i like his phrasing and the detail of nature imagery. the book follows a slight narrative, drawing out personal themes alongside folklore. a calming collection of poems, introspective and clearly captured.

i picked this up browsing at the library. supposedly Bennett has an “extraordinary ear for dialogue.” the three stories in this small book are all very funny, in a british comedy sort of way. in fact, the “Father! Father! Burning Bright” was originally a tv movie starring the author in 1982. i liked how the title story evolved, with certain characters identities being slowly revealed. “Miss Fozzard Finds her Feet” seemed to run around a lot without going anywhere interesting. in the end, the humor kind of turned me off, and when it’s basically all humor, that doesn’t leave a whole lot to enjoy.

i was a little dubious about this book after a co-worker was reading it and complained that it seemed the only reason this book was getting attention was because the author was born in 1977. it’s the first fact noted in his bio, and perhaps that isn’t the best selling point for a novel. though it is, admittedly, a pretty impressive work for a young writer.

early on, Jonathan Safran Foer appears as a character in one of the three stories that unfold together. it made me curious how much of this might be inspired by real events. he travels to the Ukraine to seek out a woman who may have saved his grandfather from the nazis, with only an old photograph and some old maps to guide him. some quick research afterwards revealed that this much is true, except that he found absolutely nothing, whereas in this book he is assisted by Alex, a young Ukrainian translator, and Alex’s grandfather, who drives the car, and they do manage to find something.

the entertwined stories emerge as an exchange between Alex and Jonathan afterwards as they are piecing together their respective stories. Jonathan works on writing a folkloric tale of the history of his grandfather’s shtetl, which he sends to Alex, who replies with letters in his charmingly over-thesaurused english. Alex also sends back his telling of their search for the actual place and the mysterious woman of the photograph from his point of view. Jonathan’s replies are absent, but Alex does reference them in acknowledgements to corrections suggested.

all in all, it is a wise view of what history can mean on a personal level, what exactly is lost in the absence of passing down histories, whether purposefully or not. the book manages to be both humorous and sombre, without either quality becoming trite.

riding the train today, exiting to snow falling and slush sidewalks. appropriate to read this slim book of largely new york inspired verse.

new year rain and snow whirling down
something to watch outside the window

pleasing combinations of syllables, the city imagery, and references to the lettered avenues.

this novel pulls together excerpts from Shonagon’s The Pillow Book and some research on the use of hormones in the production of meat (as well as medicine) as a backdrop to the story of jane, a documentarian who takes a job producing a japanese tv show about american wives and their favorite meat dishes. jane is biracial (japanese and american) and describes herself as constantly shifting between two halves, “neither here nor there,” and with this job sees herself as a go-between, between her desire to make good work and her need to keep her job.

fighting against the major beef company sponsor’s requirement that only white, middle class families be portrayed, jane starts seeking to slip diversity into the show. inadvertantly she stumbles upon information about the meat industry, which upsets the balance of making shows that will keep her in good graces with her bosses and making shows that tell people what they should know.

there are several stories going on at once, and the point-of-view is constantly shifting between two central characters and a host of supporting characters. the narrative is clear, and the alternating viewpoints embue a sense of community into the story, as well as a feeling that there is some hope.

i thought i would be with this book—which clocks in at nearly 600 pages—for at least a few days. but then it turned out i could have breezed through it in one long sitting. it’s hard to put down and the art often takes advantage of the full page, so it reads pretty quick.

the coming-of-age story is well-constructed; even amid the jumps back and forth between childhood and adolescence it keeps a steady forward pace. the art is incredible, graceful and lush without becoming florid.

Craig Thompson has been receiving some grand reviews.

bare prose and war-themed story, i didn’t really expect to get drawn into the characters but did in the end. interesting how the story existed so much in its present; so little of the characters’ backgrounds were illuminated and no future was hinted at by the end. enjoyed the descriptions of mountains but wasn’t sympathetic to the dude until pretty late and predicted the denouement—which being the very end of the book made the whole thing seem so abrupt. italy in the summer? “dusty.”