​A Terrible Country by Keith Gessen

What’s it about?
This novel follows Andrei from the United States to Russia.  Andrei is an aspiring academic specializing in Russian Literature.  As no career prospects are panning out, he answers his older brother's call to come to Russia and help take care of his 90 year old grandmother for a short time.  We watch Andrei try to assimilate into a very new Russia. 

What did it make me think about?
Why have I not heard more about this book?  I have read so many books on the Soviet Union, but not many on life in Russia more recently.  This fictional novel was a fascinating glimpse into a country that seems to always be striving towards a new type of society.

Should I read it?
I highly recommend this book and am very surprised that it has not garnered more attention.  The characters are magnificent and it is a novel that is illuminating as well as thought provoking. Plus Keith Gessen writes with a deadpan style that allows his humor to shine- and I always love that. This one will be high on my list for 2019.  Nice to start the year out with such a good book!
​
Quote-
“His parents had come from the Soviet Union, as mine had, and at around the same time.  Like many of us, he’d grown up speaking Russian, and like many of us he’d inherited his parents’ ambivalence toward the country they’d escaped.  Our parents had been so skeptical of Russia, so fearful of the Russians, that they had uprooted their lives, put everything in boxes, and gone to the post office dozens of times to ship their books to America, just to get away.  But they also remained bound to Russia by a million ties of memory and habit and affection.  They watched Russian movies, shopped at Russian stores, and preferred Russian candy.”

“More to the point, would I be able to stay in Moscow indefinitely?  On the one hand it was appealing. I didn’t care that much about good coffee. And I liked the food. But the daily grind of life was something else.  Just to do anything, to get my skates sharpened, to get a library book-to get from one part of the city to another- was an unbelievable hassle.  What in New York took twenty minutes, here took an hour.  What in New York took an hour, here took pretty much all day.  It wore you down. The frowns on the faces of the people wore you down.  The lies on the television too, after awhile, wore you down.”

9 stars

Census by Jesse Ball
241 pages

What’s it about?
A widower learns that he does not have long to live.  He decides to take his adult son on a trip to see the country.  His son has Down’s Syndrome and the father worries about what his son’s life will be like once he passes.  Taking a job with the census, the father and son go out on the road.

What did it make me think about?
This was such an unusual novel.  The son is at the center of the novel- and yet, all we know of him is what we can glean from the reactions of others.  The author says in the forward, “it occurred to me last month that I would like to write a book about my brother.  I felt, and feel, that people with Down syndrome are not fully understood.  What is in my heart when I consider him and his life is something so tremendous, so full of light, that I thought I must write a book that helps people to see what it is like to know and love a Down syndrome boy or girl.  It is not like what you would expect, and it is not like it is ordinarily portrayed and explained.  It is something else, different than that.”  I must confess that the forward was what initially kept me turning the pages when the book seemed difficult.  

Should I read it?
This was a beautiful and sparse story.  It is not an easy read-  you will need to pay attention. This book was quite unexpected.  It was also a bit of work.  I am very glad to have read it though.

Quote-
“However, out in the world I have come to see that he who looks too hard for any particular thing, though he may find it, will certainly miss the most wondrous and strange things he passes, though they stare him in the face.”

If you like this try-
The Animals by Christian Kiefer
The Enchanted by Rene Denfield
The Incendiaries by R.O. Kwon
The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner

This is a link to an interesting You Tube video with the author:
​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47-ygyE-iUY&feature=youtu.be


8 stars-be prepared to work for it!

The Latecomers by Helen Klein Ross
404 pages

What’s it about?
It is 1908 and sixteen-year-old Bridey is running away with her sweetheart, Thom, from Ireland  to America.  When Thom becomes sick and dies on the boat Bridey must make her own way in a strange new country.  

What did it make me think about?
Life has changed a lot since 1908.  Lots of little interesting historical facts included in this multi-generational story.

Should I read it?
If you are a fan of historical fiction then this book is worth picking up.  

Quote-
“As she followed Mary through aisles gleaming with merchandise under glass, Bridey felt suddenly better.  She stared at the girls behind counters. They did indeed, look very American.  It wasn’t just the whiteness of their teeth or how they fixed their hair, it was the way they stood upright, unapologetic, free of the deference apparent in the postures of those who had lately come to this country.”

If you liked this try-
Saints For All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan
​Church of Marvels by Leslie Parry
​The Patriots by Sana Krasikov
​Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

​8 stars

Katerina by James Frey
306 pages

What’s it about?
Jay drops out of college to move to Paris and become a great writer.  Along the way he drinks a lot, snorts a lot, and has a lot of sex with a lot of women.  He meets a young model named Katerina and falls madly in love.  They proceed to drink a lot, snort a lot, and have a lot of sex. The novel goes back and forth from his time in Paris in the 1990’s to present day L.A.  
​
What did it make me think about-
So, James Frey is the infamous author who wrote  “A Million Little Pieces” a few years ago.   My thought was that everyone deserves a break- maybe he just got caught up and lied about his memoir.  He might be a great guy.  This latest book is obviously autobiographical as well, but Frey at least has learned not to label it a memoir.  The main character, Jay,  just comes across as an intense, full of himself, jerk.  “ I was just starting to write, after many failed attempts and hundreds of pages of unreadable crap, the first book I would publish.  I was focused, ambitious as fuck, still believed I could burn down the world with words, fell asleep thinking about it, woke up thinking about it, spent my days trying to make it a reality.”   The truth is that my main thought while reading this book was, “ I really don’t like this guy, or this book”.

