Book Review: Are You My Mother? : A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel

Title: Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama
Author: Alison Bechdel
Publisher: Jonathan Cape, Random House UK
ISBN: 978-0-224-09352-1
Genre: Graphic Novel
Pages: 289
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

When Alison Bechdel wrote, “Fun Home”, a graphic novel about her closeted gay father and her relationship with him, it was received with great aplomb. Critics loved it and so did the regular readers. I read it last month and was in absolute love with it. At the end of the book, I wondered, “What about Alison’s mother? What about her point of view and her life?” and the wonder was put to rest when I read her new book, “Are You My Mother?”

Are You My Mother speaks of the relationship Alison shared/s with her mother. Alison’s mother was everything rolled into one – an actor, musician, lover of books and also a woman unhappily married to a gay man. Alison’s childhood simmered under all of this – her father’s constant battle and her mother’s constant shirking away from her, so much so that she stopped touching or kissing her daughter good night ever since she was seven. There was this constant tension between her parents, which led to Alison’s history of obsessive compulsive disorders which she shares in the book.

The book in itself is funny and at so many places only heartbreaking. There are moments when Alison’s relationship with her mother are for all to see – how she did not get the attention she craved for, or the relationship defined by the complete and absolute lack of intimacy. At some places she provides answers and reasons and at the others she leaves it for the reader to figure it on his/her own.

Are you my Mother contains a lot of dream analysis as well – Freud has to jump in, when it is the bigger picture and through these dreams one can also understand how detail-oriented Bechdel is with reference to her life and relationships.

As a graphic novel, I loved the drawings as much as I did in Fun Home. The lines are clear and the colour is just what this book should have – in shades of grey and tinges of red. Alison’s book is not just about her mother – it is also about introspection of her life and the way she led it before writing Fun Home.

I loved the way this book was written. More so because I am biased to graphic novels. They speak a different language of words and pictures, which also conveys a lot, like a novel would. The past and present are beautifully juxtaposed and the good thing is that there is also a sense of empathy while reading the book. There is no pity or sympathy; however it is something one can relate to, without experiencing it at some level.

“Are you My Mother?” for me was a wonderful read this month. Family relationships are beautifully portrayed in this one and that too being a graphic novel, it manages to convey a lot. Bechdel’s mother remains an enigma in most places, but that doesn’t deter the book from being what it is – brilliant. Relationships are like a prism sometimes with way too many angles and perspectives. This is one of them – from a daughter to her mother.

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Book Review: The Red House by Mark Haddon

Title: The Red House
Author: Mark Haddon
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
ISBN: 978-0224096409
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 272
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

When Mark Haddon writes, you sit up and take notice. There are no two ways to that thought – at least not for me. I remember reading, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” in 2003 and being taken in by the spectacular writing style and the first person narration. In the same way, I enjoyed reading, “A Spot of Bother” – very different from the first one and equally breath-taking.

I was then mailed an Advanced Reader’s Copy of, “The Red House” and my joy knew no bounds. The book is about middle-class angst and it works on so many levels, in terms of being able to relate to it. A great deal does not happen in the book. Do not expect twists and turns. Having said that, the book is a great read.

An adult brother and sister take their respective families on a holiday together in a cottage in Wales, following their mother’s death. The book is about the eight main characters’ thoughts, interactions with each other, and individual experiences. In my experience, when narratives shift in almost every chapter, the novel becomes boring and confusing to the reader. This does not happen with this book. Each character has a distinct voice (one of the clear talents of a good writer) and knows what to say and when.

The characters are: Angela, the sister and a working mom, on the verge of a breakdown, Dominic – Angela’s unemployed husband, their teenage son Alex, their religious daughter Daisy, their young son Benjy – living in his fantasy world, Richard – Angela’s estranged brother, Louisa – his wife and Melissa, his manipulative daughter.

Through these characters Haddon plays a week in the book, moving between each character – almost as swiftly as paragraph to the next. The book gave me the ever-changing, fascinating and the feeling that I was looking through a looking glass. The eight of them have their own secrets, longings and resentments which only make them as human as you and I. The writing zips in montages and sometimes it becomes difficult to figure who is carrying the baton, though once you get used to the writing, it isn’t difficult to figure.

