Keith for Elephants

Read from Saturday, December 18^th to Wednesday, December 22^nd.

Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen.  This book has been a bestseller in recent years, which attracted my attention.  Not until after I finished reading did I discover that it is being made into a major motion picture.  It was a good book, one which I read very quickly, but I found that I liked it more for the plot than the style. 

It is an historical novel, set in 1931, right in the middle of the Depression.  Jacob Jankowski is a veterinary student at Cornell when he learns his parents were killed in a car wreck.  They left him with no money, so he was unable to stay at school.  So Jacob ran away and hopped on a train, only later to discover that it was a circus train, the Benzini Brothers Circus.  Since he had vet training, Jacob was hired by the owner, Uncle Al, to work with the animals.  The animal director was named August, and his wife was Marlena, a performer with the horses.  Jacob entered into an uneasy relationship with the couple.  He quickly fell in love with Marlena, but August was his boss and could be very temperamental.  He brutally beat many of the animals, including a new elephant named Rosie who refuses to do any tricks.

Jacob is more loving of the animals, and he soon fits in with the circus.  He discovers that Rosie only understands Polish, so he teaches August some Polish phrases, and Rosie is a big success in the show.  However, August becomes paranoid of Marlena and Jacob, and he brutally beats both of them one night.  Jacob and Marlena vow to leave, but it is not that easy.  Uncle Al is greedy and won’t lose his performers, and he has thugs that threaten to throw off the train some of Jacob’s friends if Marlena and August don’t get back together.

Jacob tries to kill August in his sleep, but he backs out.  He returns only to find out that he was arranged to be killed and only missed it because he was with August.  The next day, disgruntled workers let loose all the animals from the show, causing a riot and stampede.  Rosie the elephant kills August, and the workers kill Uncle Al.  The show is over, and Jacob and Marlena and Rosie and other animals go off to join Ringling brothers.

The book is narrated from the point of view of Jacob as an old man in a nursing home.  His kids have left him alone, and Marlena has already died.  He feels no one respects him, except a friendly nurse named Rosemary.  When the circus comes to town, none of Jacob’s children arrive to take him, so he sneaks off on his own to watch the show.  He meets the show’s manager and tells him his life story.  Then Jacob begs to be taken with them, to work as a ticket taker or anything, and the manager, touched by his story, accepts.  For the second time in his life, Jacob has run away to join the circus. 

It is a fascinating story about the life of a circus worker in that era, and it is accompanied by many interesting photos.  Filled with lions, tigers, bears, fat ladies, bearded ladies, trapeze artists, elephants and even prostitution.  In terms of plot, it was great, and had me hooked, but I thought the style was a little off.  The dialogue felt stilted and fake at times, and a little too clichéd.  The characters were often very one-dimensional.  Camel got annoying because all he talked about was drinking.  Even Jacob was too much of a hero, stubbornly refusing to do anything but the right thing, and him and Marlena falling so deeply in love was almost too easy.  Also, the ending felt like a deus ex machina, with everything being resolved so easily.  August was killed, Uncle Al killed, and the money problems disappeared as well

But I did enjoy the book, and I am excited for the movie as well.  It looks visually very exciting, as the book appeared in my mind.  Robert Pattinson plays Jacob and Reese Witherspoon is Marlena.  Three and a half out of five stars.

Leaf Keith

Read from Wednesday, December 15^th to Saturday, December 18^th.

Leaf Storm, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  This was a collection of stories by one of my favorite authors, Garcia Marquez.  I bought it over a year ago, and have been meaning to read it for awhile now.  It is centered around the main story, Leaf Storm, which takes up the first two thirds of the small book, and then follows with a few short stories, only a few pages each.

Leaf Storm is the story of a family in Macondo, Colombia, in the early 20^th century.  The “Leaf Storm” is a metaphor for the rapid growth of the town after the banana company came, and then left it just as suddenly.  The town is now in decline, and bitter, as they were used to the populated, urban, and developing atmosphere.  Told from alternating perspectives, an aging colonel, his daughter and his grandson have to bury a doctor who died alone. He is the most hated man in town because he refused to treat some wounded men who came to his house one night.  The rest of Macondo would rather he rot in the street.  Although it takes place at the funeral, the crux of the story is the rehashing of memories surrounding the entrance of the Doctor into the family’s life. 

The Doctor arrived mysteriously one day, with no past, and asked to stay at the house of the Colonel.  He arrived with a letter of recommendation from a famous general.  When the leaf storm hit Macondo, the Doctor lost his patients and he became a shut-in.  He had an affair with the house maid, Meme, and they went off to live together down the street. He never left his house until the day he died. 

The rest of the family objects, but the Colonel had promised the Doctor to give him a decent burial.  There is also a back story about the daughter, Isabel, and her husband who left her, and the Colonel lost his first wife in childbirth.  Leaf Storm is not one of my favorite works by Garcia Marquez.  It is slow, and repetitive.  It is more just a glimpse into these character’s lives, and they are not as well-developed as his characters in other books.  There are traces of magical realism here, my favorite of his stylistic techniques, but nothing near some of his later works.

I enjoyed the shorter stories at the end of the book.  They were more like fables and tall-tales, full of wonder and magical realism.  There was one about a drowned man who washed up on the beach of a small town, and the town becomes enamored with him, creating an elaborate background and eventually adopting him as their own.  I also enjoyed the story about a boy who sees a ghost ship once a year in the harbor, but no one believes him, and so one year he goes out in a small boat, and using a light, guides the ghost ship to crash along the coast of the town.  Also, there are stories about an old angel that fell to the ground, and a boy who can perform miracles but goes around as a side show attraction. 

