BOOK: A Death in the Family by James Agee

A Death in the Family by James Agee, 310 pages

Book Awards III: Pulitzer 1957; Southern Reading Challenge: Tennessee

Before I read this book, I thought the story would follow the months after the death of the father of a young family in 1915 Tennessee. It turns out that it follows the family in the couple of days before and after the death of Jay. This was only a problem in that those three days of shock were magnified and examined minutely. I've had to spend some time analysing the book to find why it didn't work for me.

Agee died before this book was published. From the Note on this Book - How much polishing or re-writing he might have done is impossible to guess, for he was a tireless and painstaking writer. The editors inserted two scenes at the end of parts I and II, which to me, didn't add much to the story, a little background to the characters.

I really wanted to like this book and thought I would, but it just didn't seem to match the way brain likes to read. The sentences ran on and on, and there were page-long paragraphs and every little detail was excruciatingly described. I understand that this effect was meant to illustrate the effects of grief and the way that time would slow down, but holy hannah, it was painful to read. Add to that the thought processes of a confused six year old boy and I was ready to throw the book. I kept reading and I did like the third section the best but it wasn't enough to salvage the book for me.

For example, the analysis of feelings was so in depth, and exacting, it didn't read true to me. Or maybe just too obvious. Catherine is a three year old girl - Catherine felt more virtuous and less troubled than she had for some time, for she had watched Rufus being scolded, all to himself, and it more than wiped out her unhappiness at his telling her to come along when of course she was coming and he had no right even if she wasn't. page 263 More virtuous?


He could see his mother's face while she told them about it and hear her voice, over and over, and silently, over and over, while he looked around the sitting room and through the window into the street, words repeated themselves (page 239).

That quote there summed up the whole book for me. Over and over, the same words repeated themselves.

Other reviews, much more glowing than mine:
laura at musings
michelle at onemorechapter

If I missed your review, let me know and I'll add you.

BOOK: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, 270 pages

Pulitzer Winner 2009

I really liked Olive, warts and all.
I liked how the book was a view of a small town in Maine, with many characters.
I liked how we see Olive through her chapters, and how the other people in the town see her and know her.
I liked the idea of a character study from so many angles.
I like how Olive was pretty cranky and self-centered but also could be compassionate.
I liked Olive's husband, Henry and his pleasant, easy-going manner.
I liked that Olive was a math teacher.
I liked the writing.
I like short story collections with overlapping characters, but this isn't really a short story collection - it is a form to develop Olive's character from different character's viewpoints.
I liked the other characters we got to know and their stories, also giving a new perspective on Olive.
I liked seeing Olive's life, and the lives that she touched or had an effect on.
I liked the theme of perspective and how we never know what is going on inside people's houses, marriages, heads.
I really liked Olive, and Olive Kitteridge.

BOOK: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, 246 pages

Pulitzer Winner 2004; themed reading challenge

Old preacher man writes a letter to his young son. Writes about his grandfather - saint and sinner preacher abolitionist who fought in the Civil War and stole random items in his old age. Writes about his father, preacher and pacifist. So much father and son dynamics.

Writes about his sermons, and biblical passages. So much philosophy that puts me to sleep. He actually gets confused in the middle of some passages himself, so I didn't feel so bad.

Writes about his namesake, a preacher friend's troubled son. This part of the story was more interesting as the narrator had to deal with his own jealousies and prejudices. He was very human, less religiously perfect in his dealings with his godson.

Loneliness, prejudice, good, man's relationship with God. I think there are many people who would enjoy this slow, character driven novel. It was well written but not about things that interest me enough. I can see why it was a Pulitzer winner. Prize winning books should make you think, should show an inner conflict, and make for great discussion. Not for me but I can recognize it would be loved by another type of reader. It's too far away from a good murder mystery to entertain me.

also reviewed by Rhinoa (and she gave it 4.5/5, I knew others would like it)

BOOK: The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields

The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields

2nd Canadian Book Challenge; Book Awards II: Pulitzer 1995; decades: 1990s; 1% well read challenge

And the question arises: what is the story of a life? A chronicle of fact or a skillfully wrought impressison? (p. 340)

And that is what I am left with after reading this book, the 'autobiography' of Daisy Stone Goodwill-Flett. Her life spans the 20th century, born in 1905 in Canada and died 1990s in Florida. There were unusual point of views taken and at times, the reader is left wondering if Daisy is writing her story or not. Each chapter documents an era in her life - Birth, Childhood, Marriage, Love, Work, Sorrow, Ease, Illness and Decline, Death.

