Enchantment and Romance for the Sophisticated
Bookstores aren’t lacking in novels about magic. Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, however, is an imaginative, welcome gem among the knock-offs.
We first meet Prospero the Enchanter (Hector Bowen) and his young daughter, Celia, when Hector takes custody of Celia after her mother’s death. He recognizes her innate magical ability and soon binds her into a contest with a pupil to be chosen by Alexander, a rival magician. Thus, two children are raised by magicians and prepared for a mysterious competition. Their guardians have different methods of teaching, each abusive in their own way. Hector cuts Celia’s fingertips repeatedly and breaks her wrist so she may learn to heal them. Alexander immerses his ward, Marco, in books and study without an ounce of affection. The plot is gradually revealed with some jumps back and forth in chronology. The venue created for Celia and Marco’s competition is a circus, Le Cirque des Rêves.
Though the author draws a parallel to Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the tale is also reminiscent of Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell mixed with Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes – as well as a dash of several other novels, television programs and films. Morgenstern, however, sculpts gorgeous images with words, giving her novel a unique identity. Her descriptions of the circus engage multiple senses: “The circus looks abandoned and empty. But you think perhaps you can smell caramel wafting through the evening breeze, beneath the crisp scent of the autumn leaves. A subtle sweetness at the edges of the cold.”
Morgenstern’s strength is her setting. Though there are many well-described characters, most are kept at arm’s length from the reader. I particularly wanted more insight into Celia and Marco, whose psychological scars from their cruel upbringing did not influence the plot as expected.
The novel’s intricate details lend itself toward a film adaptation, so it was no surprise to read the rights have been purchased. Though I would watch a big-screen translation, I can’t imagine enjoying it more than the book. Most of us are still susceptible to being drawn into a novel, and, as Morgenstern suggests, there is magic in storytelling that can transform and transfix a reader.
I was thus enchanted by The Night Circus (Doubleday, 2011).
By Kathleen Pope
Kathleen Pope is a member of the Westchase Book Club and can be reached with book suggestions at kathleenopope@gmail.com.
Ring in the New Year with Laughter
For me the time between Halloween and New Year’s Day is a blur of costumes, cooking, shopping, dragging dusty boxes out of the garage, finding babysitters and navigating family schedules.
So I generally choose to read something lighthearted with short chapters. This holiday season, I enjoyed reading two collections of autobiographical, humorous essays: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling (Random House, Inc. 2011); and Bossypants by Tina Fey (Little, Brown and Company, 2011).
Tina Fey, 41, is the creator and star of TV’s 30 Rock and former head writer for Saturday Night Live. Mindy Kaling, 32, has written for The Office since age 24, and also plays the role of Kelly Kapoor. As might be expected from two comedians, they throw around bad language like a sailor who’s dropped an anchor on his foot. There are stories and jokes that may not be for everyone.
The two books have much in common. They interweave witty observations and personal stories about growing up and navigating the entertainment industry. The children of hardworking, academic-oriented parents, both women were interested in pursuing a career in theater and comedy, but first graduated from prestigious colleges. Both found work in show business quickly, yet they share an endearing lack of pretension and a flair for self-deprecating humor.
Kaling’s voice is not unlike her character’s on The Office. Her tone is casual and reminiscent of a group of girlfriends gossiping about what they just read in People magazine, while completing a physics problem in Stanford’s science quad. Some may find Kaling’s style annoying, while for others it is clever and approachable.
Tina Fey’s style is more detailed and subtle, and her references are sometimes more esoteric. There is a heart and openness to her musings on motherhood and career that set her book apart. Her style befits the extra decade of career success and life experience she has had. Where Kaling discusses dating and romance, Fey talks about marriage, motherhood and running her own television show.
Both books are light and fun, but it’s also clear that true intellects lurk behind their humor. These are women who, without compromising too much, achieved success in comedy by believing in themselves – and embracing their “awkward” years.
