oh hello. i am beyond behind in my book reviewing (in fact i added 13 books to my 'finished' folder in my kindle, plus also read some printed books since we last convened) but have been entreated to entertain the notion again, given my moaning and groaning about the latest man booker prize winner and also the booker prize in general.
the luminaries, eleanor catton
hmm where to start. if i ignored the fact that it won the booker prize, here is how i would review the book. the only reason it is upwards of 800 pages is that it tells the same mystery story in and around itself a total of four separate times. the first is a recounting by a group of men to a naive newcomer. the second, after all the back stories and explanations, is a summary of the first. (which is somewhat necessary given the convolutions, but really. if it was really just about plot it would render the first telling unnecessary. more on this later.) the third (after a fashion) is a courtroom scene, in which... the story is told again. there is a veritable ending and comeuppance (more on this later as well) and all that good stuff. nope, only page 600 or so. what is the last 25% (in kindle parlance) of the book dedicated to? oh, it's not enough to know why everything happened, it must be literally spelled out by showing the very scenes which we assume to have occurred. nonono. if it's going to be a mystery, leave it as such. it's much more mysterious that way.
the style of writing was of that 19th century pulpy mystery story type. so one doesn't really read it for the writing. to be honest the only thing which kept me reading was the plot. so why have it four times?! slightly more details are added at each retelling, but as any seasoned reader of crime novels of the type that i have read knows, follow the money. the money trail was pretty clear after the first couple of plot runthroughs, and nothing much was a surprise after that. i guess i kept reading to see if there was anything else that was going to make it revelatory and booker prize-worthy... nope.
further, while most everything was shown and retold excessively, some plot points were left unexplained. why these? it makes them stand out all the more. and not for any good reason that i can see. in fact one of them involves the murder of a 'chinaman', the last in a string of unfair situations for this guy. this entire secondary story arc (begging for justice and revenge) was then summarily ignored and not addressed again. no punishment for his killer, just a secondhand account of a 'rap on the knuckles'. the main plot involved a vicious takedown of the villain. why not also give satisfactory justice to the 'chinaman', huh huh eleanor catton? this is not acceptable for a modern book, 'victorian style' and otherwise accurate cantonese transcription be damned.
speaking of which, as a young female author, i feel that eleanor catton has seriously gone the patriarchal route and stuck to the cliched and typical. a total of three women in the book and two of them are 'whores' and the other one is an abused downtrodden wife? please. if you're going to write a victorian mystery then you should at least shake it up a little, modernise it, subvert cliched expectations.
i guess the only other thing to talk about is the structure and title. to be honest i thought this was the weakest and least interesting part. yeah each chapter was half the length of the preceding chapter. there were star signs and other stuff as chapter titles and theoretical groupings of characters. did it impact/enhance my reading of the book? nope.
4.5/10 for effort. excessive effort that doesn't pay off in any revelatory way about the human spirit or the art of fiction writing. it goes without saying that i don't think it should be on the same list as 'midnight's children' or 'disgrace' or even 'the blind assassin'. but perhaps my expectations were altered by choosing to read it because it won the booker prize. or (even more likely) i am failing to understand what the booker prize is really rewarding. maybe we can go down the path of arguing 'it will get more people reading' a la 'the da vinci code' but in my opinion it should be more dignified.
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Sunday, May 5, 2013
oh you see that now australian bookstores? it’s not just me. see how 125 ‘famous authors’ have ranked their top 10 books giving william faulkner the 2nd highest number of books and the 6th highest number of points? (never mind that the true winner here is tolstoy because he has the highest number of points and a lower number of books to win them with)
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/01/30/writers-top-ten-favorite-books/
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
i just carb-loaded and this is apropos
the finkler question, howard jacobson
i will not be too rudely scathing but i put this book into the ‘sell’ pile right after finishing it. like, flipped through the intentionally blank pages at the end and then closed it and stood up and walked to the pile and put it on top. i finished reading it to see if there was anything which singled it out for the booker prize. i wonder how much better or worse or less comedic the book would be if did not substitute ‘finkler’ for ‘jewish’. it is a book that makes me not care about it. it was also a primarily male book with uselessly characterised main characters with stupid preoccupations and no significant narrative culmination and that also made me not care about it.
