Happy sunrise everyone. I captured this shot while walking my dog early one morning down near the tracks. It makes me think that we will see spring hopefully in a few months time. Already the days are staying lighter longer. Below are reviews of my first three books of 2019, yea! I’m on a good, even pace right now, though I still need to post reviews of my last three books of 2018 that I finished in December, uh-oh. I was going to include them in this post, but I think I will wait. It’s too much to cram in six book reviews, no matter how succinct. Meanwhile I hope everyone is enjoying the start of their new year and liking their first reads of 2019.
The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker (2019) 320 pages
Short Synopsis: (edited from Publishers Weekly’s blurb) Set in an isolated college town in the hills of Southern California, the story follows a handful of characters who become quarantined in the town after a mysterious illness causes its victims to fall into a deep, dream-laden sleep from which they cannot be woken and which sometimes leads to death.
My Thoughts: Uh-oh this malady starts at a college and spreads to the surrounding town. I fell into the story from the get-go and liked its small cast of regulars, especially the college freshman Mei who teams with her eccentric classmate Matthew to help others during the chaotic days of the illness; and a young couple who try to protect their newborn baby from it; as well as two adolescent sisters left on their own after their survivalist father succumbs and is taken away.
It’s a daunting premise and I didn’t really know what was going to happen. The ending might have been slightly a letdown for me as it didn’t really answer all my questions about the mystery or go out with a big finale, but instead it seemed to raise other questions about consciousness and time and whether the victims were dreaming about the past or the future — as well as it highlighted what binds individuals together under such dire circumstances. All in all, I found it kept my interest and its apocalyptic vision and feelings of alienation felt pretty real. I thought the author infused it with some insightful and inspired writing and passages.
So I was a bit surprised to see Dwight Garner rip it apart in his review of the novel in the NY Times. He called the author “a limited and sentimental novelist” and critiqued the characters for being nearly all “exceedingly nice”; he wrote: “None of these characters says or does an interesting thing. Anarchic instincts and impure thoughts are kept to the barest minimum. … Reading this book’s bland dialogue is like watching players on center court use dead tennis balls.” Yikes, a tennis analogy too — that’s my game. I guess call me limited and sentimental then as I thought it was worthwhile and at times astute. I decided to include Dwight Garner’s thoughts here just to see what others might think.
Disclaimer: Thanks to the publisher Random House for the free e-galley of this book that I received to review via Netgalley.
Those Who Knew by Idra Novey (2018) 248 pages
Short Synopsis: (edited from publisher’s version) It features a small circle of characters on an unnamed island country 10 years after the collapse of a U.S.-supported regime. Lena, once a student activist during those days, is now a teacher who comes to suspect that a female aide to a powerful progressive senator named Victor is being taking advantage of by him. When the aide winds up dead, Lena, who once was involved with Victor, suspects he’s had a hand in it.
My Thoughts: I listened to this as an audiobook and was easily hooked from the start. Along with Lena, there’s also her best friend Olga, a bookstore owner, and Freddie the senator’s gay brother who suspects him too. I liked the story’s themes: about Lena’s guilt and complicity over her silence about what happened to her decades earlier; her helplessness about the current situation; and its focus on power.
It’s a timely story considering these #MeToo days, though I believe the author started her novel years earlier. Surely, Victor is a misogynistic, violent guy whose recent marriage to Christina is only for political convenience — wow he’s dreadful throughout this. The story has three parts to it and I guess I just wish it hadn’t jumped so much in time between Part 1 and 2. The writing is well done though a bit scattered in time and among the characters. While it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, I liked its self-discoveries and final reckoning.
If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin (1974) 197 pages
Short Synopsis: (edited from publisher’s version) Set in Harlem, N.Y., it’s about a wrongly imprisoned African American, 22-year-old Fonny, and his pregnant fiance, Tish, who tells the story. Their families fight to clear his name and spring him from prison while the young lovers experience a kaleidoscope of emotions.
