The Jungle

Title: The Jungle
Author: Upton Sinclair
List: #45 on Radcliffe’s Top 100 20th Century Novels
Worth reading? Yes.

I think The Jungle is one of those books that everyone who was educated in the United States either heard about or read in high school. I remember it being thoroughly discussed in my American History class as the start of “muckraking” journalism and as the book that led to reforms in the food industry. What I didn’t realize was that, instead of being a journalistic non-fiction account of the Chicago Stockyards, the book is a work of fiction that describes the struggles of a family of Lithuanian immigrants.

The novel starts out on a high happy note describing the whirlwind of commotion that is the wedding of the main character, Jurgis, to his wife, Ona. However, even in that scene of happy tumult, there are signs of stress as Ona worries about the expense of the wedding feast, and the other female family members worry about the guests who came and ate but did not contribute any money to the new couple during the money dance.

After this scene, the author jumps back in time to describe how Jurgis and Ona, with Jurgis’s father and nine of Ona’s family members immigrated to America with hearts full of hope and minds dreaming of comfort and riches. Unfortunately, they soon find that all is not rosy in America because high wages are joined with high prices, and they fall prey to the wiles of con men. Their lack of English and overall illiteracy, as well as a series of bad decisions, contributes to a growing debt that they cannot possibly pay off.

Added to these troubles is their naivety when it comes to the world of the Chicago Stockyards. For example, Jurgis is strong and gets a job almost immediately, and he thinks that this strength will continue and allow him to keep his position. However, he has not reckoned with the practice of “speeding up,” whereby the owners and supervisors insert new, fresh workers into the line to speed up the whole process until everyone works faster and faster and faster. As can be imagined, this practice leads to less careful work, which leads to accidents. Even Jurgis is not infallible and ends up twisting an ankle, which does not heal properly, and which causes him to miss several months of work. And, of course, after that he is much weakened and cannot get his old job back. Not to mention that without his wages, the family sinks even further into debt.

Because they are spread in various jobs throughout the stockyards, Jurgis and his family also learn the other secrets of meatpacking, like the practice of using rotten meat in sausage and canning, distracting inspectors so tubercular beef and pork can be used, using the waste on the floor in meat products, and a variety of other disgusting and unhealthy practices. Everything is geared towards making the most profit for the owners. And if someone in any position of power can get a little extra money, for example when he has an opening and the opportunity to hire someone, he takes it.

And so the family suffers along, and even sending the children to sell newspapers and Jurgis’s sick and elderly father to work does not help their situation. It also doesn’t help that no one gets sufficient nutrition because everything they buy, including milk, get doctored so that the products do not have close to the nutritional content that they should have. And because of all these odds stacked against them, family members start to die of causes that, if there was adequate nutrition or money to pay for doctors, would have been preventable.

The novel is a stunning exposé of conditions in the Chicago Stockyards and the food industry in general. It also reveals the plight of new immigrants to America in the early 20th century and the difficulties they faced in escaping the wiles of con men and companies designed to take advantage of naïve and illiterate immigrants. And as you can probably gather from this description, the wedding scene in the first chapter was the only high note of the novel and everything was gloom and doom from that point forward… until the end, when Jurgis finally discovers a reason to hope. But despite the somber theme, the novel is definitely a must read, if only to understand why we have and need government regulation of the things we depend upon to nourish ourselves.

Memoirs of a Geisha

Title: Memoirs of a Geisha
Author: Arthur Golden
List: #62 on BBC Top 100
Worth Reading? Yes!!

I read this book several years ago, really enjoyed it, and would heartily recommend it. However, it has been too long since I read it for me to write a coherent post, so I asked Scott to write a guest post:

I first read Memoirs of a Geisha in 2005 prior to the release of the movie adaptation. When I decided to re-read it, Natalie asked me to write a guest blog and I happily agreed. If you are not familiar with the plot, this book is about a young girl from a small fishing village in Japan who is sent away to Kyoto to become a geisha. I love this book for many reasons but I would recommend reading it for two.

The story begins in the years leading up to World War Two, in the geisha district of Kyoto. In an age where a society is straddling two identities, one firmly set in tradition and one marching onward into the future, the author is able to effortlessly transport the reader back in time. I have no desire to visit the sprawling cities of Japan today, but when I read Golden’s description of the tea houses and ceremonies, the geisha’s kimonos and superstitions, it is sometimes hard for me to remember that the setting he is describing no longer exists. These descriptions make me long to be able to visit the unspoiled, exotic locations of the book, even though that would require time travel.

