The Echo Maker

The Echo Maker was loaned to me by a coworker. I read it at a snail’s pace because, despite being in my 17th week of pregnancy, I’m still pretty queasy most of the time. My attention span is also closer to a gnat’s than a human’s these days, which doesn’t help.

The Echo Maker is about a woman in her early 30’s, whose younger brother is in a terrible car accident. She goes home to help him with his recovery (they have no other relatives) but when he wakes up from his coma, finds that while he acknowledges that she looks just like his sister, he thinks she is an imposter. The brain damage incurred in the car accident has caused a rare condition called Capgras Syndrome where victims think that their loved ones have been doubled or replaced by robots. They recognize the person, but lose the emotional connection associated with them. Because they can’t attach any emotional bond to this person, they are convinced that the person is a “double”. This is the story of their relationship, what his condition does to it, his favorite nurse, and the famous brain doctor that comes from New York to observe and maybe help him.

The premise of the story is really interesting and the writing is very sophisticated, but I still struggled with the book at times. I finished the book a day or two ago, but I’ve been stuck on how to summarize my “issues” with it.

Firstly - I felt he didn’t do the best job with character development. Or maybe it was just that I didn’t like any of the characters very much so I had a hard time connecting to them? In particular, I thought he had a really loose grasp on how to write from a female’s perspective. His women didn’t really feel like women to me. Which is odd because he chose to write the first 200 pages or so with the sister as the main character. I just couldn’t get into her. The only character I had a pretty easy time sympathizing with was the brother with the brain damage. He wasn’t described as particularly likable, but later I wondered if he was made more relatable or “real” for a reason. I say this because later in the book, the author leads you to question humanity and maybe he was trying to make the point that the only really “true” character was the one who thought everything in his life was a lie. Pretentious, yes. But that was kind of the feel of the book for me at the end.

Secondly - I didn’t like the marriage between Weber (the famous brain doctor) and his wife. I think it was meant to seem really intimate, but the fact that their pet names for each other were “Man” and “Woman” felt incredibly unnatural to me. No matter how many times I tried to hear someone routinely (like even while fighting with each other) calling their wife “woman”, or a wife calling her husband “man” without sounding stupid (or like a 20 year old stoner in the 70’s), I couldn’t. There were other aspects to the description of their marriage that made me wonder if the author had maybe never been in a long term relationship and was just describing what he thought a 30 year marriage would look like.

Thirdly - I felt like midway through the book, the story became less of the focus and it became more about the science of brain damage and the philosophical questions that brain disorders pose. It got a little “deep” for me at times, but this may have just been because I wasn’t in the mood to wonder if the person with the brain damage actually sees the world more clearly than those of us without. I’m more of a story/plot driven type reader, so this lost my interest a bit.

In the book’s defense, the prose is beautifully written and very sophisticated. I haven’t looked, but I would imagine he also writes poetry. There's a slight mystery twist to the story in which you are left wondering about the mysterious circumstances of the car accident, and I liked this part of the book quite a bit. I just got hung up on some of the details. Truthfully, I should probably just stick to chick lit while I’m pregnant. Then maybe I could finish more than one book per month.

The Road

Despite my 8:30pm bedtime of late and what I am now referring to as my constant companion – Barfy, I managed to finish a book this week! I started reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy during my lunch breaks at work (which PS Cormac – there are too many C’s in your name). I pretty much always eat lunch alone at the café/bakery downstairs from my office. I like the break from work and I always bring a book so no one bothers me while I eat. In the beginning, The Road was just a necessary lunch prop. But after a week of reading a few pages here and there while shoveling in sandwiches, I found myself hooked. It took almost half the book, but all of a sudden, I needed to read the rest – immediately.

Don’t get me wrong- this book is Depressing (and that capital D is there for a reason). In fact, it may be the biggest downer of a book EVER. But the story is so laced with love and humanity! The story is very simple – a man and his son who are never given real names are travelling “the road” south somewhere on the east coast after some horrible event has destroyed the world and most of humanity. They never say what actually happened (which bugged) but you get the impression that after this mystery cataclysmic event, the people who didn’t die turned against each other in desperation.

It’s hard to describe why this book is good, but it truly is. Granted I’m pregnant, but I found myself crying multiple times during the book and anyone who knows me will tell you that I am NOT a crier. The love between the man and his son is just so truthful. I think I read somewhere that the author dedicated the book to his son, so I suppose the writing comes from somewhere real. And you can tell.