My Thoughts: Oh thank goodness for James Baldwin. I read this before seeing the movie, which I hope to see soon. I love Baldwin’s outrage of America’s wrongs in this, his truths, and how he lays it on the line. He tells it like it is and his thoughts about racism in America are keen. This is a potent story and the writing propels one along through the streets of New York in the early 1970s. Tish’s family tries their damndest to raise money for lawyer expenses and they make sacrifices to try to free Fonny but every step of the way seems thwarted and it ends with tragic consequences.
The novel’s story reminded me a bit of Tayari Jones’s “An American Marriage,” which I read last year, and I wondered if she took the idea — of lovers kept from one another by a false imprisonment — from Baldwin’s book or not. Hers is a bit different — perhaps with a more modern-day spin on it. Still as good as Tayari’s story was, I felt Baldwin’s “Beale Street” was a bit more potent and hopeless.
Lastly, we saw the movie “Vice” last night, which is a pretty dark satire about the story of Dick Cheney’s early life and rise leading to his incredible power within the George Bush administration and his unique role in the war with Iraq. I usually like Washington political kinds of movies but this one is so infuriating and overbearing — and even though I suspect the assertions in it are mostly true — it’s just yuck. It’s not a thing you really want to see or re-live about your country.
Yet the performances in it are all quite incredible — Christian Bale as Cheney; Amy Adams as his wife, Lynne; Sam Rockwell as George W. Bush; and Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld. Indeed Bale should get an Oscar for nailing Cheney’s annoying mannerisms. The movie makes it seem like it was all about power and perhaps it oversimplifies things and is quite scathing in its delivery, yet it seems brave to have been made too. Surely the movie is about 15 to 20 minutes too long and I’m not sure it will entice the average viewer outside of political junkies. I guess it’s not a movie that endeared me or I totally liked, but I’m glad I saw it.
What about you — have you read these novels or seen this movie — and if so, what did you think?
Of all the books, If Beale Street Could Talk appeals to me most. I don’t think I’ll see Vice – just watching the news is disturbing enough.
Yeah Kathy, I know what you mean about the news. Beale Street in movie or book form is worth doing!
I have The Dreamers coming to me from the library. It reminds me of many books but for some reason I am still drawn to it. I’ve not seen any bad reviews of it until the one you mentioned here.
Yeah Ti : The Dreamers is a pretty easy and quick read … and has been generally liked around the blogosphere but this NYT review really hammers it. See what you think.
Lovely way to start your morning, such a pretty pic. Looks like your reading for 2019 is off to a good start.
Thanks Diane. Yeah so far I’m on a good reading track. I hope to keep it up. 🙂
I read Karen Thompson Walker’s first novel, The Age of Miracles. I liked it but I had some of those Dwight Garner feelings about it as well. I will try this one. I think she is a good writer but could use a bit more grit.
Beale Street! Loved the book, loved the movie.
I’m looking forward to reading Those Who Knew.
I declined to see Vice in the theater but I am curious. Guess I will wait for the DVD. I have come to see that no matter how dirty politics is, as a citizen it is not an option to be uninformed. Ah, what a mess!
You are sure off to a good start for the year!
Good comments Judy. Yeah The Dreamers author might get more grit after reading that review, yikes. It’s not exactly a survivor tale of everyone out for themselves like perhaps McCarthy’s The Road is. So glad I read Beale Street. And Vice is worth seeing on DVD … especially b/c the power of the executive branch taken from those years is still affecting things today. Albeit to revisit some of those decisions & politicians from back then is pretty appalling.
I am very jealous as I have not even completed one book yet. Everything that you finished looks good. I am not sure if I want to see Vice. I railed against Cheney when he was in office. I think he did terrible harm and got people killed. But the film seems to make him out to be a monster and I think that he was not a monster. I believe that there are monsters, or at least sociopaths out there, but I am not sure that Chaney was one.
Hi Brian: you’ll be glad to know the movie Vice doesn’t really make Cheney out to be a monster …. it shows him as a loving father and family man. It mainly shows how he gained so much power. He seems pretty fairly portrayed considering where he lead the country. You might see Vice when it comes on rental. Being a politics buff, you’d might like some of it.
