The Brothers Karamazov

Read from Monday, August 1st to Monday, August 15th.

After the whirlwind of books in the month of July, I decided to slow it down a bit in August and tackle The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, a book I've had on my shelf for awhile now.  It is my first foray into the world of Russian literature classics.  Though it took a few days to get into it, I really enjoyed it in the end.  It is both a crime/courtroom drama as well as a spiritual/philosophical debate amongst the characters.  Each main character is unique in their own way and represent a different segment of society and belief system.

Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov is the father figure in the family, but he is a boorish, selfish, brute, and had two wives who died young after producing three brothers: Dmitri, Ivan, and Alexei.  He also, allegedly, fathered a fourth, illegitimate son, Smerdyakov, who was raised by Fyodor's housekeepers.  Dmitri, the eldest, is a hot-headed, passionate young man who joined the army.  Ivan is an academic, influenced solely by reason, and an atheist as well.  He is gaming fame for articles he wrote recently about ecclesiastical courts.  Alexei, the youngest, is just 20 at the time of the action, and he is described as the hero of the story.  He is a people-person, someone that everyone likes.  He is shy, especially around girls, and he joined the local monastery, and studied under the famous Elder Zosima. 

The plot is highly intricate, but the basic set-up is this; Dmitri returns home, along with his fiance Katerina, in order to get the rest of his inheritance, what he feels he is owed, from his father.  Fyodor refuses to pay, and Ivan comes back home as well, and they all agree to see Zosima and Alexei in order to work out the problem.  However, Zosima is old, and he dies soon after the meeting without anything being resolved, and he sends Alexei out into the world in order to help people and his family.  There is another wrench thrown into the domestic dispute; Dmitri and Fyodor both fell in love with the same woman, a local harlot named Grushenka.  Ivan shows interest in Katerina, Dmitri's fiance, and Dmitri is only too happy to let her go, since he is now madly in love with Grushenka.  Fyodor is attempting to bribe Grushenka to come to his house, and Dmitri, being passionate and hot-headed, spies on the house to make sure she doesn't come.  Smerdyakov is Fyodor's guard to keep a look out for Grushenka. 

Dmitri also needs money badly, because he wants to repay a debt to Katerina and clear his conscience to her, as well as provide for Grushenka and take her away.  He goes all over town trying to sell and pawn his possessions.  Meanwhile, Alexei is going around town talking to all the parties involved.  Tension is mounting, and Dmitri beat up a retired captain that worked with Fyodor, and the captain's son bit Alexei for being related to him.  Also one night, Dmitri stormed into Fyodor's house, suspecting Grushenka was there, and also hit his father and knocked him down.  Ivan also leaves town, after having an argument with Smerdyakov, and a philosophical discussion with Alexei about reason vs. faith.

All these events set up the crucial August night.  Dmitri returns to town after pawning his possessions and looks for Grushenka, but after not finding her at home, he runs to Fyodor's house.  He spies in the window, but does not find her there, and so he runs away.  The servant Grigory sees him running in the garden however, and in a frenzy, Dmitri hits him on the head and knocks him out.  Dmitri goes into town, suddenly with a lot of money, and finds out that Grushenka is a few towns over with an old love.  He buys dozens of bottles of champagne and food, and travels to that town, and proceeds to wine and dine her and eventually wins her over that night.  In the morning, however, the police arrive and arrest Dmitri because Fyodor was found murdered that night.

The evidence is stacked up against Dmitri.  Grigory survived and testified that Dmitri was running away in the garden at the same time Fyodor was murdered.  Dmitri also suddenly had lots of money, and Fyodor was found robbed.  He had also expressed on many occasions his desire to murder his father.  In reality it was Smerdyakov who murdered Fyodor, in order to please Ivan, who he thought wanted that to happen.  Smerdyakov faked an epileptic fit during that night in order to have an alibi.  The trial is a major spectacle, and a lawyer comes in from Petersburg in order to defend Dmitri.