The language and symbolism is weaved very well for a story of a dysfunctional family. In some parts, it almost reminded me of Faulkner’s, “The Sound and the Fury”, however those parts were rare. As a reader, you are left with many questions of the families’ future at the end of the book, but I guess that’s a great job done for the writer, if his/her readers are still thinking about the characters, way after the book has been devoured.

The Red House by Mark Haddon is a rollercoaster of emotions and all it works surprisingly well and all adds up at the end of the book. I would definitely and most certainly recommend this read for the long summer weekend that comes up.

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Book Review: Coltrane by Paolo Parisi

Title: Coltrane
Author: Paolo Parisi
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
ISBN: 978-0224094108
Genre: Graphic Novels, Biography
Pages: 128
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4/5

John Coltrane is probably one of the best saxophone players who ever lived and performed and yet when music enthusiasts speak of Jazz they conveniently forget him. I had almost forgotten how much I loved his music till I started reading the very-well capsulated and drawn graphic novel of his life by Paolo Parisi.

I believe that if you are setting to capture an artist’s life through a graphic novel, it isn’t enough sometimes. You need more than graphics to do justice to the artist and his or her life. However, while reading Coltrane, I did not feel that way at all. Paolo Parisi has done a great job of telling the story of one of the greatest Jazz musicians beautifully – from his humble beginnings of a deprived childhood in North Carolina to his journey and stumbles along the way in form of drugs, a broken marriage and a successful second one to his solo recordings and his name high up there with the legends such as Miles Davis (who he started working with coincidentally). The book but obviously ends with his death due to liver cancer.

All of this in the book is layered with quotes from interviews and articles with Coltrane, Malcolm X (in whose movement Coltrane was highly involved), to the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church by the Klu Klux Clan (to whose victims Coltrane then dedicated a song).

The book worked for me as I wanted to know more about Coltrane’s life. About the artist who constantly broke boundaries in his music and was not afraid to experiment. Parisi through his writing bows to that musical genius by converting his life to a graphic novel. Or maybe at some level it is easier and more accessible for people who don’t have the patience to read biographies anymore. The book interestingly is also divided into four parts that mirror Love Supreme’s four parts: Acknowledgment, Resolution, Pursuance and Psalm.

At the end of it all, Parisi provides a simple and yet emotional insight to one of the greatest artists’ who ever lived. Read this one while listening to Coltrane’s music. It has quite a mesmerizing effect. Here is Love Supreme for you:

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Book Review: Why Be Happy When You Could Be Norrmal? by Jeanette Winterson

Title: Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
Author: Jeanette Winterson
Publisher: Jonathan Cape, Random House UK
ISBN: 978-0-224-09345-3
Genre: Autobiography, Non-Fiction
Pages: 230
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

We think we know life and what it has in store for us. We like to predict. We feel safe in its outcome. We pattern it for ourselves and intend to stick to the pattern. And then there are some for who life doesn’t quite work out that way and they then chronicle stories we read and want more. Jeanette Winterson is one such writer, who I admire a lot and she has grown to be my favourite writer ever since I can remember. I vividly recall the first time I read, “Written on the Body” and re-read it several times, because I wanted to feel alive and it helped me feel that way. It is one of those books I will never ever forget. It had an impact and continues to.

“Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?” was a question posed by Jeanette Winterson’s adoptive mother, when at sixteen Jeanette decided to leave home and study, and more so to be with her girlfriend, that her adoptive mother disapproved of. The title of her autobiography is the same.

I started reading this book two days ago and I have been taken on a rollercoaster ride with it. From Jeanette’s adoptive process to the conditions in which she was brought up – yearning for love, deprived of books (and reading them on the sly), left outside on the porch for doing or saying something inappropriate and not been given a chance to live to the freedom she snatched with both hands on leaving home, this book makes you wonder. A lot actually. About what home means and the sense of longing that prevails throughout life if you haven’t felt at home. The book towards the last few chapters also talks about Jeanette’s search of her real parents and the emotional ride through it all.

