The Blind Assassin

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I can't entirely decide whether I liked The Blind Assassin or not. At times it felt very long; at other times it sucked me in and I couldn't put it down. At first I found Margaret Atwood's story-within-a-story-within-a-story experiment confusing, but as the characters started to emerge and their voices to become more distinct, it became a fascinating exploration of the main character's relationship to her own past and that of her sister. The interesting nesting of stories allows us to explore the narrator as she is at the time of the telling, as she was when younger and as her current self sees her younger self. It is a juxtaposition often attempted, but rarely managed as gracefully as Atwood has done.

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When We Were Orphans

When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I found When We Were Orphans to be a bit choppy. The tone was intentionally affected and over-sentimental. While I suppose I understand what Kazuo Ishiguro was trying to do, I thought it was a little over the top and somewhat distracting. The story itself was not bad and I did enjoy the scenes where the narrator recalled moments from his childhood. Maybe the narration would have been more effective if Ishiguro had more successfully differentiated the tone in the nostalgic reflection passages from that in passages relating the current story.

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Predictably Irrational

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Predictably Irrational is a fascinating survey of how and why human behavior fails to conform to the predictions of traditional economists. Dan Ariely asks and attempts to answer questions such as "Why don't we save as much money as we should?" "Why don't we eat as well as we should?" etc. We've all heard the somewhat moralistic answer "we succumb too easily to temptation/the desire for instant gratification." Ariely tries to go deeper. He discusses a series of experiments covering a vast array of behaviors. Each experiment seems to have been designed with several objectives: to demonstrate the existence of an irrational behavior; to explain why we behave in such an irrational way; and to explore methods of overcoming our irrationality to help us behave in the way the rational part of us wishes we could. The experiments illustrate a wide variety of apparently irrational behavior resulting from the desire for instant gratification, intense emotions, peer pressure, prior expectations and more. I love that Ariely not only demonstrates the existence of and reason for the behaviors, but also uses the opportunity to talk about how we can use foreknowledge of these tendencies toward irrationality to find solutions that actually work. My one small quibble with the book is that it doesn't always provide as much detail as I'd like...maybe I should go read the academic papers underlying this more accessible layman's survey.


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Flower Net

Flower Net by Lisa See

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
Definitely not one of Lisa See's best books. She should stick to the wonderful Chinese historical fiction she does so well. Flower Net is also set in China, but in almost-modern China (late 90s). The characters are flat and unbelievable and the story is stilted. Seriously, who is going to believe that an experienced attorney who has worked all over the world, who had planned to marry a Chinese woman and who has spent the last several years investigating Chinese mafia activity is really going to wind up in China looking like a bumbling idiot? As an American expat living in China, I know how opaque Chinese customs can be. I also know that a modicum of basic courtesy will get you by in almost any situation, even if you don't exactly know the appropriate behavior. The love story is equally absurd (not to mention extraneous). If the person you wanted to marry lied to you about plans to return from a trip, disappeared without a word, never responded to your letters and never told you the truth about his/her background, would you really pick up without even an explanation if you crossed paths again more than a decade later? Unlikely! Don't waste your time!


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This Republic of Suffering

This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
This Republic of Suffering is a dry, academic treatise on death and dying during the American Civil War. If you are looking for an academic text, this might be the book for you. I found it dull and difficult going as general-purpose reading material. In fact, after several attempts I was unable to get very far and finally gave up. Save it for the classroom.


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The Zookeeper's Wife

The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story by Diane Ackerman

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Zookeeper's Wife is the remarkable (true) story of Antonina Zabinski and her family who used their position as keepers of the Warsaw Zoo to help rescue several hundred Jews during the Holocaust. Unfortunately, the writing didn't really live up the story Diane Ackerman was trying to tell. I found it choppy and a little amateurish. Ms. Ackerman would have done better to pick a style and stick with it. Instead the book moves awkwardly from reasonably engaging story to clearly third-party biography to quasi-relevant digressions on everything from natural history to eugenics to Nazi policy. Most unfortunately, Ms. Ackerman's obviously careful research and access to excellent primary sources (notably Antonina's journals from the period) seem to hinder her ability to tell the story effectively. She takes great pains to inform the reader that when she says "Antonina thought [felt, believed, etc.:], ..." she is, in fact, quoting Antonina directly. The quotes sprinkled throughout break the flow more than help it. The story is not, for the most part, narrated as if by an involved party, eyewitness or invisible but present narrator, but rather as a report by a historian. The primary-source quotes, however, are interjected in a style that would fit much better with narration as a story rather than a historical report.



Although the writing left something to be desired, the story itself is incredible. The book was clearly well-researched. Best of all, I learned a lot that I hadn't known about the Polish resistance, life in Poland during the war, etc. It was nice to be reminded that amidst all the horror there were people who were neither victims nor victimizers and who put themselves at enormous risk to help the people who most needed.


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People of the Book

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
One of the best books I've read recently! This carefully crafted narrative tells a fictional history of the Sarajevo Haggadah, a real illuminated Haggadah of mysterious origins which came to light in Sarajevo in the 19th century. Geraldine Brooks manages to intertwine the personal story of Hanna Sharansky a manuscript conservator with the history of the Haggadah as Hanna reveals it through her work on the book. As the history comes to light, we see reflected in it the history of the Jews of Europe as the flee one temporary safe-haven after another.


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A Child Called "It"

A Child Called "It": One Child's Courage to Survive by Dave Pelzer

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
A Child Called It is a horrifying story of the childhood abuse the author, David Pelzer, suffered at the hands of his mother. Surely this book is a must-read for anyone who deals with children, particularly those at most risk of being abused. The writing is clear but, despite its first-person perspective, seems slightly dispassionate. That little bit of dissociation might be necessary to protect both the reader and the author from an emotional intensity I can't even really imagine.


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Shantaram

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
A long but fascinating portrait of an escaped convict as he builds a new life in a new place. This beautifully written novel contains just enough autobiographical detail to sound chillingly real as it poignantly describes the terror and torture the protagonist suffers while incarcerated. Shantaram paints a believable picture of a man plagued by his past and the self-doubt it engenders as he struggles to do good in the world and to rebuild some sense of self and self-worth. Well worth the time it took to read it!


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