perpetual memory loss

I finished Haruki Murakami’s new novel 1Q84 a few weeks ago and I have been letting it settle in my brain for a while before I wrote about it. Clocking in at over 950 pages, 1Q84 will take time to read. Luckily, it is time well spent and it is a thoroughly enjoyable story. 1Q84 takes place is a Tokyo in 1984 and follows the lives of the two protagonists, Aomame and Tengo. Murakami alternates the chapters between Aomame and Tengo. Their stories are intertwined although the reader is unsure how or even why. Like Murakami’s other books, this book could be categorized as magical realism. (If you are not acquainted with that term think about books/stories like The Metamorphosis, Beloved, The Master and Margarita, and The Alchemist. These are story’s that take place in the real world, our world, but yet are intruded upon by the supernatural (Beloved and The Master and Margarita), unexplained events (The Metamorphosis), or with the bending, merging of realities (1Q84).) For some people this isn’t their cup of tea, but I find that books of this ilk can be both incredibly entertaining and packed with meaning.

Tengo is a typical Murakami male character and almost a stereotype of a Japanese male: introspective, honorable, and taciturn. (In some ways he is very similar to Toru Okada from The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.) Tengo, like Toru, is a lackluster 30 year old who has enormous potential (he’s a brilliant mathematician, martial artist, writer, and pretty much anything he puts his mind to) but yet hasn’t quite found his niche in the world. He teaches math part-time and in the other time he is an aspiring novelist. At both he excels but not too much, and he seems content to just slog along in his life. Aomame, on the other hand, has her life mostly figured out. She’s a physical trainer at a high-class Tokyo gym and in her spare time assassinates men who have repeatedly and harshly beaten their wives. For the most part she likes her life and she is very good at her chosen professions.

For the first few hundred pages Murakami is content to let the reader get to know the various characters, and slowly but surely set up the story. Very early on the reality between 1984 and 1Q84 become inter-meshed and you spend large swaths of time, like the characters, not sure which reality is which. The story lines come crashing together, however, around the end of the second book, about 600 pages in, and before that you are left to wonder how these people are connected. But by the end of the second book many questions are answered (although there are still a lot of loose ends, more on that later). In the third book Murakami adds another character to the book, the tenacious and vile Ushikawa. Alternating between the three, the book alters slightly is style from the previous two, as Ushikawa is investigating Tengo and Aomame trying to find out what we already know. All while Aomame and Tengo are trying to find resolution for their prior actions before Ushikawa can find them.

That’s about as much into the plot I can get without giving out any significant spoilers. Throughout the book though Murakami touches on a number of themes, but for me the major themes were: the negative effects of religion on people (I take it as religion as a whole while others think just he’s only speaking about cults, but in reality the only difference between cults and religions is popularity and societal acceptance), relationships (father-son and family-friends), and love.  It took me about a month to read this book (around two hours a day on my commute to and from work) and that it was a very enjoyable time. I loved the story line, the characters, and being immersed in this world. Then again I like long books. Especially, if the authors are good about keeping the story going and not dragging it along. This book is a prime example of how to do that. I was never bored or skipped forward and I actually missed my stop on the train a few times because I was so immersed. As I mentioned above the story ends with some loose ends, which I think is fine because the major questions are resolved, but if you like every little story line explained in full and wrapped up with a little bow, then well you might get agitated at the end.

Lastly, I checked this book out on my kindle but there was no way I’d finish it in 3 weeks so I turned off my WiFi and was able to make it to the end. So if you have a kindle and ever check out a book on it just turn off your WiFi and you won’t have to worry about the book disappearing before you’re done.

Today for the first time ever on PML we are having a guest post (hold the applause). Here now is the debut from my partner in blogging, Pheebs. Although this is the first time, hopefully it won’t be the last.

—–

I recently was lucky enough to catch the tail end of a radio news broadcast interviewing author Candice Millard. She was speaking about her new book entitled, Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President. (Hereafter referred to as DOR for my sanity.) My curiosity got the better of me and I added this read to my Christmas wish list — and I have to say it was one of the best presents I received this year. In DOR is a seamlessly woven tale of three men – an assassin, a president, and an inventor – whose paths cross just long enough to change the course of US history.