The fact that Mrs. Winterson (the foster mother), a woman of alarming eccentricity and neglectful cruelty believes that Jeanette was a child to whose crib Mrs. Winterson was led by the Devil and not God is enough to give the reader an inkling of the author’s growing years. Mrs. Winterson dreamed of the Apocalypse and the Second Coming, which Jeanette used as material for her first book, “Oranges are not the Only Fruit” beautifully. And then there were small joys – of the beach holiday she took with her parents, the kindness of the local librarian and of her English teacher Mrs. Ratlow, who took her in when she was left out, make you think about life and its adversities and the power of words that can make everything alright.

I could connect to this book on so many levels – from the time Ms. Winterson talks about books to love (about wanting to be love and not knowing how to love) to the confusion in her head to the clarity, I was enthralled by this book. It made me laugh. It made me cry. I will definitely go back to it again. Sink in its words. That’s the only way to love a book. Read it again. Read it the first time.

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Book Review: The Death-Ray by Daniel Clowes

Title: The Death-Ray
Author: Daniel Clowes
Publisher: Jonathan Cape, Random House UK
ISBN: 978-0224094115
Genre: Graphic Novel
Pages: 48
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

Daniel Clowes never ceases to amaze me with his graphic novels. He is brilliant and while I say that for most authors who I read, Mr. Clowes is truly the master of graphic storytelling. I remember reading, ‘Ghost Girl’ with such fascination when I first laid my hands on it and then I was marveled by, ‘Wilson’, only to be enthralled by his latest book, ‘The Death-Ray’.

‘The Death-Ray’ focuses on Andy, a lonely boy growing up in the 70s who has one friend and is being raised by his grandfather who is likely to develop Alzheimer’s. One day while smoking a cigarette by chance, Andy discovers that nicotine activates his super-powers where he gains super strength. Coupled with that is his father’s legacy – a handheld, “death ray” that can eliminate people. This turns Andy from being an awkward teen to having the power of life and death in his hand.

The book follows the story of Andy and his friend Louie as they try to find their place in the world. They go through their phases – of picking on bullies, on people who do wrong and people who according to them deserve the death-ray experience. The plot is simple, but things get complex and more difficult to understand when Andy grows up. There was a point in time when I felt bad for Andy and his way of life, however then I realized that some people are just made for this – to go through life, pass by and experience it.

There are no spoilers in the review as the book needs to be experienced by readers. The writing is strong and Daniel Clowes as always touches upon the themes of loneliness and angst in a surreal manner. The Death-Ray is one of the best Graphic novels I have read this year. Read it!

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Book Review: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

Title: The Sense of an Ending
Author: Julian Barnes
Publisher: Jonathan Cape, Random House UK
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 144 pages
Source: Personal Copy
Rating: 5/5

We are what we remember. But imagine, suddenly, that you were confronted with incontrovertible evidence that what you remember is wrong. That, in fact, you behaved in a very different way than you remember at a key point in your past. Would it change your sense of identity, or alter your understanding of the world? This is the central theme in The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes, more of a novella than a novel at around 150 pages, which was recently short-listed for the Man Booker Prize.

The protagonist of The Sense of an Ending is Tony Webster, now retired and divorced, living a quiet, satisfactory, largely uneventful life and reasonably content with his lot. Out of the blue he receives a surprising bequest from the recently deceased mother of an ex-girlfriend from his student days, someone he has not seen for many years. As he puzzles over why he has been remembered, he recalls events and friendships from his student days. But it soon becomes apparent that others have very different memories of those times and their consequences than he does, and there is hard evidence to suggest that Tony’s recollections are wrong. Gradually in the course of the book the layers of the past are peeled away to reveal a truth which shakes Tony’s belief in himself.

It’s a book about history and how we recall events. Tony has his memories but without evidence or corroboration, how sure can he be? Do the lessons learnt in the History classroom apply to the individual? What starts off in the manner of Alan Bennett’s “History Boys” soon turns into a darker mystery as Tony is forced to face up to the actions of his younger self.

It’s a joy to read. Thought provoking, beautifully observed with just enough mystery to keep you turning the pages to find out what happened. Books that involve the narrator examining their own actions can get too easily bogged down, but by keeping it brief, this never happens with Barnes. There’s insight into the human condition and gentle philosophy without it becoming too introspective. It’s very readable literary fiction.

