This week's book:
Detroit, An American Autopsy by Charlie LeDuff
Grade: A+
This is kind of embarrassing, two 'A' ratings in a three-week span. I'm going to look like I don't have a filter when actually I just got very lucky twice. Not in a row, though, you need to give me that. You also need to go out and buy this book, get it from the library, or borrow it from a friend. It's that good.
I was looking forward to this one. And Mr. LeDuff did not disappoint me. This is an incredible book, essentially an account of his two years working at the Detroit News and what he learned about corruption and incompetence in the city that's become the example for everything gone wrong with America. It's a story of self-discovery for Mr. LeDuff and a lesson in 'no matter how bad you think it is, the truth can be much, much worse.'
Detroit is the punch line to every joke, perhaps rightfully so. But that doesn't make the people living there, stuck there, any less human than the rest of us, it just makes them unlucky and this book drives home that point solidly. The city was Mr. LeDuff's hometown, but he got out early and knocked around until he fell into journalism and eventually found his way back. He worked at the New York Times for years, and his prose shows he's more than surpassed the '10,000 hour' test for mastery. His prose snaps, it makes you want to read more even when the subject is tragic beyond imagining and totally true.
This book is not reportage, though some parts come from his work in the News and from pieces published in Mother Jones, this is story telling in its purest form, revealing the truth as the author finds it, whether it's about his own long-hidden family history or hilariously awkward encounters with almost-certainly-deranged members of Detroit's City Council. It's his journey as he tries to find out what's wrong with his hometown, if there's any hope of fixing it, and who might give a rat's ass in the first place.
Mr. LeDuff treats each of his subjects the same, whether they're a fireman, a CEO, a desperate mother who's lost two sons to street violence, or a homeless man found frozen in a block of ice at the bottom of an elevator shaft. These are all just people, all part of the problem, all potentially part of the solution. He calls out incompetence and corruption when he finds it, he risks himself to get the story, and he's unflinching in his own self-evaluation and his assessment of his family. He not only accepts his warts, he celebrates them.
I think that's why I liked it so much. This book is almost like a noir novel, dealing in the downtrodden, the little guy, the lumpen proletariat. The forty-seven percenters. Instead of holding them in contempt, Mr. LeDuff puts a face on each of them, and shows the results of government and business gone unrepentantly to the Dark Side. It's a not just an autopsy on a corpse of a city, it's a warning for the entire nation. Detroit just took the bullet before the rest of us.
Next week:
Homer & Langley by E.L. Doctorow
My next foray into modern 'LIT-ra-chaw.' The last one didn't go so well. Stay tuned.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Saturday, March 16, 2013
A Book A Week - Week 11: The Book of Fate
This week's book:
The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer
Grade: C
Last week I was on Cloud Nine. This week... not so much. I did not love this book. I did not hate this book either. Whatever else I will say of it, I can say it's not as bad as Twilight. Thank God. But I can say I will not go out of my way to read any other books by Brad Meltzer.
I had several problems with this book - I'll get into the rest below - but the biggest problem I had with it was the structure. It's written in short chapters, which can be a style choice, but in this case the chapters are short because the author isn't writing a book, he's writing a screenplay. Or, more accurately, a 'book' that can easily be adapted into a screenplay. The scenes are dialogue-heavy and organized in the Hollywood three-act structure for a total of 116 'chapters.' This unholy chimera of book-screenplay cheats the reader of the experience of reading an actual book and instead subjects them to what is essentially a very, very long treatment. If you want to write a screenplay by all means do so, but don't slap it between two cardboard covers and call it a book.
On to the other problems, such as pained metaphors. A novel should treat the reader to elegant, descriptive prose, but a passage like 'The telephone shrieked through the small office, but he didn't pick it up' makes me wonder why the phone was screaming and how it got legs. Every few chapters the author pitches another one, like 'He could still feel the sharp Wisconsin wind cracking his lungs...' as if he went through his manuscript after the first draft and picked every third chapter to try to 'book it up' with description. Sometimes it's unintentionally funny, but most of the time it's painful.
Then there's the changing viewpoint. The scenes featuring the protagonist are written in first-person and present tense, probably to try to draw the reader into the story. The other scenes are written from third-person and past tense, though sometimes with a character's thoughts and sometimes without. The change feels forced to me, and just calls attention to itself rather than enhancing the narrative.
