"Underworld" by Don DeLillo

A bag of mulch with a few well concealed marbles in it

Ah, whatever happened to following a story neatly developed around several (and by that I mean no more than say 5 or 6) characters? Why, Don? Why do you have to taunt me? Why did you not only introduce 10 or more characters, but also jumped around in time? How much more confusing can you make this novel? Did you ever think of us, born after the clock struck 12 of December 31, 1970?

Truly, I was lost in the pages. I lost my way somewhere between 1953 and 1962. I tried. Believe me. I tried. I searched for signs. I looked for ways to make sense of this cacophony of historical events, of human emotions, of snippets of dialogs. I tried unsuccessfully. For 800 pages, Don, I tried. For 800 pages I lifted the lamp above my head and searched for a way to proceed forward. At some point the road was sufficiently lit. I followed Nick’s tracks for example in his adolescent explorations, but then I lost them again. Then my mind retracted in further confusion when you introduced the I-character, and then the Edgar-character, and many more, and ‘Me-lost again’.

Don, believe me, I loved ‘The Body Artist’. I liked ‘Cosmopolis’. But despite the monolithic effort, all I can say about your ‘Underworld’ is that it’s drenched in confusion, in post-modern babble. It’s a bag of mulch, Don, and I had to dig to find the very few marbles buried in it in order to satisfy my lust for Contemporary American Literature.
I actually felt truly sorry for the readers, for myself.

- by Simon Cleveland

“Everything Changes” by Jonathan Tropper

Amusing…but that’s all

“Everything Changes” by Jonathan Tropper is an amusing book. I read it while I was on a plane to Paris and it certainly made my 9 hour-American Airlines’-‘room-less’-sleepless- coach ride bearable (but now that I think about it, it must’ve been my warm and fuzzy anticipation of my wife and I’s romantic gateway to the Love capital instead)…it left me with a ‘more to be desired than fully satisfied’ feeling…you know the one I’m talking about.

I have to admit- I find certain repulsion to the Topper’s comic-foreseeable resolution to the story. Why is that? Could it be due to my own acceptance of the uncertainly life has to offer, of the knowledge that beyond the happy Hollywood ending life does not necessarily proceed as planned? Perhaps that’s why I crave the attractiveness of Franzen’s melancholic finality, to the inherited page-soaked realism always with a touch of sadness and despair (life doesn’t hide its secrets in Franzen’s works; life is naked, exposed, real).

Topper’s character, a young professional who’s about to get married, finds out not only that he is in love with his best friend’s wife, that the blood in his urine is not caused by cancer (I never really found out what caused it), but that his estranged father is a lot more messed up than previously anticipated (fathering and then again dumping a 4th son for someone else to raise). In the end, like all who write in anticipation of capturing Hollywood producers’ attention, Topper sticks to the plan and never ventures to surprise the reader. The story ends with a bitter-sweet ‘everyone gets what they wanted in the first place’ account which was ‘what I didn’t want to read but was stuck in the plane’ reading.

- by Simon Cleveland

"The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell

As usual – Highly Educational

Like his “Blink: the power of thinking without thinking”, “The Tipping Point” is another of Malcolm Gladwell’s brilliant studies on the psychology and behavior of the masses. The message of the book is simple and it translates into: “If you want to spread a message to the masses and get the expected response, find and encourage the Connectors, make sure your message is sticky enough and finally, be mindful of the power of the context”.

Highly educational, the book offers several good examples from our daily lives (ranging from the marketing and social successes of the Sesame Street TV show, or the reduction of crime in New York City) supported with plenty of valuable commentary, analysis and research.

If you are in search of a good non-fiction book with a solid message and a remarkable common sense, this is your book.

-by Simon Cleveland

"The Professor and the Madman" by Simon Winchester

Who says murder is an unjustified act?

The Oxford English Dictionary - a 20-volume work of art, which took nearly 80 years to prepare and includes over 300,000 entries (and approximately 350 million characters), quite frankly owes its existence to the aid of one William Chester Minor, an American, graduate of Yale, physician, an American Army Officer, (and yes!) a Schizophrenic and a murderer. Simon Winchester (author of the memorable "Krakatoa" and "The Map That Changed The World"), reveals in his "The Professor and the Madman" the mystery behind the creation of the biggest, most up-to-date, authoritative, and accessible reference work in the world - The Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Via his masterful narrative, he examines the life of one of the two Americans (both insane by the way) who took part in the cataloging of over 10,000 entries of the final version of the OED. Interesting, isn't it? The book is truly very engaging. It explores the darker side of the human psyche and I can't shake the bizarre feeling that has it not been for the murder, which William Minor committed one April morning in 1872, his substantial contribution to the OED might have never occurred (and subsequently the OED might have taken a lot longer to complete and might have looked a lot different). I'll leave it up to you to be the judges of that. I recommend this book to all those readers interested in the trivia that often encompasses some of the history's major works of art (and science too).

- by Simon Cleveland

"Cosmopolis" by Don DeLillo

“Cosmopolis” by Don DeLillo is a story about the powers of greed, lust and revenge as seen through the eyes of post-modern nostalgia and technology obsession. Written in DeLillo’s characteristically poetic and often harmonic lyrical tone, the story is wrapped up in certain sadness and longing after the basic human emotions lost in a society stricken by the plague of information technology, heartless bits of 1’s and 0’s, media driven global financial markets and of course the demonic obsession with money.

The pages seem soaked in this cold blue neon light of radiating motion, of brutal cause and effect relationships, of sorrowful physiological weaknesses. At the center sits a powerful yet uncharacteristically young broker who proceeds to gamble away his fortune against the movements of the Japanese yen (against his instincts and nature) from the comfort of his mobile office (his limousine).