Even most history buffs can’t really tell you much about the 20th president of the United States, James Garfield. He is often lumped together with his “Gilded Age” contemporaries  — the “forgettable” presidents. Most ordinary Americans (myself previously included) might have an image of him sipping brandy out of a golden goblet with bff’s Johnny Rockefeller and JJ Astor. However, I learned from DOR that the exact opposite is true. The last US President to be born in a legit log cabin, Garfield came from abject poverty and a single mother household. His mom was a pretty wise lady and beyond the completely admirable feat of hacking it alone in that log cabin, she instilled Garfield with a love of learning. An overzealous reader and all around nerd (he knew Virgil’s Aeneid by heart…oh yeah, in English AND LATIN) Garfield put his way through school by working as the institution’s janitor. From the very start of her book Millard paints Garfield as a guy to respect  — a humble book lover who works his way up from that janitor to the university’s president. I was amazed by the man’s versatility as well. Garfield not only pursued a career in academics, but dabbled in law, was nominated to congress, fought as a general on the side of the Union in the Civil War (he was adamantly anti-slavery) and even spent some time working on the Erie and Ohio canal. Talk about a résumé. It’s clear that Millard admires the heck out of the guy, and one of the best things about the book is that it’s incredibly difficult not to join her as a Garfield groupie.

Yet the thing that Millard makes quite clear is that Garfield was never particularly ambitious for the limelight and certainly never cutthroat. One of Millard’s most triumphant moments is her description of how the guy (somewhat comically) accidentally became nominated as a United States president. I read this book at quite a timely moment, feeling a powerful sense of déjà vu as Millard paints the crazy riot that was the 1880 Republican National Convention. Millard reminds readers that merely 15 years had passed since the end of the Civil War and even Lincoln’s grand old party had powerful factions. (think Tea Partiers VS Mitt Romney Repubs….. but more so) Garfield’s appearance was meant to be simply a small part of the circus, as he was scheduled to introduce candidate John Sherman to the raucous and sharply divided mob that gathered in Chicago. What Sherman didn’t count on was how eloquent Garfield really was. So the man stands up to introduce Sherman, and his speech is so good that the crowd starts screaming “we want Garfield!” Garfield, shocked and horrified by this turn of events is left wondering how exactly he ends up getting nominated (and subsequently elected) to the highest office in the land. What Millard makes clear in her re-telling, is that Garfield never intended or even wanted to be President.  I found this one of the best things about Garfield. In contrast to a modern political atmosphere where ambition and a killer ego is needed for a presidential run, Garfield simply seemed to see it as his duty to serve the people who were so inspired by him.

Continue reading

A few weeks ago I was looking for a new book to read when I happened to see the trailer for the movie Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy with Gary Oldman, and I was struck by a number of thoughts: Gary Oldman is badass, that movie looks good, and I want to read the book first. A couple of minutes later I had bought the book, beamed it to my kindle, and I was sitting back reading the first chapter. TTSS is an old school spy story set in England during the Cold War. The protagonist, George Smiley, gets brought back into the Circus (MI6) at the beginning of the book to search for a mole inside the agency. Almost the entirety of the rest of the novel takes place via flashbacks that occur as Smiley is researching various agency files, that were stolen, to try to uncover who the mole is. As a quick aside Smiley is a thoroughly enjoyable character. With none of the panache or derring-do of a James Bond, but instead a frumpy, crotchety Englishman with a sharp mind, phenomenal memory, and the ability to  deduce what others can’t. It may sound boring but I found him to be a delightful character for a spy novel, in part, because I think it’s more realistic than the guns blazing, philandering James Bond (although that’s fun too). A lot of the work that is done in these agencies in done by analysts sifting through information looking for clues. It also may sound like a boring book because it is all flashbacks and it is mostly a book about Smiley reading records and looking for clues as to who the mole is. However, John Le Carre (a pseudonym according to Wikipedia) used to work for MI5 and MI6 so he is able to infuse the characters and the story with realism. Although I personally have no idea what the life of a spy is like there are some books/movies that just feel fake, and Carre’s prose, terminology, and characters feel more real than other spy books. I found myself jumping back and forth throughout the book picking one person and then another for who I thought the mole was. Then I would re-read whole passages and chapters trying  and end up coming up with a new person or theory as to who the mole was. I was thoroughly engrossed in the chase. 

