The Long Song, by Andrea Levy

 9780374192174

Frances Coady/Farrar, Straus and Giroux

2010

313 pp.

Well, here's a lesson for me. When I first saw that this book had made the Booker Prize longlist, I was thrilled.  I had read the author's Small Island when it first came out some years back and liked it so I was eager to get into this one.  Then, when I picked it up and started reading it, I was a bit unsure, because my first thought was "oh no, another book about slavery." There's a story behind that remark:  about a year ago, I had read a book about slavery that was emotionally difficult to get through called The Book of Night Women, by Marcus James and frankly, I didn't think I could go there again.  But The Long Song was not at all what I was expecting -- and I ended up being unable to put it down. And while I didn't love it, I liked it very much.

The narrator is Miss July, who was a slave at Amity plantation in Jamaica in the 19th century, as well as a witness to the end of slavery.  At first she's extremely reluctant and even apologetic in describing the night she was conceived, but eventually, her son, who is publishing his mother's memoirs, notes that this didn't last long:

 Although shy of the task at first, after several months she soon became quite puffed up, emboldened to the point where my advice often fell on to ears that remained deaf to it.

And really, July holds nothing back; indeed sometimes her zeal leads her to fabricate, but manages to rein in the "nice" version of her stories to get back to the reality of her life in Jamaica.  She belongs to John Howarth, master of Amity, and works out in the fields until the arrival of Howarth's sister, Caroline Mortimer.  Caroline brought a maid with her from England, but the maid dies shortly thereafter, and Caroline decides to take July in her maid's place. Inside the house, the mischievous and often devilish July is given the name "Marguerite," and with the other house servants, does everything she can to thwart Caroline, including putting a soiled bedsheet on the table instead of the best tablecloth for a company dinner. Her time at Amity runs through The Baptist War or Christmas Uprising of 1831, as well as through the eventual emancipation of all of the slaves in 1838.  In the meantime, a string of overseers come to Amity, ending with Robert Goodwin, whose arrival changes everything about life at the plantation.

The author does not disguise any of the dehumanizing and horrifying aspects of slavery, or the racism inherent among the whites who do not see slaves as people but rather as chattel.  She also examines the color line among the slaves themselves in July's discussion about  Miss Clara,  famous for her white man's boarding house, her dances (to which July would never be invited) and her jams:

Only with a white man, can there be guarantee that the colour of your pickney will be raised. For a mulatto who breeds with a white man will bring forth a quadroon; and the quadroon that enjoys white relations will give to this world a mustee; the mustee will beget a mustiphino; and the mustiphino...oh, the mustaphino's child with a white man for a papa will find each day greets them no longer with a frown, but welcomes them with a smile, as they at last stride within this world as a cherished white person....Forward only to white skin became Miss Clara's mission.

Her characterizations are very real, from the slaves to the masters to well-meaning Christian ministers and sympathetic white people. Her sense of place is well evoked.  And even small details become meaningful, especially in one of my favorite parts of the novel: a story about a painting by the artist Francis Bear.  But what really shines through here is the emphasis on the power of storytelling, which is highlighted each time July gives an introduction to what she's writing, addressing herself often as "your storyteller," and even advising her readers that she can't go on, interjecting herself throughout the story:

I can go no further! Reader, my story is at an end. Close up this book and go on about your day. You have heard all that I have to tell of a life lived upon this sugar island. This wretched pen will blot and splutter with ink no more in pursuance of our character July. I now lay it down in its final rest.

But thankfully, she does go on, until her "long song" is finished.  I appreciated the fact that Ms. Levy might have chosen to bring a sappy ending to this story that might have diminished this novel and did not, thereby maintaining the integrity of The Long Song until the final word.
 
I can definitely recommend this book -- it is powerful, extremely well written and it's a story you won't soon forget.

Kraken, by China Mieville

034549749X

Del Rey

June 2010

528 pp.