Julian Barnes is one of our leading novelists and The Sense of an Ending shows him working at a very high level. It is beautifully written and always interesting, while striving to address serious themes. At the core of this is the unease produced by the idea that Tony has lived an entire life built on a self-image relying on false memories. Is this because memory is inherently unreliable, or because some of us have the ability to reimagine events to be different than they really were, enabling us to live a different type of life than the one that our behaviour warrants? Barnes does not answer these questions, but makes the reader think about them.

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Book Review: The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje

Title: The Cat’s Table
Author: Michael Ondaatje
Publisher: Jonathan Cape, Random House UK
ISBN: 978-0224093613
Pages: 304
Genre: Literary Fiction
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

Ondaatje’s latest novel is, perhaps, his most “approachable” yet. It lacks the (somewhat) “foreign-ness” of Anil’s Ghost and the “intellectual-ness” of Divisadero. (It’s been too long since I read The English Patient to adequately come up with a comparison.) But most importantly, it has the same almost lyrically beautiful prose of other novels. It also reads faster. It is a page turner – not so much because the story is riveting, but because the prose flows so easily.

The Cat’s Table takes place, mostly, on a ship as an 11-year-old boy sails from Sri Lanka to England. (Approximately 100 pp into the novel, we learn the boy – who narrates – is named Michael, but an author’s note at the end tells us, explicitly, that this is a novel and not a memoir.) The novel itself, in some ways, is a series of vignettes, more than a narrative with a full arc.

On the ship, Michael meets two other boys his age, and they proceed to cause mischief of various kinds – stealing food from first class and hiding in life boats to eat; tossing deck chairs into the pool; creating a fort in the turbine room. They also cross paths with a diverse cast of characters at the table where they dine – The Cat’s Table: a botanist who is transporting a garden in the ship’s cargo hold; a pianist who plays with the ship band; a tailor who doesn’t speak; and a woman whose demeanor is able to arise the budding sexual fantasies of the boys.

The Cat’s Table is not a “coming of age” story in the traditional sense. In my opinion, it takes place over too short a period of time to be that; the bulk of the action takes place only over the three week journey from East to West. But the story on the ship does include brief “pauses” that take us into Michael’s future (the general present/recent past) and show the way in which the short period of time really did inform and shape his life. In some ways, these realizations for him seem to happen only as a result of writing about and reliving his time on the ship. Thus, we are sharing in his self-discovery; he is not telling us about it after the fact.

Some readers may feel frustrated as recollections and anecdotes jump back and forth, but this is what happens in life – there rarely a complete picture but only fragments that increase understanding and appreciation.

Portrayed here is an education indeed – growing sexual awareness, first-hand experience of the power of the elements (not to mention tragedy), realization that outward appearances do not tell the whole story. There was far more to the people encountered than at the time ever thought possible.

I found this finely crafted, multi-faceted novel a richly rewarding read – crammed with insight, humour and memorable images. It’s a yearning tribute with an almost fairytale-like aura to the memories of awe that pervade our dreams (and nightmares and fears), and the memories of sometimes unlikely affiliation and love and what we mistake as love that pervade and haunt our hearts, guide us or sometimes lead us astray.

Book Review: Damned by Chuck Palahniuk

Title: Damned
Author: Chuck Palahniuk
Publisher: Jonathan Cape, Random House UK
ISBN: 978-0224091152
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 256 pages
Price: £12.99
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

I have always loved Chuck Palahniuk’s books. Yes they are dysfunctional and yes sometimes they can only get weird, however most of the time, there are lines in his books that take my breath away and only make me realize that what he says is most often just a reflection of the times we live in – Drastic, On-the-Edge, Ever-Changing and most of all Confused. A world that doesn’t know what it is all about and why is it here in the first place.

Chuck Palahniuk’s characters are weak. They know they are weak and most of the time they only want a better life – much like Richard Yates’s characters. Be it the Messiah in Survivor (or so he thinks of himself to be) or be it the Trans-gendered beauty queen of Invisible Monsters – they are running away to find themselves. For all these reasons and more, Chuck Palahniuk is one of my favourite writers. So I was very pleased to have received a copy of “Damned” for early review. The book will be out only in October 2011.