This is Garcia Marquez’s first published book, in 1955, and it is possible to see traces of his later techniques that I love so much.  It was enjoyable, but nothing spectacular.  Three out of five stars.

Never Let Keith Go

Read from Tuesday, December 14th to Wednesday, December 15th. 

Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro.  I've been meaning to read this book for awhile now, ever since I saw that it was highly rated and there was a movie made about it.  However, I was a little hesitant because I was getting a little tired of futuristic dystopias.  This book was great though, and nothing at all like I expected.  It takes place in a world that is similar to ours, but with only major scientific advance; cloning and organ harvesting.

This is the story about three friends, Kathy (the narrator), Ruth and Tommy.  They go to an elite boarding school called Hailsham together.  The novel is structured as Kathy telling a story, speaking in the present but going through all her old memories of the past.  She recollects, and often goes on tangents, about Tommy, a sweet, naive boy who gets picked on a lot, and Ruth, her incredibly strong-willed best friend who is the leader of the group, but often pushes Kathy away.

Through stories about the other kids and the strange behavior of their teachers and guardians, the kids slowly realize who they actually are.  They are clones, and when they grow up their organs will be harvested for people who need them, and they will die.  Through it's slow development, the children do not freak out about it, but gradually accept it, and some consider it an honor to 'donate.' 

Set against this plotline, it is really the story of the three kids growing up together.  After school, they go to the 'cottages,' where they are on their own for the first time.  Ruth and Tommy are dating, even though Kathy has been developing feelings for Tommy all her life.  They leave the cottages separately after a big fight, and the three of them begin their 'caring' stage, where they act like nurses to all the other clones donating their organs.  Kathy stays on as a carer the longest, and she becomes Ruth's carer.  They repair their relationship, and visit Tommy.  Ruth has changed, and she begs Kathy to be with Tommy before time runs out, and they might have a chance to defer their donations if they can prove they are in love.

Ultimately, it is a sad ending.  Tommy and Kathy visit the old headmistress of Hailsham, and she explains the reasons behind the school.  They tried to educate and instill culture and art in the students in order to prove to the world that the clones had souls, and that they should be treated more humanely.  However, there is no chance of a deferral.  It is happy to see Tommy and Kathy end up together after all those years apart, but it makes you think about all the time lost.  It is also a wonder at how easily all the clones accept their fate. 

It is a cautionary tale about the perils of cloning and manipulating human life.  But Ishiguro didn't seem all that interested with the higher moral lessons.  He was mainly interested in presenting a tale about the people we have that travel throughout our lives, and the importance of hanging onto them. 

There were a few questions about the cloning process that I didn't understand, but ultimately were not that important.  What was the order of organ donation?  There are technically three organs you can donate in the book, and the fourth is your completion, if you make it that far.  Kidney, Liver, Pancreas? I don't know, I'm not a doctor.  Also, why did no one try to escape?  I tried to harbor some hope that Tommy and Kathy would sail away in an abandoned boat they found, where they could live happily ever after.  What was the punishment for disobeying?  There was not much talk about the government presence in the book.  However, that is probably all for the best.  Too much of that description would change the overall feel of the story, in a negative way.  Looking forward to reading The Remains of the Day.

Four out of five stars.

The Old Keith and the Sea

Read from Monday, December 13th to Monday, December 13th.

I flew through this classic, The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway, another or the used books I got over Thanksgiving.  I had never read this book in high school, although it seemed as if everyone else had.  It was time I caught up on this novella.

It is a very short story of an old Cuban fisherman.  He hasn't caught a fish in 84 days, and he sets out deep into the ocean on the 85th to catch the big one.  He does hook a giant marlin, but it refuses to die, and pulls the old man far out away from land.  For over two days he struggles physically and mentally to bring the fish in.  The old man is wise, and he respects his opponent, but is confident that he will win.  It is the biggest fish he has ever seen, over 18 feet and 1500 pounds.  Finally he catches the fish, but it can't fit in the boat so he has to lash it to the side.  He sails for home, but the blood in the water attracts the sharks.  He defends his prize valiantly, killing many sharks, but they eventually overwhelm him and eat the marlin completely.  He returns home to some much needed sleep, and the other fishermen marvel at the skeleton of the giant fish attached to his boat.

The novella is a story about struggle and adversity, and about life and death.  The old man knows his place in the food chain, and he respects his graceful opponent, but the scavenger sharks are demonized.  It has many Christ allusions, such as when the old man gets the stigmata and when he hauls his mast up the hill like a cross.  Many readers have also said that Hemingway used the old man to represent himself.  Even though as a writer he has had bad luck, he can still go out far and land (or write) the 'big one.'  It was an easy read, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Hemingway's prose is quick and to the point, but also very scenic.  Alone with just his thoughts and his dreams of the lions on the beach, the old man is a tragic, sympathetic protagonist.

Four out of five stars.

Fahrenheit Keith 51

Read from Wednesday, December 8th to Monday, December 13th.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.  Bought this book at a used book store in Asheville, North Carolina over Thanksgiving.  It is one of my roommates favorite books, and I was ashamed that I had never read this classic.  Also, it is a short book, and after The War of the End of the World, I needed a quick read.  At a little over a hundred pages, it took me longer than it should have, due to some friends visiting for the weekend. 

