Mr. Vertigo

Book cover: Mr. Vertigo

Time to hand in yet another book report. This time it's about Mr. Vertigo a book by Paul Auster that was first published in 1994.

This is the second book written by Auster that i've read. I did not enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed Brooklyn Follies. The story is alright, but there are too man highs and lows in the book. In one way it is understandable since it tells the life story of the main character. Somehow it might have made more sense to focus on just one story arch and develop it further.

Maybe this book is directed to those people who look back at their lives and can see all the phases of their lives, the high points and mistakes. I am not at that stage in my life.

Mr. Vertigo is not a life changing reading experience. That does not mean you should not read it. Mr. Vertigo is book that shows how talented Auster is as a storyteller. Even though the text is not A+ quality it is still better than that of most people. The basic positive and humane tone that is present in the book is Austers trademark and creates a unique atmosphere for the story. That makes taking the flight to the world of roaring 1920's and times of great depression of 1930's worthwhile.

Blood's A Rover

James Elroy. One of the most respected American crime novelists of our time. I read his book "Blood's A Rover". It came out in 2008. It is book about United States and what happened there in 60's and early 70's. Should it be read as a social commentary. Maybe. Is it one? Probably not.

You won't like the characters in the book. You will hate them and despise them. They aren't nice people. Some of them try to do the right thing at the end but it does not save them. They just have gone too far.

Like in Elroy's  previous books the story has many different branches and the fate of characters is intertwined around one key event. This time everyone is after emeralds that were lost during a robbery of an armoured van. There are people searching for the diamonds from left and right.

Even though the violence, drug abuse and the evil things that happen in the book will make you nauseous and dislike the characters there is something captivating in the story and Elroy's story telling. Big reason for that is the style how Elroy mixes real life events and stories from his imagination is something very unique. I almost started to believe that these things really did happen.

Blood's a Rover gives you an opportunity to take trip in to the world of rogue FBI agents, mobsters and leftwingers. Take it if you are ready to watch the evil that lives inside us humans straight in the eye.

To Kill A Mocking Bird

I finished this book already couple of weeks ago, but still I wanted to say a few words about this book.

It is no wonder that "To Kill A Mocking Bird" has its place as one the novels that is mentioned when talking about how the race question in U.S. society has been dealt in literary culture. Yes, eventhough the book is written from a "white" perspective it draws very sharp and clear picture of the double standards in the U.S. justice systems and peoples minds in the 1930s. Of course the whole book is commentary to the situation in 1960s, but still the it draws a vivid picture of Maycomb county.

At times you can feel the warm summer breeze on your face or the floor boards slighty squaking under your feet when you walk accross the kitchen inside Finch's house. The atmosphere and milieu is so well crafted, present all the time and strong with out being pushy. It just lingers there in the background as it should.

The second thing I wanted to say is about the story line. I did not have knowledge about the actual story line before I started the book so the kind of indirect progression of the story with couple of side stories really lead me a stray. I really did not know how the story would end. This is probably the best part of the book. 

But what makes this book so great is that is Harper Lee's ability to write in a manner which touches your feeling and with out preaching at the same time.

Paul Auster: Brooklyn Follies

Paul Auster: Brooklyn Follies

Picture from Wikipedia

Brooklyn Follies ended up in my bookshelf after a sale at the local bookstore. If my memory serves me correctly it was three paper backs for 10€, so I got quite a good deal.

Brooklyn follies is a book Paul Auster first published in 2005. Mr. Auster is well known writer in the United States and probably he is well known among European book worms. Paul Auster first made is big break in the 80’s with his New York trilogy.

Back to Brooklyn. The book starts with section where divorced cancer patient, Nathan Glass, is looking for a place where to wait for death. Of course it would be a very short book if this would be the only story arc in the book. The events in the book start to roll out bit by bit and at the end of the book the lives of the characters have gone through a total transformation. But I won’t tell you if it takes turn for the positive or not.

The language in the book is very light and enjoyable to read without being simplistic. It feels like this book had been quite easy to write for Mr. Auster. There couple of things that annoy me in the book. Firstly in some place the book unnecessarily underlines the liberal east coast attitude and thinking, like in the section where one of the characters (Nate or Tom can’t remember which)  thinks about the events in Kosovo. Secondly the ending is a bit dull, maybe in 2005 it was still effective way to end a book, but somehow as time has passed the world did not end in September 2001. Yes the events created lot of suffering and problems but I think we now have other problems to solve. Book could have more universal appeal if it was not so tightly knitted to turn of the century USA. As a snap shot of its time the book is however very good.

By no means is “Brooklyn Follies” a bad book. Auster is able to paint a picture of Brooklyn that this believable and very likeable. The themes the book handles are something that many of have felt during our lives and continue to feel. Brooklyn follies is a very light book and not that intellectual, but it will definitely touch you emotionally and tells you something how we should live our lives.