My 100th book of 2009: Her Fearful Symmetry

I like that my 100th book of the year is Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry - The Time Traveller's Wife is one of my favorite books evers so to me it is fitting that my second book by this author has a special place on my list.

To be honest, I'm not really sure what I feel about this book. It took me a long time to get through the first half and I thought I didn't like it, but in restrospect that may have had more to do with being distracted by some personal stuff and the fact that at 32 weeks pregnant it's really hard to get comfortable on the couch and read for any length of time. Now that I finished the book, I think I liked it overall, although I think I also feel slightly disturbed...

The book is all about the characters. Elspeth dies and leaves her apartment to the twin daughters of her own estranged twin sister Edie. Julia and Valentina move to London to live in Elspeth's old place, with Elspeth's lover Robert living downstairs and a man with OCD living upstairs. The way that the characters' relationships unfold is interesting and deep and both real and unreal. If that makes any sense.

I didn't actually like any of the characters besides Martin, the man with OCD. But the others intrigued me, as did the relationships between them. The twin thing is obviously a huge part of the story and I admit that it was creepy at times, the way Julia and Valentina were joined together. The desperation to become one's own person pervaded the story and gave it some sort of meaning, although events turned out to be so extreme that a part of this meaning was lost. Or maybe it was strengthened. Hmmm, I really don't know what to think.

There are so many questions... How far would we go for freedom? Is there a limit to what we'd accept for love? These and others are dealt with in the twin relationships, but also in the OCD aspect, which I thought was an interesting addition to the story.

The whole thing is slightly (or even very) creepy. A creepy tone is very difficult to set well, I think, and this was certainly a success here. The creepiness stays with you afterwards too... I can't say more about this without spoiling it for you if you haven't read it...

One thing's for sure, Niffenegger has wonderfully original ideas for storylines although the messages she passes through her writing are simple and human. This is a wonderful talent, I think.

Many bloggers have been saying that you'll either love or hate this book and I have to agree. I thought I'd hate it but now that it's over I am definitely leaning towards the love camp. We'll see if the feeling stays with me long enough for this book to make my top books of the year list...

Challenges: 2010 Countdown Challenge, 999 Challenge, 2nds Challenge

We thought you would be prettier

I wanted to read this book by Laurie Notaro mainly because of the title. Shame, shame on me. :-) The subtitle is 'True tales of the dorkiest girl alive' which I thought was also fantastic. How can a girl like me (read: dorky :-)) not read this?

It's a collection of essays, true stories from Laurie Notaro's life. I must say that she has a great writing style - very entertaining. And the stuff that tends to happen to her! Wacky and quirky, for sure.

I'm too tired to write (think) more, but I hope you get the idea. I'll explain why I'm so tired in tomorrow's post.

Challenges: 999 Challenge, Non-Fiction Five Challenge Dewey Decimal Challenge,

Suite Francaise

Suite Francaise is an account of France during the Second World War, written by Irene Nemirovsky. It is truly incredible that we even have the opportunity to read this book. Irene Nemirovsky was of Jewish descent and was deported to Auschwitz in 1942. She died there a couple of months after her arrival. Her husband spent several months trying to locate her and get her back, not understanding what deportation meant in the Nazi-occupied world. He drew too much attention to himself and was also deported to and died in Auschwitz, not long after his wife. Their two daughters were hidden by friends of the family for the remainder of the war - they were often moved from place to place and it is very fortunate for use that they took their mother's manuscripts with them every time, as something to remember their mother by.

We should be thankful, as Suite Francaise is a beautiful book. Nemirovsky completed two parts of the book, the rest only exists as notes and outlines. The first part is about Parisians fleeing the city before the Nazi invasion. The second is about a small French village under German occupation.

In both, the characters are vivid and real. They are central, as the book is definitely about the human side of war. About the rich trying to save their porcelain rather than helping other people, about trying to survive any way you can, about normal human feelings of loss and anger and love.