This book is well worth the read and I was a bit bummed out when I finished it, but I perked right back up when I found out that it’s the first book in a trilogy. I look forward to reading the next two in the series and spending some more time with George Smiley. (Also Netflix get on with making the British miniseries with Alec Guinness available via streaming.)

(photo via: screenrant)

Joe Posnanski is one of the best sports writers around. His book Soul of Baseball recounts the time he spent following Buck O’Neil around the country. Buck wasn’t the best of the old Negro League players, but he was quite good. However, he became baseball royalty for what he did after his playing days were over. He was the first African-American coach in the MLB, a fantastic scout (who is credited with signing Hall of Famers Lou Brock and Ernie Banks among others), and he worked tirelessly to keep the history of the Negro Leagues around and relevant, which culminated in the building of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

Perhaps the saddest/best part of the book is what Buck missed out on in life. Buck never got the chance to play in the MLB because Jackie came later and he never got to manage in the MLB even though he was a good manager in the Negro Leagues. Throughout the book you see that he never let this affect his life. Instead of being a bitter curmudgeon (like I probably would have been) he was forgiving, thankful, and full of hope. This book is a short read but well worth it for sports fans, or just people who like a great story about a great person. Pick up a copy and do yourself a favor and read it.

Also if you like sports you should be reading Joe Posnanski’s blog. With the amount of absolute garbage out there in the sports writing world Posnanski’s blog is like a breath of fresh air.

East of Eden is considered Steinbeck’s masterpiece, and rightly so. The story spans three generations, two families, and it meanders across the entire country finally settling in the familiar Salinas Valley. What is at heart in this story is relationships between fathers and sons, good and evil, and whether we as people have a choice in how our lives turn out or whether it is all decided before hand by fate or a deity. It’s a re-imagining of the story of Cain and Abel in Chapter 4 of Genesis. If you’re not familiar with the story it’s worth brushing up on before you begin to read this book.

Basically, Cain and Abel both give of their first fruits to god. God, however, like lamb better than vegetables (which is understandable) and favors Abel over Cain. Cain feels angry because he doesn’t understand why his gift is rejected whilst Abel’s is accepted. He eventually kills his brother and is then driven away out into the world with a mark given to him by god which will keep people from murdering him. This story, along with the creation story with Adam and Eve, has been seen as absolutely the truth for ages and has also been used to validate the slavery of Africans in the 19th Century. Africans were seen as the descedants of Cain and therefore it was ok according to the Bible to enslave them or segregate them, or discriminate against them etc. Never mind that his descendants would have died out in the flood.

Steinbeck is too good of a writer to fall into some simple trope like this however. He begins with Adam Trask’s childhood and how he is raised by his father and his relationship with his brother Charles. Then it follows as Adam marries Cathy and eventually has two sons Caleb and Aron. Throughout these three generations of Trask’s Steinbeck shows how similar the fathers and sons make similar choices and mistakes. He slowly interweaves, with the help of other characters like Samuel Hamilton (Steinbecks grandfather) and Adam’s servant Lee, the questions that are at the heart of the story. Are we doomed to failure and sin because of original sin? If so why bother try to be good? Shouldn’t a person just accept their fate and do whatever they wish?

