Play It as It Lays (1970) is one of Joan Didion's best known novels and included in Time Magazine's "100 Best English Language Novels from 1923 to 2005."
Maria (Mar-eye-a) Wyeth is a 30 year old model and actress living in California. She is divorced from a film producer and has a daughter, Kate, who has been hospitalized for a long time for physical and mental issues. Maria spends her days basking in the ennui of the 1960s privileged Beverly Hills elites. She constantly cruises the highways in her car (without any destination) and has multiple relationships with abusive men. She eventually suffers a mental breakdown.
Maria is a complex character. She has no purpose in life. She is self-destructive, submitting to emotionally abusive men, not eating, doing nothing in hotel rooms for days on end, drinking and taking drugs in excess. Maria's life is hollow and lonely, but it's a life she has chosen.
Didion's writing is chilling. She crafts each sentence honestly, realistically and hauntingly. Didion also includes many symbols and motifs in her writing. More descriptions of the Californian landscape would have enhanced the plot, but I'll play it as it lays.
Play It as It Lays is well written, and although it's not a pretty story, it's one you can't stop reading. For these reasons, Joan Didion's indictment of the 1960s West Coast elites gets five out of five stars.
Will Grayson, Will Grayson (2010) is John Green's second co-authored work, and by far the worst of his that I have read.
There are two teens named Will Grayson in Chicago. The first (whose chapters are written by Green) is attractive, positive, and smart and has two sidekicks: Tiny, a big, openly gay guy, and Jane, a possibly gay girl. The second Will (written by David Levithan) is depressed, sensitive, and also gay but has barely any friends. The two Wills eventually meet, their lives become intertwined and they become friends.
The idea of two teens with the same name meeting each other is certainly original. However, some of the plot details were not. Take WG#1's only friends, Tiny and Jane, who make him unpopular by association. Wow! This sounds exactly like the situation of Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) from Tina Fey's Mean Girls. In my past readings of John Green, his story details seemed much more authentic.
Besides the familiar plot, there are many other issues with the novel. To start, there is way too much detail -- weird, irrelevant anecdotes and symbolic life lessons from both authors did nothing for me or the plot. Speaking of the plot, there was so little of it that, by the end of this weak co-production, there were no distinct changes in either of the Wills. In any case, both of them were so dull that I didn't care. The worst was yet to come, though. Even though this is a novel, most of the details were realistic enough, except for the forced ending. I won't spoil it for you, but it certainly felt out of sync with the rest of the novel because it was so ridiculous.
I've read both good and bad from John Green, but this was by far his worst. I give this book one star out of five. Needless to say, it is going to be a while before I pick up another John Green to read.
Sweet Thursday (1954) is John Steinbeck's sequel to 1945's Cannery Row (previously reviewed here).
Sweet Thursday tells what happens in Cannery Row after WWII: Doc returns from serving in the war; Fauna takes over Dora's Bear Flag Restaurant; Mack and the Boys still live in the Palace Flophouse; Lee Chong has left; and Suzy, a new character, moves in to the Row. Like Cannery Row, Sweet Thursday details the intersections of the lives of these and other characters.
Because I throughly enjoyed Cannery Row, I had high hopes for Sweet Thursday. However, many of the elements that distinguished Cannery Row were not present here. These included the gorgeous descriptions of the coast and of the town itself. In Sweet Thursday, the evocative descriptions were fewer and less magical. Sweet Thursday's minor character plot lines were also less interesting and less developed than Cannery Row's.
I was happy that the plot still focused on Doc, because he is one of Steinbeck's most interesting characters. Doc remains honest, helpful, friendly, and, of course, likable in Sweet Thursday. I was disappointed, though, that Steinbeck left many loose ends in Doc's story. After I'm introduced to a great character, I want to know what happens to them.
With few exceptions (like Toy Story 2 and The Godfather Part II), the original is better than the sequel and that is also true with Cannery Row. I rate Sweet Thursday three out of five stars, because it lacks many of the elements that made Cannery Row so perfect.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943) is Betty Smith's best known work.
The story begins in 1912. Francie Nolan is an impoverished 11 year old girl living in the slums of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York. She lives with her proud and hardworking mother, Katie, her ten year old brother, Neeley, and her alcoholic father, Johnny. To escape the hardships of her poverty, Francie relies on her imagination and lessons from books. The book details Francie's life from years one to 17.
Betty Smith never shies from describing poverty. Every aspect, from hunger to lack of opportunity, is grounded in detail. The extent of Smith's descriptions make the situations more genuine and nonfictional.
My favorite character in this bildungsroman is Katie, one of the most resourceful, proud, and hopeful mothers in all of literature. When the Nolans hit rock bottom, Katie takes on more work. She creates games to distract the children from the big picture: how destitute they are. Katie makes Francie and Neeley feel rich by always having one luxury: coffee. Katie insists that her children get an education before they begin to work for the money the family so desperately needs, and Katie takes on more work (even though she is pregnant). Lastly, Katie refuses charity because she knows that, somehow, she will pull herself and her family out of hardship (and she does). So far in my reading, Katie is my favorite fictional mother.
