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Book Club - by Luke

Bridge to Terabithia

October 15th 2007 10:53

Bridge to Terabithia

My girlfriend lent me her copy of this book because I wanted to read it before I saw the film. It's a 'kids' book, obviously, and quite thin, but I read it as slowly as I could to savour it. I don't like to use the word 'beautiful' often as it seems to be one of the more girly adjectives at my otherwise manly disposal, but I really do have to call this book just that: beautiful.

Jesse is an 11 year old boy amongst four sisters. His father is always away, working hard to support his struggling semi-rural family. Jesse's mother seems to have little patience or time for him, and the bulk of the house's chores seem to fall on the boy's uncomplaining shoulders. Jesse is an impressive drawer but his talents are unappreciated by all except his music teacher, and more than anything else in the world he wants to win the lunchtime race at his school.

But Jesse's loner-ish world is broken wide open by the arrival of Lesley Burke, his new next-door neighbour, a clever and imaginative tomboy-type who has learnt early in life to be herself no matter what others say or think. The two form a fast friendship that feeds roots into their secret place, the imagined world of Terabithia - where they are King and Queen.

Everything about this book is perfect. There are no wasted sentences and each chapter is a work of perfection in itself, thoughtful and memorable - stained through with echoes of life-experiences, calling to mind our own childhoods and the trials and tribulations that help us grow up. When I started reading I kept thinking, "When will they get to the Terabithia bit?" but when I eventually got to the beginnings of this part of the book, I found myself every bit as attached to the school-set sequences and the various other subplots that weave in and around the book's central premise.

Without trying to give anything away, the core of the book itself is quite emotional and I found myself a bit teary at some points (but not in a girly way!) Aside from dealing with schoolyard and sibling bullying, and a boy's need for attention, the book's crux is almost traumatic. It says a lot about Katherine Paterson's skill as a writer that she is able to move things along so organically and realistically without leaving the reader disappointed or betrayed, and to deny this would be to miss the point of the book altogether. I loved every page of it.

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Catch 22

November 28th 2006 05:49

'Catch 22' is considered by many to be the 'Greatest Novel of the 20th Century'. That's a pretty big fair-dinkum call. I don't know if I could restrict myself to make such a call, but if I ever did make an assertion along those lines, 'Catch 22' might very well be it, if not at least on the shortlist. It's that good a book. Not many books can claim to have had an impact on western society the way 'Catch 22' has. I mean, it invented the phrase 'Catch 22', and influenced a variety of texts from 'M.A.S.H.' in the 60s and 70s to the more recent 'Buffalo Soldiers', and fuelled anti-war protests all over the world in subsequent decades. So c'mon, recognise!

The book begins as an episodic look at an American WW2 fighting squadron based in the Mediterranean just outside Italy. Our focus is Captain Yossarian, a man desperately trying to get out of the war. His nerves are shot from dropping bombs, and he is obsessed with the idea that people are trying to kill him (such is the point of war). He repeatedly tries to get himself thrown out of the airforce by acting crazy, but the squadron's doctor asserts that it would be crazy NOT to act crazy, and therefore Yossarian can't be crazy. This is the central catch 22 of the book, though the text is riddled with them as a means to portraying the illogical paradoxes of war.

'Catch 22' devotes a lot of time to other characters on the squadron, a motley bunch of unhinged, tragic and/or hilarious characters whose personal stories overlap with Yossarian's and paint out the wider context of the war's senselessness. As such, the plot doesn't really move beyond that, the book is more concerned with exploring themes and the fates of it's characters. Having said that though, it's final act is a masterful sequence that eventually leads to an awesome ending.

What begins as a comedy, ends as the kind of tragedy where there isn't much one can do other than laugh. This kind of black humour would later be utilised for the popular series 'M.A.S.H.'', but it's in this book where it found it's legs. When it's funny it's laugh-out-loud stuff, propelled by great character dynamics and wit, but when it's serious it hits hard. This juxtaposition is what brings the horrors and tragic futility of war to the surface of the text in ways that few other books can match.

Predictably, 'Catch 22' was and remains a very controversial book. Heller really hit a goldmine with his ballsy and trailblazing attack on the war machine, and the fact that a lot of it was fuelled by his own personal experiences as a WW2 bombadier really rubbed a lot of people up the wrong way. Fuck 'em, I say. Fuck 'em all. This is one of the great novels, and all I have written about it in this blog is only the tip of the iceberg. This book could withstand a hundred re-reads. Go find a copy!

