The Art of Racing in the Rain

A story told from a dog's perspective - how could this book not be intriguing.  Enzo, the dog and also the narrator, is amazing.  He is telling his family's story as he understands it.  For a dog, a dog that enjoys learning from the television, Enzo is brilliant.  His goal in life is to come back as a human because he sees the fact that not being able to talk or have opposable thumbs as unfair.  


Enzo's owner is Denny, a race car driver who is very good at racing in the rain.  This idea, and the reason for the title, takes on symbolic meaning.  The Swift Family has seen its share of struggles and its all about maneuvering oneself through the difficult times, much like a race car driver has to when the track gets slick from rain.  Denny is an inspiration, of course with the help of Enzo he is able to tackle the obstacles placed in front of him.  


I had read another Garth Stein novel before I could get my hands on this one and enjoyed both.  They are very different from one another,  well of course since this one was from the perspective of a dog.  "The Art of Racing in the Rain" is witty and sweet.  I cried three times in the novel (the normal reader would probably cry once).  The only thing I could have been without is the constant discussion of race car driving.  The novel is a quick and fairly light read, and especially interesting if you are a dog owner.  


Toni :)

The Dogs of Babel

Over the weekend, I read "The Dogs of Babel," Carolyn Parkhurst's debut novel. The novel was a bestseller back when it was first published (I think in 2004) and Parkhurst has since written a few more bestsellers. 

I picked up this novel at the Book Barn last week. They had several copies of it, so it caught my eye, and the novel's description on the back cover interested me. It reads, "This exuberantly praised bestseller- one of the year's most admired and enjoyed fiction debuts- tells the story of a man's quest to solve the mystery of his wife's death with the help of the only witness: their dog, Lorelei. Written with a quiet elegance and a profound knowledge of love's hidden places, The Dogs of Babel is a work of astonishing and lasting power- a story of marriage, survival, and devotion that lies too deep for words."

Sounds interesting, right? I thought so, and decided to buy the book and read it pretty much right away. 

I thought Parkhurst did a good job of initially setting up the plot and hooking in the reader. The book starts rather abruptly with the death of the protagonist (Paul)'s wife Lexi, who suffers a fatal fall from the top of an apple tree in the couple's yard. We immediately learn that the couple's dog, Lorelei, was the only witness to the accident. Although the detectives are convinced that Lexi fell by accident, Paul is sure that there is more to the story. He wants to know why Lexi fell and what she was doing at the top of the tree in the first place. He decides to take time off from his work as a Linguistics professor to study canine communication and try to teach his dog to talk so he can find out what happens to Lexi.

What follows is a little unrealistic and far fatched. Paul falls deep into his studies, trying to teach Lorelei (the dog) to talk, read flashcards, and type on a computer with special keys. And some other weird stuff happens, but I won't give that part away in case any of my readers decide to read this book.

Parkhurst alternates these "present day" chapters, which detail the days and months following Lexi's death and Paul's coping (or lack thereof) with her absence, with chapters that flash back to earlier in Paul and Lexi's courtship and marriage. 

While I thought the "present day" was a little strange and dull, I did enjoy reading the flashbacks. I thought Parkhurst's approach was brilliant. First we read about Lexi's death, then about her life. I found Lexi to be a complex, interesting, sympathetic character. I really did find Lexi and Paul's relationship believable and relatable. There was no sugar-coating in this book. Lexi was a beautiful, talented, and unique person with a troubled past. Although Paul loves his wife, he never truly understands her. 

I think the most disappointing thing about this book is that it wasn't as much of a mystery as the description promised. I expected some kind of plot twist but the book ended up concluding exactly how I expected it to. I think what was the most frustrating is the way Parkhurst approached the "mystery". The cause of Lexi's death becomes clear to the reader as we learn more about her and about the days and weeks leading up to her death. But the thing is, Paul really doesn;t learn anything new over the course of the book. Ultimately, he knows everything he needs to know right from the beginning; he's the one that tells it to us. So, as a result, the ending is kind of anti-climactic and hard to believe.

Overall, this is a book I would recommend. It is a quick read, with really well-drawn characters. As I said, I really did enjoy reading about Paul and Lexi- they're the type of characters that stay with you even after you're finished reading. My main complaint about this book is about the ending--- it was just a little rushed, and anti-climactic. Since this was Parkhurst's first novel, I'm guessing this will improve in her newer books. I would definitely give this author another chance and read one of her other novels.

--Emily

Another field trip...

Yesterday Toni and I finally made the trip to the Book Barn in Niantic, CT... definitely the biggest used book store in the state.

We were definitely overwhelmed when we first arrived. The place is SO much bigger than any other used book store we've ever been to.

We saw this sign when we first got there, and realized we were in for hours of book-browsing.

Toni checks out one of the many bookshelves. This one was in "Ellis Island" which is where the Book Barn's newly acquired books go before they are organized by genre and alphabetized.

I'm pointing out our next destination... the Book Barn Annex, where all the fiction is located.