You are spot on regarding Vice. It totally creeped me out but the performances were stellar, especially Christian Bale’s. I will read your review of Beale St after I have read it. We swapped this in for our book group classic which is assigned for our May read. Your other reviews are very intriguing. I think I will pick up The Dreamers & will let you know who I side with ;-). I’m eager to read your other, year-end reviews!
Wow thanks Sarah. I didn’t know you had seen Vice but glad you had a similar reaction to it. I’m keen to wipe it off my list. Beale Street is good and I hear the movie is too. Nice choice for a book group. The Dreamers is a pretty easy / quick read. See what you think.
The Dreamers sounds good, but if the characters remained decent, in thoughts and actions, despite the chaos, I have to agree with that scathing review; chaos usually derives in anarchy. People usually don’t remain like an island of Zen during outside forces. I saw Vice last Saturday. I will be posting about it tomorrow. 🙂 The movie was too leftist to be objective, but it was a satire. It wasn’t supposed to be objective.
Yeah Carmen I can see some of the reviewers points (on niceness), though it seemed this author’s focus was a bit elsewhere — on dreams and consciousness … it was a bit of a different kind of apocalyptic tale. It had enough good parts about it. They weren’t all Polly Purebread types. I look forward to your review of Vice.
Great start to the year! Maybe we’ll watch Vice this weekend. I kind of forgot about it.
Hi Beth, thanks for stopping by! Yeah I’m off to a good start so far, knock on wood. I’d be interested to hear what you think of Vice.
This happens to me all the time. I like a book then read the reviews and wonder if they read the same book as me. I like to chew on the other reviewers thoughts which will round out my own thinking, though. I’m adding James Baldwin’s book to my reading list. Thanks for the review of it.
Hi Anne: thanks for your comments. It seems many times critics and bloggers can be far a part in their thoughts on books! I’m okay with it. I think you’ll like the Baldwin book. It’s short and potent. Happy 2019.
Your photo is stunning!! What a beautiful start to the day! I’ve only seen positive blogger comments on The Dreamers, so was surprised to see that NYTimes review. Not sure I’ll read it (not usually drawn to that type of book), but am more likely to try If Beale Street Could Talk. Your year is off to a great start!
Thanks JoAnn, so far so good. Yeah I think you’ll like the Baldwin book; it’s short but compelling. I’m curious to see the movie now. The Dreamers was an easy way to start the year … it did get into my head. Enjoy your weekend.
The James Baldwin book does sound really good—I haven’t read anything by him yet.
I’m intrigued by The Dreamers—does seem like a daunting premise but I can see how it could hook the reader.
I think Vice would depress me too much—kudos to you for have the fortitude to watch it.
Hi Jane: yeah you better hold off on Vice — it was hard to revisit all those Bush/Cheney days again. The Dreamers is a quick read and the Baldwin book is pretty much too. You’d probably like them.
Wow, I had no idea The Dreamers was savaged by the NYT! I didn’t love it and I did think the ending was weak, but that’s brutal. I’ve read worse.
I’ll have to hold off on Vice until we’re in a better place- if that happens. It will just make me too rage-y. I’m going to go see On the Basis of Sex this week so hoping it will be good.
Hi Catherine — let me know if you like the RBG – Basis of Sex movie. It looks good. The Vice movie will pretty much enrage you — so good idea to wait. As for The Dreamers — Oh it took a beating in the NYT! The dialogue likened to dead tennis balls, ouch!! How unkind.
I liked Walker’s previous book, which was also kind of apocalyptic in a quiet way. I really liked the idea of it, so am very tempted by this new one just to see what she has come up with this time. Too bad it was shredded in the NYT, but they have their own tastes just like everyone else.
Thanks Naomi. I think you would find this one interesting as well. I think she was trying to do something different with it / not just a survival tale but a look into consciousness which was worth it.