I liked this book.  It is the simple story of Guy Montag, who burns books and houses for a living.  It is a futuristic world where books are illegal.  Society is dumbed down in order to stay happy.  However, Guy realizes quickly on that he is not happy after he meets a neighborhood girl who loves to explore and learn and love life and nature.  Guy questions his own job, his marriage, and his curiosity to read overwhelms him and he builds a collection of books.  He seeks out a retired English professor who agrees to teach him how to analyze what he is reading.  But Guy is quickly found out by the other firemen when his wife rats him out.  They force him to burn his own house down, but before he is arrested, Guy kills the fire captain, Beatty, and escapes town.  In the woods outside town, he meets a band of other renegade book lovers, and Guy learns that there are thousands out there just like him, and they have to wait patiently and remember books until this dark age passes.  The book ends with the city being destroyed by a nuclear bomb in a war. 

It is a simple story, and the action moves fast without too much buildup.  Guy changes from fireman to revolutionary too quickly in my opinion.  There were also questions I had about why Captain Beatty hated books so much, even though he could quote them endlessly.  Howevery, the story needs to be looked at for what it actually is, a fable about the perils of censorship and what the world could look like.  In the world in the book, it is not the government that imposed censorship, it was first what the public wanted.  It became so that each minority and interest group wanted certain passages blocked in each book, and soon the need for books disappeared entirely.  There was too much focus on the television and fast cars.  Even though Bradbury wrote it in the early 1950's, it's amazing how much he could predict the numbing entertainment forces that would distract us now. 

The world is destroyed at the end, but humanity always knows how to pick itself up and rebuild, and we need to learn from past mistakes, which are why books are so important.  The book ends on a hopeful note that things can and will change.  As a bibliophile, I loved some of the subject matter.  I hope my library and this blog can someday be the beacon of light that can help Guy in the future, haha. Three and a half out of five stars.

The War of the End of the Keith

Read from Saturday, November 27 to Tuesday, December 7.

The War of the End of the World, by Mario Vargas Llosa, a Nobel Prize winner.  This sprawling, massive epic masterpiece is one of the best books I've read in awhile.  It is the, believe it or not, fictionalized true story of a rebellion in the backlands of Brazil in the late 19th century.  I refused to let myself look up online what actually happened while I was reading the book, but when I did last night, I was amazed to see that the book followed very closely the major events and timeline of the rebellion.

I will do my best to sum up the plot, although there are so many characters and subplots that I will not do it justice.  In the state of Bahia, Brazil in the late 19th century, there is a wanderer, called the Counselor.  He travels from town to town repairing churches, putting walls around cemetaries, and telling the poor people about the coming of the end of the world and what they must do to prepare for it.  He travels for many years, and he gradually develops a following.  Llosa takes turns describing the backstories of many of these followers.  There is Abbot Joao, a murdering thief; Antonio Vilanova, a merchant; Big Joao, a former slave who killed his master; Maria Quadrado, who killed her newborn; the Lion of Natuba, a deformed hunchback; and the Little Blessed One, a bastard who wants to be a priest.  There are many others, and when they meet the Counselor and hear him preach, they are converted into 'the elect,' and they become his disciples.  They are reformed completely, and worship the Counselor, Jesus, and do only good.

The Counselor does not like the new Republic of Brazil, he liked the monarchy better.  He considers the Republic the anti-Christ, since they impose new taxes, allow civil marriage, and want to have a census.  The Counselor and his followers refuse to accept this, and they settle in a small deserted farm called Canudos.  There, they create their own society with their own values; no money, no taxes, communal labor and property, free love.  They build a temple and soon thousands of people pour into the city, they are pilgrims (the city eventually reaches an estimated 30,000 people). 

The government of the state of Bahia doesn't know what to do with these people.  They have stolen a farm that belonged to the Baron of Canabrava, a rich landowner sympathetic to the monarchist cause.  The state sends an army unit to break up the 'rebels.'  However, the people in Canudos defend fanatically and crush the force.  The government then sends a larger expeditionary force to Canudos.  The army wins the initial battle on the mountain, but the rebels, or jaguncos, launch a fierce counterattack and win.  There is political disagreement about Canudos.  Some claim it is supported by the monarchists in order to bring down the Republic, others claim that the republicans are setting them up so it looks like the monarchists aren't patriotic.  A Scottish communist, Gallileo Gall, is a pawn by the different parties, as he tries unsuccessfully to make it to Canudos because he believes it is a communist revolution. 

A third time, the federal army is called up to crush the city, this time an entire Regiment under the command of a famous Colonel, Moreira Cesar.  A journalist is sent along with him to document the campaign, and much of the remaining story is told through his perspective.  Cesar is very confident, and he has greater numbers, but thanks to guerrila tactics and the hostile terrain, the regiment is completely destroyed, and Cesar is killed.  This battle feels like it is the climax of the novel, but it is only halfway through..  The journalist escapes to Canudos with a dwarf and Jurema, a woman who lost her husband in a duel with Gallileo Gall.

In the final part of the book, the frightened journalist is telling the Baron of Canabrava all that he witnessed in those final months of Canudos.  He was held there, for his safety, because the government mobilized the entire army of Brazil from all the states to descend upon Canudos.  The inhabitants of Canudos fight and hold out for a long time using their guerrila tactics, but in the end, they are without food and ammunition to defend any longer, and street by street, the city is taken.  The entire town is destroyed along with everyone in it.  The journalist, Jurema and the dwarf escaped because the Counselor told them to leave in order to tell the world the story of Canudos. 

It is a fascinating, long story.  Llosa's storytelling technique is interesting as well.  It is told through the different perspectives of nearly every character in the story, each segment being only a couple of pages long, and each segment ending on somewhat of a cliffhanger, which compells the reader to continue.  The segments often overlap, so that many parts of the story are told a few times, but each from a different viewpoint.  The timeline can also be confusing as well, although I am sure it was done on purpose.  The reader finds out that Canudos is ultimately destroyed midway through the book because the journalist is relating the events to the Baron.  Even though you know what is going to happen, you still read on for the interesting story of what went down.