In my interpretation of the story I believe that Steinbeck refuses to believe in original sin or any of that gobbledygook. Instead East of Eden is a reinterpretation of the Bible. He seems to be saying there’s no god out there directing my life and my choices in life are mine to make. Whether a person is good or bad is not decision of some deity but on the choices that person decides to make in life.  Unlike most Steinbeck novels (life sucks and then you die) East of Eden ends on a note of hope. Easily one of the best novels I’ve ever read in my life and worthy of all the accolades that were heaped on it. On another note, this is the first book that I’ve ever digitally checked out from my local library and it’s another reason why I love my Kindle. Checking out books from the comfort of my home is about the best thing ever.

Ever since HBO’s The Pacific came out last year I’ve wanted to read the memoirs that the show was based on. I started with E.B. Sledge’s With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa. If you know anything about the Pacific Theater or you’ve seen the show then you know that Peleliu and Okinawa, along with Iwo Jima, were some of the most brutal battles of WWII. To make things worse Peleliu was never really used during the war for any purpose during the war so it was a battle that was unnecessary.

Sledge begins the book as he is in college preparing to become a Marine officer. Early on, however, he decides that he does not want to finish college and then become an officer. So he and some others in the program quit and join up as enlisted Marines. He then goes on to describe his boot camp experiences and his training to become a mortar man. Throughout his narrative Sledge sprinkles in his personal insights as an older man looking back on the experience. These insights help foreshadow events setting up the reader for what is to come. More often than not though the insights tend to be a bit contradictory. He definitely sees war differently than he did as a fresh faced young kid. These contradictions are a good thing as it allows him to speak frankly about his experience but to also comment on his actions, other Marines actions, or the war in general from the perspective of time.

Continue reading

Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths is a manga comic written by Shigeru Mizuki. Mizuki is a veteran of World War II and this manga serves as the memoir of his experiences in World War II. He states that it is 90% true. I believe that this is the only one of his works that has been translated into English, which based off of my experience reading this, is a shame.

This manga follows one particular battalion that is stationed on Rabaul. As one of the earlier battles in the war the Japanese were not as proficient as they would become with their suicide attacks and the guerrilla warfare tactics that would make Peleliu, Okinawa, and Iwo Jima so bloody for both sides. (A quick aside on this. The Battle of Peleliu solidified what would become typical for Japanese fighting afterwards. Long battles of attrition with high numbers of casualties because the Japanese would fight to the death and refuse to surrender. When defeat was imminent the Japanese would go on Banzai charges or suicide attacks ensuring that almost all of them died. The casualties for the Japanese on Peleliu is estimated at 10,900 soldiers killed and 3o2 taken prisoner. Of those 302 only 7 were soldiers and 12 sailors, the rest were non-Japanese laborers. These types of casualty totals became standard for the Japanese. On Iwo Jima 21,844 soldiers were killed or committed suicide out of 22,060.) Mizuki confronts this directly in his memoir. He is a survivor of a suicide attack on Rabaul, along with around 80 soldiers.

Continue reading

I really like Kurt Vonnegut and when he’s on he’s one of the best and funniest satirists. When he’s not on… well it gets to be tough to read. Slapstick is definitely one of those books where he pulls a Fonzy and jumps the shark. The novel is about a pair of twins (boy, girl) who are super geniuses but only when they are next to each other. They also have some weird maybe platonic maybe incestuous relationship. They also look like neanderthals and their family thinks they are retarded for the first 16 or so years of their life. The son ends up becoming the President of a declining US and ends up narrating the novel from a dilapidated Empire State Building in a mostly deserted New York City.

I found the novel weird, cumbersome, semi-boring, and not sharp or funny like some of his other novels. In the end the fact that it took me only a few hours to read made me stick through until the end. If it was a long novel I would’ve just moved on to something better. I found the introduction to be better than the actual novel so this book is definitely for Vonnegut über fans only.

Anyways I’m two books behind on my reviews, plus I have my new Blu-ray player to review and Star Wars Blu-ray. So stay tuned for a multitude of reviews plus my long developing post on religion.

