Review: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Posted on January 11, 2010 by

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I have finally found the time to re-read this novel, and I’m glad. I still don’t believe it is Fitzgerald’s best work (I give that nod to Tender is the Night) but it’s much better than I originally gave it credit for. I was assigned this book in my Freshman year of high school, and I’m not quite sure why. There’s no way imaginable that I could have appreciated or even really understood the novel at that age. Fitzgerald’s descriptions are vivid and rich. There are many memorable quotations and passages, like the famous last line, which might go down as one of my favorite novel endings of all time:

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” Fantastic. The idea, too, of the dangers of capitalism and the evils of exchanging a love of tangible, “simple” things for the love of money and status.. well worked and presented.

Review: Blindness by Jose Saramago

Posted on January 11, 2010 by

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Truly thought-provoking story about a world gone blind. But why? The philosophy behind the story is subtle enough to let the story itself remain interesting – until the last page where Saramago pushes the obviousness of his purpose onto the reader. This is unfortunate, because it had been, up to that point, a story of interpretation, which made it all the more fascinating. I was also highly impressed with Saramago’s prose-style – allowing the dialogue not to be separated, but to run together for pages at a time, connected only by commas; however, I’ve discovered that this is the style in many (if not all) of his novels, thereby negating the idea that Saramago was cleverly “blinding” the reader along with the novel’s characters. Quite a let down there. All-in-all, though, the story is genius and it is told quite well. I couldn’t help but be drawn in – scared, sympathetic, and even, at times, amused. Highly recommended.

Review: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Posted on January 11, 2010 by

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There is so much to say about this novel, one hardly knows where to begin. I suppose the best place to start is with the notion that this novel is “the greatest love story of all time.” Well, it’s not really a love novel, not in the traditional sense, anyway. Many who have read this novel, or who have heard of the story, have often believed that Anna Karenina committed suicide because she was a hopeless, wretched romantic, slighted by love. On the contrary, Anna was indeed loved intensely by two separate men, both of whom she destroyed emotionally and even socially/politically. The comparison which Tolstoy makes, and which many ignore, is between Anna and Levin. It is Levin’s epiphany at the end of the novel, that intellect and “book learning” mean nothing if they distract one from the love and salvation of God. This is what Anna herself could not do. She was consumed with self-absorption and with her own power over male minds and passions. This narcissism led to her despair and, eventually, to her death. Levin, in a similar situation to Anna, unhappy with life, with his lover, and with his family, stumbled upon the answer to happiness in a higher power – not in religion, but in the grand idea of God’s supreme knowledge and plan. This, perhaps, is the notion behind the “greatest love story,” though I doubt most realize this; instead, people seem to focus on Anna’s ostracized position in society. What Tolstoy is saying, though, is that Anna chose this life and therefore deserves it. She set aside two husbands and two children, by two different husbands, in search of personal, selfish happiness. The novel, truly, might be one of the greatest of all time – but the real reason for this seems lost on the majority of readers. I find much similarity between this novel and Tolstoy’s other famous discussion on the meaning of life, realized at the moment of death, in The Death of Ivan Ilyich. As for this edition itself, there are quite a few surface errors but the translated prose is quite beautiful – I only wish I knew Russian so that I could read the story in its original language. The flow is quite moving.

Final Verdict: 5.0 out of 5.0

Review: The Wings of Merlin by T.A. Barron

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The Wings of Merlin is the fifth and final book in T.A. Barron’s “Lost Years of Merlin” series. While I found this last of the series more concentrated with cliches – moments reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and The Chronicles of Narnia– I also found it the most touching of the five parts. The characters finally seemed well-developed and interesting; the relationships were truthful and the fight stirred in the many creatures of Fincayra, when facing it’s final hour and possible extinction, was believable and – as embarrassing as it is to say – almost tear-jerking. There were losses, and gains. Tough choices placed before all the major characters, with an understanding of how and why these choices were made, in the end. Old characters were brought back again, and new characters woven in, effortlessly. Even the blatant nod to Barron’s sequel “Avalon” series was acceptable, though not too cleverly or craftily disguised. All-in-all, this final book, with it’s flaws in repetitive themes, motifs, and vocabulary (yes, I’m that picky) is still the best, most well-developed of the bunch and – if you’ve made it this far, I don’t see how you could be disappointed.

Review: Look at the Birdie by Kurt Vonnegut

Posted on January 11, 2010 by

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It’s hard to believe that a person could be such a brilliant, en pointe writer for so very long. Many of the stories (if not all?) in Look at the Birdie seem to have been written later in Vonnegut’s life. The illustrations are all from the few years before Vonnegut died in April, 2007. Somehow, incredibly, these works are as mesmerizing, as darkly humorous, and as meaningful as any of his previous works – including Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five. I have more experience with Vonnegut the novelist than I do with Vonnegut the essayist or short story writer (though I did read A Man Without A Country – also brilliant!) but, I must say, I am so grateful to the publishers and family for allowing a posthumous printing of these incredible pieces. Particular favorites include “Petrified Ants,” “Confido,” and “Hall of Mirrors.” The Sci-Fi/Fantasy element is certainly still there, as well as Vonneguts interest in the super/paranormal; still, as always, Vonnegut manages to incorporate these elements so naturally, so realistically, that it’s almost impossible to separate them as fiction from the fiction. This is an absolutely solid anthology of short fiction from one of the best and greatest American writers and satirists of all time – and a must for any Vonnegut fan.

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