Damned is said to be a Young Adult book, however it isn’t like that at all. It is a book for adults, which I am sure adults will take to very easily, since the language is not complicated like his recent books.

Damned begins with Madison Spencer, a chunky silver-tongued thirteen-year-old who is the daughter of a way-into-herself film actress and billionaire daddy. After a marijuana over-dose (why I am not surprised?), she wakes up in the wrong side of the afterlife within the confines a scummy jail cell in Hell. She compares this experience to The Breakfast Club, a sort of permanent detention in which you’re stuck with people who are nothing like you in a place you don’t want to be. Madison, of course, plays the basket case a la Ally Sheedy while others fill the role of The Jock, The Nerd, The Cheerleader, and The Burn Out. And true to Breakfast Club form, a particular amount of emphasis is put on the question “Why are you here?”

It’s when these five characters start their tour of Hell and learning the ropes that Damned becomes a real joyride. Palahniuk truly has no rules to play by in this one, so rather than the reader having to suspend their disbelief in regards to the porn industry or special agent foreign exchange students—his version of Hell, and all the sights and sounds he provides us—they’ll hit just as hard as his infamous Guts short story while taking regular cracks at your funny bone with its satire.

The ebb of flow of Damned follows the group tour of Hell while going back to Madison’s time on earth, examining her home life and the circumstances leading up to her untimely demise. We’ve seen this move before: Chuck giving you past and present events in a steady rotation, and the move still works.

Damned has a sense of urgency about it, almost forcing the reader to tear through it in order to get that next titbit of Madison’s back-story or another Hell-related factoid, i.e. – the role of demons and which celebrities reside in the flaming deep. I easily tore through this one within the day.

Book Review: A Taste of Chlorine by Bastien Vives

Title: A Taste of Chlorine
Author: Bastien Vives
Publisher: Jonathan Cape, Random House UK
Genre: Graphic Novel
ISBN: 978-0224090964
Pages: 144
Price: £16.99
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

A man with curvature of the spine is advised to take up swimming to help with his condition. When he begins swimming he finds it hard to get into but slowly becomes better at it. A woman he meets at the swimming pool is a former swimming champion who helps him get better and the two begin a pool-only relationship. Over time it seems the man falls for the woman and that the woman might have feelings for the man – but will anything come of this? This is the premise of this graphic novel, and honestly it is beautifully portrayed.

This subtle, gentle story is told at a very leisurely pace by artist/writer Bastien Vives. The pictures look very colourful and crisp in the French style of illustration. This is a contemplative, almost zen-like storytelling style revolving around swimming in a pool with very little in the way of dialogue and mostly panels showing slight variations of the previous one. In this way it’s almost like animation and if you read it quickly it’s like watching an animated indie feature. I personally loved this method of story-telling. It is almost taking you back to the roots of telling stories without being too verbose and all through pictures.

In the end, I wasn’t sure what to make of the story. I enjoyed the book but the ambiguity made sure that I was kept in the dark. The end is like the end of “Lost in Translation” when Scarlett Johannson whispers something in Bill Murray’s ear and the audience doesn’t hear it – something is “said” which basically ends the book and it’s never explained.

Even so, the book is well drawn and intriguing if only to see how the story will play out. The ambiguity and lack of an ending continue the feeling of intrigue set out by the writer and though that might be unsatisfactory for some, I still came away from the book thinking it was worthwhile. Definitely an acquired taste but for those looking for indie comics or a comic book that has something a bit different to it, this is a decent read.

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A Taste of Chlorine

Book Review: The Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier

Title: The Illumination
Author: Kevin Brockmeier
Publisher: Jonathan Cape, Random House UK
ISBN: 978-0224093378
Genre: Literary Fiction
PP: 272 pages
Price: £16.99
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

Kevin Brockmeier has given us a gripping book with rich characters, one of the best new works I’ve read in recent years. This is not a novel with a conventional narrative structure. It is almost in the nature of six short stories or character portraits that hang together around a unifying device. That device is one handwritten volume in which a woman faithfully recorded the intimate daily notes of affection and appreciation her husband would leave for her before heading to work. This volume, a repository of unconditional love, finds its way through various twists and turns into the hands of characters who are varied as they are unique, and the narrative, such as it is, is organized as glimpses into the complicated lives of each of these persons.