For a review of the film version of Catch 22 - gohere

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A Confederacy of Dunces

November 8th 2006 09:01

'A Confederacy of Dunces' is a Pullitzer Prize-winning piece of classic literature. It is also the only novel written by John Kennedy Toole, who committed suicide 11 years before the book was published. It also happens to be an extremely funny and original work... very well-written, enigmatic in it's construction and meaning, at turns hilarious and tragic, and memorable if only for the circumstances surrounding it's conception, publication and canonisation.

Ignatius J. Reilly is an obese home-bound would-be academic. He is 30 years old, an adamant virgin, lives with his alcoholic put-open mother, and rallies against all facets of modern society from his bedroom in New Orleans. He is obsessed with his 'valve' (his anus) and it's emissions, he worships Fortuna (a medieval concept concerning fate and destiny), he despises pretty much everyone around him, and has no sense of responsibility for his actions. The book begins with Ignatius and his mother visiting a rather seedy bar, from whence a series of events encapsulating a variety of memorable characters spreads out like some kind of web... the threads of which will tie back together once again by the book's end.

When Ignatius' mother crashes their car into a building, the bill turns out to be quite substantial. Following the advice of a friendly and rather pathetic policeman named Mancusso, Mrs. Reilly puts her foot down and demands that her son starts to seek employment. Ignatius is indignant at first but soon seizes the opportunity as a chance to conduct a social experiment... he will keep a diary of his adventures in the work force. At first, Ignatius finds a job in a down-at-heel pants factory, where he quickly sets about transforming the company into a dynamic business. His boss is very impressed with what Ignatius appears to be doing, but Ignatius is a bit of an unknown quantity... he destroys important files, insults clients via letters, and incites the black workers to rise up and kill their white employer.

This is only a small fraction of the book's events... Ignatius also finds work as a hotdog vendor (much to his mother's disgust and shame), becomes enamoured with a woman in a pornographic picture, tries to organise the New Orleans' gay community into an almighty gay army that he can use to take over the world, and generally gets into all sorts of mischief - all with self-important delusions of grandeur.

Ignatius would have to go down as one of the greatest and most original literary creations in modern times. No character has ever come across in equal amounts as loathsome, diabolical, self-righteous, sympathetic, unsympathetic, amusing or disgusting. His interaction with the book's other characters provide the high points of the novel... not too far into it I was already looking forward to any sequence involving Ignatius. And whenever he met a new character I knew I was in for some laughs. I've never laughed out loud whilst reading a book the way I did with this. 'A Confederacy of Dunces' other high point would have to be it's recreation of New Orleans... it's squalor, it's cosmopolitan shine, the kind of degenerate characters who cheerfully fill it's nooks and crannies, the unique rhythms of language they speak. Toole did a real good job.

The tragedy of this fine piece of work is that Toole poured so much into it, sent it off to a publishers, and got denied. The book was turned down, and Toole was so dejected that he killed himself. His mother (reputed to be a domineering and somewhat unhinged woman) shopped the book around relentlessly between 1969 and 1980. Eventually someone published it, and the book won the Pullitzer Prize. It's sad that it had to be that way... a pyrrhic victory, and a very good book that we might never have gotten to experience.

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The Iron Man

September 13th 2006 06:16

This is a wonderful, albeit short, children's book from celebrated poet Ted Hughes. I have seldom seen such efficient and effective writing in children's fiction, nor anywhere else for that matter, and the way he describes his story is every bit as fascinating as the unique story itself!

The Iron Man is a massive robot of unknown origins who finds himself roaming the countryside. He feeds on metal and iron, much to the detriment of the local farmers - who find their tractors and barbed wire fencing destroyed or gone in the wake of the Giant. They resolve to trap the being in a large pit and to cover it over with dirt. When this fails they listen to the local boy who first spotted the giant, who suggests they try to befriend it and make some kind of deal with it.

But the Earth is a wicked place. Our fighting and warring has become so clamourous that it brings terrible trouble to us in the form of a massive space dragon. This is a being so large that it covers all of Australia and it seeks to subject the Earth to a horror unmatched. The Iron Man might be the Earth's only hope of salvation.