The growing tree metaphor is powerful. There is a type of tree outside Francie's window that locals call the "Tree of Heaven." Once its seeds hit any ground (even heaps of garbage and cement), seedlings manage to sprout. The seedlings struggle for sunlight and oxygen, but they manage to grow strong and resilient. This is Francie and Neeley's lives; they fight for sustenance and eventually receive it, at first little by little and then all at once.
I saw many parallels between Francie and Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird. I'm planning on re-reading TKAM soon anyway, so when I do, I promise an in-depth comparison and analysis of both girls.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is an absolute triumph in every sense: in its writing, in its plot, in the truth of its descriptions, and in its relatable protagonist; five out of five stars.
Published in 2006, Eat Pray Love is Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir of self-discovery that was adapted into a 2010 film starring Julia Roberts.
Elizabeth Gilbert is unsatisfied in her privileged life. Her marriage has crumbled and she is depressed. After a difficult divorce, she embarks on a journey to Italy, India, and Indonesia. In Italy, she finds pleasure and happiness in eating. In India, she finds God (and herself) through prayer. Finally, in Indonesia, she finds a balance between pleasure and spirituality through love.
Gilbert is a good writer. She has a style that I cannot characterize, mainly because it changes with location, but what does not change is her cleverness and humor.
The best parts of the story are the author's descriptions of Italy, India, Indonesia, and her friends. Gilbert never skimps on details and I actually liked her friends better than her.
The author is somewhat unlikable. She was an Upper East Sider who owned two houses and had a great job. Her marriage turned problematic and she cried a lot over it. Then she met this vibrant and young guy who she dated on and off and then she cried some more. Bottom line, she is whiny. She visited three exotic, interesting, and in some places, impoverished countries and only focused on herself. Her selfish exploration left me disappointed; there were few insights to draw on in my own life.
I didn't like the "ME ME ME" tone polluting the beauty of the places she visited; one and a half out of five stars.
First published in 1886, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is one of Robert Louis Stevenson's most famous works.
Gabriel Utterson is the executor of Dr Henry Jekyll's will. In his will, Jekyll has bequeathed his assets to his friend, Edward Hyde. While walking with another lawyer, Utterson hears of a despicable act carried out by Hyde. Utterson investigates further.
I didn't include spoilers in my plot summary but the ubiquitous references to it in pop culture will probably have ruined it for you anyway. If this were the Victorian Era, the ending would be shocking. Since we all know he ending, the climax is not exciting.
I will tell you that Jekyll represents good and Hyde represents evil, making them foils. However, there are not enough good acts to establish Jekyll as good, and Hyde's crimes aren't that evil. I wish there were more support for the characters' personalities.
The last chapter sums up the mystery in a letter written by Jekyll. The novella ends with the letter. It would make sense to have some closure and reactions after the mystery is solved. Truly, though, this doesn't bother me, because I was not invested in Stevenson's underdeveloped characters.
Stevenson's writing is straightforward but disconnected and dry, making this an unenjoyable read.
Overall, I liked the theme (which I can't reveal) of Jekyll and Hyde, but many elements of the work are half-baked. I rate this book two out of five stars.
Thirteen Reasons Why (2007) is regarded as a YA fiction jewel and is Jay Asher's first novel.
Clay Jensen is a high schooler whose classmate, Hannah Baker, has recently killed herself. Clay mysteriously receives a package of cassette tapes in the mail that have been narrated by Hannah. He soon learns that Hannah intended for the cassettes to be listened to by the thirteen people whose actions are the "reasons" she killed herself. Hannah has insured that each person who receives the tapes will send them to the next person "implicated" in her suicide.
Hannah's story, as told on the cassettes, appears in the book in italics, juxtaposed with Clay's reactions. Despite the font changes, it is hard to differentiate the narratives because the voices are similar. Strike one against the book.
Hannah Baker is interesting. She blames the schoolmates mentioned on her cassettes for her problems. Realistically, her problems happen to a lot of people in high school, barely any of whom kill themselves. If there were more detail about Hannah's past, and not just the events right before her suicide, it would have been easier to understand why she did it. Without knowing the background and deeper issues, it's unrealistic for her to have killed herself over a few incidents with jerks and moving to a new school. Strike two.
In the end, Clay's reactions to Hannah's suicide tale are not fully revealed to us; his only response is to approach and talk to a wallflower. The weak ending means we don't learn how all of the characters tie up their feelings for Hannah. The botched ending is strike three.
I understand Asher's message: that our actions affect everyone, so be careful about what you do and say. Great message, poorly executed.
I don't understand why this book has received such lofty praise. The writing is mediocre and there are plenty of better and more realistic books on teen suicide (Looking For Alaska, It's Kind of a Funny Story, The Bell Jar). One out of five stars.
