Review: In the Country of Last Things

In the Country of Last Things

By Paul Auster

Penguin 1987

188 pages

From my shelves

Anna Blume is writing a letter to someone back home. She writes about the things that have happened to her since she arrived in an unnamed city, searching for her brother. It's the end of the world here, she knows no one, and she can't find her brother. People are dying in the streets, either murdered for their resources or finally giving up on a better future. Can Anna escape the city or will she join forces with another person in order to survive?

I read Auster's Oracle Night and really enjoyed its magical realism and multiple narratives. I happened to pick this one up, but it's wildly different from his other writing. This book is sparse and terrifyingly real. In this city (which seems like NYC, but is never named), almost no one has a job or a permanent place to live. People with more strength or better weapons can force you to leave your home at any moment. Citizens simply wander the streets, looking for relics of a better time that they can sell for food money. Babies haven't been born for a long time, and the population is dropping rapidly. People are truly desperate as they look for ways to end their miserable lives. Some hire an assassin to take their lives, some pay their last few dollars to be euthanized in a posh clinic, and some train for months to run until their hearts give out. The darkness and desperation of these people permeate the pages of this book. 

Anna is an interesting narrator, although as she admits, everything she says is suspect because no one knows what to believe anymore. One of the most striking things is her realization that things just cease to be - one day a street is there and then gone, a person is alive and then dead, entire words and concepts are leaving collective memory. "When you live in the city, you learn to take nothing for granted. Close your eyes for a moment, turn around to look at something else, and the thing that was before you is suddenly gone. Nothing lasts, you see, not even the thoughts inside you. And you mustn't waste your time looking for them. Once a thing is gone, that is the end of it." 

This is a good book, but it suffers from dystopian syndrome. While this book was written 25 years ago, it seems that today everyone and their mother has written a novel about the end of the world. So why should you read this novel about the end of the world instead of the thousands of others? Auster utilizes a lot of things that seem familiar to people who regularly read dystopian stories, but he does it with a level of perception and insight that makes other books pale in comparison. This is a short book, but it is one to be read slowly and carefully. In Auster's capable hands, the end of the world seems terrifyingly plausible.

Considering another book by Paul Auster? Here's my review of Oracle Night.

Review: People of the Book

People of the Book

By Geraldine Brooks

Penguin Books 2008

372 pages

From my bookshelves

Hanna Heath is surprised and pleased when she is offered an incredible opportunity: she is asked to travel to Sarajevo to examine the famous Sarajevo Haggadah. This book is unique among Jewish volumes because it is one of the first to include images alongside its stories from the Torah. Hanna begins the painstaking work of discovering the potential origins of the book. As Hana finds small pieces of evidence, we are taken back into history to meet the men and women who made and preserved this remarkable book.

The Sarajevo Haggadah is a real book and a mystery among scholars. Ms. Brooks has imagined a possible history by having Hanna discover a clue or anomaly and then giving us the story behind it. The stories are beautiful and heartbreaking and I was constantly impressed by Brooks' ability to bring all of these characters in all of these different places and times to vibrant life. Lola, a Jewish freedom fighter who is taken in by a Muslim family; Giovanni Vistorini, the Catholic priest with the power to save or destroy the Haggadah during the Inquisition; and the young artist who creates the book are just a few of the characters we meet on these pages. There is something incredible about the importance each person grants the Haggadah and the ways in which they fight to protect it.

As Hanna pieces together the history of the book, she also makes important discoveries about herself and her family. Some reviewers find Hanna to be the weak link in this book, but I found her an interesting character. As she becomes close to the the director of the library museum, she finds her ideas about relationships and trust rapidly changing. Her already tenuous bond with her mother is tested when Hanna discovers that people in the present can keep secrets just as devastating as the ones that threatened and preserved the Haggadah.

