Chronic City / Jonathan Lethem

Chronic City
by Jonathan Lethem

published 2010, read in October 2012

category: general fiction

rating 3 / 10: so bad it's embarrassing

Let's be clear: the rating of 3 out of 10 is *my* rating. There may be readers who enjoy reading this sort of drivel. Or perhaps something interesting does happen if you can bear to read past page 85.

Not that I expected much. In Barcelona for a week, wanting a book to fill some idle moments. The nearest bookshop had a few metres of English-language books, a highly eclectic mix indeed.

I chose the one book which was written recently, vaguely SF and I had not read before. Perhaps I should have selected from the very small range of "classics".

In its general theme, this book reminds me of The Great Gatsby: a story of the rich and the beautiful, as seen by a jealous outsider. Where Fitzgerald hated the rich because he did not belong, Lethem longs to join them. Or so it would seem, from the styles of the books.

Lethem, though, takes his readers to new levels of self-indulgent boredom.

By page 85 -- which is as far as my good sense would allow me to go -- nothing has happened. The first-person storyteller has met a man with a sharp mind and poor dress sense. The two have smoked dope, eaten the same meal at the same restaurant several times, and dropped numerous references to characters and actors from TV and movies.

Are these characters and actors real? Are they invented? Are they "clever" inventions based on real people? Who knows?! Who cares.

The novel appears to be named for a favourite brand of marijuana. Perhaps it is the same brand that the author uses when writing. Because that's the way that the book reads...

Remember the stereotype Hollywood hippies? That friend of Dobie Gillis, for example... the hippies who ramble on, speaking a language of their own, making very little sense to the rest of the world. To their own drug-addled senses they are providing deep insights into the mysteries of the world. To the rest of us, they are mumbling nonsense.

Chronic City is mumbling nonsense.

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Problems ? Solved

The Great Gatsby / F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby

category: fiction, author:

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Introduction by Tony Tanner
original copyright 1926,
read in October 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10

The Great Gatsby is, "A classic, perhaps the supreme American novel." How do I know this? Because it says so, there on the back cover of the book.

If this is indeed "the supreme American novel" then -- as far as I'm concerned -- novelists of other countries need have little fear of being overshadowed by novelists from America.

The first third of the book is quite entertaining. Think of it as an American version of a story by P.G. Wodehouse: a glossy look at the life of the incredibly idle, the incredibly rich, the incredibly self-centred... but with none of Wodehouse's humour and humanity. There is also, in that first one third of the book, no plot.

The next third of the book introduced a plot. Suddenly, the book became more boring, harder to read. We've spent many pages gaining no sympathy whatsoever for any of the characters and -- suddenly -- we are expected to care what happens to them? No. I'm afraid it just doesn't work.

The book I read is one of those "Penguin Modern Classics", with a ridiculously long "introduction" and regular, meaningless footnotes. Meaningless footnotes? How else would you describe this:

28. (p. 79) Coney Island: An amusement park in Brooklyn.

Anyway, I thought that, perhaps, the "Introduction" would shed some light on the supremacy of this novel. Here's a gem from the expert analysis:

"His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one."

Possibly -- and possibly not. Or possibly something different...

Good grief!

So I am forced to rely on my own judgement.

Fitzgerald was a poor and struggling author. He lived way beyond his means, as his fame allowed him to mix with the extremely rich and supremely idle. This struggle to survive, to not look entirely like a poor pratt from the country, irked him. As an outsider unable to get in, Fitzgerald saw the worst of all the in crowd. This jealousy came out as a novelistic attack on the people that Fitzgerald was unable to emulate.

