The Paradox of a Name

My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok

Some people are gifted in ways that make them different or strange. Their talents and gifts alienate them not only from the general public, but can also alienate them from their communities and families. My Name is Asher Lev is a tale of a boy who deals with this alienation and who struggles to be true to himself, despite the paradox that might be.

Asher’s family is Jewish and they live in New York. His father works for the Rebbe (religious leader of their particular branch of Judaism) and his mother is going to school to try to cope with the horrifying death of her brother. Asher finds himself distracted from the activities that most of his friends are interested in because he is drawn to art. He loves to draw, paint, sketch, shape, and on and on. His father is not okay with this; normal Jewish boys memorize the Talmud and work towards their bar mitzvahs. Asher’s mother tries to encourage her son’s desire to draw, and so does one of his teachers. One day, the Rebbe calls Asher into his office. The Rebbe has decided to prod Asher’s abilities, too. He has asked Jacob Kahn, a painter, sculptor, and unobservant Jew, to teach Asher how to become an artist. Asher’s father is furious, but the Rebbe has commanded it, and so it must be.

Asher spends the next several years of his life trying to balance the two sides of himself: the Jew and the artist. He travels and paints and prays and attends synagogue. The two sides of himself seem to be at odds in his head because of his father’s disapproval. However, he keeps doing both because he feels he needs both. His art gains much recognition and his shows in New York gain a great reputation for the young Ladover Hasidic Jew.

Asher finds that art comes to him in fits. He will feel nothing, and then, all the sudden, it will come to him. This happens to him one afternoon and he paints two pictures: Brooklyn Crucifixion 1 and Brooklyn Crucifixion 2. The first is a painting of his mother at the window, waiting for her husband to come home, with telephone poles reflected in the windows (note that telephone poles can look an awful lot like crucifixes). The second is his mother on a crucifix, looking three different ways: at her husband, at Asher, and to the heavens. Asher knows these are his best works; they convey the most emotions, and he uses the crucifix to show suffering for others (specifically, his mother’s sacrifices of herself for the things she cares about). However, when the paintings come to display, his community, and more specifically, his parents, are disgusted and infuriated. They can’t see how a good Jewish boy could pant such a disgrace. In staying true to the two paradoxical sides of himself, Asher has, in essence, alienated himself from the one he finds the most inspiration in. He is cast out and left alone, misunderstood and hated for painting the feelings of his heart.

The loneliness and pain Asher suffers are evident throughout the book; the boy is clearly a tortured soul. However, Asher’s journey to the crucifix has led him to the truth that he has so desperately sought through both religion and art. He believes wholeheartedly in Ladover Hasidism and he believes wholeheartedly in his art. His doppelganger-like personality and life feed off of one another: he can’t be one without the other, yet they are both fighting against each other at all times. The book paints a poignant picture of one boy’s battle to be true to himself, no matter what the cost, and no matter how sacrificial staying true to both sides of him might be. As a reader, you find yourself tangled up in Asher’s feelings, understanding where he is coming from, yet suffering with him in that he can’t get anyone else to understand. My Name is Asher Lev is a brilliantly woven tale of this sacrifice of self in order to find one’s self, and is most definitely worth reading.

Regret Nothing, Especially Your Own Bad Behavior

Lady Susan - Jane Austen

One of her lesser known works, Lady Susan was never truly completed and never published in Austen's lifetime. It is a little choppy compared to some of the author's other novels but remains interesting because of the title character.

Lady Susan Vernon is almost entirely unlike any other 19th century heroine I've come across. Indeed she really falls into the category of anti heroine because as opposed to the wilting, helpless maidens of contemporary gothic novels like Radcliffe's, the virtuous Pamela of Richardson, or even Austen's other sprightly heroines, Lady Susan is an absolute minx!

