What I've been reading, Australia edition

Its been a slow reading month so far. I went to Australia hoping to get a ton of reading done, and buying way too many kindle books in anticipation, but unfortunately I wasn't as successful as I expected.

The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt
I was most excited for this one out of all my kindle purchases, so I decided to tackle it first. I know everyone was reviewing this late last year, so I'm a bit late, but it still felt pretty new and exciting to me. I'm sad to say I was a little disappointed overall. I loved the setting (in the New York parts at least), particularly the antique shop, and I always enjoy references to art and literature, but here they felt a little unnatural. I can easily forgive a writer for making a lot of references to other writers (Donna Tartt did this in her other two books as well, but in both it made more sense) if the plot is good. Unfortunately I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be. Without giving too much away, I thought that the big event at the beginning wasn't done very well (I know that sounds very vague). I understand that Theo is young at the time (around 13), and Tartt is trying to express that with her narration. As the book progresses the writing style definitely improves, and older Theo is more interesting anyway. But still, I wasn't enthralled by the story, the characters or the writing. I found it empty. Themes were touched upon in various discussions between characters at the end of the book: our relationships with objects, our struggle to be good. It all felt much too straightforward, like telling the reader how one should feel about it.

Maybe its because I enjoyed The Secret History so much, or maybe because I knew Donna Tartt took 10 years to write this, I expected more. The Secret History actually affected me more after reading it, when I was left to consider it as a whole. Weeks after reading The Goldfinch, I haven't really thought about it at all. I feel like maybe I'm missing out on something- other people seem to have had really great experiences with The Goldfinch.


Some other books I read:
The Other Typist, by Suzanne Rindell, an impulse buy, purely because it seemed like a fun holiday read (or my idea of a fun holiday read). Much has been said about the 'twist' in the book, which surprises me because its not really a twist at all. Rose, relating the story after it has happened, as much as tells the reader what's going to happen. Only the last paragraph undercuts that, leaving many readers, including myself, confused.

The Woman Upstairs, by Clare Mussad, which I loved it because it made me think a lot more about art than The Goldfinch did. It's partly about what it means to be a female artist and a contemporary artist, but also an engrossing character study. Although I wasn't overwhelmed when I finished it, I'd still recommend it.

Nightfilm, by Merisha Pessl, which I hope I'll be writing more about in future. Strangely enough it was a negative review that made me want to read this book. The detective story was criticised, and I can see why, although, like others, I was seduced by the mystery at first. Even if the ending wasn't entirely satisfactory and the murder mystery format didn't really work, I loved learning about the fictional director, Cordova. I definitely want to explore film more in the future.

All of these were kindle books- I feel like I haven't read a physical book in an age. I'm in a bit of a slump at the moment, but I'm looking forward to getting back to reading.

Friday reads

It's the first week of february and I'm still reading Middlemarch. I was definitely nervous about tackling a book of this size, but for the first few days it was going well. Unfortunately I lost momentum about half way through. I liked Dorothea immediately, despite her obvious flaws, and looked forward to seeing her develop over the course of the novel. Some of the subplots were less interesting, particularly the political/ historical parts. I see that Eliot is deliberately showing different types of marriages (and relationships in general), I just wish she had dedicated more time to the Dorothea storyline. I'm now about 100 pages from the end so you can expect an 'I finished Middlemarch!' post soon.

I haven't read much else while I've been focused on Middlemarch, but, to my surprise, I finished Hateship Friendship Courtship Loveship Marriage. Sometimes I think Munro is something you have to be in the mood for, so I've been reading stories sporadically. Like Middlemarch, Hateship is very much about marriage but also about growing old. Many of the stories have a Munro-like quality of stretching over long periods of time, so that often older people are reflecting on their youth. That in itself is a really interesting relationship (aside from the obviously very interesting relationships between people she explores). My next (and third) Munro will be Runaway, which I bought last month.

Beloved, Toni Morrison

Synopsis: Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. Her new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.

"Anything dead coming back to life hurts"

'Beloved' was not what I expected. For one thing, I couldn't have been prepared for how devastating it was. It took me a while for me to gather my thoughts into something mildly coherent. Therefore this isn't really a review, just some of my reactions.

I was surprised by the 'magic realism' element, i.e. Beloved coming back to life (I know its ambiguous as to whether Beloved actually is that same child). I like ghost stories, not because I like being scared but because the appearance of a ghost is a good way for a writer to explore the living characters' relationships with the dead, and how the past connects to the future. In Rebecca, for example, Mrs. de Winter believing she hears Rebecca's ghost reflects her own anxiety about her predecessor. This quote from The Secret History sticks with me:

"There are such things as ghosts. People everywhere have always known that, and we believe them every bit as much as Homer did. Only now, we call them by different names. Memory. The unconscious." 

And memory is definitely a theme in 'Beloved'. How could it not be, with the narrative shifts between characters, times and places? This structure put me off at first, and I think its one of the main reasons people dislike the book. But if you're struggling with it, I'd say stick with it: the story comes together, and it makes sense for the narrative to be jumbled. Sethe talks about the concept of "rememory", which involves reliving the past. The past is unbearable for most of the characters,and they find various ways of repressing it, but it is never gone. Sethe warns her daughter Denver about "rememory" by telling her:

"if you go there--you who never was there-- if you go there and stand in the place where it was, it will happen again; it will be there for you, waiting for you. So, Denver, you can't never go there."

