Great Writing

It always amazes me, although I know it shouldn't be such a surprise, that I can often tell I'm reading a great book from the very beginning. There's something about the language and flow that grabs hold of me and won't let go.

I AM A SPY, a sleeper, a spook, a man of two faces. Perhaps not surprisingly, I am also a man of two minds. I am not some misunderstood mutant from a comic book or a horror movie, although some have treated me as such. I am simply able to see any issue from both sides. Sometimes I flatter myself that this is a talent, and although it is admittedly one of a minor nature, it is perhaps also the sole talent I possess. At other times, when I reflect on how I cannot help but observe the world in such a fashion, I wonder if what I have should even be called talent. After all, a talent is something you use, not something that uses you. The talent you cannot not use, the talent that possesses you—that is a hazard, I must confess. But in the month when this confession begins, my way of seeing the world still seemed more of a virtue than a danger, which is how some dangers first appear.

So begins the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen. It isn't often I will comment on a book I have barely started, but this one was an instant and powerful hook. (Well, doh, it is this year's Pulitzer Prize winner!)

Every literature professor and critic knows the way to build a story. Very few writers can do it masterfully. For example there is a slow release of information, unveiled bit by bit. A line piques your curiosity wondering what the connection is. A hint of few words about "my father" plants a seed- or is it a time bomb- that you are on guard to find out.

But above all, there is the language and the ability to tell you more in a few words than I could tell you in a whole chapter (or a whole sermon, for that matter.) Here are three that grabbed me and wouldn't let me go in the first chapter:

“Amid short tempers, Claude stayed cool, having lived here so long he barely perspired in the tropical humidity. He could sneak up on you in the dark, but he could never be invisible ”

“I finished the whiskey, then drove the General home through a storm, the amniotic water bursting over the city a hint of the forthcoming season.”

“We were smoking a final cigarette at the mouth of the dank, dripping alley that was the beer garden’s exit when a trio of hydrocephalic marines stumbled out of the vaginal darkness. ”

All excerpts From:

Viet Thanh Nguyen. “The Sympathizer.”

This is clearly a book to savor, rich in language, style, substance and story. It is clearly not a book to be taken lightly. I am already aware that there is going to be much to learn and experience about the human condition in this book. But I must not rush through it. It must be read with caution of its power and at a pace which allows it to become part of me.

As a writer such books make me cringe at my own verbosity here or in any of my sermons over the years. They also force me to look at the world around me in different ways than I may ever have before. This is the kind of book that affirms for me that fiction can be far more powerful in telling the truth than many a set of facts. Like any great book this one may have been conceived in the mind of the writer, but it is not false or fake.

Read, listen, and learn.

Remarkable Reading

I haven't been writing about some of the books I have been reading recently. In fact, it's been a long time since I have. This whole semi-retirement thing has changed some of the things I do and when I do them. I have been spending more time with music - playing, practicing, arranging. I have also gotten into some of the photography websites, posting etc.

I am still reading as much as ever, I just haven't been writing about it. I am going to try to rectify that, but I wouldn't hold my breath.  In any case I have just finished the second book of a remarkable science fiction trilogy. The trilogy is titled The Remembrance of Earth's Past by Chinese sci-fi superstar Liu Cixin. I had never heard of him since none of his books were published in English until the first volume of the trilogy was translated and published in 2014. It promptly won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the first translation ever to do so, and was nominated for the 2014 Nebula Award for Best Novel.

Volume one is The Three-Body Problem; volume two is The Dark Forest. Volume three, Death's End is to be published in English this fall. They are hard-science, space opera, sociological explorations, and unlike anything I have read very often in their scope and continuity. I can only put them in the same rarefied sci-fi Olympus as Orson Scott Card's Ender Saga and Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy. Throw in some of Dune and Stranger in a Strange Land and you will have an idea of the imaginative world of Liu Cixin.

What is it about? Well, start with First Contact with aliens and the accompanying issues, chaos, fear, and uncertainty. Add Chinese cultural concerns of the mid-20th Century, the need for international cooperation, the limitations of science, cosmic (as well as human) sociology and human relationships. Mix them all together as in any of the great works of sci-fi literature- and you have this joy ride of a series.

I found myself making one good guess about the direction- and several "Aha!" moments rivaling Ender's Game (still my all-time great whiplash moment in reading!) Beyond those few, the books unfold hiding as much as they reveal, yet leading toward .... something still waiting in volume three. As reviewers have said, for any science fiction fan, this series is an absolute MUST READ!