Then there's the list of trite characters, starting with the hero. He's been grievously injured, which is supposed to make us feel for him, and the other characters go out of their way to establish that he's been stuck in a rut since the injury - which means he's got some growing to do, always a must in any Hollywood screenplay. There's the 'unstoppable ex-soldier killing machine' and the 'wisecracking best friend' and the 'helpful journalist who's also a love interest' and the 'sinister cabal' and the 'politician who everyone but the hero can see is completely untrustworthy' and, of course, the 'cops who seem sinister, then seem helpful, then who turn out to be bad guys after all.' Mr. Meltzer, all the 1980's action movies called and they want their characters back.
And, of course, with trite characters you get a trite plot. I won't spoil it for you, but, honestly, if you've seen any TV dramas or watched any movies at any time in the past twenty years you have encountered this plot before.
I never really got into this book, not the characters, not the plot, not the writing. After the first thirty chapters I felt like I was just marking time until it was over. It was kind of like going with your girlfriend to a movie she chose, you're committed to seeing it through to the end, but just when you think the credits are ready to roll something else pops up. Twist after painful twist points to the author's diligence in plotting, but the agony of getting to the end points to his - at best - workmanlike prose. Maybe that's the big failing here, the characters should always drive the plot, but in this book the plot has the steering wheel and it feels like the characters are just along for the ride.
I would not recommend this book to any of my friends. Unless I wanted them to stop being my friend. Or I knew they had really bad taste in books.
Next week:
Detroit by Charlie LeDuff
A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist writing about his decimated home town? I don't want to set my expectations too high, but this should be good.
The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer
Grade: C
Last week I was on Cloud Nine. This week... not so much. I did not love this book. I did not hate this book either. Whatever else I will say of it, I can say it's not as bad as Twilight. Thank God. But I can say I will not go out of my way to read any other books by Brad Meltzer.
I had several problems with this book - I'll get into the rest below - but the biggest problem I had with it was the structure. It's written in short chapters, which can be a style choice, but in this case the chapters are short because the author isn't writing a book, he's writing a screenplay. Or, more accurately, a 'book' that can easily be adapted into a screenplay. The scenes are dialogue-heavy and organized in the Hollywood three-act structure for a total of 116 'chapters.' This unholy chimera of book-screenplay cheats the reader of the experience of reading an actual book and instead subjects them to what is essentially a very, very long treatment. If you want to write a screenplay by all means do so, but don't slap it between two cardboard covers and call it a book.
On to the other problems, such as pained metaphors. A novel should treat the reader to elegant, descriptive prose, but a passage like 'The telephone shrieked through the small office, but he didn't pick it up' makes me wonder why the phone was screaming and how it got legs. Every few chapters the author pitches another one, like 'He could still feel the sharp Wisconsin wind cracking his lungs...' as if he went through his manuscript after the first draft and picked every third chapter to try to 'book it up' with description. Sometimes it's unintentionally funny, but most of the time it's painful.
Then there's the changing viewpoint. The scenes featuring the protagonist are written in first-person and present tense, probably to try to draw the reader into the story. The other scenes are written from third-person and past tense, though sometimes with a character's thoughts and sometimes without. The change feels forced to me, and just calls attention to itself rather than enhancing the narrative.
Then there's the list of trite characters, starting with the hero. He's been grievously injured, which is supposed to make us feel for him, and the other characters go out of their way to establish that he's been stuck in a rut since the injury - which means he's got some growing to do, always a must in any Hollywood screenplay. There's the 'unstoppable ex-soldier killing machine' and the 'wisecracking best friend' and the 'helpful journalist who's also a love interest' and the 'sinister cabal' and the 'politician who everyone but the hero can see is completely untrustworthy' and, of course, the 'cops who seem sinister, then seem helpful, then who turn out to be bad guys after all.' Mr. Meltzer, all the 1980's action movies called and they want their characters back.
And, of course, with trite characters you get a trite plot. I won't spoil it for you, but, honestly, if you've seen any TV dramas or watched any movies at any time in the past twenty years you have encountered this plot before.