This is pretty much most of the book. Like I said, it's short. It runs for about sixty pages or so and runs in a linear and slightly episodic fashion. No dialogue is featured until the last chapter, the book's climax, where the book gains most of it's meaning and the frightening urgency of the situation becomes all too apparent.

'The Iron Man' is a timeless tale and a memorable parable on war, peace and technology. The farmers' first reaction to the Iron Man is to destroy him but little do they know that his help will be sorely needed. Unfortunately, the world remains - mostly - a wicked and inhospitable place and the messages here are just as clear now as they ever were. And, sadly, they seem just as fanciful and unattainable. A wonderful story for everyone, to read to children and to be enjoyed by adults alike.

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Danny, the Champion of the World

September 5th 2006 08:25

Danny, the Champion of the World probably remains my favourite Roald Dahl book. I don't claim to have read them all or to be some kind of massive Dahl fan but this one particular book is the one that has resonated the most with me, and stayed in my thoughts past childhood like no other Dahl book

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Lord of the Flies

July 25th 2006 09:54

Lord of the Flies

It's some unspecified time in the near future. A plane-load of schoolboys have crashlanded on a remote island. Their pilot is dead. There are no teachers to look after them. The boys must fend for themselves. Power struggles ensue

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Catcher in the Rye

July 11th 2006 09:49

It's hard to approach such a well-known and widely-read classic as 'The Catcher in the Rye' with the intention of saying something worth reading. The bottom line is, it's a classic for a reason and I give it a glowing recommendation, but hey - I should probably say a little bit more than that if this is to be classed as a review.

Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

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In Cold Blood

June 30th 2006 05:03

In Cold Blood

Yeharrrr! Another bargain buy – this one was in the vicinity of $8 or something. Obviously, this was before all the Truman hype that came with that ‘Capote’ movie – now you gotta pay full price, fools. Yeharr! Take that! Whoop-pa

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The Great Gatsby

June 22nd 2006 12:54

The Great Gatsby... this was one of those books I didn't get to read in school, though everyone else seemed to. I finally got around to reading it a few weeks ago and I tell ya... it sure was short for a classic! I like it. More short classics please. Less Tolstoy.

The Great Gatsby

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1984

June 15th 2006 09:42

Considered by many to be the definitive George Orwell novel, 1984 is a bleak and cautioning science-fiction classic that can be found on many people's 'greatest novels' lists. Why is this? Well, you could say that it's fairly accessible to modern readers, that it (sadly) hasn't dated at all, and that it resonates with a real sense of tragedy and foreboding - all the more so for being Orwell's last completed novel - and will stay with anyone who reads it for a long time.

1984 by George Orwell

Written more than fifty years ago, the world of 1984 is surprisingly unfuturistic. It isn't that far removed from either the world of 1948 (when it was released) or the world of 2006. Winston Smith is a lonely put-upon man who works for the euphemistically-named Ministry of Truth. Like all his fellow citizens, he lives under the pervasive scrutiny of Big Brother's surveillance. But unlike his fellow citizens, who live in a drug-addled stupor of fear, hate and depression, he sets about quietly resisting the measures of control laid out for him. He searchs for an outlet to rebel... he embarks on a secret love affair with a co-worker, and he seeks to join with a rumoured resistance group

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Brave New World

May 25th 2006 11:48

Australian edition

I just finished reading Brave New World the other day and I must say it was a jolly good read indeed! I picked it up a while ago after reading Orwell's 1984 and seeing as this book predated it by a good 16 years or so and is listed on pretty much every must-read sci-fi and literature list ever written, well, I figured it was worth reading.

I was very surprised by a lot of things in this book. 'Brave New World' was written in 1932 by Aldous Huxley and details the world far into our future, where people are genetically engineered rather than born and the population is kept in line with a drug called soma. All this I knew. What I didn't know was how frank it would be in regards to sex and how our attitudes towards it might change in a world where the idea of 'family' is null and void. It was very interesting, especially when you consider what era this book was written in

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Playing Beatie Bow

May 2nd 2006 06:31

Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park

Chances are that if you went to school in Sydney, Australia, during the 80s, you read this book at one point or another. You probably also saw the film, and you might have also gone on an excursion to the Rocks in Sydney to look at some of the old houses there.

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