Fiction
- 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
- Essex County by Jeff Lemire
- A Partial History of Lost Causes by Jennifer Dubois
- Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
Non-Fiction
- Into The Silent Land by Martin Laird
- The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson
- Still by Lauren Winner
Re-Reading
- The Unvarnished New Testament translated by Andy Gaus
Fiction
- 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
- A Partial History of Lost Causes by Jennifer Dubois
- Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
Non-Fiction
- Into The Silent Land by Martin Laird
- The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson
- Still by Lauren Winner
Re-Reading
- The Unvarnished New Testament translated by Andy Gaus
Fiction
- 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
- A Partial History of Lost Causes by Jennifer Dubois
- Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
- Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
Non-Fiction
- Into The Silent Land by Martin Laird
- The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson
- Religion For Atheists by Alain de Botton
- Still by Lauren Winner
Re-Reading
- The Unvarnished New Testament translated by Andy Gaus
Fiction
- 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
- A Partial History of Lost Causes by Jennifer Dubois
- Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
- Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
Non-Fiction
- Into The Silent Land by Martin Laird
- The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson
- Pulphead by John Jeremiah Sullivan
- Religion For Atheists by Alain de Botton
- Still by Lauren Winner
Re-Reading
- The Unvarnished New Testament translated by Andy Gaus
The fifth/third/upteenth (this was a month with nothing but a series of separate books that tell one story) installment in this month's What Should Kester Read? is Jeff Smith's epic collection, Bone. This month's first installment, Persepolis, was excellent, but also exactly what I expected it to be; mostly memoir/bildungsroman mixed with current events/recent history. Maus was equally good (maybe even better) and more of a surprise; what I assumed was simply a different take on the holocaust turned out, also, to be the story of a father and a son and wives, mothers, and long dead brothers. But Bone proved to be the biggest surprise and my favorite of this month's picks.
What I had assumed would be a fun read that my son might enjoy (it is and he will) turned out to be one of the greatest graphic novels and most amazing adventure stories that I have ever read. Bone is the last name of three main character cousins (Fone, Phoney, and Smiley) that, at first glance, look like Casper the Friendly Ghost with legs. Don't let their cartoony nature fool you. These characters are certainly funny (Phoney and Smiley, especially), but they are also kind and earnest and complex. Booted from Boneville, the Bone cousins find themselves in a place and among a people like nothing they have ever seen. There is magic and miracles and multiple mysteries, to boot. There are even rodents of unusual size. Which is a happy coincidence, because this story has all the elements I love about the film, The Princess Bride. It is that funny and that fantastic. It is everything you could want in an epic adventure. It is over 1300 pages and I read it in less than a week.
Fiction
- The Ceremonies by T.E.D. Klein
- A Partial History of Lost Causes by Jennifer Dubois
- Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
- Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
Non-Fiction
- Into The Silent Land by Martin Laird
- The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson
- Pulphead by John Jeremiah Sullivan
- Still by Lauren Winner
Re-Reading
- The Unvarnished New Testament translated by Andy Gaus
The second installment in this month's What Should Kester Read? is The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman. Like this month's first installment, Persepolis, Maus is a graphic novel. Like Persepolis, Maus is memoir mixed with history. And, like Persepolis, Maus is poignant, personal, profound and just about perfect.
Maus is Spiegelman's take on his father's account of living as a Jew under Hitler. Spiegelman's parents were both Holocaust survivors and, like all Holocaust survivors, were never quite the same. But Spiegelman's account is fascinating in that it deals with the fact that his parents were not altogether changed, either. He discovers that his mother struggled with depression long before being sent to a prison camp and that his father's angst may not be entirely attributable to that event. In doing so, Spiegelman shows how we are all shaped by circumstances, but not wholly shaped by them.
In telling his parents' story he also tells his own story. The choices he makes in sharing their struggles provide insights into Spiegelman's own struggle. And unpacking both stories helps to reveal how layered and complex all stories are. Just the simple fact of his turning the characters into animals (Jews are mice, Nazis are cats, Poles are pigs) brings about the complication of how to show someone is Jewish and Polish (mice in pig masks) or how to portray his own wife, who is French (a frog until her conversion, which changes her into a mouse). These solutions seem flimsy and yet their flimsiness seems intentional. Spiegelman writes as someone too close to the story he's telling and yet needing to tell it.
This, ultimately, makes for a great story. The fact that it's mixed up and complicated and confused is all part of it. Because the story of any tragedy and who we were beforehand and who we are now is all mixed up and complicated and confused. No metaphor is perfect. No words suffice. And this story is about that too.
What Should Kester Read? selections
- The Ceremonies by T.E.D. Klein
- Reamde by Neal Stephenson
- Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
- The Unvarnished New Testament by Andy Gaus
What Should Kester Read? selections
- Bone by Jeff Smith
- Maus I and II by Art Spiegelman
Other Reading
- Reamde by Neal Stephenson
- The Unvarnished New Testament by Andy Gaus
In case you're as late to the party as I am, let me give a brief book report on Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis. Beginning in the late 70's and wrapping up in the early 90's, it is a memoir, written in a graphic novel format, of Satrapi's upbringing in Iran, as well as her travels abroad in Austria. Raised by modern parents in a very traditional and often fundamentalist Iran, Satrapi is often confused and angry and her story is filled with angst. Satrapi offers up a personal history that is wrapped up in a country's history, and it is a history that too many of us (myself included) are too unfamiliar with.
As I said, the story is written in a graphic novel format, and to stunning effect. In a country where a few strains of revealed hair can mean a hefty fine (or worse), Satrapi's stark and simple black and white allows something as subtle as an arched eyebrow or curved lip to convey deep emotion. The phrasing of the storytelling is also sparse, which gives it the sense of being read through an interpreter. To be fair, the work has been translated into English, but a translation meticulously overseen by the author. The sense I get is that the tone and feel of the work in English is exactly what the author meant for it to be, blithe and funny and yet biting and fierce.
This is one of those stories that needed telling, because it's one that so few of us (at least in America) ever hear. But it is also a story that needed telling simply because it aches and yearns and gropes and groans and laughs and cries like all great stories do. It tells of universal truths by speaking of specific ones. It is a wonder and a pleasure to read; an impressive and important work.
I know this What Should Kester Read? thing is supposed to begin on the first of every month, but I was out of town, away from a computer, and just got back. So, beginning today, October 2nd, the first in a series of books selected by friends and/or blog followers. This month's picks by Alice (aka Heather).
- Bone by Jeff Smith
- Maus I and II by Art Spiegelman
- Persepolis I and II by Marjane Satrapi
My plan is to begin with Persepolis and end with Maus, with Bone as a sort of palette cleanser. Harrison wants me to read Bone first, so that he can find out if he is allowed to read it. We shall see. He shall have to wait. For now; Persepolis. Will post review upon completion.
