Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut

Cat's Cradle is by far the best Vonnegut book that I have had the pleasure of reading. Yeah yeah I've read Slaughter House Five and it was good but not as good as this one. Besides Cat's Cradle was mentioned in Dead Like Me, a TV show I was fortunate enough to be introduced to this year at University. Not having a TV at my house has made it possible for me to read so much and to have this website, so I'm wary of any TV shows but this one was good. Speaking of good, Cat's Cradle was good enough to convert me to a made up religion called Bokononism. Like Confucianism, it's based around the teachings of one man who just made up a religion because he thought it would help people live their lives. Reflecting Vonnegut's satirical style, the Bokononism is based on lies, forcing you to either think pretty darn hard, or live blissfully in ignorance; both pretty good alternatives in my mind.
The book isn't only about Bokononism though; it's about one of the fathers of the atomic bomb, ice 9 a molecule that could freeze the whole world's water supply, U.S. politics, and imperial island culture. But really, it's about Cat's Cradle. There is a scene in the book where the illustrious father of the bomb is playing with a piece of string and forms a cat's cradle and shoves it in his son's face asking him if he sees how this piece of string could be a cradle for a cat. There's no cat there. And where the hell is the cradle he's talking about? All the kid can see is a piece of string looped around his dad's fingers. The way I see it, this is Vonnegut trying to critique the made up values that are forced upon people to devastating results; nationalism, religion, patriarchy, politics etc. He does this through presenting such a bizarre but fully possible scenario that combines these elements to a brilliant degree. And Bokonon is alway on the sidelines making fun of the "galfoons" or false groupings such as with people with the same last names or same country.
It is simply a great read that, sure, requires a little suspended disbelief every once in a while but it really is a good coment on how we should be living our lives. Entertaining to boot.
Happy reading.
Andrew

Arcadia - Tom Stoppard

Very rarely is it that I laugh out loud at a book. Even rarer is when I can read the passage to a co-worker and have them laugh out loud as well (especially where I work). This is a great play that is chromatically split between the present day and centuries long past. It deals with a beautiful english estate that was originally populated by amateur writers and academics who interact in the most comically blunderous way to provoke great interest and plenty of laughter. Unfortuneately, I found that it stopped there. The cast for the present day are snobby researchers interested in Byron and other pompous fields that are centred in nationalistic or personal pride. It simply goes downhill from such a promising beginning. It is fully possible that I was too distracted by Stoppard's witicisms to notice the themes of the book, but if so, maybe he should have contructed his jokes more appropriately. That is not to say, however, that the play is entirely devoid of meaning in my point of view, neither is the book really that boring. To tell the truth though, once you got into the characters, the surprising jokes that were found in the intro, simply couldn't hold my interest as the play progressed.
Nice short read that is fully worth investigating if only for those first jokes and some interesting tidbits about chaos theory and spoiled brats.
Adios
Andrew

She's Come Undone - Wally Lamb

She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb is one of the hardest books I've ever had to get through. The story of a horrible abused young woman named Dolores Prices who's troubles all start with her brother Anthony Junior. Anthony strangles himself to death before he gets out of the womb. His mother breaks down so thouroughly that she becomes a zombie of her former self around the house. Followed by a painful divorce, her mother having a stint in the psychiatric hospital and having to go live with her grandmother, Dolores endures even more hardship that sends her into a downward spiral. With a mother unable to deal with mental instability in herself let alone others, and a relatively non-existant dad, Dolores becomes a brat and indulges in her pain and suffering so much that she takes herself to the brink.
Even when she established a relatively normal life, she is still so emotionally dependant and unstable that her entire life is just horrible. I was struck with such a hopelessness and utter helplessness embodies by the unfortunate Dolores Price that a sick feeling stayed with me for a long time after I finished the last chapter. She simply makes it worse for herself and cannot seem to find the strength to do anything for herself. She fucks up and she fucks up good.
This book is intensely feminine, to the point that I felt I was inside the head of Dolores. It shares secrets of the feminine world that no male would think of, so draws you in with complete believability. That is why it is such a shock to find out it is written by a man.
Great writting, great characters, but very far from a feel good book. It really delves into what it's like to be a woman in more ways than simply the general male object stereotype so often emphasised by other writters. It is a real book about pain that lasts and hurts for a lifetime. A brutal realization that the past can never be burried and that you have to face your mental demons, She's Come Undone is definitely a must read, but not when you've got suicidal tendancies already. I don't and I was put into a severe funk. Make sure you have someone cool at hand so that you can stare at moon rises and laugh in the rain with, cause you're going to need it. Ok thats a bit much I make it seem like this is the end of the world. It's great to have a friend like that at hand anyway, but this book isn't that depressing, it's just not as polar as most books. The ending isn't at either end of the spectrum, it's just plain old life that goes on and on instead of having each day as interesting and new and great. It's the way a lot of people cop out and live life.
Well I refuse. I will play with bubbles and face my problems head on. Write some poetry. Sounds silly but it helped me and I'm not the kind of guy who would really write poetry. More importantly, as more than just a single solution, in everything that you do, be enthusiastic and excited because otherwise you're not and what fun is that? And why would you not want to have fun in a life as short as ours?
Figure it out.
Andrew