On a related note – did anyone ever read a book called something like Z for Zacharia? I feel that I read a book like this in middle school that was also a post-apocalyptic story but can’t remember anything else about it…

BAAAHH! I just Googled The Road so I could find an image to post with this review and noticed that it was an Oprah's book club book! The trend (unknowingly) continues...

It's Official

I'm pregnant. 3 months to be precise. This is the true reason why I haven't been reading as much lately. Turns out being pregnant makes me feel like I'm super car sick. Like, all the time! And what is the last thing you want to do when you're car sick? You guessed it. Read. I haven't even been reading books about being pregnant, which totally goes against my obsessive nature.

Anywhoo, I will refrain from posting too much personal information on this site, but if you're curious and want more information (and a baby pic from today's appointment), you're always welcome to visit my other site: jill's daily note.

Drowning Ruth

I wonder why I’m all about reading Oprah’s book club books lately? Does Oprah ever pick a book that isn’t kind of a downer? I think no. But that’s okay because at least the writing was solid. The story was also captivating. All around, I actually quite enjoyed this book. Lindsey asked in the comments on my last review whether I’ve ever read any Anita Shreve. The answer is yes! And coincidentally, this book actually reminded me a little of Shreve’s story telling. It takes you to a certain time in history and the voice is very consistent.

I tried a few different times to summarize the plot on my own, but alas nothing I’m writing is right. So I will resort to the back of the book description:

Winter, 1919. Amanda Starkey spends her days nursing soldiers wounded in the Great War. Finding herself suddenly overwhelmed, she flees Milwaukee and retreats to her family’s farm on Nagawaukee Lake, seeking comfort with her younger sister, Mathilda, and three-year-old niece, Ruth. But very soon, Amanda comes to see that her old home is no refuge – she has carried her troubles with her. On one terrible night almost a year later, Amanda loses nearly everything that is dearest to her when her sister mysteriously disappears and is later found drowned beneath the ice that covers the lake. When Mathilda’s husband comes home from the war, wounded and troubled himself, he finds that Amanda has taken charge of Ruth and the farm, assuming her responsibility with a frightening intensity. Wry and guarded, Amanda tells the story of her family in careful doses, as anxious to hide from herself as from us the secrets of her own past and of that night.

Really strong character development – it’s one of those books where you think about them when you’re not reading, wondering what’s happening to them. You might not like every one of the characters, but you really get the whole story with each of them. The plot is a bit melodramatic (it is, after all an Oprah book) but I bought into it. For some reason I always have an easier time buying into melodrama when the story takes place in “olden times”. Like everyone was all running around getting drowned and creating scandals in the 1910s, right?

Anyways, there are plenty of plot twists to keep your attention, plus they don’t tell you the whole effing story until like the very last page, so you really are compelled to keep reading. Considering how lethargic my reading habits have been of late, the fact that I tore through this book in 3 days should tell you that I liked it.

The Year of Pleasures

For Christmas my sister in law and her husband gave me a big box of novels. Last week I dug around in there and picked out The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg, which I finished last night. If memory serves, Berg is rather prolific and has written tons of books that I always pick up at the bookstore and then put down after seeing that they all seem to feature women in their 50s.

But this time the book was free, had a nice cover and for whatever reason, the story appealed. The Year of Pleasures tells the story of Betta Nolan, who is in her mid 50’s and who’s husband recently died from cancer. They lived in Boston together and led a rather insular life with no real friends. After his death, she follows through on a promise she made her dying husband and sells their house, drives West and moves to a small town to start over. She ends up in a small town outside Chicago, reconnects with some old college friends and also makes new friends in the town. I felt like the title was a bit of a misnomer, since the book is essentially the story of her grieving with a little bit about pleasures.

I enjoyed the book. The writing was solid but the plot left a tiny bit to be desired for me. The theme of her grieving was well done, but the character development for all the supporting characters and their story lines felt a little unfinished to me. She does a good job introducing all these new characters (Betta’s old friends, an adorable 10 year old neighbor, a 20 year old guy and his Brazilian roommate…) and I was interested in their stories. Then all of a sudden it felt like the book was over without wrapping up any of it. Also? It bugged me a little that she had no friends. Rather than irritation, I should probably feel sympathy, but I don’t really. I feel like there are those couples out there that don’t make an effort to maintain outside friendships and I have a really difficult time relating to these people. That said, I’d probably read another of Elizabeth Berg’s books. Can anyone recommend one I’d maybe like?

