Your Utopia (2024) by Bora Chung

Korean author Bora Chung

Book Review

Your Utopia (2023)

by Bora Chung

  I really enjoyed Cursed Bunny, the debut collection of short stories by Korean author Bora Chung, which was published in translation last year and was longlisted for the International Booker Prize and the National Book Award for Translated Fiction.  I was eager to read Your Utopia, her new collection of short stories, particularly after I saw a stand up display(!) in the local Barnes & Noble- not a real huge supporter of translated literature in my experience.  

   Whereas Cursed Bunny seemed more like a collection themed around "body horror", Your Utopia feels more like an excursion into a world of post-human literature.  A couple of the stories feature robot/non-human narrators, and the longest is a zombie-spaceship cross-over situation.  I found the stories with non-human narrators to be the most interesting.   In one story, the narrator is an elevator looking after an elderly woman with Parkinson's, in another a Wall-E type robot wanders a planet deserted by their human "masters."  Everything moves along at a good clip, as you expect in a book of short stories, and I'm left wondering when and if Chung is going to publish a novel.

  I listened to half of Your Utopia as an Audiobook, and the other half I read on my Kindle. 

Golden Hill (2016) by Francis Spufford

 Book Review

Golden Hill (2016)

by Francis Spufford

  Fair to say I've been sleeping on English author Francis Spufford.   I ignored his last book- Light Perpetual, because it just didn't sound very fun, but it did very well.  Tons of people read it, and it landed on several year end best-of lists  but I just couldn't get into it.  I did, however, get very excited when I read about his newest book- Cahokia Jazz- which is an alternate history noir set in a jazz age Cahokia city where Native Americans never lost control.  Reading that book spurred me to go back and revisit Golden Hill which was a smash hit by the standard of literary/historical fiction, and is set in 18th century New York to boot, making it a candidate for the revised 1,001 Novels list.

  It's clear that Golden Hill is a work of historical fiction inspired by the fiction of that era- specifically Joseph Andrews by Henry Fielding. Along those lines, I found myself waiting for the plot to really blast off, but it never really does, just muddles along to a neat and tidy resolution.  It is a book that contains surprises so describing the plot isn't a good idea, but it's a fun romp through pre-American New York City.  

You Dreamed of Empire (2024) by Alvaro Enrigue

 Book Review

You Dreamed of Empire (2024)

by Alvaro Enrigue

   I convinced my book club to read this book this month (March 2024)- I was very excited when I read the description- which is- a compression of the meeting between Conquistador Cortes and Montezuma, the Aztec emperor.   This is a specific subject I often think about- a "Roman Empire" for me, to use the current meme.   What, exactly, happened that allowed the Aztec empire to be defeated by what can only be described as a rag-tag bunch of adventurers, albeit ones with firearms, cannon and horses- which play a central role in this book (the horses), specifically, Enrigue proposes that Montezuma wanted to get his hands on the horses also that he was high on mushrooms the whole time and had essentially become obsessed with the Aztec religion, to the detriment of his empire.

   I thought the whole book was very good- great even- and I agree with reviewers who said that Enigue is a major talent.  Can't wait to see what he does next, and I'm going to read the hardback in addition to listening to the Audiobook- which wasn't great, even though the book was.  For some reason they hired an Audiobook narrator who spoke in Spanish accented English, which seemed kind of dumb to me.  If anything he should have had an Aztec or Mayan accent, based on the ethnicity of the narrators. 

  I would call You Dreamed of Empire a must for readers of fiction in translation and maybe one of the best books of the year. Certainly the best book so far this year.  Don't listen to the Audiobook though, read the book.

Against Gravity (1996) by Lucy Feriss

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

Against Gravity (1996)

by Lucy Ferriss

Hudson River Valley, New York

New York: 25/105

Upstate New York: 22/23

     I will be so glad to see the back of the literary portrait of Upstate New York.  What a grim place!  A grim place, filled with stories about teenage girls either being murdered, getting pregnant or just being bored and unhappy.   I've already caught on to a central dynamic at the heart of the 1,001 Novels Project:  There are many, many, many places where they only people who stick around are 1) out of area do-gooders, back to make a difference (usually the mother of the nuclear family or a love interest) 2) local adult men who are either dumb but good hearted or smart and wicked or 3) sad teenage girls who can't get out because they can't drive or still in high school.  I would estimate that is about 75% of the characters from the books out of upstate New York.

