The Angel’s Game

I mentioned that the first part of 2666 reminded me of Shadow of the Wind.  The author,  Carlos Ruiz Zafon, wrote a new book, The Angel’s Game (Doubleday, 2009) that is somewhat of a prequel to Shadow of the Wind (Penguin, 2004).  Both books are an ode to the city of Barcelona, Spain (the new edition of the paperback Shadow of the Wind includes a walking tour of the city entitled A Walk in the Footsteps of The Shadow of the Wind )  I fell crazily in love with Shadow when I first read it – how could I not love a book that opens with the widowed bookseller taking his young son to the Cemetary of Forgotten Books!  The book opens in 1945, after the Spanish Civil War, and is mysterious, funny, and has multiple love stories.  I re-read it after reading The Angel’s Game, and it more than held up over time.  The Angel’s Game opens in 1917 and has many overlapping characters, including the bookseller’s son in this book, who is the widowed father in Shadow, and the Cemetery of Forgotten Books appears here too.  The reader will again enjoy Zafon’s sense of humor and multiple love stories.  This book has a more sinister tone – Andreas Corelli may in fact be the devil – and there are lengthy passages ruminating on the meaning of religion and faith –  it is again a wonderful read.

Great Expectations

The novel Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, plays a role in The Angel’s Game, which prompted me to re-read it.  What a delight!  That Charles Dickens really knows how to spin a yarn!  It was pure pleasure to spend time with Pip, Miss Havisham,  Estella and Joe.  And speaking of Dickens, if you are a fan (and who isn’t) you may enjoy the creepy, gothic tale about Dickens and Wilkie Collins (The Woman in White is on my list of all time favs), Drood, by Dan Simmons (Little, Brown, 2009).  The story opens with a real event from Dicken’s life – his near death when a train on which he was riding jumped the track.  Dickens confides in Collins that a spectral presence named Drood appeared to aid (or perhaps kill) the survivors.  Dickens becomes enthralled with solving the mystery of Drood (Dicken’s last and unfinished novel is The Mystery of Edwin Drood) and pulls Collins into his investigation.  Library Journal said it best

“This sprawling monster of a novel is Collins-like in its exotic extravagance, Dickensian in its sharply delineated characters, major and minor.  Simmons has captured to a tee the high style of late Victorian melodrama: the story line is consistently engrossing and utterly unpredictable.  This rip-roaring adventure is a true page turner.”

Couldn’t agree more.

A Reliable Wife

And now that we are in a gothic mood, let me suggest two more!  A Reliable Wife, by Robert Goolrick (Algonquin, 2009) opens in 1097 with 54 year old Ralph Truitt standing alone on a train platform waiting for the woman who answered his newspaper advertisement for a “reliable wife”.  But the woman who steps off the train is not the “simple, honest woman” that Ralph is expecting… Many authors have employed the mail order bride device, but this one is really complex and suspenseful.  Who is Catherine and what is her true intent?  What secrets is Ralph hiding?  Their stories are peeled away layer by layer and readers are rewarded by a big conclusion.  Also, the author does such a good job describing the cold and lonely mid-west, that my teeth chattered at times while reading this!

The Little Stranger

For a big, juicy read, try The Little Stranger, by Sarah Waters (Riverhead, 2009).  Waters is the author of another of my all time favs, Fingersmith.  Little Stranger has been shorlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and is a darkly atmospheric novel set in a decaying mansion in postwar England.  The narrator (and an unreliable one at that!) Dr Faraday, first visited Hundreds Hall as a child when his mother was a servant there.  Nearly 30 years later he is called in to care for a servant and soon finds himself embroiled in the family’s “troubles”, including son Roderick’s belief that there is an evil presence in the house.  Library Journal accurately pointed out the the book has elements of both The Fall of the House of Usher and Brideshead Revisited.  A spooky, satisfying read with insightful class commentary.

The Secret Scripture

Now to a few books that are notable for their extraordinarily beautiful writing.  The Secret Scripture, by Sebastian Barry (Penguin, 2009) was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize last year.  The novel centers on 100 year old Roseanne McNulty, a resident of a Roscommon, Ireland mental hospital, who secretly records her heartbreaking life in a hidden journal. Her entries alternate with the writings of Dr. William Grene, a kindly psychiatrist attempting to assess Roseanne’s mental health.  The writing here is simply stunning.  I’ve often heard it said that Catholics know how to “do” funerals.  Well, Irish writers know how to “do” grief.  For example, in the words of Dr Grene, “There are pits of grief obviously that only the grieving know.  It is a voyage to the center of the earth, a huge heavy machine boring down into the crust of the earth.  And a little man growing wild at the controls.  Terrified, terrified, and no turning back.”

Brooklyn

Brooklyn, by Colm Toibin (Scribner, 2009).  Toibin wrote The Master, a masterful account of Henry James, and here writes in the style of James with suggestive understatement as he tells the story of Eilis Lacey, a quiet girl from the Irish town of Enniscorthy who goes to America and builds a new life in Brooklyn in the early 1950s.  Toibin brings both the quiet Irish village and bustling Brooklyn to life as we watch Eilis’ transformation and struggle to decide her future when she returns to Ireland after a family tragedy.

That Old Cape Magic

That Old Cape Magic, by Richard Russo (Knopf, 2009).  I am a huge fan of Russo and was not disappointed here.  Unlike Empire Falls and The Bridge of Sighs which cover generations of families and large casts of characters, Russo focuses on Jack Griffin, a 50ish professor, whose life is coming apart at the seams.  Most of the story takes place on Cape Cod at two weddings that take place a year apart.  In flashbacks, we examine Jack’s childhood and marriage, and Russo is brilliant in his exploration of the deceptive nature of memory.  There is an impressive analysis of family dynamics between not only spouses, but also parents, in-laws and children, and a healthy dose of Russo’s signature humor.  Russo’s writing is so smooth and clean that you could make the mistake of breezing through it without appreciating the depth of mid-life introspection found within its pages.  Don’t miss it.

Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It

We can claim Mailie Meloy as a local girl even if she hails from Montana.  Her latest collection of short stories, Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It (Riverhead, 2009) has been garnering huge reviews, including the cover of the NYT’s Sunday Book Review and a full story in the LA Times.  These stunning stories of small town characters are infused with deep emotional power. Loneliness and disappointment are recurring themes.  The characters frequently leave each other or let each other down, and it is their vulnerabilities, failures and flaws that make them so wonderful.