The book is often morally ambiguous.  There are no true good guys or bad guys in the book.  The journalist tells a good portion of the latter half of the book, but he is a coward, and not involved in the action.  The army and the generals seem to be good, decent people when their perspective is told, although they are seen as 'dogs' and the Anti-christ by the Elect.  Even though the inhabitants of Canudos are massacred by the end and there is a great amount of sympathy for them, they burn the homes of people nearby so they cannot feed the army.  They also desecrate the corpses of the soldiers.  The Baron, even though he is wealthy, is a good person as well, who is distraught over his wife's growing insanity.  In the end, it seems as if everyone loses, and everyone tries to figure out the lesson of that rebellious city.

Wonderful book, and I am looking forward to reading more by Mario Vargas Llosa.  Four and a half out of five stars.

Keith, Naked

Read from Tuesday, November 23 to Thursday, November 25.

Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby.  Read this book pretty quickly over the first few days of my Thanksgiving vacation in Asheville, North Carolina.  I read High Fidelity a couple of months ago and really enjoyed it, and this book was similar in a lot of ways.

Once again, Hornby centers his books around music and relationships.  Annie and Duncan are in a failing relationship in England, and Duncan is obsessed with Tucker Crowe, a singer-songwriter who was popular in the 80's and then dropped out of the spotlight suddenly and mysteriously.  Duncan and other fans post comments on a website, and when Annie makes a thoughtful critique of an album, she is contacted by Tucker Crowe himself, who is living in Pennsylvania with a son, a failing marriage, and a long line of ex-wives and other abandoned children.  Annie and Tucker begin an email correspondence, while Annie cuts off ties with the obsessed Duncan.  Annie struggles with the feeling that she has wasted so much of her life in a pointless relationship, and is desperate to finally live again.

Eventually, Tucker visits England, and spends some time in Annie's small seaside village with her and his son, while he is recuperating from a heart attack.  Annie has had a big crush on Tucker, and finally is able to get him into bed with her.  However, Tucker must eventually go back to the U.S. due to his obligations to his son and ex-wives.  The novel ends with Annie throwing off the constraints the society has placed on her and trying to emigrate to America to be with Tucker. 

It was a quick and easy, but fun read.  Nothing too difficult, but very enjoyable nonetheless.  I loved some of the characters, such as Tucker and his son, Jackson, and the obsessive Duncan can be amusing at times as well.  Annie was strange, but realistic, being very impulsive and indecisive at times.  I also liked the theme of music from both the perspective of the emotionally unstable musician, and at times clueless fans, who over-analyze every lyric and gesture.  The ending left more to be desired, however.  It ends abruptly with nothing actually happening, except for a change in Annie.  I actually hoped that her and Duncan would get back together.  Otherwise, a fresh, light read.  Three and a half out of four stars.

A Little History of the Keith

Read from Sunday, November 21 to Monday, November 22.

Actually, the world.  E.H. Gombrich's A Little History of the World originally written in German in 1935.  I picked up this book after a visit to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in DC.  Gombrich is most famous for his History of Art masterpiece.

This was a quick read.  Finished it in a little over 24 hours.  Admittedly, I was hurrying to finish it before my Thanksgiving travels, so I would have one less book to bring.  (Update: Just bought 15 books in North Carolina.  I've got a lot of plunder to haul back.)  It is quick mostly because it is aimed toward children, so I was able to fly through it.  Although that is not to say it was poorly written.  It was wonderful to soar through history and to see how everything fits in the proper context and timeline.

Gombrich takes the reader through the entire history of Western Civilization.  He briefly discusses cavemen, the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Eastern religions, the Migrations after the fall of the Roman empire, Middle Ages, Age of Chivalry, Renaissance, Enlightenment, Reformation, Revolution, Industrialization, Imperialism, and ends with WW1.  Each chapter is short and simple, but Gombrich does not talk down to the reader.  He paints a beautiful picture of events and famous characters, using the art of storytelling.  Even though it is for children and most of the information I already knew, there are plenty of other facts that I learned.

It is from a German perspective, however, and so it gives special attention to the history of that land.  The East, China, Japan and India and the Middle East are briefly touched upon in certain chapters, and the Americas and Africa were barely mentioned, except in the terms of European colonialism.  Also, from a German perspective, it ends with a negative characterization of the Allied powers and Woodrow Wilson after WW1, and says that they screwed over the Germans.  Gombrich does have a final chapter that was added thirty years later, in which he apologizes for his impartiality, and explains the rise and terror of Hitler, which he did not expect to happen when he wrote the book originally.  Gombrich escaped the Nazis, and was able to move to England before war broke out.

Will definitely show this book to my kids someday.  Three and a half out of five stars.

The Picture of Dorian Keith

Read from Tuesday, November 16th to Sunday, November 21st. 

The Picture of Dorian Gray, is the classic only novel by Oscar Wilde.  I had always wanted to read something by Wilde, so I was excited to read this novel and see all his clever witticisms.  I also chose to read this because it was free on my Kindle, and I haven't read anything on my Kindle in a long time.  The story did not disappoint. 

Dorian Gray is a beautiful, vain, young English aristocrat, who has a portrait painted of him by Basil Hallward.  Dorian is worried that his beauty will someday fade, and makes the wish that the painting will age, and he will stay exactly the same.  Dorian quickly falls in love with a young peasant actress, and they become engaged, but when her acting falters, he breaks her heart and she committs suicide.  Dorian is distraught, and when he goes home he realizes that the painting now has a sinister smile.  It is the painting that is bearing all the look of his sin.  The painting is a visual representation of his conscience.  He hides the painting in his attic, unable to bear the sight of it. 