By Kathleen Pope
Kathleen Pope is a member of the Westchase Book Club and can be reached with book suggestions at kathleenopope@gmail.com.
Jungle Thriller Leaves You Scratching for More
Too often readers must choose between a sloppily written novel with a compelling plot and a beautifully rendered novel with a meandering story.
Ann Patchett’s latest novel, State of Wonder, (HarperCollins, 2011) didn’t make me choose. It is a novel of intelligent prose and, by the end, heart-pounding suspense.
Marina Singh, the novel’s protagonist, works for a pharmaceutical company and learns her colleague, Anders Eckman, has died. Dr. Eckman was sent to Brazil to track down the renowned Dr. Annick Swenson, an obstetrician who is developing a drug among a remote tribe and who has not been heard from in two years. Marina is Swenson’s former student, but a traumatic experience drove her from obstetrics residency to a more sedate, predictable career in the laboratory. Marina sets off for Brazil to complete Eckman’s unfinished task and learn the details of his demise.
Though the novel is ultimately a page-turner, this is not apparent early. Marina’s grief over her colleague and the trauma of delivering this unimaginable news to his wife is powerfully and painstakingly detailed; I even wondered when the book would finally head to Brazil. The deliberate pacing parallels Marina’s journey and, despite her foreboding, she finally departs. From this point, the plot accelerates through Marina’s memories, nightmares and fever dreams, until finally we plunge toward astounding revelations.
The novel is a scientific thriller, but Patchett does not drown the reader in extraneous detail. Instead her scientific knowledge is cleanly woven into the plot, touching upon bioethics, human research and the relationship between female physicians of different generations. An important theme is the blinding awe, romanticism and devotion within the student-mentor dynamic.
Patchett’s State of Wonder succeeds most as an adventure story. The heroine faces peril and confronts her greatest fears. A couple people have told me they disliked the ending. There were surprising aspects that I too found unsatisfactory and unsettling, but I still enjoyed the book. Controversial decisions by authors are the lifeblood of a good book club discussion. However one reacts to the last few pages, the journey there makes this book worth reading.
By Kathleen Pope
Kathleen Pope is a member of the Westchase Book Club and can be reached with book suggestions at kathleenopope@gmail.com.
A Tale Timely and Thought-Provoking
Tackling religion, politics, prejudice and 9/11 in a first novel is an ambitious risk.
In The Submission (2011; Farrar, Straus, and Giroux), Amy Waldman handles it adeptly.
Her novel begins with an art jury reviewing designs for a memorial to the victims of a terrorist attack. By not specifying the event as 9/11, Waldmen establishes a setting readily recognizable yet fictional.
First introduced is wealthy widow, Claire, representing the victims’ families, and Paul, the committee chair, a reluctant figurehead for his wife’s social ambitions. When the name of the winning designer, Mohammed Khan, is revealed, the news reverberates through New York’s boroughs and the nation.
It is not just in passing that in the novel’s first pages Ms. Waldman mentions Tom Wolfe’s The Bonfire of the Vanities. Like Wolfe’s book, Waldman seeks to evoke the many facets New York City set amid today’s inflammatory media and divided political and social environments.
Through her characters’ interconnected perspectives, Waldman unfurls the story. In addition to Claire and Paul, there is the contest winner, known to his friends as Mo, a young, ambitious architect born and raised in Virginia by secular Muslim immigrants. His aloof nature is interpreted by many as secretive or sinister. Other perspectives are provided by unemployed, insecure Sean, who lost his brother; Asma, a young Bangladeshi immigrant whose undocumented husband perished in the attack; and ruthless tabloid journalist Alyssa, who dreams of being like Carrie Bradshaw (a Sex and the City reference, one of several overused nods to pop-culture), but has been disappointed in her career.