3/10 because now i know what jonathan safran foer thinks is ‘hilarious’
i will not be too rudely scathing but i put this book into the ‘sell’ pile right after finishing it. like, flipped through the intentionally blank pages at the end and then closed it and stood up and walked to the pile and put it on top. i finished reading it to see if there was anything which singled it out for the booker prize. i wonder how much better or worse or less comedic the book would be if did not substitute ‘finkler’ for ‘jewish’. it is a book that makes me not care about it. it was also a primarily male book with uselessly characterised main characters with stupid preoccupations and no significant narrative culmination and that also made me not care about it.
3/10 because now i know what jonathan safran foer thinks is ‘hilarious’
Monday, March 25, 2013
why do australian bookstores not carry william faulkner? serious question
light in august, william faulkner
this was such a good book. sooo interesting. i don't know enough about anything but the idea that the unconfirmed suspicion of race and subsequent prejudice/fear can have such far reaching consequences and make people so crazy. i couldn't finish the last two epiloguish chapters but i got the general gist. the way faulkner wrote narrative and family histories through retelling by a character for pages and pages on end, and especially in using a speaking style and turn of phrase to describe certain controversial events. if one skims one misses major developments.
8.5/10
this was such a good book. sooo interesting. i don't know enough about anything but the idea that the unconfirmed suspicion of race and subsequent prejudice/fear can have such far reaching consequences and make people so crazy. i couldn't finish the last two epiloguish chapters but i got the general gist. the way faulkner wrote narrative and family histories through retelling by a character for pages and pages on end, and especially in using a speaking style and turn of phrase to describe certain controversial events. if one skims one misses major developments.
8.5/10
Saturday, March 23, 2013
philippe jaroussky with australian brandenburg orchestra, city recital hall 22/03/2013
ABO gave uniformly good baroque ensemble and musicmaking. love the valveless horns which must be a bitch to play. valveless trumpets as well. brandenburg's onstage formality is still pretty lax, with rolled up sleeves, wiping face on upper arm seen, and the ever present onstage applause for the soloist. however tonight it was pretty well deserved.
jaroussky sang a program of duelling handel and porpora arias, showcasing both the differences and similarities in style. porpora's alto giove was a slow highlight, reminding me in many ways of handel's scherza infida as well as the backbeat soft entry similar to ombra mai fu. after each break jaroussky would start an aria with a really great tone and fresh sound for the first two lines, then slightly slip back into his standard sound. timbre and stability of tone was pretty good, much clearer and less nasal than i had expected. when it comes to coloratura he nails all the runs, and not as mechanically as i've watched on youtube before. however in the fast runs it sounded best with eyes closed; he still has some physical tics and jerks making it look like a great effort to make it all happen. with my eyes closed it sounds effortless. hopefully he'll be able to get to a stage where he can make it all look and sound easy. also a good consistency of tone at the extremes of the range; not too nasal at the high end, and not too soft/feathery at the low. maybe it's a countertenor thing but the projection was not fantastic; i was sitting in the 5th row and expected a bit more penetration. i expect the acoustics would have been pretty good up in the balcony of city recital hall. perhaps the italian pronunciation could have been rounder and not as long especially on the e's.
shaun lee-chen also played locatelli's violin concerto - fast runs and arpeggios of a study/scale nature; impressively performed but the overall piece was not a memorable one. the first movement took him a little while to get into the baroque tuning but from then on intonation was fine. the incongruity between normal finger positions and the expected sound a semitone higher is difficult and uber confusing.
jaroussky had encores of verdi prati (after mi lusingha il dolce affeto in the program proper) and porpora's nell'attendere which had a trumpet-singer duet bringing the concert to a close on a high note.
