Late Summer and Us

I have been MIA lately on the blog, but that’s not too unusual in the late stages of a busy summer. I’m still riveted to watching the Olympics, too. Tomorrow I’m flying to Ottawa to participate in the Senior Tennis Nationals, which divides competition into age groups. Hey, who are you calling senior?! I’m sure it will be fun with the friends I am going with.

While on the plane, I will continue on with reading Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Sympathizer.” I’ve reached Page 200, and I’m underlining sentences in it with a black pen. It reminds me of one of those war or foreign policy novels (such as “The Ugly American” and “Catch-22”) that you read in university English or History class and have to come up with a profound and coherent essay discussing. It’s a book that’s pretty critical of the U.S. no doubt. So far it’s interesting but not exactly a summer read, if you get my drift. (It makes me slightly wonder if my book club might shoot me over assigning it during the summer vacation season.) But I will see what happens in “The Sympathizer” …. and get back to you on it. The narrator is quite unusual — an atypical truthsayer of sorts.

Meanwhile I lightened things up by finishing the audiobook of British author David Nicholls’s 2014 novel “Us.” This one seems to fit the category of a fun summer read, though I was surprised to see that it was actually long-listed for the Man Booker Prize a couple years back. Huh, are you kidding me?! Nicholls is definitely popular after his novel “One Day” was such a success in England. I haven’t read it, but I did see bits of the movie of it on cable. It was a relationship kind of flick, with Anne Hathaway — you might recall, where she and a guy she knew check in with each other on the same date of each year to see where they are in their lives. Hmm, what a ploy …. hasn’t something similar been done before?

On the other hand, Nicholls’s novel “Us” is also a relationship-kind of novel about a wife (Connie) who tells her husband (Douglas) that she is thinking of leaving their marriage after 25 plus years. Still they decide to take one final European trip together along with their 17-year-old son, Albie. Douglas, who narrates the story, hopes that during the trip that he can change his wife’s mind not to leave him, and that he can get closer to his son, too.

It’s a novel whose story and characters didn’t initially appeal to me — the scope of it is meandering at first — the wife Connie is an artist and Douglas is a nerdy scientist. They are opposites in various ways — she is passionate and a bit flaky and he is uptight and practical. Their teenage son is moody and problematic and doesn’t see eye to eye with his dad. The story jumps back and forth between the present day and the days of when Douglas first met Connie. Yada yada yada. The characters can at times be annoying.

But somewhere during their family European vacation, which goes terribly awry, the story and characters grew on me as things became more humorous and endearing. Oh it’s supposed to be Douglas’s Grand Tour for his family of Paris, Venice, Amsterdam, Florence and Rome. But it doesn’t exactly turn out that way. Oh the troubles of the modern family! Pretty soon Albie, the son, wants to pack it in and goes missing, the wife heads home, and Douglas is off on a trek across Europe to find wherever Albie went. So much for winning over his family.

“Us” is pretty amusing at times. I especially liked the wacky Kat Kilgore, the New Zealand busker whom they meet in Amsterdam and befriends Albie. She made me laugh. I also liked their misadventures and the European stops along the way. There’s some good culture and descriptions in the book. I felt for Douglas, who desperately tries to make things right with those he loves. I probably would’ve edited the book a bit shorter; it’s sort of an exhaustive read with these characters. You spend so much time traveling with them. And I can’t say that I liked the ending too too much. It was a bit perplexing after all of that. But still on the whole I enjoyed “Us” and found it quite entertaining.

It’s another novel that touches on marriage, which reminds me of Jeffrey Eugenides’ novel “The Marriage Plot” and Lauren Groff’s “Fates and Furies,” both of which I found interesting. Hmm what other similar books am I missing?

How about you — have you read “Us” or other similarly themed books, and if so what did you think?

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24 Responses to Late Summer and Us

  1. I enjoyed Us, but also couldn’t fathom why it was nominated for the Booker — wondered if I missed something profound?!

  2. Brian Joseph says:

    These sound like worthwhile books.

    I think that I mentioned that I would like to read The Sympathizer.

