Jesus' Son

Jesus' Son
by Denis Johnson
read: 2019

I guess this is considered a short story collection. I view it as more of a novel, with a consistent narrator and a vague plot—the struggles of the unnamed narrator to find peace despite crippling drug addiction. I guess it doesn't really have much of a plot. I laughed out loud at one point in "Steady Hands at Seattle General," one of the funniest scenes I've ever read.

Foundation Series

Foundation Series
by Isaac Asimov
read: circa 1996
Guardian 1000 Novels, Hugo Award

When I was a freshman in high school, I had to read an autobiography and deliver an oral presentation in character as the person in question. I chose Isaac Asimov, although I had never read any of his novels. My introduction to his fiction came via Foundation, and I wound up reading the entire saga, at least the seven books Asimov wrote.

There's a lot of dystopian fiction about the horrors of the destruction of individual identity (Brave New World and 1984 are two examples), but the Foundation series ultimately makes an argument for the collective mind over the individual.

The Assistant

The Assistant
by Bernard Malamud
read: 2020
Time 100 Novels, Guardian 1000 Novels

The key scene in The Assistant, to me, takes place towards the end of the book when Morris Bober, desperate for stable income as his grocery spirals towards insolvency, comes groveling to his former business partner Charlie Sobeloff, who had cheated him in their prior dealings. Morris works a day as a cashier, at the end of which Charlie checks his register.

"You're short a dollar, Morris," Charlie said with a little chuckle, "but we will let it go."

"No," the grocer heard himself say. "I am short a dollar, so I will pay a dollar."

He pays Charlie, quits on the spot and walks "with dignity" out the door.

Just a few pages earlier, Morris had described himself as having "the will of a victim, no will to speak of." He shows that mentality throughout the novel, blaming bad luck and his wife making him quit pharmacy school, among other things, for his lack of success. Even here, Morris isn't quite a deliberate actor: the "heard himself say" construct is telling.

But at the same time, there is a choice here. Charlie invites him to let the small discrepancy slide, and Morris has every moral right to cheat his former partner after being swindled in the past. But instead he chooses honesty and making things right. While paying his small debt is presented as almost involuntary, his integrity and dignity are Morris' alone.

Morris is made to suffer repeatedly for his honesty, continually cheated by others while refusing to cheat in turn. No one understands his choices, either, not his wife (presented somewhat one-dimensionally as a nag) or his daughter, who laments his uncompromising nature even at Morris' funeral. Frank Alpine, the titular assistant, has spent his whole existence lying and cheating, making him the least likely person to understand Morris' integrity. And yet, ultimately it is Frank who follows Morris' path. Adhering to the grocer's strict principles of honesty, even at great personal cost, becomes Frank's way of breaking free of his cycle of rambling and crime.

The Natural

The Natural
by Bernard Malamud
read: circa 2002

"Some mistakes you never stop paying for."

The ending is different, and darker than the movie version of The Natural, which is obviously iconic, but a little harder to square with the theme as stated above.

Lovecraft Country

Lovecraft Country
by Matt Ruff
read: 2020

When I wrote about Hellboy, I opined that only a good-hearted demon with a fist of stone could withstand the sanity-crushing revelations of Lovecraftian fiction. Matt Ruff begs to differ, suggesting a more elegant solution: Jim-Crow-era African-Americans, who were forced to endure various other horrors with regularity. If people want to refuse you food, terrorize you when you move in, try to lynch you in the woods, try to murder your family in its home ... really, what can a Shoggoth do you that's any worse?

The World According to Garp

The World According to Garp
by John Irving
read: circa 2002

At one point in the novel, the titular T.S. Garp opines that "the autobiographical basis—if there even was one—was the least interesting level of which to read a novel." What makes this even more amusing is that Garp's life mirrors author John Irving's in many ways; Garp is a writer, he coaches wrestling, he knows nothing of his father. I think about this sentence a lot, both whether it is true or not, and whether Irving meant it to be true or if it was kind of a joke. 

A Prayer for Owen Meany

A Prayer for Owen Meany
by John Irving
read: circa 2002
Guardian 1000 Novels

I don't think any adaption of a written work has angered me as much as Simon Birch, a loose interpretation of A Prayer for Owen Meany and one of the worst films I've ever seen. I'm not sure who it was for; it starred child actors (dispensing with the parallel adult plot of Owen Meany) but dealt with concepts too mature for a kids movie, and anyone who read the book would despise the movie.

My other enduring memory of Owen Meany is the song "Four Strong Winds," a Canadian folk tune that pops up periodically.

Coraline

Coraline
by Neil Gaiman
read: 2019

Coraline wound up being the first non-picture book my son read. Well, there are occasional pictures, and I read probably every other page, but it counts.

I just watched the movie and while I think the visual feel was a great fit for the story, there were some changes I disliked. It seemed like they minimized Coraline's cleverness and resourcefulness at several points. In the novel, she finds most of the "ghost's eyes" through thoroughness and a keen eye; in the movie, it's more serendipity. In the book, she lays a shrewd trap for the Beldam's hand; in the movie, her neighbor Wybie (a character not found in the book) saves her.

Sandman

American Gods
by Neil Gaiman
read: 2019

I had a very Neil-Gaiman-y stretch in 2019 where I was reading Coraline with my son and Sandman on my own.  Sandman is interesting in that several of the story arcs barely involve the titular Sandman/Morpheus/Dream. Perhaps my favorite volume was A Game of You, where he appears only briefly. His diminished presence works in part because the character of Dream is tough to like: consumed by duty, grudge-bearing, moody, aloof no fun at parties. He's better when softened by his relationships with his sisters Delirium and Death or even his rare mortal friend like Hob Gadling.

American Gods

American Gods
by Neil Gaiman
read: circa 2008
Guardian 1000 Novels, Hugo Award, Nebula Award

My uncle lent me this book and I read it a decade back or so. I don't remember too much, other than the general setup: main character released from prison, wife died after (/during) having an affair, "old gods" in modern America.

Appointment in Samarra

Appointment in Samarra
by John O'Hara
read: 2019
Time 100 Novels, Modern Library #22

The novel begins with an epigraph, a short story from W. Somerset Maugham from which the title is taken. A servant, seeing Death in a crowd and believing himself marked, borrows his master's horse to ride from Baghdad to Samarra. The master confronts death, who says he only expressed surprise at seeing the servant in Baghdad, for they had an appointment later that day in Samarra. Obviously with an preface like that, someone is going to die.

One thing I couldn't figure out was the plotline with Al Grecco. He was a major character for the first two-thirds or so but his storyline didn't really seem to resolve.