How far would you go to save someone's life? What sacrifices would you make and can you really know that without the pressure and timing of the actual situation? A person's demise can be immediate and urgent, or slow and compounding over a great deal of time.
Would you consider their value before deciding? Would you consider how this could offer you benefit? Or, do you consider all life valuable without regard to how you are perceived in the whole saving decision thing?
This book made me think of these things. I sometimes put myself to sleep with rescue fantasies and in these fantasies I save and rescue because it feels like an ultimate good. The balance between good and evil should be tipped in the direction of good whenever possible and I find this work to be soothing. I like to go to sleep this way.
There were many horrific scenes in this pretty book. The doomed protagonist is funny, clever and surprisingly upbeat. She considers suicidal options in any new setting the way most people look for a second exit in case of fire. She does this in case "the men show up" and torture and murder her the way her sister was murdered. She struggles to survive in an environment where there is such a casual randomness of violence.
The violence has to do with the export of natural resources in Nigeria. The exporting business is conducted below the usual standard operating procedures that bored us when they were explained in Social Studies. This business stomps and kills any inconvenient human condition that poses an obstacle.
I would like to think that I would save someone - if presented with the situation. I hope I never really have to test that though. Living with a bad outcome could undo me.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Ablutions - Patrick DeWitt
Some books have the ability to stain you with whatever they are made of. This book is made up of ugly, hopeless misery and I wore the stain for about a week. Work and daily living seemed like drudgery. Everyone had a motive that was designed to hurt me. Friends shook their heads and moved away for a while.
The main character is a bartender in LA and this book is about his life among the regulars. The story is told in second person. This made it feel like an embarrassing acquaintance standing next to me at a party. I kept feeling like I was in biology class with a microscope and each scene moves up a magnification with a nearly audible click. Crazy drunk person - crazy drunk person with an issue - crazy drunk person with an issue that feels hopelessly familiar. You get the idea.
When literature affects me like this, I remember why I love to read so much. I liked being stained for a while - I like being touchable.
The main character is a bartender in LA and this book is about his life among the regulars. The story is told in second person. This made it feel like an embarrassing acquaintance standing next to me at a party. I kept feeling like I was in biology class with a microscope and each scene moves up a magnification with a nearly audible click. Crazy drunk person - crazy drunk person with an issue - crazy drunk person with an issue that feels hopelessly familiar. You get the idea.
When literature affects me like this, I remember why I love to read so much. I liked being stained for a while - I like being touchable.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Safer - Sean Doolittle
This was a kind of mystery about a literature professor (Paul Calloway) who has been framed for sexually abusing a 13 year old neighbor girl. The book opens with his embarrassing arrest in the middle of a Christmas party he and his wife are throwing. At that point, you don't know any of the details - you don't know for sure who is setting him up - you feel sorry for the guy.
After a while you learn that Roger, the crazy vigilant neighbor is behind the frame. His son was murdered 10 years earlier and his wife killed herself in the aftermath of grief. He has made it his life mission to protect his community and keep everyone strong and safe. He has learned that Paul had a one nighter with another neighbor and decides that Paul is not the kind of guy you want on the block and tells him he has to move - or else.
Paul is almost likable. He never quite gets there though and I struggled over who to root for. In the end, the back story about Roger and who killed his son took over in a really confusing way with lots of murder and confounding resolution. Things get wrapped up, but I am not sure what happened. The cool characters like Maya Lamb, the smart reporter or Brit the worldly 13 year old drop off the story and out of sight.
It felt like Sean Doolittle had to finish the story in a hurry. He seemed to have a cool beginning and an ending with lots of action, but connecting these two things was a lot of work.
After a while you learn that Roger, the crazy vigilant neighbor is behind the frame. His son was murdered 10 years earlier and his wife killed herself in the aftermath of grief. He has made it his life mission to protect his community and keep everyone strong and safe. He has learned that Paul had a one nighter with another neighbor and decides that Paul is not the kind of guy you want on the block and tells him he has to move - or else.
Paul is almost likable. He never quite gets there though and I struggled over who to root for. In the end, the back story about Roger and who killed his son took over in a really confusing way with lots of murder and confounding resolution. Things get wrapped up, but I am not sure what happened. The cool characters like Maya Lamb, the smart reporter or Brit the worldly 13 year old drop off the story and out of sight.
It felt like Sean Doolittle had to finish the story in a hurry. He seemed to have a cool beginning and an ending with lots of action, but connecting these two things was a lot of work.
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