8/10
jaroussky sang a program of duelling handel and porpora arias, showcasing both the differences and similarities in style. porpora's alto giove was a slow highlight, reminding me in many ways of handel's scherza infida as well as the backbeat soft entry similar to ombra mai fu. after each break jaroussky would start an aria with a really great tone and fresh sound for the first two lines, then slightly slip back into his standard sound. timbre and stability of tone was pretty good, much clearer and less nasal than i had expected. when it comes to coloratura he nails all the runs, and not as mechanically as i've watched on youtube before. however in the fast runs it sounded best with eyes closed; he still has some physical tics and jerks making it look like a great effort to make it all happen. with my eyes closed it sounds effortless. hopefully he'll be able to get to a stage where he can make it all look and sound easy. also a good consistency of tone at the extremes of the range; not too nasal at the high end, and not too soft/feathery at the low. maybe it's a countertenor thing but the projection was not fantastic; i was sitting in the 5th row and expected a bit more penetration. i expect the acoustics would have been pretty good up in the balcony of city recital hall. perhaps the italian pronunciation could have been rounder and not as long especially on the e's.
shaun lee-chen also played locatelli's violin concerto - fast runs and arpeggios of a study/scale nature; impressively performed but the overall piece was not a memorable one. the first movement took him a little while to get into the baroque tuning but from then on intonation was fine. the incongruity between normal finger positions and the expected sound a semitone higher is difficult and uber confusing.
jaroussky had encores of verdi prati (after mi lusingha il dolce affeto in the program proper) and porpora's nell'attendere which had a trumpet-singer duet bringing the concert to a close on a high note.
8/10
Monday, March 11, 2013
helLO and welcome to your infrequent irregularly scheduled program
it chooses you, miranda july
this started out meanderingly enough and i had read the first chapter somewhere on the internet. interviews with random people from the pennysaver, combined with the struggle of creating and making a movie.. it all came together in the end very poignantly.
7/10
pulphead, john jeremiah sullivan
i love a few types of longform essays and one of them appears to be the john jeremiah sullivan type. i read every single one of these investigative pieces with interest and with interest in looking up their subjects more. separately they are all fantastic essays but together the common factor of the american south came through.. very interesting.
8.5/10
the inevitable: contemporary writers confront death, ed david shields and bradford morrow
well as you might surmise from the title this quickly became a somewhat morbid read. which i don't usually shy away from but when everyone is writing a form of non-fiction then it quickly becomes quite melancholy. there was a whole range of writings and themes, though some were similar in describing relatives or spouses who had passed away recently. ultimately it became a showcase of the very different types of writing that can form around a common theme.
6.5/10
this started out meanderingly enough and i had read the first chapter somewhere on the internet. interviews with random people from the pennysaver, combined with the struggle of creating and making a movie.. it all came together in the end very poignantly.
7/10
pulphead, john jeremiah sullivan
i love a few types of longform essays and one of them appears to be the john jeremiah sullivan type. i read every single one of these investigative pieces with interest and with interest in looking up their subjects more. separately they are all fantastic essays but together the common factor of the american south came through.. very interesting.
8.5/10
the inevitable: contemporary writers confront death, ed david shields and bradford morrow
well as you might surmise from the title this quickly became a somewhat morbid read. which i don't usually shy away from but when everyone is writing a form of non-fiction then it quickly becomes quite melancholy. there was a whole range of writings and themes, though some were similar in describing relatives or spouses who had passed away recently. ultimately it became a showcase of the very different types of writing that can form around a common theme.
6.5/10
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
laziness is not a good strategy for a review blog
the miseducation of cameron post, emily m. danforth
this was a nice easy propulsive read, with enough segues and slight tangents to keep the reader guessing as to the importance of minor characters. i normally see YA fiction as being much simpler and plot-driven along with more cliched plot developments so this was a nice surprise.
6.5/10
the year of magical thinking, joan didion
and
blue nights, joan didion
i read these two in quick succession, which was relatively depressing. but good and it gave me a more prolonged insight into the author herself, like i lived in her head for two weeks. a lot of food for thought about the body aging and the mind not at all, the process of grieving and losing personal relationships.
together 8/10
personal recollections of joan of arc, mark twain
as a joan of arc fan this was interesting to read; however it was a very syrupy depiction of the titular character. only afterwards did i look up the history of the book and mark twain's apparent joan of arc obsession and not necessarily in a good way, and also the fact that he did most of his research before joan of arc became a household name.