Should I read it?
From my viewpoint- James Frey seems to be trying too hard to be cool.  He swings from saying he doesn't care what people think- to writing about lighting the literary world on fire.  All in all- he just seems to take himself too seriously.  If you are in the mood for a lot of ranting and some soft porn then this is your book.  Otherwise don’t waste your time.

Quote- 
“ When I look at art I don’t have to consider whether the work is fiction or non fiction, whether it’s a genre painting or a literary painting, whether it’s serious or commercial, where the artist went to school or whether the publisher has prestige or not. It is what it is.  Something someone made because it is inside of them, because they were compelled to make it.  I want to write books in the same manner.  I have words inside of me, and I am compelled to make something with them.  They will be what they will be, on their own terms, books.  Fuck all the rest of it”

If you like this try-
​Lost Empress by Sergio De La Pava
The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner
Open City by Teju Cole
Sweet bitter by Stephanie Danler

3 stars

Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Russel Hochschild
371 pages
​
What’s it about?
 In Strangers in Their Own Land, the renowned sociologist Arlie Hochschild explores the chasm between "Left Wing Liberal Democrats" and "Right Wing Tea Party Republicans".  Hochschild concentrates her study on one of the poorest of the Southern States, Louisiana.   She tries to understand what shapes the voters political viewpoints.  Hochschild seems to ask the question, "why do so many vote against their own self interest.?"  In her search Hochschild gets to know many people whose opinions are markedly different than her own.    With much affection and respect Hochschild shares her observations. 

What did it make me think about?
I was hoping to read a book about the political divide in this country.  This was a different book than I expected- but one that I learned from.  This book concentrates exclusively on Louisiana and looks in depth at the environmental consequences of big industry, especially oil, on the environment.    She interviews working people whose homes and livelihoods have been ruined by environmental pollution.   Hochschild then tries to understand how these same people can align themselves politically with the big businesses who are destroying their land.
  
Should I read it?
Strangers in Their Own Land was a very disturbing look at what big oil companies have done to the environment in Louisiana over the last few decades, and how little political pressure they have felt for it.  Ms. Hochschild explores the struggles in Louisiana with great depth and compassion.  Yet I do not know that we can generalize the political motivations she uncovers across the whole Tea party movement.   My largest takeaway was the idea that while many liberal voters identify with those who struggle at the bottom, many right wing tea party voters identify with those in the top 1%.  Who would have thought that?  I enjoyed this book but it was more of a look at the affects of big business on the environment, and how some voters have reacted to it, than a look at the overall political divide in this country.  

Quote-
"Look! You see people cutting in line ahead of you! You’re following the rules. They aren’t. As they cut in, it feels like you are being moved back. How can they just do that? Who are they? Some are black. Through affirmative action plans, pushed by the federal government, they are being given preference for places in colleges and universities,apprenticeships, jobs, welfare payments, and free lunches, and they hold a certain secret place in people’s minds, as we see below. Women, immigrants, refugees, public sector workers—where will it end? Your money is running through a liberal sympathy sieve you don’t control or agree with. These are opportunities you’d have loved to have had in your day—and either you should have had them when you were young or the young shouldn’t be getting them now. It’s not fair.

If you like this try-
Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert
Educated by Tara Westover

7 stars

Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson
268 pages

What’s it about?
This short novel is comprised of letters back and forth between two people later in their lives.  Tina Hopgood lives on an isolated English farm with her husband and grown children.  Tina has been fascinated by the Tolland Man since her youth.  She decides to write to a well-known professor working at the museum with a question about the Tolland Man.  She comes to find that the professor she is seeking is dead, but begins an unlikely correspondence with Danish anthropologist Anders Larsen.  Through these letters both characters explore the choices made in their respective lives, and the consequences of those choices.  

What did it make me think about?
The choices we make in our youth affect the rest of our lives.  Yet, we often make them without much thought towards the future .   This novel explores the choices both Tina and Anders have made  and asks-  "Are we ever too old to begin again? ".

Should I read it?
 I thoroughly enjoyed this short novel.  The first few pages were slow but it picked right up and I was quickly engrossed in the story.  Tina and Anders are characters I will miss.  This is a thoughtful novel that may resonate more with a more mature reader.

Quote-
"Our letters have meant so much to us because we both have arrived at the same point in our lives.  More behind us than than ahead of us.  Paths chosen that define us.  Enough time to change."

If you like this try-
​Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf 
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
Driftless by David Rhodes

9 stars