However, Dorian is persuaded by his best friend Lord Henry that the only way to experience life is to live by your senses.  Dorian sets off on a sinful life, devoted to experiencing every emotion and pleasure that life could offer.  Wilde does not explicitly state what these sins were, leaving it up to the reader to imagine for themselves based on their own conscience.  Many years pass with Dorian living this double life.  18 years pass, but he does not age one bit, while the painting grows hideous. 

One night, Basil confronts Dorian about his sins, and after showing him the painting, Dorian stabs him in cold murder.  He blackmails another friend into helping him cover it up and destroying the body.  Dorian by now is terrified of his conscience.  He goes off to the countryside with other nobles, but he is now hunted by the actress's brother, who vows revenge.  This man is accidently shot during a hunting expedition, and Dorian believes he is saved.  He swears a new life free from sin.  He believes he is finally changed.  However, upon viewing the painting, his soul is worse than ever, since it is all a charade and hypocritical.  Dorian stabs the painting, at which the spell is broken and his body is old and with a knife in its chest, while the painting is restored to it's original beauty.

Dorian Gray is the story of the corruption of the soul and conscience, and it caused an uproar for its indecency in 1890 London.  Many critics believed that Wilde actually practised many of these sins for himself, but they failed to see his warning in the book.  It is actually a very moral book with a strong message.  It is wonderfully written, and Lord Henry is a favorite character.  He is witty, espousing his many theories about humanity and culture.  Lord Henry lives for pleasure and critiquing all of London society.  He wants excitement, not boredom.

I have rented a movie adaptation of the book, and am excited to see its portrayal.  Four out of five stars.

NetherKeith

Read from Tuesday November 9th to Tuesday, November 16th. 

Netherland, by Joseph O'Neill.  I bought this book at a Barnes and Noble just to complete a 'buy two get one free' deal.  It was a slow book that gradually grew on me the more I delved into it.  It is the simple story of a Dutch immigrant, Hans, in New York City.  Left alone in the city after 9/11 when his wife left him to go back to London, he is morose and solitary.  But then he begins an unlikely friendship with a Trinidadian named Chuck Ramkissoon, who is charismatic, intriguing, with grand ideas and a sordid underside. 

It is the game of cricket that arguably saves Hans from himself.  He finds peace in it's simplicity and nobility.  The cricket players in New York are all South Asian or West Indian, but they take care of each other and welcome Hans.  While reading this book, I researched more about the game of cricket, because to be honest, I did not have any idea how it was played.  Gratefully, now I have somewhat of an understanding of the game and the differences and similarities to baseball. 

Chuck takes Hans under his wing, and talks about his big plans to build a giant cricket stadium and clubhouse on an abandoned air field.  He teaches Hans how to drive, and introduces him to many of the other immigrants in New York.  However, when Chuck reveals his criminal activities as a gangster, he pushes Hans away.  Hans has by now has changed considerably, and is more sure of himself, and realizes that he must go back to London to spend time with his son and try to win his wife Rachel back.  In the end Rachel does come back to him, and they work on saving their marriage.  Hans learns that Chuck had been killed in some deal gone wrong. 

It was a slow book, written as a reflection on the past by present day Hans.  He delves into his memories growing up in the Netherlands with his single Mother.  It is slow, but beautiful and rich.  O'Neill writes many lines as if they were lines of poetry.  It is an inner journey that Hans must navigate, and the relationship with Chuck is complicated and at times a little unbelievable.  However, I did enjoy the book in the end, and would look to more titles from this author. 

Four out of five stars.

The Name of the Keith

The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco.  This was a hefty tome that was recommended to me over a year ago.  I wrote the name down and have been meaning to buy and read it ever since.  Finally I attempted it, and although it was long and difficult book, I was very satisfied with the book by the end, having trouble putting it down. 

It is the story of a murder mystery in an Italian Dominican Abbey in 1327.  It is told from the point of view of Adso of Melk, writing the story when he was an old man, although he was a young teenage novice when the events happened.  He accompanied William of Baskerville, a Franciscan monk that was in charge of investigating the murders.  William used reason and logic to try and piece together the clues, instead of the superstition and diabolical leanings of the monks.  It takes place over the course of seven days, and there are new developments every night, as monk after monk is mysteriously killed.

The main reason why William was at the Abbey was actually to attend a debate between a delegation of Franciscan monks and representatives of the Pope in Avignon.  The Franciscan's wanted the pope to accept the notion that Jesus was poor and owned nothing, and therefore ensure the safety of their Order.  The Pope, however, did not want to admit that, otherwise all his riches would seem contrary to teachings of Christ.  That is the underlying subtext, and so William must hurry to solve the murders so they do not interfere with the meeting, for if the meeting does not go well, the Franciscans could be found guilty of heresy and hunted down.

The web unravels for William as he discovers that the murders revolve around a mysterious book that had been taken out of the forbidden, labyrinth library.  William and Adso discover the map of the library, and decipher a riddle that allows them to enter a secret room.  There they discover the murderer, Jorge of Burgos (a reference to Jorge Luis Borges, one of my favorite writers), who had poisoned the pages of the book, so anyone reading it would touch the page, and touch their mouth, and soon die.  The book is Aristotle's lost work on Comedy, and how laughter can be beneficial.  Jorge does not believe in laughter, and thinks that it would lessen the fear and devotion to God.  He runs off with the book, eating the pages as he goes, and William and Adso give chase, but accidently set the library on fire.  Jorge burns with the book, and William and Adso escape, but the entire Abbey soon catches fire and is destroyed.

