Welcome to the Monkey House

Welcome to the Monkey House
by Kurt Vonnegut
★★★☆

I feel like a broken record when it comes to short stories, but every time I seem to have the same reaction. It’s incredibly rare to find one where every story in the collection is a gem and this is no exception to that rule. There are some great pieces including “The Lie” about a young boy’s application to the prep school. “Unready to Wear” is another fascinating one, telling the story of a world where some people have figured out how to leave their bodies behind and exist without them. They put on new bodies like a suit of clothes. But for every good one there is a weaker one and the collection of 25 stories is a mixed bag.

“Who Am I This Time?” is my favorite of the bunch. Harry is a quiet man who works at a local hardware store. Once a year he comes to life in a local theatre production. He throws himself into every new role with wild abandon, but the moment the curtain falls on the final night he return to his chronically shy personality. Helen is new to town and finds herself cast opposite Harry in “A Streetcar Named Desire.” She falls in love, but she’s fallen in love with the character Harry is playing, not Harry himself.

The main stories that I think will stay with me are not Vonnegut’s usual fare. For a man so well-known for his sarcasm the book contains some surprisingly sweet pieces. His cynical wit seeps in, but it's tempered with a warm nostalgia. Many of the stories were written while he was a young author trying to make ends meet. His talent is there but he was writing for a wider audience. A great example of this is one Vonnegut originally titles "Hell to Get Along With," when it was printed in the Ladies Home Journal (yes a Vonnegut article!) it was renamed, "Long Walk to Forever." Another great one is "Adam," which introduces readers to two Holocaust survivors marveling at the miracle of childbirth.
 
BOTTOM LINE: Some of these stories, particularly the ones I mentioned, are absolute 5 star pieces for me, but overall the book is hit or miss. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to try Vonnegut to see if they might like his style.

p.s. Last month I got to see a play based on three of the stories from this collection. It was called "Who am I This Time?" and it was excellent! 
 

Mini Reviews: Odd and the Frost Giants, The Subterraneans and The Deportees

Odd and the Frost Giants
by Neil Gaiman
★★★★
 
Odd is a quiet boy living in a village in Norway. He's been through so much but he hasn't quite found his place in the world. When his path crosses with Odin, Loki and Thor he finds his strength.
 
The story delves into issues about growing up, solving problems without using violence and figuring out who you are. Gaiman's adult novel, American Gods, has similar themes on a much more adult level. One line from Odd about the Gods reminded me so much of American Gods...
 
"No. He doesn't learn. None of them do. And they don't change, either. They can't. It's all part of being a God."
 
It's a sweet book and one that I will definitely be sharing with my nephews and nieces. Also, I should mention the beautiful illustrations by Brett Helquist. They add so much to the book!
 
The Subterraneans
by Jack Kerouac
★★★

As I've said in the past, I think there's an ideal time period in which people should read Kerouac to best appreciate him. When you're young and have little to no responsibilities, the author's beautiful words and carefree life are much more appealing. When you are grown up and have a mortgage, etc. it's harder to embrace his drunken nights, callous treatment of women,  and complete disregard of responsibility.

At the same time, even when I'm frustrated by what Kerouac is saying I still admire the way he says it. His writing is like jazz. There's often no discernible pattern and I'm never sure what will happen next, but it's beautiful. He can always see the poetry in the world around him, but he also seemed incapable of overcoming his own failings.
 
"Just to start at he beginning and let the truth seep out, that's what I'll do."

The Deportees and other stories
by Roddy Doyle
★★★

There are eight short stories in this collection from the famed Irish author Roddy Doyle. Each one deals with Irish natives interacting with individuals from other countries that have immigrated to the Emerald Isle. 

There's the slightly creepy tale The Pram, about a nanny who is worried about a haunting. Black Hoodie about racial profiling and young crushes. Another story, Guess Who's Coming for the Dinner, takes us back to the premise of the Spencer Tracy movie of the same name. The Commitments introduces us to Jimmy Rabbitte, a musician hoping to get a band together.

The connecting line throughout the book is the changing face of a country. As Ireland becomes a more diverse  place its citizens must adjust to the new world around them.

BOTTOM LINE: I'm intrigued enough by Doyle's writing that I would like to read one of his better-known novels, but I wasn't overly impressed with this collection.

Dirtyville Rhapsodies

Dirtyville Rhapsodies

by Josh Green

★★★★

This solid short story collection is packed with grim pictures of “normal” life. Each of the 18 stories clocks in between 10 and 15 pages, just long enough to give the reader a glimpse into the sordid lives of its characters. A cop on the brink of self-destruction, a desperate journalist, a junkie, a soldier, a honeymooning couple, Green catches each of them at their worst moment and then chronicles it for our amusement. The result is a powerful portrait of broken souls.

In “Missing Athena” we meet a grieving husband, trying to care for his son while longing for his wife. “Axis of Symmetry” paints a vicious picture of a jealous ex-husband. “The Abduction” breaks your heart. It’s hard to say exactly where this book hooks you, but it’s hard to put it down.

