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.

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
by Philip K. Dick
read: 2016

Like most of Dick's writings, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch is a mental labyrinth, leaving the reader (and some of the characters) questioning who or what Eldritch really is and what he wants. Characters take hallucinogenic drugs and periodically plunge into realms where the lines between fantasy and reality blur. This is all par for the course with Dick, but Palmer Eldritch also possesses a beating heart under the mental gymnastics: protagonist Barney Mayerson is caught in a spiritual malaise and must find a reason to keep living in a universe where Earth and the other human outposts are largely uninhabitable. Mayerson must not only not preserve humanity, but determine that it is even worth saving.

Tobacco Road

Tobacco Road
by Erskine Caldwell
read: 2016
Modern Library #91, Guardian 1000 Novels

Erskine Caldwell's Tobacco Road has perhaps the most visceral descriptions of poverty I have ever read. The characters wear tattered clothing, live in dilapidated houses on infertile land, and battle the constant threat of starvation. They have no concept of money and little regard for human life, as evidenced by Dude's casual attitude towards committing two vehicular homicides. They are in part victims of the economic conditions of the times, but Caldwell's portrayal doesn't absolve them of their sins, either: theft, laziness, ignorance, and apathy.