5/10
that's not a feeling, dan josefson
the second of the books here dealing with 'fixing' kids at a boarding school (the other being cameron post) this one was based primarily in the genre of 'troubled teen at boarding school', which i generally enjoy. this was however considerably NOT young adult fiction, as far as i could tell. the first person narrative with seamless transition to third person was quite interesting, as well as the entire philosophy of the school being scarily realistic and seemingly plausible even with their own terminology and slang. one of the tragic events near the end of the book was probably a bit of a stretch in terms of what had come before, and then it wasn't completely followed up. overall the writing style and the creation of the entire school philosophy was fascinating.
7.5/10
gaysia, benjamin law
as an asian i was unfortunately not surprised by many of the attitudes espoused in the book. i would have been interested to see hong kong profiled, eh ben? nowhere else is quite like it.
6/10
the family fang, kevin wilson
knowing several people with the surname fang made me picture the titular characters as asian. which is irreversible even after physical descriptions of caucasian features. other than that, a supremely fascinating book about taking a lack of line between art and life and the artist's private life, to the extreme.
7.5/10
this was a nice easy propulsive read, with enough segues and slight tangents to keep the reader guessing as to the importance of minor characters. i normally see YA fiction as being much simpler and plot-driven along with more cliched plot developments so this was a nice surprise.
6.5/10
the year of magical thinking, joan didion
and
blue nights, joan didion
i read these two in quick succession, which was relatively depressing. but good and it gave me a more prolonged insight into the author herself, like i lived in her head for two weeks. a lot of food for thought about the body aging and the mind not at all, the process of grieving and losing personal relationships.
together 8/10
personal recollections of joan of arc, mark twain
as a joan of arc fan this was interesting to read; however it was a very syrupy depiction of the titular character. only afterwards did i look up the history of the book and mark twain's apparent joan of arc obsession and not necessarily in a good way, and also the fact that he did most of his research before joan of arc became a household name.
5/10
that's not a feeling, dan josefson
the second of the books here dealing with 'fixing' kids at a boarding school (the other being cameron post) this one was based primarily in the genre of 'troubled teen at boarding school', which i generally enjoy. this was however considerably NOT young adult fiction, as far as i could tell. the first person narrative with seamless transition to third person was quite interesting, as well as the entire philosophy of the school being scarily realistic and seemingly plausible even with their own terminology and slang. one of the tragic events near the end of the book was probably a bit of a stretch in terms of what had come before, and then it wasn't completely followed up. overall the writing style and the creation of the entire school philosophy was fascinating.
7.5/10
gaysia, benjamin law
as an asian i was unfortunately not surprised by many of the attitudes espoused in the book. i would have been interested to see hong kong profiled, eh ben? nowhere else is quite like it.
6/10
the family fang, kevin wilson
knowing several people with the surname fang made me picture the titular characters as asian. which is irreversible even after physical descriptions of caucasian features. other than that, a supremely fascinating book about taking a lack of line between art and life and the artist's private life, to the extreme.
7.5/10
Friday, January 11, 2013
semele crazytown
semele walk, town hall, sydney festival 11/01/2013
just got back from this very unusual staging. i won't go so far as to say it was an opera because there were only 2 characters and let's be honest, zero plot. i knew the plot was being thrown out when the first song after the overture was the last chorus from the end of Act I. props to vivienne westwood for awesome costume/catwalk business, it should have been spread out more throughout the performance though instead of primarily at the beginning.
major sacrilege alert!!: jupiter was sung by a counter-tenor. why why why. as my friend and i discussed, this led to zero contrast between semele and jupiter's voices because the ranges are the very similar.
eta: as i listen back 'jupiter's' first aria was in fact iris' aria, bah
because there was no plot and no secondary characters driving the plot this led primarily to semele singing aria after aria. overall it was ok but i'd like to see some handel specialists really nail the coloratura. and counter-tenor 'where e'er you walk' will never come close to the anne sofie von otter version (from 1990!). to finish off it ended with the penultimate chorus, leaving no happy ending because as aforementioned the plot was thrown out. no final happy chorus :(
saved the best for last. i derived the most joy from the sydney philharmonia choirs as the chorus, scattered through the audience in everyday wear. the overall aural effect was pretty great, surround sound and great singing.
the reception from the audience we thought was very surprising.. standing ovation! my only thought is that handel operas should be done more by opera australia, general handel education is needed.
