This Is How You Lose Her

I couldn't wait for Junot Diaz's new short story collection, This Is How You Lose Her, to come out. I kept hearing so much about it, about him, and the excitement built and built until I didn't think I could stand it. I only had to wait a week to get it from the library, but my impatience made it seem much, much longer.

The funny thing was once I started reading, I couldn't remember why I was salivating over it so much. I adored Diaz's novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, but had lukewarm feelings about his first short story collection, Drown. I enjoy Diaz's writing and the honesty that accompanies his prose, but sometimes I find the way his characters talk and/or think about women to be very unpalatable, particularly regarding the character of Yunior, who reappears again and again in Diaz's work. My favorite story in this collection is The Cheater's Guide to Love and I liked its (also the book's) final line, a bittersweet ending.

After I set down the book and had time to reconcile my feelings, I realize that my literary side loved it while my feminist side hated it. In the end my opposing feelings toward it balance one another out and I have rather neutral feelings about This is How You Lose Her. It definitely has both virtues and shortcomings, which makes it a delightfully flawed, accessible read.

Revolutionary Road

I kept reading about what an amazing book Revolutionary Road was until I decided that I needed to read it. I was not disappointed (with the book, that is; I must admit being sad to reach the last page.) I loved the the characters, the story, the feel of the novel, and the prose style of author Richard Yates.

The story focuses on the Wheelers, a young suburban couple in the 1950's. The novel opens with the end of a community theater production, one in which April Wheeler starred in, one that was a flop. April and her husband Frank get into an argument after the play and that night changes things for the couple. They both grapple with the state of their marriage, their lives, and what brought them to this point. April soon comes up with a plan to change everything and that is the novel's turning point and what steers the plot to its heartbreaking conclusion.

I saw there was a movie made a couple years ago based on the novel, but I'm afraid it will taint my memory of this book. I did see the preview and wasn't impressed, so I can't say whether the movie does a good job representing the novel. But the prose is so great--seems so effortlessly simple and clear--that those who saw the film may want to also check out the book. Though I read that nothing else Richard Yates wrote was so well received as Revolutionary Road, I am interested in reading some of his other work as I so thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

Breasts: a natural and unnatural history

I feel like I should have an excuse, some kind of justification for picking up Breasts: a natural and unnatural history, but in truth it just looked interesting. One of the comments on the back cover states: "Be brave, buy this book, and withstand the giggles and snickers of your friends..." I saw that and checked the book out and was glad I did. Author Florence Williams rhapsodizes about our culture's obsession with (big) breasts, the history of breast augmentation, and then tackles a lot about plastics and environmental toxins that are ending up in breast milk and contributing to high rates of breast cancer. As a former La Leche League leader, I found the information about the toxicity of breast milk disturbing. As a woman, mother, and citizen, I was angry to read about all the mounting evidence that plastics and other environmental toxins are responsible for high breast cancer rates when these chemicals run so freely through our homes, lawns, and waterways. There was a lot of interesting information as well, the story of the first breast implant (the woman consented to the experimental procedure in exchange for cosmetic surgery on her ears), information about hormones and a brief history of birth control, and studies about how men respond to breasts (ok, so that wasn't too surprising). The book is labeled 'science' and at times felt too dry with too much scientific jargon for my liking, but overall it's an interesting book.

NW

How to convey how excited I was about getting Zadie Smith's new novel? Let me put it this way, Zadie Smith is one of my all time favorite writers, whose last book is one of my favorite books ever (On Beauty) and I've literally waited for the last seven years for her next novel. And here it is--NW. 

NW is the story of four characters who grow up on the same street, but whose lives take them in very different directions. The novel is broken into sections and each has a distinct style that echos the (psychological) place each character is coming from. NW is not a plot-driven story, but an incredible novel about the confusion these characters face. Zadie Smith said in an interview on the Diane Rehm show that when she began writing this novel, she thought about it as a "black Existentialist" novel. 

I love the way Zadie Smith tackles race in her novels. She said in a different interview with NPR about how she only points out a person's race if they are white, flipping the custom of white writers to point out the race of their black characters: "Everybody's neutral unless they're black — then you hear about it: the black man, the black woman, the black person. Of course, if you happen to be black the world doesn't look that way to you. I just wanted to try and create perhaps a sense of alienation and otherness in this person, the white reader, to remind them that they are not neutral to other people." 

One review said that the novel was wonderful and brilliant but that the reviewer hated the ending. I disagree. I loved this book--including the ending--and had the rare experience of finishing the book and wanting to immediately start reading it again. I've heard people say books have made them want to do so and have never really felt that before, but this book made me want to go back inside it. I'm looking forward to rereading it again. Zadie did not disappoint. 

Grapes of Wrath

I continue to be hungry for well written novels and my appetite led me to try John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, which I had never read. It had been recommended to me in the past, but I brushed off the recommendation because the book seemed too heavy. And yes, it is surely not a light book, but is a very worthwhile read about the struggles of the Joad family who are forced to leave their home in Oklahoma because of the Dust Storm. They head off to California, a land that seems full of promise and job opportunities, hoping the migration will solve their troubles. Of course we know things are never so simple, that desperation does not bring prosperity.

You come to really feel for the characters. (I especially worried about Rose of Sharon.) And the prose gives you character description like a whisper, asking the reader to draw her own conclusions, which a lot of contemporary writing has stopped doing. I love how Steinbeck is a master at exhibiting restraint, something I have been trying to learn in my own writing. Overall, The Grapes of Wrath is a beautiful novel, one I am glad I finally got around to reading.

Several short sentences about writing

I picked up Verlyn Klinkenborg's Several short sentences about writing because of the title. It's a tiny accessible book and flipping through the pages, I saw it was perfect for dipping into. Klinkenborg gives writers short pieces of advice about how to write with more clarity and dispels writing myths. The last part of the book critiques writing samples--both poor and exemplary examples. There is not a lot to say about this book besides I enjoyed it and found it insightful, though most of the advice I'd read before. Some things are good to read over and over though and others brought much needed inspiration. My favorite was a list of possible requirements writers imagine for themselves (including laptop, tea, etc.) and then he writes, "Sooner or later the need for any one of these will prevent you from writing." It was exactly what I needed to hear right then.