Victoria Reviews: Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

I don't normally spend my time reading lifelike stories, so John Green books are something new to me. Most of the time, I prefer to read about magic and aliens rather than regular kids in high school, and I actively avoid novels that portray ordinary life. However, I've been hearing glowing recommendations for John Green for quite a while now, so when Michelle asked me to read one of his books, I quickly accepted. That night, I curled up with a copy of Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

I was a bit surprised by the book and the way it was written. The story follows the points of view of two different boys, both named Will Grayson, and the events that lead up to their meeting point as well as the repercussions that follow. Each chapter alternates between their narration. The first Will Grayson seems to be a decently normal, shy kid, and the oddest thing about him is his best friend. Will Grayson #1 is best friends with a flamboyantly homosexual boy named Tiny, ironically nicknamed for his very large size. Will Grayson #2 seems depressed and angry, and he's harboring a deep secret that he hasn't yet shared with the world. The writing of his point of view differs from Will Grayson #1 because it doesn't use any capital letters and often leaves out punctuation as well (something which annoyed the Grammarian in me at first but which was surprisingly easy to get used to).

The oddest thing about this book, to me, was that the main story wasn't even about either of the Will Graysons. The actual plot revolved around Will #1's best friend, Tiny Cooper. The Will Graysons were just the vehicles for Tiny's story to be told. They were almost minor characters, in their own way, and their own personal journeys only seemed important because of how they affected Tiny. It was an interesting way to read a story.

John Green and his contributor, David Levithan, did an excellent job on characterization. The characters are normal, flawed people just like anyone you'd meet on the street. They have doubts, fears, and awkward moments, and they make mistakes just like the rest of us. At the same time, their ordinariness does not make the story uninteresting. Contrariwise, the story is interesting in part because they are ordinary. The characters embody the traits of the kind of people that everyone knows. Everybody knows someone who is always at the center of attention. Everyone knows a shy kid. Everyone knows the guy who treats everyone else with contempt. We all have that friend who we love even though they frequently embarrass us in public. The story is an easy one to like because there's something for everyone to identify with. It's also a rather emotional read because the realness of the characters makes them easy to care about.

I think Will Grayson, Will Grayson was a good start for me on John Green. I'll definitely be picking up his other books in the near future. I recommend you do the same.

Review: An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin

After reading and loving Steve Martin’s Shopgirl, I decided to keep up with his novels, so it was with great excitement that I finally picked up An Object of Beauty. It becomes clear almost immediately that this is going to be a very different novel. The main character, Lacey Yeager, is basically a predator. She lacks the soft, shy, loneliness of Martin’s previous characters (though the narrator, who we learn very little about, has it in spades). The predatory Lacey begins the novel as a recent college graduate looking to make her place in the art world of New York through whatever means necessary. Now, if this were merely the story of a beautiful young social climber it would hold no interest for me, but it is so much more than that.

Essentially, An Object of Beauty is the story of the New York art scene over the past twenty years. Steve Martin uses Lacey and her story to tell that much broader history; from the rise in popularity (and price) of modern artworks in the mid 90s to the economic collapse of 2008 and the subsequent collapse of the art market, the book was a fascinating look into a world I knew nothing about. Martin described the fluctuations of the market in terms that I could understand, as he did when describing the rise in prices of contemporary works following Andy Warhol’s steady rise in price:

“When Warhol started to achieve newsworthy prices, the value of contemporary art, including art that was yet to be created, was pushed up from behind. Warhol’s presence was so vivid, so recent, that he was identified not with the dead, but as the first nugget from Sutter’s Mill. The rush was on.”

The feeling of being in on this art world esoterica was good enough, but Martin combined it with an interesting, if immoral, character in Lacey. The novel also holds an element of mystery, as very early on the reader is made aware that Lacey has done something that was not exactly on the level. This is entirely true to her character, but what exactly she has done goes unexplained until the end when it comes to light as the art market crashes in on itself.

Steve Martin has written a very good novel with a slow, natural tone that will be familiar to the fans of his other books even if the significantly less endearing characters are not. The book itself is beautiful, as it contains illustrations of various works of art alongside the discussions about them in the text.

Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower made high school a little easier for me. It was something that I could point to that said I was not alone. A touchstone of the awkward loneliness of the lost and confused. And I was afraid to reread it. It had been something greater than ten years since I read and loved Perks, what if I had changed while the novel had not? Books have great power and I was afraid that this one would lose its place for me as an adult reader.

It didn't.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is the story of Charlie, who is slowly learning to be an active participant in life. Charlie begins his first year of high school scared and alone. To cope, he writes letters to a stranger. This is someone he's been told will listen and understand. Someone Charlie can trust because they “didn't try to sleep with that person at that party even though (they) could have.” The format of the novel in letters so suits this books as it affords an intimacy that would have been lacking from a more straight forward telling.