I rented the movie last week and watched it as soon as I finished the book.  It was okay, but it is impossible to fit a 550 page book into a two hour movie, so there was a lot of stuff left out and glossed over.  I didn't like in the movie how much attention was focused on Adso's brief love affair with the peasant girl.  I also wished the final scene with Jorge was elaborated, so that there was more of a reason behind his rationale of poisoning the book.  Sean Connery played William and a young Christian Slater played Adso.

I enjoyed this book immensely.  William is similar to Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Adso/Watson. Logic is the guiding force that can shine the light on the mysterious workings of the Abbey.  I feel much smarter after reading Umberto Eco.  He explains in great depth about the intricacies of European politics at the time, and the relationship between the Church and the monks and the peasants.  Of course it was difficult to understand a lot of what was being discussed.  I had to Wikipedia some bits of history to understand better, like Fra Dolcino, and the move to Avignon, and the differences between Dominicans and Franciscans.  I also did not like how much of the book was in Latin.  Whole passages had to be skipped over, and certain key lines as well. I wished they had footnotes so the reader could follow along better.

All in all it was a great read.  Started off slowly, but the tension built into a wonderful second half of the book.  Four and a half out of five stars.

The Drunkard's Keith

The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules our Lives, by Leonard Mlodinow.  Every once in a while I like to mix things up and read some non-fiction, mostly about interesting phenomena and how they influence our lives.  I've read all of Malcolm Gladwell's recent work, also Freakonomics and Predictably Irrational, all of which I highly recommend.  The Drunkard's Walk is another such book, and Mlodinow explains how purely random things can happen to change our lives everyday.  He explains wine reviews, bell curves in grading, the lottery and the stock market in the view of pure randomness.

Mlodinow gives many examples and anecdotes from his own life to illustrate the points he is making, although it is clear that it is a brilliantly gifted scientist and mathematician speaking and not an author.  Some of the stuff can be very difficult to follow and it gets very in depth.  Mlodinow also spends a lot of time speaking about the history of the study of chance, focusing on many different individuals from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries in Europe.  I thought there was too much history and not enough real world applications at times.

However, one thing I will take away from this book is this fascinating mathematical riddle: Suppose you are on a game show, and you are shown three doors.  The host explains that behind one door is a grand prize, and behind the other two are nothing.  He asks you to make a selection.  You pick Door #1, let's say.  The host then opens Door #3, revealing that it contains nothing.  The host then gives you a second chance to change your answer.  Should you stick with Door #1, or change your answer to Door #2?  Now for many people, including myself at first, the answer seemed obvious.  There would be no difference between the doors, there is a 50-50 chance either way, so there is no mathematical advantage in switching.  Wrong.

When you first made the selection of Door #1, there was a 33% chance you guessed correctly.  There was a 66% chance you guessed incorrectly.  When the host opened Door #3 he removed it from play and manipulated the playing field.  Now, Door #1 still has that 33% chance of being correct, but Door #2 has a 66% chance of being correct, so it logically follows that you should change your answer and choose Door #2.  Unless of course, you are feeling really lucky.

Different from my normal repetoire of books, but good in it's own way.  Three out of five stars.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Keith

Extremely Loud & Incredible Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer.  I bought this book at the Washington Book Festival back in September, where he was one of the speakers.  I also bought Everything is Illuminated, which I am planning on reading soon. 

This book was told from a few different perspectives, but mostly centers around Oskar Schell, a brilliant but eccentric nine year old in New York City, who loses his father in the 9/11 attacks.  His father left behind a key that Oskar found, and it leads him on a quest around New York so he can find the lock that it belongs to.  Ultimately, Oskar meets many interesting characters in the city, and he also discovers more about his own family and his father.  There is also the backstory of the love between Oskar's grandfather and grandmother, who fled from Dresden during World War II.  His grandfather, who was mute and communicated with only his notebooks and the tattoos of 'yes' and 'no' on his hands, left his grandmother to raise their son (Oskar's father) on her own, and only returned after his death.

The novel was told mostly through the voice of Oskar.  There are many catchphrases that he uses often, such as 'heavy boots' for being sad, and 'a hundred bucks' for being happy.  Oskar is very naive and courageous at times, venturing all around the city by himself and meeting strangers, although all the strangers that he meets are very nice and accomodating, which gives the book a very optimistic tone, although he is very cautious about other things, like bridges and elevators.  Oskar is also extremely bright, and is a walking encyclopedia of facts.  He is pretty emotional as well, keeping a picture diary of things that happened to him (and he shows the pictures in the book, which is a great touch), and listening to his dad's answering machine messages from after the tower was hit.

My favorite part of the book is some of the magical realist stories that are told throughout.  I loved the story of the sixth borough of New York that floated away.  I loved the story of how Oskar's grandfather lost his ability to speak word by word, until all his vocabulary was gone and he had to use notebooks to communicate, and he would flip back to certain phrases used over and over again.  It is a very creative book, and Foer uses many little gimmicks, like throwing in photos, shrinking text size to barely readable, to
showing the phrases from the grandfather's notebook.

In the end, Oskar discovers that the key belonged to someone else, and his father acquired it by mistake.  But this seems to put Oskar at peace since he was able to solve the puzzle his father left behind.  It is an optimistic book, even though it deals with some weighty subjects and ends with a flip book of photos of a person jumping out of the World Trade Center.  But actually the flip book is reversed, so the person is going upwards, not down.

An enjoyable and interesting, although different, read.  Four and a half out of five stars.

Keith Shall Know Our Velocity!