Leading up to the trial, Ivan is majorly conflicted.  His reason tells him to think his brother killed his father, but after talking with Smerdyakov, he is shaken. Finally, on his third visit to him, Smerdyakov confesses to the crime, and admits that he did it because of Ivan.  Ivan feels as if he is the true murderer.  Smerdyakov kills himself the night before the trial, and Ivan has a hallucination that he is speaking with the devil.  At the trial the next day, Ivan has a nervous breakdown and outburst, and in the end Dmitri is convicted.  The novel ends with Ivan still very sick, and Dmitri making plans to escape to America with Grushenka.  Alexei has moved onto the same path as the elder Zosima, and it has become evidenced by his involvement with a group of schoolboys after the death of the boy who bit him, Ilyuschenka. 

Of course there are many subplots, and they all serve the main theme of the power of faith over doubt.  It is a difficult read at times, but there are also moments of hilarity, as well as times of sadness.  The characters are fascinating, each one a foil to each other.  The narrator is flawed, someone supposedly in the village that knew all the events and thoughts of the characters.  He also described Alexei as the hero, even though the action centers around Dmitri and later climaxes with Ivan's doubts and the scene with the Devil.    Alexei is the connection between everyone, and someone that people just want to talk to.  It was a good read, and I'd like to check out some more Russian classics, maybe Anna Karenina next.  Four out of five stars.

The Secret Miracle

Read from Thursday, July 28th to Saturday, July 30th.

The Secret Miracle; The Novelist's Handbook, edited by Daniel Alarcon, but written by many different authors.  I picked up this book the first time I went into the Museum of Unnatural History and 826DC, and it is a book put together by 826National.  It is simply a set of many different questions about the writing process that was composed by Daniel Alarcon and sent to many authors, some of whom I know and some of whom I haven't read yet.  Paul Auster, Michael Chabon, Jennifer Egan, Stephen King, Mario Vargas Llosa, Colm Toibin, and others participated.  It is arranged so that after each question, you can see the variety of responses by all the authors and their (sometimes vastly different) opinions on the topic.

The questions go through the writing process sequentially.  There are questions on reading, how many books a month, what are your favorite authors, influences.  There are questions on how you get started on writing, things like brainstorming, first drafts, opinions on structure and plot, character development, scene structure.  There are questions on how the authors like to write, in what type of setting, and if they base characters on people they know.  Then there are questions on the revision process, and how they know when a piece they are working on is done.

It was definitely interesting to see how some of my favorite authors responded to these questions, but I did do a lot of skimming.  There is a lot of repetition, both in the questions and in the responses by the authors.  Although on almost every topic, you can find the full spectrum of opinions.  Three out of five stars.

Eleven books in the month of July.

Tree of Codes

Read from Thursday, July 28th to Thursday, July 28th.

I have finally read Tree of Codes, by Jonathan Safran Foer.  I ordered it online in December, and it did not arrive until May, and I finally read it this afternoon in an hour and a half in a coffee shop.  It is a short read, just really a long poem, with a different die cut on each page.  The brilliance of this book rests completely on the unique form, descriptions of which by me will not do it justice.  It is a sculpture and a work of art.

Each die-cut shows a different series of words, and you read the page as it appears before you.  This can be very tricky, as some words and phrases are partially blocked.  I kind of got into a rhythm after awhile though, and only read the complete words and phrases.  Of course, some words were removed each time you turned the page, and some were uncovered each time as well.  There were some strings of connections that stayed for many pages at a time, and were modified each page turn slowly but methodically.  It also helps to think of it all as a poem, and so it is not supposed to be grammatically correct, and since the language is beautiful to begin with, the reader cannot go wrong by adding in a phrase that they read on the page. 

Thematically, it is difficult to get a full picture of the plot.  It is the story of a father on his last day alive, and the peace he makes with his son as he withers away, but also the resentment the son feels for his mother.  As the father dies, the entire world feels the pain and erupts mournfully.  Of course, that is just my interpretation of the book, and I am sure it can be read many different ways.  As I've mentioned before, the book is taken from Street of Crocodiles, by Bruno Schulz, which I reviewed back in November.  The language is still so beautiful, and I could recognize certain phrases from when I read the book, and I remember certain plot points that came out in Tree of Codes, things like the map of the city, and the comet at the end of the novel. 