On a normal day in an alternative London, it's Darwin Centre curator Billy Harrow's turn to do the public tour. The Darwin Centre is part of the Natural History Museum, but Billy knows why these people are really there: it's in anticipation of seeing the Architeuthis dux, or as it's more commonly known, the giant squid. The museum's specimen is 8.62 meters long, found in 2004 off the Falkland Islands.  But when the crowning moment arrives, and Billy opens the exhibit room door,  the squid, complete with its 9 meter brine-formalin filled tank, has vanished. It is totally, impossibly just gone.  And with it went any semblance of normalcy in the life of Billy Harrow, who sets out to find the missing architeuthis.  Along the way he learns that finding the squid is of utmost importance, not just so it might be returned to the museum, but because the squidnapping has triggered a series of events that are destined to lead to the end of the world, for real this time.

It is from this juncture that  Kraken takes off as the race is on to find the squid. Billy finds himself smack in the middle of a war  happening in the secret and magic London.  That city is the home of rival gods, whose cult members can be found duking it out from time to time (for example, the Brood, who worship a wargod polecat ferret),  Londonmancers, memory angels who guard old London in the face of the new, Chaos Nazis, familiars who go on strike in accordance with their union, a crime boss named the Tattoo whose face was imprisoned in the back of an innocent man and who runs a pair of psychopathic assassins, as well as a host of thug types like the Knuckleheads, who have men's bodies but fists for heads.  Overseeing crimes in this fantastical London is the Fundamentalist and Sect-Related Crime Unit (the FSRC), a branch of the police, complete with informants.  Billy has the tremendous task of sorting out who can be trusted and who can't as events head toward a final cataclysm.

While the last few chapters slow down the screaming pace of the rest of the novel, Kraken is one of the better works of speculative fiction I've read in a long time. There are parts that are laugh-out-loud funny, for example, with riffs on Star Trek and old police television shows. It's also filled with tongue-in-cheek satire focusing on religious differences and conflicts. Good speculative fiction demands that the writer's alternate world is believable, and Mieville goes above and beyond with his creativity and imagination. He gets the message through quite clearly that London is a very magical and special place -- and that there is definitely a bridge somewhere between reality and fantasy.

I can definitely recommend this novel to readers of speculative fiction, to those people who enjoy novels such as Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere or even Simon R. Green's Nightside series, and to anyone looking for something incredibly imaginative and different.  It's fun, appeals to my quirky, snarky and sarcastic sides, and although it turns out to be over 500 pages long,  goes by incredibly quickly. My first Mieville novel, but definitely not my last. 

fiction from England

The Shape of Water, by Andrea Camilleri

9780142004715

Penguin Books, 2005

Originally published as La Forma Dell'acqua, 1994

218 pp.
translated by Stephen Sartarelli


Just past the midway point of this novel, the mother of the victim, local "big-shot" Silvio Lupanello, implores Inspector Salvo Montalbano to uncover what really happened to her son. Lupanello was found dead, pants down around his ankles, in a car in a local area of Vigàta (Sicily) used by prostitutes and drug dealers.  Although the coroner has judged that Silvio died of natural causes, his mother knows that something more sinister lies at the bottom of Silvio's death, even if he truly died of a heart attack. She tells him a story about when she was a little girl, and her friend once put water into things like bowls, teapots, cups, and a square milk carton, trying to establish its shape.  When asked "what shape is water," she replied

Water doesn't have any shape!...It takes the shape you give it.

She asks Montalbano to discover what really was behind Silvio's death -- the alternative, as she noted was to "stop at the shape they've given the water." Because of where her son had been found and because he'd been caught with his pants down, so to speak, Lupanello and his family name had been disgraced and his cronies were assured of never being part of local politics again.   But the inspector had already guessed there was more to the story, and despite pressures from higher-ups, he had prolonged the investigation, refusing to close the case.

Montalbano is an interesting character. He declares himself to be an honest man, but also understands that there's a certain way things work politically in Sicily and he rolls with it. He's funny and cynical, able to mix compassion for others with his duty as a cop. He's involved in a relationship that takes place mostly over the phone, yet doesn't stray with local women. He has a love of good food, which is described throughout the novel.  He also has an incredible sardonic wit and is not afraid to speak his mind. As a character, he definitely stands out in the world of fictional detectives, and he, rather than the crime he is working on, is the focal point of this novel.