I never really got into this book, not the characters, not the plot, not the writing. After the first thirty chapters I felt like I was just marking time until it was over. It was kind of like going with your girlfriend to a movie she chose, you're committed to seeing it through to the end, but just when you think the credits are ready to roll something else pops up. Twist after painful twist points to the author's diligence in plotting, but the agony of getting to the end points to his - at best - workmanlike prose. Maybe that's the big failing here, the characters should always drive the plot, but in this book the plot has the steering wheel and it feels like the characters are just along for the ride.
I would not recommend this book to any of my friends. Unless I wanted them to stop being my friend. Or I knew they had really bad taste in books.
Next week:
Detroit by Charlie LeDuff
A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist writing about his decimated home town? I don't want to set my expectations too high, but this should be good.
Friday, March 15, 2013
The World According To Dick Cheney
I just watched the first broadcast of this new documentary - it ended 20 minutes ago - and I wanted to put down my thoughts and impressions. I was interested in this because I wanted to hear what Dick Cheney had to say in his own words.
My initial thoughts:
My initial thoughts:
- I'm going to need to watch this again, maybe more than once. I realized about an hour and a half into it that I was listening to Mr. Cheney's words but I was not really watching his face. The face often tells a tale the words refuse to.
- No matter what you've heard or read about Dick Cheney, seeing him explain things from his point of view is truly frightening. More so the longer you watch. Our democracy is a fragile thing, and it only takes a few people to completely subvert it.
- Cheney was a two-time college drop out who finally got his act together when his girlfriend (later wife) forced him to. I wonder how much of the guilt for his later actions she feels she bears. He'd be a lineman for the county in Wyoming if not for her.
- Lying for some people comes so easily it's second nature. I'm not entirely certain that Cheney understands the difference between a lie and the truth, for him the truth seems to be whatever position he's voicing when you ask him. Lying is not really second nature to him, it's his go-to option every time.
- Whenever I see someone like this, clearly capable and smart enough to get the job done with ruthless efficiency yet not quite smart enough for meaningful introspection, I wonder 'what if?'... what if he had made one small change in his personal philosophy?... what if he'd tried to understand instead of tried to force compliance?... what if he'd been more of a pragmatist rather than a zealot?... what if he'd tried to do the right thing instead of the wrong thing? It's like when you discover how clever and dedicated drug addicts can be to getting their next high, this documentary leaves me wondering what Cheney could have accomplished if he'd turned his switch from Evil to Good.
- What lie is Cheney living? There is some deep, dark secret he's going to take to his grave, you can see it in his eyes, they sparkle with glee when he thinks he's getting one over on the director. It's got to be a big secret, because he had five heart attacks before they took his old heart out and gave him a new one.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
A Book A Week - Week 10: Pound Foolish
This week's book:
Pound Foolish by Helaine Olen
Grade: A++
I love Helaine Olen. Seriously. I love her so much I want to have her children. That she and I have never met, that she is already married with kids, and that I have no womb are just tiny bumps in the road along the way to my goal. I will bear her offspring.
Let me 'splain... I love Helaine Olen because I love this book. Every sentence in it, every thought, every revelation, every well-reasoned conclusion. Love, love, love, love, love. Whoever you are reading this, you need to go out and buy this book. Right now. Go ahead, I'll wait here.
Okay, now that you have bought your own copy or put yourself on the long waiting list at the library, I'll give you the reasons for my uncharacteristically gushing appraisal.
1. The author asks tough questions.
2. The author answers those tough questions.
3. The author has done the extensive research necessary to back up every one of her positions.
4. The author is an amazing writer of distinct - perhaps unique - talent.
Ms. Olen used to be the journalist behind the 'Money Makeover' feature at the LA Times newspaper. She spent years on the front lines of the personal finance movement and has unique insight into the commonality of money problems for Americans of all means. Every class from pauper to millionaire has gone through the Money Makeover wringer.
After years of doing this reporting, she noticed what everyone eventually does, that those financial gurus dispensing advice did so under a heavy burden of conflict of interest. Those people telling Americans how to fix their finances made their own money not by following their own advice but by selling us their personal-finance products. The difference between the author and everyone else is that she's a reporter, and had the gumption, resources, and prodigious talent necessary to expose the financial self-help and financial services industry for the frauds they completely are.
