TAIWAN TRAVELOGUE by Shuang-zi Yang-Narrow Niche for Foodies

This year's US National Book Award for Translated Fiction went to TAIWAN TRAVELOGUE. The complicated, twisty rediscovery of this historic novel gives the story an introductory intrigue. The payoff goes to those who love exotic, indigenous food that is hidden from tourists or foreigners. Our heroine Chizuko is a celebrated writer who is brought from Japan to Taiwan to speak about her lauded book. Chizuoko, gargantuous in size has an even larger appetite for food - especially that which is not readily available. So goes this culinary quest that is abetted by Chizuoko's Taiwanese interpreter, Mishima, turned confidant, close friend and indigent mentor.  Despite their bond, Chizuoko's impervious behaviors and expectations are put into perspective by Mishima. "There is nothing in the world more difficult to refuse than self-righteous goodwill." Yet, it's hard not to like Chizuko exuberance as she enters each new providence with her proverbial "Is there something good to eat around here?" The social parody of cultural insensitivity and oppressive colonization is an under current that is basted over in a pastiche of cultural differences and cuisine that will appeal to curious food lovers. I appreciated the intent of the novel to bring some historical lore but at its core is food, and more food. For me, I lost my appetite after my first bite in TAIWAN TRAVELOGUE. For others, it may induce salivations for ingesting this Taiwanese food to table tale.

Maggie O'Farrell's LAND A Sweeping Epic that Lost Me

Maggie O'Farrell's LAND has been heralded as a sweeping epic of Ireland in the 19th C. O'Farrell's ambitious storytelling mixes in Celtic fables, coming of age story, love story and historic fiction that turned the novel into a blight for me. The coming of age story. where an orphaned boy makes good against all odds by learning the skill of map making and falls for a girl amidst their harsh working conditions in the same orphanage came off as predictable and trite.  The Celtic lores became a bore. Add, the love story between the two would make an addicting PBS series. But, seriously there was too many diverting plots that you get lost.  The historic fiction could have dealt more with the British colonization into their lands and the devastating years of the famine. O'Farrell proclaimed often on the power of maps.  "Maps can be read for many things-geography both natural and man-made-and Tomas made sure that the Great Hunger was inscribed on his drafts, and in his name books, that it was recorded, in symbols and writing, that its effects and scars would be seen, its evidence and testimony unmissable, for all times." O'Farrell should have steered closer to her point instead of veering all over the map making it into a convoluted novel that loses its way.  I hope that PBS does pick up this novel making it into a mini-series.  I'm sure they'll do an  excellent job of editing and producing a lush epic tale that would be appealing to watch.  Wait for the series and pass on the book. 

 

E Stout's The THINGS WE NEVER SAY-Has Lots to Say on Lack of Communication

In "The Things We Never Say" Elizabeth Strout expands the theme of human isolation and the improbability of honest, open communication. Artie is a high school history teacher who cares about his family, his students and the state of the world. The story takes place under Trump's first administration. Yes, Artie's a kind, thoughtful man who is loved by those who know him. But the question remains, how well can we really now someone. "His {Artie} study of history, he learned about the leaders, and the various groups involved, but he had somehow missed this fact about every single person that they held within themselves a vast, unknowable universe." The political tension that has polarized our country is a backdrop that magnifies secrets being kept to sustain a status quo and prevent turbulent relationships. Artie's greatest pleasure comes from his weekend sail where he steers himself through turbulent waters. If only he could maneuver himself freely and share with his wife of 30 years, Evie, what is weighing on his mind. Evie became a therapist after a girl was killed in car accident in which their son was driving. Her career highlights the hypocrisy of keeping major secrets from both spouses."Artie was aware for the first time how much people lied to one another." Strout is very direct in her condemnation of Trump. Artie and his new"best friend" Kevin who rescued him from drowning formed a friendship in which he felt at peace. With Kevin he was able to share his feelings and felt heard (as long as they didn't discuss politics.) The story becomes somewhat muddled among the layers of clandestine behaviors (shoplifting), various affairs and careers (espionage). Strout makes the point that when communication is open and trust is built, people can positively impact other's lives. Artie influence on two of his students' lives is heralded ad nauseam. However, the futility and rarity of open dialogue is rare. "Why don't people ever say anything real? Ands now he knew why. Because to say anything real was to say things that nobody wanted to know." The overall melancholia and suicidal ideations makes this a bleak novel. One can argue that Strout made her hero likable enough to engage the reader. One can argue, as Artie pondered, there is no free. So why should we care? The delicate balance between personal agency and outside forces is examined. So too is the inability to truly communicate which is truly depressing. "So blind we humans are-so blind. To each other and to ourselves moving through life as through shadows, putting out a hand in the dark and thinking we have touched someone...grasping only the smallest details of one another's selves, including our own. Thinking all the while that we can see." 