But part of Sethe's tragedy is that the past is undeniable. And Sethe does "go there" at the end of the novel, with catastrophic results which mirror the first tragedy.

Do you have any thoughts on 'Beloved'? I think its a very multi-layered novel, and I've only really touched on one element of that here, but if you have anything to add I'd be glad to hear it.

Things I like this week

• This edition of songs of innocence and experience, with Blake's illustrations

• Black nail varnish

• The new yorker fiction podcast

• The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark

•  The Penguin Shakespeare editions. I have King Lear and The Tempest is on my wishlist

• A tumblr dedicated to Coralie Bickford Smith

Bright Star

'Bright Star', the 2009 film by Jane Campion, explores the relationship between John Keats and Fanny Brawne. Having studied Keats in school, I wasn't sure whether the experience of his poetry was 'ruined' for me, but if it was, this film saved it. Not only are Keats' poems beautiful, but his love letters, some of which are used in this film, are also beautifully phrased. And of course there's the tragedy of his young death.

'Bright Star' is beautifully shot (see the pictures above) and it really stays with you after watching. I'm not sure if I've seen a film so inspired by art, which just adds another layer to the viewing experience. Usually I'm skeptical about films about writers; they can be terrible. But I felt like this film wasn't trying to be a truthful account of their relationship (it certainly wasn't realistic), but to portray something intrinsic about it in an artistic way, which makes sense considering the subject matter.

I particularly liked the soundtrack, which featured the actors reading some of Keats' poems. Heres Bright Star, the film's namesake.

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art--
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite
The moving waters at their priestlike
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors--
No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever--or else swoon to death. 

What I've been reading

I've just finished two novels, so it feels like a good time to sum up my reading over the past few weeks.

• Possession, A.S Byatt 

This was a christmas present and a book I'd been really looking forward to. I had such high expectations (it won the Booker prize), although unfortunately I was disappointed. The modern day characters didn't interest me, the plot was formulaic and the poems were imitations. I can see why Byatt did this, but I found myself wondering why I didn't just read the poems she was mimicking. So thats one positive consequence- I decided to read some Victorian poetry.

• Disgrace, J.M. Coetzee

Disgrace is one of those books you are always being told you should read- and I can see why. I think people can easily be put off by the main character, disgraced professor David Lurie, but I don't think the point of the novel is to like him. Regardless Disgrace is very thought provoking about a whole range of issues, and strangely moving.

• Fingersmith, Sarah Waters

I suppose I have developed an affection for the Victorian period, so I decided to read Fingersmith, a sort of historical crime fiction novel. I thought the first plot twist was brilliant, and I like novels which show two characters' perspectives on the same story. But I felt like the rest of the novel was disappointing in comparison.

• The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson

The Haunting of Hill House is a short novel about, as the title suggest, a haunted house. It was not as scary as I thought it would be, it was more a story of gradual descent into madness. I love the subtlety and ambiguity of Jackson's writing, although I prefer We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

• The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton

I had been meaning to read The House of Mirth for a long time, and I thought because of this it might be a chore to read. However I was presently surprised: it was much cleverer and more interesting than I imagined. It's not a perfect novel, but so many aspects of it are fascinating, and Lily's situation is so tragic.

• Burial Rites, Hannah Kent

Burial Rites tells the story of Agnes Magnusdottir, the last person to receive the death penalty in Iceland in 1828. Agnes is placed with a rural family awaiting her execution, and visited by a reverend. In the months leading up to her execution, Agnes tells her story. I really enjoyed this book, even though I felt the conclusion was a little weak. It really emphasised the importance of stories, and the Icelandic setting is particularly interesting to me.

The Examined Life, Stephen Grosz

This is a book I've been interested in for a while, so I was delighted when I stumbled across it at the library and started reading it with high expectations. I enjoy reading about human psychology: I think its one of the appeals of fiction for many people. And The Examined Life does have quite a literary feel- Grosz sometimes explains states of mind with references to literature- Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Melville's Bartleby and even a Dr Zeuss poem.

Although it is non-fiction, The Examined Life reads like a book of short stories, so it has that hit or miss quality. Some of the chapters are very stimulating, others just feel like mildly interesting anecdotes. They are very concise, which is a good thing for the most part, but they do run the risk of being too simplistic. Is "You do this because of your parents" a complex enough explanation for someone's behaviour? Of course I know next to nothing about psychoanalysis, but I just wanted something with more depth. Maybe a longer explanation of a particular case study would have been more appropriate for me.

One of the descriptions used to sell the book on the inside front cover was 'aphoristic' and I agree with this, although I'm not sure if its a good thing. It comes back to the complexity issue. Although I should note that the chapters are grouped by theme- 'Beginnings', 'Telling Lies', 'Loving', 'Changing' and 'Leaving'. Maybe considering the stories within their place in these themes creates a multi-faceted picture. For example, ways of coping with loss, change, and sadness are repeated motifs.

I may have been harsh on this book but I do want to convey that I enjoyed it. It's an easy read, but still manages to be thought-provoking, and the sheer amount of case studies means you are bound to find something that interests you, or even something you recognise in yourself. 'How a fear of loss can cause us to lose everything' and 'How lovesickness keeps us from love' were particularly interesting to me.

If, like me, you can get this book from the library, I would recommend giving it a go. But had I paid full price for it I may have felt I little disappointed. If you have read The Examined Life, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.