Reviewed by Monique Prince, Undergraduate Services Librarian
I can't remember how many times I read this book as a child—but I do remember being fascinated by this tale of independence and survival. When a group of Russian hunters arrives at a remote island and kills many of its inhabitants, those remaining decide to abandon the island. As the ship sails away the narrator, Karana, notices that her young brother is still on the island. Hysterical, she jumps overboard and returns to shore and together they prepare to survive alone until another ship returns for them. Her brother is killed the next day by wild dogs, and Karana spends the next several years in solitude on the island. She encounters many dangers, including wild dogs, hunters, an earthquake, an octopus, and a tidal wave. While her life is dangerous, she also learns survival skills—she makes weapons, builds a house and fence, builds and mends a canoe, and makes her own clothes. Both the day-to-day aspects of a solitary life, and the dangerous adventures she encounters makes this a fascinating book for late elementary and middle school students, but on rereading it, I can say that it is a great quick read for adults as well. Island of the Blue Dolphins won the 1961 Newbery Medal.
October 2005 Archives
Reviewed by Curtis Lyons, Head, Special Collections and Archives
Scorched Earth, a stark deviation from Robbins's highly regarded books set in World War II, is a modern Southern novel reminiscent of early 20th century works by authors such as Ellen Glasgow and William Faulkner. The compelling story follows a number of colorful characters in a Virginia town where a series of tragic events forces the spotlight on Old South concepts of race, religion, society, and politics still lingering beneath the surface in the face of a younger population with much more modern views. Robbins, a lawyer in addition to author, takes an intriguing look at social and political structures through a realistic and entertaining array of criminal investigations, court trials, and illicit small town relationships.
Reviewed by Monique Prince, Undergraduate Services Librarian
Atonement begins in England during the time period between the first and second World Wars. It is centered on three characters: thirteen-year-old Briony, an aspiring writer, her older sister Cecilia who recently returned home after three years at Cambridge, and their next-door-neighbor and Cecilia's childhood friend, Robbie. From an upstairs window, young Briony observes a surprising encounter between Cecilia and Robbie: they appear to fight and then Cecilia submerges herself in a large fountain. Briony feels threatened by this and wonders about Robbie's motives. Later that evening, she falsely accuses him of a crime, as she is convinced that he is a dangerous maniac. The story then jumps forward to World War II, as Briony tries to atone for what she now realizes was a case of mistaken identity, while struggling with the guilt she feels about forever altering the lives of Cecilia, Robbie, and the rest of her family.
Atonement was a 2003 ALA Notable Book and won the WH Smith Literary Award (2002) and the National Book Critics' Circle Fiction Award (2003).
Reviewed by Monique Prince
This book has a little bit of everything—humor, politics, religion, friendship, mystery, drama, setting, and richly described characters. It is narrated by John Wheelwright as an adult, reflecting on his childhood friendship with Owen Meany. Owen is a tiny person who speaks in a loud, high voice (in all capital letters) and who kills John's mother with a foul ball during a little league baseball game. Owen doesn't view this tragedy as an accident. Everything, he believes, happens for a reason and he comes to view himself as "God's instrument," destined to live for one pivotal moment which will give his life meaning. This book is about events leading up to that moment as the two boys grow up and face the prospect of the Vietnam War.
If you have read other Irving novels, you will recognize some familiar elements: New Hampshire, Exeter, and wrestling; other Irving elements, such as bears, circuses, Vienna, and amputations are thankfully omitted. This is, in my opinion, the best John Irving novel to date, and I highly recommend it.
Reviewed by Monique Prince, Undergraduate Services Librarian
October 16-22 is Teen Read Week, so what better book to recommend than The Catcher in the Rye, widely considered to be the quintessential American coming-of-age novel. It is narrated by Holden Caufield, a teenager who gets expelled from a prep school and spends a couple days in New York City deciding what do to next. Throughout the novel, his cynicism contrasts with his strong desire to hold onto the innocence of childhood for himself and others—the loss of which results in "phony" adulthood. His concern is evident in the way he acts protective towards his younger sister and childhood friend, as well as the symbolism of the title itself; he wants to be someone who protects children from falling over a cliff into adulthood (a catcher in a rye field, drawing from the song lyric "If a body meet a body, comin' through the rye"). This resistance to leaving youth is surprising since Holden's own childhood was far from idyllic—he is still trying to cope with the loss of his brother to leukemia and his parents' emotional distance. The Catcher in the Rye is a classic with a lot of depth, but it is also a quick read. Even if you read this one in high school, it is worth another look; your own perspective and life experiences will color your impression of this book in a different way each time you read it.