The other concept that renders Brockmeier’s work intriguing is a worldwide phenomenon that begins one evening (with no explanation) and causes people’s emotional and physical pain to become visible as emanations of light. This phenomenon comes to be known as the “Illumination.” It is this device that allows Brockmeier to explore the depths of his characters and the troubles they face in their lives. Each character is complex, experiencing his or her own individual pain against a backdrop of the suffering of others, all of which is visible because everyone’s pain is manifest. The phenomenon gives people the capability for new levels of empathy, but it also gives rise to people who enjoy inflicting pain, whether masochistically on themselves or sadistically on others, in part because the infliction of pain is accompanied by a show of light. The title is apt as the characters’ pain not only reveals itself as light, but it also illuminates the emotional burdens they and other people bear, those common things that unite us in our experiences of grief and pain. At the same time, while one might think the Illumination would be an antidote to solipsism, the characters here tend to show that it is truly difficult to know, understand, and appreciate another person; each is lonely and isolated in his or her own way.

The handwritten volume means something different to each person who finds it. Some of them bathe themselves in the aggregated, intimate expressions of love and tenderness it embodies, a kind of light and depth of connection to another that is lacking in their own lives. Others guard it as an object that is vulnerable and needs protection from a harsh world. However, the volume itself ultimately cannot endure as a physical object. It, too, can be damaged by the unfeeling, the malicious. Whether the kind of intimate tenderness it embodied can survive in a troubled world isn’t a question that Brockmeier answers, leaving that up to each reader to determine.

Not unlike the structure of Geraldine Brooks’ People of the Book, this book falls into one narrator’s hands after the other: from Carol Ann to the husband, Jason, a photojournalist who learns the art of self-mutilation from a troubled teenage girl; Chuck Carter, a battered teenage boy who believes he can feel inanimate objects (such as the book’s) pain; evangelist Ryan Shifrin, who “wanted a Heaven of starting over, a Heaven of trying again” and who questions the very essence of suffering; the touring author Nina who is aching physically and emotionally; and lastly, the street-vendor Morse, who understands humanity but does not love it, and “who in this world would choose understanding over love?”

This love journal will illuminate the way to these damaged souls as much as the physical wounds that blaze and glitter with light in this new world phenomenon. Brockmeier illuminates lives of quiet desperation – a severed thumb, chronic mouth ulcers, burns, punctures, wounds, and lacerations, and most of all, the emotional pain that divorces us from the connections we so sorely need.

At times, the cataloging of pain becomes a little mind-numbing and repetitive and slightly gimmicky. But make no mistake, Brockmeier’s book is radiant and bewitching as he drills deep into the common human condition. Ryan Shifrin thinks, “You would think that taking the pain of very human being and making it so starkly visible – every drunken headache and frayed cuticle, every punctured lung and bowel pocked with cancer – would inspire waves of fellow feeling all over the world, at least ripples of pity…”

Each character was finely drawn and portrayed in an achingly realistic manner that most often left me feeling rather heartbroken. This book is constructed more as a collection of short stories than a novel. It’s not a format I usually enjoy, and here I felt that some of the stories were better than others. This is a melancholy look at love, death and pain that despite it’s unevenness was still brilliantly written. I was mesmerized by these stories, and even though I am not one to re-read novels, this is one I feel like I could revisit and glean even more meaning and insight.

It’s not the cheeriest of novels, focusing as it does largely on the physical pain and emotional turmoil of its characters, but it is a rich book and speaks volumes to what it means to experience life as a human being in an imperfect (and sometimes downright menacing) world. Some may not like it because they cling too tightly to their prejudices about what a book is supposed to be (e.g., linear narrative, happy endings, all grief resolved). If you’re not afraid to try something a bit unconventional, however, you’ll be well rewarded. Highly recommended.