Camilleri evokes a strong sense of place here, there are rarely any distractions which get in the way of either the main plot or the characters, and there's a sarcastic sense of humor that floats in the background of this book. He makes his people real and believable, which guarantees that I'll be back for the next book in the series.  Very highly recommended.

fiction from Italy

Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers

9780307367943
Vintage (paperback)
2010;
originally published 2009, McSweeney's Books
337 pp.


In 2005, Abdulrahman Zeitoun and his wife Kathy, along with their family of three children, lived in New Orleans. That summer, life was going on as normal for the Zeitouns - after years of working for others, Abdulrahman ran a successful contracting and painting business, their little girls were watching and acting out the dvd of Pride and Prejudice for the umpteenth time, and Kathy acted as stay-at-home mom as well as business partner for her husband. Life was good for this family. 

But as Katrina approached the Gulf, expected to hit New Orleans and hit it hard, Kathy started getting nervous and grabbed the kids, some clothes and the family dog and left to stay with family in Baton Rouge. Her husband decided to stay back and look after the house & his business interests. Kathy wasn't happy about his decision, but Abdulrahman was insistent.  Then came the hurricane, the breaking of the levees, and the aftermath of it all. After the storm was over,  Kathy, unable to get back into the city, was able to keep in sporadic contact with her husband, who managed to convey that he was okay. Day after day she listened to the news, and as the situation deteriorated there, she grew more uneasy. And then one day, Abdulrahman just stopped calling.

The straightforward prose is easy to read and although the book weighs in at about 300 pages, it captures the imagination quickly as the reader gets caught up in the story.  As it goes on, the intensity picks up to where this book is nearly impossible to put down. The story clearly belongs to Abdulrahman Zeitoun and his family, even though it is Dave Eggers who brings their account to life in a professional and journalistic manner, helped by an army of researchers and fact checkers as well as the Zeitoun family itself.


Zeitoun examines the post-hurricane situation through the eyes of a man who lived it and the effects his experiences had on himself and on his family. It's not just an account of a Katrina survivor, nor is it an in-depth  tell-all about the failures of the local, regional, state and  federal government responses. There are plenty of places where those types of accounts are available. Instead, Abdulrahman Zeitoun's story steers the reader to the point of  a head-on collision between post-9/11 policies, racial & religious intolerance, and the efforts of these agencies to regain any measure of control after the most devastating natural disaster in this country.  The book sends the message that something vital to our sense of well-being as American citizens is broken and desperately needs fixing -- and I'm not talking about the levees in New Orleans.

Read this book, then pass it along to someone you know. If you're not shaking your head in disbelief, let's just say I'll be very surprised.

(sorry about the typeface change...I am having trouble moving from MS word to here.)

Fever Dream, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

9780446554961

Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Book Group

May 2010

405 pp

Fever Dream falls under my own heading of "escape reading," meaning books that are highly improbable, fluffy or just something not serious for passing the time. I had another sleepless night last night and this book was handy.

Fever Dream  is the tenth book of the Agent Pendergast series. In this installment, Pendergast is visiting one of his many homes, this time in New Orleans, and comes across some evidence regarding his wife Helen's death twelve years earlier. As it turns out, the evidence suggests to Pendergast that his wife's demise was not accidental as he'd thought all of this time, but a deliberate and cold-blooded murder.  Pendergast realizes that he needs help and enlists the services of  Vincent D'Agosta, a lieutenant of the NYPD and past associate.  As he investigates why someone would want her killed, he begins to uncover things about Helen that he never knew, leading him to wonder just who was this woman he married. But as Pendergast and D'Agosta get close to the truth, there are those who don't want them to find it, and they find their lives in danger. 

Since the end of the so-called Diogenes trilogy (Brimstone, Dance of Death and The Book of the Dead), the quality of the Pendergast adventures has gone a bit downhill. Wheel of Darkness I could have done without, and Cemetery Dance was much better than its predecessor but still not the same old Pendergast. The same holds true for Fever Dream.  The descriptions of place are well written (there's one scene describing an abandoned family home that was downright creepy) and how the authors get Pendergast in and out of some very sticky spots are fun to read. However, Preston and Child seem to be stretching on this one (missing paintings, parrots, etc.,) and then there's Constance Green, Pendergast's ward, who has returned from Tibet.  Why she was even written into this story is a mystery unto itself --she plays absolutely no part of the investigation; she just takes up space.