The novel, which is written in the epistolary style popular at the end of the 18th century, introduces us to Lady Susan (a woman between 30 and 40 who is considered extremely beautiful, clever, and charming) who is obliged to leave the area she has been staying in because of a scandalous flirtation with two men simultaneously (one of them married). She is trying to force her only child, a daughter named Frederica, into marriage with a rich nincompoop (with one of her own former admirers) and because of Frederica's continued refusal has packed the girl off to London to a boarding school she hates so that she may learn to be more agreeable towards the match. Meanwhile, Susan descends upon her in-laws since she has no money of her own to live on.

There she immediately snares her sister-in-law's much younger brother Reginald in her web, while still leading on her married admirer, and promoting Frederica to the idiot Sir James. The only character who can see past her deceit is her sister-in-law, Catherine Vernon, who tries to protect her pitiful niece, open her brother's eyes to his danger, and warn her extended family of the possibility of Susan adding herself to their ranks. Eventually, on a trip to London, Reginald and Mr. Manwarring (her married lover) both visit her at the same time and the game is up! Her wicked, selfish deeds regarding her own bad behavior and her cruelty towards her daughter are revealed.

The ending is not very well edited, and it seemed to me as if it had not been properly finished, but everyone ends up well. More or less. Frederica eventually goes to live with her aunt and uncle and marries Reginald, when he has recovered from being in love with her mother, and Lady Susan remarries...to Sir James. The bumbling fool she had tried to foist upon her daughter.

Dangerously, you almost find yourself liking Lady Susan. She wants comfort and stability, but not at the expense of her own freedom. And though her motives are purely selfish and often cruel, she is so good at being bad! She even ends well, most adulterous characters of this age died in a poorhouse, contracted smallpox/syphilis, or at the very least were cast out of polite society never to be heard from again. But Lady Susan survives and, one gets the feeling, absolutely never amends her ways.

This book is obviously not great literature, but it's a quick read and a good way to round off Jane Austen's writings.

Alchemy a' la Amazing

The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho

For those of you who don’t know, alchemy (according to Wikipedia) is both a philosophy and a practice with an aim of achieving ultimate wisdom as well as immortality, involving the improvement of the alchemist as well as the making of several substances described as possessing unusual properties. The practical aspect of alchemy generated the basics of modern inorganic chemistry, namely concerning procedures, equipment and the identification and use of many current substances. Now that you know what alchemy is, we can continue.

Originally published in 1988 in Portuguese as O Alquimista, The Alchemist is the tale of Santiago, a young shepherd who finds himself on a journey to find his heart’s desire. Santiago has a dream while in a church where a tree has grown through the altar that a girl will point him to a treasure located at the pyramids. Living in Spain, Santiago first puts this off as a silly dream and something totally unattainable. However, Santiago became a shepherd because he wanted to travel, and this desire to travel leads him to decide to seek the treasure. He meets an old king named Melchizedek, who asks for ten percent of what his sheep are worth to help him find his treasure. Santiago agrees, and the king begins to tell Santiago of the personal myth, saying "when you really want something to happen, the whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true." The idea of the personal myth is that everyone has a journey or a purpose. Some people find that purpose and others wander without finding it. The idea is that this journey to find the treasure at the pyramids will be Santiago’s personal myth.

Santiago continues his journey, being robbed out of his money and working in a foreign land to earn enough to continue. He helps others along his way, eventually meeting a young Englishman who is studying alchemy. This young man is on a journey to find the alchemist, or one who has mastered alchemy. This journey is taking him in the same direction as Santiago’s journey is taking him, so they travel together through the deserts of northern Africa. Halfway through their journey, they come across an oasis, where Santiago meets his soul-mate. She agrees to wait for him while he finds his treasure, saying "I love you because the whole universe conspired for me to come close to you."

Santiago also meets the alchemist, who sees that the young man is on a journey to find his personal myth, and agrees to take him through the rest of the desert to the pyramids. He teaches him some things about alchemy and leads him within sight of the pyramids. As he arrives, Santiago is accosted by some men. One of them scoffs at his dream, saying he had had a dream about a treasure under an altar with a tree growing out of it. This is the place where Santiago had his dream, and her realizes his personal myth has been a journey to find himself and his true love. He travels back to the church, digs up an enormous treasure, and goes back for his true love, where they live happily ever after.

