Impressions: "The Chill" by Romano Bilenchi

A deceptively simple novella from this well respected Italian novelist. A coming of age story at its core but just beneath the surface it offers a lot more. The key line here is its opening line “The chill of suspicion and incomprehension arose between me and men when I was sixteen, at the time of my high school exams.” It is the story of an adolescent’s painful passage into adulthood. After the death of the narrator’s grandfather while on an outing, he increasingly becomes introspective, more removed from his friends and family and begins to have a growing awareness of mortality, sexuality and the essential impermanence of things. Ultimately, it’s a seemingly innocent erotic event that pushes him over the threshold. Bilenchi uses a lot of symbolism here and the prose is very much in a classical vein although the tale is thoroughly modern. It is truly a great read, one that will have you thinking about its themes long after you finish reading this.

Rating: * * * *

Impressions: "The Proof of The Honey" by Salwa Al-Neimi

A very interesting novel from this Syrian author at times recalls Anaïs Nin with her open exploration of female sexuality. Banned in most countries in the Arab world, Salwa Al-Neimi attempts to explode the myth that sexuality is taboo in the Islamic world through the exploration of ancient Islamic texts and Arab erotic literature in which sexuality is not only encouraged but revered. In the story, the narrator is asked to contribute to a conference on the subject of classic erotic Arabic literature. It evokes memories of her own life, revisiting moments of her lovers, desires and shared intimacies. Inspired by One Thousand and One Nights, asides are integrated into the narrator’s personal story as well as the stories of her lovers, offering a glimpse into what is often thought of as taboo in the Arab world. It is the intermingling of language and sex, the narrator asserting that “Arabic is the language of sex”---the “language of the body” affirming her own personal desires. Fans of Anaïs Nin’s writings---and the French novelist Hèléne Cixous for that matter---would definitely appreciate this book. Highly recommended.

Rating: * * * *

Poem: "Labyrinths"

My poem, "Labyrinths", is now up on Cher Donovan Duncombe's Poetry by Cher website. Once again, a huge thank you!

Impressions: "From The Land of The Moon" by Milena Agus

First novel from this Sardinian author. An impressive debut. Short and sweet, clocking in at a mere 108 pages. It is a story about an unnamed woman who reflect on the life of her grandmother, an eccentric woman, coming of age in Cagliari. By the time the American bombs fall during the war years, she is already thirty years old, considered an “old maid”, still living with her parents. After the bombings cease, her father demands that she marry the first man to propose to her. Despite her protests, it is to an older widower who she doesn’t love. After several miscarriages she is sent off to a spa for treatment, where she meets and falls in love with a wounded Italian serviceman. Nine months later, she gives birth to a son. She returns home, never revealing the affair. Many years later, she returns to her former lover’s hometown in order to search for him. But there is a very interesting twist here, one that you will never see coming. Follow this all through the landscape of Sardinia, it’s culture and its people. The novel is a tribute to storytelling and once you discover the twist, you’ll see why and how it is.

Recommended.

Rating: * * * 1/2

Poem: "Clubfoot Tango"

My poem "Clubfoot Tango", is featured in Cher Donovan Duncombe's Poetry by Cher website. Thank you again, Cher!

Poem: "Afternoon Delight"

My poem, "Afternoon Delight" has been featured on Cher Donovan Duncombe's Poetry by Cher website. Thank you Cher for asking me to participate. Always greatly appreciated!

Impressions: "The Crying of Lot 49" by Thomas Pynchon

Indeed a very strange book, very much in the same vein as his debut novel “V” with it’s linguistic puns, sense of the absurd and biting satire of mid-20th century. I didn’t think this novel was as good as his debut but there’s a lot going on underneath all the chaos. And that’s just the point. It’s a book about cultural chaos, the problem of communication, and in some ways a commentary on the then rising drug culture. Published in 1965, there are a lot of pop cultural references and I wonder, being that this was written around the same time when Pop Art was at its peak, if this is somehow akin to that. Could be? I can’t really say but there is a definite obliteration of the line between “high” and “low” culture here, which was one of the things that Pop Art aimed to do. It’s all a chaotic soup and it works brilliantly. Many contemporary writers who have taken this cue from Pynchon just don’t quite get it as right as he does. But it’s clear that this is one aspect of his influence on many authors who came after him.

