A Visit from the Goon Squad

Author: Jennifer Egan

I was in the hunt for a book one Friday lunch break (things at the office were stressing me out so I had to resort to retail therapy 20 km away) but did not want a bodice ripper. The colourful cover attracted me, as did the golden circle in the bottom left corner. Pulitzer Prize winners must surely guarantee a good read, no?

Do not judge a book by its cover - or its first chapter. I was looking for a light, entertaining and easy romp. Like Kinsella. Or something semi-reflective like Nick Hornby (the allusion to music made me think of High Fidelity). What I got was rock and roll (or punk, to be more precise), divorce, suicide, illness, drugs, environmental issues. And ultimately, redemption.


Although the synopsis introduces us to Bennie and then Sasha, I related more to the latter. Bennie to me seemed too self-absorbed in only one side of him i.e. his passion for music - or are all musicians/music producers like that?

The book is like a collection of short stories, but it is also almost a novel. Each chapter has a different protagonist, in a different era, but through his or her tale you also get to know more about the previous protagonists. The format reminds me of another book I read a couple of years ago.

Because each chapter is told from a different character's POV, and the timeline is non-linear, it was a bit difficult to read. I admit to being stumped a few times when the narrative is told in the first person which happens to be a totally new character. The most interesting format (from a technical angle) is the powerpoint chapter. However the most poignant character to me is Rolph. His childhood innocence seems reflected in Sasha's son several chapters apart.
 
I found myself semi-quoting on line from the book:

If there are children, there must be a future, right?

Then I belatedly figured out that it was an allusion to the first line of Whitney Houston's "Greatest Love of All" - I believe that children are our future...  Time may be a goon, but time also repeats itself.

Lilian's Story

Author: Kate Grenville

Lilian is a girl born into a middle-class family, the eldest of two children. Her father is strict, her mother a bit of a dreamer. Lilian herself dreams of acceptance and greatness, however her actions to win favour work against her. As she grows up, she enters a mental institution, and when she leaves she ends up as an eccentric bag lady, quoting Shakespeare.

I wouldn't say that this book was enjoyable, but it is a very moving tale. At times you feel that she is aware of how people perceive her i.e. as a madwoman, and that if she wants to she can choose to conform. However conformity would make her forgettable, as she is not as pretty, graceful or elegant as her peers. And so Lilian chooses to be happy and optimistic in her own way despite all that life throws in her wake.

The tale reminds me of a peripheral character from my childhood - a woman roaming the streets of my mother's hometown of Pasir Mas. Whenever we passed by the shophouses of the old town, we would spot her standing on the sidewalk, laughing alone with her head full of hair thrown back. I could tell that she was once beautiful, and now I wonder what stories she would have to tell if one were to ask, or what misfortunes had befallen her to drive her to such a state.  

Love in the Time of Cholera

Author: Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Initially planned for the 2011 Global Reading Challenge, I was only able to complete it in Jan 2012.

The story of two lovers spanning more than 50 years, it takes place at a time when great social and technological changes occur in their city. Fermina Daza and Fiorentino Ariza fall in love as teenagers, but are separated when Fermina marries an up-and-coming doctor from a distinguished family. 50 years on, after her husband dies, Fiorentino professes his love for her again. Despite having had 422 affairs within that period of separation, Ariza claims he has been faithful to Daza.

Maybe this is typical of South American men, or Latino men, or men in general, but I fail to see how this makes it a great love story. Ariza is described as someone prone to lyricism due to his indulgence of poetry,  romances, and love letters - up to a point where he becomes ghost-writer to illiterate lovers and end up writing for both parties, such that the correspondence is in reality to himself. However, there is no explicit evidence or specimen of his writing in the book. His love is embodied in the physical sense through his many relationships with all sorts of women - widows and wives of other men included.

More striking to me is the love that Fermina Daza's husband, Dr Juvenal Urbino, has for his city. This is shown through his patronage of the Civil and Arts movements as well as his efforts at improving the health system. In a way, this also showcases the love that the author has for this region's history and geography, and most of all for the people inhabiting this city. Maybe this is the real love story it intends to portray.

In describing Dr Juvenal Urbino's fond memories of his hometown while studying in Paris:

"He was still too young to know that the heart's memory eliminates the bad and magnifies the good, and that thanks to this artifice we manage to endure the burden of the past. But when he stood at the railing of the ship...only then did he understand to what extent he had been an easy victim to the charitable deceptions of nostalgia."

And when the penitent doctor arrives at his wife's cousin's ranch for reconciliation:

"It is better to arrive in time than to be invited."

Another wonderful quote is from Ariza' Uncle Leo responding to 'accusations' of being rich:

"No, not rich. I am a poor man with money, which is not the same thing."

God Emperor of Dune

Author: Frank Herbert

Book 4 of the Dune chronicles. I must admit this was a bit of a chore to read, and I only really read it because I like to go through my chronicles in order and I really want to read Book 5 (which apparently is more interesting).

Leto II  has transformed into a human-sandworm hybrid. He is now 3500 years old, so must be bored to death with his surroundings. Despite that, he keeps requesting for Duncan Idaho gholas from the Bene Tleilaxu, although there doesn't seem to be much going on with Duncan except his popularity with the ladies and a role as a human stud.

Being such an ancient being, Leto is something of a philosopher and teacher to his majordomo, Moneo - who happens to be on of the Idaho ghola's descendants and previously a rebel against the Leto administration. Moneo's daughter, Siona, is plotting rebellion against the God Emperor. And there is also the recurring theme of the Golden Path, which frankly I cannot recall its true meaning as it has been several years in between this book and the preceding ones. Best to let Wikipedia explain the plot.

SPOILER ALERT!

A bit of a surprise (even to the seemingly prescient God Emperor himself) is the appearance of Hwi Noree, an ambassador from Ix, who manufacture gadgets under strict control. Leto is taken in by Hwi, both by the her seemingly perfect form as well as the fact that he cannot figure her out. Hwi, likewise, is in awe of Leto and pledges to serve him. In the meantime, Idaho becomes embittered, as he has also fallen for Hwi and begins to distrust Leto. Together with Siona, Idaho decides to kill the Emperor.

The novel is written in a very philosophical style. At times, it appears as a philosophical discourse of human history. This is expected, as the premise of this series is that all this takes place in the future, so their history at some point is the same as our history. Some impressive quotes from the book (and good lessons for management and government):

"All rebellions are ordinary and an ultimate bore. They are copied out of the same pattern, one much like another. The driving force is adrenaline addiction and the desire to gain personal power. All rebels are closet aristocrats."

"Radicals are only to be feared when you try to suppress them. You must demonstrate that you will use the best of what they offer."

"...the beginning of knowledge - the discovery of something we do not understand."

"The problem of leadership is inevitably: Who will play god?"

"Ignorance thrives on hysteria...The undeserving maintain power by promoting hysteria. the Atreides art is the art of ruling without hysteria, the art of being responsible for the uses of power."

"A leader tries to perpetuate the conditions which demand his leadership. Thus, the leader requires the outsider."

"Some believe that you must compromise integrity with a certain amount of dirty work before you can put genius to work. They say the compromise begins when you come out of your sanctus intending to realise your ideals. Moneo says my solution is to stay within my sanctus, sending others to do my dirty work."