Each of the stories stands alone, but their subjects tend to have one common thread: unhappiness. Whether it’s a crumbling marriage or drug addiction, they’re all struggling with something. In Atlanta, the capital of the "Dirty South" people are just trying to make it through the day.

BOTTOM LINE: The beautiful writing and palpable descriptions make this a quick read and great collection.

“No one pays attention to calendars but there’s something in the Friday air you can taste, the sweet sugar of workaday liberation.”

Side Note: Men’s Health just listed the book as one of the top 11 best reads for the summer, alongside Stephen King and Dan Brown’s new novels.

Photo of Atlanta from here. 

The Imperfectionists

Imperfections
by Tom Rachman
★★★★

Going into this one I didn’t realize it was a string of interconnected short stories. Using this style we’re introduced to a dozen staff members of an English-language newspaper in Rome, but the real main character of the book is the paper itself.

In between each of the modern-day vignettes are glimpses into the history of the newspaper, beginning with its founding in 1954 by a rich man named Cyrus Ott. He hires a married couple, Betty and Leo, to run the paper. For decades the Ott family continues to fund the paper, even when it is struggling.

The rest of the stories follow individuals who currently work at the paper. There’s the Editor-in-Chief, Kathleen, a business-minded woman whose husband might be having an affair. There’s Lloyd, a washed-up reporter living in Paris, who is desperate for a story. Another employee, Arthur, suffers a tragedy but ends up with a promotion. Herman, a 30-year vet at the paper, spends time with an old friend. He’s able to see his own life from a new perspective when he realizes how much they’ve grown apart.

A few of the stories, notably those featuring Hardy, Abbey, Ruby and especially Winston made me cringe. They’re written so well, but I hate situations where people are blatantly taking advantage of others. Despite that aspect, the characters feel real and the style reminds me of some of Maeve Binchy’s short story collections. They aren’t uplifting, but they are realistic.

I think the main reason I enjoyed this one is because I could identify with the newspaper aspects of the book. I could recognize the personalities of so many of the employees. I remember being a reporter at a paper that was on its last leg. I remember the discussions about how the internet was effecting the publishing world. It was always a struggle and it’s the story of the newspaper that rang true for me and made the collection work.

BOTTOM LINE: Try it if you love books set in foreign countries, love interwoven short story collections or have a deep love of journalism.

“The only death we experience is that of other people. That’s as bad as it gets. And that’s bad enough, surely.”

“Nothing epitomizes the futility of human striving quite life aspartame.”

“But this is how he is: easygoing, which means tough-going for everyone else.”

Photo by moi (bookmark from Rome)

Fragile Things

Fragile Things
by Neil Gaiman
★★★☆

Short story collections tend to be pretty hit or miss for me. I adore Jhumpa Lahiri’s work, but have been disappointed by collections with numerous authors. To me, they often feel like scraps or half-baked ideas tossed together in no discernable order. But when they’re done right, each story works as a stand alone, but also flows well with the rest of the collection.

I’m a sucker for Gaiman’s work, because his stories have a way of getting under my skin, in a good way. I can’t say I loved Fragile Things, but I did love some of the individual stories it contains. Even when the story itself wasn’t memorable, some of his phrases or characters were, which is a testament to Gaiman’s skill as a storyteller.

There were some pieces I liked more than others. I didn’t care for “Keepsakes and Treasures,” but thought the Sherlock Holmes-inspired tale, “A Study in Emerald,” was wonderful. I loved “The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch," which is cheerfully dark, an odd balance only Gaiman seems to be able to pull off.

Another good one was a, spooky story, which follows a boy who runs away from home and meets a ghost. It felt like a precursor for The Graveyard Book. Fragile Things also contains a poem that I love, “Instructions,” which has since been turned into an illustrated children’s book.

This collection is best known for two stories; one featuring Shadow, the main character from American Gods, and the other is about Susan from the Narnia books. To be honest, these sections were two of my least favorite in the book, neither really worked for me.

If you’re already a fan of Gaiman’s work, I’d recommend this collection. For those hoping to try something of his, don’t start here, instead try Stardust, The Graveyard Book or the marvelous audio version of Anansi Boys.

Book Reviews: Girl in Hyacinth Blue

Girl in Hyacinth Blue
by Susan Vreeland
★★★★

This collection of short stories begins with the reclusive owner of a beautiful painting, which he believes to be a Vermeer. The seven that follow trace the ownership of the painting back through decades. Some touch on the Holocaust, other delve into Dutch history, all the stories are connected by the common thread of the painting and the effect it has on each of its owners.

There are love stories, tales of poor farmers and rich aristocrats, and even one featuring Vermeer himself. I was expecting this to be a boring read (I have no idea why), but I found myself really enjoying each account of the paintings journey through the years. Vreeland gives us a glimpse into eight very different worlds, obviously some of the tales work better than others, but all of them are interesting. She also manages to capture the reader’s attention with the first story and give the collection a sense of resolution with the final one.