I found Washington’s Crossing an extremely enjoyable read. It’s a fairly short book but well written and captivating. While the focus of the book is on the crossing and the ensuing battles, Fischer starts the book describing the various parts of both armies. I have to admit before I read this book I didn’t know much about the Hessians or all the various divisions and specialties within the British Army. After getting the reader acquainted with all the major players Fischer delves into the beginning of the revolution. Specifically he highlights the New York campaign which was a disaster for Washington and the Americans. Afterwards you see how precarious the situation was and how close the revolution came to dying out. This context helps the reader understand why the crossing is important in our history and also why Washington is a big deal.

This book isn’t a hagiography of Washington. What it does is turn Washington into a real person. All too often the founders are looked at, spoke of, and written about like they are these mythical beings that came down from on high to bestow their wisdom on us. Their greatness is in the fact that they were flawed people who were thrust into a situation where they overcame their flaws and achieved greatness. Washington may not have been the best tactician, but what Fischer makes clear is that Washington knew how to be a leader. After some missteps and apprehension in the New York campaign, Washington begins to trust in himself and his generals, especially when contrasted with the British and Hessian style of leadership. He learns how to lead all the various sub groups of Americans effectively. That’s what is really at the heart of this book. If you don’t like military history you can skip some of the descriptions of the battles and still find the book worthwhile.

One of the strongest, most resonant parts of the book for me were the parts that described how Washington enforced the ideals of the American Revolution and put them into practice. Throughout the war Americans were often not given quarter by British or Hessians. Many Americans died a brutal death after surrendering, and many more died on prison ships off the coast of New York. However, Washington and other leaders stressed that captured British and Hessian soldiers should be treated as humanely. While I’m sure there were retribution killings, the vast majority of British and Hessians were treated humanely by the Americans. This was something that was just not done at the time, but it exemplified the ideals of the revolution. It was theory put into practice. The treatment was so good that almost a quarter of all the Hessians that were captured either remained in the US after the war or emigrated shortly thereafter. (This has been seen time and time again in American history, where our noble treatment of POWs has left an indelible mark on those people. In particular during WWII many Germans wanted to be captured by Americans or British soldiers as opposed to the Russians because they knew they would be treated fairly. Many who were brought to the US remained here after the war. Sadly, I don’t think anyone in Guantanamo will wish to remain. IMHO our magnanimity in war and as victors was one of our greatest assets and we seem to have forgotten that.) Anyways the book is well worth the read and I highly recommend it.

I’ll leave you with a quote from a closing comment from Fischer:

“Too many writers have told us that we are captives of our darker selves and helpless victims of our history. It isn’t so, and never was. The story of Washington’s Crossing tells us that Americans in an earlier generation were capable of acting in a higher spirit–and so are we.”

This is the first real history book I’ve read with my Kindle and it wasn’t a short one. Clocking in at around 860 pages this is a long, thorough study of the Civil War. How thorough? I didn’t get to Fort Sumter until around 250+ pages in. Despite its length it was a quick, breezy read on the Kindle. The book is totally worth reading even if you are only marginally interested in the Civil War. I took a graduate class on the Civil War and didn’t learn half of what I learned from this $10 book. It’s easy to see why this book was the Pulitzer Prize winning book in 1989, and I bet it wasn’t even close.

McPherson starts this book with the Mexican-American War and slowly works his way towards the Civil War. He weaves through the political, military, and social factors that confronted the country leading up to the war. He does a fine job weaving all the different themes together into a nice narrative that sweeps you up and makes it hard to put the book down. His prose smart and engaging whether he is describing a battle or the intricacies of the various political movements. He goes into so much detail without being overwhelming and he describes aspects of the war that I never knew about i.e. the river boat battles in the west. At it’s heart this book is a military history (as it should be it’s the Civil fucking War (if only some of my history teachers would remember that)), with a large portion of the book devoted to politics, and a smaller but substantial portion dedicated to social history.

There’s not much else to say except go pick it up and read it. It’s worth your time and it will help you, even if you know a good deal about the Civil War, gain a greater understanding of the times and how the effects of this war still echo through our society today. Plus if you think the war was about states rights you definitely need to pick it up, you know who you are.

Up next Washington’s Crossing the second Pulitzer Prize winning book of three on my list.