Mara and Dann (1999) by Doris Lessing

 Book Review

Mara and Dann (1999)

by Doris Lessing

   Doris Lessing won the Nobel Prize in Literature 2007, which led to an early "viral" moment of her nonchalantly reacting to the news.   When she won, the Committee noted that her bibliography included 50 titles and several genres.  Lessing had four novels on the 1,001 Books to Read Before You Die list, which was published just before she won the Nobel.  One of them, her 1979 book Shikasta, is from the science fiction portion of her bibliography, like Mara and Dann. 

   Mara and Dann flopped back in 1999- the New York Times called it flatfooted and tedious.  It's a picaresque about a brother sister duo who have to flee southern Africa in the far-future, after a new ice age has rendered the northern hemisphere uninhabitable. Unlike the New York Times, I enjoyed Mara and Dann, specifically the Audiobook.  Picaresque's are similarly well suited for the Audiobook format, since you are taken on a journey with the characters.    Lessing's future Africa, called Ifrik in the book, keeps the reader in the dark for the first portion of the book, these austere portions are the ones that work best.  As Mara and Dann work their way north the world becomes more familiar, and for me, less interesting.

 Still, I'd rather listen to Mara and Dann again before I'd listen to an Audiobook narrated by a precocious but confused adolescent living in difficult circumstances.

After Moondog (1995) by Jane Shapiro

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

After Moondog (1995)

by Jane Shapiro

South Orange, New Jersey

New Jersey: 12/13

   After Moondog is a sad divorced suburban mom novel.  The back flap says that three of the chapters first appeared as short stories in the New Yorker, and she's only written one novel since then, The Dangerous Husband, in 2000.   I frequently read novels about divorce, particularly divorces with young children involved, and ask myself what is wrong with these people.  You mean to tell me that you can't stick it out in your cold but comfortable relationship for 15 years to spare your children a lifetime of trauma?  Sure, I understand spouses who flee domestic violence or other, non-physical kinds of abuse, but usually in the world of literary fiction divorce is about one partner who is desperately unhappy for literally no reason, and another partner who either doesn't care or can't help the first partner. 

  People in these books move out to the suburbs, have kids without questioning why and then five years later they wonder why they are unhappy.  That's not just the characters in After Moondog, it describes at least 20 novels I've read for the 1,001 Novels: A Library of America project.

  At least it means I'm almost finished with this chapter.  The only book left is Clockers by Richard Price.  I'm actually excited to re-read Clockers, even though I forgot that it is a 600 page book.

The Safekeep (2024) by Yael van der Wouden

 Book Review

The Safekeep (2024)

by Yael van der Wouden

   The Safekeep is the first 2024 Booker Longlist book I've read since they announced last month.  A now common experience is realizing that some of the books haven't been published in the USA yet, particularly galling since that includes two potential winners- the new Rachel Kushner book and Richard Powers latest offering.  Before the longlist was announced, I'd already tackled There There by Tommy Orange and Jim by Percival Everett in my book club.  Another nominee, Knockout by Rita Bullwinkle is my next book club pick.  I'm unlikely to read a new Claire Messud novel, which means there are only a half dozen or so books to look at from the longlist- with two of those not being out in the US.

  The Safekeep got a great review in the New York Times in May, with the subheading describing it as "tricky [and] remarkable."  That is code for "this is a really good book."  I think I put in on my library request list- both the Audiobook and the book itself.  By the time my request was granted, the Booker Longlist had been announced (end of July) and The Safekeep was on it.  Enough time had gone by that I was initially confused about the very nature of the book- thinking perhaps that it might be translated from Dutch and maybe nominated for the Booker International Prize instead of the Prize itself.  As I now know, The Safekeep was written in English by a resident of the UK but it is set in and about the Netherlands in the post-WWII era. 

   Describing a new release of literary fiction as "tricky" tells a potential reader that there is something going on with the plot- as simple as a third act plot twist or as complicated as something that experiments with reader expectations in a modernist/post-modernist fashion.   "Remarkable" just means that it is really good without being specific about how or why.  After listening to the Audiobook I agree with both descriptions, though I would add that I was half way through the listen before I really got on board- which itself is a sign of a good book- one that draws you in.

   When I started listening to the Audiobook I was immediately struck at how little I liked the protagonist Isabel- a young Dutch woman living alone in the house her family retreated to during World War II.  Her Mom is dead, leaving her alone in the house, which is promised to her older brother- a man-about-town type.  There's also a gay brother who left home as soon as he could, and a shy maid that Isabel enjoys bossing around.  Isabel's careful equilibrium is ruptured when she has Eva, feckless Louis' lay-of-the-month thrust upon her when Louis is called away on business and Eva has just lost her apartment.

   At the most basic level, The Safekeep is a spicy LGBT love story set in 1960's Netherlands- and it works at that level.  But then there is the "tricky" and "remarkable" part of it, which defies the format of a blog post.  I'll say this much- I wouldn't be surprised if The Safekeep makes the Booker shortlist. 