People of the Book is, like many books that I adore, at its core about our relationship with this unlikely combination of paper and ink, pictures and glue. Books are important, and the people who realize that are our kindred spirits regardless of whether they are real life friends or just people we meet on a page. This is a gorgeous book that reveals the importance of words, faith, and love. It's one I will be returning to time and again. 

Wednesdays with David: Just Go to Bed

Just Go to Bed

By Mercer Mayer

Random House 2001

From our shelves

The story: Little Critter is not so fond of this bedtime thing. He would much rather play cowboy or sea monster or bunny rabbit. Can his dad convince him to just go to bed?

Mama opines: I love Little Critter. I love how he is always getting in trouble. His particular brand of mischief is seen in little boys everywhere. It's not that he means to disobey - it's just that there are better things to do than go to bed! I like that this story features a dad putting his child to bed. Dads do this kind of stuff too, you know. I think Mayer strikes a nice balance in this series of parenting from both mom and dad. This is a great book to read if you have a little one who can procrastinate going to bed for oh....the next twelve hours or so.

Thoughts from David: I like it because he sleeps in his bed and before that, he does not want to sleep in a bed.

Favorite part: When the evil daddy puts him in the bathtub!

Happy Reading!

Review: Redwall

Redwall

By Brian Jacques

Ace Books 1998

333 pages

Borrowed from a friend

This is the first book in the beloved Redwall series by Brian Jacques. The stories are about the animals who live and around Redwall Abbey. The mice are peace-loving healers who are shocked when their home is besieged by a terrifying rat named Cluny the Scourge. Their only hope for defeating the rat army is to find the lost sword of Martin the Warrior, the ancient protector of the Abbey. Can an awkward mouse named Matthias find the sword, defeat Cluny, and save the day?

This is a charming read. When I was a kid, I think I would have adored this series. But as an adult, it strikes me as simplistic. The good characters are oh so good and the bad characters are terribly evil for no discernible reason. Cluny wants to take over the Abbey seemingly because he can and he manages to find a  horde of miscreants and outcasts that will follow him to the death with no previous association. 

This is not to say that there aren't good things to be found in this book. Jacques does an excellent job of world-building and it's fascinating to see the relationships between the animals. I love reading books where I sit and marvel at the author's imagination. There seem to be two things that are really important within Redwall Abbey. One is food and the other is loyalty to your friends. Both of these things get a lot of attention and if a book if going to make your kid think about how to treat others and then make them hungry for dinner, you really can't complain. 

I think Redwall is a book I will recommend to David when he is old enough to understand the magic of immersing yourself in another world. I think it teaches its readers about the importance of family and community. It shows that courage is rewarded and that good will triumph over evil. But as an adult, I won't be rushing out to read the rest of this series. 

It's Monday and boy, it's been a week!

So, this week...it's been an interesting one. Thanksgiving was lovely. We had breakfast with my in-laws and that side of the family and watched the parade. Then we went to my grandmother's house where we enjoyed a giant dinner with twenty or so of our closest family members and friends. On Friday, we pulled out the Christmas decorations and got to work. We watched that Eloise at the Plaza Christmas movie while decorating (I got David to watch a movie that wasn't Cars or Toy Story!) 

Friday night was when things got interesting. I was upstairs putting some laundry away when David came up and told me he was hungry. My husband had gone to help someone from the church, so I started to follow David downstairs but stopped to grab the laundry basket. David took this opportunity to try to slide down the banister. He didn't make it. He landed face first on the floor after falling several feet. We called the EMTs and we are so thankful to report that he didn't suffer any broken bones or a concussion. He is, however, currently sporting a black eye, a split lip, and some serious abrasions on and around his nose. It's been a very interesting weekend and while I am forever grateful to our local police force and EMTs, I hope to never ever see them in my house again. 

Read This Week:

Full Disclosure

By Dee Henderson

Antarctica on a Plate

By Alexa Thomson

Posts from this Past Week:

It's Monday

Wednesdays with David: The Boxcar Children

Review of The World is Bigger Now

Reading Now:

The Awakening and Selected Short Fiction
By Kate Chopin

Coming Up:

Wonder Boys
By Michael Chabon

What are you reading this week? 