At the same time, this book has a foreboding shadow hanging over much of the story. The narrator, Chiyo, is very honest about the time period. As the years pass, peace erodes for the Japanese as the Empire invades China and attacks Pearl Harbor, and as the war in the Pacific proceeds. And although many of these events aren’t told by the characters, in my mind at least the peacefulness presented is somewhat tainted by the knowledge that these events are occurring in history. It is like waiting in the calm before a storm: you want to relax and let your guard down, but you know that something dangerous is lurking around the corner.

The second reason I would recommend reading this book is because of the prose used by the characters. Describing a scene in the geisha district, the main character says, “Among the men in Western style business suits and kimono, several geisha stood out in brilliant coloring just like autumn leaves on the murky water of the river.” This book is full of these little tidbits, each of them conveying the scene perfectly from the perspective of this young uneducated girl who is experiencing life fully.

Some might describe this as a romance novel, or a love story, but I would describe it as a story of growth, exploration, and learning. And I would highly recommend it to anyone.

Ender's Game

Title: Ender’s Game
Author: Orson Scott Card
List: #59 on Modern Library Readers’ Top 100 20th Century Novels
Worth reading? Yes.

Ender’s Game is a science fiction novel in many ways strongly reminiscent of Starship Troopers, which I read shortly before starting this blog. It takes place in a future where humans have narrowly escaped destruction by an insect-like alien race and have formed an international military unit to defend Earth from future attacks. This military unit apparently fears that another war with the “buggers” is imminent and is searching for a commander to lead the human forces to victory.

The interesting part is that the military is searching for this commander among children. These children, who are as young as five or six, are enrolled in a space station military training facility, called the Battle School, where they are trained as fighters. After Battle School, the children go on to Command School to learn how to lead forces, mainly spaceships, into battle.

The main character, Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, is a prodigy sent to Battle School just before his sixth birthday. There the “game” begins where he fights other children as part of one of the school’s armies in the school’s zero gravity war games league. Most of the novel consists of Ender’s personal struggles but military successes at Battle School. In that respect, the novel is very male-oriented, violent, and militaristic.

However, the psychology behind the concept of training young children is quite intriguing, as are descriptions of how Ender adapts to zero gravity. The novel explains how Ender recognizes that in zero gravity he can decide for himself what is up and what is down and how that completely reorients his perspective on action that takes place in zero gravity. This reorienting of perspective is something that the other children have difficulty grasping and that Ender must try to teach his peers. Although the author describes this perspective change very well, I couldn’t help but think the concept would be much better explained visually. And then I found out that there are plans for a movie, set for release in March 2013. I hope that the filmmakers deal with the concept as well as the author intended.

As far as sci-fi novels go, most of Ender’s Game really isn’t that stellar or different. What sets it apart is its focus on children and an interesting twist at the end that I only predicted a couple pages before it was revealed. This twist is what makes the novel worth reading and the militarism worth slogging through.  As for the rest of the series, I haven't started any of them yet and the novel works quite well by itself.  However, I have heard from several sources that the second book clears up some questions from the first one so I may read that at some point in the future.

Watership Down

Title: Watership Down
Author: Richard Adams
List: #42 on BBC Top 100, #79 on Modern Library Readers’ Top 100 20th Century Novels
Worth reading? YES!!

Watership Down is a book about rabbits. “A book about rabbits?!” you may exclaim, “And why are you so adamant that it is worth reading?” Because it is completely unexpected and utterly amazing. Leaving aside the fact that it is about rabbits, the story is about a hero who risks everything for his convictions, faces seemingly insurmountable obstacles with bravery and cunning, and puts his own life at risk multiple times for the sake of his friends and followers. The hero doesn’t believe in leaving anyone behind and, most of the time, listens to the advice of even the littlest voices. Richard Adams’ storytelling makes you root for the hero and his followers and it is difficult not to keep reading chapter after chapter.

Integral to this adventurous tale is the fact that it is about rabbits. The magnificent hero of this story is not a human, but a rabbit leading his followers across the countryside to found a new rabbit warren. Richard Adams has perfectly captured the movements, spirit, and fears of rabbits. The tale is full of passages describing the rabbits’ progress as a short run, followed by a couple of hops, followed by sitting up and smelling around for predators, followed by freezing in place or running away in fear. If you’ve ever seen any wild rabbits in person or on film, you realize that Adams’ words perfectly describe rabbit behavior and progress and you can perfectly imagine the ragged bunch of rabbits crossing a field. Their fears are rabbit fears, their dreams are rabbit dreams, and their behavior is, unquestionably, rabbit behavior. Added to this is Adams’ charming description of rabbit language and folklore. Adams introduces readers to a bit of rabbit vocabulary and describes how, to pass the time, the rabbits tell stories about a rabbit trickster folk hero and his interactions with a god-figure and a grim reaper equivalent. Several of these stories are included in the book and are brilliantly told by one of the rabbits.