   Against Gravity is a novel that dares to ask the question, "If you write a novel with a bunch of characters who are utterly uninteresting and accomplish nothing, will anyone read that novel?"  Based on the dour New York Times review, the fact that it's out of print and has two Amazon rating, I'm going to say the answer is no.  Certainly, I was grateful that I'd checked the hardback out of the library- which is the easiest, fastest way for me to read a book, and didn't have to subject myself to either an Audiobook or Ebook version.  

  Squarely inside the sad teenage girl stuck inside her room int he middle of nowhere genre that dominates the 1,001 Novels project, Against Gravity is about a teenage girl nicknamed Stick (because she is skinny) who lives in a sub-hamlet in the Hudson River Valley.  Mom manages a homeless shelter, Dad works at a local electronics plant.  Her best friend is a pregnant teen who gets knocked up the night of the Challenge explosion, which they had travelled en masse to watch.

   The first portion of the book revolves around dealing with her pregnant teen friend.  Snoozeville.  The second portion involves her going to NYC to be a tap dancer and then coming back to her nowhere hometown to take care of her dad after he falls off a roof.   There's also an utterly depressing subplot about a neighbor who is accused of molesting his foster children.   Maybe if I wasn't fifty novels deep into these types of books thanks to the 1,001 Novels project, I would have found Against Gravity, but as it stands this book is going to be at the bottom of my list for this part of the country.

  Last book up for upstate New York is the collected short stories of John Cheever, which clocks in at 700 pages.   I tried to read the Ebook but that didn't take so I'm waiting on a hard copy.  It's going to be a while.  Meanwhile, on the Bronx and Harlem.

Event Preview: Madline Goldstein x MVTANT Texas Tour 2024

Madeline Goldstein

Event Preview
Madeline Goldstein

with support from MVTANT

Texas Tour 2024 (Blackstrap Booking)

3/8 Cine El Rey - McAllen, TX.

3/9 The Cold Brew - Laredo, TX.

3/10  Studio B - Corpus Christi, TX.

3/15  Paper Tiger, San Antonio, TX.

    Madeline Goldstein and MVTANT are playing a run of dates in Texas to buff-out Madeline's SXSW appearance at the Italians Do It Better showcase.  MVTANT just got done doing a similar tour with Soft Vein.  I'm assuming Blackstrap also booked that tour but I can't verify it.  Love to see artists playing small towns in Texas.   The whole point of being a one or two piece artist is that you can do shit like that (play small towns).   MVTANT is great live and worth seeing whenever he comes to your town.  I saw Madeline at her record release party at Zebulon- her graphic identity doesn't really to justice to the live performer.  The songs and performance are still works in progress but I sense a strong artistic will behind her, like a desire to actually do this.  So many indie artists it's like, there's no focus to developing as an artist. Booking agents, labels and managers can help with that (preferably in that order), but if you can spot an artist with some kind of observable momentum- even if they aren't all the way there- it's worth watching.

  I think something indie artists often don't understand is that if you want to attract booking agents, labels, managers, in 2024, you need to show some grasp of the process BEFORE these people take an interest in you and your music.  The idea that one would sit around one's parent's house/dorm room/shitty apartment and that the world will take notice- it's never been the case but it's less that way than ever. 

Mona in the Promised Land (1996) by Gish Jen

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America
Mona in the Promised Land (1996)

by Gish Jen

Scarsdale, New York

New York: 24/105

Upstate New York: 21/23

    Not a huge Gish Jen fan.  I listened to the Audiobook of her 2020 Dystopia-lite book, The Resisters.  I reread the review I wrote back then- reads very much like I was trying to be polite.  It's currently over on Amazon with just under 500 reviews, which is not great.  None of her other books have more than 150 reviews, which is bad.  That shows you that people aren't reading her books.  Mona in the Promised Land is certain to be on my cut list for the revision.   It's another example of the "teenage girl trapped in her bedroom" genre- like The Resisters, Mona in the Promised Land has strong elements of YA fiction trapped inside what appears to be an attempt at a work of adult literary fiction.  I found that same approach grating in The Resisters, equally so here. I ended up having to grit my teeth to make it through the Kindle version I checked out from the library.