Charlie's letters, addressed simply to “friend,” follow him through his freshman year. From the lonely first day, to his first party, first kiss, all of the wonderful lessons learned from books, teachers, and new friends, and finally to the end of year departure of those who are graduating and moving on. The book is about learning to navigate the complex relationships that come postchildhood, especially a childhood that ends as abruptly as Charlie's.

Charlie has been stuck between the innocence of childhood and the harsh realities of the adult world for most of his life. He was forced into situations he was not yet capable of understanding which led to a series of mental breaks. This instability is what led Charlie to his life as a wallflower; he was too trapped in his own mind to participate in life. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is the narration of his breaking free of that incapacity through friendship and books and music all leading up to actions. Because actions can make life feel infinite.

I identified completely with this novel as a young adult, my review may be biased, but I think that The Perks of Being a Wallflower is an important book. I feel that it is too cliché to refer to something as “the new” anything, but if it must be said then Perks is the new Catcher in the Rye. It is a novel that gives friends to the friendless and a place to go for anyone who doesn't understand or isn't understood.

Review: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Is it fair to call any novel the “Greatest Novel Ever Written” - it does not seem to be so, but I can't help it. Anna Karenina is quite simply the greatest novel ever written and not just the best novel I've read. I cannot imagine any other novel matching this one as it possesses everything one wants from a novel – it is gripping, philosophical, enthralling, long, and utterly timeless. Long seems to be strange praise but I use it to say that I would have stayed with Tolstoy for as many pages as he needed to tell his story.

What struck me most about this 100+ year old novel was how timeless it is. When an author like Tolstoy sets out to tell a human story the setting is almost irrelevant because what makes us human is universal. The love, betrayal, and fear described are all never changing, it is our emotions that make us human, so that was not surprising but even on the philosophical level things are the same. We are having the same debates about social order, education, gender, and relationships that we were having all those years ago. However, to say that setting is irrelevant is maybe a bit flip because another element of the novel that amazed me was how clearly defined the social conventions were. Tolstoy made me feel late 19^th century Russia. I felt that I could really see into this hidden world; it was so fully realized that I was immersed within it.

To get into a discussion about the characters makes me feel as though this is more of a book report than a review of my impressions because there are so many characters and they are all so connected no matter how tenuously. I guess this is because I feel that the novel is bigger than the sum of its parts. No amount of discussion of the romance between Anna and Vronsky or the moralizing of Karenin to Anna or even the subtle awesomeness of Levin will lead you to read this book and it will only serve to spoil you of the virgin delights I experienced upon first encountering the novel. With a novel as “Important” as Anna Karenina I find it best to go in blind, work my way out of the material, wrestle with themes, and then surrender to academia. Upon the completion of a great novel I like to do a little research, discovering all the things I missed within the novel and praising myself over all that I did observe.

The characters within Anna Karenina are both real and not. They are real in that they are full of selfishness, beauty, and contradiction just like the rest of us, yet they stand apart in that they are the vehicles of Tolstoy's ideas. They are there to represent both what is and what is not possible, and the ultimate goal of the tragedy is to expose an unyielding society whose fear of change and difference, seen as depravity, may sink not only one person but a nation. The novel definitely speaks to the changing society in Russia that came to fruition in the years after the novel was published.

Review: Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Life of Pi is the story of a boy trapped on a life boat with a Bengal tiger, but of course (as with every simple summary) there is so much more than that. Pi is about religion, storytelling, and understanding oneself. The highest compliment I can pay this novel is that it reminded me of Slaughterhouse Five. In the way that the earlier novel is about WWII and aliens, Life of Pi is about life and tigers, with all the same leanings toward PTSD.

The novel begins in India, where we learn that Pi Patel is a Hindu, a Christian, and a Muslim. Basically, Pi is a searcher finding meaning where he needs it. The novel is so chock full of symbolism that immediately upon finishing it I wished to go back to the beginning in order to see what would be revealed. Pi's religious leanings and pliant character detailed in the beginning of the story will color the rest of the novel. Once the inevitable shipwreck occurs and he is alone with the animals on the raft it is his adaptable nature that saves him.

Life of Pi is ostensibly a novel that can make someone believe in God. We are introduced to that concept of the story's function in the beginning. But it is not a God that can be named or found easily. Mantel and his characters are interested in a God that is beyond tradition. The young writer transcribing Pi's tale finds God through story, Pi himself found God through curiosity, and the reader is expected to encounter God through the novel in any way they choose – everything is left open to interpretation. With that, I feel it is important to note that Life of Pi is not a religious novel nor even a spiritual one. The idea of God to Mantel seems, to me at least, to be whatever you want it to be. God is what is holy to you, if that is a God of a religious nature then so be it but if it is not then Mantel allows for that as well. This openness is the beauty of Life of Pi.

