Michael Janairo

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Tag: literature

  • #tbt Review: Zadie Smith’s debut novel White Teeth

    White Teeth White Teeth by Zadie Smith
    My rating: 5 of 5 stars

    Originally written and published in the Times Union in August 2001.
    “Clean white teeth are not always wise,” says an elderly British veteran in Zadie Smith’s stunning debut novel, “White Teeth,” setting up one of the major ideas of her book, which has been recently released in paperback (Vintage; 464 pages; $14). “When I was in the Congo, the only way I could identify the nigger was by the whiteness of his teeth … See a flash of white and bang!”

    This brief passage contains everything Smith is writing against: stereotypical depictions of people with dark skins, most often natives of lands colonized by whites who are reduced to nothing more than targets of violence.

    What makes this novel great, though, is that Smith uses a sharp wit, sensitive insights, humorous and sometimes uncomfortable situations and a rich cast of quirky, believable characters who struggle with their hopes and disappointments in North London. As opposed to the plot, which turns overly melodramatic at the end, Smith’s characters are where her true talents shine. (more…)

  • #tbt review: Lisey’s Story by Stephen King

    This review originally appeared in the Times Union on March 1, 2007.

    liseysstory

    “Lisey’s Story” by Stephen King. Read by Mare Winningham. Unabridged, 19 hours, 16 CDs. Simon & Schuster. $49.95.

    In ancient Greek drama, deus ex machina was used when the plot got so out of control that only divine intervention could resolve it. “Lisey’s Story” is the opposite.

    Lisey is the widow of a famous author still dealing with grief two years after his death. Her loneliness is convincing, as is the magical place — Boo’ya Moon — where her husband found inspiration and confronted horrors.

    What bedevils the plot, though, is an insane stalker who terrorizes Lisey for her husband’s papers. This one-dimensional, inexplicable character clearly arrives for some anti-divine intervention to create chaos. King, however, eventually keeps the plot tidy and unsurprising.

    Winningham does a winning job of conveying Lisey’s melancholy as well as other characters’ madness.

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  • #tbt review: World War Z by Max Brooks

    2013-03-12-worldwarz_audiobookThis review originally appeared in the Times Union on Jan. 2, 2007, long before the Brad Pitt movie came out.

    “World War Z,” by Max Brooks. Read by a full cast. Abridged, 6 hours. Random House Audio. $29.95.

    The stellar cast includes Alan Alda, Carl Reiner, Mark Hamill, Henry Rollins, John Turturro, Rob Reiner and Brooks as the one compiling interviews with survivors of a worldwide war between zombies and humans.

    While the variety of locales — China, Israel, South Africa, Canada, the United States, Cuba, Chile, Finland, Greenland, Barbados, Japan — puts to shame any James Bond story, the book lacks suspense.

    Instead, it has realism to emphasize how the zombie wars upend how people live and what they hold sacred.

    The best example occurs in South Africa, where a dreaded apartheid-era figure comes up with a plan to save the country by sacrificing parts of the population. Though most of the politicians are aghast, they accept it once the unnamed but recognizable Nelson Mandela figure approves.

    The performances emphasize this human quality of physical and psychological struggle.

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  • Review: The Dispossessed

    The Dispossessed
    The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
    My rating: 5 of 5 stars

    Awesome. Wonderful. Confounding. Clever. Brilliant.

    A coworker handed me her copy of this great Ursula K. Le Guin novel when she heard that I hadn’t read it yet. The book requires attention, and it wasn’t until I had long stretches of time was I able to get into it. New names. New places. Conflicts between people for reasons that aren’t clear at first. It is a testament to Le Guin’s world-building — the completeness a reader can feel of the places she creates on the planet Urras and the moon Annares — that I and I’m sure many other readers enjoy the process of moving through the novel and learning what things mentioned earlier mean.
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  • Review: The Cut

    The Cut
    The Cut by George Pelecanos
    My rating: 2 of 5 stars

    I’ve enjoyed other George Pelecanos’ books, especially The Turnaround, much better than this. The character Spero Lucas just seems too pretty/macho/lucky/wise/serious to feel real or to be seriously.

    View all my reviews

  • Review: Oil and Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist

    Oil and Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist
    Oil and Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist by Bill McKibben
    My rating: 4 of 5 stars

    Bill McKibben opens up about his mixed feelings of turning from writer about the environment to activist. A heartfelt and compelling read.

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  • Big-name books on LibriVox

    LibriVox, the all-volunteer effort turning public-domain books into audio files, has recently released some classics of literature:

    Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

    The Autobiography of Mother Jones

    The Story of My Life by Helen Keller

  • “Extracts from Adam’s Diary”

    Among the latest releases from LibriVox — the volunteer group that publishes free audio files of public domain books — is Mark Twain’s “Extracts from Adam’s Diary,” a fun and funny collection of ruminations from humanity’s first man.

    Here’s a print excerpt:

    Friday

    The naming goes recklessly on, in spite of anything I can do. I
    had a very good name for the estate, and it was musical and pretty
    –GARDEN-OF-EDEN. Privately, I continue to call it that, but not
    any longer publicly. The new creature says it is all woods and
    rocks and scenery, and therefore has no resemblance to a garden.
    Says it looks like a park, and does not look like anything but a
    park. Consequently, without consulting me, it has been new-named
    –NIAGARA FALLS PARK. This is sufficiently high-handed, it seems to
    me. And already there is a sign up:

    KEEP OFF
    THE GRASS

    My life is not as happy as it was.

  • Audiobooks review: “I Like You”

    “I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence” by Amy Sedaris. Read by the author. Unabridged, 5 hours, 4 CDs. Hachette Audio. $29.98.

    Early in this book about entertaining at home, Sedaris says, “Even though the word entertainment is commonly used today, to me it sounds charmingly old-fashioned, like courtship or back-alley abortion.” Those words give a pretty good sense that you are far from the world of Miss Manners.

    Or are you? A lot Sedaris says is practical. She suggests that, when grocery shopping, you should buy things in boxes instead of bags, because boxes can be reused. Then again, one of her tips for a children’s party sounds like “Survivor”: drive them blindfolded about an hour away and see who could be the first to get back to the party.

    Included in the book (and as a PDF) are her “self-award winning recipes.” Quirky if not always laugh-out-loud funny, “I Like You” is pleasantly twisted.

    Sedaris, an accomplished performer, gives an assured reading.

    Note: Can’t get enough of the Sedarises on audio? Hachette has also recently released “The Ultimate David Sedaris Box Set,” 20 CDs and 22 hours of Amy’s brother’s previously released audiobooks for $99.98.

    Amy Sedaris’ official Web site.