Month: October 2011

The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen

Summary: Two generations of the Lambert family struggle with the burden of daily life.

Sounds pretty unexciting, huh? The Corrections was a strange, and strangely compelling read. It seems so ludicrous – from Chip’s job scamming American investors into pouring money in Lithuania by means of a phony website, to Denise sleeping not only with a married woman, but that married woman’s husband as well, or Gary’s cold money-grubbing and his poewr struggle of a marriage to harpy wife Caroline. Then, of course, there’s their parents, Enid and Al, the latter of whom is losing both mental and physical control as Parkinson’s takes over his brain. Ultimately, they are all reunited for one last Christmas together, as per Enid’s wishes, and forced to face the truth about their collective situation. Every single character is hateful, annoying and frustrating (to varying degrees), but there’s something about Franzen’s black humour that kept me reading.

Blood, Bones and Butter: the education of a reluctant chef – Gabrielle Hamilton

Summary: An idyllic bohemian childhood abruptly ends with a divorce, the catalyst for young Gabrielle striking out on her own and making a place for herself in the world.

As you would expect, Hamilton’s memoir is filled with sumptuous memories of food, tied in closely with family. A sense of belonging is something she actively tries to cultivate in an attempt to recreate the memories of her youth prior to her parents’ split – an event that led her to take on dishwashing jobs and eventually move to New York to work in bars and restaurants (one year she pulled in $90,000 working around the clock as an underage waitress, and spent it all on drugs) and catering companies. Eventually, she completes a Masters in literature, but realises that food is where her heart lies, and when the opportunity to open her own restaurant presents itself, she seizes it – despite never having even worked as a restaurant chef before, or having any business experience.

Hamilton is as talented a writer as she is a chef (she apparently beat Bobby Flay on Iron Chef but had no desire to be on TV). Her no-nonsense take on being a woman in the industry is refreshing, as is her outlook on food (no foams, no pretentious sauces, just genuine, comforting fare that people actually want to eat). For me, though, one of the most intriguing aspects of the book was largely left unresolved – that of her loveless marriage. While she identifies as a lesbian in one chapter and has relationships with women, she ends up marrying an Italian doctor and having two children with him; his south Italian family provide her with some of those roots she yearns for, but it seems a union doomed.

Other Voices, Other Rooms – Truman Capote

Summary: A strange coming-of-age tale packed with quirky characters that lacks resolution.

Other Voices, Other Rooms follows young Joel Knox as he’s packed off to Alabama to live with his father’s family following the death of his mother. His new life is packed with quirky characters: his paralysed father who communicates by throwing balls down the stairs; his long-suffering stepmother; and wacky Cousin Randolph, who drinks too much and likes to dress up as a woman, to name just a few.

Capote has talent. He was my age when he wrote this. His polished prose seems to sparkle effortlessly and its dreamy quality is beguiling. But at times it verges on the outright bizarre; some of the rambling toward the end of the novel is simply confused (confusing?), the gothic, supernatural elements lead nowhere, nor in fact is there any resolution to be found, whether it’s in regard to Zoo, the bright-eyed young maid, Idabel (aka Harper Lee), his tomboyish neighbour, his bedridden father, or even Cousin Randolph.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake – Aimee Bender

Summary: An unhappy suburban family starts to unravel, as told by their precocious young daughter, who can taste the cook’s emotions through food.

I’m told Bender is a superb short story writer. I was hooked on the first page thanks to a throwaway line about ingredients lined up for baking on a counter – “butter blurring at the edges”. Just beautiful. Unfortunately, what started out as a promising book lost its way in a spectacular fashion.

While Bender’s prose is exquisite, its also wholly unconvincing from the narrative viewpoint of a nine-year-old. Overnight, Rose’s life is altered when she discovers she can taste in every meal the feelings of the person who made it. And unfortunately, we are all far less happy than we outwardly project. Eating is essentially ruined for Rose, and she switches to a diet of packaged, processed food as much as possible – the only food she can stomach is the sandwiches made by her best friend’s parents, compiled with love and a caring hand. Meanwhile, her distant parents and brother continue to grow further apart, with particularly devastating consequences once her sibling’s own supernatural secret is revealed. And that is when the story descends into the realm of sheer madness and pure WTF-ery. Avoid, avoid, avoid.

Bumped – Megan McCafferty

Summary: Madness reigns in an alternate future where only teenagers can reproduce thanks to a potent virus, including two twin sisters struggling to find their place in this sexually-charged society.

Harmony and Melody are beautiful, intelligent, talented and all around perfect twins separated at birth; Harmony was raised in a strict Christian community and comes looking for Melody in an effort to save her soul and convince her to return to her town and live in purity with her. Meanwhile, Melody grew up with academic parents who have dollar signs in their eyes and have groomed her to become a lucrative breeding machine given her desirable traits. But at 16 – just two years from infertility – her agent has yet to find her a boy to ‘bump’ with. Just as Harmony shows up on the scene, however, a deal is stuck with superstar reproducer Jondoe – and a mistaken-identity caper ensues.

Megan McCafferty has my eternal admiration as the creator of the Jessica Darling books. Bumped is very different in subject matter, but
her talent for wordplay continues to shine through with no shortage of intentionally hilarious acronyms and slang (although the sheer number of  made-up terms she drops is excessive and somewhat grating). I wasn’t a fan of the open-ended ending, either, but it seems there’s a sequel in the works, so that, in my eyes, is forgivable.

So Much For That – Lionel Shriver

Summary: Shep Knacker’s dream of retiring to the Third World is torn to shreds when his wife Glynis reveals she has cancer, and needs him to stay put for health insurance purposes.

There is so much going on in this novel, it’s hard to know where to start. Everybody is unhappy and browbeaten and tough to like, from single-minded Shep who allows everyone from Glynis – who refuses to buy into his dream – to the useless Randy, to whom he sold the company he built from the ground up, and is now driving back into nothing, to walk over him. His mooching artist sister Beryl. His similarly dependent daughter Amelia. His withdrawn son Zach. His best friend Jackson, who seems to have inferior man syndrome (and oh, the action he takes in an effort to remedy that…) and rails on about the failures of government and capitalism to anyone who’ll listen.  And of course, prickly, lost Glynis herself, whose worst qualities are only brought out by her cancer.

I adore Shriver’s ambition and intensity, although her tendency to ramble on and propensity for long-winded, far-fetched dialogue detracts somewhat from the overall effect. The novel shines in depicting modern misery, in the nuances of marriages and relationships, particularly in relation to illness, and of course an indictment of the American healthcare industry, driven home by the simple device of starting each new chapter with Shep’s latest Merrill Lynch account balance. Meanwhile, it also tackles the dichotomy of moochers vs mugs – those who game the system, and those who play by the rules (guess who wins and who loses?). That’s largely delivered through Jackson’s monologues – subtle as a hammer – but also simply through Shep’s support of everybody around him. Thankfully, the end is most satisfying, despite him depleting his life savings to prolong Glynis’ existence. Worth a read.