March 2007 Book Reviews

How do you choose what to read while you're on vacation? It's frequently a complicated decision for me. 1) It must be lightweight and smallish - we don't check luggage unless we absolutely have to. 2) It needs a strong narrative and should be fairly "easy" - I don't want to work while I'm on vacation, and it should be capable of keeping me entertained on a long flight. 3) It needs to be mine, and I have to feel comfortable with it getting ruined by getting splashed at the ocean, covered in sand, etc. 4) It needs to be long. Or I need to bring several books.

On to the books:
1. Lost Nation, Jeffrey Lent, Rating: 4.5
A western in the Cormac McCarthy vein - complex, bloody, cruel and unforgiving. Lent's characters are beautifully realized and you get to know them intimately, despite the fact that their lives are far removed from anything we'd ever experience today.
2. There is No Me Without You: One Woman's Odyssey to Rescue Africa's Children, Melissa Fay Greene, Rating: 3.5
Greene has written the story of AIDS in Ethiopia, intertwined with the story of a single woman who (somewhat accidentally) became a major player in international adoption and continues to care for and house dozens of AIDS orphans. The book is well worth reading simply for its smart and thorough overview of the AIDS crisis in general and the plight of Ethopians specifically. The story of this single woman at times feels forced and artificial - an attempt to give a "human center" to the narrative - but it's still an admirable and educational book.
3. The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco, Rating: 3.2
This is the book I chose for my recent vacation. It met criteria 1, 2, and 4, and seemed promising for #3 - the jacket made it seem like a high-brow version of The Da Vinci Code. Which actually is fairly accurate - really high-brow. Don't get me wrong, it's an amazing work. Clearly Eco is a smart guy: to quote the anonymous writers on wikipedia, "Eco is particularly good at translating medieval religious controversies and heresies into modern political and economic terms so that the reader can appreciate their substance without being a theologian." It's a very dense, slow-going, deeply educational work - not very entertaining at all. Sure, read it, but don't pack it.
4. Sophie's Choice, William Styron, Rating: 4.3
Our hotel in Colombia had a wall of English-language titles, with an odd mix of political theory, romance, mystery, and 70s-80s bestsellers. I traded in my copy of The Name of the Rose for this, which again seemed to meet the criteria above. And - it did! Wonderfully! I actually finished it the next day, 12 hours into a 14 hour travel day. I'm sure someone at some point told you what the book is about; if not, well, as the title implies there's a main character named Sophie and at some point in the story she has to make a choice. I was shocked to find the bulk of the novel is a tawdry, sexy, violent love triangle in late-1940s Brooklyn. It's fascinating and humorous and very fun. And yes, it does have a powerful climax.