Actually You Shall Know Our Velocity, by one of my favorite authors Dave Eggers.  I read this book a couple of weeks ago, I am just very backed up on these books.  I got three reviews I need to write still, although I am currently reading The Name of the Rose, which is a long book so I should be able to catch up soon.

Y.S.K.O.V. was a great read with a really interesting premise.  Will and Hand are two best friends who lost their other best friend recently in a car crash.  Will got a lot of money for some ad recently, but he has been too depressed to appreciate it, so he decides to travel around the world giving out all the money, $40,000 to the poor.  The problem is that they only have one week to do it.  There are elaborate plans of trips to Siberia, Greenland, Madagascar, Cairo and many other places, all in one week.

The plan is based on speed, and quickness of action, but realistically it cannot work.  There are not flights going at all hours of the day to each of those remote places.  Most flights need to go through the hub at London, which is time they are not willing to waste.  Will and Hand go to Senegal, then up to Morocco, then a little bit in Eastern Europe.  They have hopes of bribing someone to let them up on Cheops in Cairo for a sunrise, but that plan falls through too.  Then there is the problem of who to give the money to.  Will finds many reasons not to give the money to certain people, always thinking there is something better around the corner.

There are tensions between Will and Hand.  Hand is all about action and doing things without thinking.  Will, the narrator, is stuck inside his head.  He is hung up on their friend Jack's death, as well as a recent beating he received from some strangers in Chicago, that he blamed on Hand.  Will's Mom, who he talks to on the phone throughout the trip, serves as a voice of reason to his wild plans.  In the end, they give most of the money away through crazy schemes, such as reverse haggling, cart leaping, basketball, and pirate treasure hunts in Latvia.

I love Eggers' storytelling.  A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is one of my all time favorites.  Keith is the Keith comes from the book What is the What, which I read recently.  I especially loved the story at the end about the natives from Patagonia who moved around trying to fly and suck in all the air that they can.  They ran and leaped, and thinking they were the fastest on Earth, left a message for the invading Spaniards: "You shall know our velocity!" 

Sometimes we are stuck in Will's head too much, and there is too much repetition of his sorrow and depression.  And sometimes the book moves too slow, but maybe that is what Eggers was trying to do, convey the frustration that Will and Hand must have felt at not being able to move as quickly as they wanted to.

Four out of five stars.

Keith Matters!

Everything Matters, by Ron Currie Jr.  What a fantastic read from a book that I just happened to pick off the shelf because of the cool cover design.  I had never heard of this book, or this author, until I stumbled upon it one day in Barnes and Noble.  Many of the reviews on the inside page compared him to Kurt Vonnegut, so I knew I had to give it a shot.

It is the life story of Junior, who, when in the womb, was told by some voice (God?) that the world would be hit by an asteroid and obliterated around when he is 36 years old.  This voice talks to Junior throughout his life, giving him inside information on everyone around him.  But it's also the story of others close to him as well, like his brother Rodney who was a young coke head and then turned into one of the greatest baseball players ever, even though he wasn't all there in the head.  Also his alcoholic mother, and his Vietnam vet father who is a baker at night and works in a warehouse during the day.  And the love of his life Amy.

I really enjoyed the setup of this book.  There are different chapters from each person's point of view, and there are also chapters of just the voice talking to Junior, in numerical bullet points that count down to the end of the world.  There are neat plot twists, as well as a complete reversal toward the end of the story.  Junior gets a chance to do it all over again, and even though the ending wasn't what I was expecting, he learns the lesson that he had been missing all his life... That everything matters.  Even if you know the world is going to end, it is important to realize what you have in this life, and keep them close.

There are many over-the-top elements in the book, like the baseball star Rodney, to Junior curing cancer, and Junior designing a spaceship to leave Earth and emigrate to another planet.  But in the end, it is a very heartwarming book, and even a little sad at times.  Very good read.
Four and a half out of five stars.

Keith

Ok this title was a bit more tricky.  Actually, since it was only one word, there was only one combination.  You'll probably see that title a bunch on this blog.

Pygmy, by Chuck Palahniuk.  This is the story of 'Operative Me,' or nicknamed Pygmy, a secret agent from an undisclosed totalitarian state sent to the U.S. on a mission of terrorism.  He is disguised as an exchange student in the midwest, in the Cedar family, with the cow-like father, the mother that uses all the batteries in the house on her vibrator collection, the sex-crazed brother, and the sister that he falls in love with.  Of course this allows Palahniuk to poke fun of the American culture through Pygmy's eyes.  Walmart and consumerism, Church and molesting priests, teenagers that only care about sex and drugs.  Pygmy and his fellow operatives would have no problem manipulating these Americans to carry out their plan, except that he falls in love with a girl and the culture, and it is revealed that he never was very keen on that totalitarian state he was brainwashed into loving in the first place.

This is not the first book from Chuck Palahniuk that I've read, so I am used to his graphic and sensationalized style.  The book starts out on a high note, with Pygmy raping the school bully in a bathroom, then easily segues into tweens flashing their boobs before a bloody school massacre, then to Pygmy rummaging around in his adopted mom's 'private areas' while she is roofied.  It is brutal stuff, but presented in Palahniuk's carefree, comical style.  You gasp, but you laugh too, and feel a bit guilty. 

The language was the difficult part of the book.  It is written in the voice of Operative Me, a strange accent with technical terms, lack of grammar and sentence structure, that barely resembles English.  I had to read over a few passages in order to figure out what was happening.  However, as the book went along, I was able to pick up on the style, and the reading became easier. 

It was a quick read, and a bit more light-hearted than Naked Lunch and the Corrections before that, so it was like a welcome vacation.

Three and a half stars out of five.

