The Satanic Verses

The Satanic Verses
by Salman Rushdie
read: 2015
Guardian 1000 Novels

I described Midnight's Children as "rich," and the same applies to Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, but I'd argue the latter text veers into incoherent at times. There are many plots and many characters, and the two main characters change from good to bad and back during the story, making it hard to follow or have a rooting interest. I don't think I really have the background to appreciate some of the religious elements or some of the experiences of an immigrant in the Western world, but at times things did resonate with me, such as Chamcha trying to reconcile with his father.

Big Sur

Big Sur
by Jack Kerouac
read: 2015

I once had a music blog and a few years ago I reviewed One Fast Move Or I'm Gone, an album by Son Volt's Jay Farrar and Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard, built around the words of Jack Kerouac's Big Sur. I panned the album at the time, but came to love the poetry of the lyrics and the moroseness of the music. Since that review, I moved to the Bay Area (and back), visited the City Lights bookstore and the Beat Museum, and traveled to Big Sur. It was strange reading the novel and having lines like "I'm just a sick clown and so is everybody else" or "I am going to die in full despair - Wake up where? On second breath in life the atmosphere is dearer maybe closer to Heaven" and have a melody spring into my head reflexively. It enhancement my enjoyment of the novel and forced me to pay closer attention to the prose than I do normally.

Kerouac's accounts of his drinking binges are tough to read in light of his alcohol-related death prior to the age of 50. He does not glorify his alcoholism, describing how the physical ills of a hangover are intertwined with a spiritual despair. In this light, his life's end was truly sad.

The Wings of the Dove

The Wings of the Dove
by Henry James
read: 2015
Modern Library #26, Guardian 1000 Novels

I often enjoy quiet novels about interpersonal relationships, events, and attitudes, but I essentially slept through much of my reading of The Wings of the Dove. James kept expounding for page after page on a minute shift in one character's perception of another and the novel might have been more readable if some of that was omitted.

James changes perspectives in the narration. The reader sees the first few chapters from the perspective of Kate, establishing her motivations to soften James setting her up, ultimately, as the story's villain. Much of the rest of the first volume focuses on Milly, but the second volume zeroes in on Densher and his moral dilemma. Despite struggling with the prose, I did find the story compelling, with James keeping me in suspense until the very end.

The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All

The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All
by Laird Barron
read: 2015

The United States covers a wide, often sparsely populated area, and modern civilization sprung up relatively recently. What dwells in the spaces that haven't been paved over by mankind? What undiscovered ruins lay there? Who lived (or lives) there, and what strange gods did they worship? Barron answers these questions with a healthy dose of Lovecraftian horror. The empty spaces are full of dark, evil creatures and forces that want to destroy mankind and only spare humans so they can spread the tales of the terrors they have seen. Most of Barron's characters have figurative demons even before encountering the literal ones that people his stories. It makes for pretty dark stuff.

At Swim-Two-Birds

At Swim-Two-Birds
by Flann O'Brien
read: 2015
Time 100 Novels, Guardian 1000 Novels

Other than a couple of the stories in Lost in the Funhouse, I have not read anything with as many meta-fictional layers as At Swim-Two-Birds. The narrator is an author writing a story that features an writer who falls asleep, allowing his fictional creations to play at creating stories of their own. Characters interrupt tales with other tales, one-upping one another. The fictional author gives birth to a figurative offspring made literal flesh, and that character in turn writes a story wherein his dozing father gets his comeuppance. These stories-within-stories are intercut by the narrator's tales of drinking with friends and maintaining his relationship with his guardian uncle. Often I find this sort of metafictional exercise showy and pointless, but there's enough humor to make it work here; O'Brien knows he's being a bit silly.

The Napoleon of Notting Hill

The Napoleon of Notting Hill
by G.K. Chesterton
read: 2015

I've spent a little time in London but I'm not sure I understand enough about either the geography of the city or about the public sentiment towards patriotism in England in 1904 to appreciate some of the apparently satiric elements in The Napoleon of Notting Hill.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
by Frank Miller
read: 2015

Throughout Dark Knight Returns, there's a running argument about whether Batman does more good or evil for society. Miller takes pains to make the characters espousing both sides of the argument look like idiots, letting them voice closed-minded or naive thoughts in the same breaths with which they render their opinions on Batman. But he also makes sure that both sides have a point. Obviously Batman stops a lot of crime and criminals, but he also inspires the Joker to come out of retirement and kill hundreds. Commissioner Gordon (and ultimately his successor) ultimately feels it best to look the other way, but it's a murky decision.

I have same complaint about Miller's Batman that I do about the Christopher Nolan movies: when he's causing destruction at a massive scale, it's ridiculous to continually point out that he doesn't kill people. He kills bunches of people.