I highly recommend checking out this book.  Even if it is difficult to read and comprehend, there are some wonderful phrases that are pieced together.  "The world to lose some of its whispering, like boats waiting," is an example of three different phrases strung together, and it was one of my favorites.  Four and a half out of five stars.

P.S. This marks 10 books for the month of July!  I reached my goal with a few days to spare!  Working on number 11 now, I think I might be able to make it.

Bird by Bird

Read from Sunday, July 24th to Tuesday, July 26th.

Bird by Bird, Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamont.  I picked up this book about a year ago at the National Book Festival on the Mall.  I started reading it once, but stopped a few chapters in.  It is a classic (written in the early 90's) about the approach Anne uses in writing her novels, and how that might help any aspiring writers.  It is a mix between a memoir and instruction guide, as Anne's voice definitely comes through, and the reader knows all about her personal quirks, battles and emotions.

As Anne is writing this, she is a teacher of a writing class, and this book is designed to be her class in portable, book form.  She describes her upbringing in California, the daughter of a somewhat famous writer in their hometown.  Her father passed away from cancer when she was a young woman, and Anne wrote stories about his death and its effect on her family, and that was her first published book.  She published a few more books after that, and she claimed that by her fourth book, she was self-sufficient as an author.

Anne describes typical writing subjects, such as characterization, plot, voice and dialogue.  But she also has advice on how to get started.  She advises you write about your childhood, and focus on one subject, such as school lunches, and from there, characters emerge that you want to get to know more, and stories develop from there.  Small writing assignments eventually emerge into shitty first drafts, and then lots of revision and plot treatment.  She describes her somewhat nervous breakdown after an editor did not like a novel she submitted, so she spent months reworking the plot in order to get it acceptable.

Anne also discusses the not-so-glorious life of a writer.  There are tremendous bouts of jealousy when things go well for others, and not yourself, and there are constant voices inside her head saying how untalented she is.  You need to find people you trust to read over your work, and you should start writing groups for support.  And publication isn't all that it is cracked up to be.  There are no glamorous parties, and it is not financially rewarding, and it is a tremendously long process.  However, there are other reasons to write.  You can write something as a gift for others, as Lamont did for her father, and other friends who died or lost loved ones.   Most importantly, you write for yourself, as writing is the most rewarding thing spiritually a person can do (for those of us who love to do it in the first place.)

I enjoyed this simple book, and it makes me want to get back and start writing again, even if its just for myself.  At some points I got annoyed with how neurotic and crazy Lamont could make herself out to be, and she does not seem like someone I would like to hang around with.  However, she is honest, and interesting, and she teaches a good class.  The title refers to advice her father once gave to her brother, who was struggling to write a report on local birds.  "Just take it bird by bird, that's all you have to do."  Three and a half out of five stars.

The Convalescent

Read from Thursday, July 21st to Saturday, July 23rd.

The Convalescent, by Jessica Anthony.  Book 8 of my 10 books in July goal, and I am a day ahead of my pace.  As you can see, I've been so busy reading I haven't had time to write reviews, which is why they are all coming on this one day.  This is a book I picked up off the shelf in the Museum of Unnatural History in DC, an 826 nonprofit created by Dave Eggers, and a place where I volunteer.  It is published by McSweeney's.  It is definitely a unique story, and something outside of many reader's comfort zones.  It is funny, and beautiful, and a bit dark, especially toward the climax.

The Convalescent is the story of Rovar Pfliegman.  He is a small, troll-like man who sells meat out of an old bus in a field in rural Virginia.  He is a fascinating and revolting character.  The meat he sells is quality cuts at low prices, so he gets some customers, but he hasn't spoken since early childhood.  He gets the meat, we later find out, not by butchering animals, but by stealing from the local supermarket.  He has a horrible skin condition, and a bent, broken leg so that he hobbles around.  He is not someone you would like to associate with.  Rovar has a pet beetle in his bus home, and he has a collection of books that he accumulated.  There is a book on water polo, a french dictionary, a Carly Simon cassette, Darwin's Origin of Species, and a book on the history of the universe.  These characters come to life for Rovar throughout the book at moments of high-stress and they talk to him, although no one else can see them. 