In the second part especially, this human aspect shines through as the French people in a small village try to live side-by-side with the Germans who are occupying the area. The German soldiers live in their houses and are part of their everyday life. They are not mean or horrible, they are just soldiers following orders. Some of them are liekable. Some of them are possible to fall in love with. I thought these issues were very interestingly portrayed, very thought-provoking.

This wasn't a page-turner and I found some sections difficult to get through. But it's a book worth reading because it shows part of history and it does so in a beautiful and human way.

Challenges: 1% Well-Read Challenge, 999 Challenge, A-Z Challenge, Banned Book Challenge, Countdown Challenge, Jewish Literature, Orbis Terrarum, War through the Generations

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God is considered to be the first Afro-American feminist novel. I can definitely see why this is so. The heroine, Janie, is strong, intelligent, articulate and self-confident. She is one of the first black heroines to be like this, to have a mind of her own and to have her rich internal dialogue shown in literature.

Janie is a great character. She has so much common sense and I loved the way she behaved, not caring about social standards. She is also soft and feminine and romantic, so basically she's real. Her story is both sad and happy. A large portion of her life is very hard, but eventually she finds true love and her life is finally like she imagined and hoped it would be when she was a little girl.

One thing that I didn't like at the beginning but understood better after reading the introduction to this book is the dialogue between men. It annoyed me and I thought it was because it never actually brought the story forward, it didn't really contribute anything. I read afterwards that the author did this on purpose to signify a lack of growth. That made me see the novel in a completely different context.

I had some trouble 'reading the accent'... it was slow going at times and I really preferred the third person narrative just because it was easier to read.

And with writing like this, I didn't want to miss anything. Zora Neale Hurston's prose has been described as poetry and at times it really is. Here are two sentences that spoke to me:

It was like a flute song forgotten in another existence and remembered again.

Isn't that beautiful? Or:

There are years that ask questions and years that answer.

That is so true. And beautiful. And, to me at least, so powerful that the words are alive.

It makes me happy that a book like this is now a classic, considering that it didn't get very good reviews at the beginning. Not surprising though, since most reviewers were men!

Challenges: Decades Challenge, Genre Challenge

Zel

I'd never heard of Donna Jo Napoli before I started book blogging. I've seen many reviews of her books this year and was very intrigued - Zel seemed a perfect choice for my Z title for the A-Z Challenge! In fact, I found out about Zel via Natasha - thanks!

I enjoyed this charming re-telling of the fairy tale of Rapunzel. I can't really remember all the details of the simple children's story I read years ago, but I am now curious to re-read that too. Donna Jo Napoli's version manages to include so much into a simple story - the aching need for children of one's own, the stirring of first love and of true love, the bitter taste of disappointment, the anger at how unfair life can sometimes be and the beautiful world we're capable of creating and believing in, even though it is based on lies.

I was surprised that although the ending was still fairy-tale like, the book itself handled some pretty dark serious issues.

And - is rapunzel really a kind of lettuce? :-)

Challenges: A-Z Challenge, YA Romance Challenge, Naming Conventions

Chloë

Freya North's novel Chloë is my 'N' author book for the A-Z Challenge. It's been sitting on my shelf for years - in fact, I don't think I bought it myself, I think that an old roommate left it behind when she moved out. I've been kind of wanting to read it, but I wasn't sure that I would like it so I kept putting it off.

I liked it. I thought the beginning was a bit slow and it took me a while to get into it, but once I did I didn't want to put it down. It's the story of Chloë's journey of self-discovery but it's not cheesy or pretentious. Chloë's godmother dies and leaves her instructions (and money) to go to specific places in the four parts of the United Kingdom. So Chloë leaves London and travels to Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England - her adventures are interesting, amusing and thought-provoking.

Having expected a mediocre book, I'm happy to say that I give it 4 stars, recommend it readily and will be reading Freya North's other work.