Commonwealth and Did You Ever Have a Family

Did You Ever Have a Family                     Commonwealth

By Bill Clegg                                              by Ann Patchett

★★★★                                                       ★★★★

Sometimes you read similar books close together and can't help but compare them. It happened to me a couple years ago when I read TheLikeness and The Secret History. I enjoyed them both, but the plots were so similar. I couldn’t help but have a clear favorite.

That happened again last month when I read the novels Did You Ever Have a Family and Commonwealth back-to-back without realizing how similar they are. Both books revolve around a tragedy. In one book it happens in the present and in the other it happened in the past. Both books tell the story from the point of view of many different people who are connected to the story. Both deal with grief, loss, broken marriages, and children whose relationships with their parents are beyond complicated.

They were both excellent novels, but with different strengths. I read Did You Ever Have a Family first, so I think it had a clear advantage. I wasn’t comparing it to anything else while reading it. Once I started Commonwealth I kept thinking back to the plot of the first book. I think Commonwealth was the more beautifully written of the two. I love Patchett’s work. She creates such incredible characters with depth and complex feelings.

Clegg’s novel is centered on the events that happen the night before a wedding. The bride and groom and other family members are killed when a gas explosion destroys their house. The mother-of-the-bride is the only one to survive. We are narrowed in to see the repercussions of one event. We flash back to the past for some context, but the main focus is the ripple effect of the explosion.

In Commonwealth the tragedy isn't revealed until you’re immersed in the novel. It’s less about one big event and more about relationships. An affair kicks off the novel and the main focus is the interactions between two sets of siblings after their parents marry. We get to know the characters through decades of their lives, winding through marriages and deaths, cross-country moves and crappy jobs.  

Both are excellent character studies full of regret abandon dreams, sickness, guilt, and all the messiness of life. I love that two very different authors can craft completely unique books that feel similar because of the themes.

BOTTOM LINE: I really enjoyed both novels, but they are unintentionally tied together in my mind.

The Patron Saint of Liars

The Patron Saint of Liars
by Ann Patchett
★★★☆

Patchett’s first book introduces us to Rose, a married woman who decides she’s never loved her husband and she wants out. She’s pregnant, but still decides to leave her life in California behind. She takes off and ends up at St. Elizabeth's, a Catholic home for unwed mothers in Kentucky. 

Rose is a cold character and the first section of the book was hard for me to get into. About 1/3 of the way in we switch to a different point of view, that of the home’s handyman Son, and after that things clicked for me. By the end of the book we rotate perspective once more, seeing the world through Rose’s daughter Cecelia’s eyes. These alternative POVs made things work so much better because Rose is such an intentionally hard character to connect with. Since we started from Rose’s POV I should have understood her character better, but she kept the reader at such a distance.

I loved the interaction of the women at St. Elizabeth’s. There’s such an intense bond of shared experience, almost like a summer camp on steroids. I was reminded a little bit of the scene from When She Woke in the women’s home. The women form friendships quickly because they are all pregnant and alone in the world in some way.

I think what I loved about the book was the quiet rhythm that you get into without even realizing it. Not much happens, but there’s a steady flow of time, women come and go with the years and all the while Rose is a steady force, never changing. I also loved the character of Sister Evangeline, an older nun who is the only one who seems to understand Rose.

BOTTOM LINE: It’s an extremely good first novel. Patchett’s gift for storytelling has clearly improved with time, but I still enjoyed this one. I also love being able to compare her early work to her later work.

This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage

This is the Story of a Happy Marriage

by Ann Patchett

★★★★★

 

This collection of essays from one of my favorite authors covers a wide variety of topics, everything from working at TGIFridays to dogs. The way Patchett writes makes any topic interesting. She is truthful and blunt at times, even when discussing sensitive subjects like grief, censorship, and divorce, but it’s this honesty that makes it easy for a reader to feel connected. Her passion for different things come through in her writing and you find yourself getting sucked into stories about seeing MET opera productions in her local theatre, taking a book tour or staying in a hotel and doing nothing.

 

Most of these articles were published in various magazines (Atlantic Monthly, Wall Street Journal, etc.) over the years, but all of them were new to me. She also included a few new pieces to round out the book. She spent years making ends meet with her freelance work for magazine and that experience is evident in the structure of the essays. They flow smoothly, each one a self-contained piece that stands on its own, but also adds to the neat arch through her life that the book traces.

 

One of my favorites was a piece on her bookstore Parnassus in Nashville. I had the opportunity to visit it last year and I loved hearing more about the history of its creation. I also loved her pieces about her dog Rose. As a dog lover it’s easy to immediately relate to those.

 

BOTTOM LINE: Each essay offered the reader another glimpse into the writer’s world. I don’t know if I would have loved it so much if I wasn’t already a huge fan, but I am, so this was a treat all the way through.

 

“Sometimes love does not have the most honorable beginnings, and the endings, the endings will break you in half. It’s everything in between we live for."

 

“I think the best vacation is the one that relieves me of my own life for a while and then makes me long for it again."