Anne Patchett's WHISTLER-Whistle Loudly for this Blissful Proud Family Drama

The award winning author, Anne Patchett has written another novel about family ties over time and generational divides. Her latest novel, WHISTLER, explores the the connections between Daphne and her mother Abigail's second husband Eddie Triplett. Though the marriage lasted only two short years, the impact the relationship made on both their lives was lasting. The novel begins in the NY Metropolitan Museum where Daphne, now a Lit teacher in a private girls school is spending the day with her husband, Jonathan. It's Jonathan who notes an older dapper. man who seems to be tailing them.  When confronted by Jonathan, the gentleman reveals his identity hoping that Daphne will remember him. The serendipitous reunion invokes a torrent of tears from Daphne. "Why did I cry when I realized Eddie was Eddie? Why was I so close to crying again now? Because I had loved him and I had ruined his life" Daphne tells us which draws us into this beguiling novel. Eddie and Daphne reminisce about the years in which he was stepdad to her and her younger sister, Leda. So reignites a bond that was forged between Eddie, so kind and caring at a time when the sisters and their mom were unsettled and struggling following their mom's divorce from their father. It doesn't take long for Daphne to find herself enraptured by the erudite and charming editor. As Eddie brings Daphne into his social whirl and work place, he proudly introduces her as his daughter to her own delight. Leda, now a family therapist is married with a family on the UWS. The girls mother has been remarried to her third husband for decades with two grown sons. The end of the marriage between Eddie and the girls mother ended abruptly following an enigmatic accident which looms over the story. The remarkable details of the cataclysmic car accident involving Daphne and Eddie are revealed towards the end of this irresistible novel as Eddie hosts a brunch in his Chelsea apartment for the sisters, their spouses and their mother. So too is the story of a horse named Whistler revealed as told by Eddie to nine year old Daphne as a distraction from their dire situation. Patchett uses her adroit skills for conjuring up fully fleshed characters whose lives we're eager to embrace. From most characters there exudes compassion and kindness bestowing the novel in a feeling of benevolence. There's a story of Eddie's repressed love due to the social norms of homosexuality in his earlier years. Nonetheless, the pervasive memes of WHISTLER are acts of human kindness and intriguing familial ties told within an ingratiating novel that is impossible to put aside. Leda gives Daphne her professional and personal assessment of their upbringing. " Our parents, Leda said, did not depend on us for their sense of identity. They had their lives and we had ours. Bless them." 

Ben Lerner's Transcription-Transporting Transforming Terrific Tale at Time of Covid

Ben Lerner's slender novel, "Transcription" packs in a lot of punch in a short time that transports the reader through various topics including anorexia, academic life, the COVID pandemic in an intricate style that is irresistible and hard to put down. The novel begins with an unnamed narrator who's on his way to interview Thomas, a famous, favorite professor/film maker. Getting organized in the bathroom just prior to his schedule meeting mayhem ensues when his cellphone gets dropped into the sink and goes on the blink. When there's not enough time to get to an Apple Store he goes to meet his professor and tries to coax him into a casual conversation and put the actual interview off until the following day when he will have time to get a new phone for recording. The octogenarian nevertheless is formidable and draws the man into his office eager to ensue the interview. Unfortunately, the elaborate meandering conversation which is  engrossing is not recorded for posterity. Our narrator assures Thomas, his interviewee, that he is being recorded knowing this is not true. What's true is this slender, original work of fiction provides plenty of clever depictions of character's, the COVID nightmare, parental struggles, failed love affairs and journalist integrity. Our narrator does get his comeuppance at a future gather where his interview is discredited upon his own admission of embellishment. The surprising connection between our nameless narrator and his best friend from college, Max, after going through their separate journeys is revelatory if not credible. But everything else is captured in crisp clarity to illicit strong feelings of past Covid phobias, parental nightmares with a child who refuses to eat, utter reliance on technology and life altering heartbreak. At the end there's a final farewell from Max to his father who is flailing via phone where nothings left unsaid. The father recuperates and the chance to redress matters is passed. Thomas diverts conversation into arcane tutorials which are little jewels throughout despite his failure to register the significance of what was being said to him. For example, "Your brain adds the voice to the tones based on what it believes is there from listening to the first file. You see, we all hear phantom voices. It is a question of the right conditions. Or the wrong ones. Unconscious inference, our brain guessing." "Transcription" is teaming with insights not unlike all his other books. Anything Lerner transcribes I'm reading. 