Reviewed by Monique Prince, Undergraduate Services Librarian
Based on a Johannes Vermeer painting from 1665, Girl with a Pearl Earring is a fictional account of this mysterious piece of art dubbed "The Dutch Mona Lisa." The story takes place in Delft, a small but vibrant Dutch city where Vermeer spent his entire life. Griet is a young girl who is sent to work as a maid in his household which included his wife, mother-in-law, five children, and housekeeper. Griet is intrigued by Vermeer, a quiet and reclusive man. Because she has an eye for art, he begins to teach her about his processes and allows her to help grind paints, mix colors, and work with background objects, although they conceal these activities from others in the house. When Vermeer's patron insists that he use Griet as a model for his next painting, suspicion and jealousy, as well as a subtle undertone of attraction between artist and subject, force Griet to make a difficult choice that will impact the rest of her life.
A feature of this book that is particularly enjoyable is the artistic details, particularly of color and light, used to describe the city and its residents. In one vivid scene, Griet is at her parents' house and is chopping vegetables for a soup when Vermeer and his wife arrive. She explains, "I always laid vegetables out in a circle, each with its own section like a slice of pie. There were five slices: red cabbage, onions, leeks, carrots, and turnips." As Vermeer probes her about how she decided where to place them, he says "I see you have separated the whites...And then the orange and the purple, they do not sit together. Why is that?" She replies, "The colors fight when they are side by side, sir." Such descriptive imagery is what makes this book especially memorable.
Reviewed by Monique Prince, Undergraduate Services Librarian
Reading Lolita in Tehran provides an interesting perspective on Middle Eastern culture—from the point of view of a female literature professor in Iran. Nafisi recounts her experiences pre- and post-revolution, and details how women's freedoms in Iran became more and more restricted. She frames her story around four fiction texts: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Daisy Miller by Henry James, and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Part of Reading Lolita in Tehran takes place in the university classroom, where her students struggle with the implications of fiction—particularly western fiction—what does fiction accomplish? Should fiction be censored? Should the subject matter in fiction be judged according to a moral code? The other part of the story takes place in Nafisi's home, where she meets regularly with a group of young women to discuss literature. Although they are from strikingly different backgrounds, and hold differing views regarding the political and social changes in Iran (such as the controversy of whether women should wear the veil), they form a strong bond with the books they read and with each other as they attempt to cope with the challenges in their own lives.
Reviewed by Monique Prince, Undergraduate Services Librarian
If the title itself doesn't pull you in, take a glance at the "Rules and Suggestions for Enjoyment of this Book" ("The first three or four chapters are all some of you might want to bother with...The book thereafter is kind of uneven") and the lengthy and random Preface, Acknowledgements and Appendix. The middle content is actually quite amazing and entertaining as well. This is Eggers's memoir, written when he was in his late twenties and had already experienced more than many people two and three times his age. Before his senior year of college, both parents died of unrelated types of cancer within a few weeks of each other. That said, this is a surprisingly non-depressing book.
Dave becomes unofficial guardian of his eight-year-old brother, Toph, and together they move from the Chicago suburbs to Berkeley, California. The writing is so experimental and striking, and the content so varied, it is difficult to describe more of the plot so I'll just mention a few of my favorite situations described in the book: Eggers at school with Mr. T's children; early days of Might Magazine, which he founded; his near-miss getting on MTV's The Real World San Francisco--he was beaten out by Jed (who ends up working for Might Magazine, ironically); finally, in a later edition is a hilarious true story about him, his friends, and a whale in the San Francisco Bay. Today, Eggers edits McSweeney's (check out the Lists on the website), a literary journal and publishing house which he founded; he has also published a novel, You Shall Know Our Velocity (2002), a collection of short stories, How We Are Hungry (2004), and has edited various anthologies.
If you like this book, you may also books by consider less "heartbreaking" humorous nonfiction authors, such as David Sedaris (Me Talk Pretty One Day; Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim), Sarah Vowell (Assassination Vacation; Take the Cannoli), or Bill Bryson (A Walk in the Woods; In a Sunburned Country).
Reviewed by Renée Bosman, Government Information Librarian
"Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge." So begins The Blind Assassin, a story of two sisters, one of whom dies young, yet is still revered by devout fans of her posthumously-published novel. Laura Chase's sister Iris is left to live among the fallout caused by both Laura's death and the publication of her "scandalous" novel. The story presented to the reader is told by an elderly Iris, who shares a rather cynical and detached account of their childhood, her coerced marriage to an older husband, and the subsequent downfall of the once-prosperous Chase family. Iris's musings shift seamlessly between past and present, and interspersed among her story are excerpts from Laura's novel, The Blind Assassin. Atwood's novel-within-a-novel approach provides just enough clues to read between the lines of Iris's tale, leading the reader along at a measured pace to the ultimate "AHA!" moment of realization of what really happened during those years prior to Laura's death. When I finished this book, I put it down with a stunned "wow." The Blind Assassin won the 2000 Booker Prize.
