A Quirky Tale of Revenge and Ruin

Pickett’s Charge by Charles McNair (Livingston Press, 2013, 350pp.)

A fantastically quirky tale of revenge and ruin, Pickett’s Charge is set in Alabama during the Civil Rights Movement, and chronicles the efforts of 114-year-old Threadgill Pickett, the last surviving Confederate sympathizer, to seek out and murder the last surviving Union soldier—even if he has to escape from the nursing home to do it! As he sets out on his cross-country journey, he meets a cast of outrageous characters along the way. Although the story may be limited by its heavy use of local landmarks and city names that only Alabama residents would recognize, it’s still a finely layered psychological story.

See my author interview with Charles McNair, published in Weld for Birmingham, here.

An Australian Rendition of “Wind in the Willows”

Albert of Adelaide by Howard L. Anderson (Twelve, 2012, 240pp.)

Australia has produced some of the strangest-looking creatures on earth, not least among them being the PLATYPUS. Duck-billed, beaver-tailed, web-footed Albert of the Adelaide Zoo has escaped captivity in order to flee to Old Australia, a fabled place where life is pristine and wild, like the time before humans arrived. Entirely plot-driven, Anderson’s novel is a funky sort of Australian adventure/Western/road-trip novel where animals wear clothes and carry guns. Follow Albert as he gets in on the wrong side of the law with a well-meaning pyromaniac wallaby, buddies up with a pair of chummy, drunk bandicoots (apparently, that’s a kind of rodent), and faces down a lunatic possum named Theodore. An interesting idea, to say the least, the whole concept (with its underdeveloped, though colorful characters) wear a bit thin towards the end. The dust-jacket summary describes it as a “old-fashioned-buddy-novel-shoot-’em-up,” and that’s exactly what it is, no more, no less.

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A Nice Parable, But Not for Everyone

The Missing Rose by Serdar Özkan (Tarcher, 2012, 224pp.)

Diana Oliveira’s mother dies, leaving her a letter which contains some shocking truths: her “dead” father is actually still alive, and she has a twin sister she never knew about. Her mother entreats her (through letters that she wrote while on her deathbed) to seek out this long-lost sister. Diana reluctantly travels to Istanbul, where her sister, Mary, has gone to learn the peculiar “art of hearing roses.”

It’s a pleasant enough story, and although I had trouble getting into it, it really gains substance towards the end and finishes with an ironic twist. The pacing is what weakens it as a piece, forcing the reader to float through a story that never really stops to put down roots in firm reality.

Because of its “yogic” feel, I’d recommend it to those who enjoy Mirti Venyon Reiyas’s Cosmic Library series. I wouldn’t really recommend it to anyone looking for a story that gets directly to the point. What little there is of the plot matters less than the message Özkan is sending to the reader. After all, the “art of hearing roses” is really just a metaphor for following your dreams and being true to yourself. A nice parable with interesting things to say, but not for everyone.

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A Charming, Poetic Tale

The Vanishing Act by Mette Jakobsen (W.W. Norton & Co., 2012, 224pp.)

Minou, a little girl, lives on a tiny, nameless island. The only other inhabitants of the island are her philosopher father (who claims to descend from Descartes), their friend Boxman (who makes sawing-people-in-half boxes for magicians on the mainland), and Priest, the island’s pretzel-baking spiritual leader who leads their congregation of three. Well, technically, there’s a fourth member, if you think to count No-Name, the resident dog. And there is a fifth presence, too: Minou’s mother, who went for a walk on the beach several months ago and hasn’t been seen since. Only Minou believes her mother is still alive—whisked away, perhaps, by magic! But when a boy’s dead body is found tumbling in the surf, the reality of life and death forces Minou into a pensive state, and causes her to reflect on past events leading up to her mother’s disappearance. Short but sweet, The Vanishing Act is a charming, poetic tale of parable-like simplicity.

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A Delightful Short Novel of Sex, Magic, and Scandal in a Small Town

The Concubine’s Gift by K. Ford K. (Self-Published, 2011, 230pp.)

The little town of Valentine, Nevada is known for its bordellos, although some of the more conservative townsfolk would like to rectify this. Bernice Babbitt, a middle-aged mother, owns a motel here with her husband. The daughter of the town minister, she grew up in a strict environment, an obedient, straight-laced daughter who wanted nothing more than to please others. But Bernice has a secret: she is an avid collector of erotica. Her latest addition is an antique make-up case once owned by Blissful Night, a famous Chinese concubine who earned the title of “sexual psychic” by knowing exactly what her partners wanted in bed. After acquiring the make-up case, Bernice begins to experience visions of sexually frustrated couples and exactly what they can do to solve their troubles. The only way to make these visions go away is for her to reveal what she has seen to these unsuspecting persons - most of whom happily rush to act on her suggestions. But not everyone is happy with Bernice, the new “sexual psychic” of Valentine, Nevada - including her prudish mother and the entire church congregation. Why is Bernice having these visions? How can she make them stop? A delightful short novel of sex, magic, and scandal in a small town.

Intriguing, But Also Slightly Weird

Journal of a UFO Investigator by David Halperin (Viking, 2011, 304pp.)