Wednesdays with David: The Boxcar Children

The Boxcar Children Series

By Gertrude Chandler Warner

From our shelves/borrowed/from the library

The story: "One night, four children stood in front of a bakery"...you remember, don't you? The Boxcar Children series tells the stories of four siblings - Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny. The children are orphans who find refuge in an abandoned boxcar. They are happily living together until they discover that their grandfather has been looking for them all along. They move to his mansion, but their adventures are not over yet!

Mama opines: Didn't everyone love this series as a child? I wanted to start reading these books with David (we needed a break from the Magic Treehouse!) but I didn't have the first book. My best friend lent it to us and we jumped in. We are currently reading our third book, but we are reading a bit out of order. My collection began with the sixth book, so we read #1, then #6, and now #2 and #3 have arrived at our library. 

I think these books are great for teaching siblings to work together and get along. The Boxcar Children are so incredibly resourceful. Their favorite thing is basically to figure out how to live on their own by finding or building what they need. It's funny though, that when I read them as a child I didn't realize that they were taking place so long ago. But this reading, I realized we were talking about the end of carriages and the beginning of 'automobiles.' It's lots of fun for me the second time around and for David as he experiences it for the first time.

Thoughts from David: I like it because they are the best best books because they might be going from one to eleven. (Wait until he finds out that there over one hundred!)

Favorite part: When they find that kid on the island

Friends, have a very happy Thanksgiving tomorrow. 

David and I are grateful for each one of our readers who visits us here to read our thoughts about the books we love. Happy Reading and Happy Turkey Day!

Review: The World is Bigger Now

The World Is Bigger Now

An American Journalist's Release from Captivity in North Korea

By Euna Lee with Lisa Dickey 

Broadway Books 2010

306 pages

Won from Alita of Alita Reads

Americans held their breath when they learned that Euna Lee and Laura Ling were captured by North Korean authorities and held indefinitely. The journalists had been gathering stories of people fleeing North Korea's oppressive regime. When they briefly crossed the border from China into North Korea, they were apprehended by soldiers. Lee and Ling were separated and faced interrogation and the uncertainty that they would ever see their families again. The World is Bigger Now is the story of Lee's experiences in North Korea and the ways in which she was changed forever.

This is an interesting read but it lacks any real tension. Even if you didn't follow the news closely, you can tell just from the cover that Lee will be released from her imprisonment. Lee also writes with some journalistic detachment. While you may be interested in her story, you never feel really invested in her. Part of this may also be self-preservation. I can only imagine how difficult it must be for Lee to revisit the darkest days of her captivity, so far away from her husband and daughter. 

The most interesting part of this book is learning the stories of the North Korean refugees who were interviewed by Ling and Lee. They believed in the film they were making when they started, but as they met people who had fled for their lives they found renewed commitment. I think that anyone reading this will finish the book with a deeper understanding of the current situation in North Korea. That being said, Lee does a wonderful job of showing a human side to her captors. Even while they are holding her captive, she finds moments to share with these people who are simply doing their job. 

The World Is Bigger Now is an inspirational book. It's a story about a woman who trusted in God to get her through incredible circumstances. Lee's faith is an integral part of how she got through her ordeal. It's a realistic look at belief, though. Lee's relationship with God is ultimately strengthened through this  experience, but it's a journey that has many bumps along the way. As she sits alone and wonders what her future will be like, she can't help but wonder if God has abandoned her. While this book has faith running throughout the whole story, it can be appreciated by readers of all beliefs. 

This is a good read for anyone who is interested in the plight of the North Korean people. While Lee is not the most captivating writer, her story is still inspiring for the ways in which she truly committed to the people she had interviewed, the kindness she bestowed on her captors in spite of everything, and the ways in which her experiences caused her to reevaluate what is truly important.