Naked Keith, or Keith's Lunch

I like the first title better, but the latter is more PG, even though this book is more like XXX. 

Naked Lunch, by William Seward Burroughs.  A hallmark of the Beat Generation, and also a strong weapon in the government's War on Drugs.  Cause who would want to try those hard drugs after reading something like this?  Naked Lunch is not a story in the traditional sense.  It is more of a series of vignettes centering around a character named Lee (Burroughs), and others, in a trip from New York to Mexico to Tangiers to a city called Interzone that exists solely in his drug-addled, demented state.  I had to get most of this summation from the back of the book and other reviews, because it is really difficult to follow in the book itself.

Most of Naked Lunch are rambling scenes of drug use, gay sex, and capital punishment.  How many scenes of young boys being hanged while shitting and coming can you fit in one book?  Before I read Naked Lunch, I would have guessed none, but now that illusion (and my innocence) has forever been shattered.

Now, this is not a disparaging review however.  Literature isn't always pretty and easy to read.  Though the passages could be disturbing, they can be very poetic at times, not to mention imaginative.  It's honest, and brutal, and a revealing look into the mind of an addict and a genius.

I read the 'restored text' version of the book, and I loved reading the backstory behind the making of the book.  The title was credited to Jack Kerouac (one of my favorite authors), and Burroughs was in love with Allen Ginsberg, writer of the famous 'Howl' poem.  A few months ago I went to an exhibit at the National Gallery of Ginsberg's photos from the 1950's and throughout his life.  Burroughs was in a few of the photos, as well as Kerouac.  Together, Ginsberg helped Burroughs write, organize and publish Naked Lunch, even though he spurned the love of Burroughs.  It is fascinating to think that three friends were the leaders of an entire movement in literature.

Naked Lunch was a very interesting read.  I won't say I regret reading it, although I hope I don't have too many nightmares.

Three and a half out of five stars.

Keith's Corrections

No, I am not correcting my previous post.  It is perfect, as are all my posts once published.  It is an insult that you would even consider that I made a mistake.

My first book that I am going to write about is The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen.  As you will see, I like to throw my name into the title of the book and use it as the title of the blog entry.  It is my gimmick that will make me famous.  You'll see.

Anyways, so the Corrections.  Wow.  A very hefty tome.  It was a slow start for the book, I'll admit.  Took me awhile to really get into the story, but once I did, I was flying through it.  The characters are some of the most developed I've ever read.  This book is basically five life stories all rolled up into one story of one family.  The main crux of the story takes place within a four month period, where the mother, Enid, tries to get her three adult children to come home to the mid-west for one last Christmas together at their home.  The father, Alfred is suffering from Parkinson's and demetia, and won't make it to another most likely.  Yet the children all lead their own, strange lives, and there are many problems.

There are some strange parts of the story, such as the trip to Lithuania, and Denise flip-flopping in her love life, and early references to Pandora.  Also the talking poop.  These were funny, but overall strange, and kind of brought me out of the story a little bit.  I loved the ending though.  Enid's final monologue and thoughts on her love with Alfred reminded me of the final chapter in Joyce's Ulysses.

As it just so happened, I saw Franzen speak on the night after I finished the Corrections.  He was promoting his new book Freedom on a local campus and I went and heard some of it.  Seems pretty good, like something I will check out later, once it comes out in paperback and the price comes down.

So, The Corrections.  A very strong book with likable, though flawed, characters.  How will I use it in my own work?  Obviously the development of each character, even the smaller supporting ones.  But also the non-traditional time structure of the plot.  I'm not going to analyze all the themes and motifs and plot structures of each book, just overall impressions.  Someone on the street asks, "How was that book you are reading?" and you respond with "It was good."  Well, Why?  Why is it good?  Should I read it too?

4 out of 5 stars.

A Map for my Journey through Literature

Welcome to the Final Page, the final word on what I'm reading at the moment.  I thought of a lot of different titles for this blog.  The Inside Cover, the Epigraph, all pretty corny.  What is important is not the title though.  It's what's inside that counts, right? 

What is this blog?  Simply put, it is a direct rival to Oprah's book club.  Released with as much fan fare, hype and mass media publicity as the queen of daytime talk shows, this blog will soon, if it hasn't already, develop a large following, and will transform the publishing industry as we know it, based on our wishes (ultimately it is my decision).  I will be the Stephen Colbert of literary blogs.  Authors will come running to me in order to get the "Final Page Bump." 

Those are the grand plans for the blog.  But realistically it is a journal and map for my own personal journey through literature.  There are no genre restrictions, although I tend to stay within literary fiction, prose, poetry and the classics.  There are no age restrictions on the books I select.  One week could be a new release, and the next could be The Odyssey.  I don't care, I'm crazy like that. So unpredictable.  I want to be able to trace my quest through these books, and to record my impressions while they are fresh.  I always loved doing book reports.  Ideally, readers would suggest new paths and books and authors for me to follow, along with their own feedback.

Who am I?  Well that's a pretty deep question.  I wish I knew the answer myself.
Ok, then what are some basic facts about me?  I'm a male. A man.  Living in Washington, DC. My name is Keith, but that's not important.

Am I a writer?  No.
Do I want to be a writer?  Of course! But doesn't everybody?  I feel like I have it in me, but I don't have a story yet.  So how do I get a story? I read as many books as I possibly can, and try to assimilate it all into the great American novel... Someday. 

My favorite authors:  Kurt Vonnegut, Dave Eggers, James Joyce, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Roberto Bolano, Jack Kerouac, John Updike, Jonathan Ames, Jonathan Franzen, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, and many more that I need to remember at a later date.