Thursday, February 16, 2012

Re-reading Fox's Desperate Characters


I just couldn't resist reading Paula Fox's Desperate Characters again after all these years.  Even though the book was first published over 40 years ago, the writing still feels fresh.  This novella follows a few days in the lives of Sophie and Otto Bentwood, a well-to-do couple living near Brooklyn Heights.   It all begins when a stray cat bites Sophie on the hand.  This is the first of many assaults from the outside world that can't be avoided, no matter how cloistered and privileged a life one might try to lead.  A rock thrown at a window, the sound of bongos from the street, the knocking of a stranger at the door, all are ways in which the equanimity that the protagonists seek are disturbed.  This is a witty book that blends the tragic and the comic, the mundane and the existential.  While the characters are hard to like, perhaps it is only because we find something of Sophie or Otto in ourselves in our efforts to lead lives that keep any kind of desperation at bay!

Didion's Blue NIghts

 
Blue Nights, published in 2011, is the first book that I have read by Joan Didion.  It is a memoir in which Didion mourns the loss of her daughter, Quintana Roo, who passed away at the age of 39.  It is an honest, wrenching book in which the author examines the complexities of motherhood and aging, as well as the responsibility and struggle to do enough and to do right by the people we love.  I would be interested in reading one of her novels, but I was not particularly drawn in by her fragmented and sparse writing style.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Introducing Gin Phillips



I learned about Gin Phillips' novel The Well and the Mine from IndieBound's website.  As it turns out, this was perfect timing for me to read Phillips' first book, as her second book (which I definitely want to read), entitled Come In and Cover Me, was released in January 2012, meaning I won't have to wait long to enjoy more of Phillips' work.  The Well and the Mine explores issues of race and class in a coal mining town in Alabama during the Great Depression.  The story is told from five different perspectives which represent all the members of the Moore family.  This was a very readable, engaging story that deals with social issues but also explores the intimate relationships within a family and a small town.