The All of It

When Ann Patchett spoke in Indy a couple months ago she was asked to recommend a few books. The first one she suggested was The All of It. She said it was the book that made her want to become a bookseller. She found her copy in an old used bookstore and blew through it in one sitting. When she tried to get another copy to pass along to a friend she realized it was out of print. She felt so strongly about the book that she was able to get it reissued and back into print. That’s a pretty powerful recommendation! So when I visited her bookstore in Nashville in September I knew I had to pick up a copy.

The All of It

by Jeannette Haien

★★★★☆

The slim novel doesn’t even clock in at 150 pages; it’s almost more of a novella. Set in Ireland, the book tells the story of a man confessing to his priest on his death bed. He tells the priest he has a secret but before he can unburden himself he passes and it’s left to his wife Edna to tell the “all of it” to the priest. What unfolds in the following pages tugs at the heart and mind in powerful ways. Through the priest we find ourselves in the role of both friend and confessor to the dying man and Edna.

The story is brief, but it packs a punch. It makes you think about your feelings on guilt and judgment and second guess your initial reaction. You question the role circumstances play in our lives. It’s an odd book, a whirlwind of information that leaves you processing it for days.

BOTTOM LINE: Short but powerful; this intimate story is one of survival. Find a copy if you get a chance!

"Dead faces," she said whitely, "they're all the same. They don't, I mean, tell of the person as they were alive."

"... in this life it's best to keep the then and now and the what's-to-be as close together in your thoughts as you can. It's when you let the gaps creep in, when you separate out the intervals and dwell on them, that you can't bear the sorrow."

*Photo of me getting my copy at Parnassus Books in Nashville. 

Meeting the lovely Ann Patchett

I had the chance to see Ann Patchett speak last week and it was fantastic! She was the speaker for this year’s Marian McFadden Memorial Lecture and she was honored with the Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Literature Award.

I also stayed for the book signing which followed the talk and got my two favorite books by her (Bel Canto and State of Wonder) signed. We had a chance to talk for a minute and she even took a quick picture with me. It’s definitely one of my absolute favorite author meetings I’ve even had.

Patchett talked a bit about her bookstore Parnassus Books in Nashville. She emphasized the importance of supporting local bookstores and not just saying you enjoy them and then buying the book on Amazon because it’s cheaper. I’m dying to visit her store in Nashville and I’m hoping to make a trip there later this year. I also completely agree with her point about putting your money where your mouth is. I think that’s true for the arts as well as bookstores. Yes, it costs money to buy a book new or go to the theatre, but you’re supporting something important when you buy you ticket!

She said she’s traveled to dozens of libraries all over the country and Indianapolis’ downtown branch in one of the most beautiful she has ever scene. As you guys have heard me say before, I definitely agree! She also gave the entire St. Crispin’s Day speech from Henry V! It made sense in the context of the talk and it was absolutely incredible! She made some important points about there not being a magic muse who writes her novels for her. It’s hard work and it’s not easy, but it’s something you sit down and do every day if you’re a writer.

"If you love books, you want to push them on people, so owning an independent bookstore is the best!"

(Just laughing with Ann Patchett, no big deal)

If you’ve read State of Wonder you no doubt remember a certain intense scene with an anaconda. She described her actual experience on a small 15 foot boat on a river in the Amazon. One of the men in the boat (not one of the tour guides, just a passenger) pulled at giant anaconda out of the river and into their boat. He kept it in the boat for 20 minutes, describing everything about it while it slowly wrapped itself around his body. They eventually pulled it off him and put it back in the water, but she said it was absolutely terrifying and in that moment the scene from the book was born. She later found out the guy was a snake expert and they became friends, but can you imagine witnessing that?!?

During the Q & A session someone asked her for book recommendations and she suggested the following books:

1) Patrick Melrose novels by Edward St. Aubyn
2) Casual Vacancy (this one was interesting because she said she hasn't read the Harry Potter series!)
3) Independent People by Halldór Laxness (Apparently a book about Icelandic sheep and coffee)
4) The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

5) Old Filth by Jane Gardam

6) The All of It by Jeannette Haien 

Photos by a kind new book-loving friend I met in line.

State of Wonder

State of Wonder

by Ann Patchett

★★★★☆

There is something hypnotic about this book. Normally the premise wouldn’t appeal to me; a pharmacy company sends one of its doctors into the Brazilian Amazon to check on the research progress of a miracle drug. Nothing in that sounds like something I’d love, but since it was written by Ann Patchett it was an absolute must for me. I haven’t loved all of her books, but I have enjoyed most of them a loved a few. That being said, I dove into this one with some reservations that I soon discovered were completely unfounded.

Dr. Marina Singh finds out that her colleague Anders Eckman has died in Brazil after being sent by their company to find the illusive Dr. Annick Swenson. Singh finds herself in the strange position of being sent to confirm Eckman’s death and finish the job he started. The novel is slow going, its pages sometimes feeling as heavy as the humidity in that tropical culture. Nothing is rushed and yet Patchett draws you in with a heady mixture of curiosity and dread. The writing in so enthralling that it’s almost easy to forget the plot in favor of discovering each new paragraph as its own entity.