It amazed me how much I could learn about Daisy and at the same time, know nothing at all about her thoughts, beliefs and dreams. Perhaps it was more of a biography from the points of view of her family and friends, disconnecting from her emotional self and seeing only their perspectives of Daisy. I loved the section with photographs of the characters and kept referring to them as I read. I liked Daisy's story and the way it was written and I imagine it would make a great book club read, with so much unsaid in the book to discuss.

BOOK: The Hours by Michael Cunningham

The Hours by Michael Cunningham

Pulitzer Winner 1999
Books-to-Movies Challenge

Three parallel lives are followed through a single day in each life: Mrs Brown, a 1950s housewife who is reading Mrs Dalloway; Clarissa, known as Mrs Dalloway who is living the life, in present day New York, from Mrs Dalloway, the novel; and Mrs Woolf, the author who is writing Mrs Dalloway in 1920s England. Hmm, perhaps I should have read Mrs Dalloway first? I'm pretty sure I missed a lot of the symbolism and parallels that connect this book to Mrs Dalloway. While I usually firmly believe in reading the book first, in this case I think the movie would stand alone better than the book. Now I need to see the movie and see if I am right.

Themes of suicide are throughout; the prologue details the author Virginia Woolf's drowning suicide, Mrs Brown is contemplating it as a means of escaping the life she feels trapped in, and Clarissa deals with the death of a friend. I read about other themes and important symbols at the Sparks notes site. This novel will be discussed at Bookawards Yahoo Group during the month of December and I expect to discover some interesting ideas and themes during that discussion.

However, any book of only 225 pages that takes me over a week to read must have some problems. I didn't connect enough with the story and the characters because it was so busy being important, with symbols and parallels. Not to say that I wasn't interested, because I did want to see how all three stories connected in the end and I would like to read Mrs Dalloway, I think, if only to see where this book came from. But overall, this book was just an okay read, nothing wrong, just not a book that I will rave about or remember too much from. I applaud the author's ambition, and with enough prior knowledge and background, I think I would have enjoyed it more. But there was no prerequisite listed on the cover, and I think there should be.

BOOK: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

I finished. I still have the little pit or knot in my stomach that I had during the whole reading. I can see why this book won the Pulitzer Prize for literature this year, and why it was an Oprah pick, with her usual depressing and dreary themes. But that makes it sound like I didn't like it, and I did, I liked it a lot.

I've been reading reviews of this book all year, and I know a lot of people have already read this book. So I knew about the strange punctuation and didn't notice it because I had been warned. In fact, in dewey's review at the nyt notable book review blog, she made an excellent analysis about how the level of discussion and punctuation varied directly with the hunger of the main characters.

Plot outline: A man and his son, never named, are travelling and surviving in a post apocalyptic America, summarized wonderfully by someone somewhere (I can't find who) as ash,ash,ash, forage,forage,forage, and then more ash, forage, sleep. This was very bleak, colorless, and depressing, and I just kept thinking: What would I do? How could people survive? Would you want to? And yet, I kept picking this back up, and I read it fairly quickly, in a few days. And every time, I was immediately transported to this terrible world, with 'bad guys' and cannibals, and fear, and survival. The father is doing everything he can, to survive and protect his son.



A few thoughts and questions:

- Plastic is not all bad, since it was one of the only things to survive. If there hadn't been plastic items for them to scavenge, they would not have found much
- What have the father and son been doing for all the years since the son was born? Have they been walking all this time? Have they met nobody safe in all this time?
- What happened to all the bullets in the gun? Because there were more than one, I believe, at some point.


caution: possible spoilers
Some thoughts which may be spoilerish, because I just went back and read all the reviews and discussions at nyt notable book blog

Were the people at the end good or bad?
I think there were a lot more good people around, and more survivors somewhere, but the father was too afraid to find them. He never tried to find if anyone they met was safe, he automatically suspected everyone. Quite rightly in most occasions, and people trying to survive have to do whatever they can, but the fact that he avoided everyone, I don't think he was ever going to find the good people. His son was more open and hopeful, and so, he would find the good people.

