Book Reviews

I'm taking a page from Alex's blog and doing 2 book reviews today. It's a dreary Monday and the bay looks silver-y grey from my work window, and a quiet office lends itself nicely to blogging.

Book 1: The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls.

The Glass Castle is an unbelievable memoir. Not in writing style, but in actual events; I find them incredibly difficult to believe. The book begins by recounting the author's earliest memory--she is on fire in her trailer park kitchen at the age of 3. She was making hot dogs on the stove, and her ballerina outfit catches fire and she is engulfed in flames while her mother paints in the next room.

The memoir is filled with moments like this, where the reader shakes their head at the squalor the author grew up in, and at her critically dysfunctional family life. Her parents are manic depressive and alcoholics, often forgoing feeding their family in favor of hording chocolate or spending their daughter's hard-earned escape money for a night at the bar. You can't help but feel for the children, who are alternatively enthralled by their parents or angered and ashamed. One of the turning points for the author is when she in on her way to a Park Avenue party and sees her homeless mother rooting through trash on the sidewalk.

The book is an exercise in emotional restraint for Walls. Instead of treating the book as a catharsis, she writes from an objective, emotionless perspective. It seems that at this point in her life the hardship she's gone through is completely detached from her current reality. She rarely expresses anger towards her parents or family, instead choosing to recite the facts of her life like she's reciting facts from the encyclopedia. It's an easy read, but it'll leave you feeling frustrated with Walls and her family, especially her parents. It's true, though, that Walls had a life worth retelling, so if you're into memoirs you'll probably enjoy this.


Book 2: The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett.

I finished this 1,000 page novel this morning on the J on my way into work. I've been working on it the past couple of weeks, and I was left generally satisfied with it. The story is set in the 1100s in medieval England, where the country is engaged in civil war. Pillars of the Earth weaves together an ensemble cast of characters whose lives become entwined in the first 200 pages, all with varying goals, desires, and wishes. Frankly, it's a 1,000 page soap opera with all the standard ingredients: love, lust, war, religion (medieval, remember?), murder, and conspiracies. At times I was just wishing for the book to end; at a certain point one village can only be invaded by the same guy so many times. But it's fluff, and fluff is always pretty easy to stomach, even in large portions. The writing is easy and engaging enough, and one of the books greatest strength's is its character depth--you really begin to know and feel the characters, and you can bet that if you see one guy at the beginning he'll show up at the end with his own twisted history. If you're currently overwhelmed by more intense reading and want something on the side to pick up and just entertain you for a bit, this is a good choice. But if you're looking for something profound that'll change your life, leave this at home.


Next two books on tap are Eat, Pray, Love (I feel like everyone woman has read this book, but I might be wrong) and Obama's Dreams from My Father. Needless to say I'm more excited about Obama's book, but I'm also vaguely curious to see how living in Italy, India, and Indonesia goes. Maybe I'll just have to go on vacation there and find out.