6/10 including a full 2/10 for the choir alone.
just got back from this very unusual staging. i won't go so far as to say it was an opera because there were only 2 characters and let's be honest, zero plot. i knew the plot was being thrown out when the first song after the overture was the last chorus from the end of Act I. props to vivienne westwood for awesome costume/catwalk business, it should have been spread out more throughout the performance though instead of primarily at the beginning.
major sacrilege alert!!: jupiter was sung by a counter-tenor. why why why. as my friend and i discussed, this led to zero contrast between semele and jupiter's voices because the ranges are the very similar.
eta: as i listen back 'jupiter's' first aria was in fact iris' aria, bah
because there was no plot and no secondary characters driving the plot this led primarily to semele singing aria after aria. overall it was ok but i'd like to see some handel specialists really nail the coloratura. and counter-tenor 'where e'er you walk' will never come close to the anne sofie von otter version (from 1990!). to finish off it ended with the penultimate chorus, leaving no happy ending because as aforementioned the plot was thrown out. no final happy chorus :(
saved the best for last. i derived the most joy from the sydney philharmonia choirs as the chorus, scattered through the audience in everyday wear. the overall aural effect was pretty great, surround sound and great singing.
the reception from the audience we thought was very surprising.. standing ovation! my only thought is that handel operas should be done more by opera australia, general handel education is needed.
6/10 including a full 2/10 for the choir alone.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
peace sign
sharon van etten, the famous spiegeltent, sydney festival, 08/01/2013
on the hottest day of the year (including the year before) i saw sharon van etten and band play a mesmerising set in an air-conditioned tent. true to form the sydney festival audience is always unexpectedly mature-aged, about half-half with hipsters who know the music. and sold out pretty early. why is that? it always perplexes me. does sydney festival always have multipasses that these people pad out with acts that they don't know? do they pick based on the spiegeltent's well-deserved reputation for genius curation? are they really plugged into the indie singer-songwriter music scene? really, i would like to know. the lady who sat next to me started out turning to see her friends and fidgeting, only polite clapping after the first song and then not bothering to applaud again until near the end. at some points she clutched her ears due to volume.
overall i was suitably impressed with the performance. sharon van etten makes a point of staring straight out into the audience with her one revealed eye (the other behind bangs). the signature sound is rhythmic wall of sound and constant double-voiced harmonies along with not-happy melodies that develop sweetly into hooky turns and climaxes. normally i listen to the recordings at a softish calm background volume, but to hear it all cranked up was pretty great. vocally at some points she has a neko case-ish valley of the winds sound and there is a soft husky smoothness retained up into the high notes and full volume - very interesting voice.
at the end my seat neighbour reconvened with her friend and started raving about it. while trailing out i also overheard an older man remark that he liked one of the songs 'where you could actually hear the words'. who are these people?
8/10
on the hottest day of the year (including the year before) i saw sharon van etten and band play a mesmerising set in an air-conditioned tent. true to form the sydney festival audience is always unexpectedly mature-aged, about half-half with hipsters who know the music. and sold out pretty early. why is that? it always perplexes me. does sydney festival always have multipasses that these people pad out with acts that they don't know? do they pick based on the spiegeltent's well-deserved reputation for genius curation? are they really plugged into the indie singer-songwriter music scene? really, i would like to know. the lady who sat next to me started out turning to see her friends and fidgeting, only polite clapping after the first song and then not bothering to applaud again until near the end. at some points she clutched her ears due to volume.
overall i was suitably impressed with the performance. sharon van etten makes a point of staring straight out into the audience with her one revealed eye (the other behind bangs). the signature sound is rhythmic wall of sound and constant double-voiced harmonies along with not-happy melodies that develop sweetly into hooky turns and climaxes. normally i listen to the recordings at a softish calm background volume, but to hear it all cranked up was pretty great. vocally at some points she has a neko case-ish valley of the winds sound and there is a soft husky smoothness retained up into the high notes and full volume - very interesting voice.
at the end my seat neighbour reconvened with her friend and started raving about it. while trailing out i also overheard an older man remark that he liked one of the songs 'where you could actually hear the words'. who are these people?
8/10
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