While the book was overall a fun read and a good way to spend a few hours, I think the authors could have done much better. Maybe they should go back and reread their earlier Pendergast novels to find out why their readers got hooked on this character in the first place.  

I would recommend this novel for those already fans of Pendergast; don't make this one the first of the series that you read.  The authors are slowly getting back on the right track, but they're not there yet.  However, when the next book in the series is announced, I know I'll be right there, with my finger on the "preorder" button. For some reason I can't resist.

Blackout, by Connie Willis

9780553803198
Ballantine Books/Spectra
February 2010
491 pp

Two things before I get to the review:

First, let me skip all the way to the very last lines of the book (don't worry...no spoilers here):

 For the riveting conclusion to Blackout, be sure not to miss Connie Willis's All Clear. Coming from Spectra in Fall 2010.

 Yes, that's correct. When you get to the ending, pumped up on adrenaline because you just have to know how things come out, there's a sucker punch waiting for you -- to find out what happens and to see if the three main characters can resolve their dilemmas, you have to wait until October. So you might wish to fight the urge to read the book now and wait until you have both volumes safely in hand so as not to have to wait. I bought this book at the airport to read on the plane, and had no idea is was a two-parter, so imagine my surprise. However, as soon as I finished this one, I immediately preordered my copy of  the second book, All Clear, due out in October. Although this is perfectly timed for me,  other people may not be so happy for the wait. Oh well...what can you do?

Second, I liked this book -- didn't love it, but I have been a huge fan of Connie Willis for years since I read Doomsday, her first Oxford time-travel novel.


The year is 2060, and at Oxford a time travel project allows history graduate students to go back to a specific time and place to further supplement their learning experience. By this time, these historians are able to have specific and essential knowledge of the period implanted for immediate use, and then off they go into the Net, which leaves them at a specific place at a specific time, and this spot becomes "the drop" through which they can return to Oxford either at the end of their time or when they need additional information or props for the period.  There's also a safety net: if something goes wrong (which it's not supposed to because of the rules of time travel), the drop serves as a portal through which a "retrieval team" can effect a rescue if necessary. As the story opens, a handful of historians are preparing to go back in time to the World War II era -- Merope (who uses the name Eileen) is studying the evacuation of children from the cities to the countryside, Polly is going to London during the Blitz, and Michael is off to Dover to witness the rescue of soldiers from Dunkirk. But all is not well at Oxford, it seems -- drop schedules are being changed and no one understands why, no one can get in touch with the elusive Dunworthy, the head of the program -- things are in a word, chaotic. But eventually, each student gets to their appointed place and time, but it's not long until things begin to go wrong -- most notably, with Michael.  He is not supposed to actually be at Dunkirk, but is shanghaied into going there -- and things happen that make him wonder if he has actually changed the course of history.  Each of the historians have his/her own stories, and the author alternates the action among the three.

Willis obviously spent hours upon hours upon hours researching this part of Britain's history.  In fact, she notes in her acknowledgments that one group she had to thank was

...the marvelous group of ladies at the Imperial War Museum...women, who it turned out, had been rescue workers and ambulance drivers and air-raid wardens during the Blitz, and who told me story after story that proved invaluable to the book and to my understanding of the bravery, determination, and humor of the British people as they faced down Hitler.

 She has turned those interviews, along with the rest of her incredible research, into a portrait of life in 1940s Britain that is rich in detail as well as interesting to read from an historical point of view, so much so that at times you may forget you're reading a novel about time travel. Aside from the history of it all, the narrative is often funny, lifting the reader out of the darkness of war-time Britain for a short period of time.  The characters, for the most part, are well drawn and the author is also able to build suspense throughout the novel to create an interesting mystery that keeps you reading until the end for the solution (but as I noted above, the revelations must wait until October). 

