'World War Z' by Max Brooks

World War Z, an Oral History of the Zombie War, Max Brooks (3.0)

This book had a unique premise: instead of telling the story directly, it was told in retrospect by a journalist through survivor interviews. At times, this conceit distanced me from the story, but generally it differentiated the book from other apocalyptic zombie tales. The journalist starts with interviews focused on the early days of the virus/infestation. The interviewees range from Generals and Presidents to various common man survivors. Throughout the book, those interviewed are appropriate to the timing of the zombie war, with only a few revisited towards the end of the book. Mr. Brooks does treat this story as a historical look at a war (weapons and politics), though with more biology. It’s interesting to follow how so many misread the infection as rabies, though it makes the tale more realistic – who would think of zombies in real life? Oddly and atypically, I liked the movie ‘World War Z’ better. It had a lot of the same theories and plot points, but the direct plot of the movie kept my attention while the indirectness of the book did not hook me as well.

'Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls' by David Sedaris

Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, David Sedaris (3.5)

I had heard many good things about David Sedaris’ writing – particularly how funny and erudite he is. I did enjoy his musings in this book of essays, even to the point of laughing out loud. This is one of his more recent collections with many current references. Two of my favorites were ‘#2 to Go’ about traveling in Asia (spitting, strange food, strange toilets) and ‘Health Care Freedoms and Why I Want My Country Back’ about a clueless radical conservative mother whose gay son toys with her. He convinces her to wear a t-shirt that says ‘Big Dyke’ by saying ‘dyke’ means someone who holds back the flood of encroaching socialism. Of course I resonated with the title idea: once you say you like something, you will receive multiple pieces and copies of said item. I liked owls as a kid and received many lovely owls. I still like them, but stopped telling people as I had collected enough owl memorabilia. My only complaint about this book is that some of the essays seemed to be re-hashing of his New Yorker pieces, but I don’t have actual evidence of that. I look forward to reading more of his older books.

'The Crimson Petal and the White' by Michel Faber

The Crimson Petal and the White, Michel Faber (3)

I was drawn to this book from a review of Mr. Faber’s current release in which it was referred to as ‘Dickensian’. While it is set in a familiar Dickenson-like time and place (late 1800’s London), and had a number of colorful characters, missing was the balance of strife with comic relief and magically wonderful phraseology. This book does have a lot of strife. The main character is Sugar, a 19-year-old prostitute who (against the odds of growing up in a brothel) has managed to differentiate herself as a clean, smart, canny whore who will ‘do anything’ asked of her. She is atypical from the other prostitutes in every physical way as well – very tall, boyish figure, lizard-like skin and flaming red hair. At least the author has used her smarts and uniqueness to set her apart and give her a power that the reader hopes will get her out of her dismal life. The second character, William Rackham is the hapless heir to a perfume business who needs a good woman (Sugar?) to straighten him out. The fact that Sugar ‘will do anything’ first draws him to her. He also has a wife and lonely, isolated daughter. The wife is a strange child-like woman spiraling into insanity as the book progresses. At 800+ pages long, surprisingly one of the biggest criticisms I have read has to do with the abrupt and somewhat dangling ending. My disappointment had more to do with the length’s proportion to the plot. I did not feel enough happened in the book to warrant that many pages. Mr. Faber does a good job painting a picture of the social and physical London of the time, creating a strong female character and some interesting side characters, but overall I found the plot unsatisfactory.

'Station Eleven' by Emily St. John Mandel

‘Station Eleven’, Emily St. John Mandel (3)

Ms. St. John Mandel seems prescient with this 2014 released post apocalyptic book – since the apocalypse occurs due to a rampant disease that quickly wipes out much of civilization – and the book was released just before the Ebola epidemic in Africa started to scare much of our media into a frenzied mess. Her story spans about 25 years – a few years before the epidemic and 20 years after – with it starting as the main characters are faced with the few days of panic as the disease makes its way through the population. She aptly describes the desolation achieved quickly with the lack of people, then power, then food, and finally all modern conveniences become useless. The story moves in jumps, both forwards and backwards. I enjoyed following the characters as the author jumped into the future and back again, though I would have liked a more balanced look at the characters. For example, the first character we meet disappears from the narrative for 100’s of pages. In general, the word ‘more’ describes my overall feelings for this book. After reading the 330+ pages, I felt something was missing, particularly give the acclaim this book has been getting. The writing was good, but the material was not as fresh and new as I was led to believe.

'Climbing the Mango Trees' by Madhur Jaffrey

‘Climbing the Mango Trees’, Madhur Jaffrey (2.5)

I found this book to be a bit milquetoast for me. It came across as a privileged memoir of the idyllic and not particularly interesting life of an Indian chef/actress.  She describes her storybook life growing up near New Delhi during the 40’s and 50’s. Even though this covers WWII and the partition of India and Pakistan, she keeps it light and fluffy.  Only one member of her family (a selfish Uncle) comes across as anything less than a perfect example of family harmony.  I will admit that seeing ‘The Lunchbox’ while I was reading this may have tainted my opinion. While it was hard to imagine a wife cooking her husband a hot lunch each day – that is then transported on bike and train to be hand delivered to his office every day – the contrast was startling to Ms. Jaffrey’s experience. In elementary school, their servants would deliver their hot lunch and set it up for the three daughters to eat – including tablecloth, plates and silverware! The one element of the book I enjoyed was her weaving into the story the smells and foods of her childhood. She ends the book with pages of exotic recipes. She did transmit her love of the food and the warmth by which it was prepared (by family and servants), though the book ended rather abruptly and it wasn’t clear how she became an actress, chef and author.

'Madame Bovary' by Gustave Flaubert

Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert (3.5)

Given the subject (adultery), the likability of the main character should not be surprising. Yet, in my rereading of this classic, I was once again surprised. Oddly it was not her adulterous ways, but her attitude and selfishness and the acts resulting from her disregard for others that caused me to find her quite despicable. I guess Flaubert’s lesson to his readers is that her many betrayals in money, love and family were the obvious result of such a personality. As the wife of a small town, incompetent Doctor, Mme. Bovary quickly becomes bored. She’s bored of her husband, her daughter, the town and the neighbors. Her husband idolizes her and cannot see in her any flaws. Eventually she falls victim to her romantic ideas of how her life should really be. This becomes the justification for the first betrayal. I found her second relationship more interesting as she became more confident (Leon has moments of wonder at her prowess in all matters of ‘love’) and more destructive. I do believe this is a classic, but I found the first half too boring and predictable to give it a ‘4’. The second half is interesting and reveals more of the complexity of several characters.