Rovar is the last of his legendary Hungarian clan, the Pfliegmans.  I say legendary because he describes the family history and origins throughout the novel.  Rovar's parents were killed in a car crash when he was young, and based on his appearance, Rovar is unlikely to reproduce, to put it kindly.  He is a hermit and outsider to society, but he has a few friends, including a Hindu grocery owner, Mr. Bis, and local pediatrician Dr. Monica.  Rovar visits the doctor's office every Tuesday, and she is very nice and accommodating to the creature, even though he scares the children and the receptionist is very uncomfortable with his presence.  Of course, Rovar is in love with Dr. Monica.  Along with the problem of his deteriorating health, there are the Subdivisionists, nameless suits from a company that wants Rovar's fields and needs him to move. 

A parallel story to the present day Rovar is the history of the Pfliegman clan.  History tells of ten tribes of Hungarians moving to the Carpathian Basin in the 10th century.  However, the Pfliegmans were the 11th tribe, and they were a bunch of trolls living on the outskirts of society.  One day, they made a sacrifice to their god of a noble Hungarian, and they butchered him.  From then on, they became the butchers of Hungary, although they all resembled Rovar.  One day, a Pfliegman woman gave birth to Szeretlek, and when her water broke, it flowed so much that it created the Danube and the Black Sea.  The woman died in childbirth, and Szeretlek (which means I Love You) grew up a giant.  One day, he leg wrestled a woman named Lili, and lost the match but fell in love.  Lili was mistress to the Hungarian king Arpad, but she left him for Szeretlek, even though he was a Pfliegman.  When Arpad discovered this, he exiled Szeretlek, who wandered the forest until he found a monastery where he lived for years.  While he was away, he yearned to return to Lili, to whom it was revealed by a witch that she was also a Pfliegman, and she was actually born after Szeretlek but was almost lost in the flood.  They were twins, but they were in love and Lili actually got impregnated before he was exiled.  Many years later, the giant proved his worth to Arpad by saving the Hungarians in battle, and Szeretlek was transformed into his true, beautiful form by flying up to mount his horse and saving the day.  He was allowed to return, and he searched long for Lili and the Pfliegmans, and when he finally found them, he was so weak that the tribe decided to sacrifice him.  Lili found him, and died with him, and their son lived on.  The Pliegmans existed on the margins of society for the next ten centuries, staying on the outside of power struggles and wars, but slowly dwindling, until there was only Rovar and his parents.

While that history was being revealed, so was the history of Rovar.  He was beaten by his parents, and made to hang on a butcher's hook and locked in a CO2 refrigerator meant to kill pigs.  His parents were drunk and abandoning Rovar the day they stole a rental car and crashed and died.  Rovar had been standing in the middle of the road, and that caused the crash.  The car knicked his leg, which caused his limp. 

Now, in the present day, Rovar has lost his home to a flood, and the police are waiting to arrest him for both stealing meat and supposedly drawing dirty pictures to the kids in the pediatrician's waiting room.  He finally tries to explain his story to Dr. Monica, but his skin is completely shedding, and back is killing him.  She puts him in for an X-Ray, and finally the metamorphosis occurs.  His wings pop out, and body turns into the body of a butterfly.  Rovar has finally transformed into something beautiful.

All three of these stories (present day Rovar, the history of Rovar and his parents, and the Pfliegman clan in pre-medieval Hungary) unfold simultaneously, so that the three climaxes happen around the end, which makes for a powerful ending to the novel.  It also ends a little darker than the rest of the story had been.  The reader ends up really feeling for Rovar and rooting for him to make it.  It is tragic, but also hopeful, that someone's inner beauty can finally shine through.  Some of the dialogue was awkward, specifically in the pre-medieval Hungary scenes, and kind of took me out of the story a bit.  But it was a funny story, with moments of magical realism (my favorite!).  Four out of five stars.

The Things They Carried

Read from Tuesday, July 19th to Thursday, July 21st.