A simple book, The Alchemist is a tale that is surprisingly deep. In response to this criticism, Paolo Coelho stated that "simple things are the most valuable and only wise people appreciate them." The storyline is easy enough to follow, and can go as deep as the reader wants to go. The symbolism ranges from traditional religious symbolism to smacks of Shakespearean allusions. When reading the book, I found it hard to put down. Though written much like Steinbeck’s The Pearl or Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea, it is the fable-like story that lends the wisdom to open the reader’s eyes to some deep, soul-searching topics. The Alchemist has become the most widely translated work by a living author for a reason: the simple yet profound story moves people. I have talked to several people who have read the book and have yet to receive a negative review. Some people will enjoy it more than others, but its peaceful style reminded me of being led gently by the hand. I borrowed the book from Calliope, but this is definitely on my “must own my own copy” list. It’s a good book to read with someone, and its reading level is simple enough that junior high age children could appreciate it. So, as you can tell, I recommend you go read it right now!

Please excuse us whilst we take a small hiatus

Calliope may or may not have gotten married this week, and I may or may not have tag-teamed the best bridesmaids ever club. This being the case, we have taken a bit of a hiatus. Expect an entry from me shortly, and we'll give Calliope a break for a bit so she can do the newlywed thing. In the meantime, I will throw down a challenge. We would love to post guest book reviews by anyone who wishes to review a book. Let us know that you want to do so and we'll get you guest blogging in no time. Woo, books!

Innocence clothed in pajamas

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

We all know that children tend to be innocent, naïve, accepting, and simple. The older we get, the more we tend to lose those qualities. On one hand, that’s a good thing; we all want to be experienced, intelligent, and, quite frankly, impressive to those around us. On the other hand, however, there are some real benefits to being innocent, naïve, accepting, and simple. Not understanding and taking things as they are anyway is sometimes the best route. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a tale of a young boy who fits the definition of childlike to a "t", but fitting that definition means accepting both the good and the bad sides of that definition.

Bruno is an 8 year old boy, living in World War II Germany. His father has recently been promoted by “The Fury” (Bruno’s understanding of “Fuhrer”) to be the head of Out-With (Bruno’s understanding of “Auschwitz”). The whole family, which consists of Mother, Father, Bruno, and sister Gretel, must move to Out-With so that Father can be the boss at this out of the way house in the middle of nowhere. Bruno is upset about the move; he has to leave his friends, his grandparents, and his beautiful home. The house at Out-With is cold and boring in comparison, and there are no children around for as far as Bruno can see. He isn’t allowed to go in the back of the house, and he isn’t allowed to play outside the gates. A tutor comes to their home, so Bruno isn’t even allowed to go to school with other children. This new move doesn’t seem like such a good idea to Bruno, and he wishes his father had told The Fury no when The Fury told him to come run Out-With.

One day, Bruno looks out his window and sees a farm. All of the people at the farm are wearing striped pajamas, which Bruno thinks is strange. What kind of farmers wear pajamas? Bruno asks his mother about it, and she becomes worried. She doesn’t want Bruno to think about the farm and tells him to forget about it. But Bruno keeps wondering about the pajama wearing farmers. In fact, one of the men that helps in the house wears these pajamas. One day, as Bruno is swinging on his tire swing, he falls and scrapes his knee. The pajama-wearing man takes him inside and cares for his knee. He admits to Bruno that he was once a doctor, and Bruno wonders what would make a man quit being a doctor in order to take a job peeling potatoes at the Out-With house. This makes Bruno even more curious about the farm.

Bruno finds a way out of the backyard one day when no one is looking, and he goes for a luxurious walk in the woods. Eventually, he finds a fence. Behind this fence is the farm with all those pajama wearing farmers! And sitting next to the fence is a boy about Bruno’s age. They start talking, and Bruno becomes friends with Shmuel, but Shmuel can’t come outside the fence and play. As time wears on, Bruno spends more and more time at the fence with Shmuel. But Bruno doesn’t get it; to him, Shmuel is just a boy in pajamas who lives at the farm.

