What the Deaf Mute Heard by G. D. Gearino
(as a point of information, he is the business editor for The News & Observer in Raleigh, NC)
Review by Janet Morris
I shared this book with Jeff a month or so ago and he liked it so much he never returned it to me! (Don't worry, he paid me for it!). Anyhow, it is one that I think most fiction readers would like. The story is about the life of a young man named Sammy and begins in the 1940's. He is awakened one morning by a bus driver and told he has to get off because the bus has reached the end of the line. Sammy is 10 years old at the time and is very confused since when he went to sleep the night before he was with his mother, and when he is awakened she is gone. For some reason, when questioned by concerned adults he does not answer them and they assume that he is deaf and mute. The station master takes him in, letting him sleep there in a back room and work after school. What makes this story interesting, I thought, is that no one bothers to watch what they say around Sammy and so as the years pass, he ends up knowing everything about everyone in town and Sammy pieces things together and ultimately triumphs over everyone -- albeit with some sad consequences that could possibly have been avoided had he spoken out from time to time. What is especially interesting and different about this book, I think, is the fact that Sammy is never involved in conversation so we learn about him only from his thoughts.
The Quiet American by Graham Greene
Review by Peter Eisner
This is a prescient look at colonialism in Vietnam, written in the early 1950s. It clearly foreshadows the faulty US involvement in Southeast Asia, well before the French pulled out. At the same time, it is about the complexity of people's motivations. Greene makes it possible for you to know what happened, why it happened and how it happened, without making clear for you or the characters the clear reasons that things turned out the way they did. Greene says, paraphrasing, that it's impossible to know anyone fully, even oneself. Why do we do things the way we do?
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
Review by Jeffrey Lin
Do you have faith? Do you believe in God? How do you know for sure? These are the questions that you will ask yourself after reading "A Prayer for Owen Meany." Owen Meany is very small, with an unusual voice that "sounded as if he was screaming all the time", and he is Johnny Wheelwright's best friend. The story started with a foul ball in a little league game. This foul ball, probably the only ball ever hit by Owen, hit Johnny's mother and killed her. Owen says to Johnny:
'GOD HAS TAKEN YOUR MOTHER, MY HANDS WERE THE INSTRUMENT. GOD HAS TAKEN MY HANDS, I'M GOD'S INSTRUMENT'
And so he is.
The readers will find out why Owen was so small, and why he has that terribly voice, and how he was God's instrument.
This book was recommended to me by many people. When I was in LA during August I asked friends and colleagues "What is the your favorite fiction?" and many of them immediately thought of this one. It's a wonderful story and somewhat political as much of the story happened during the Vietnam war. Very rich and full of symbolism, perfect reading for the holidays.
Divided to the Vein by Scott Minerbrook
Review by Peter Eisner
A memoir by a journalist friend of mine about the torment of being from a racially mixed family--African American father and white mother--and his attempt to make peace with everyone. It's a wrenching story, made worse by the knowledge that Scott died in August at the age of 42 from apparent congenital heart problem. People with access to LATS can read Les Payne's column of Sept. 15 about Scott.
Live Girls by Beth Nugent
Review by Janet Morris
Probably the first thing you are going to notice about this book is that the author does not use proper punctuation marks. The book is largely conversation but there are no quotation marks. A change in speaker is marked with a dash. In a way that is disturbing but in a way it made everything flow really quickly and I think that was an important element here because the protagonist's (Catherine) mind was moving quickly too and conventional punctuation might have slowed it down too much. It is sort of hard to describe. The gist is: After dropping out of her religious all girl's college, Catherine takes a job selling tickets in a porn theatre in an un-named city. She lives in a room in a hotel full of transients and really has no friends other than a drag queen named Jerome. Throughout the book you gradually learn about her family background and the death of a sister and start to form your own opinions for why she lives as she does, so obviously beneath her skills and intellegence level.
The Postman by Antonio Skarpeta
Review by Peter Eisner
This was the basis for the movie Il Postino. It's a funny, understated book about a mailman's friendship with the poet Pablo Neruda with an underlying message of political outrage during the Pinochet regime in Chile. Interestingly enough, the movie changed the venue from Chile to Italy, thereby removing the Pinochet regime from the story. I'm in an argument with a friend about whether a movie was the "right" to do that. I say and he agrees that it's impossible to compare a movie to a book--they each have their own realities. My friend says yes, BUT he'd be interested to know whether any political factors were involved and how the author could accept a change that took away a forum for popular dissemination of such a terrible political event as the Pinochet dicatorship in Chile. (It's also a love story, so don't be scared away)
The Moral Animal Why We Are the Way We Are
The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology by Robert Wright
Review by Tim Lange
He explores evolution through the life of its founding theorist, Charles Darwin. He writes beautifully, with ironic understatement, and he cites plenty of evidence contrary to his thesis. Essentially his is a fresh and more detailed version of the sociobiological view (that got trashed by leftists and the strongly religious in the Ô70s). But he makes a persuasive case for our seemingly most subtle personal interactions being (subconsciously, unconsciously) a product of our drive to get our genes into the next generation. He isnÕt, however, a determinist or social-Darwinist as are so many of his colleagues and the ultra right-wing politicians who agree with them. Interesting reading even if you dispute his thesis - the chapters about Darwin and his family are superb
Le Book Club
Welcome to the __________ (fill in your favorite internet buzz word, i.e., Cyber) Book Club!
This idea came from a long drive from Gary's ranch to Las Vegas. We had a great discussion about books and we think it would be a good idea to share our thoughts with people who enjoy books as much as we do on a regular basis.
The format of this is easy. Everytime you have anything to share about reading you can send a message to bookclub@newscom.com (or just Bookclub for those of you using NewsCom). When you do that, everyone in the club will receive your message. The message could be about a good book you read, about ideas behind books, about language, about life and anything else you think appropriate.
There are no rules except one - have an open mind :) We are all different and different books appeal to different people.
If you have friends or colleagues who are interested in join the group, please send an e-mail to me, your humble moderator of the club. If you are getting too many mails from the club (we hope) and would like to get out of the list, please also send me a message. My e-mail address is Jeffrey.Lin@latimes.com.
So enjoy the club! I look forward to everybody's comments!