There is a clarity of thought and presentation in 'Pound Foolish' that I've seldom seen anywhere else, but especially not in most of what passes for financial 'reporting' these days. The author is a clear thinker and so insightful almost every page made me want to cheer. There's not a wasted sentence in this book, and any rehash I make of her points would be a poor retelling. I can tell you she takes on Suze Orman, real-estate gurus like Robert Kyosaki, the myth of the financially-promiscuous American, the myths about women and money... the list goes on and on and on. The author does what all reporters should do, ask tough questions and let the answers lead her to more questions. No one gets a free pass here.
The only people who are going to find fault with anything in this book are the people the author exposes as behind the massive frauds of the last thirty years and the subsequent money grab. This book should be held up as an example of the best kind of critical thinking, a standard for all of us to aspire to.
Go out and get the damn book already.
Next week:
The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer
Back to fiction this week, from the guy who single-handedly almost ruined DC superheroes with his 'Identity Crisis' debacle. We'll see if I'm kindly inclined to his non-graphic prose.
Pound Foolish by Helaine Olen
Grade: A++
I love Helaine Olen. Seriously. I love her so much I want to have her children. That she and I have never met, that she is already married with kids, and that I have no womb are just tiny bumps in the road along the way to my goal. I will bear her offspring.
Let me 'splain... I love Helaine Olen because I love this book. Every sentence in it, every thought, every revelation, every well-reasoned conclusion. Love, love, love, love, love. Whoever you are reading this, you need to go out and buy this book. Right now. Go ahead, I'll wait here.
Okay, now that you have bought your own copy or put yourself on the long waiting list at the library, I'll give you the reasons for my uncharacteristically gushing appraisal.
1. The author asks tough questions.
2. The author answers those tough questions.
3. The author has done the extensive research necessary to back up every one of her positions.
4. The author is an amazing writer of distinct - perhaps unique - talent.
Ms. Olen used to be the journalist behind the 'Money Makeover' feature at the LA Times newspaper. She spent years on the front lines of the personal finance movement and has unique insight into the commonality of money problems for Americans of all means. Every class from pauper to millionaire has gone through the Money Makeover wringer.
After years of doing this reporting, she noticed what everyone eventually does, that those financial gurus dispensing advice did so under a heavy burden of conflict of interest. Those people telling Americans how to fix their finances made their own money not by following their own advice but by selling us their personal-finance products. The difference between the author and everyone else is that she's a reporter, and had the gumption, resources, and prodigious talent necessary to expose the financial self-help and financial services industry for the frauds they completely are.
There is a clarity of thought and presentation in 'Pound Foolish' that I've seldom seen anywhere else, but especially not in most of what passes for financial 'reporting' these days. The author is a clear thinker and so insightful almost every page made me want to cheer. There's not a wasted sentence in this book, and any rehash I make of her points would be a poor retelling. I can tell you she takes on Suze Orman, real-estate gurus like Robert Kyosaki, the myth of the financially-promiscuous American, the myths about women and money... the list goes on and on and on. The author does what all reporters should do, ask tough questions and let the answers lead her to more questions. No one gets a free pass here.
The only people who are going to find fault with anything in this book are the people the author exposes as behind the massive frauds of the last thirty years and the subsequent money grab. This book should be held up as an example of the best kind of critical thinking, a standard for all of us to aspire to.
Go out and get the damn book already.
Next week:
The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer
Back to fiction this week, from the guy who single-handedly almost ruined DC superheroes with his 'Identity Crisis' debacle. We'll see if I'm kindly inclined to his non-graphic prose.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
A Book A Week - Week 9: The Perks Of Being A Wallflower
This week's book:
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chobsky
Grade:
A
I picked this novel because I remembered it had been made into a movie last year and I figured it had to be newer than the stuff I've been reading, novels usually published before I was born. Turns out The Perks of Being a Wallflower was published in 1999. So... not all that recent. I'm trying, man.
I knew nothing about this book and I have not seen the movie. When I turned to the first page and discovered that this was an epistolary novel I howled long and loud. I was alone in my house at the time so no one was alarmed but I did kind of hurt my own ears a little. To understand my howl you have to understand that I detest epistolary novels (a story told in letters, the kind you put in the mailbox). Hate 'em like I hate broccoli, and I really, really, really hate broccoli. But I had already committed to this one so I started reading.
I actually like this book. Quite a bit. Yeah... surprise, surprise, surprise...