One day, Shmuel can’t find his father. Bruno offers to help find him, and Shmuel devises a plan to get another pair of pajamas for Bruno to wear. They dig a hole at the edge of the fence and in Bruno goes. He puts on the pajamas, and off with Shmuel he goes. The farm is much different than Bruno was told it was; in fact, it seems pretty awful. He starts to wonder why Shmuel and the other farmers live here. Soon, all the farmers are rounded up, and since Bruno is with the men, he goes with them. They are rushed into a room called the shower. This doesn’t seem like such a bad idea to Bruno; the men here could use a shower. This is the last we hear from Bruno, as we assume the showers weren’t the kind most of us take in the morning.

I’ll admit; this wasn’t the happiest ending I’ve ever experienced. However, the book contained so much emotion and feeling that I found myself in tears as it ended. But I should make another confession: I read the book because I saw the movie first. I have nothing bad to say about either; in fact, I went to my students and immediately recommended both the book and the movie to them the next day. Several of them both read the book and watched the movie, and they all brought back the same report that I gave them: you HAVE to read this/watch this. I’ll admit, it seems a bit hard to believe all this could happen; I mean, aren’t even kids smart enough to get that the farm is a camp and that these people are the awful Jews Bruno has been taught to hate? Then I spent some time with some elementary school students, and realized that that innocence, naivety, willingness to accept, and simplicity is spot on. It takes looking at something as horrific as the Holocaust and World War II through the eyes of a child to realize that there were real people, individuals, who had real lives and incredibly complex feelings.

So… my official review is you have to HAVE TO read it and watch it, but you will be sad and it will make you think. But seriously, you HAVE to read/watch!

Noses up!

Snobs - Julian Fellowes

If you don't recognize the name, you should. Fellowes is the screenwriter for the Academy Award winning film Gosford Park, as well as an actor and director in his own right. Snobs is his first novel, but you'd never know that to read it!

Sticking with what he knows best, Fellowes' novel is a tale of English society and the class system, marriage, scandal, social climbing...with one major caveat: it's set in the 1990s. It's an unusual twist as most of the characters seem to be relics from Edwardian society and the appearance of cell phones and cars seems odd when set beside shooting parties, marriages of convenience, and HRHs, but all this serves to illustrate that the idea of class structure is very much alive and well in contemporary England.

Told from the point of view of a friend of Edith Lavery, the woman around whom the plot of the novel spins, the narrator remains unnamed throughout. He occupies a unique position in society, however, as both a member of the upper gentry or minor nobility (it is never quite clear) and as a working actor. His "in but not of" perspective allows him to narrate the tale of one woman's social climb, with absolutely shrewd insights into the nature of the world Edith is so desperate to enter. Snobs is at its base a critical examination of the mental, emotional, and personal state of the privilege class who have, unlike celebrities, been raised with the idea of their inherent self-worth, and the fundamental differences between them and the people who idealize them.

What made this book such an enjoyable read for me is that aristocrats in literature are often portrayed as heartless, evil, stupid, or completely unaware of their detachment from the life the other 98% of the population read. What sets the characters in Snobs apart is how deeply aware they are of their pretensions, traditions, and perceptions. The truly greatest character is the indomitable Lady Uckfield, Edith's mother-in-law, who has the clearest eyes and best sense of any of her family both as to outsider Edith's motives and struggles in her marriage, and to her own position and what power it gives her. The characters are honest, and if they prove not to be they are at least honest about their dishonesty.

The plot itself is pretty straightforward: girl marries up, discovers that aristocracy does not mean the same thing as celebrity, grows dissatisfied, and is tempted by a devilishly handsome actor. There is the natural ensuing struggle of what is most important: sex or security, privledge or money (they aren't the same thing at all), happiness or fulfillment. What makes the story gripping is the dialog and the candid insights into an archaic, protected, exclusive group of people who simply think differently than any other group.