In every way, Watership Down is a fantastic adventure story that becomes even more charming because of the rabbit civilization Adams created. Although the novel was written for children, it is a story adults should not miss, so it may be best read aloud as a bedtime story!

The Bostonians

Title: The Bostonians
Author: Henry James
List: #87 on Radcliffe’s Top 100 20th Century Novels
Worth reading? Maybe.

I did not particularly enjoy this novel. And as I work my way through my massive list, I am finding that for the most part I really enjoy the novels on the BBC list, but less so the novels on the Modern Library and Radcliffe lists. Then again, maybe it is just the novels on those lists that I haven’t read yet that I don’t like very much, because the Radcliffe list does include books I have really enjoyed, like To Kill a Mockingbird, Charlotte’s Web, Winnie-the-Pooh, Gone With the Wind, Schindler’s List, and Lord of the Rings, to pick out just a few of my favorites. So perhaps I am just in a novel-choosing slump.

As for The Bostonians, I don’t think I’ve read a Henry James novel before, so I’m not sure if this novel is reflective of James’ style. What I did not enjoy about his style in this book were the massive paragraphs describing (rather boring) conversations between the characters instead of actually transcribing their dialogue. When James did relate actual dialogues, I found the book much more enjoyable.

Perhaps part of the problem is that this book is rather political. Two of the main characters, Olive Chancellor and Verena Tarrant, are very active in the feminist movement and James describes their ideas and mission in quite some detail. He also describes the opposition to their cause felt by the other main character, Basil Ransom. It is difficult to tell where James’ personal views lie. At the beginning of the novel he satirizes the feminist platform quite effectively, but as Basil Ransom gains influence over Verena Tarrant, James appears more sympathetic to the feminist cause.

I think it bears keeping in mind that this is not a modern novel, but was first published as a serial in 1885-86. The novel appears to be set a decade or so earlier, as Basil Ransom is a relatively young Civil War veteran from Mississippi. Clearly, the attitude towards feminism at that time was not the same as it is today, and it is perhaps this late 19th century setting that made James give his characters options that were only black and white.

I’m not giving anything away by saying that Basil Ransom, a staunch conservative, falls in love with Verena Tarrant, a beautiful young woman and gifted public speaker. At the same time, Olive Chancellor discovers Verena and seeks to develop Verena’s speaking ability to advance the cause of women’s rights. Both Basil and Olive see Verena’s future in terms of black and white. Olive apparently believes that for Verena to promote the feminist cause, she must pledge to remain unmarried. (It is also possible, but not explicitly stated, that Olive may be in love with Verena herself and be opposed to the possibility of Verena marrying on that ground.) Basil, on the other hand, doesn’t believe in women’s rights and doesn’t believe Verena’s gift should be exploited in public exhibitions. Rather, he feels that she must use her charm only at home in the parlor—a parlor shared with him, of course. Poor Verena, meanwhile, is torn in both directions, and neither of her friends offers her the option to do both: marry and advance the feminist cause through public speaking.

It may be our modern times that make me think this third option is an obvious one, but the lack of that option for Verena in the novel really irritated me (as did the fact that Verena wasn't a strong enough character to come up with that option herself!). This irritation was not on a policy level because I feel it is important to think of the political climate in which the novel was released, but more because by presenting the options as black and white, James causes all of his characters, but particularly Verena, to suffer severe pain and anguish. Maybe that was necessary for the story James wanted to convey, particularly because it is supposed to be a satire, but apparently this satire was lost on me, leaving only the annoyance and irritation.

And from this you may believe that I only enjoy novels with happy endings. But I swear that’s not true! Just look at the previously mentioned Gone With the Wind and To Kill a Mockingbird as two examples. Anyway, I didn’t enjoy The Bostonians. Somehow it didn’t engage me and I really just wanted to get to the end and finish it already. And with that, I’ll leave reading this book up to you. I see no reason to rush out and read it, but I guess it wasn’t a complete waste of time.

Artemis Fowl

Title: Artemis Fowl
Author: Eoin Colfer
List: #59 on BBC Top 100
Worth reading? For an adult, not really.