I did like the theory about the ending being the father's happy ending to a story - I hadn't thought of that and it is very interesting.

But there has to be more religious overtones to the story, because of the apocalypse ending of the world. How does God, and religion, continue in a world like that? Is there a place/need for it? And I think the book shows there is a need, we need to trust people, and good will triumph.

CHALLENGE: Long Term Projects

Wouldn't it be fun to be able to say "I've read all the Pulitzer prize winning books" or "I've read all the Bookers"? Well there are a bunch of ambitious readers around who think it would be fun. We are not completely crazy so this is a long term project, as in eventually, I'll be able to say I've read all these great books. I think it will be interesting to see which books I tend to prefer, because I imagine there is a definite feel that each list takes on. In the same way I think I tend to like the Giller prize winning books, but maybe it's because I'm Canadian.


Pulitzer: For distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life




books already read:
1961 To Kill a Mockingbird read in the 1990s
1981 A Confederacy of Dunces reviewed here
1983 The Color Purple read in the 1990s
1988 Beloved (I'm 90% sure I read this; also 90% sure I didn't get it. At all) read in the 1990s
1994 The Shipping News read in the 1990s
2003 Middlesex read in 2005

So, obviously I have quite a way to go, only 75 more. Unfortunately, there are several that I had no intention of reading; I'll save them for the end.
Here's the ones that I say, I want to read that, every time I see them. I expect to read them within the next year, she hopefully types.

2007 The Road
1999 The Hours
1995 The Stone Diaries
1958 A Death in the Family
1932 The Good Earth

Man Booker: is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of either the Commonwealth of Nations or the Republic of Ireland.




So far, I've read:
2002 The Life of Pi read in 2004 and loved it.
2000 The Blind Assassin reviewed here
1997 The God of Small Things reviewed here
1993 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha read in the 1990s
1985 The Bone People reviewed here

I found a big old list of Bookers I'd like to read and the ones that top the list are:
1983 Life and Times of Michael K
1989 The Remains of the Day
1998 Amsterdam

The Man Booker long list has been released and I'm hunting down any that I can find easily, ie, my library. Here's what I found at wikipedia, so I assume the links go to that site.

Darkmans by Nicola Barker
Self Help by Edward Docx
The Gift Of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
The Gathering' by Anne Enright
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
Gifted by Nikita Lalwani
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn
Consolation by Michael Redhill
Animal's People by Indra Sinha
Winnie & Wolf by A.N. Wilson

So far, I've read The Reluctant Fundamentalist, reviewed below, and I am in a patient line for On Chesil Beach, and will be able to get Consolation at the library as well. Others may take a while.

I think I liked this book, after some reflection. As I read it, I wasn't sure, but since it was short, under 200 pages, I knew I'd keep going. This is the story of a young man from Pakistan, who came to America to go to Princeton and live the American dream. His life in New York City, with a high status job as a valuator, changes after September 11, 2001. The narrative voice is a little strange, and I'm not sure it was the best way to tell the tale. He tells his story to an unknown American he meets at a cafe in Pakistan, after the fact. We never find out who this stranger is, and a lot is left unsaid at the end. There is also a love story of sorts as the narrator recounts his love of an American girl during his time in America.

I'm not sure what an American reader would feel about this book. There is a definite outsider looking in quality, and the terrorist topic is a sensitive subject, quite rightly. The narrator is not a terrorist, but provides an interesting perspective to these times. There are political statements about America's involvement in Pakistan-Indian affairs, and the term fundamentalist has several connotations that are played with during the story. The ending is quite ambiguous and could be interpreted several ways. I think it has been longlisted for its somewhat daring topic, the narrator perspective, and the ambiguous ending, all of which make it easy to discuss and argue and analyze.