San Luis Rey-Thornton Wilder

/ a literary explorer

On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below is the celebrated opening of this 1928 Pulitzer Prize winning novel. Brother Juniper a Franciscan monk witnesses the tragedy and contemplates why were these 5 souls vs. another 5 souls doomed. He decides to investigate their lives and determine the divine reason for this tragedy-at one point devising a grading system for people ranking goodness, piety, and usefulness.

Wilder who received a Masters in French from Princeton openly admitted that the first character the Friar investigated- the Marquesa de Montemayor was based on Madame de Sevigne-famous for her collected letters to her daughter which along with several other of Thornton Wilder’s works is now next on my reading list. The Friar’s investigations take approximately 6 years and during that period the Marquesa’s letters to her daughter are published and become a cause celebre as well as providing invaluable insight into the character of the Marquesa.

The five victims include the Marquesa, her companion, a scribe whose is a twin, a friend/mentor of The Perichole and The Perichole’s son. The investigations act as flashbacks and as the reader you learn the history of each of the 5 victims and how their stories are intertwined whether through the Abbess or the celebrated Actress The Perichole. Through the five you experience a broad spectrum of Peruvian society-the Aristocracy, life in the theater, convent life, the life of twins, an explorer and the struggle of the poor. I was surprised at how in depth the depictions were given that this is a rather short novel (a bone of contention for Wilder’s publisher who decided in the original printing to add illustrations and very large margins to make the book appear larger).

One of the reasons I loved the Bridge of San Luis Rey is that Wilder does not answer the question of why but allows the reader to contemplate all of the moral ambiguity in tragedy. He allows you to be the arbiter on the “correctness” of each individual’s fate including the Friar and he does this in a writing style that is clear and direct.

The last few sentences have often been quoted and quite simply are beautiful:
“But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.”

I, Claudius-Robert Graves

/ a literary explorer

While avoiding Gibbon’s History of the Roman Empire (a task I will complete at some point) I picked up Robert Graves historical fiction novel- I, Claudius. Published in the 1930’s I, Claudius tells the story of the Julio-Claudian dynasty from the death of Caesar to the crowning of Claudius after Caligula’s assassination. The book is in memoir format- Claudius is a lively narrator and would be “true “historian hoping that if he hides his memoirs they will be recovered in a century when it is safe tell the actual history.

Because Claudius is born with a limp and stutter he is able to be an unseen chronicler and avoid the “power” maelstrom becoming the last man standing. Intrigue, jealousy, divorce, murder, filicide and rape are just some of the acts committed by the monarchy in Rome during the period. All of the major roman players are center stage, Augustus, Livia, Tiberius, Germanicus, Agrippa, Julia and Caligula with such notable minor players as Livy. Claudius memoirs take the reader from Rome to the provinces-Egypt, Syria and Germany. You meet Caligula (little boots) as a young boy much loved by his parents and the Roman army, see Tiberius in love and witness the precarious tightrope between the Senate and the Roman’s distaste for an inherited monarchy.

Graves conversational writing style makes this a fun read and after completing I, Claudius I am tempted to pick up the sequel Claudius the God.

The Luminaries-Eleanor Catton

/ a literary explorer

I had put off reading this Man Booker prize winning book for a year or two and am sorry I didn’t pick it up sooner. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton is so many things but first and foremost it is a great read. The story starts as Walter Moody interrupts a meeting of 12 men discussing an event-is it a murder, a swindle, or an unknown crime. Catton interestingly uses the 12 zodiac signs as a descriptor of the 12 men and their characters and actions in the unfolding narrative.

Taking place in New Zealand in the 1860’s during the gold rush-a man is missing, a man is impersonated, an old murder is unearthed, opium is used, there is a shipwreck, a Maori tribesman plays his part, an indentured Chinese man tells his story and two star crossed lovers find/lose/find each other. I loved Catton’s parody of the 19th century novel – each chapter commencing with a brief description of what to would transpire.

Although I had some initial concerns on the flow of the narrative once I found the rhythm of the story it flowed really well and as the various crimes are elaborated and all the twists and turns are followed I couldn’t put the book down.

The Saga of Gosta Berling-Selma Lagerlof

/ a literary explorer

Selma Lagerlof was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for literature so I have always been curious about her work but had never given it the time it deserved. The Saga of Gosta Berling one of her most well known works is an unexpected surprise-a series of morality tales with a heavy dose of magic realism.

The reader follows Gosta Berling a defrocked Minister-he leaves due to his requiring alcohol to avoid the poverty and starkness of his position to being saved by the Majoress and becoming one of 12 Cavaliers at a wealthy country estate-Ekeby. Most of the cavaliers had been soldiers during the Napoleonic wars and provide various interludes interspersed in the narrative of Gosta’s life and loves.

Evil makes its presence known early on when the cavaliers believe that their Savior the Majoress is actually in league with the devil and gives up the soul of her 13th cavalier each year. The cavaliers sign a blood oath against the Majoress requiring her removal from Ekeby and placing them and Gosta in charge for a year.

Lagerlof interweaves tales such as Wolves snapping at the heels, sinister woodlands, sloth and avarice to guide Gosta and the cavaliers through their year of being in charge. What I liked most about the book was that her use of magic realism adds rather than detracts from the narrative giving the reader a clear picture of a complex scenario much like a fairy tale.