We made it to the Book Barn Annex-- all fiction, alphabetized by author's last name. You can pretty much find any book here. As you can see, Toni was feeling overwhelmed by number of books.

One of the many cats that apparently lives at the Book Barn.

Book Barn Annex.... soooo many books.

Overall we really liked the Book Barn, but we both agreed it was a little overwhelming. They probably have more books than a big Barnes & Noble store!! This place is great if you're looking for a particular book, because everything is well organized. But if you just want to browse, give yourself A LOT of time. 

Apparently they have a downtown store, too. We didn't check that out yet... that will be for another day.

I MISS YOU FRANCIE!!

I have only finished reading "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" a couple of hours ago and I already miss the world that Betty Smith creates.  It amazed me how well Smith captures the time period, the setting, and of course her amazing characters (most of which I feel that I now know personally).  


It was so interesting to learn about the early 1900s.  The way the entire family had to work for the money to support themselves - by finding scrap metal, by going to three or four different markets, working at a very young age, all to get the most for the little money they had.   The way Francie describes Brooklyn was with the utmost pride.  The reader gets a real sense just what it would have been like to grow up in Brooklyn-from a child's perspective is one without judgement.


Where Smith really hit the nail on the head was her characters.  I love Francie for her sweet innocence and strong mind.  I love Katie for all the pressure and worry she had on her shoulders.  It is, to me, the strength of a character that comes from struggle that makes them an amazing person.  I respect people who haven't been handed everything in life, people that have had to work hard for what they achieve.  Katie saw to raising her children with strong morals.  Towards the end of the novel when Francie begins to make a good amount of money, her and her mother have a discussion about being rich and being poor: Francie says, "...the poor do everything with their own hands and the rich hire hands to do things.  We're not poor any more.  We can pay to have some things done for us."  Katie replies with, "I want to stay poor, then, because I like to use my hands."  The glimmer of money shakes Francie's young mind, but Katie stays true that you have to work for what you want or else you'll never truly learn how to appreciate life.  


So many of the struggles that the Nolan family faced touched my heart.  I realized why it took me so long to finish this book...because I knew that I would miss the family.  I loved the writing, I loved the characters, I loved everything about this novel.  


Thank you Jess for introducing this book to book club!


Toni :)

Her Fearful Symmetry

Last night I finished reading "Her Fearful Symmetry" by Audrey Niffernegger, author of "The Time Traveler's Wife". I actually haven't read TTTW yet (although it's on my book shelf) so "Her Fearful Symmetry" was the first book I've read by Niffernegger.

The book started off really promising. It begins with 20 year old American twin girls named Julia and Valentina. Their mother Edie, interestingly enough, was also a twin, and her estranged twin sister Elspeth lived in London. At the beginning of the book, Elspeth dies of leukemia, leaving her twin neices her London flat with strict instructions that their mother Edie does not step foot in the apartment.

Julia and Valentina go to London and live in Elspeth's apartment. They meet Elspeth's younger boyfriend Robert who lives in the flat below, her OCD and anxiety ridden neighbor Martin whose wife recently left him... and... Elspeth's ghost, who inhabits the apartment.

The set-up of the book is really good; the first half, even two-thirds of the novel is very good and well written. Niffernegger does a good job developing the characters and building suspense. But at the end of the novel, the plot falls flat and left me really disappointed. What happens at the end really does not do justice to the characters and plot she so skillfully develops throughout the rest of the book. As the book goes on, it becomes more and more outrageous and unrealistic. There is also a serious lack of continuity and a lot of loose ends that lack closure, or sub-plots that go nowhere. The end is completely incongruous with the rest of the book.

When I finished reading, I went on Amazon.com to read some reviews of the book. I wasn't surprised to find that many readers were left with the same sense of disappointment and confusion that I was.

As I was reading this book, I had an eerie sense of deja-vous. A few months ago I read and reviewed (see the January 2010 archives) a book called "The Thirteenth Tale". Like "Her Fearful Symmetry", "The Thirteenth Tale" is about two sets of twins, mistaken identity, ghosts, London. But what both books also have in common is that they set up the plot and the characters well, then ultimately fall flat, disappointing the reader.

When I reviewed "The Thirteenth Tale" I talked about the concept of willing suspension of disbelief. This is the idea that the reader should willingly "suspend his/her disbelief" while reading a fictional piece. In other words, even if something isn't possible in real life, we willingly believe it while reading with the understanding that we are reading a work of fiction. Some authors lead us to do this really skillfully (J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, is a perfect example). But Niffernegger (like the author of "The Thirteenth Tale") is not successful in this. I actually do happen to believe in ghosts, but I simply cannot believe her ghost story. Nor can I believe in the things that happen over the course of the book. She just doesn't make it believable.

This predicament makes me really reluctant to read "The Time Traveler's Wife". I am aware of the basic premise of TTTW, and it doesn't sound very believable. Again, I am really open to reading fantasy books and imagining things that aren't possible in real life. But if Niffernegger couldn't convince me about a ghost, how will she tell the story of a man who travels through time in a way that makes sense? I may still read the TTTW, but I am definitely skeptical.

--- EMily