  

Sugar House (2000) by Laura Lippman

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

Sugar House (2000)

by Laura Lippman

Baltimore, Maryland

Maryland: 1/9

   After slogging through over 100 novels set in New York State I'm positively giddy at the prospect of dispensing with Delaware in 3 books and Maryland in 9.   Coincidentally I was reading On Such a Full Sea (2014) by Chang Rae Lee at the same time I was reading Sugar House a so-called "Tess Monaghan" mystery by Baltimore based author Laura Lippman.  On Such a Full Sea is a concrete example of a book that could have substituted for yet another lady detective novel- On Such a Full Sea is squarely set in a (post-apocalyptic) Baltimore, called B-more for the Chinese descended settlers.  Sea has ample description of the Maryland landscape and is firmly anchored in its location.  At the same time, I get what editor Susan Straight is trying to do here, platforming female voices in a genre that goes through periods of guy-heavy narratives. 

  Lippman is married to fellow writer David Simon (he did The Wire)- they both worked in newspapers, once upon a time. This book isn't particularly concerned with the "urban areas in decline" thesis, it's more like a work-a-day detective novel that has a well-observed locale.  The Domino Sugars sign, in particular, is referenced frequently.  The reader is also treated to a couple of trips to colorful Philadelphia- which for some reason has been lumped with the Appalachians and southwestern Midwest, for the purposes of the 1,001 Novels project.

An elegant, lovely novel-in-stories, set in 1950s America, when a young boy, after the loss of brother and father, finds solace in the complicated faith of his mother, while realizing his own gay identity.

The Furrows (2022) by Namwali Serpell

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

The Furrows (2022)

by Namwali Serpell

Bethany Beach, Delaware *

Delaware 3/3

   Like many readers I was extremely impressed by Zambian-American novelist Namwali Serpell's first novel, The Old Drift (2019).   The Old Drift was hands down the best first novel I'd read for years- mixing historical fiction about a mostly ignored location (Southern Rhodesia/Zambia) with science-fiction, moving across space and time with a well detailed cast of characters- it wasn't a perfect novel, but it was an amazing FIRST novel- being neither a trauma porn take or a bildungsroman written from the perspective of a character who shares many of the author's characteristics. 

  Thus, when The Furrows was release in 2022 I was at first excited, then disappointed when I read the reviews, Serpell having moved in a different direction from book one.  If her first novel placed her in a category far beyond what is normally achieved by most authors with their first book, her second novel sounded like something most American authors would write for their first book: A dour tale about a biracial young woman who is present when her younger brother goes missing/dies in the Atlantic ocean during a summer visit.  Like many readers I was surprised that the premise here is that a seven year old and ten year old from a family with little history in the water were allowed to swim alone in the ocean without supervision. especially since the major plot dynamic is that the mother of the family never, ever gets over the disappearance/death of the younger brother.

  The Furrows is certainly an example of American literary fiction family plot type 3- child dies young and the entire family spends the rest of their life (and the book) absolutely not getting over it.  Here, the narrator and primary actor is Cassandra Williams- black dad, white mom.  She is a young adult with a good education and no career.  Her mom, a wealthy heiress (ish) living in San Francisco, has dedicated her entire life to the proposition that Cassandra's little brother is not dead, merely missing, and she's set up a non-profit to help others sharing her fate.

  Cassandra is, obviously, haunted by her missing/dead brother, and most of the book involves her running into guys named Wayne who might be her brother.  Serpell has injected a "magic realism" edge to the text, to the point where the reader is sometimes unsure if Cassandra is hallucinating or not.  At least one major event in the book- some kind of explosion at SFO is treated so obliquely that the reader doesn't know if it happened at all.

    Like many works of contemporary American literary fiction written about people from the upper echelons of the socio-economic ladder, I found the characters in The Furrows borderline insufferable. Were The Furrows Serpell's first novel, I would say it was a good first effort but not that interesting, as the book she wrote after The Old Drift, it can only be called a disappointment. 

The Final Club (1990) by Tobias Wolff

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

The Final Club (1990)

by Tobias Wolff

Princeton, New Jersey

New Jersey: 11/13

I just assumed Tobias Wolff attended Princeton but that does not appear to be the case. This book was received so poorly it is left off his Wikipedia page- which I've never seen before today.  It's what I assume is a biographically based bildungsroman about a half-Jewish student who attends Princeton University in the 1950's.   At times it is hard to believe this is a book written about the 1950's, with the characters sounding like college students circa the Roaring 1920's.  The major theme is the narrator's attempts to fit in, or not, in the semi-hostile, semi-welcoming environment of Princeton.  Princeton itself is a major player- almost beyond the bounds of believe.  Speaking as someone who went through a private high school/private non-elite college/public law school experience in the minimum amount of time, I've found people who fetishize their college experience to be just as ridiculous as the small-town "peaked in high school" character, and there is nothing in The Final Club to change my mind.

 As a representative of the geographical area of Princeton it is a good pick, since the characters spend most of their time there, in terms of the 350 pages of the book.