The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

"My curiosity for reading "Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie, was piqued by the brilliant novel, the Round House, by Eldrich.  Both novels Nat'l Book winning novels are centrally a coming of age novel of a 13 year old boy growing up on an Indian Reservation.  "Part-Time Indian," falls into the genre of a young adult novel.  Although, both deal with serious & disturbing topics that plaque American Indians. The most troubling issue is lack within the confines of the reservation.  Our protagonist Artnold is a beacon of courage. He is a big hearted cartoonist, with numerous physical shortcomings.  Still, he has  aspirations for a better life.  Arnold realizes to obtain his dreams they must stem from being educated off the reservation; at the nearest, all-white school.  The straddling of both the reservation & white community makes him an outsider to both.  However, he is emblazened to forge ahead & make a place for himself in the world.  There are many epiphanies uncovered.  "Life is a constant struggle between being an inividual and being a member of the community."   The empathy Arnold feels is profound.  The jubuliation Arnold feels after his team's victory over his old school is short lived.  He realize no one from the reservation is headed to college, several had not eaten that day, others had fathers in prison or fathers who beat them regularly.  His glory brought Arnold "tears of shame."  Truth:  this "Diary" is filled with great heart, humor, wisdom & empathy.  It's a Diary that should be uncovered and read by all ages.

The KISSING LIST - refreshingly new

I will compare Reent's novel to Egan's Pulitzer Prize, ground-breaking novel, the Goon Squad.   Reents emulates Egan's use of intertwining lives & non-linear timelines.  The Kissing List contains, quirky, fragile characters, intermittent poetry, business models, memos, test questionnaires, and so forth  that all add up to an entertaining & baffling read.  There are several female lead characters whose lives have meshed & intertwined through college, roommate configurations after graduation & the social network that entails daily lives.  Men are secondary to the women in this novel.  This does not by any means empower women over men.  Males remain sought after knights leading to "happily ever after," while the women provide each other's safety nets. The exuberance & confusion of "just getting into the real world," is felt as their over educated degrees prove ineffectual for self-sufficiency.  It is not crucial to maintain a clear notion of the relationships amongst these women, or be precise on plots.  The central quanday is the folly with which we end up with our partners. This novel proves puzzling in its storytelling. This advances the pioneering writing styles keeping abreast with our constantly evolving world.  It was a pleasant surprise how much fun I had going along for the ride.  Put The Kissing List on your must read list.

The FLAMETHROWERS: R. Kushner, merely smolders

Rachel Kushner is an exceptionally gifted, literary award winning novelist.  She received the Guggenheim Fellowship Award '13 & previously been nominated for the Nat'l Book Award.  I've read several of her novels and anticipated a complex sequence of enigmatic events.  There are two main characters, both artists, whose lives merge in NYC '75, at an iconic period of revolution in the contemporary art world.  Reno, a young female heroine, is a free spirited, motorcycle racing, filmmaker who falls for Sandro, a much older, established artist of Italian aristocracy.  Kushner has many burning observations on both the precarious powers of love & the alchemy of art.  "The desire for love is universal but that has never meant it's worthy of respect.  It's not admirable to want love, it just is."  Despite moving to NYC on her own to establish herself as an artist, Reno is feckless in relationships & maleable to a fault.  She is easily led by galvanizing men while acknowledging her actions are without resolution and self-destructive.  Sandro, the older, but no wiser, controlling lover, is so self-absorbed he becomes a caricature of the egomaniacal artist.  The droll observations on the art scene at the time are scornfully prescient.  "Only a killjoy would claim neon wasn't beautiful."  Despite her literary talents and humorous insights, I'm going to be a killjoy.  The FLAMETHROWERS sputters out.

Nat'l Book Award for The Round House by L. Eldrich

THE ROUND HOUSE refers to the communal meeting place for the Indian community living on a reservation in ND, in '88.   Our young Native Amer. hero, Joe, is just 13 and his serene & naive world is about to crumble like a house made of sand.  Joe, the only child of a loving, duo-working couple is wise beyond his years.  His father is a highly respected lawyer/judge in their community.  When Joe's father discovers his wife missing, they set out in search for her.  What they find will horrify the family & lead Joe on a life altering quest.  This poignant Nat'l Book Award winning novel is much more than a coming of age story.  It is also a mystery, a story of friendhship, a tragedy mixed with love & caring.  There are many colorful & unforgettable characters.  Grandpa Mooshum, is a centenarian whose storytelling comes in the guise of sleep talking.  More importantly, it is a social commentary on the oppression of our Native Amer. Indians whose justice has been built on quicksand.  It also profers a piercing view of religion.   THE ROUND HOUSE is a revolving story, wrapped within deeper layer.  It is a gut wrenching tale that is hard to pur down.  Not only is this a MUST read, it should continously be handed down.

