Review: "The Painted Bird" by Jerzy Kosinski

A harrowing, rather fantastical look at World War II in Europe, Jerzy Kosinski’s The Painted Bird is a novel I will not soon forget. To be honest, it may be one of the most overtly and viscerally violent books I have read, with deaths happening on almost every page, and described in a detached yet gruesome fashion. Whether it is made up or not, as some critics of Kosinki’s claim, the power of this singular work cannot be denied, even with its flaws. While it deals with World War II, it is unlike any other book you might have read about that overly talked about subject. It has less in common with a book like Julie Orringer’s The Invisible Bridge, and more so with the work of Clive Barker, with this novel being like a lost, extended story from one of his Books of Blood. The novel focuses on an unnamed narrator how, to avoid the violence of the conflict, is shipped, by his parents, to a far off village to live with his relatives. But that is just the beginning of his violent journey to the depths of human evil. Once on his own, he travels from village to village, experiencing all kinds of torment that are hard to imagine, but somehow he survives all these things, and is forced to grow into stronger person. If there is one major flaw in this book, it’s how repetitive the violence can get. The reader almost becomes desensitized by the violence due to the detached narrator, who describes things almost as if they are outside of him. But the scenes that do hit their mark, like the eye-gouging scene and the rape with the wine bottle, are extremely effective, and rival the skinning scene in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. This is not a book for the squeamish, but it is one that will leave you shaken, and possibly changed.

Rating: 4/5

Review: "Dead Air" by Iain Banks

I don’t really feel good about sullying the recently dead, but Dead Air by Iain Banks is a pretty bad book. Not awful, but this was a long, long 400 pages book that I’m glad I finally finished. I’ve been kind of a fan of Iain Banks, and was very sadden when I heard that he had passed away. He was an odd, rather inconsistent talent who always delivered unique gothic tales for mass consumption. I am a big fan of his long novel The Crow Road, and find a sick glee in The Wasp Factory and Complicity. But it is hard to find anything good in this book, which is even more unpleasant than most of the themes that Banks would deal with in his literary fiction. It’s not very original, feeling very derivative of James Kelman, but without much feeling. And despite a few hilarious sex scenes, it is all criminally boring. It begins in a very memorable scene at a party that has gotten out of control. The novel focuses on Ken Nott, a kind of shock jock DJ who is a cross between the harshness of Rush Limbaugh but with the politics of Bill Maher. During this party, the guests begin throwing things off the balcony, and they hear over the radio about the two planes hitting the twin towers. From there, we learn that Ken is not a savory character. He cheats on his girlfriend, does a lot of drugs, and flaunts horrid politics just to jack up his ratings. This all leads to a relationship with the wife of a crime boss, which forces him to change. As I said, it is quite boring with the exception of a graphic sex scene in the middle. It is very hard for me to recall much from it, even the violent parts. It is good that this is only one book in a large body of work, because this was not him at his best.

Rating: 2/5

Review: "To Each His Own" by Leonardo Sciascia

If you are looking for a different kind of mafia or crime novel, Leonardo Sciascia is really the place to look. The late author specialized in the kinds of existential noir tales that the novel, To Each His Own, is categorized as. It a short, terse brutal tale of the way crime not only kills people physically, but really dehumanizes those who stand up to it and those who are victimized by it. It is a very horrifying world to live in, the loneliness and isolation of the title soaking in on every page. The only issue I really take with this book is its focus on philosophy over intrigue, much in the same way that characterizes the work of Raymond Chandler. This book, as well as most of Sciascia’s novels is remembered more for it’s existential and political themes rather than unique plots. The setup is beyond simple; a philandering pharmacist along with his friend, are killed while on a hunting trip. The police quickly hinge the motive on a jealous lover, and even more quickly, let the case go cold. The only person with doubts is a lowly, mediocre schoolteacher, who was once friends with the victim, sees a clue that the police didn’t spot. More through arrogance than through any sense of justice, he figures out that the real target of the crime was the pharmacist’s friend, but not before a tragic set of circumstances lead the teacher toward a grim end. This is a quick novel, too quick, I might add, with a swift, very foolish decision being made that leads to the horribly downbeat ending, that left me a bit shaken, and to be honest, hurt. But that was the goal of Sciascia’s fiction, to show the destruction of hope that comes from living under the iron boot of organized crime.

Rating: 4/5

Review: "So Much For That" by Lionel Shriver

After absolutely loving Lionel Shriver’s novels We Need To Talk About Kevin and The Post-Birthday World, I guess I should have seen the disappointment of her novel So Much For That coming from a mile away. While it is not a mindset I have myself, I’ve begun to see Shriver as the cynical voice of reason we reluctantly need in our lives. Her novels ask really tough questions whose answers might destroy us, or at least help us rebuild after whatever notion we held so dear has crumbled. We Need To Talk About Kevin brought up the horrifying implications of unconditional love between parent and child. In The Post-Birthday World, she questioned the idea of a completely happy ending in life, or the idea of good and bad decisions. But in So Much For That, she tries her hand at a comedy, and she doesn’t really have a handle on it. Not putting her talents to good use, the story she tells is an awkward one, whose jokes and gags fall flat, or are even uncomfortable to sit through, and not in a positive way. Her focus this time is on a newly rich Shep Knacker, who has just sold his company for a million dollars. He has dreamed of escaping to a tropical paradise, known hilariuosuly as “the afterlife”, with or without his nagging family, which includes his wife Glynis, who has just been diagnosed with mesothelioma, a rare cancer which might be caused by the work that Shep did on homes. Forced to stay home and care for his somewhat awful wife, his precious nest egg is soon depleted from the constant medical bills; his only saving grace is his friend Jackson, who has just as many problems as he does.  There are not many memorable scenes, with the exception of Jackson getting penis enlargement surgery and trying to hide it from his wife, so the reader is left with a lot of humor that is hit or miss, with an ending that, I’ve got to admit, is pretty heartwarming, even if it is bitter. I’d say read her previous two novel if you haven’t, they are a better introduction than this.

Rating: 3/5

Review: "The Ice Storm" by Rick Moody

I really wanted to review Rick Moody’s The Ice Storm only after seeing the movie first, since I think it is a story that will offer more nuance and pathos in the form of a cinematic experience. But since I did not get that chance, I have to let the book stand on it own as a somewhat unoriginal, yet deftly talented take on American family life in the pivotal year of 1973. It offers the same mix of humor and heartbreak you will find in most novels about family life, with all kinds of clichés you are used to seeing in books like these: adultery, self-discovery in teenage youth and the loss and gain that comes from the emotional and physical maturation. It has its moments of beauty and sorrow like every other drama, but it is very well written, with a singular voice that is naïve, but aware of the mistakes people can make. It begins rather hilariously as Ben Hood, a middle aged father suffering from a bout of multiple canker sores, is naked in the house of his neighbor, Janey Williams, who he has been having an affair with. She is not there, having left him to go to the grocery store. Still horny, he finds her garter belt, and proceeds to masturbate onto it, stuffing it in the back of their son’s Mikey, closet. From there it is pretty typical, with Ben’s wife Elena being distant, their daughter Wendy discovering feminism and the attraction to the Williams’ boys, and their son, Paul, away at college, equating love with his obsession with comics. The pivotal act in the book is a key party that takes place during the storm of the title, whose end signifies a tragic yet necessary change in their lives. It doesn’t break the mold as far as dramas go, but I’m positive you can do worse than this.

Rating: 4/5