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Category: book reviews

  • Book Club: The Time Traveler’s Wife

    travelers Seems like everyone’s been reading this book lately, even though it was published back in 2003. A movie will do that for a book. That’s why I decided to read it, anyway: I was interested in seeing the movie, had heard the book was good, and thought now was as good a time as any to read it.

    For those of you who haven’t read it yet, or if you’re a guy and aren’t planning to read it (which is probably a good choice on your part), here’s a quick synopsis. There is this guy named Henry, and he’s a time traveler. It’s a genetic defect. He can’t really control where or when he goes, but he tends to frequent familiar, big events in his life. He ends up marrying a girl named Clare, and after they meet in the present he goes back to visit her when she was growing up a lot. This is their story.

    First of all, let’s just get the whole “time travel” thing out of the way. Humans seem to be obsessed with it. (See: time travel films and fiction.) I’m not immune to the fascination of the concept; I’ve read A Brief History of Time. I’ve had deep discussions with my physicist friend about it. I loved the time travel aspect in The Prisoner of Azkaban. I guess we all have such a hard time living in the present that we want to go back and change the past or see what’s coming in our future. But anyway, that’s neither here nor there because we are discussing this book, not contemplating the meaning of life. As far as this book goes, you have to let the time travel issue go. If you try to figure it out, you just may go crazy, because it doesn’t make sense.

    Case in point: there is one scene where Henry travels back in time and he is with his younger self in his bedroom. His father catches the two Henrys doing something…less than appropriate with each other (and may I just say now: SICK! Sick sick sick.) and the younger Henry gets mad at the older Henry for not preventing it. Older Henry basically says, “Just wait. You’ll do the same thing.” That got me thinking: so the younger Henry will grow up and do the same thing, then he’ll tell the younger Henry HE visits that HE’LL do the same thing, and on and on and on, and basically Henry will be perpetually alive. I just had to forget about figuring that one out.

    This is not really science fiction; it’s a love story and a pretty good one. Unfortunately, it had really been talked up to me, so all in all it didn’t quite meet my expectations. I think the reason that I merely liked this book a lot instead of LOVING it was because I didn’t fully relate to the main characters. They are somewhat privileged,  off on their own in Chicago and into the punk scene as well as things like art and opera. They like to party and swear and have sex pretty much all the time. That’s cool and all, but it’s not something that strikes a chord with me.

    But the thing that DID resonate was that Henry and Clare were utterly in love with each other, like I am utterly in love with my husband. That’s why, when I read the end of the book while on the bus, I had to physically hold my face to keep from crying. I didn’t want to be the weird girl weeping in front of a bunch of strangers. If you want to make me cry, just make me read a book or watch a movie where a husband dies young. And then make his wife find a love letter for to read “upon his death.” Guaranteed tears every single time.

    Who was your favorite character?

    I guess my favorite character would have to be…Clare. Lame, but she was the only one I could kind of identify with, being the wife. I also enjoyed the scenes with Kimy in them. She was very lovable.

    What would you have liked to read more about?

    I think my favorite parts were when Henry went back in time and met with Clare in the Meadow. He was on his best behavior, and she was young and innocent. From reading those scenes I had one image of Henry in my mind, and THAT Henry was a lot more attractive to me than the person he ended up being.

    Overall rating?

    I give it 3 out of 5 stars. It was a solid love story with a very interesting element added. Never boring, emotional at the end, and therefore I would recommend it.

     

    And what about the movie?

    I saw the movie a few days after finishing the book, which I thought would be a good idea but I don’t think it really was. It was kind of overkill on the story for me. But the movie actually turned out to be a nice surprise because Henry and Clare were much more like normal people and I could relate to them a lot better. It wasn’t hard for me to follow the time travel escapades, but that’s probably because I knew the story. I don’t know if it would have been confusing for someone who didn’t. Again, I was trying extremely hard not to cry, but the tears just spilled over; they couldn’t be helped.

    Now it’s your turn to tell me what you thought of the book (or movie)! Comment away.

    Next month’s book: It’s another girly one, sorry boys. We’re reading Midwives by Chris Bohjalian and I’ll be writing my review sometime the week of October 4-10. Join me!

  • Book Club: America America by Ethan Canin

    america-america_lIt’s time to discuss last month’s book club book, America America by Ethan Canin. Which means that it’s time for me to write my first coherent book review. I am daunted by this task, but I will attempt it.

    Let’s start with a basic summary for those of you who haven’t yet read it. America America is the story of Corey Sifter, a teenage boy growing up in smallish town in upstate New York in the early 1970’s. Corey somehow finds himself working as a yard boy for the wealthy, powerful, and beneficent Metarey family, the family that founded the town and made it what it was. The Metareys take him under their wing, and before long he finds himself working on the campaign for Henry Bonwiller, a senator in the running for the Democratic nomination for president. Corey becomes involved with the Metarey daughters as well, and his experiences at this time of his life, during which he is involved in events that are publicized across the nation, end up shaping his entire future.

    Whew. It’s hard to summarize a 460 page book in just a paragraph. Glad that part’s out of the way. Now comes the part where I talk to you about what I thought of the book, the part where I will probably end up rambling, and yes, there will be spoilers.

    The first thing that came to my mind when I started reading this book was how much it reminded me of one of my all-time favorite books, A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving. They are both written from a male point of view, both are set in multiple time periods in New England, and both involve politics to some extent. I personally think the writing style in both books is similar, and in both I found myself studying every detail wondering if it would be important later. And what I love about this is that no words are wasted; everything means something.

