To any loyal readers of this blog let me first apologize, I have so dropped the ball when it comes to what I'm currently reading.
First off, I've had the
A Hedonist in the Cellar picture up for ages and I still have yet to finish it, but I've read one book and most of another in the meantime. I'm stopping
A Hedonist in the Cellar for now, but I still think I should rank it, I got 2/3rds through. McInerney does have a tendency to name drop but I'll forgive him that minor weakness. The big pluses of this book are that McInerney has way of writing about wine that's quite engaging and he has great, accessible descriptions that are invaluable for selecting the right wine for your tastes. He clearly is passionate about the subject. The problem? Right now I barely drink, aside from one oh so regrettable evening with my husband last month. I had a wonderful time with Toby, but I drank way too much for someone who usually goes without and I was so horrendously sick all the next day. Oh God, and then I overhear Owen asking Toby if mommy's sick from drinking too much wine and I'm wincing in the bathroom, thinking that's all I need for him to say at school and then child services will come take the kids when that's the first time I've been drunk in 6 years. One other big problem with the book, it would be so much more helpful if it came with a little cliff notes, some sort of pocket guide you could bring with you to restaurants.
So I was reading
A Hedonist in the Cellar when someone sweetly gave me a $10 gift card to Barnes and Noble and, sucker that I am, I bought
Never Let Me Go based on the cover and eerie description on the back. British writers, at least the ones I've read, seem to break into two distinct groups; the funny, hyper-literate, manic roller coaster rides of Martin Amis or Zadie Smith and those whose writing has a much slower pace, is tinged with melancholy, and can ultimately pack a big emotional wallop, like Ian McEwan and Kazuo Ishiguro, who wrote this book. First off, if you don't want to learn the 'surprise' of
Never Let Me Go read no further. Still with me? Okay, I found the novel about the lives of clones completely fascinating. There is so much in the news about cloning and I've heard stuff on NPR about British scientists making chimeras, where they culture human cells and than implant them in an animal egg. Very mind bending stuff, even if the cells aren't allowed to go past 14 days growth. This story is very affecting and it's interesting in the same dystopic way
The Children of Men was in that, in these alternative realities (but still close enough to reality to be frightening) you see cruelties that can emerge with desperation or, in the case of
Never Let Me Go, a sort of willful ignorance. The story has a great narrative voice, my only quibble is that when I got to the end (
another spoiler alert here) I couldn't help thinking, why didn't these characters run away from their ultimate fate? Maybe it isn't terribly realistic, and it wouldn't give the story it's elegiac air. But, even though it would turn the book into a Hollywood movie, I kept hoping the main character would leave what's waiting for her. There's an air of resignation that was unsettling. It makes for an effective novel, but you won't finish it feeling satisfied exactly.
First off, I've had the A Hedonist in the Cellar picture up for ages and I still have yet to finish it, but I've read one book and most of another in the meantime. I'm stopping A Hedonist in the Cellar for now, but I still think I should rank it, I got 2/3rds through. McInerney does have a tendency to name drop but I'll forgive him that minor weakness. The big pluses of this book are that McInerney has way of writing about wine that's quite engaging and he has great, accessible descriptions that are invaluable for selecting the right wine for your tastes. He clearly is passionate about the subject. The problem? Right now I barely drink, aside from one oh so regrettable evening with my husband last month. I had a wonderful time with Toby, but I drank way too much for someone who usually goes without and I was so horrendously sick all the next day. Oh God, and then I overhear Owen asking Toby if mommy's sick from drinking too much wine and I'm wincing in the bathroom, thinking that's all I need for him to say at school and then child services will come take the kids when that's the first time I've been drunk in 6 years. One other big problem with the book, it would be so much more helpful if it came with a little cliff notes, some sort of pocket guide you could bring with you to restaurants. 
So I was reading A Hedonist in the Cellar when someone sweetly gave me a $10 gift card to Barnes and Noble and, sucker that I am, I bought Never Let Me Go based on the cover and eerie description on the back. British writers, at least the ones I've read, seem to break into two distinct groups; the funny, hyper-literate, manic roller coaster rides of Martin Amis or Zadie Smith and those whose writing has a much slower pace, is tinged with melancholy, and can ultimately pack a big emotional wallop, like Ian McEwan and Kazuo Ishiguro, who wrote this book. First off, if you don't want to learn the 'surprise' of Never Let Me Go read no further. Still with me? Okay, I found the novel about the lives of clones completely fascinating. There is so much in the news about cloning and I've heard stuff on NPR about British scientists making chimeras, where they culture human cells and than implant them in an animal egg. Very mind bending stuff, even if the cells aren't allowed to go past 14 days growth. This story is very affecting and it's interesting in the same dystopic way The Children of Men was in that, in these alternative realities (but still close enough to reality to be frightening) you see cruelties that can emerge with desperation or, in the case of Never Let Me Go, a sort of willful ignorance. The story has a great narrative voice, my only quibble is that when I got to the end (another spoiler alert here) I couldn't help thinking, why didn't these characters run away from their ultimate fate? Maybe it isn't terribly realistic, and it wouldn't give the story it's elegiac air. But, even though it would turn the book into a Hollywood movie, I kept hoping the main character would leave what's waiting for her. There's an air of resignation that was unsettling. It makes for an effective novel, but you won't finish it feeling satisfied exactly.
No comments:
Post a Comment