Danny, a Jewish teenager growing up during the sixties, is set apart from other kids at high school due to his nerdy fascination of UFOs. Things at home aren’t much better. His chronically ill mother is needy and close to expiring, and his father is bitter and quickly moved to anger over small disappointments. Using his imagination as a shelter from the oppression of his parent’s household, Danny decides to keep a journal chronicling his “adventures” among the aliens, which sometimes border on the downright weird: after his fictional self is inducted into a secret society that studies UFOs, he is targeted by a sadistic trio of otherworldly villains who threaten him with torture. His attempts at escape land him in the hands of bug-eyed monstrosities who use him as a guinea pig for their experiments. Danny’s cathartic act of keeping this journal divides the novel into two parallel storylines, causing Danny’s fictional world to act as a dark mirror that replicates the anguish of the real one. While the author’s exploration of Danny’s psychological state puts this novel a step above others in the “extraterrestrial” genre, Halperin’s extensive concentration on the “alien” plotline leaves the characters underdeveloped and distant, and detracts from any emotional investment the reader might have for them. This novel has some adult content, but may be appropriate for Ages 16-18. Recommended for lovers of psychological fiction.

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Reads Like One Long Postmodernist Poem

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (Doubleday, 2010, 304pp.)

Rose Edelstein discovers that she can experience the emotions of others by eating foods that they have prepared. Unfortunately, this opens her up to an overwhelming barrage of feelings (and family secrets) from those around her that she’d rather not know. The story is a strange one, but tinged with a diluted kind of sweetness. Bender holds the reader at a distance, using short, clipped sentences that bear an unsteady elegance, resulting in a novel that reads like one long postmodernist poem. At times, however, she gets carried away with this pseudo-Hemingway style of writing, which produces clunky prose that can make for awkward reading. If you are a serious fan of “realistic” literature, you may want to steer clear. If, however, you’re an adventurous reader with a tolerance for the surreal and a very flexible sense of realism, you will find this piece definitely worth your time.

Love Conquers All, Including Mental Illness, Spontaneous Time Travel, etc.

Source: Author Website

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (MacAdam/Cage, 2003, 518pp.)

Niffenegger’s literary debut traces the life and times of Henry, an involuntary time-traveler, and Clare, the devoted wife who waits for his return. Henry suffers from Chrono-Impairment, a genetic disorder that causes him to time-travel throughout the course of his own lifetime—and consequently, back to Clare’s childhood as well. It is during Clare’s childhood that their relationship is first cultivated, when she is only 6, and he is in his thirties. But the time traveling proves to be a curse. Henry is unable to take anything with him, no cash, no identification—not even clothes. Nor can he control his destination. He may appear in the middle of a highway, in a stranger’s front yard, in an airport, etc. What sounds like the premise of a Harlequin romance novel (naked time traveler must rely on heroine to provide him with clothing) is instead boasted as an epic love story. Unfortunately, this is a point to be debated. Although there are numerous sex scenes between the two lovers, the reader is not sure what Henry and Clare see in each besides physical attraction. While the author obviously has affection for her couple, she fails to make them appealing on a number of levels. Clare, for example, is much too passive. Never does she bother to question Henry’s behavior, or even once stop to think for herself. Henry, on the other hand, suffers from arrogance. He sneers at the doctors who think that his time traveling episodes are merely the ravings of a schizophrenic. He even admits at one point that there are times when he feels superior to those who lack Chrono-Impairment. And both characters, (no doubt unintentional on the author’s part), rarely show compassion for anyone other than themselves. Henry dumps his emotionally unstable girlfriend with nary an explanation when Clare claims that they are meant to be together. When his ex commits suicide years later, Clare acts like she couldn’t care less. In an unfortunate effort to make her couple the epitome of artistic coolness, the author also has them quoting poetry and exchanging dialog in French and German, failing to enlighten lesser mortals with a translation. Niffenegger’s efforts, clearly meant to impress her audience, instead come across as pretentious. In addition to this, the couple is surrounded by an undeveloped supporting cast, some of which, tragically, are more intriguing, and more blessedly human than either one of the author’s beloved golden couple. An admirable first attempt, certainly, but one that screams amateurism. As the novel’s bestselling status shows, there’s no in between for this one: you’ll either love it or hate it.

Love Never Dies

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger (Scribner, 2009, 416pp.)

American twins Julia and Valentina think they have it made when they inherit a flat in jolly old England from their Aunt Elspeth. Too bad they don’t know the flat is haunted. Elspeth, the twin’s eccentric, ghostly guardian, her grieving lover, their obsessive-compulsive crossword puzzle-writing neighbor and his long-suffering wife round out the cast of this flawed but oddly compelling tale of love, obsession, and longing. Readers unfamiliar with London culture may find themselves scratching their heads at the author’s habitual name-dropping (she mentions Boots (a pharmacy), Tesco (a minimart), and the London Underground, also called the Tube (both names for the city’s subway system) without offering sufficient explanation. This, and unnecessary plot twists may bungle an otherwise intriguing narrative for first-time readers of Niffenegger. For fans of her debut blockbuster The Time Traveler’s Wife, however, this dark love story is definitely worth checking out.

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