    There are so many great themes in America America: truth, the greater good, the struggle of the working class, the relationships of parents and their children, and American politics to name a few. But Canin doesn’t hit you over the head with what he wants to say; he subtly illustrates his points perfectly through stories, and he avoids overt partisanship in a highly political book. He has a way of saying things that provides new insight into ideas or thoughts that I have felt on some level but haven’t been able to articulate.

    I really liked this book. I actually would like to read it again at some point (which is saying a LOT for me because I hardly ever re-read) because I know there’s a lot that I missed. I loved the way that it was written in different time periods, so that I learned about Corey’s life on the Metarey estate, his life at college, and his life as a grown man all at once. It made me anticipate what was coming next. I always felt that there was something just beyond my reach, and I just had to keep reading to find out what it was.

    I don’t feel like answering any of the truly “literary” questions that I found, because it makes me feel like I’m in school again. So here are some simple questions I came up with that I’d love to know your answers to if you’ve read the book.

    1. Who was your favorite character?

    Almost all of the characters were likable and relatable, to some extent, which I appreciated. Corey himself was an honest, hardworking, and humble person who made a great narrator. But in my opinion the whole story really hangs around Liam Metarey, and he was my favorite character. I’m pretty sure that was what Canin was going for, and if so I totally fell for it. Simply stated, I felt like I could trust him with my life. That I could count on him for anything. He got himself involved in this questionable political campaign, but he was doing it because of his ideals and what he truly believed in and lived out. I was shocked at his tragic accident and almost didn’t want to finish the book afterwards because I felt a loss of hope.

    2. What do you wish Canin would have written more about?

    I’m a total girl, because I really wanted to read more about Corey and Clara’s relationship and how they ended up married. I also wish we could have learned exactly what happened to JoEllen Charney, but I know that the point was that we can’t always know the truth, and that what people consider the “truth” ends up changing over time.

    3. What do you rate the book and why?

    I give it 4 out of 5 stars. It was a little slow to begin with, but the history of Saline is definitely important later on. Otherwise excellent.

    That’s all I’ve got for now! Hopefully someone out there who has actually read the book appreciates this review. If you have, please comment below and join in the discussion!

    Now the big question that I’m sure you’re dying to know the answer to: what are we reading next month? Well, like everyone else in America, apparently, we are going to be reading The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Of course we want to read it before watching the movie like the true book lovers we are. We’ll be meeting on AUGUST 30 to discuss the book and watch the movie together, so you can expect a review sometime the first week of September.

    Who’s in??

  • Book Review: The Stranger Beside Me by Anne Rule

    A couple of months ago, my boyfriend David and I decided to start our own little book club of sorts and recommend books we had read to each other. We would then read them and discuss. The book I recommended to him was The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, the true story of a near-outbreak of an ebola-type virus in the U.S. When I suggested it, I forgot that he’s one of those types of people who take on or become paranoid about all of the symptoms that he reads about or comes into contact with. For example, the other day I had some side-effects from the bird flu vaccine and when I described them to him the first thing he said to me was, “I guarantee that I will have every one of those symptoms within the next ten minutes!” and then, “Seriously, is there any chance at all that I may have the bird flu right now?” Anyway, the point is that although The Hot Zone is an excellent book, it may not have been the best choice for him.

    In a similar vein, David recommended that I read The Stranger Beside Me. This is a unique book about Ted Bundy, a serial killer who committed most of his murders in the late 1970’s. The author of the book was friends with Ted Bundy before the murders were committed. She got the contract to write about them before Ted was even a suspect. She stayed in touch with him in one way or another until the end of his life. Her inside knowledge of him makes the book especially interesting.

    I didn’t know much about Ted Bundy before I read this book because it all happened either before I was born or when I was a little girl. Basically, he was a charming, handsome young man who no one would have suspected. He eventually confessed to around 30 murders, although it is believed that he killed many more. All of his victims were pretty, young women with similar characteristics. He would pretend to be vulnerable, for example by putting his arm in a sling, and ask for help carrying something. The girl would then be led to his car, bludgeoned in the head, and taken away with him.

    After he was eventually arrested (over something trivial in comparison), Bundy escaped from prison twice. The first time he was caught a few days later, but the second time he was free for 6 1/2 weeks. He could have made a clean break, but he was obviously caught in the grip of something that he couldn’t control. It was during this time that he broke into a sorority house and murdered two more girls and severely injured two. He also broke into another nearby house on the same night and attempted another murder.

    He was caught soon afterwards, and after years and years of trials and appeals (during which he managed to get married and impregnate his new wife!), he was finally executed via electric chair in January of 1989.

    Just like I did to him, David picked a book for me to read that could easily have freaked me out (what are we doing to each other?). I clearly fit the profile of Ted Bundy’s victims. If I saw a stranger with crutches or a sling on his arm needing help, I would surely be inclined to help him. But after reading this, I can confidently say that I will probably now be a paranoid freak. Just because I’m 25 years old doesn’t mean I can stop watching out for strangers. And no more solitary evening walks to Food Town! Doors will always be locked. In fact, I wouldn’t mind moving to a safer part of town.

    The book is an interesting read, especially if you like true crime. It made me think, and it made me aware. Maybe that’s why David wanted me to read it after all!