You will thank me.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Speaking of must read trilogy completions:

Book 3 of Justin Cronin's Passage Trilogy is due to drop tomorrow (May 24).  My daughter recommended it to me when the first book, The Passage, was published six years ago. She neglected to tell me it was about vampires (although somewhat unconventional ones). By the time I found that out I was hooked. Book 2, The Twelve was a good middle-of-a-trilogy book in 2012. The City of Mirrors is to be its crown. Patience is a necessity in this world of trilogies, but this one is finally here. (I'm third in the hold queue at the local library. If I can wait that long.)

Reflecting on Reading

The Goldfinch (1654), by Carel Fabritius

Some books are beyond description. They start out with reality and simplicity. They are clearly a slice of life that you can appreciate. Then as you go along you realize you have been trapped, pulled into a web of wonder and fear, hope and desolation. In short, words have done their job.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt is this year's Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction (as well as shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle and the Amazon Book of the Year.) It centers around a terrorist bombing, a young boy caught in the middle of it and a painting of a captured goldfinch, the painting here. It follows the boy, Theo Decker, over the next 12 years in a series of events and stories that keep you engaged and entranced. That is all I will say about the contents. If you are planning on reading it- do not, repeat DO NOT read the Wikipedia article on it.

It is, though, a book that celebrates the place of art in life and even in society. It is a celebration of the power of all kinds of artistic endeavors from the centerpiece painting to working with antique furniture and finally, the power of words. Books. Literature.

As a reader I was bowled over by the ease of the book but the incredible depth that each page brought to light. I would read past a phrase that was simple and yet wove a sense of place and person. I was carried along on waves of words crashing over me. Never a tsunami, but more like the consistent and refreshing presence of the tide at the shore. But then it would get roiled by the events, but never submerge you.

As a writer I was in awe- deep, unending awe of her imagination that came up with this incredible story and its never-ending detail, the ability to make it readable and her understanding of the human condition. That of course is a pretty good summary of all great literature. Donna Tartt does not come in second to any of the greats before her.

As an addiction counselor I was even more amazed by her ability to put into words the mind of an addict. She takes us into the harrowing place where life is at its rawest. You may not understand the actions of addicts any more clearly than before, but you will see the incredible way that alcoholics and addicts make sense to themselves.

This is a book of hope and life in the midst of what often looks hopeless and meaningless. It is about the power of art to bring redemption even when you don't know that this is what you are looking for.

It is a big book- 700+ pages. It is an even bigger book of ideas and character and writing. It is remarkable!

A Few Years Behind in Reading

Nope, I never read it before. One of the great American novels and it has been under my radar my whole life. Sure I heard of it. Sure I knew it was a "must read" but if I didn't get around to it in school, well, so many books and so little time kept it from showing up on my reading list. Until now. Spurred by another poorly done movie adaptation which I didn't see I decided it was well past time to find out about fellow Minnesotan F. Scott Fitzgerald's great masterpiece.

Needless to say I wasn't disappointed. According to Wikipedia, Fitzgerald wanted to produce

something new—something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.

Wow, did he ever succeed. It's a short novel, no words were added by Fitzgerald to make it longer. He kept it sharp, concise, poetic prose that flows from page to page, a stream of genius that describes an age long gone, but as sharp and contemporary as we can get. The mark of great literature!

According to Wikipedia, some see it as a

cautionary tale of the decadent downside of the American dream". The story deals with human aspiration to start over again, social politics and its brutality and also betrayal, of one's own ideals and of people. Using elements of irony and tragic ending, it also delves into themes of excesses of the rich, and recklessness of youth.

Others say it's

about the breakdown of class differences in the face of a modern economy based not on status and inherited position but on innovation and an ability to meet ever-changing consumer needs.

But in short it's a well-told story of desires, dreams and disaster woven into the fabric of many lives. It is like standing on the edge of a great abyss about to open. We know it's going to happen though we may not know how. Such grandiose dreams and unrealistic expectations covering depths of fear and despair can have no other outcome. Not in literature.

Fitzgerald makes us care about the story, but not the people. Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, Jordan are not people we can like. They don't want us to. They succeed. Even Nick, our narrator, is simply our surrogate to describe what is happening.

For me that may have been the ultimate tragedy of The Great Gatsby. People can be so lonely, empty, and inward that they never can find what they truly want and keep pushing it away even as they rush headlong toward it.

Which is why it is so compelling all these years later. Human nature, when taken over by such desires and thoughtless directions hasn't changed. Nick may long for the quieter life of the Midwestern heartland, but we know he won't find it. That can be as much of a false ideal as the mansions on Long Island Sound that trapped Gatsby.

Reading this I realized that there are a lot of great books that I have never read. Classics. At one time I had thought about trying to read more of the ones I have neglected over the years. That might be a decent idea to think about.

First published on Blogcritics.