The Icarus Girl - Helen Oyeyemi

This is Oyeyemi's first novel about a half caste girl who's mother is Nigerian and father is British. Since Jessamy, the protagonist, can't find a place for herself that reconciles both ancestries, she takes to constant fits that ostracize her from social circles.
This novel is very evocative and even disturbing at times since it deals with such mature and difficult issues, but I found it extremely hard to relate to Jessamy. She incomprehensibly is entirely uncontrollable and seems to be close to bursting with pain and anger and fear that makes her seem petulant and bratty instead of tender and pitiful. The title of the book "The Icarus Girl" seems to indicate that the protagonist might try very hard to get something but be ruined by trying too hard. Jessamy doesn't try at all. She is incredibly weak and simply doesn't try to work out her problems. Maybe this is because she's an eight year old and has no rationality, but I found it very frustrating because she often embraces and facilitates the sources of her problems, and cuts out the parts of her life that try to help her. Maybe she just had too much pressure and too much pain, but I can't find that source of pain in her life. Yeah she had a few bad things happen to her, but really her pain is supposed to be psychological and even almost magical in nature, and there is no way that I can relate to that as important.
Instead of being the martyr that she was supposed to be, I think Jessamy became an annoyance. She is just too illogical to my mind to be taken seriously as a character.
I would say that this is almost more of a fantasy book than a literary fiction, but too unbelieveably to draw you in and make you empathize with the pain that this little girl is going through growing up.
Not the greatest book ever, but it did draw me in enough to believe that if Oyeyemi writes another book, she may be able to fix the problems I had with this one. If you want to read a good first timer, read "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Housseini.
Adios
Andrew

White Teeth - Zadie Smith

White Teeth is a story of lives. Reminiscent of A Fine Balance, this book adds the complication of a new world combating with old cultures. Tackling issues such as British Post-Colonialism, Racism, Religion, Science, and family. This story is interesting because of how horrible its characters are. Don't get me wrong; they're beautifully portrayed and infinitely believable, but they're just jerks that's all. Even though they're "representatives" for their cultures, these minorities are flawed just like the rest of us.
The two main characters are simply pitiful. They are egotistical, self centered, cowards who are lovable because we can recognize their flaws in ourselves (to a certain extent) or annoying co-workers. They spend their lives trying to achieve their own goals, but even when they have families and responsibilities, they still consider their issues first and foremost.
One of the most interesting aspects of this novel is the fact that one of the main families
(there are three really) is boring, middle class English intelligentsia. We can look at most books (the Buddha of suburbia for example) that portray flawed immigrants that shock us out of apathy, but Zadie Smith takes us through the flaws of a flawed but oh so realistic community. The three families
break apart and forge new connections and life choices, moving through life in separate ways, but nearing the end of the book they find they cannot live apart and come together in a crescendo of mishaps that are painfully inadequate for the history books or any real notice.
These are normal people who so shape the world into what it is now through ignorance and pride.
A must read for anyone planning on living life.
Andrew