The story is about a woman, Oedipa Maas, executor of the estate of a man named Peter Inverarity, who finds herself thrown into a seemingly world wide conspiracy when she discovers a symbol in the bathroom of a club: a muted horn, which was also the symbol of a private postal service, which was in competition with the United States Postal Service since the days before the Civil War. There is a play, in which the name Trystero is mentioned, that has something to do with this symbol and Oedipa goes on a quest to discover its meaning, then finding herself immersed in what is nothing short of chaos, confusion and things not being what they appear to be. You just have to read this to truly follow it. I can’t do it any justice here.

Often times the book is hilarious with its use of linguistic puns, such as some of the character’s names: Ghengis Cohen, Michael Falliopian, the lawyer Manny DiPresso, the town name of San Narcisco---a commentary on Californian subculture?---and the radio station at which Oedipa’s husband “Mucho” Maas works, KCUF (Spell that backward).

Throw in a psychiatrist (a former Nazi a Buchenwald who prided himself on driving patients insane by mere facial expressions) who gives his patients LSD, a Beatle-esque rock group, corporate intrigue and a scientist who invented a machine that can only work if someone is a “sensitive” and I think you get the idea.

There were times where I lost the plot but I eventually came around again. Ultimately, this is a novel about the need to impose order on disorder as well as the need to impose meaning on the meaningless. Could that be exactly what he wanted people to do with this novel?

Highly recommended.

Rating: * * * * 1/2

Impressions: "A Sun For The Dying" by Jean-Claude Izzo

Best known for his “Marseille Trilogy”, which I haven’t yet read, the late Jean-Claude Izzo produces a harrowing account of homelessness on the streets of Paris. If this novel, written shortly before his death, is any indication of what his others are like, I can’t wait to read them. Brutal, harsh, and although not exactly a “noir” in the truest sense, still maintains some noir elements in this story.

At root, it is the story of Rico, a former family man, now homeless on the streets of Paris, suffers all the indignities and hardships you’d expect. It is the death of one of his friends in a freezing Paris Metro station that makes him decide to head south toward Marseille and the warmth of the Mediterranean to try to reconnect with long lost memories and a long lost love. He is hindered along the way, falling in with a prostitute named Mirjana, a refugee from the war in Bosnia, working the streets of Avignon. There are moments of humanity and tenderness with his relationship with Mirjana but Rico soon realizes that that things are really not much different for him than they were in Paris, only this time running afoul with the prostitute’s ultra violent Albanian pimp who does not like the idea of Rico staying with “his girl”. Soon things get very ugly.

It is around this point in the novel that you realize (as demonstrated by the narrative) that the faux-third person account is really being told by a kid named Abdou, an Algerian runaway who had been massively disfigured on the ship he stowed away on. He is actually telling the story, relating what Rico had told him. They form an almost father/son bond in Marseille and the rest of the story is nothing short of tragic, which I won’t reveal here.

All in all, a very enjoyable book with a great story and Izzo’s prose moves the story along with a quickened pace. The narrative twist is not the only twist here. I’ll leave that up to you to discover for yourself.

Rating: * * * * 1/2

Review/Interview: Nadería

A review/interview regarding my novel Naderia”, written and conducted by the great Garry Crystal, is now online. While you’re there, be sure to check out Garry’s amazing articles as well as his “Sketches of London”. You can find those at his blog. For my money, they capture Tony Blair-era London beautifully and they are a great read. Don’t miss it.

Again, I’d like to take the time to thank Garry profusely for this wonderful article.

Impressions: "Lisey's Story" by Stephen King

I’ve heard a lot about this book well before I decided to read it. It was supposed to be something different for Stephen King, something less focused on horror and more focused on a more traditional story. Well, this book is certainly free of the horror (monsters, demons, etc) that he is best known for but it is most certainly not free of the psychological horrors we, as human beings can often inflict on one another. I have to say I really enjoyed this book. I haven’t read much of Stephen King but from what I have read, this book was something very different for him. Is he dipping his toe into the waters of “Magical Realism” here? In some ways, yes, but ultimately what you have here is a love story, albeit a sometimes very dark one. It is the story about a marriage and how the deep love two people can have for one another can overcome many things, even in death. Is this a ghost story? Well....yes and no. Not literally, anyway. A sort of “ghost story” where the dead husband of the main protagonist is still sort of “around”, internally, that is, guiding his wife through trauma and grief, helping her cope. There are some “psychological thriller” elements as well but I don’t really want to give away too much of what the story is about so that if any of this seems interesting to you, you’d might want to go and check this out for yourself. It is the story about love, marriage, sisterhood, and most importantly, it seems to me, the idea of finding just that right person in your life who is willing to live in the world of imagination with you.

Rating: * * * *