Leaving the Atocha Station

LEAVING THE ATOCHA STATION by Ben Lerner, Coffee House Press, 2011 (ISBN 1566892740)

Reviewed by John Eberly

This is the first novel by Topeka, Kansas born Ben Lerner, who has three previous collections of poems to his credit including National Book Award finalist ANGLE OF YAW (Copper Canyon Press, 2006).  LEAVING THE ATOCHA STATION follows a young American man abroad in Madrid on a Fellowship to write a series of contemporary poems based on the Spanish Civil War.  This "project" he divides into five parts we never see, instead, we follow his inner journey fueled by various substances enhancing or distorting exterior obsessions with art, women, travel, social relationships, and general anxiety.  His habit of embellishing things in order to observe what effect such behavior might have on those around him, to his amazement and frustration, effects him most of all.  This emotional sleight of hand permeates the perspective -there is no "plot" per se - of the book, as the character finds that to allow an Other the opportunity to also embellish their life story -in order to feign interest in them- this post-projection may or may not overlap with virtual version(s) of his own experience.  Eventually, a many-layered dance of dual deception may result in the desired consummate act, which immediately disappoints the self, the Other, or both, or will someday, when it fails or falls short of the ideal that prompted a suspension of belief in the first place.  Thereafter (if indeed the ruse has not failed prior to the act) by stages self-reflection reveals only pale shades of the deep coloration the imagined relationship originally promised.  The juxtaposition of fantasy colliding and competing with reality runs right up against a random terrorist act that confounds the young man: should he participate directly in History as it unfolds, or simply abstract the event as he imagines it into an emotional response resulting in art as artifice, as he has attempted by way of idiosyncratic survival instinct in his personal relationships?  Well written and evenly paced, this novel explores the pyschological nuances of a gifted young person confronting the multitude of conflicting intellectual responses available to interpret the often confusing and unpredictable universal ground of  human experience.

Reviewer info:  John Eberly is a long-time patron of Hutchinson Public Library and the author of Al-Kimia, Sophia Perennis Press, Ghent, 2004.
Reviewer statement:  "I love all kinds of books, but especially modern and post-modern fiction."

At Swim-Two-Birds

AT SWIM-TWO-BIRDS by Flann O'Brien, Dalkey Archive Press; 1st Dalkey Archive edition (August 17, 1998)   ISBN-10: 156478181X   ISBN-13: 978-1564781819

Reviewed by John Eberly

“Flann O’Brien” is one of several nom de plume’s of Irish writer Brian O’Nolan, best unknown by most for his 1939 masterpiece of experimental fiction At Swim-Two-Birds.   Cited by Time magazine as one of the best 100 English language novels between 1923 and 2005, both book and author remain virtually undiscovered by the mainstream.  Sometimes associated with the later “Angry Young Men” movement in Irish literature and J.P. Donleavy’s novel The Ginger Man, in reality, they are vastly different in style and tone to O’Brien’s oeuvre.   At Swim-Two-Birds has also been compared to James Joyce, however, O’Nolan was once quoted as saying "I declare to God if I hear that name Joyce one more time I will surely froth at the gob."  It may be that the only thing these authors really have in common is Ireland itself.  At Swim-Two-Birds brims with Irish tradition and folklore.  Indeed, in many ways it may be the most “Irish” novel anyone –including Joyce- has ever written.   The story revolves around a young man attending college who is writing a novel about a man writing a novel.  What the college writer and the writer he writes about have most in common is that neither of them seem to be able to get out of bed.  Living with his long-suffering uncle while occasionally attending classes and drinking sessions with his friends at various pubs, the unnamed student lets the characters in his novel come to life in order to rival the plot expectations of his somnambulist author/main character.  Along the way, we meet the Pooka (remember the movie Harvey with Jimmy Stewart?  This is a different type of Pooka!)  MacPhellimey, "a member of the devil class," as well as legendary Mad King Sweeney, and many other colorful folk as three different stories emerge and eventually converge.  This is brilliant satire as opposed to parody of traditional mores and literary forms.  A master at creating literary conundrums of his own, Jorge Luis Borges said at the time of At Swim-Two-Bird  initial publication, “I have enumerated many verbal labyrinths, but none so complex as the recent book by Flann O'Brien.”  Full of humor and intelligence, At Swim-Two-Birds is an unforgettable reading experience.
Reviewer info:  John Eberly is a long-time patron of Hutchinson Public Library and the author of Al-Kimia, Sophia Perennis Press, Ghent, 2004.
Reviewer statement:  "I love all kinds of books, but especially modern and post-modern fiction."

Outlander (series recommendation)

Title:  Outlander (first book of the series)

Author:  Diana Gabaldon

HPL catalog:  F Gabaldon

OUTLANDER series by Diana Gabaldon:

   OUTLANDER, Delacorte Press, 1991

   DRAGONFLY IN AMBER, Delecorte, 1992

   VOYAGER, Delecorte, 1994

   DRUMS OF AUTUMN, Delecorte, 1997

   THE FIERY CROSS, Delecorte, 2001

   A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES, Delecorte, 2005

   AN ECHO IN THE BONE: A NOVEL, Delecorte, 2009

Also by Diana Gabaldon:

THE OUTLANDISH COMPANION: In which much is revealed regarding Claire and Jamie  Fraser, their lives and times, antecedents, adventures, companions, and progeny, with learned commentary (and many footnotes) by their humble creator. Delecorte, 1999

THE EXILE: AN OUTLANDER GRAPHIC NOVEL, illus. by Hoang Nguyen. Del Rey, 2010.