The book is worth exploring, if not for the story, for its honest and open narrative that does not cringe or retract when exposing the shameful but realistic qualities of the human physique. I recommend this book for those readers who are interested in DeLillo’s unforgettable language talent.

- by Simon Cleveland

“Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking” by Malcolm Gladwell

Fascinating and Very Useful

Full of useful and more importantly need-to-know information, “Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking” by Malcolm Gladwell is one of the books that brake out of the traditional non-fiction genre to deliver more than the promised and subsequently anticipated content. The title is engaging in a sense that it reflects some powerful and mysterious skill set humans possess but are somehow not aware of. However, this is not a self-help book but one that none the less helps with its message. Its multiple examples reveal what once seemed conceivable but not cognitively possible. Who knew there is a study proving men over 6 feet earn on average $5,000 a year more than shorter men do? And how stunned can one be if one learned facial expressions are not necessarily evoked by emotions, but quite the opposite – facial expressions do evoke emotions (try it yourself, force yourself to smile for 5 minutes and observe the results afterwards)?

The author constructs the book by offering remarkable incidences and then examining the core networks of their causes, while at the same time drawing some powerful conclusions. In the end, even if you are unsure about the book, whether by looking at its cover, or reading reviews about it, I encourage you to pick up a copy in a bookstore or at the library and read the first 10 pages– you wouldn’t be disappointed. Overall, I highly recommend it.

-by Simon Cleveland

“You Are Not A Stranger Here’ by Adam Haslett

It never quite lifts off the field of the common.

The reason why I picked up a copy of "You Are Not A Stranger Here" by Adam Haslett was because I stumbled on an article recently claiming Jonathan Franzen praised the author. Unfortunately, I was slightly disappointed.

The book is a compilation of short stories, most of which involve a man or woman in need of some sort of medical assistance (a 70+ year old Alzheimer’s patient, a severely depressed homosexual – actually there are two stories of this kind, a Schizophrenic woman, a doctor who’s treating a patient). The connotation of the stories borders on the bizarre, but it never quite crosses the border between unusual and exceptional. I attributed this to the fact that the author is making his debut with this book and does not want to overly expose the narrative, so instead he cautiously treads.

My recommendation is as follows: If you can find this book in a library, take a look at it, you may find something spiritually helpful. If you are thinking about spending some money on a book go for “The Body Artist” or “How To Be Alone” instead.

- by Simon Cleveland

"Terra Incognita" by Sara Wheeler

I felt sorry for the trees that died to make "Terra Incognita" by Sara Wheeler. Once in a while a person accidentally stumbles on an especially annoying book. One written particularly because a desperate publisher made a phone call, or mailed a letter with a check to an author with the words: “It’s time to write another one, Shirley…” and the author hurled herself to write, without a plan, without ideas and the only thing that came out was a dull diary filled with self pity, anti-Americanism, sexism and generally criticism… Well, this is one of those books and I truly feel sorry for the trees that have to die annually to satisfy the erroneous marketing projections of underpaid book editors in the current cost-cutting environment (especially after the advent of Print-on-Demand) in order to deliver such hideous and mind numbing gems. Yet I am also grateful. I’m grateful for these sacrifices because they serve to carry a message to the reader, which he or she can carry to you the broader audience. That message is - DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THIS BOOK AND THIS AUTHOR.

In terms of content – well, there is no story here. This is simply a tedious account of a lonely woman who spent someone else’s money to visit Antarctica and record her daily experiences. What kind of experiences, you wonder?

The kind that go like this”

“…we took off over the frozen sound toward the Transantarctics…”
“…we could see individual birds waddling about with stones in their beaks…”
“…Later that day we landed at the snout of the Mawson Glacier for a picnic...”
“…so we all had our own few feet of privacy. It was hot and dark inside…”
“…and later we saw all their small yellow tents pitched in the distance...”

and go on and on and on…

Occasionally the author makes references to Scott’s, Shackleton’s and other expeditions, but in no way enough to stir imagination or interest. I doubt you’d learn anything new from this book.

If you are truly interested about Antarctica, the history behind the conquests and a first person account of the harshness of the pole and its frozen lands, check out “Race to the Pole: Tragedy, Heroism, and Scott's Antarctic Quest” by Ranulph Fiennes.

Yield to reason – ignore this one.

- by Simon Cleveland

"Strong Motion" by Jonathan Franzen

I just finished reading “Strong Motion” by Jonathan Francine. No surprises here – the book, like all his works, is an astonishing piece of art. The story takes place in New England where the reader learns to navigate cognitively through the suburbs of Boston, Harvard Yard, around old towns like Ipswich and Peabody and into the mind of the author with his personal experiences of these old places.

In the midst of elaborately descriptive paragraphs (Franzen bravely forges ahead with an impressive knowledge of seismology), the reader learns of a new geological theory - if a chemical company pumps waste into the depths of Earth long enough, it’d surely create cataclysmic events, powerful earthquakes, destruction and a host of other things that accompany mass hysteria. The main character is this twenty something year-old boy named Louis who’s out on his own, navigating through life, jobless, penniless, learning to fall in love with an older woman (Harvard University doctor), making the mistake of his life and trying to redeem himself. Ah, what a rich work of emotions, strong motions, with powerful ‘show-you’ narratives rather than ‘tell-you’ mundane lectures. I read and read and read and loved it and I’m sure you would too. I highly recommend it.

- by Simon Cleveland