Hux Book Blog 2022 (Spoilers)

[Hux]

A Chess Story (1941) Stefan Zweig

 

An exquisite tale of obsession and mania. The story begins on a cruise ship where the narrator discovers, through a friend, that a famous chess grandmaster is onboard. He wants to meet him, learn about him, but doesn't know how to proceed. With the assistance of another friend, they suggest a chess match which might get the master's attention. This works and the master agrees to play for a significant fee. The amateurs, all playing the master together, unsurprisingly lose but pay for a second attempt. This time, a man watching the game, gives his advice which results in the amateurs getting a draw. The narrator then convinces the man to play the master himself at which point, the man (Doctor B) recounts his own past and explains how he became a student of chess. Here follows a tale of Nazis, imprisonment, torture, and obsessive mania.

The book is an excellent exploration of that compulsive obsession. Many books attempt this and fail (the old man and the sea, for example, which mostly bored me). Others, meanwhile, come at it from an outsider's perspective which allows a certain amount of romanticism to flourish in the text (The Master of Go was equally superb when dealing with a very similar fixation).

The book also plays around with notions of self. Doctor B almost creates, or finds access to, an alternative version of himself which is both him but not him. There is something creepy in that, something disturbing, as it suggests a second self which is constantly present within us (often revealed in bouts of unfettered mania).

The novella is great. To the point. Powerful.

 

8/10

[Hux]

Geek Love (1989) Katherine Dunn

 

Took me a few chapters to get into this, but once Olympia begins reminiscing about her childhood, that's when the book really started to grab me. She is the narrator, an albino dwarf with no hair who tells us about her travelling carnival family of freaks. Mum and dad are Al and Lil. Whenever Lil gets pregnant she deliberately takes pesticide or other drugs to ensure that her children will be born with unique physical qualities. First there is Arturo (Aqua Boy) who has flippers for limbs, then the Siamese twins Elly and Iphy, then Olympia, then finally Chick who has telekinetic powers. Plus, there are all the other failed pregnancies which they keep in jars to amuse the customers.

The book jumps from past to present (the present story is somewhat redundant about her daughter Miranda and a rich woman called Lick who pays for women to have disfiguring operations) but the vast majority of the book details the families early years as they turn the business into a success and Arty, in particular, becomes a crowd favourite until eventually he develops his own cult, the members of which have body parts amputated to be more like him. Arty is essentially the villain of the piece, taking over the business from his father and controlling everyone else's lives. And yet, you never really dislike Arty and don't entirely believe he has anything but good intentions for his family. His actions are strange but then so are Olympia's, Lil's, Chick's. All of them.

When Arty discovers, for example, that the conjoined twins, Elly and Iphy, are prostituting themselves for large sums of money, he nips this in the bud by forcing a husband onto them. Then by giving one of the (now) pregnant sisters a lobotomy. Yet all the time, he and the rest of the family always seem to love each other and care about each other in a profoundly tender and warm manner. They are a truly caring family. But their devotion often goes to extremes.

When Chick comes along and possess actual telekinetic powers, I was slightly worried because the book, up until that point, had felt very real and grounded. These people could almost exist. So when an actual child with super powers turned up, I was concerned that things would get silly. But strangely, it all makes perfect sense and fits the narrative like a glove. With the possible exception of the ending which felt... slightly over the top. My only other criticism would be the journalist Norval Sanderson's entries which are used as a narrative device. The first few times work very effectively but after a while, it became unnecessary.

That aside, the book is wonderful. A fantastic and heartwarming story of being normal and being a family. You'll struggle to find a more touching story about family love.

 

9/10

[Hux]

Snow Country (1956) Yasunari Kawabata

 

A short, entirely forgettable story about a married man with children who pointlessly travels to the snow country (east Japan) so that he can frolic with a geisha. We learn nothing of his wife or his children yet are expected to care that he spaffs his inherited wealth on prostitutes. The story goes nowhere, the characters are never fleshed out beyond two dimensions, and the themes are hard to find engaging. I struggled to be anything other than utterly bored by this.

Even the writing (which won him a novel prize) is prosaic and meandering. He describes things in a full page that could be described in three words. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume the original Japanese was more lyrical and fluid, but the English translation feels bloated and tiresome. I hate to sound like a postmodernist wokester, but books like this are very much outdated and romanticise a type of male who frankly takes whatever he wants without contemplating the needs or feelings of anyone else. He could have shot himself in the face and I wouldn't have cared. Meanwhile the women are caricatures who posses no personality or agency, merely existing to be background colour for his life. For the first few pages Komako doesn't even get a name, she's just... the woman.

Had I read the book at a different time, in a different place, maybe it would have made more of an impact. I can't be sure. All I know is, it was a chore to read and left not a solitary impression on me.