Anne Enright's "the wren, the wren"-Famous Irish Poet; Bad Dad and Family left Behind

The plot of Anne Enright's novel, "the wren, the wren" can be easily outlined as a three generational story stemming from a famous Irish poet, who leaves his wife and two daughters to fend for themselves. What follows in the wake of an all too common scenario though, leaves much to marvel written with verve and artistry by an uncommonly gifted writer.  Enright (b. Ireland, 1962) is the first Irish Laureate of Fiction and Man Booker Prize winner. In the wren, Enright gives us glimpses of patriarchal poet, Phil McDaragh, whose ascertain of his own consummate talent is above that of all the critics who extol his poems. Phil's self-absorption gives him license to rewrite history and absolve himself of any wrong doing or fallout to his wife Terry, and his two daughters. His admittedly favored daughter, Carmel. Nonetheless he abandons Carmel, her sister and mother without regret after marrying a young, American ingenue except to send a few brief letters. Carmel has a daughter Nell, from a short, loveless relationship. It is mainly through Nell's eyes, the granddaughter whom he never knew, that we get a picture of the man, his poetry and chicanery. As an inspiring writer, Nell finds herself drawn to uncovering Phil's poems and persona. The disparity between the beauty of the Phil's love poems comes in stark contrast to the coldhearted detachment he had for his wife and girls when Terry became terminally ill. Phil's writing has a penchant for restating events to best suit him. However, the collateral damage left behind by Phil is manifested in Carmel who chooses single motherhood rather than experience her mother's abandonment and later dismisses a boyfriend who becomes too needy. Yet, growing up under Phil was overshadowing to his offsprings. "Her father was bigger than the world and a lot less wonderful." Nell is diametrically different in her relationships from her mother. She completely gives herself over to her lovers. First, to the fickle Felim. And then to a man she meets on her travels and brings home to mother. "Everything speaks to me of his safety, his proximity-time is a mechanism to measure how long we are apart. It's not that I think about him constantly, he is my way of thinking. His mind is my compass, his eye my only mirror."  The expanding generations branch off into their differing and despairing life choices but find an inherent connection that circuitously unites them. Considering her grandfather's poems and interviews Nell concedes, "more than a strand of DNA, it is a rope thrown from the past, a far twisted rope, full of blood. Intertwining the lives in the novel are poems, an errant letter, a single childhood memory of Phils and all these elements add deeper meaning and melancholia to the vividly drawn characters. "The wren, the wren"' is a work to return to and admire again, and again.  

Lena Dunham's Memoir FAMESICK-Sickness Torment Overshadow Fame

While fame came early on for Lena Dunham with her first independent film TINY FURNITURE (2010) which lead to being noticed. Judd Apatow thought wow, this girl's got talent and entrusted her to draft a TV series to pitch. The pitch's promising premise of a 20 something, present day SEX and the CITY was picked up and made into the HBO hit show GIRLS (2012-2017). Dunham wrote, stared and directed in this series which earned her two Golden Globes and several Emmy nominations. Despite never having watched the show, I was not oblivious to the phenomenon and notoriety it created. I was curious as to the creative ingenuity inherent talent for developing and maintaining this masterful conception. This compelling and often times off-putting bio left me with key takeaways. Firstly, I was disappointed there was little to glean from inventive process. Perhaps Lena was limited in dissecting her innovative mind. Still, writing is definitely her labor of love, her calling, her passion. But she drones on about writing alone in bed. Granted, her ability to imagine and draw out stories is a solitary endeavor. Getting GIRLS up and running was not and the gravitas for susstaining the quality and functioning of the show was not loss on Lena. She grasped the magnitude of people reliant upon her which was anxiety producing. Secondly, she did have a partner and bestie, Jenni Konner; the conduit for keeping the show on track. Konner kept Lena grounded until their relationship fell apart.  Lena laments relentlessly on the loss of their friendship. She had Konner agree to therapy to see if they could reignite their chemistry.  Thirdly, Lena's shared her lurid sexual encounters with TMI. Perhaps this was on par with GIRLS. Putting it out there was never meant to be filtered but felt of morose. Overall, the major focus of this candid and deftly written bio were the litanies of debilitating, excruciating maladies having to do with her uterus and endometriosis crises. It doesn't seem feasible for Lena to have had time between her hospitalizations and chronic ministrations to accomplish any work.  Recuperating and mainly ministered to by her parents, who were preternaturally supportive, their familial bond was stringent. Lena tells her mother her reason for writing FAMESICK. "I want to write this book, I told her. Everything I've been through. How random it was but how all of it needed to happen." Her mom replies, "Oh, Lena, she moaned. It just sounds so sad." Mom knows best. Lena's life felt like an unrelenting state of anxiety, depression and pain. Lena admits the only connection left with Jack, her former long time love, "the biggest thing we now had in common was the shared sense that neither of deserved to be happy." This memoir is an introspection of depression. Fame in all its glory is not Lean's whole story. It's mired in mental health issues and sickness.