While the story is compelling and unputdownable,  Blackout does have some minor niggling distractions, such as storylines or scenes that tend to drone on when they could have been shortened (for example, in Eileen's time at the manor with two rambunctious children) with no loss to the overall story itself. There's also nearly an entire chapter in which one of the characters tours St. Paul's cathedral, which survived the Blitz due to the diligent efforts of many, which also could have been gone with no problem in terms of plot or even character development. Finally, there's the cliffhanger ending: this may be my fault, for not knowing beforehand that the book came as a two-volume set, but when you've read 491 pages, and the last words let you know that there's no resolution for a few months, that's just wrong. 

On the whole, Blackout is quite good for what it is, and is a reading experience that should be enjoyed by fans of speculative fiction, time travel, historical fiction (if you don't mind some sci-fi to go along with it), and fans of Connie Willis' previous works.  Don't expect fine literature, but it's a great book for a few hours of relaxing entertainment.

The Informer, by Craig Nova

9780307236937

Shaye Areheart Books

2010

A few posts ago I commented on the general lack of respect on the part of people who will go to a bookstore, order a coffee & a chocolate chip cookie and then proceed to leave evidence of their presence on the pages of a brand new book. As noted, I had the misfortune of discovering this nasty habit while at my local B&N, when I went to buy a copy of The Informer, by Craig Nova. If you don't want to go back & read the post, the long and short of it is that there was only one copy available in the store, and not only were there chocolate fingerprints on it, but the first page had been torn as well making it totally unbuyable. Aaargh. Shortly after I made that post, a knight in shining armor in the form of Mr. Stephen Will, a publicist at The Hendra Agency, took pity on my plight and offered me a copy. So...to Mr. Stephen Will I offer my most hearty thanks.

I liked this book -- it appeals to the part of me that loves intelligence in the written word. As a work of historical fiction, it is very well written.

The Informer is set in Berlin at the end of Germany's Weimar Republic (1918-1933) and Germany's politics are fractured among the lines of three main political groups: the Communists, the various right-wing groups (including but not limited to the Nazis), and the prevailing Socialist government. On the streets these divisions often play out as brawls and skirmishes between rival factions, each with its gang of thugs, and this fracture continues on up into city and governmental bureaucracies where thuggery is more or less official yet clandestine.  Everything is played according to where one's loyalties lie.

Without going into the plot, at the center of this well-written novel is Gaelle, the disfigured 22 year old prostitute and "The Informer" of the story.  Gaelle is protected as well as pimped out by Felix, a 16 year old boy who lives on the streets with his ears to the ground. She often supplements their earnings by selling secrets she learns from clients, which works well for the two of them until she happens upon some intelligence regarding a man who works at the Soviet Embassy and spies on the Red Front for the Brownshirts. While all of this is happening, Armina Treffen,  a police officer in Inspectorate A (a division of the kriminalpolizei  that investigates homicide),  is seeking a serial killer who is stalking young women in the Tiergarten park area. Armina is a professional and cares about  her work, but she has her own personal issues which are compounded by the politics of her boss Ritter, which hamper her work on the case.

The Informer is not your average "Berlin noir" type of novel like Jonathan Rabb's series (beginning with Rosa),  nor is it like Kerr's Berlin novels, both of which are both more plot driven. It is more character driven, with its atmosphere of place and time acting as the headliner. From the very beginning, the book draws you into the  "malice" (the author's word) pervading the streets and the very air, not to mention the uncertainty of what is to come. In this sense, the suspense aspect of the novel permeates throughout -- not so much as an aspect of the novel's plotline, but in terms of  the future of the German people. There are several scenes in which the author offers a brief foreshadowing of the future -- a line of people at the local vet having their dogs killed as a solution to their inability to feed their pets because of the high rate of inflation, and the description of Armina going daily by the children from the "special" school -- both send a shiver up the reader's spine because we know exactly what these scenes allude to in only a matter of a few years hence.

The dustjacket blurb calls the book a "literary thriller," but the scales tip heavily in favor of the literary side, and to label this book merely a "thriller" is really to cheapen it. This is my first novel by this author, but definitely not the last.  Highly recommended.

and finally, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, by David Mitchell

Random House, June 29, 2010

ISBN: 1400065453

First, a huge thanks to Librarything, where I received this book as part of the LT Early Reviewers' program.  Somehow I think the algorithm is psychic, as I always seem to get the book I want most.