A BUDDHA in the ATTIC: J. Otsuka

A Buddha in the Attic traces the lives of Japanese mail order brides lured to the U.S. with the promise  of a better life.  The arduous, impoverished lives of these young women made them eager to accept proposals of marriages from Japanese men unbeknownst to them.  Thes hardships & heartaches of the voyage & leaving all they had known behind is told through the numerous women who chose (or were coerced) into leaving their homes. The poignant voices are reflected by a unifying chorus.  Julie Otsuka's novel, "Buddha" won the Pen/Faulkner award.  It is an elegant & powerful tale of woe, wonder & shame that reminds us of these brave, pioneering Japanese women & men who endured unbearable harships with strength and dignity.  The story unfolds in Japan, early 20th C, through turbulent voyages headed to San Francisco, to the fraudulent and terrifying lives this women led with their husbands along the west coast, through the births of their children, to WWII and the frenzied racial   Executive Orders by FDR for Japanese internment.  The use of we & they rather than a singular narrative speaks of the varied experiences and emotions of both Japanese & Americans who were complacent as the Japanese were evacuated from their homes after Pearl Harbor.  These Japanese mail order brides "wondered if we had made a mistake, coming to such a violent and unwelcoming land.  We stopped dreaming.  We stopped wanting.  We simply worked, that was all."  The joys of parenthood gave way to assimilated English speaking offspring that "we could barely recognize.  Mostly, they were ashamed of us."  There is plenty of shame to go around. The Exclusion Orders forced Japanese to be interned for the years of  WWII in CA, OR, WA & AZ. "Our mayor has assured us there is no need for alarm. {The Japanese are in a safe place.}"  Many of the Americans who stood by, "who were more than a little relievered to see the Japanese go. We would like to believe that most, if not all, of the Japanese here in our own town were good, trustworthy citizens, of their absolute loyalty we could not be sure."  The racial bigotry and persecution of the Japanese was shamefully hypocritical to what Americans were fighting to eliminate.   Not until '88, did our then Pres.,  Reagan was an official apology & reparations made to the Japanese for the prejudicial persecution in  the 40's.  "Haruko left a tiny laughing brass Buddha up high, in a corner of the attic, where he is still laughing to this day."  Otsuka's brilliant historic novel must be taken out and read for generations.  

FLIGHT BEHAVIOR, Barbara Kingsolver's novel soars. Put this atop your must read list.

Kingsolver has been named one of the most important writers of the 20thC by Writer's Digest.  In 2000, she received the Nat'l Humanities Medal; the highest honor in the U.S. in the arts.  Perhaps, she is best known for her novel, THE POISONWOOD BIBLE; a Pulitz. Prize Finalist.  The Dayton Literary Peace Prize was given to Kingsolver in '11 for the culmination of her work.  FLIGHT BEHAVIOR, '12, is certain to receive prescient literary awards.  Similar themes exist between "Flight" & "Poisonwood."  Both novels depict the shortcomings of narrow mindedness, blind faith and the consequences of turning a blind eye to the consequences of our actions.   Environmental destruction & global warming is a key message in "Flight."  A phalanx of monarch butterflies alight upon the trees that belong to our heroine's, Dellarobia, in-laws.  Dellarobia is a 20 something housewife & mother of two young children.   Her shotgun wedding to Cub occurred before graduating high school.  Dellarobia, remains in her dismal marriage to Cub despite an early miscarriage.  Dovey, Dellarobia's best friend, and the voice of humor & reason states, "Men and kids get to just light out and fly, without ever worrying about what comes next."  The mystifying aberration of the monarch's migration to this "hillbilly" town draws both scientific and mass media attention.  Kingsolver does not proselytize but wake-up calls are delivered by her intriguing characters.  Dellarobia's contemplation of her life & possibilities makes us question our obligations & the ties that bind a family.  I bestow Kingsolver as one of the most relevant, talented and important writers of the 21st C.

James Salter's LIGHT YEARS, prose on time passage

James Salter holds the distinction of having flown more combat missions than any other highly awarded author.  He may hold the dubious distinction of being one of the best, but perhaps least known writers.  Salter's career began in the U.S. Air Force but came to a screeching halt when he crashed landed his plane into a residential neighborhood; fortunately without incurring casualties.   Afterwards, he was assigned to military service in the Phillipines and later volunteered for combat duty in the Korean War.  In the War he flew over 100 comat missions.  His writing career began with his civilian life.  He turned to his experiences from the Korean War for his first novels.  LIGHT YEARS from '95, tells of the mundane married lives of Viri and Nedra and their two daughters.  However, the simplicity of the story is anything but pedestrian.  The reader is swept along with the melancholy of fleeting years, the dissolution of a marriage and the epiphanies that arise from having lived.  Seasons pass, the years surmount calling into question our own mortality, "The house is surrounded by white.  Hours of sleep, the air chill.  The most delicious sleep, is death so warm, so easeful?" The seemingly idyllic union of Nedra & Viri, having a perfect facade, is not as it appears. "Their life is mysterious, it is like a forest; from far off it seems a unity, it can be comprehended, described, but closer it begins to separate, to bring into light and shadow."  Salter's style pays homage to Woolf, Ibsen and in particular, Wilder's THE LONG CHRISTMAS DINNER.  By comparing Salter to such literary greats I honor his illuminating writing.  Still, I place him in a contemporary class of his own.  His writing has earned him a PEN/Faulker Award.  He's elected to the Amer. Acad. of Arts & Letters '00 and selected for the 25th PEN/Malamud Award.  I will be attending the 92ndY's Talk with James Salter & Richard Ford.  I recommend the works of  Mr. Salter's and not to miss this opportunity of a lifetime to hear him in person.