Misc. 20th Century Classics

Back when 2000, I picked up a flyer at the library called the Librarians List of the 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century. Many of them I had already read but many I had not. I have been working my way through the list and it is forcing me to read outside of my comfort zone which is good for me. I am not always liking what I read but about half the time I do enjoy the books. Most of the following reviews are a result of this librarians list. See if you agree with me and tell me what you think.



The Magnificent Ambersons-Booth Tarkington
Oh my gosh, I have been away from my usual haunts for a while, and now I am back to the books I love, back to early Twentieth Century fiction and loving it.

What a rich beautifully written tale of redemption (and a good movie too). Booth Tarkington dares to open with intricate descriptions of the home, the clothing and the lifestyle of the nouveau riche in a Midwestern town, setting the scene for decadence and pretension that follows the entire novel. It is not a difficult read and flies right along and you will love and sometimes hate the characters. This is a terrifically satisfying story which restores your faith in human nature and our ability to change for the better. Do not miss this Pulitzer Prize winner.


Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth

Portnoy's Compliant is the humorous monologue of  Alex Portnoy, a neurotic and self absorbed Jewish American male living in New York City in the 1960s. The entire book in a candid and funny confession to a psychiatrist about Alex's Oedipus Complex and sexual obsessions.

I found it a quick light read which reminded me of a Woody Allen movie, although I am unsure why it made my Librarian's List of Most Influential Novels of the 20th Century. Perhaps it was because of it was one of the first sexually explicit and honest explorations of masturbation? Yoiks! I didn't hate it, but I would much rather watch Annie Hall.

Pale Horse, Pale Rider-Katherine Anne Porter

I love short stories. They are the perfect fix when you cannot devote time to an entire novel. Early on I cut my teeth on the quick reads of O. Henry, but wow, this collection of short stories by Porter was anything but light and fluffy. Each story included in Pale Horse, Pale Rider deals with death and disappointment. As explained in the forward of the book, the title is borrowed from the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Noon Wine, but I suggest you read all three and compare them. Her writing is beautiful, rich and thought provoking. With very few words, Porter gives life to her characters and you understand and care about them immediately, a skill difficult to accomplish in a short story. She writes in that early 20th Century style that I love, and if you too enjoy books of that era, do read Pale Horse, Pale Rider.

The Pale Rider representing death. Katherine Anne Porter has included in this collection three gripping tales of people driven to the brink of despair. The characters reactions differ from story to story, ranging from denial, to quiet resignation to suicide. My favorite of the three was Noon Wine.














The Unbearable Lightness of Being-Milan Kundera

The Unbearable Lightness of Being was unbearable. If a writer wants to write philosophy, write a non-fiction book about philosophy. Don't cloak it in fiction. Ken Follett said something to the effect, that good fiction should and must be about good storytelling.

I couldn't agree more.
Milan Kundera writes about four people living in Eastern Europe in the 1960's when the Russians rolled into Prague.  It is about how they look at life and respond to each other and the chaos around them. It is too much work to say anything more about it. Thank goodness it was short. I do not recommend it. Anyone else read it?

The World According to Garp-John Irving

I just commented on another blog that I am reading outside my comfort zone and it is not always a pleasant experience. This is the second novel I have read recently that I thought was a waste of time. I must be narrow minded, but I like to know what I am reading.

If it is a comedy, great. If it a tear jerker, fine, but I do not like it when a writer combines quirky comedy with graphic violence. This is what John Irving did in the World According to Garp. This style of writing reminded me of the movie Fargo, exceedingly violent but the characters are "real cards." I also did not like the way Irving portrayed the Feminist Movement either, as if it was only odd balls, fanatics and "wanna be men" embracing the idea of equality. I watched the movie The World According to Garp yesterday, and they did a terrific job of staying true to the book but beyond that the only redeeming quality was John Lithgow's portrayal of Roberta Muldoon, the transsexual former line-backer. I really loved the movie version of The Cider House Rules, but after reading The World According to Garp, I am apprehensive about other Irving novel.


Capote's A Christmas Memory
I have always wondered about Truman Capote and the duality of his life. I would see him on talk shows when I was young and he seemed like such an odd, little bohemian intellectual. His decadent New York life style rubbing elbows with the Studio 56 crowd did not surprise me nor his odd obsession researching the killers in In Cold Blood but what did floor me was  that he wrote A Christmas Memory. Could it have been written by the same person?

I believe A Christmas Memory to be one of the most heart warming and beautiful Christmas stories ever written. It is about a friendship between two lonely people, one a small boy and the other an unusual elderly woman. Their love for one another and the their shared loneliness touches me every Christmas when I see the film, re-read the short story or simply remember the characters. The story is a retrospect of his childhood in Alabama. Everything I have learned about his early years in the South contradicts the face paced, drug immersed, life style he chose in New York City and I am not only fascinated, but saddened by Capote's writing and life style choices over time. Nevertheless, I will be grateful to him my entire life for one of the most beautiful stories every written.


Ulysses by James Joyce
Well, I am still working through my Librarian's List of the One Hundred Most Influential Novels of the 20th Century and decided to read Ulysses. Since I am of Irish heritage and write novels about the Irish, I thought that I had better get familiar with the works of James Joyce.

I started out with The Dubliners, a series of short stories. They were OK and readable, but Ulysses is not only daunting but down right odd. I recommend, if you want to wade through it, get it on CD and listen to it while you drive. It is 40 discs! There is very little storyline and throughout the book he changes his style six or seven times. There are pages and pages where Joyce strips the meaning of words and strings sentences together or merely utters sounds like dadadada. When he is doing a narrative, he can be funny and give the reader a terrific insight into the Dubliner's character and lifestyle in the early 20th Century, but there is not enough of this included in the book.
I suppose if you are a linguistic major, you could have a field day with his exploration of the English language, but sadly, I am not and found the novel extremely tedious.
P.S. I am still plugging along on disc 27
P.S.S. Finished it. It never got any better.

Look Homeward, Angel
This book reminds me why I love to read early Twentieth Century literature. There are passages in Wolfe's writing where I would not wonder if he was divinely inspired. A "coming of age story", Look Homeward, Angel is the thinly veiled autobiography of Thomas Wolfe's upbringing in the North Carolina mountains. Look Homeward, Angel is among some of the best literature that I have ever read.

Raised in a troubled, and often violent family, he struggles to understand his parents and siblings but most of all himself. He knows that he is a pariah and even when he comes into adulthood, he finds himself a lonely outcast, too brilliant to be comfortable in any setting.

The book is not as widely embraced as it was years ago possibly because it can be racially offensive. Yet anyone who reads the book must consider the time period in which it was written. Throughout the book I was haunted by the fact that Thomas Wolfe only lived to be thirty seven years old, succumbing to tuberculosis in 1938. I wished he had lived to write more.