J by Howard Jacobson

One of these years, I am going to assemble all the novels shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and read them along with the jury, and then try and guess which will win.  For years I have been waiting until the final announcement before buying any of the nominees.  But lately, I have been reading some novels written by previous winners, and I have enjoyed them every bit as the winners.  My wife gave me a copy of J by Howard Jacobson, who won the Booker in 2010 for The Finkler Question.  Jacobson’s 2014 novel, J, shows me exactly what I am missing among the also-rans.

Set on an island surrounded by seas that “lap no other shore,” the mysterious villagers, suspicious of strangers and each other, constantly apologize for even the slightest of offenses.  The government suppresses all history, heirlooms, photos, and anything which might remind the people of “What Happened, If It Happened.”  Many residents have secret stashes of letters, diaries, and old books, which they use to try and piece together the past.  Chilling reminders of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, with tinges of Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.

Kevern Cohen meets the stunningly beautiful Ailinn Solomons who arrives one day on the shore.  Kevern experiences love at first sight, and Ailinn is attracted to Kerern after some prodding by Esme Nussbaum, her guardian.  Many of the characters have cryptic phone calls about the couple, including a shady police inspector, a gnarly barber, and Esme.

Jacobson writes, “Esme Nussbaum looked around her while Rabinowitz spoke.  Behind his head a flamingo pink LED scroll repeated the advice Ofnow had been dispensing to the country for the last quarter of a century or more.  ‘Smile at your neighbor, cherish your spouse, listen to the ballads, go to musicals, use your telephone, converse, explain, listen, agree, apologize.  Talk is better than silence, the sung word is better than the written, but nothing is better than love’” (17-18). 

This sounds innocuous, but apparently, music has been censored, the telephones are all tapped, and everyone reports -- to some unknown person -- what they have heard and seen.

The title of the book is actually a capital “J” with two horizontal lines across the middle.  The custom has been to put two figure across your mouth each time a word is spoken which begins with a “J.”  Almost every J has two lines on the printed page, except for one word: “just,” and as the novel progressed, I began to notice words without the two lines.  Curiousier and most curious.  This novel cries out for a second read.  While I have a pretty solid theory about “What Happened, If It Happened,” not all the clues lead to the same conclusion. 

Kevern’s father left him several boxes labeled for opening at important stages of his life.  He fears opening the one marked open when you are about to become a father.  These boxes disturb Kevern, because, as Jacobson writes, “Hoarding, surely, was random and disorganized, the outward manifestation of a disordered personality.  His father’s boxes hinted at a careful, systematic, if overly secretive mind” (51).  Kevern suffers from OCD, and he worries about everything.

Howard Jacobson’s J will provide lots of absorbing reading.  Part mystery, part love story, and part dystopia, it warns me about what I might be missing in those second novels which lose out every year.  Certainly many of them must deserve  5 stars.

--Chiron, 4/24/15

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

A good friend recommended The Dog Stars by Peter Heller for my book club.  At first, I thought, Oh, no, another apocalyptic, dystopian novel!  But I am a loyal member of the club, so I decided to plow through to the end.  Then I faced another obstacle.  A peculiar style – sentence fragments, and something like a focused stream of consciousness.  In other words, the narrator jots down words and phrases to tell the story of an earth devastated by an outbreak of flu closely followed by a mysterious blood disease, which killed millions.  But I stayed with it, and as I became accustomed to the style, I found the story so absorbing, I could barely put it down.

Hig is a pilot, and he flies “The Beast” -- an old Cessna manufactured in the 1950s.  He lives near an airport with supplies of aviation fuel, tools, and parts to keep The Beast flying an 8-mile radius around the perimeter looking for wandering bands of survivors.  He takes these trips with his beloved companion, Jasper.  Hig has a soft spot for a family of Mennonites who live a few miles away.  The family is infected with “The Blood,” and when Hig visits to give them some food and medical supplies, he stays 15 feet away and never touches any of the children.

He shares this airport residence with Bangley, who has a military mindset and an impressive collection of weapons – both small and large.  He is justly paranoid, and encounters with wanderers turn deadly.  He tries to convince Hig to be more aggressive when wanderers appear, and he also has a slightly distrustful eye always on Hig.

