Books I've been reading
The long awaited 2nd novel from Marisha Pessl. Unfortunately I'm not enjoying it. I still recall her "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" which is gothic/southern/like a dark version of the Royal Tennenbaums family. Very quirky, with some memorable characters, including a overblown, secretly handsome guy that the protaganist has a crush on against her will. (Always the best).
Kings Cross-Louis Nowra. I loved this. It made me realise that the inner city neighbourhood really represents modernism, high risk living, the other of Australian culture, like an imaginary Gotham equivalent. Ever since the high rise buildings went up in the early 20th Century, men and women were able to explore alternative ways of living, both good and bad.
The Interestings-Meg Wolitzer. I've read one of her previous novels (The Positions) but enjoyed this even more. It was really strong, tapped into the envy and disillusionment that people experience as they age, and unfavourably compare themselves to more successful (affluent) friends. The group of friends, in this case, met in the 70s at a summer performing arts camp. It was set around NYC, spanning the 70s to present times, and reminded me also of the Jay McInerney novel or Jonathan Franzen, the changing times of modern America influencing the anxieties of the characters. Which were mostly all very strong, though the character of Ash soon became a caricature, a third person referenced, whose inner motivations continued to be unknown to the reader. Did the novelist wish to send her up? (Ash had adult hang ups about the pressure of being a gifted child; she was a feminist stage director, married to a genius cartoonist that was incredibly rich and influential, she wrote a widely distributed Christmas letter each year and was very hands on at organising her autistic sons therapist/caregivers). I couldn't quite pinpoint the way in which Ash was used to serve the novelist's commentary, but all the other characters were amusing and detailed and insightful.
I may have mentioned this already, but Strange Museums by Fiona Macgregor was also really great, about her performance art tour of Poland. So many sentences stood out to me and lingered, like her description of visiting the shipyards where the Solidarity trade union movement against Communism started, or her friends' recall of being at art school and performance protesting, looking down onto the streets as the military rule was established. I really had no idea of this recent culture. Fiona wrote the introduction to the Elizabeth Harrower novel I recently described here, and her website is worth visiting for the descriptions into her performance art-she correctly notes lack of curatorial attention for performance art-not installation art, that intensely planned and conceived and created performance art that challenges you, that is all the more precious these days given it's an interaction. Meanwhile, I note the trend for "immersive theatre"-where you, the audience, gets to be a participant in the staged drama.
Kings Cross-Louis Nowra. I loved this. It made me realise that the inner city neighbourhood really represents modernism, high risk living, the other of Australian culture, like an imaginary Gotham equivalent. Ever since the high rise buildings went up in the early 20th Century, men and women were able to explore alternative ways of living, both good and bad.
The Interestings-Meg Wolitzer. I've read one of her previous novels (The Positions) but enjoyed this even more. It was really strong, tapped into the envy and disillusionment that people experience as they age, and unfavourably compare themselves to more successful (affluent) friends. The group of friends, in this case, met in the 70s at a summer performing arts camp. It was set around NYC, spanning the 70s to present times, and reminded me also of the Jay McInerney novel or Jonathan Franzen, the changing times of modern America influencing the anxieties of the characters. Which were mostly all very strong, though the character of Ash soon became a caricature, a third person referenced, whose inner motivations continued to be unknown to the reader. Did the novelist wish to send her up? (Ash had adult hang ups about the pressure of being a gifted child; she was a feminist stage director, married to a genius cartoonist that was incredibly rich and influential, she wrote a widely distributed Christmas letter each year and was very hands on at organising her autistic sons therapist/caregivers). I couldn't quite pinpoint the way in which Ash was used to serve the novelist's commentary, but all the other characters were amusing and detailed and insightful.
I may have mentioned this already, but Strange Museums by Fiona Macgregor was also really great, about her performance art tour of Poland. So many sentences stood out to me and lingered, like her description of visiting the shipyards where the Solidarity trade union movement against Communism started, or her friends' recall of being at art school and performance protesting, looking down onto the streets as the military rule was established. I really had no idea of this recent culture. Fiona wrote the introduction to the Elizabeth Harrower novel I recently described here, and her website is worth visiting for the descriptions into her performance art-she correctly notes lack of curatorial attention for performance art-not installation art, that intensely planned and conceived and created performance art that challenges you, that is all the more precious these days given it's an interaction. Meanwhile, I note the trend for "immersive theatre"-where you, the audience, gets to be a participant in the staged drama.
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