When I wrote about The Things They Carried, one of the big ideas I was interested in was O'Brien's distinction between story truth and happening truth. Well, Yann Martel took that idea and threw a tiger at it. And it was awesome. I have never read a book quite like Life of Pi and I doubt I will ever read another. Martel works a sort of literary magic with this novel transforming not only the novel but life itself from everything it is to everything it can be.

Review: Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid series about the life and times of Greg Heffley is an international bestseller. Seriously, these books have sold millions of copies and if you are not familiar with them ask any kid you know and I guarantee they will be able to clue you in. The publication of the newest Wimpy Kid book has gotten me curious about this entire phenomenon. Curious enough to go back to the first book in the series and see just what it is all about.

The seminal book the Wimpy Kid series titled Diary of a Wimpy Kid is the introduction into Greg's world. It is immediately clear to the adult reader just what it is that resonates with kids, Greg's world is our world thus their world. It's full of awkwardness with girls, homework, chores, and parents who just don't understand. My sister and I recently had a conversation about middle school and her claim that the middle school years are even more horrifying and cringe worthy than the high schools years really struck me. Middle school is a weird time. You've got sixth graders mingling with eighth graders and between those two is the onset of puberty. It's a veritable breeding ground for awkwardness, misunderstanding, and bullies.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid definitely gets the first two right. Greg is awkward, he thinks he knows much more than he does, and he has trouble relating to those around him because he is so wrapped up in himself. The honesty of Kinney's book might just be what I didn't like about it. Greg is described as being a real kid to the T and that includes all of the selfishness of kids at this difficult age. Greg writes in his diary about the bullies at school and how everyone else gets it wrong all the while the reader (at least the adult reader) perceives him as the biggest bully in the story.

The Wimpy Kid series and its popularity certainly aren't an anomaly. Kids latch on to certain characters for any number of reasons and Jeff Kinney's books are the most recent to really hit home. The fact that they are not really my cup of tea (judging by the first book at least) stems solely from the fact that I did not like Greg. It may be a tad too idealistic of me but I like the kids in children's literature to be role models. Flaws are necessary to building a realistic character, but I see little value in a character like Greg who has little to no redeeming qualities.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid was a cute book and the honesty about how kids navigate this difficult age is an obvious appeal; it just isn't for me.

Review: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

It's time to talk about Cloud Atlas, which I have been putting off not for lack of something to say but because I want to say everything. The first thing I've got to tell you is that this novel is staggeringly ambitious. Essentially what David Mitchell has done is written six novellas that work together as variations upon a theme but also tell a greater story. What is most impressive about Cloud Atlas is not the story or the message or the themes but the writing, the language, and the technical skill. Mitchell's craft is so finely honed that he has conquered the voice of not only his characters, but six entirely different authors. Each story nestled within the sextet could be the work of a different writer, yet they are all sprung from the same pen, same mind.

But that's enough gushing about the bones, you're curious about the meat, right? Cloud Atlas begins and ends in the eighteenth century but along the way it traverses the near and distant past and future from seafaring Adam Ewing to intrepid reporter Luisa Rey to clone/model/servant/rebel Sonmi-451. There is something here for everyone and quite a lot for anyone to digest. I know it seems unfair to say this, but I do not want to tell you what Cloud Atlas is about in the sense of the plot. I could hash it out for you, but that's not really what the novel is about anyway and it would take away from your own discoveries.

Instead, I'd rather talk about what the novel is actually about in a “what it all means” sense or at least what it means to me. Cloud Atlas is about freedom and slavery in all of their mental, physical, and spiritual forms. It's about connectivity between people and time and history and stories. It's about the pain we can cause and the healing we can affect. It is about humanity and everything good, bad, and downright scary that it entails. Essentially, what I am saying is that this book is about, in the words of Douglas Adams, life, the universe, and everything.

There are things that I did not love about Cloud Atlas (in particular, the ending is heavy handed and overblown in regards to Mitchell's message). And while I may have enjoyed the construction even more than the stories, because puzzling through the text and finding the connections was such a joy, the themes will stick with me. Mitchell's novel has given me pause to think about the way I perceive my fellow humans in all of their forms, colors, shapes, and sizes. Cloud Atlas is worth reading for Mitchell's ambition and technical skill alone, but those aspects coupled with the warning of our penchant toward evils and praise of our capacities toward good make for an enthralling experience.