I can’t say much more without giving away the twists in the plot and the suspenseful flight Hig takes to track down a mysterious signal he receives from an airport just at the edge of The Beast’s range.

My friend provided a series of questions as launching points for discussion.  One interesting question involved the significance of the title.  No one came up with a plausible idea, but it occurred to me that perhaps the word “stars” in the title is not a noun but a verb.  I won’t go any further with this thought, because I do not want to give any of the plot away.

The Dog Stars is my first encounter with Peter Heller and his first novel.  He has also written non-fiction works on surfing, whales, and travelogues on China and Tibet.  I rarely read this kind of non-fiction, but Heller has made me travel-curious.  5 stars

--Chiron, 5/3/13

Mockingjay: Book Three of the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I started reading this series, because many of my students listed it as a book they had read “for fun” as opposed to something read for an assignment. I thoroughly enjoyed volume one – The Hunger Games. Several of these same students told me they didn’t like the second volume – Catching Fire – so I waited until I read this, the third before finishing my rating of the series.

Volume Two admittedly lacked the excitement of the first, but, as I began the third, I realized Parts 2 and 3 were really more closely related than I thought. Catching Fire told the story of the aftermath of the hunger game in the first, and Mockingjay, the third volume, follows close on the heels of the second.

Anyone who read the first and liked it will undoubtedly enjoy two and three. Considering the series as a whole, I would give it four and a half stars. I took some away, because I did not like the ending very much. I know this is fantasy/dystopian literature, but I think the bounds were stretched a bit in Part Three.

Overall an interesting, fun, and quick read.

--Chiron, 7/26/12

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Over the years, I have informally surveyed my students for the titles of books they read for fun. Lately, a frequently mentioned work is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. In fact, so many students mentioned it, I decided to buy a copy. When the film version came out to rave reviews and record-breaking ticket sales, I decided it was time to find out what this adventure story had to offer. Collins has written an exciting and riveting tale of a dystopian America.

The back story is a bit vague. Some sort of revolt resulted in a horrific crushing of the populace. The country, known as “Panem,” was divided into 13 districts, and all but one submitted to the harsh rule of “The Capitol.” Most of the wealth, technology, food, energy, and health care was concentrated in this district. The district which refused to submit was obliterated. Each district also had is specialty. District 12, known as “The Seam” produced coal. Stealing coal resulted in a death penalty. The residents scrabbled for food, and hunting in the surrounding forest – patrolled by hovercraft – was strictly forbidden.

Katniss Everdeen lives with her mother and younger sister, Prim. Her mother is a skilled “healer” and has developed a following. Katniss’ father was killed in a coal mine explosion, and she helps feed the family with illegal hunting.

The Capitol runs the “Hunger Games” as entertainment. All aspects of this ultimate reality show are televised 24 hours a day as long as the game lasts. Each district holds a lottery to choose two “tributes” – one male and one female – to enter the arena and fight for survival. Only one of the 24 tributes selected can emerge the victor. As the story opens, the lottery for this year’s games has begun. Twelve-year-old Prim, in her first year of eligibility, has been selected. Katniss steps forward and volunteers to take her sister’s place.

Tributes are scrubbed, polished, and dressed in fantastic costumes for their TV introduction. An interview process allows them to demonstrate their skills, so an appropriate tool awaits them once they are released into the arena. Their appearance determines how many “sponsors” an individual tribute can garner. These sponsors donate money, which can then be used to deliver items needed by the tributes.

Collins has woven a taut and breathtaking story of survival, where cunning, treachery, brutality are the main keys to survival. Some of the tributes are much better fed, clothed, and equipped. In fact, contrary to rules, tributes from these districts are trained for the games. Few districts have the means to prepare its tributes, who are immediately swept from their homes with only the briefest of goodbyes and taken to the preparation center.

I sense several layers to this allegory, but I will leave each reader to determine what these thinly veiled clues reveal. This trilogy could rival the Harry Potter series in popularity. Since the film release, I have seen copies slipping in an out of backpacks and purses all over the place.

Unlike J.K. Rowling’s seven-volume story of the boy-wizard, which began in relative innocence, but slowly became violent, Hunger Games starts with a high level of intensity almost from page one. While it may be too intense for some pre-teens, those youngsters raised with fantasy video games, will most likely enjoy the story. My next step is to see the film version. 5 stars

--Chiron, 4/15/12