As a follow-up to Going After Cacciato, I decided to read The Things They Carried, also by Tim O'Brien.  This is a brilliant collection of vignettes, essays and short stories about the Vietnam War.  Although it is classified as fiction, O'Brien claimed he drew on a lot of personal experiences, similar to Cacciato.  There are both short war stories about Tim and his group, but then there are commentaries on those stories by Tim himself.  He writes about the power of stories, he writes about death of friends in combat, and some by suicide, and life after the war, and returning to Vietnam many years later with his daughter.  She is young, and has trouble understanding why he is so interested in a low field, but then again, how could anyone really understand unless they were there?

The Things They Carried is the title story and also the lead story.  O'Brien details all the different equipment a soldier was expected to carry.  But it was more than physical.  There was also the mental burden each soldier had to carry.  There were the personal trinkets and talismans that made each soldier unique.  A stone sent by a lost high school crush, an illustrated Bible, stockings wrapped around like a scarf.  There are all the guns and explosives each soldier is required to have and to use when necessary. 

There is no specific plot, just memories and stories.  The unit loses a few men.  One steps on a mine and is blown into a tree.  Another is sniped while coming back from taking a piss.  The medic slowly loses his cool and shoots himself in the foot and is shipped off to Japan.  One night they camp in a field near a river.  But it is monsoon season, and the field floods, and it is the field where the nearby village goes the bathroom, so they are covered in a pool of shit.  Then they get mortared, and one soldier is sucked into a crater full of shit and dies.  The soldiers tell each other stories too.  There is the story of a group of soldiers in an isolated medic outpost.  One of them decides to fly his girlfriend over to keep him company.  Because there are no officers, she arrives and stays with them for weeks.  Slowly, she becomes accustomed to military life, and she shoots guns, and eventually she starts going on ambushes with a local green beret unit.  The soldier who flew her over loses his girlfriend to the jungle, as she melts into the landscape.

One of the most memorable scenes is actually something I first read in high school in English class, Junior year I believe.  Frustrated over the sniping of the soldier who got shot after taking a piss, another soldier finds a baby water buffalo.  He shoots it first in each knee, then blows off the nose, the ears, the jaw, slowly killing the beast, which just stands there taking the punishment.

What is real and what is fiction?  It is never completely clear.  O'Brien frequently says out in front that it is all made up, although it is written so realistically.  He discusses the power of war stories and what makes them important.  They reveal the brutal honesty of human existence, not the crazy heroics, but the simple moments of clarity.  Mesmerizing, fascinating and beautiful.  Four and a half out of five stars.

The Book of Imaginary Beings

Read from Monday, July 18th to Tuesday, July 19th.

The Book of Imaginary Beings, by Jorge Luis Borges.  I loved this simple anthology of all the imaginary, mythical creatures that the world has thought up in its history.  It spans all cultures and races, from Hindu, to Chinese, to Native American, Medieval, South American and even Wisconsin Logger.  The creatures come from Greek and Roman myths, from folklore, from religious books, and even from other contemporary writers like Kafka, C.S. Lewis and Edgar Allen Poe.  Over 140 creatures were listed with a page or two of description, both of what the creature looks like, how it acts, and how it is placed in the cultural history of mankind.

Of course it is always interesting to read about the creatures that you knew growing up.  There are dwarves, dragons, unicorns, faeries, elves and the Cheshire cat.  But some of my favorite creatures were the darker ones I had not heard of in detail before.  Creatures that could turn you to stone if you look at it, dogs that guard the gates of hell and devour those trying to escape.  Fish that hold the entire world on their back.  Banshees that scream at night, salamanders that live in fire, and Angels seen by a man who supposedly died for a short time.  The A Bao A Qu is a creature that lives in a tower, and as it follows the traveler up the steps of the tower, it slowly regains its true form and magnificence, only to disappear again when the traveler descends. 

I love Borges' writing style.  How he makes myths and fantasy (though I hate to use that word) come to life and sound realistic and enthralling.  These creatures, though just a compendium meant to browse through, fit in easily with this style.  I thoroughly enjoyed this read, and I want to encourage young readers to get lost in the world of these imaginary beings.  Four out of five stars.