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Life and Fate

by Vasily Grossman

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jordan said: " How exactly is it that I never encountered this novel before? It is like reading Tolstoy, if Leo were a Jew writing about the Stalinist period. Unimaginably rich. Heart-breakingly lovely. "

Apr 24, 2014 11:48AM · see review

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An Unnecessary Woman

by Rabih Alameddine

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jordan said: " After reading Rabih Alameddine's last novel the Hakawati, I became something of an evangelist, pushing it on all my friends (who, given its length, were somewhat resistant). With "An Unnecessary Woman," the author goes in an entirely different direct After reading Rabih Alameddine's last novel the Hakawati, I became something of an evangelist, pushing it on all my friends (who, given its length, were somewhat resistant). With "An Unnecessary Woman," the author goes in an entirely different direction. The novel's narrator is an elderly Lebanese woman living in Beirut who translates novels -- one a year -- as a hobby. In an ironic opening for this ironic novel, we find her considering the a work by Sebald, the great deceased German author to whose style Alameddine here pays homage. As with Sebald, the reader at times may find him or herself struggling with the novel's discursive structure. The rewards, however, for this effort prove enormous.

Alameddine here combines to classic genres, the novel of regret and the novel as a work of literary analysis. We see the former from the start; the narrator Aaliyah looks back on her life from old age with a mixture of amusement and regret. She's been an observer her whole life and plainly shy, she does not hesitate to unleash her withering critique of every other person and event in her life. Thus we learn about her limp former husband, her batty neighbors, etc. As one might expect, her understanding of these characters at the end of the book is not the same as it was at the beginning.

As a novel of literary analysis, the novel brings to mind Coetzee's "Elizabeth Costello," though with far more fluidity as this novel's plot is more than a mere frame. In the free flow of Aaliyah's decelerations on various authors, one does smell strong perfume form Sebald, though unlike Sebald, one gets a sense that the barriers between Alameddine and his character at times grows quite thin. Still, the sheer range of authors discussed -- Sebald, of course, as well as Flaubert, Nabokov, Marquez, Coetzee, Keats, Bruno Schultz, Twain, and Kis, just to name a sample -- proves fun as do the strength of the opinions voiced. Yes, some might find these parts dragging and perhaps even pretentious, but I found them delightful, whether I agreed with Alameddine and especially when I did not.

As with every novel, much of this work's success lies on the author's skills. As with his previous works, Alameddine here again does not disappoint. His style, sardonically ironic, well observed, and often biting, keeps the pages turning with aplomb. Even the shortest lines often carry a razor wit, from the philosophical like "There is none more conformist than one who flaunts his individuality" to the pedestrian, as with "The shower felt like a monsoon: hot, succulent, and baptismal." Even a simple cunning verb as with "Fadia uncorked her grief" keeps this novel humming.

Were it reliant on just this author's deft prose or his thoughtful discussion of literature, this would be a book well worth reading. Combined, they alloy into a work both delightful and intellectually evocative. ...more "

Jan 30, 2014 03:38PM · see review

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The Monster of Florence

by Douglas Preston (Goodreads Author)

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Jun 17, 2013 09:24AM

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jordan’s Quotes

“He was forever dwelling on his failures. He held them up to the light and examined them in minute detail, like necklaces that had tangled in a drawer.”
― Elliott Holt

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“There are three points of view from which a writer can be considered: he may be considered as a storyteller, as a teacher, and as an enchanter. A major writer combines these three — storyteller, teacher, enchanter — but it is the enchanter in him that predominates and makes him a major writer...The three facets of the great writer — magic, story, lesson — are prone to blend in one impression of unified and unique radiance, since the magic of art may be present in the very bones of the story, in the very marrow of thought...Then with a pleasure which is both sensual and intellectual we shall watch the artist build his castle of cards and watch the castle of cards become a castle of beautiful steel and glass.”
― Vladimir Nabokov

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