It's a classic; feel free to read it. I just hope that you are not doomed to be a student under Tony Tanner, who wrote the introductory drivel.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

London Fields / Martin Amis

London Fields

category: fiction, author:

Martin Amis

published by Penguin, original copyright 1989, read in Jun 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 4 out of 10

(Agamedes' remembered opinion of
The Phoenix Guards: 8 out of 10)

Have you ever read Brust's The Phoenix Guards? It is written with rolling, long-winded sentences, circumlocutions which leave the reader breathless and, quite often, confused. Yet the end result is an entertaining adventure with humour and heroics. The pretentious style and apparently irrelevant diversions (which are, often enough, actually irrelevant) make for a greatly enjoyable book. A book which my wife gave up reading after barely a chapter. A book which I really should reread and formally review...

Anyway...

London Fields is written in a somewhat similar style. The London Fields sentences are shorter but the wandering style is similar. Instead of a single plot thread which rambles to and fro, Amis has several closely linked plots which jump to and fro, leaving the reader to struggle against confusion. Amis' writing style is -- like Brust's -- pretentious. But Amis fails to write a book which can be enjoyed.

To tell the truth, I'm sorry that I have attempted to compare London Fields with The Phoenix Guards. Even though I use Brust as an example of "good" against Amis' example of "bad" -- I believe that Brust could be embarrassed to be in the same sentence as Amis.

London Fields is populated by characters who are smart but cruel, or stupid and senselessly cruel, or innocent and the target of deliberate or unthinking cruelty. The petty crim is gypped when he buys some dodgy stolen goods; he quickly sells the dodgy goods, only to be paid in counterfeit notes, which he quickly shifts of to another petty crim... That's one of the funny paragraphs, amongst the 200 pages that I was able to read. Most of the "humour" is just too cruel to be enjoyed.

A few nights ago, ABC TV had a show about some sort of "financial instrument" called "Timberwolf", being sold by Goldman Sachs Group. According to the report, Goldman Sachs recognised Timberwolf as being "shitty" -- destined to lose all value, presumably. So what did Goldman Sachs do with their "shitty" Timberwolf? They sold as much Timberwolf as possible -- backed by their own then-solid reputation -- to other investment companies and financial advisors... And that is a lot like the amoral and unethical behaviour which underpins London Fields.

Do you want to read a book about stupid or scheming, amoral and unethical characters who emphasise their disregard for others with brutal violence? A book which is written in a pretentious pseudo-literary style... The "days of sun and storm", for example: "They make us feel -- and I'm on the edge of nausea as I write these words -- what it is to live in a universe." Yes, I am indeed on the edge of nausea as I reread that sentence.

Do you want to read an I'm-so-clever yet so unpleasant book? Apparently, plenty of people do: the cover of my copy says, "The no. 1 bestseller".

My rating on the first few chapters would have been 6: read to pass the time. As I read further, I downgraded to 5: readable but only if there's nothing else. Then I took the book away for the weekend, thinking, stuck in a hotel, nothing else to read, I'll get a fair way through this book...

In that hotel room, with nowhere else to go, London Fields my only book, nothing much on TV -- I read my wife's Women's Weekly. And downgraded London Fields to 4: bad but could be read. "Could be read"? Yes, I think so. If I were on a desert island. Without a Women's Weekly.

Read it at your moral peril.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

The Tin Drum / Gunter Grass

The Tin Drum

category: fiction / fantasy / "magic realism", author:
book 1 of Danzig Trilogy

Gunter Grass

translated by Ralph Manheim
published by Everyman's Library, original copyright 1959, read in May 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10

A couple of weeks ago I was discussing my PissWeakly rating system with a friend. "What do you do," he asked, "If public opinion is that the book is 'good' -- but you don't like it?" "No worries," I replied. "The rating is Agamedes' opinion. I rate it as I like it."

Here is a good test of the system...

The Tin Drum is, I suspect, a classic. You know, a book that everyone has heard of but no-one has read. There is also an expectation that a classic has survived because -- in general literary opinion -- it is "a good book". Perhaps the inside cover blurb explains why this book is a classic:

THE TIN DRUM presents Hitler's rise and fall through the eyes of the dwarfish narrator whose magic powers become symbolic of the dark forces dominating the German nation in that period."

Oh, so that's what it's about!