My first measure of how much I like any book is how much it engrosses me. How much I lose myself in it. After I got over my initial loathing of stories told by correspondence, I found I liked Charlie, the main character. Liked him a lot. Cared about him, worried for him, cheered for him when he had little victories and felt bad for him when he had setbacks. I became invested in him. Mr. Chobsky drew me in and closed his web around me.
It is a coming-of-age story, a boy discovering why he is the way he is and that he is not alone in his dysfunction. Which means the story could be trite and it could be tedious. It was neither. The cast of characters is deep and varied, and each of them were distinct and recognizable. From a metaphorical perspective I could pick out each character's place in Charlie's psyche (yeah, I went that far) and how they influenced his development as the story progressed. I don't know if this was what the author intended, but the narrative supports that analysis so the author's intent is secondary in this.
Stylistically I found the narrative a little grating at times, but it's supposed to be written by a fifteen-year-old boy, so no harm, no foul there, mission accomplished. It's probably very difficult to constrain yourself as an author to the vocabulary and perspective of a teenager, but this author does a very good job. The main character is supposed to be a little weird, different from his peers and prone to more self-introspection, which allows the author to get away with description and insight far beyond a fifteen-year-old's capacity. Or at least beyond mine when I was fifteen.
The story moved at a good pace, the plot points and reveals seemingly discovered by accident, which displays a very refined technique. Nothing felt forced, nothing felt indicated, nothing felt tacked-on. I really have no complaints there, which is unusual for me.
I definitely recommend this book for anybody. A fifteen-year-old boy probably isn't going to have the patience for it, but he's probably the one who needs to hear its message the most. Give it a read.
Next week:
Pound Foolish by Helaine Olen
Non-fiction this week. 'Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry.' Suze Orman, I have a feeling you're in the crosshairs...
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chobsky
Grade:
A
I picked this novel because I remembered it had been made into a movie last year and I figured it had to be newer than the stuff I've been reading, novels usually published before I was born. Turns out The Perks of Being a Wallflower was published in 1999. So... not all that recent. I'm trying, man.
I knew nothing about this book and I have not seen the movie. When I turned to the first page and discovered that this was an epistolary novel I howled long and loud. I was alone in my house at the time so no one was alarmed but I did kind of hurt my own ears a little. To understand my howl you have to understand that I detest epistolary novels (a story told in letters, the kind you put in the mailbox). Hate 'em like I hate broccoli, and I really, really, really hate broccoli. But I had already committed to this one so I started reading.
I actually like this book. Quite a bit. Yeah... surprise, surprise, surprise...
My first measure of how much I like any book is how much it engrosses me. How much I lose myself in it. After I got over my initial loathing of stories told by correspondence, I found I liked Charlie, the main character. Liked him a lot. Cared about him, worried for him, cheered for him when he had little victories and felt bad for him when he had setbacks. I became invested in him. Mr. Chobsky drew me in and closed his web around me.
It is a coming-of-age story, a boy discovering why he is the way he is and that he is not alone in his dysfunction. Which means the story could be trite and it could be tedious. It was neither. The cast of characters is deep and varied, and each of them were distinct and recognizable. From a metaphorical perspective I could pick out each character's place in Charlie's psyche (yeah, I went that far) and how they influenced his development as the story progressed. I don't know if this was what the author intended, but the narrative supports that analysis so the author's intent is secondary in this.
Stylistically I found the narrative a little grating at times, but it's supposed to be written by a fifteen-year-old boy, so no harm, no foul there, mission accomplished. It's probably very difficult to constrain yourself as an author to the vocabulary and perspective of a teenager, but this author does a very good job. The main character is supposed to be a little weird, different from his peers and prone to more self-introspection, which allows the author to get away with description and insight far beyond a fifteen-year-old's capacity. Or at least beyond mine when I was fifteen.
The story moved at a good pace, the plot points and reveals seemingly discovered by accident, which displays a very refined technique. Nothing felt forced, nothing felt indicated, nothing felt tacked-on. I really have no complaints there, which is unusual for me.
I definitely recommend this book for anybody. A fifteen-year-old boy probably isn't going to have the patience for it, but he's probably the one who needs to hear its message the most. Give it a read.
Next week:
Pound Foolish by Helaine Olen
Non-fiction this week. 'Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry.' Suze Orman, I have a feeling you're in the crosshairs...
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