Mrs. Dalloway

Mrs. Dalloway
by Virginia Woolf
read: 2016
Time 100 Novels, Guardian 1000 Novels

I'm not a huge fan of stream-of-consciousness novels, but Woolf's prose style reads much more clearly than those of certain works or James Joyce or William Faulkner. Clarissa Dalloway, Peter Walsh, and Rezia Smith, among others, reveal their regrets and laments through internal monologues. Of the other novels I've read, it probably evokes American Pastoral more than anything else. 

Wieland

Wieland: or, the Transformation, an American Tale
by Charles Brockden Brown
read: 2016
Guardian 1000 Novels

At one point I thought that this might turn into a really interesting bit of psychological horror, with narrator Clara turning out to be the perpetrator of the gruesome murders, but Brown's narration downplays the mystery and suspense elements to the story. It doesn't quite come together, but given that it was published in 1798 it's easy to imagine the impact it had on horror writers to come. The beats and pacing of the genre had not been established yet.

One element I liked was the epilogue. She concludes the main narration by suggesting that she would die shortly after penning her tale, but she lives and is able to find happiness long after the harrowing events of the story. That's a phenomenon that is understood in modern psychology - I was first introduced to it in Stumbling on Happiness - and Brown's intuitive understanding of the effect more than a century earlier stands out:

Such is man. Time will obliterate the deepest impressions. Grief the most vehement and hopeless, will gradually decay and wear itself out.

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner
by James Hogg
read: 2016
Guardian 1000 Novels

The structure of this novel is odd. The titular "memoirs and confessions" is presented as a document within the story, published a third of the way through the novel. The preceding third has a somewhat comical air, mocking the stern religious scruples of Reverend Wringhim and his ward Robert. For the most part, that section contains the story of Robert's brother George, but when George is murdered the tone shifts abruptly and it becomes a horror story told from Robert's perspective. Like in The Turn of the Screw, Hogg never spells out the nature of the supernatural evil and leaves the reader to wonder whether Gil-Martin is real or a figment of Robert's imagination.

The Turn of the Screw

The Turn of the Screw
by Henry James
read: 2016
Guardian 1000 Novels

Man, the ending is so weird and abrupt, and left me with a lot of unanswered questions. Why does Miles die? Is Flora spared his fate because she leaves Bly? Does the governess fail Miles in some way? Why did Miss Grose not see Miss Jessel while the governess does? Are the children being possessed by the ghosts or just manipulated? What is the master's role in all of this? Why did Miss Jessel die? Was the governess' death, only alluded to in the frame story, also premature and unnatural? Why have the frame story at all?

Locke and Key

Locke & Key
by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez
read: 2016

It's been a while since I read a graphic novel, but a couple of my friends lent me this set with high recommendations. I don't generally think horror plays up well in the comics medium, and I can't say I was terrified by anything in Locke & Key, but the story was compelling. Like his father Stephen King, Hill spins tales of the supernatural that are grounded in relatable human struggles. One of my favorite parts involved Kinsey pulling fear and sadness out of her psyche through supernatural means. This has certain advantages as the family struggles to combat the evil forces haunting them, but it causes her to be cruel to her friends and love interests as she navigates high school. That sort of poignant twist makes Locke & Key stand out. There's a ton of clever plotting and backstory here, but the characters make those elements ultimately mean something.

Claudius the God

Claudius the God
by Robert Graves
read: 2016

Claudius the God continues the real-life Game-of-Thrones story of I, Claudius, but there's a bit of a tonal shift. Graves' Claudius shows a knack for leadership and public service, but he also plays the comic fool sometimes, especially oblivious to his wife Messalina's infidelities and manipulations. Claudius' relationship with Herod, a major element on the story, also has comic touches.

Throughout the two Claudius novels, the protagonist (and narrator) comes across as sympathetic, while the women of the tale - Messalina, Aggripina, and Lydia, especially - take the blame for many of the evil done in men's names. Graves' work is apparently based on historical information, but I wonder how many of those historical takes are based on outdated notions of a woman's proper place. The idea that Claudius ultimately becomes a tyrant to unselfishly hasten the fall of the empire and the rise of a republican form of government is a bridge too far, for me at least.

Revolutionary Road

Revolutionary Road
by Richard Yates
read: 2016
Time 100 Novels, Guardian 1000 Novels

Revolutionary Road is full of uncomfortable truths for suburbanites like me. Protagonists Frank and April Wheeler aren't living the glamorous life they planned when they first got together, but they have a fine existence by most standards: a nice house in the suburbs, two children, a white collar job for him. They make a decision to become expatriates and live the life of their youthful dreams abroad, only to find life getting in the way of their plans.

Most novels would have a clear moral: either reinforcing the idea that people must follow their dreams, or reinforcing the idea that you should accept the good in the life you already have. Either is a valid life lesson. Yates chooses a third path, however, exposing every path, and for that matter, everyone and everything as irredeemably full of crap. Moving to Europe won't fix the Wheelers' problems, but sticking around won't, either. Nor does it seem that they can find solace in each other - it's not even clear that they like each other. Revolutionary Road is as bleak a portrait of modern life as I can imagine.

Most distressing is the way that many of Frank Wheeler's character flaws resonated with me. There have been times I've found myself telling long, winding stories and realized partway through that I'd already told them and they aren't that clever and everyone in the room knows it. There are real differences between me and Frank, but too many similarities for me to be comfortable with.