The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion

Most of the books I have read this year did not involve a lot of chuckles, for example Herman Koch's The Dinner, reviewed in July. However, The Rosie Project brought many smiles. It is the story of Don Tilman, a geneticist working at an Australian University, a man who has never been on a second date. He has less-than-zero social skills and possibly has Asberger's. This conceit could have easily become ridiculous or annoying, but former IT consultant Graeme Simsion handles it with such empathy that it works well...in fact, the reader quickly becomes quite fond of Don. Also, we realize that in many ways all men are like Don, and this is perhaps part of the book's appeal. Don applies his scientific skills to his entire life, including finding a wife. He develops a long questionnaire to eliminate bad matches, The Wife Project. He soon begins to help one of his very unlikely matches find her biological father. Their time together is often hilarious, as are Don's run-ins with the university dean. Rosie is a short, fast read, which might remind you of many people you know!

Take Shelter & Michael Shannon

I watched Take Shelter for the second time and was impressed again by the work of two young artists: actor Michael Shannon and director Jeff Nichols. Shannon here brings to mind a young Robert DeNiro, only with a slight Kentucky manner instead of New York. His acting is understated and at the same time very intense. In Take Shelter he plays a blue collar family man who begins to have terrifying visions that he believes warn him of a natural catastrophe. The hook is that his mother was institutionalized at a similar age with schizophrenia, and he wonders if he is on the same road. He keeps these troubles a secret from his wife & friends, which provides a platform for the power of his acting. I recently was impressed by him in The Iceman, a very dark and convincing portrayal of family man who is a contract killer. 

Take Shelter was Jeff Nichols' second feature film, and is very accomplished for such a young director. His pacing of Shannon's descent into madness or premonition was done with a deft touch. He did not allow the brief & vivid visions to distract from the very human story. The final scene of the film has an elegance that is quite memorable.

Deboarh Levy's Swimming Home

Deborah Levy's Swimming Home is a tale of obsession, poetry, long-in-the-tooth love, & families, with just a dash of creepiness that sneaks up on you. Levy's quietly lyrical, dispassionate prose neatly captures all of the foibles of her very human characters. JRH, a highly regarded British poet, vacations with his family near Nice, along with two friends. An unexpected visitor is invited by his wife to stay in a spare room. His often absent war reporter spouse might have an ulterior motive here. The young woman is a would-be poet and completely unstable. It appears that her arrival is not an accident. I'm not sure about the ending, although it allows the understated prose to slowly build toward a climax. However, the postscript, in the voice of his daughter a decade later, is wonderful.

Fuminori Nakamura's The Thief

Fuminori Nakamura has a new book out, which inspired me to read his first novel translated into English, The Thief. This is the story of a Tokyo pickpocket, told in nihilistic-zen-noir. Nakamura captures perfectly the psyche of the pickpocket and his felt sensations as he steals. In Camus style, he falls into the web of a criminal boss who enjoys randomly manipulating the lives of others. I will likely read his new novel, Evil and the Mask, which was released in the US in July. Nakamura was born in 1977 and his first novel, The Gun, won the Shinco Newcomer's Award in 2002. The Thief was awarded the Oe Kenzaburo Prize in 2009.

Kerrigan in Copenhagen

Thomas E. Kennedy's Kerrigan in Copenhagen is an erudite, clever and fun novel. Here is a 60-something coming of age story of an expat poet who is re-entering life after his wife suddenly left him with their young daughter.  I don't enjoy 20-something c-of-a stories, they are too annoying, and the well reviewed Harvard Square is a recent example. However, Kennedy tees up a fun conceit: the likable Kerrigan, who enjoys his lager, has been hired to write a book about the 100 best bars in Copenhagen. He and his Danish "Associate" wander through Copenhagen and he offers hundreds of observations about poets, philosophers, painters, sculptors, & jazz musicians who have lived there. Along the way Kerrigan begins to allow himself fall in love with his Associate, and, of course, this does not take a direct route. The book goes sideways as well, for a bit, but finds its way back to a rewarding ending. Kerrigan is good company as he walks the streets of Copenhagen and ponders artists of all kinds and his own heart.

Koch's The Dinner: Danish Saul Bellow

Herman Koch's The Dinner is Danish Saul Bellow with a 21st century twist. Invoking Bellow is high praise for me. Koch's writing has the same dry, sharp insights into being human, leavened with a dash of cynicism, humor and darkness. Like Bellow, Koch makes keen observations about family, spouses, siblings, money, sex, love, loyalty, while spinning an engaging tale. In The Dinner, Koch adds a contemporary twist of senseless violence. Two brothers and their wives have dinner and through flashbacks and forwards reveal a terrible act committed by their two sons, as well as nicely developed subplots about the four adults. This heavy load is lightened by Koch's wonderful Bellow-isms about the two brothers, restaurants, politicians, and anything else the protagonist encounters, which often generate a chuckle. It's a great mechanism to employ to subtly develop the horrible story of the sons' action. To avoid any spoilers, that's all for now, other than to say, read this one.

Two South of the Border Ex-pats

Two South American ex-pats published books in 2012 in the U.S. that deal with identity and the nature of fiction.

Eduardo Halfan's The Polish Boxer is a blend of fiction, memoir, past & present. Halfan was born in Guatemala, moved at 10 with his family to the US, studied industrial engineering & then spent seven years teaching literature in Guatemala. He now lives in Nebraska. As The Polish Boxer opens, the narrator, a Guatemalan writer names Eduardo Halfan, is ferreting out his roots through his grandfather, an Auschwitz survivor. In loosely related chapters, the story then focuses on Halfan's obsession with a classical pianist, Milan Radik, who is half-Serbian, half-gypsy and therefore accepted by neither. As Halfon tracks him, the pianist tries to delve into gypsy music, but he meets a lot of resistence because he's essentially a "Muggle", half-breed. They are both searching for who they are and who they might become. The book really comes alive in the Radik chapters, with some wonderful insights into music, performance, & the varieties of musical experience.

Alberto Manguel's All Men are Liars looks at identity through the prism of other people's perceptions. Manguel  was born in Argentina and spent his childhood in Isreal when his father was ambassador. As a teen back in Argentina, he read to the nearly blind Borges, which must have been quite an experience. As an adult he had been a globe trotter, living in London, Paris, Toronto, becoming a Canadian citizen. He settled in France, where he renovated a medieval presbytery, including a library for his 30,000 books -- I like this guy! Liars is narrated by several people who relate to a journalist their impressions & experiences of a writer who recently fell to his death in unusual circumstances. I don't enjoy the multiple viewpoint structure, but that's a matter of taste. Part of the point is how different these perceptions & memories can be. However, to me in some way they were not that different.  Over the course of these observations, written in the form of letters, many plot twists are slowly revealed as the story travels between Argentina and Spain. In the final chapter, the journalist speaks about this project, & essentially guides the reader to how to think about this stew of memory, identity, fiction. I think it would have been a better book without this chapter. Most of the characters are writers, poets, editors. So, the other thread of this identity tapestry is writing & fiction. If you love to read, it can be a rich mix.