#1 OUTLANDER  In 1946, after WWII, a young Englishwoman named Claire Beauchamp Randall goes to the Scottish Highlands with her husband, Frank. She’s an ex-combat nurse, he’s been in the army as well, they’ve been separated for the last six years, and this is a second honeymoon; they’re getting re-acquainted with each other, thinking of starting a family.  But one day Claire goes out walking by herself and comes across a circle of standing stones—such circles are in fact common all over northern Britain.  She walks through a cleft stone in the circle….and disappears.  Back into 1743, where the first person she meets is a gentleman in an 18th-century army officer’s uniform.  This gentleman, Jack Randall, looks just like her husband Frank—and proves to be Frank’s six-times-great-grandfather.  Unfortunately, he also proves to be a sadistic bisexual pervert, and while trying to escape from him, Claire falls into the hands of a gang of Highland Scots, who are also trying to get away from Black Jack Randall—though for other reasons.

In order to avoid being handed over to Captain Randall, Claire is obliged to marry one of the young clansmen.  So she finds herself trying to escape from Castle Leoch and her Scottish captors, trying to get back to her husband Frank, trying to avoid being recaptured by Captain Randall—and falling in love with Jamie Fraser, the young man she’s been forced to marry.   The story rolls on from there… review from Dianna Gabaldon's web site: http://www.dianagabaldon.com/ (She also has a great Facebook page, too).

If you're a fan of historical fiction, blended with adventure, romance, mystery and sci fi (time travel specifically) I highly recommend any of the books in the series. If you're going to read them, though, you have to start with the first one, OUTLANDER. I stumbled across this series when the third book in the series, VOYAGER, was released in paperback in 1995. All of these books are page-turners...once you're hooked, you are hopelessly addicted to the story and characters. I was a third of the way through VOYAGER, could not put it down, even though I was missing bits and pieces of important background information from the first two in the series. So, I went ahead and finished it, put the first book on hold from the library, and waited anxiously for my phone call to tell me it was in. I read OUTLANDER, then DRAGONFLY IN AMBER, then proceeded to re-read VOYAGER (it was better the second time). Then it was waiting time again, for the 4th book in the series, DRUMS OF AUTUMN, to be published.

Gabaldon is a phenomenal storyteller and historian. She thoroughly researches every facet of the her stories, and spends a great deal of time traveling to research on location in Europe and the original 13 colonies of the U.S. Her characters are so real it's very easy to visualize each one, and they all grab your attention and pull you into the action.

She has also written another series based on one of the principle characters from the Outlander series, Lord John. I've only read the first book in this series, LORD JOHN AND THE PRIVATE MATTER, simply because I don't care for this particular character. I simply can't force myself to read more of these, though you might enjoy them as much as the others.

Reviewed by Annette Smith, HPL staff

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

Title:  MAJOR PETTIGREW’S LAST STAND: A NOVEL
Author:  Helen Simonson. Random House, 2010.
HPL catalog:  F Simonson

Change is threatening the little world of Edgecombe St. Mary. Lord Dagenham is about to sell off part of his ancestral estate to developers, and Pakistanis have taken over the village shop. Major Ernest Pettigrew is definitely old school, but he has been lonely since his wife died, and though he is prey to various unattached ladies, it is the shopkeeper Mrs. Ali that he forms a bond, nourished by their mutual interest in literature. Meanwhile, his ambitious son Roger comes to town with a sleek American girlfriend and starts renovating a nearby cottage. And the village ladies are busy hatching plans for the annual Gold Club dance, for which this year's theme is "An Evening at the Mughal Court." There is a great deal going on in these pages- sharply observed domestic comedy, late-life romance, culture clash, and a pinch of religious fundamentalism. First novelist Simonson handles it all with great aplomb, and her Major, with his keen sense of both honor and absurdity, is the perfect lens through which to view contemporary England. --Booklist Review: Copyright 2010, Mary Ellen Quinn

This title was reviewed by Watermark Books when it first was released, and I immediately added it to my "must read" list.  The characters are very three-dimensional: the Major, who is old-fashioned, staunch, dependable, and traditional, but right from the beginning, you can see just how vulnerable and helpless he can be. Mrs. Ali, who is such a good friend to the Major, is also a traditional woman and very family oriented. She does what she feels she must do to stay with traditional family values, but then she is just as much a "rebel" as the Major when all is said and done. Roger, the "devoted" son who seems to know all that is best for his aging father, is clearly clueless. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't reading about my own family situations. Any or all of the book characters could be one of my siblings, uncles, aunts or cousins. And as a bonus, there's an unexpected surprise at the end.

Reviewed by Annette Smith, HPL staff

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