A second thank you to Random House for sending a copy that I had probably requested and forgotten about.  That copy now is going to Librarything as part of its member giveaway program where people who requested it and didn't get it through ER will have another chance.

According to an interview with The Times Online (4/18/2010) The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet  began with the author getting off a streetcar at the wrong stop and coming upon the Dejima museum in Nagasaki in 1996. The idea for the book went into a notebook  years before he wrote Thousand Autumns, but his mistake led to one of the best novels I've read the entire year.If this one doesn't show up on the Booker Prize longlist this year, I'll be more than surprised. 


Without going into the plot, Mitchell bases this work of historical fiction beginning in 1799 on the artificially-created island of  Dejima, the only place that Dutch traders could operate in the closed country of Japan while Japan was isolated from the rest of the world based on its own internal policies. With very few exceptions, the Dutch were not allowed to cross into Nagasaki, and the Japanese were not allowed to cross over to the island. While the Dutch had trading privileges there, over time some Japanese people were eventually allowed to take advantage of the outsiders to learn about "Western" science, medicine, and other teachings, all collectively known as rangoku, or Dutch learning. It is in this situation that we first meet Jacob de Zoet, who has come to Japan with the Dutch East India Company to try to make his fortune and return home to Europe to marry the girl back home. 

What makes this novel of historical fiction work and work very well are Mitchell's gifts with language and storytelling. Mitchell is already a well-known and talented author, but this is very different than anything he's done yet.  The story  takes you from the Dutch enclave at Dejima into the forests and mountains of the Japanese countryside and into the courtyards of small inns along the wide roads used in transit to and from the domain of the reigning Shogun. From there you're off to the high seas once again as more of the world knocks at Japan's door. The world of intrigue, politics and betrayal that exists within Dejima is also a way of life outside of it as well -- the same game played out over and over again in  different venues by different people. The story itself is captivating, and as has been noted elsewhere, you will find yourself tempted to turn to the end to see what happens. But don't. As intriguing and often suspenseful as the novel may be, you must read it slowly, not just because it's a good story, but because you want to catch even the smallest of nuances Mitchell's writing offers. His descriptions have significance and place the reader deeper into the world in which the story occurs. A game of go becomes a verbal duel between two worthy opponents.  A woman's name on Jacob's lips becomes a graphic description of properly articulating phonetic sounds. Moonlight melts glass, and the darkness is alive as "night insects trill, tick, bore, ring; drill, prick, saw, sting." And at times, you'll be reading along and out of the blue a piece of narrative will come out  like a poem, making you go back and reread the passage you've just read so you don't miss anything.

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is a long novel, but well worth every second spent on it.  I would recommend it to everyone, although I  believe its best audience will be readers of literary fiction and the already-existing loyal fanbase of David Mitchell.  What a great book!

*The Painted Veil, by W. Somerset Maugham

Vintage International, 2004

0307277771 

Originally published 1925

My first book by Maugham, but definitely not my last. If someone would like to recommend a good one by him, I'd be more than grateful. 

As a young man, the author took a trip to Italy, where he studied Italian with a tutor. Maugham began reading Dante's Il Purgatorio and came upon the story of one Pia de Tolomei of Siena. It seems that Pia's husband believed that Pia was involved with another man, so rather than risk her family's displeasure by murdering her, he decided to take her to his castle in Maremma. According to Maugham in the preface to Painted Veil,  the husband figured that the "noxious vapors" of the place would do her in.  He realized that it would make a great story, and later, when in China, he realized that it would be the perfect setting, voilá -- The Painted Veil comes into being. Yet, the finished product actually turns out to be much more character rather than story driven.  