The book has aptly been compared to Heart of Darkness, but unlike that novel I cared much more deeply about the characters in this one. The cold and practical Dr. Swenson was one of the most fascinating characters I’ve come across in a long time. In fact it was my love for some of those relationships that made me struggle with the ending. I didn’t dislike it; it was just hard to process.

I also want to note that everyone was right and the audio version. It’s read by Hope Davis and it was incredible. I’m not sure I would have loved it as much if I’d just read a hardcopy the first time around.

BOTTOM LINE: It’s a beautiful book and I have a feeling I’ll be thinking about these characters for a long time. It’s hard to explain exactly why it’s so powerful, but I will be trusting in Patchett’s storytelling ability as long as she is writing.

p.s. When I was reading this I found out that Patchett will be the speaker for this year’s Marian McFadden Memorial Lecture! I’m so excited I’ll get to hear her speak this month!

The Magician's Assistant

The Magician's Assistant

by Ann Patchett

★★★☆

Sabine has spent her entire life pining after the one man she could never have. She’s spent years working as a magician’s assistant for Parsifal, but he is gay and can never return her love in the way she wants. She was close friends with both him and his partner Phan. After Phan’s death she and Parsifal marry for companionship and so that she will inherit his home. When he passes away she finds out he was not orphaned as he claimed, but has a whole family in Nebraska who want to meet her.

This strange premise is not at all what I was expecting. I think I thought it would be a bit like The Prestige or something, set in the 1800s and full of intrigue. Instead it’s a quiet story of grief and love and the many forms that both of those things come in. The grief aspect of the novel was actually the most interesting to me. I felt like Patchett captured its confusing nature well. One moment you’re in shock, another you’re unable to function, yet another you’re sappy with memories or regrets. Its mercurial forms can leave a person reeling and I think Sabine was struggling with that.

It’s a tribute to Patchett’s writing that I enjoyed this one as much as I did. It’s certainly not my favorite or her novels, but like her other books it’s so characters driven that the odd plot doesn’t really detract from it. I disliked the ending, which felt a bit too contrived for me, but that seems to be a trademark of Patchett’s. Many people felt the same way about Bel Canto.

BOTTOM LINE: Read it if you already love her work. If you’re new to her, start with Bel Canto, a gorgeously written story, or with her nonfiction book Truth & Beauty, an ode to her friendship with a fellow writer. This one isn’t bad, but it never comes together as well as those others. 

Reading the States: Tennessee

State: TENNESSEE

Fiction:
- The Firm* by John Grisham
- The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks
- Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor
- An Abundance of Katherines* by John Green
- Suttree by Cormac McCarthy
- A Death in the Family by James Agee
- Child of God by Cormac McCarthy
- Christy by Catherine Marshall
- Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
- How to Build a House by Dana Reinhardt
- Taft by Ann Patchett
- Carved in Bone by Jefferson Bass
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Nonfiction:
- My Own Country by Abraham Verghese
- The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis
- The American Plague by Molly Caldwell Crosby
- Cash by Johnny Cash
- American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House* by Jon Meacham
- Truth and Beauty* by Ann Patchett
- The Fight for Chattanooga by Jerry Korn
- Good Rockin' Tonight by Colin Escott with Martin Hawkins

Authors Known for Writing in or about the State:
- Sharyn McCrumb
- Steven Womack

Authors Who Lived Here:
- Ann Patchett
- Thomas Harris
- Tim Cahill
- Louise Fitzhugh
- Cormac McCarthy
- Al Gore  

Great Bookstores: 
Winder Binder Gallery and Bookstore  
Burke’s Book Store  
Parnassus Books

*Books I've Read 

Photo by moi. 

Reading the States: Nebraska

State: NEBRASKA

Fiction: 

- O Pioneers!* by Willa Cather
- My Antonia* by Willa Cather
- One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus
- Nebraska Legacy by DiAnn Mills
- The Magician's Assistant* by Ann Patchett
- Sing Them Home by Stephanie Kallos
- The Echo Maker by Richard Powers

- Night of the Twisters by Ivy Ruckman
- Attachments* by Rainbow Rowell
- Worth Dying For by Lee Child

- Eleanor & Park* by Rainbow Rowell

Nonfiction: 
- I Am a Man* by Joe Starita
- My Nebraska: The Good the Bad and the Husker by Roger Welsch
- All the Strange Hours by Loren Eiseley
- Once Upon a Town by Bob Greene
- The Children's Blizzard* by David Laskin

- The Selected Letters of Willa Cather edited by Andrew Jewell and Janis Stout 

Authors Known for Writing in or about the State:
- James C. Olson
- Wright Morris 

Authors Who Lived Here:
- Willa Cather 

Great Bookstores:
Indigo Bridge Books 

Bookworm
A Novel Idea

*Books I've Read

Photo by moi.