The novel is an admirable depiction of modern-day New York, juxtaposing its historical immigrant communities deeply affected by the attacks with the city’s more recent immigrants, embodied by Mo, Asma and others. The tale explores grief and its uncomfortable, challenging relationship with intolerance, irrationality and vengefulness. In The Submission, however, every time you think the right or better outcome is simple and evident, a twist invites you, like Waldman’s characters, to question the immutability of your beliefs.
In the end, Waldman shows us that although time may provide clarity, it can also obscure history’s complexity.
By Kathleen Pope
Kathleen Pope is a member of the Westchase Book Club and can be reached with book suggestions at kathleenopope@gmail.com.
Haunting Reads for October
Not all novels have to be horror-filled slashers to give you a tiny taste of the macabre this month.
There’s always Stephen King or Dean Koontz for a good scare, but there are many selections that can be just as haunting without the gore.
When I recently polled fellow readers about books that haunted them long after the last page, their answers were varied and interesting. Classics like the Stephen King’s The Shining and Thomas Harris’ Silence of Lambs (not the movie) were among the most common. Others, however, seemed to leave a lasting but less gruesome mark.
Cormac McCarthy’s The Road by will certainly live on in your psyche. This Pulitzer-winning, post-apocalyptic novel is dark and indelible while rising far above the stacks of pulp fiction.
If Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold kept you awake, The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald may also interest you. With complex characters and many twists and plot turns, this disturbing tale of murder is a psychological thriller that is sure to keep you guessing until the very end.
Speaking of fictitious murder, any comprehensive list of modern crime novels must include the Stieg Larsson trilogy, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. These are must-reads for those with a penchant for dark thrillers.
If these are already on your shelves, get your hands on a copy of The Alienist by Caleb Carr. This one will have you leaving the lights on at night; you’ll be unable to put down this grisly, historically fascinating tome.
If you still seek a walk on the dark side, pose that same haunting question to your friends and fellow readers. With any luck, you’ll find more page-turners than stomach-turners.
By Tracey Henry
A Complex Tale of Slave and Master
Despite its breezy title, Island Beneath the Sea, a novel by Isabel Allende, is not a light, breezy read.
The story of Zarité, a Haitian slave in the 1700’s when Hispañola was a French colony called Saint-Domingue, is an epic tale of the intertwined lives of master and slave. Allende’s story spans over 40 years and thousands of miles. It tackles grand historical events as well as extremely personal ones.
Despite having never known freedom, Zarité craves it from an early age. By 9, she is purchased to be a personal slave for the wife of Toulouse Valmorain, a wealthy sugar plantation owner who believes slavery is a necessity. Although he considers himself fair, he commits countless acts of cruelty against his slaves, and Zarité is often the victim of his abuse. The tumultuous years that follow are littered with civil war, sicknesses, children, deaths and immigration to New Orleans before the Louisiana Purchase. Zarité’s life marked by tragedies and small triumphs at large prices.
Allende, a prolific and reknowned international author, does not disappoint in this New York Times bestseller. The book is filled with her signature, elegant writing tinged with romantic mysticism. Her characters are varied and the cast she creates will linger in the mind long after the cover closes. Vivid character descriptions abound, like when she introduces a Bonapartist spy late in the story: “Isidor Morisset was a man with an impenetrable gaze, a broken nose, and a wrestler’s shoulders that burst the stitching of his jacket; he was red as a brick from the merciless sun on the crossing and equipped with a monosyllabic vocabulary that made him disagreeable from the minute he opened his mouth. His sentences – always too brief – sounded like sneezes.”
Allende is heavy-handed with history and politics. At times her story drags with the weight of all its complexities, yet they inarguably add to the rich landscape she paints. The novel’s only other distractions are the occasional seams left unsewn between scenes and characters – the result of describing 40 years in 400 pages.
While not for readers in search of ebullience, fans of both Allende and noble novels of exotic historical importance will find Island Beneath the Sea worth their investment.
By Tracey Henry
Henry is a published author whose work can be found at www.suburbandiva.com.