    I am liking books that dig into characters and relationships more and more. Thus, Us, sounds like it might be appealing.

    • Susan Wright says:

      Yeah Brian : relationship novels go down easy. Often they’re pretty enjoyable. This one — Us is worth checking out — it’s good.

  3. Carmen says:

    Haven’t read either one, but I would like to read The Sympathizer.

    • Susan Wright says:

      Whoa The Sympathizer is a bit heavy but I’d like to see what will happen and what will become of the main character. Thanks Carmen.

  4. Us didn’t sound like a Booker contender to me either. It *did* sound like a great summer read.

    And I have to warn you…my friend’s book club is also reading The Sympathizer this summer…she’s not happy with reading it this summer…hopefully your group will love the depth despite the season.

    Here’s my Sunday Salon. Consider yourself happiness-tagged. Or not. As you so wish.

    • Susan Wright says:

      Thanks Deb. I sympathize a bit with those reading The Sympathizer on summer vacation, but I am working my way through its insights. Us was a bit long but worth the read.

  5. Judy Krueger says:

    I hope you are having fun in Ottawa! As you know, I loved The Sympathizer. Standing by to find out how you liked it by the end and what your reading group thinks.

    • Susan Wright says:

      Thanks Judy. I am liking Ottawa just have to adjust to the abundant humidity. I’m working my way thru The Sympathizer, slowly on purpose, for all my underlining. I will let you know once I get to the end.

  6. Molly says:

    Ohhh.. a tennis tournament?! How wonderful! I look forward to hearing all the details.

    • Susan Wright says:

      It’s pretty fun so far Molly. So far I got ousted by the #1 seeded player who I had to play in the first round (sigh, not a nice draw), but luckily there is a consolation draw so now I will play in that. I still have doubles too! Some days with tennis are better than others.

  7. Rachel says:

    I haven’t been blogging much this summer either. Good luck at your tennis tournament!

  8. I would never have thought to pick up Us, because One Day (I also saw bits of the movie) seemed so…well, trite.

    But now you’ve intrigued me. And I did (sort of) like The Marriage Plot, so now I’m very curious.

    I like when a book eventually captures my interest, even if at first it doesn’t really grab me.

    Thanks for sharing…and for visiting my blog.

    • Susan Wright says:

      Hi Laurel, I think you might like Us. It’s another relationship/family kind of book on a trip across Europe. The characters grew on me after awhile. Sort of fun.

  9. Ti says:

    How did you do at Nationals? I love a good game of tennis. That means me, sitting on a bench watching because I am horrid at tennis.

    • Susan Wright says:

      Ha ha. Tennis is still fun eh? I’m still battling. I’ve won 3 singles matches in the consolation draw, which is where you go after you lose in the main draw. Somehow they gave me the #1 seeded player 1st round, which didn’t go so well for me. Then I went into the consolation and have been doing okay. We will see.

  10. JaneGS says:

    I liked Us too–I didn’t think it was particularly literary, but I enjoyed it and it made me think and Kat was a kick. I like the way the story resolved at the end–seemed pretty realistic to me, actually.

    • Susan Wright says:

      Oh good to know Jane. Yes I guess you are right — it’s probably much more realistic the way it ended, but I guess I was hoping for a more happy ending but it wasn’t too bad either.

  11. WOW Susan… a tennis tournament?! That is splendid. ..I really hope that you are having fun in Ottawa!
    Dear, I haven’t read either one, but I’m impatient to know your final review on “The Sympathizer”. “US” sounds like an appealing book.

    • Susan Wright says:

      Thanks RT. I’m very much enjoying Ottawa, though the humidity here is quite high! I’m closing in on the end of The Sympathizer — will let you know.

  12. Naomi says:

    I enjoyed One Day, so I’ve been planning to read Us at some point – just haven’t gotten to it yet. It sounds like something I’d like.
    I hope your tennis trip went well!

    • Susan Wright says:

      Thanks Naomi, the tennis trip was fun and the 5 of us from our city did fairly well. The novel Us was good once I got into it.

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