February book log pt. 1
Feb. 16th, 2021 07:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
troisoiseaux- Necessary Errors by Caleb Crain, about a young, gay American teaching English in Prague in the early 1990s, and his social circle of fellow expats. Heavy on the sense of liminal space— it's set in a post-Velvet Revolution atmosphere of political and social transition; the protagonist, Jacob, has recently graduated from college and is trying to figure out what he wants to do with the rest of his life— with a meandering, slice-of-life plot.
- Re-read Amor Towles' A Gentleman in Moscow, onosprey_archer's comment that "it's such a pandemic mood, despite not being about a pandemic at all." The novel's protagonist is a Russian count whose death sentence as an enemy of the state in the wake of the 1917 revolution is commuted to life imprisonment in a once-grand hotel. He builds a life for himself within the confines of the hotel, including fatherhood, when the young daughter of an old friend is left on his hands.
This is a book that wants you to linger over its imagery like a delicious meal— often literally; Towles spends a lot of time describing food. He has a tendency towards whimsical turns of phrase (a barber's scissors "recalled the entrechat of the danseur in a ballet ... until they leapt and kicked like a Cossack doing the hopak") and winding apparent non-sequiturs that end in a knife twist of a sentence. Although set in Soviet Moscow circa 1920s-50s (the plot often jumps forward years at a time between chapters) it's relatively detached from the darker realities of the time period— which partially makes sense, in context, seeing as he's under house arrest in a hotel and all, but an argument could be made that the protagonist's nigh-supernatural luck verges on magical realism.
- Death in a White Tie by Ngaio Marsh, which I can't say was my favorite of her Detective Alleyn novels so far. I didn't dislike it or anything, it just sort of... lagged. I think part of the problem was that the suspects/ensemble characters weren't living in each other's pockets, the way they had in previous books? In two of the three others I've read, there's been a scene at the beginning of the investigation where Alleyn gathers everyone around a table and questions them as a group (plus a scene with a different set-up but similar effect, in the third) which created an interesting dynamic (and drama!). It was much missed. I also remain unconvinced by the romance between Alleyn and Agatha Troy.
- Bride of the Sea by Eman Quotah, a slim novel (I read it in one evening, if not quite one sitting) following an estranged family over four decades. In 1970s Ohio, a young Saudi couple divorces; the husband, Muneer, returns to Saudi Arabia and the wife, Saeedah, stays in the U.S. with their toddler daughter, Hanadi, eventually taking off with her to avoid having to give full custody to Muneer when she turns seven. Hanadi's childhood is a blur of frequent moves and false names, while on the other side of the world, her father continues to search for her. Overall, it's an exploration of life in Saudi Arabia and the U.S. through the lens of one family with very complicated feelings about each other.
- Re-read Amor Towles' A Gentleman in Moscow, on
osprey_archer's comment that "it's such a pandemic mood, despite not being about a pandemic at all." The novel's protagonist is a Russian count whose death sentence as an enemy of the state in the wake of the 1917 revolution is commuted to life imprisonment in a once-grand hotel. He builds a life for himself within the confines of the hotel, including fatherhood, when the young daughter of an old friend is left on his hands.This is a book that wants you to linger over its imagery like a delicious meal— often literally; Towles spends a lot of time describing food. He has a tendency towards whimsical turns of phrase (a barber's scissors "recalled the entrechat of the danseur in a ballet ... until they leapt and kicked like a Cossack doing the hopak") and winding apparent non-sequiturs that end in a knife twist of a sentence. Although set in Soviet Moscow circa 1920s-50s (the plot often jumps forward years at a time between chapters) it's relatively detached from the darker realities of the time period— which partially makes sense, in context, seeing as he's under house arrest in a hotel and all, but an argument could be made that the protagonist's nigh-supernatural luck verges on magical realism.
- Death in a White Tie by Ngaio Marsh, which I can't say was my favorite of her Detective Alleyn novels so far. I didn't dislike it or anything, it just sort of... lagged. I think part of the problem was that the suspects/ensemble characters weren't living in each other's pockets, the way they had in previous books? In two of the three others I've read, there's been a scene at the beginning of the investigation where Alleyn gathers everyone around a table and questions them as a group (plus a scene with a different set-up but similar effect, in the third) which created an interesting dynamic (and drama!). It was much missed. I also remain unconvinced by the romance between Alleyn and Agatha Troy.
- Bride of the Sea by Eman Quotah, a slim novel (I read it in one evening, if not quite one sitting) following an estranged family over four decades. In 1970s Ohio, a young Saudi couple divorces; the husband, Muneer, returns to Saudi Arabia and the wife, Saeedah, stays in the U.S. with their toddler daughter, Hanadi, eventually taking off with her to avoid having to give full custody to Muneer when she turns seven. Hanadi's childhood is a blur of frequent moves and false names, while on the other side of the world, her father continues to search for her. Overall, it's an exploration of life in Saudi Arabia and the U.S. through the lens of one family with very complicated feelings about each other.
no subject
Date: 2021-02-17 02:00 am (UTC)And yes! about the food descriptions. The bouillabaisse scene in particular stuck with me - the fact that it took them months of planning to gather all the ingredients for this evening, even though they work in a restaurant. That more than anything drives home the issue of shortages in the USSR.
But I do agree that the book is relatively detached from the darker realities of the time frame: there are moments when it intrudes on the story, but it feels like an alien force pushing into the relatively safe world of the Metropol Hotel. There is a sort of fairy tale feeling to the book. Nothing actually magical happens (unless you count the more credulity-straining details of the Count's escape), but it has sort of a dreamy magical atmosphere.
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Date: 2021-02-17 02:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-02-19 03:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-02-19 03:42 pm (UTC)(I knew that Alleyn and Agatha Troy were endgame when I picked up Artists in Crime, but I couldn't help lowkey shipping her and Katti Bostock instead.)
I think because Alleyn knows/likes the people involved more and as a result I cared more.
Ooh, that's interesting. I think that's in some ways the reason why I didn't find the characters as intriguing as, say, the theater troupe in Vintage Murder or the art students in Artists in Crime??