Under the Volcano By Malcolm Lowry published 1947

I know, I know....I am doing horribly on my goal to post more, in actuality I have had this post ready to go for a while now, I have just been putting it off since  I kind of forgot.....Anyways, I received this book as a gift for my birthday, and was informed by my mother that she had to “special order it for me.” It seems strange that a book so highly regarded by critics is not readably available for purchase at the local Barnes and Noble (or my local library). It also seems strange that so many people whom I consider very well read and knowledgeable in literature had never heard of it, let alone read it. And then I read it. And now I begin to understand. To say Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry is a challenging read is a bit of an understatement. Having read it once I can tell you it would probably take several more readings to fully comprehend the genius that is Malcolm Lowry...it is easy to see why the book is so highly regarded. It is also easy to see why not many people have read it. If the prologue doesn’t stop you (and it may) then the changes in writing style and the drunken stream-of-consciousness chapters just might make you set it down for an easier read.

The majority of the novel takes place on Dia de Las Muertes (November 2^nd) in Quauhnahuac, Mexico in 1938. The city is overshadowed by two large volcanos, hence the name of the book. It describes, in detail, the last day in the life of Geoffrey Firmin, a former British Counsel in the city. The Counsel (as he is generally referred to) is a forty year old alcoholic who spends the majority of his time in cantinas drinking tequila and mesquel. The other two main character's are The Counsel's former wife Yvonne, and his much younger half brother Hugh. Each chapter in the novel is narrated by one of the three, alternating so no one does two in a row, with the exception of the prologue which is narrated by the Counsel's "friend" Jacques.

The book begins with Yvonne arriving in Quauhnahuac, determined that even though she and The Counsel are divorced they can fix their problems and save their tattered marriage. Finding the Counsel slightly (although not alarmingly drunk) in a Cantina, she quickly takes him back to his home, where after a few hours they are joined by Hugh. The trio decide to visit a neighboring town for the evening, running into The Counsel's "friend" who Yvonne had an affair with on the way to the bus station, and a rather long interlude where they are waiting for the bus, in which The Counsel gets pretty toasted. I won't spoil the ending, although if you read the prologue you already know how the book ends.  The book is organized into twelve chapters, each chapter representing an hour in the day. The Counsel's chapters are all written in a stream of consciousness manner...and are the hardest to get through. I found myself rushing to get through his parts so that I could get to a chapter narrated by Hugh or Yvonne, which were the only chapters where the plot moved.

I am not an alcoholic, but I must say that M. Lowry hit it bang on the nose writing one. Probably because he was one...seriously. But you can see the process of the counsel's thoughts as he slowly deteriorates and becomes  more drunk during the day. The last chapter of his narration is pretty difficult to read through your own cringing. In my mind the one bright spot in this book is Yvonne. She is definitely flawed, her affairs with Jacques and possibly Hugh (?) are laid bare, but she has that basic human emotion, hope. That was I think, why I liked her chapters the best, to me she was the most easy to relate to. I also enjoyed what I will term the "quintessential Bristishness" of this novel...everything is just so droll and the characters really underreact (in my opinion) to everything.

Overall my opinion is that I can see why critics like this book. M. Lowry is a wonderful writer with a powerful command of language. He can paint a picture. I can also see why people don't read it. Just like is not fun to be the one in charge of drunks when you are not drunk, it is not so fun to try to figure out what one is saying in a rambling fifty page chapter. Still, I feel like this would be a good book to chose to have with you on a desert island because you could read it many  times and still not grasp the fullness of what Lowry is saying. Final Rating: Not for the Faint of Heart.

 

"'She was not pretty but she is going to be beautiful': at twenty they still said so, and at twenty-seven when she'd married him it was still true, according to the category through which one perceived such thing as focus: it was equally true of her now, at thirty, that she gave the impression of someone who is still going to be, perhaps just about to be, 'beautiful."

- Malcolm Lowry, Under the Volcano

A New Year..and a New Hope

I know I have been a bad blogger. I got behind on my book goal, I was given some extra responsibilities at work, and I got a little lazy. So if you can forgive me, let’s move on! I am sure everyone will be excited to know that I was able to complete my 2012 goal of reading 52 books in a year! Since it is a new year and one of my resolutions this year is to do a better job in the blogosphere,  I thought I would start the year by sharing with you the best book I read in 2012 and the worst book I read in 2012. If you want to see all of the books I read, you can find them on my goodreads profile.

The Best Book I Read in 2012

 You know how you have someone you are close to, and there is something they want you to do or try, and you every intention of doing it, but you just keep putting it off, and they keep bugging you, and you finally do what they want and realize you were STUPID to put it off so long? Yeah, well, my husband has been trying to get me to read this book since we started dating, and I always put it off, and when I finally read it this summer, I couldn’t believe what I had been missing!

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury published 1957.

Set in the summer of 1928, this novel follows the antics of 12 year old Douglas Spaulding in Green Town Illinois (aka smalltown America). Each chapter is a different little story about the town and moves the plot along in the summer a little more. Written with Bradbury’s wonderful lyricism, the book takes you through that first taste of summer and anticipation to the last days the season with its cooler weather and shorter days. Reading this book makes you feel like it is summer, at least the way you remember it as an adult. I am actually glad I read this book when I was on vacation, because otherwise I may have had to  take a day off and run barefoot through the grass in the back of my parent’s property. It’s a short read and well worth anytime you want to put into it. His sequel to this Farewell Summer is also  sensational and brings the story full circle.