 

4/10

 

 

Edited December 8, 2022 by Hux

[Hux]

Rabbit, Run (1960) John Updike

 

Harry Angstrom (nicknamed Rabbit) is a 26-year-old with a wife, a toddler son, and a baby on the way. He was a big deal in high school, played basketball and was popular. That's behind him now and he's struggling to come to terms with adult life. One day, he decides he's just going to leave his wife and son, just move on, drive to God knows where. But he can't quite bring himself to do it and returns home only to leave the next day and eventually shack up with a prostitute called Ruth. His local priest, Eccles, tries to mend the marriage, gets Rabbit some work, and mediates between the families. Once the baby is born, Rabbit does indeed agree to give the marriage another chance. Yet more obstacles appear

I love books like this, essentially about nothing, the day to day, the mundane. There is no real story, only a slice of life in a young man's existence which, on the surface, feels trivial and prosaic. But that's what life is for most people. What elevates the book is the writing. Updike uses a third person narration and drenches the reader in rich, creative language. Some of the prose is truly exquisite, almost poetry, crafting a world full of complex shapes and colour. Occasionally, it was so sumptuous that it reminded me of 'The Man Without Qualities' by Musil. But where the language there is describing immense ideas and philosophical questions, Updike is primarily using it to detail the trials and tribulations of a failing marriage, of western modernity. It still has big themes (sex, religion, youth) but they often felt redundant for such a story. And this is where my minor criticism comes in. As beautiful as the writing is, it does occasionally feel bloated and unnecessary. Sometimes a door is just a door. I don't need to know that 'it has a dark wood, varnished with the crimson memories of several forgotten hands, the faded veneer of each wrinkled knuckle, a mirror to the emotions of the many sun-dappled visitors.' Sometimes it just a door. And you open it.

I'm also slightly disappointed to discover there are so many sequels to this book. That somewhat dilutes the power of it, turns it into a bit of a soap opera. I have no interest in keeping up-to-date with characters I've met, I simply want to enter their world, marvel at the prose, and appreciate the momentary insight I was given.

But otherwise, it was a fantastic book, beautiful written. On another day I would have given it full marks. Highly recommended.

 

9/10

 

Edited December 22, 2022 by Hux

[Hux]

Henri Duchemin and His Shadows (1928) Emmanuel Bove

 

A collection of seven short stories, all of which are either very sad or very suspicious. The writing is as cool and crisp as ever from Bove, containing his signature to-the-point style, making the reading experience extremely enjoyable. There's a definite influence from Poe here, not least in the way that stories begin with a man telling you that he's not crazy. But where Poe gives you a twist or an unsettling dream, Bove is more straightforward, writing stories that are simplistic, authentic, yet beautiful.

The seven stories are 'Night Crime' about a feverish dream of murder. 'Another Friend' about a poor man being taken under the wing of a rich man. 'Night Visit' about a friend who has been dumped by his girlfriend, 'What I Saw' about a man who sees his girlfriend kiss another man, 'The Story of a Madman' about a man cuts everyone out of his life, 'The Child's Return' about a man on a train who returns to his parents after five years, and finally 'Is It a Lie?' about a young wife explaining why she did not come home all night.

Each of them are very good. Story of a Madman was my favourite as it dealt with the very modern phenomenon of ghosting people, simply removing them from your life. One by one, he methodically tells his father, girlfriend, best friend, sister that he simply doesn't want to see them anymore. He has no reason for it, he has just decided to live a new life without them. I also enjoyed the beautiful simplicity of The Child's Return. It was very moving, heartfelt, and by far the most evocative of the landscape around him. The weakest story, however, was probably Another friend which is ironic because it's essentially a repeat story from a portion of his masterpiece 'My Friends.' Most of them are just very sad, containing themes of jealously, loneliness, paranoia, poverty, or regret. Story of a Madman being the only exception. The narrator seems happy, liberated. And yet he's the madman of these seven stories.

They're all very well written, using the stark yet fluid language which is clearly Bove's forte. The quote on the back of the book by Peter Handke rather perfectly sums up Bove's writing. "It's like drawing with very clear lines."

 

7/10

[Hux]

The Ice Palace (1963) Tarjei Vesaas

 

A new girl called Unn arrives at school and keeps herself to herself. A popular girl called Siss takes a liking to her. Unn invites Siss to visit her house where she lives with her aunt. They seem to bond. They have a connection. They undress in front of each other. Siss eventually leaves, both girls feeling a little awkward. The next day Unn decides she doesn't want to see Siss so soon after this so she skips school and investigates the ice palace, a giant waterfall that has frozen over and has several compartments and rooms.

Unn is never seen again.

The rest of the book follows the people searching for her (including Siss) and their gradual acceptance that she is gone. Siss, in particular, is understandably affected. She takes on the role of Unn in school, refuses to let her memory be lost. She begins to lose herself in the process.

The first half of this book was beautiful, heartbreaking, perfect. The disappearance of Unn, the burden which Siss voluntarily takes upon herself to keep her alive. The stark prose, the wonderful imagery. But the second half felt like it was dragging those themes out a little too long. The language is a little repetitive and the inevitable ending feels drawn out. I understand what Vesaas is doing but the dynamism and fluidity of the beginning is lost and left feeling a little stilted. Nonetheless, the book is a beautiful story of loss, both literally of losing life and of losing innocence.

 

7/10