James McBride's "Deacon King Kong"

 

You can find this item here.

The book is set in 1969 in Brooklyn. The plot itself swirls around how a community is affected by a single shooting. Sportcoat (or Deacon King Kong) shoots a young drug dealer, who he used to coach in baseball, for apparently no reason. The time, history, and more importantly the relationships of the its community, police, mobsters and church-goers all work together or against each other in a book that shows the vitality and fragility of that community.

Now, to be honest, I found this book slow in the beginning; but I did feel like it picked up for me after the first few chapters. The style of writing is very lyrical, and that may be why I found it a little slower (particularly since I just came from a Patterson novel where the pace is much faster). However, the characters felt well-rounded and the way McBride intersperses moments of humour with hardship and each character's fate and faith was well done. 

I can see why his book one prizes, like the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence. However, I would suggest that this book is for readers who prefer character-driven and dialogue-driven books as plot and action is second place in this novel. 

Links for you

McBride in the Library:

Good lord bird

This title is Fiction.

Kill 'em and leave

This title is a biography of James Brown

Julie Cohen's "Louis & Louise"

 

You can find this book here.

Cohen's novel attempts to look at the life of a person from two different aspects: born male or female. The character therefore, is supposed to show the development of what could happen depending on the gender stereotypes lived with. The summary itself claims:

"The day they were born is when their story begun. In one, Louis David Alder is born a male. In the other, Louise Dawn Alder is born a female. Louis and Louise are the same in many ways - they have the same best friends, the same parents, the same dream of being a writer and leaving their hometown in Maine as soon as they can. But because of their gender, everything looks different. Certain things will happen in their lives to shape them, hurt them, build them back up again. But what will bring them back home?"

It makes the book sound very intriguing ... but does it deliver? To be honest; I don't think the stereotypes and the choices that surround the characters are strongly shown throughout the novel. The characters show how things in life have impacted them, but perhaps if the situations had been reversed, their outcomes may have been the same? The impact could be based off the situations, not the sex or gender of the characters. There were some choice I found illogical by the characters also; and it left me wondering if these choices were put there just to show differences between Louis and Louise. But what if they had been reversed and played out onto the protagonist of the opposite sex? What choices and changes would have occurred then?

What I did enjoy was the landscape of the small town feel and how this can impose on how a person should live, compared to possibly more "freedom" in a larger city. This also has to do with familial ties, context and choices as well; not just gender ones. 

In the end, if nothing else once you read this, it opens up questions about gender stereotypes and how these are portrayed depending on the sex of a child. It is an easy read and an introduction into a world of fiction that tries to look at society in all its fullness and flaws. 

Links for you

If you wanted something meatier in terms of sex and gender (as suggested by Cohen's work), you could also read:

Left hand of darkness

Ursula K. Le Guin

Secret life of Luke Livingstone

Charity Norman

This child of ours

Sadie Pearce

Daniel H. Wilson's "Clockwork dynasty"

 

You can find this book here.

Wilson knows his machines. he has a B.S. in computer science and did a Ph.D. in robotics. So if it is one thing he knows; it is how machines work. So this science fiction novel should be centred in strong science. But, is it? I'll get to that later.

Funny thing, it is also centred in layers of history. This makes the narrative of the story an enjoyable read as each chapter tends to move between the present and the past to make connections with characters, robots (or avtomat) and historical context consistently.

The book centres mostly around two characters: June a human, and Peter (or Pyotr) an avtomat. Past and present collide with these two characters after June discovers a secret concealed in a three-hundred-year-old mechanical doll. Whilst I have made that sound strange, June is an anthropologist who specialises in ancient technologies. and the "doll" she finds is incredibly ancient. Just like Peter, who as part of that technological history, partners with June to help save, well, possibly everyone in the end.

The mystery of avtomat in this novel is strong; so too, I found are the historical elements. I found some fight scenes hard to follow, but I found the human character believable, relatable and true-to-form for being thrown into situations such as these. There is even some nice moments between avtomat.

Now, back to my first question. Is it science? Are all civilisations circular and so rise and fall just to rise again so that something like an avtomat can exist and try and save its self? And should I answer that? Maybe not. The book brings out ideas like this and makes you think about the nature of time, machines and purpose in large, sweeping arcs. It makes questions like this valuable, and as a reader, I hope you enjoy it. A book that makes you think, can be just as good fun, or even more so, than a book you read just for enjoyment. 

Don't worry; it isn't so deep you will wade through and have your brain explode on you (for example, a Kafka work). It balances well. You might find the ending anti-climactic; but it is a good book to read if you like the science fiction or steampunk genres. It is a short, quick read; which makes it a strong selling point as well. 

Links for you

Wilson's work in the Library:

Andromeda evolution

Title read-a-likes in the Library:

Peripheral

William Gibson

Humans, bow down

James Patterson

Both of these books look at artificial intelligence, machines rising up and strong narratives. Gibson's work also has a parallel narrative like Wilson's (it changes between timelines or characters).

Layla AlAmmar’s “The pact we made”

This book can be found here.

This debut novel follows the character Dahlia as a woman living in Kuwait that straddles both modernity and traditional cultural values in her life. This is a very strong theme within the novel as Dahlia is almost thirty; which is the cut-off point for being a worthwhile wife and bride for a man to choose.

This can be seen within the title, which refers to the fact that when young, Dahlia and her two friends all made a pact to be married by twenty-seven. This itself; though Dahlia wanted out of the pact, shows the pressures of women and their roles even in modern Kuwait that Dahlia is expected to live up to.

So, this novel is all about self-discovery, self-identity and #metoo; but also the trials of just existing within society. A lot of the characters tend to struggle with life and its choices (most humans could); whether from Kuwait or not. The added layer of this novel? AlAmmar’s Kuwaiti traditional roles and ways of thinking adds dimension and struggle that I as a Westerner may not have ever encountered if in similar situations. This made parts of the novel much more difficult for me to read as I struggled with such traditional views; which Dahlia seemed to have to manoeuvre through as well.

Saying that; the plot is slow-going. This is about Dahlia’s progression through this almost “final” year of her life (or the beginning of her new one if it works out … not telling you though). It means that even for the secondary characters there is a sense of claustrophobia to their lives that can’t be escaped (possibly) and this can also slow the book down. 

Character is the driving force of the novel. It is mostly all about Dahlia and her processes and this, again, becomes rather claustrophobic. This is because it is first-person and so her voice and thoughts become sometimes a little overpowering outside of the story. Whilst this lends itself to strengthen a character trying to cope with trauma, some of it may push readers to the side.

In truth, this could be another layer to the novel: everyone is selfish and focussed ultimately on their own thoughts, goals and issues and trying to get out of, or through, them (generally). This would play well for a young adult audience, even with Dahlia almost pushing thirty (given the traditional values of the family in this novel, she is treated like a child and so definitely still fits). However, it might be a tough read, not in terms of language (though Arabic is used at times – well too, I might add), but because of Dahlia’s consuming thoughts. However, overall, the insight into the culture and an individual trying to balance and find their place in it was very well done.

Links for you:

https://www.readingwomenpodcast.com/blog/2020/01/10/qa-layla-alammar

Okay, so I am starting with an interview by AlAmmar with this blog “Reading women”. Probably a little controversial connecting between blogs, but this gives insight into AlAmmar’s writing processes.

Read-a-likes in the Library:

How we disappeared

Jing-Jing Lee

Read-a-likes in cloudLibrary:

Exit West

Mohsin Hamid