“It won't work,' Mr. Bentley continued, sipping his tea. 'No matter how hard you try to be what you once were, you can only be what you are here and  now. Time hypnotizes. When you're nine, you think you've always been nine years old and will always be. When you're thirty, it seems you've always been balanced there on that bright rim of middle life. And then when you turn seventy, you are always and forever seventy. You're in the present, you're trapped in a young now or an old now, but there is no other now to be seen.” 

-Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine

The Worst Book I Read in 2012

I just want to preface this book with a clarifying statement: In general, I find that many of the young adult books on the market today are well written and enjoyable. Although I don’t read nearly as many as I used to, I still pick them up from time to time, especially when my little sister tells me they are worth it. This one wasn’t. I should have known that no good would come from reading a book published by MTV.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephan Chbosky published 1999.

This novel follows a boy named Charlie through his freshman year in high school in the early 1990s. At the beginning he is an unpopular loner who is struggling with autism and the suicide of a friend. He is soon befriended by Sam and her step-brother Patrick who are both seniors and who introduce him to a lot of new experiences. I mean a lot of new experiences. I mean through-out the course of this tiny 213 page book Charlie is in some way exposed to or effected by the following: Alcohol, smoking, drugs, sex, abuse (both physical and sexual), rape, teenage pregnancy, abortion,  sexuality issues, and more.  The further I got into the pages the more I kept thinking “What else is going to happen to this poor kid?!”  I feel like Chbosky was trying to tell the story of what it was to grow up in the 1990’s and somehow told EVERY story of EVERY kid who grew up in the 90s.  Don’t get me wrong, there are some bright spots in the book, I thought the relationship between Charlie and Patrick was great and I also thought that the back and forth between Charlie and his older sister was touching and real.  For a book that has been made into a movie and been on the bestseller list, not to mention touted as “awesome” by a few facebook posts I have seen, I was very disappointed. I will probably eventually watch the film, just to see how it translated onto the big screen, but I am not holding my breath. 

 "Anyway, Patrick started driving really fast, and just before we got to the tunnel, Sam stood up, and the wind turned her dress into ocean waves. When we hit the tunnel, all the sound got scooped up into a vacuum, and it was replaced by a song on the tape player. A beautiful song called "Landslide." When we got out of the tunnel, Sam screamed this really fun scream, and there it was. Downtown. Lights on buildings and everything that makes you wonder. Sam sat down and started laughing. Patrick started laughing. I started laughing. And in that moment, I swear we were infinite."

-Stephan Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Until Next time....peace! 

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Published 1927

For my first review I wanted to do a book that I enjoyed, one that was considered a classic, and also one that was fairly accessible to the average reader. Thus, I settled upon To The Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf.  Published in 1927, this book was a landmark of the Modernist novel movement. 

What it’s About: This novel revolves around the Ramsay family (Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay, and their eight children) and their family friends (most notably Lily Briscoe and Charles Tansley) and the time they spend at their summer home on an island off the coast of Scotland.  The majority of the book is set on one rather gloomy summer day, where the family had been planning to visit the lighthouse off the coast of the Island and had to postpone the trip due to the weather. 

During the course of the day you are introduced to various characters through their thoughts and observations of the events of the day. To me the most prominent characters are Mrs. Ramsay who is a hopeful woman, determined to get the most out of life, and Mr. Ramsay who is a philosopher, a man given to fits of depression and who relies heavily on his wife to lift him up out of it. 

The book reads beautifully, Virginia Woolf lives up to her hype here. This book is written in a “stream of consciousness” way, which means that it rides along with the way the character is thinking. Because of this, the book may not read as smoothly as something written merely from one point of view. The themes of the book are the passage of time, the transience of life, and to some extent gender roles. 

Why It’s Important: This novel is considered an excellent example of the Modernist movement. Woolf’s experiments with the stream of consciousness and non-linear plot were a breakthrough. To The Lighthouse is considered by many to be her best work. 

What I liked: This book is wonderfully written and (unlike many modernist novels) not super hard to follow. It’s also really short, most editions are less than 200 pages. I also like to read this book as a tribute to mothers, they are in many ways the soul of a family and I think Woolf agrees. 

What I didn’t like: If you are looking for a page turning plot that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the last page, this is probably not it. In fact, for a book so highly regarded, the plot is very simple. Sometimes with books like this, I have a hard time keeping focused. Because the book was so short, I didn’t have those issue, but I see how it can be daunting. 

An Auspicious Beginning...

Ah! A blank page! Arguably one of the most beautiful sights in the universe, a pliable place to fill with wonder, excitement, thoughts, beliefs, or the work of a lifetime.  And if you are me, something to, on occasion, be completely terrified of. I have had this blog set up for a while, but I have been afraid to take the plunge…until today. Welcome to my humble blog: take a seat, put your feet up, and stay for a while.

One of my lifelong passions has always been reading. From the time when my father used to read me the Chronicles of Narnia to today, I have a great   affinity for the written word. The intent of this blog is to give you my thoughts on some of the things I have read, and how I relate to them.

Being a goal oriented person I have two book goals I have set up for myself, one short term and one long term

Short Term: Read 52 books in a year (for those of you who might be mathematically challenged that works out to a book a week). I know some of you fellow book nerds might be thinking that the number seems small, but go easy on a girl. I have a full time job, a husband, and a rather needy dog.  Some days I need some grace.

Long Term: Read every book on the Modern Library’s 100 Best Novel’s Readers list, found here:

http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/

Note that I said the readers list, which is a little less demanding than the board’s list….again, not super woman.

Most of the books I read will be fiction of my own choosing, but on occasion I will post one from the list.

Tune in soon for my first review!!

-A-