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Like I mentioned in my last post, I haven’t been reading as much lately. That said, I was too tempted by The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao to not read it. It might have taken me longer than usual, but I did it! I started it while on a business trip with my Mom (long story) but then put it down when I got back home. I picked it up again over the long weekend when Jeff and I ferried our asses over to our Orcas Island hide-out (also known as his parent’s cabin).

I think I first read about this book on Raych’s blog and was intrigued. Then it appeared on the EW New Classics List. Then my sister-in-law gave it to me for Christmas. Obviously, I HAD to read it. And it was pretty amazing really. Very different from the stuff I’ve been reading lately. The whole book is centered around the Dominican culture, with the plot twisting in and out of New Jersey and The Dominican Republic.

Oscar Wao is a giant Dominican dork. Which is apparently a bit of an oxymoron because Dominican men are all supposed to be major players and have mad game. Oscar however is obese and loves, loves, loves anime and everything medieval and mystical. He lives in New Jersey with his angry Mother and lovely sister Lola and wonders if he’ll die a virgin. The story bobs and weaves (sometimes a little too much for my liking) so that you end up getting to hear about his Mother’s childhood in the DR, his grandparent’s destruction by the evil dictator Trujillo, his sister, and Oscar’s college roommate, Yunjior.

Truthfully the author had me hooked on page two when he used the phrase Fuckface. I know that’s a little inappropriate and maybe weird that I loved it so much. But fuckface is a funny thing to say! And he was using the word in a *footnote* which is ironic because footnotes are supposed to be all official and serious. The book is totally fresh and different and really brilliant. The stuff about Oscar’s interest in Elvish, Tolkien, role playing games and basically anything dorky was hilarious. Learning about Dominican history is heartbreaking and interesting and Oscar’s story in particular is captivating. Definitely not uplifting, but captivating (remember it IS his “brief” life). My only complaint about the book is that the narration was confusing sometimes. I couldn’t really tell who was narrating half the time. Was it Yunjior, Lola, objective third person? It felt like it skipped around constantly, but maybe this is more a symptom of my recent affliction with reading A.D.D.?

Eventide

I’ve been awfully negligent about posting lately. I feel bad, but I think I’m going through a little bit of a reading drought. Maybe it’s the post-holiday coma I’ve been in, I'm sure it has to do with being on a business trip for the last 4 days, and maybe it’s also the promise of all my favorite TV shows coming back any day now, but reading’s been put on the back burner for now. That said, I still have a review that I owe you for Eventide, which I read over the holidays. So here goes:

For those of you who aren’t a giant Kent Haruf fan like I am, Eventide is a semi-sequel to Plainsong. I read Plainsong last year and I would rank it in my top 5 of 2008 (read my review here). I actually tried to read Eventide in October on my trip to New York. Some of you may remember that I accidentally left it at my friends’ house in Brooklyn after reading only a chapter or two. I think they meant to mail it back to me, but given that they have a 1 year-old, and jobs and all that, I’m pretty sure I need to forgive them. So when my friend Darrah (who originally loaned me Plainsong) gave me Eventide for Christmas this year, I was super excited. I couldn’t really remember how much I’d read on my trip to New York, so I started from the beginning.

Eventide picks up the story of the McPheron brothers who were my favorite characters in Plainsong. The McPheron’s are basically two crusty bachelor ranchers who took in a young pregnant girl in trouble during Plainsong. In this book, the girl is leaving for college with her daughter and the brothers have to figure out how to live alone again. There are also a few new story lines added to Eventide and some characters that were followed in the first book are dropped in this one. Per usual, Haruf has a heartwarming and honest way of writing that totally sucked me in. I balled like a baby at times and smiled to myself numerous times. It’s a great book that I think men and women would like equally. I wish Kent Haruf was my Grandpa.

Since finishing Eventide, I’ve dabbled in a few books but nothing is sticking. Instead of soldiering trough and reading books when I’m not in the mood, I’m going to take it easy. When I feel like reading, I’ll read. When I don’t, I won’t. If you notice less frequent posting here in the next few weeks, but you still need something to read during your lunch break, you’re welcome to cruise my non-book blog (link is in the sidebar) where I will likely post updates about my horrible taste in television.