The BBC Top 100 list is notable for the variety of books it includes. There are classics, recent novels, fiction written for adults, and juvenile fiction. When the BBC solicited nominations for its list, Artemis Fowl had only been out for two years. Since then, it has grown into a series of seven books, with the eighth and final book coming in 2012. The series is a children’s fantasy series, and each book ranges from about 250-400 smallish pages, with pretty large type. Based on that, the series really seems geared towards children not yet used to reading very much. However, the author describes Artemis Fowl as “Die Hard with fairies,” and indeed the action scenes and Gnommish* swearing seem to make the novel more appropriate for older children. The simplicity of the writing thus does not seem geared to the potentially somewhat older audience.

These characteristics are in stark contrast to other children’s fantasy novels that made it on the BBC list, including the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling and the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. Both of those series are also clearly for children, but are easily read and enjoyed by adults without feeling like a children’s book. Not that there is anything wrong with a children’s book feeling like a children’s book. That seems perfectly natural, but I don’t think that such an obvious children’s book really belongs on the BBC Top 100 list next to classics like Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice. To be fair, there are other children’s books on the list, like the books by Roald Dahl and Jacqueline Wilson, that may be more appropriate companions to Artemis Fowl. It has been many years since I read Roald Dahl’s children’s books, so I can’t remember how childish they are. However, I do remember loving them and that my parents really enjoyed them, I still think they are wonderful and praise them whenever I get the chance, and I hope they will be read to or by my own future children. As for Jacqueline Wilson’s books, I have yet to read any of those so I will reserve judgment.

Even if I set aside the overt childishness of the Artemis Fowl books, I still think they are not that fantastic. The basic premise of the first book is that Artemis Fowl II, a twelve-year-old genius and criminal mastermind, wants to replenish his family’s wealth by cheating the fairies out of some of their gold. (Mind you, the Fowls are still wealthy—the “problem” is that they went from being billionaires to being millionaires.) With the help of his bodyguard, Artemis kidnaps a fairy who happens to be an officer in the fairy police force and demands a ransom payment. Mayhem in the form of rescue attempts and double crossing ensues.

So, yes, Artemis Fowl is an adventure story. And yes, it holds your attention. But… besides the use of fairies and fairy technology, it isn’t very creative. Every predictable moment from every action movie you’ve ever seen is in the first book (and the second for that matter). I don’t think the book made me think or taught me anything new, and I’m not sure that would be any different for a child. That said, it isn’t horrible. And there would be absolutely nothing wrong with a child reading this book because, after all, the most important thing, to me anyway, would be to instill the love of reading in a child. And if this book helps, then any future child of mine will be more than welcome to read it. As for me, I won’t be recommending this to any Harry Potter fans or other adult readers, and now that I’ve read the first two because I borrowed them at the same time from library, I won’t be reading the other six unless (and until) some future child of mine decides to read them.

*Gnommish is the language spoken by the fairies.

Zuleika Dobson

Title: Zuleika Dobson
Author: Max Beerbohm
List: #59 on Modern Library Board’s Top 100 20th Century Novels
Worth reading? Not really.

The full title of this novel is Zuleika Dobson, or, an Oxford love story. Except that it’s not. Or rather, it is one of the oddest and most demented love stories I have ever come across. The premise, which becomes rapidly evident so that I do not feel bad about revealing it, is that Zuleika Dobson is a woman with whom men fall in love on sight, to the point of killing themselves for her. And Zuleika is vain and egocentric enough to want people to die for her and to encourage them to die for her.

In this weird twist on reality, a proud and emotionally detached young Duke concludes that the only way to make Zuleika love him, or perhaps more accurately, to make her appreciate his love for her, is to commit suicide. He comes to this conclusion after Zuleika, who briefly loved him because he appeared to be immune to her charms, rejects him after realizing that he has fallen in love with her just like everyone else. Unfortunately, this all takes place in Oxford, a town full of young men—young men who are easily influenced by both Zuleika’s magnetism and the Duke’s resolve. And from that brief description, I am sure you can guess the inevitable conclusion to which this novel steadily progresses.

Now, an awful story is not necessarily enough to make me condemn a book. And, to be honest, when I finished reading this novel, I felt speechless, not knowing whether to encourage or discourage future readers. The writing is excellent. The author has a humorous tone throughout and a calm defeatist attitude towards the inevitable end. He switches perspective effectively, at times revealing the thoughts and actions of the Duke and Zuleika, at times describing the behavior of ghosts and the thoughts of statues, and at other times almost engaging in a conversation with the reader. However, for all that, I don’t think I can recommend it. As I’ve said before, there are so many other books out there that are better able to challenge, move, and inspire me that when I come across a book like this one, I can pretty comfortably recommend that you give it a pass.