And there I was, thinking that Drum was about a weird little kid who became a weird little adult, without going through the standard phase of "growing up". The book is written by Oskar -- the weird kid -- as an adult. He tells of his birth, growing older, deciding(!) to not grow any larger. He's anti-social, extremely self-centred and very bad with relationships. When he refers to his current life -- as an adult, living in a lunatic asylum -- he is still anti-social, extremely self-centred and very bad with relationships.

Oskar does claim to suffer from guilt, from two incidents. He suffers guilt for killing his mother, though as I understand it, he didn't. He feels guilt for allowing his (Oskar's) self-centred demands to cause his father to be killed; he did. Oskar could have saved his father from death; he didn't. Oskar is an all-round nasty person who causes grief to everyone around him.

If that is "symbolic of the dark forces..." then it does not make for an enjoyable book.

If Oskar is indeed "symbolic of the dark forces" -- then perhaps the symbolism needs to be explained more clearly.

The Tin Drum is a book for readers who like to relive the past. For people who like to read a new view of incidents with which they are already familiar. I did read about Danzig -- where the story is set -- in Wikipedia. Which did make some sense of what was happening as a backdrop to Oskar's own story. But so what?!

The book just goes on and on... and on... and on... with mean-spirited and petty actions by a nasty person. If you're interested in the characters of peasants and shop-keepers of pre-WWII Danzig -- read this book. Actually -- I did find that quite interesting. But it was spoilt by the pointless nastiness of the narrator. And -- I must admit -- I have no great interest in events in Danzig, during Hitler's rise and fall.

Back to "Agamedes' opinion"

I originally rated this at "6: read to pass the time". Then I remembered how hard it was to read this book! So, no, do not pick up The Tin Drum with the idea of a passing a few hours with a readable book. It was readable enough at first, then just clagged up my mind. Too much of the same, too little of interest.

I managed to read as far as page 278 -- almost exactly half way -- before I gave up. "My wife said, "Are you just skipping to the end, to see what happens?" No... It's worse than that.

I read half the book, then stopped. And I have no interest whatsoever, in finding out how it ends... There is no character, no plot, no idea which is worth following. The book is a series of incidents leading forward -- but to no place that I am interested in reaching.

And finally: Did you notice that the narrator has "magic powers"? The blurb says so and it's true. Which makes it difficult for me to categorise.

Grass is, apparently, "an early advocate of 'magic realism'". Does that mean that this book is a really boring fantasy? I don't have a category for "historic fiction", just "fiction". This book is a bit more than just "fiction". So I categorise Drum as both fiction and fantasy. Just don't confuse this book with escapist fantasy...

This book is a classic. Read it, if you are interested in deep and dark symbolism. If you believe that you would rather enjoy reading an historic classic -- read any book by Dickens. If you would like to enjoy a book about a dwarf and translated from German -- try The Dwarves. Read Drum only if you are interested in a complex and long-winded...

Ah, forget it.

And for goodness sake, Stop humming Little Drummer Boy -- it has nothing at all to do with this book!

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

Providence Road: in the Name of Friendship / Carol Marvell

Providence Road: in the Name of Friendship

by

Carol Marvell

published by Zeus Publications in 2007
read by Agamedes in July 2009
fiction
book 2 of In the name of...

I thought, here’s an interesting -- different style of -- book: a cover picture of attractive women, computer avatar quality... White slavery, evil villains, tough heroines... It’s the second book by an Australian author. The writing is really, really... bad. “An evil smirk twisted her thin lips...” And the point of view jumps amongst any of six or more characters. Still, it was readable. But I stopped after just a few chapters. There was violence, violent rape and heroic escapes (with violence). With most of the book still to go, I could see more violence and suffering still to come. Worse yet, this is “book two” -- so even the end may turn out to be continuing suffering. All too much for me!

Agamedes' rating: 4 out of 10

Okay, it's Australian. It's still not worth buying.

Luckily enough, Amazon don't seem to stock this book. So buy Lord of the Rings instead. Or any other well written book.