Oh boy, summer hit Seattle with a vengeance in July. I know for many other parts of the country temperatures in the high 80s are no big deal, but for those of us living in a region where air conditioning is not a thing in a most houses it got pretty wretched. In fact, I’ll use it as the reason my reading foundered so much. I had a tough time bouncing between books I loved, but that were intense and those that made me want to throw them against a wall. Which, because they’re often on my Kindle, would not be a good thing.
Published by Penguin Press
Publication date: July 10, 2018
I’m willing to chalk this up to a generational issue, but I am finished with my attempts to understand or enjoy Moshfegh’s books. Honestly, my sense is that she doesn’t believe fiction is something to be enjoyed. And before you get your knickers in a twist, please know that I love an unlikable narrator. But only when the author does something interesting with them. Bragging about sleeping 18 jours a day and pathological lying to a shrink willing to prescribe everything up to horse tranquilizers for made-up conditions is not interesting. It’s tedious whining. Pages and pages of it.
If, indeed Moshfegh is making some larger statement about the existential angst caused by all that is wrong with America then perhaps using a character who has some real reason to want to avoid life might be a better choice. As it stands this is a spoiled, wealthy brat who simply does not want to live life but is too narcissistic to kill herself. She epitomizes the worst of every stereotype about Millennials and the rich, not something I’m looking for in my fiction, even if it’s supposed to be satire. Which is why I finally bailed on this one at 40%.
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
Published by Lee Boudreaux Books
Publication date: July 18, 2017
Less was 2017’s Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction. Who am I to argue with that august group? No one, except I don’t know what their judging is based on. This is a novel about a gay writer who accepts a years’ worth of invitations around the globe just to avoid attending his ex’s wedding. There’s charm, humor, and insight but I read a lot of books like that last year, so don’t truly understand what set this story apart. It was light and enjoyable reading, but that’s it.
There There by Tommy Orange: powerful contemporary novel about urban Native Americans. My review
So Much Life Left Over by Louis de Bernieres: Book two in a British family saga about World War I. I liked it so much I went and read book one immediately. Review to follow
Published by Hogarth
Publication date: July 10, 2018
I’m a huge fan of beautiful, descriptive prose—even when it pushes the boundaries of established formatting (A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing, Heart Berries). Where it not only fails, but aggravates me, is when it is used to bludgeon the reader or, more importantly, is so florid and outlandish it obscures the sentence’s meaning. I found this to be the case in Orchid & the Wasp. I was looking forward to this story of an Irish brother and sister trying to find security with parents who care more about themselves than they do their children. Sadly, I couldn’t care either and ended up DNFing this one at 15%.
Published by Ballantine Books
Publication date: July 10, 2018
Genres: Historical
I admit, when I saw the title of this book I thought it was about Alexandra, the last empress of Russia. However, The Romanov Empress by C.W. Gortner is about her mother-in-law, Maria Feodorovna, Tsar Nicholas’s mother. A fascinating woman, she was raised simply in Denmark until fortune intervened and her father became King. At 19 she left their small country and close family life to marry Tsarevich Alexander; by the time she was 69 she had lived through some of the most turbulent times in history and was one of the few Romanovs to survive the Bolsheviks’ slaughter of the Russian royal family.
Gortner manages to infuse history with life, through the eyes of the woman who saw it all—her father-in-law’s assassination, World War I, her son’s disastrous reign and marriage to a woman who was no more suited to ruling than he was, the rise and fall of Rasputin, the famines, bloody upheaval, and finally the death of everyone in her immediate family (something she never fully acknowledged). The Romanov Empress is that best kind of historical fiction, filled with facts, previously unknown details, and new insight, but polished with a writer’s license to recreate dialogue we will never truly hear. Wonderful reading for anyone interested in not only the final generations of the Romanovs, but the politics of the world at large at that time.
Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win by Jo Piazza: Review to follow
How to Be Famous by Caitlin Moran: Book Two in the Dolly Wilde trilogy. So good. My review
Great Reading from Years Past
July 2013:
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A complex novel about fathers and sons that had me rereading passages days after I finished
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A creepy novel packed with psychological terror- perfect for summer reading
July 2012 (Apparently, this was an amazing month to become a book blogger because I read not one but two 5-star novels)
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A wickedly funny modern take on the Greek tragedy of Oedipus Rex
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A powerful, nuanced novel about the contest to choose a design for the replacement for the Twin Towers
Tell us what you really think, Catherine! I love your thoughts on My Year of Rest and Relaxation and I’m SO, SO glad I passes on that one. What is it with Pulitzer books? So many of them have fallen flat for me. For about 5 years I refused to read anything that had won the Pulitzer, but then The Goldfinch came along. I actually read it before the award was given, so maybe that’s the trick.
Let’s hope your August reading fares a little better.
I know, I’m a beyotch! I don’t write a lot of negative/DNF reviews, but do feel as if sometimes readers want to know. Rest and Relaxation got huge buzz! And I freely admit, maybe I’m just too old for whatever she’s trying to say.
You’ve sold me on The Romanov Empress. I keep going back and forth on whether or not to give it a try, and now I know I will. 🙂
Such turbulent times. And, holy cow, she did not get along with her daughter-in-law. I had no idea, but it makes for reading that is entertaining and still feels educational.
Yikes – you’ve got some low ratings in here! Orchard and the Wasp definitely does not sound up my alley – haha!!
It’s the one time a month anymore when I vent about DNFs and books that didn’t work for me!
Too bad some of the books here were such clear losers, but I’m glad you had a couple that you loved. I agree with you about Less. I like it, and it made me laugh in some places (mostly where he was convinced of his German fluency), but I’m not sure what made it a Pulitzer winner.
Yes- that was hilarious! I agree- I’m not angry in an elitist way, as if it wasn’t worthy, but I’d love to know their criteria because in years’ past there have been equally witty and insightful novels that weren’t even nominated.
I’m so baffled about Less! I read it in June and am still wondering what made it Pulitzer-worthy. It was kind of funny but overall just…fine. I’m also with you on Ottessa Moshfegh, I feel like she’s always trying to make statements by being as weird and off-putting as possible.
Exactly! Feels like the artists whose main goal is to shock. Maybe there’s an audience for that, but it’s not me.