Authentic, sharp, quietly intense, and merciless. If a canny peek into this world appeals, enjoy!

Thumbs up and out, please!

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is, by no small measure, an odd book. It was actually originally a BBC radio comedy show during the late 70’s. Douglas Adams then took his creation to the next level – he published Hitchhikers as the first book in a 5 volume trilogy (that’s some of Adams’s humor there for you). In 1981, someone tried to make it into a TV series, 1984 brought in a computer game, and in 2005 it became a Hollywood blockbuster. I’ve only read the book, so I can’t tell you about any of the story’s other mediums (though Calliope says the radio show is great and the movie is mediocre), but I can tell you about the book. Ready? Woo hoo!

We begin our book by meeting some interesting characters on planet earth. Arthur Dent is an unsuspecting human whose close friend, Ford Prefect, is actually an alien from another part of the galaxy. Unbeknownst to planet Earth, the galaxy needs more room for inter-space highways, so Earth is going to be demolished. Ford gets Arthur off of Earth just in time for it to be gone forever. Fun beginning, huh? How does Ford get them off? Well, by using his knowledge of the book called The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, of course. Every good space traveler has a copy and uses it religiously!

We then meet Zaphod Beeblebrox, the Galactic President. He and his girl, Trillian (who we find out later he took away with him last time he visited Earth) have decided to steal the newest invention by the Galactic scientists, called the Heart of Gold. It is a time-warp speed space craft that can get you anywhere by its use of an improbability drive, which powers the craft by doing and calculating the improbable.

It would be improbable for a ship to pick up random creatures floating in open space, so this is exactly what the ship does. Soon, Arthur, Ford, Zaphod, and Trillian (along with Marvin, the chronically depressed robot) are all on the same ship. Where are they headed? Well, of course, for the improbable! Many moons ago, the planet Magrathea manufactured perfect planets for rich planeteers to buy, and it was by far the richest planet. Zaphod wants to find it, so off they go.

It would be improbable to find it, right? So obviously, they do. Once there, they learn that Earth was actually a giant computer, which was to take 10,000 years to come up with the Question to the Ultimate Answer (the answer is 42, by the way). It was just about to give an answer when BOOM, the galaxy got rid of Earth, and the species which had commissioned the supercomputer/planet were out of luck for an answer. Want to know what those creatures are? Mice, of course. Who else would be the true rulers of Earth?

Throughout this journey, the improbable happens around every twist and turn of the story, making it a laugh out loud comedy in paper form. Nothing is what you expect, nor is it what the characters expect, yet they seem to expect the unexpected and are okay with that. It ends with an invitation to Arthur and Ford to visit the restaurant at the end of the universe (an abrupt ending, which actually fits nicely with the rest of the book), and that just so happens to be the title of the next book in the series.

As previously mentioned in another review, I’m not really one who gets British humor. I’m just too American, I suppose. However, I did find Hitchhikers to be very, very amusing. I read it with Techno, my husband, who up until we met had read a total of probably 6 books in his life. One of my goals in life is to get him to read books and to actually like it (which, by the way, he does now), so I often look for books we can read together. The books I enjoy on my own sometimes are way over his literary level (that’s what marrying an English teacher will do to you), so when I read the back of Hitchhikers, I knew this would be one I could get him to read. And read it he did. In fact, he was more interested in reading it than I was. I thought it was amusing and enjoyable, but he couldn’t get enough. Because Hitchhikers is part of a 5 volume trilogy, the fun doesn’t get to end for him here. He gets to read the next four, and he’s so excited about it. The sci-fi and technology aspect of the novel are right up his alley, and he frequently laughed out loud at the ridiculous things that happened within the book. As for myself, I enjoyed the twists and turns, but I’m not much of a sci-fi gal. I enjoyed the read, but I’ll let Techno read the other four on his own.