Set in the 1920s, the main character of this novel is Kitty Fane, whose socially-ambitious mother wanted her to marry into a prominent family. Kitty is not interested in marriage until her younger sister becomes engaged to a member of the baronetcy.  It is at this point that Walter Fane, a physician and bacteriologist appears and professes his deep love for Kitty and asks for her hand. Kitty finds it expedient that Walter has to leave immediately for China where he is doing research, because if she marries him she will not have to take part in her sister's wedding and have everyone talking about her. Kitty does not love Walter, but she marries him anyway. Off to Hong Kong they go, and as the story opens, Kitty is having an affair with a married British diplomat, having become quickly bored with her husband.  Walter discovers her infidelity and presents her with a choice that ends up with Kitty following him to Mei-tan-fu, a rural Chinese region where a cholera epidemic rages through the population.  Walter has taken the place of the local physician and also spends much of time researching the disease, while Kitty is left alone to ponder why he has really brought her there. 

While the story belongs mostly to Kitty and how she is able to dig deep and discover certain truths about herself and life in general,  the more interesting character, imho, is Walter, who exemplifies that old adage that still waters run deep.  Underneath his mild and taciturn appearance, a great deal of passion flows through this gentle man's veins, staying largely unrecognized until it  leads him to force Kitty into following him into the heart of a cholera epidemic. But here lies the heart of the story: human beings are often misguided when their actions stem from their emotional natures, sometimes causing them to make serious mistakes. In that sense, both Walter and Kitty are two sides of the same coin.

This was a very good read, certainly recommendable to readers across different genres. Romance readers will find something here, as will chick-lit connoisseurs, and it's a good book of literary fiction. I do want to say something about the 2006 film adaptation: it veers from the book quite a bit, especially at the end, so if you are considering watching it my advice would be to read the novel first to see where Maugham was really going with this story.

The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, by David Grann

and now for something completely different. I've had my eye on this book ever since I learned that it was going to be published, and probably pre-ordered it months ago.  The author, David Grann, is the author of Lost City of Z, one of my all-time favorite books. Grann isn't a novelist, but rather he writes wonderful essays, and has been featured in the New Yorker.  So you should assume immediately that this book isn't going to be another Sherlock Holmes pastiche, because it's not. Instead, it's a book of essays, but don't let that put you off. It is absolutely delightful.

Grann has this thing about people who are absolutely obsessed about what they do, a fact you already know if you've read his splendid Lost City of Z.  In this book, he takes his readers on a journey through a dozen different profiles.

Structured in three parts, all headed by quotations from various Sherlock Holmes stories, the first section is subtitled "Any Truth is Better Than Infinite Doubt." Here's the guy whose lifelong ambition was to write the ultimate and the definitive biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. After there was a dispute over some of Sir Arthur's papers, the subject of this essay was found dead under some murky circumstances. Was it murder or suicide?  Then there's the incredibly sad and horrifying case of the Texas man who may or may not have set his own home on fire, killing his children, and who may have paid the ultimate price due to the zealousness of certain arson investigators. The third entry in this section is the odd story of a French man that reads along the lines of Tey's Brat Farrar or even the movie "The Changeling," leading into the strange account of a man who may or may not have been guilty of murder, based on a book he wrote.  Finally, there's the story of a firefighter who lost all memory of what happened to him on 9/11 as his unit went into the towers before they collapsed.

Part Two, entitled "A Strange Enigma is Man," contains four stories: one about one man's obsession with giant squids, one about the Sandhogs deep under the streets of New York City, one about a man whose life was spent as a criminal, and the fourth relating to why a championship baseball player won't give up.

Part Three, "All that was monstrous and inconceivably wicked in the universe," contains three essays.  The first of these is about the Aryan Brotherhood and how it got its start, as well as its impact on prisons and law enforcement.  The second focuses on Youngstown, Ohio, a city long under mob control. The final essay in this section (and in the book) stopped me cold. It focuses on a known Haitian political and death-squad leader who somehow ended up in New York as a real-estate agent. Even though the US government knew that this guy was an assassin, for "political" reasons, he's still free here in our country. If this one doesn't creep you out about the political system in our country, nothing will.

Grann is an absolutely fabulous writer and his essays will keep you interested up to the minute you turn the last page. His approach is different and definitely holds your attention, and the added bonus is that you get a chance to learn a lot about things you probably had no clue about otherwise. I can most highly recommend this book and this author. And as a sidebar, if you have not yet read his other book, run, do not walk, and go get it.

also reviewed at Book Review Party Wednesday, 4/6/2010