   The narrator/protagonist is the daughter of a pair of hardworking Chinese immigrants who decides to convert to Judaism.   The way this whole arc of the plot is written was cringe inducing for me, as was the other main plot line, where the narrator's white friend invites a fired black cook at the narrator's family restaurant to live with them after his wife kicks him out of his apartment.   So cringe.   I guess... I admire the attempt to write about these subjects but I didn't find any of the characters particularly interesting or convincing. 

   But challenging myself to read books I would never ordinarily tackle is the precise idea of undertaking the 1,001 Novels: A Library of America.  The whole project has been a real carnival of teenage girls in small towns in the Northeast, thus far. 

Cahokia Jazz (2024) by Francis Spufford

 Book Review

Cahokia Jazz (2024)

by Francis Spufford

   I was so excited when I read about this book for the first time: An alt history Native American 1920's detective noir written by English author of note Francis Spufford.  It is, one might say, up my alley, since the abandoned Native American city of Cahokia and possible connections to the Meso-American civilization of the Aztecs et al was a subject of interest to me long before I heard about Cahokia Jazz. When I read the Guardian review I had high hopes that this would be a smash hit, but thus far the American response has been tepid.  The New York Times review suggested that readers don't have time for the "world building" aspect of the book and I've noticed a tone in casual reviews on Amazon and Goodreads that American readers are inherently uncomfortable with the idea that there exists some version of reality where elements of the Native American community held their own against the colonial west. 

  I've noticed that attitude for years- since I clerked at California Indian Legal Services when I was in law school 25 years ago.  Suggest to a contemporary American- even those who consider themselves progressive on matters of social justice- that America should "give back" stolen land to Native American tribes and you will elicit wide eyed looks of amazement.   I found the world-building elements of Cahokia Jazz intoxicating, and I was frankly offended by the New York Times reviewer who suggested that the full backstory behind this alternate world was incoherent and impossible to explain.

   In fact, Spufford does a great job with brief interstitial historical documents that chart the path of the independent Catholic-Native American state of Cahokia from its conversion to Catholicism through its intervention in the American Civil War and ultimate accession to the Union.  Spufford provides an alternate map of the United States- one where the Mormons are still independent, the Navaho have their own state,   England held on to more of the Pacific Northwest, and Russia kept Alaska.  It's really not that complicated if you have a rudimentary understanding of ACTUAL US history.  If on the other hand, you don't know the ACTUAL story of US history Cahokia Jazz is likely to bewilder you as much as it did the New York Times reviewer. 

  Hopefully the story will get picked up by a premium TV streamer- easy to see a big budget version on Apple TV, HBO or Amazon.  It's also easy to see said version going very wrong, since period detective films/tv shows are tough to get right. 

The Ballad of Black Tom (2016) by Victor LaValle

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

The Ballad of Black Tom (2016)

by Victor LaValle

New York: 23/105

Harlem: 2/14

   I believe this is the first genre horror-fantasy book that editor Susan Straight has selected for the 1,001 Novels: A Library of America. I don't believe there has been a single science fiction title.  Perhaps that is because most horror/fantasy/science fiction books don't take place in a recognizable location on a current map of the United States, but there is still the connection of authors to place to consider.  Nathaniel Hawthorne for Salem, Mass.  I was mildly surprised that H.P. Lovecraft didn't make the cut in Rhode Island- he's an iconic literary figure for that state, whether you like his books or approve of his racism etc. I wasn't hugely surprised because my sense is that Editor Straight is concerned with representing the present populations of each state and is very much unconcerned with upholding the dead white guy canon of literary notoriety.  

   But here we are and the first book that could be called a fantasy-horror genre pick is a work plainly inspired by Lovecraft and which takes place in Harlem with an African-American protagonist. Like Lovecraft himself, the difficulty in writing a book/story about cosmic horror is complicated by the frequency with which characters find themselves seeing the unseeable or knowing the unknowable. LaValle makes clever use of Lovecraft's real life prejudices- if you've read Houellebecq's take on Lovecraft you know that his primary fear was of immigrants- and that is reflected in this plot line. 

   LaValle's magical New York is simply New York with magic in the background- no police trolls or magical citizens need apply.  Again, that reflects the works of Lovecraft himself- one has to either confront the nameless horrors in private or go someplace obscure to find them.  It was nice to finally read a fantasy/sci fi genre book after the parade of YA lit, but this story was just ok from my perspective.