by Michel Faber
I've been opening up my novel-locked mind lately to the joys of short fiction. Partly because that's what I'm writing so I better figure out what works, and partly because some of my favourite novelists (if you haven't read Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White don't talk to me again until you do!) have some great collections out. That and I have no attention span any more.
Anyway, "The Courage Consort" is the first of three novellas in this collection, each one a schooling in brevity, clarity and depth. The title story involves a vocal ensemble's fortnight in a Belgian retreat and all the personal and professional intimacies that come to the fore in that time. Sexual tension that causes pain. Personal pain that causes tension. And just enough of the supernatural to keep things really tense. No wonder I'm exhausted this week!
Faber's real strengths (and two of my favourite things in writing) are character development and the slow revelation of a character's depth. And nothing in this collection changes that. "The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps" made me want to cry, and to slap someone, and to hug the heroine, and to get a dog. And "The Farenheit Twins" made me want to cry, and to slap someone, and to hug the twins, and to institute universal parenting courses as a requirement for pregnancy.
In short, Faber is a genius at expressing humanities depth and shallowness, and I can't wait to learn more from his writings.
02/07
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Beloved
by Toni Morrison
It took me three tries and some ghost fighting therapy to finish Morrison's Nobel Prize winner. It's as captivating, mysterious and soulful as the titular character. Fierce love. Amazing grace.
03/05
It took me three tries and some ghost fighting therapy to finish Morrison's Nobel Prize winner. It's as captivating, mysterious and soulful as the titular character. Fierce love. Amazing grace.
03/05
Another World
by Pat Barker
I really really liked Barker's The Ghost Road trilogy. Of course it was disturbing - it's a trilogy about neurasthenics during World War 1 - but it was also compelling and compassionate and deeply rooted in reality. The doctor and his patients are all drawn from real hospital records.
Unfortunately, Another World isn't like that. It's a ghost story, which is all well and good if you like ghost stories, but I don't. And even worse, it's a ghost story based on the worst of human nature. Unspeakable aspects of human nature. And really who needs that?
The biggest problem with the story is that Barker is SO skilled at creating a world that pulls you in. And I really didn't want to be in this one.
11/08
I really really liked Barker's The Ghost Road trilogy. Of course it was disturbing - it's a trilogy about neurasthenics during World War 1 - but it was also compelling and compassionate and deeply rooted in reality. The doctor and his patients are all drawn from real hospital records.
Unfortunately, Another World isn't like that. It's a ghost story, which is all well and good if you like ghost stories, but I don't. And even worse, it's a ghost story based on the worst of human nature. Unspeakable aspects of human nature. And really who needs that?
The biggest problem with the story is that Barker is SO skilled at creating a world that pulls you in. And I really didn't want to be in this one.
11/08
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
by Mordecai Richler
Whodda thunk it that a 38 year-old WASP living on the west coast of BC in 2006 could identify with and feel for a 17,18,19 year-old Jewish boy living and learning in late '50s Montreal. This was my first forray into the world or Mordecai Richler, and it's a charming world I look forward to re-visiting. A world where people aren't perfect, but at least they are self-aware, and that's so much more fun.
06/06
Whodda thunk it that a 38 year-old WASP living on the west coast of BC in 2006 could identify with and feel for a 17,18,19 year-old Jewish boy living and learning in late '50s Montreal. This was my first forray into the world or Mordecai Richler, and it's a charming world I look forward to re-visiting. A world where people aren't perfect, but at least they are self-aware, and that's so much more fun.
06/06
Another Roadside Attraction
by Tom Robbins
While somewhat less bowled-over by this Robbins than by Jitterbug Perfume, I still say he is the best writer of the modern era, and I still intend to read his entire output. I just hope he finds a less obvious target in his other books than Catholicism. Surely a man of his talents has insights into less obvious enemies.
03/06
While somewhat less bowled-over by this Robbins than by Jitterbug Perfume, I still say he is the best writer of the modern era, and I still intend to read his entire output. I just hope he finds a less obvious target in his other books than Catholicism. Surely a man of his talents has insights into less obvious enemies.
03/06
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