A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE by GEORGE R.R. MARTIN -- Five volumes (so far)

While beginning to watch the television series Game of Thrones, based on these books, I decided to read the source material. Five lengthy novels have been published so far, totaling 4,598 pages, and the story is not finished yet.

The first book, Game of Thrones, establishes the pattern for the series. Short, third-person limited chapters acquaint the reader with the central characters and the story line. The book begins as Eddard Stark, Warden of the North in the kingdom of Westeros, welcomes his king, Robert Baratheon, to his castle. Every member of both families will become major players in the unfolding drama. Meanwhile, in the far north, behind the Wall which protects the kingdom, strange creatures haunt the land, and across the seas, the heir of the defeated former king of Westeros plots a return to the throne. Martin provides one startling event after another -- incest, attempted murder, regicide, beheading, a wedding orgy, and the birth of dragons.

The structure of the novel is ideal for introducing a large cast of characters, and the action is generally fast moving and suspenseful. However, Martin has the annoying habit of describing the appearance and apparel of every character at every event and the even more intrusive habit of naming every course of every meal (and they eat very frequently). All this adds to the over-long page count and takes away from the momentum of the action. Some of the grammar and syntax is questionable, but that can mostly be overlooked when the story is moving along.

The second book, A Clash of Kings, is taken up by the efforts of would-be kings for the crown of Westeros, following the death of King Robert Baratheon. Sitting on the throne is Joffrey Baratheon, but his claim is disputed because he is suspected of being the product of incest between his mother and her twin brother, rather than being the son of the former king. Rising against him are both of the former king's brothers, Stannis and Renly; Robb Stark, the son of the beheaded Eddard Stark; Balon Greyjoy, Lord of the Iron Islands; and across the sea, Daenerys Targaryen, who has hatched dragons.

At 728 pages, this is the shortest of the five in the series, in part because fewer court events mean fewer descriptions of clothing and menu items. Martin provides limited description of actual battles, instead concentrating on the behind-the-scenes plotting and machinations, both political and magical. Royal marriages and promises of marriage are made to secure alliances. The sadistic boy king Joffrey emerges as the most despicable villain. Surprisingly, Tyrion Lannister, Joffrey's dwarf uncle, becomes in some respects the most sympathetic character, and certainly one of the most interesting. The pre-teen Arya Stark also proves to be intriguing, as she survives numerous dangers.

I found this to be the least entertaining of the books, although it profits from being more tightly edited than the first volume.

The third book, A Storm of Swords, is filled with betrayals, as factions switch allegiances or go their own way for power and profit. Weddings are particularly perilous. The most shocking event so far occurs, as the bridegroom's entire entourage is slaughtered at the Red Wedding. King Joffrey's wedding to Margaery Tyrell also concludes with a deadly wedding feast. At least the wedding of Sansa Stark, the teenage daughter of the beheaded Eddard Stark, with the dwarf Tyrion Lannister ends with all alive, if not happy. To the previous instances of regicide and fratricide is added the crime of patricide. Meanwhile, across the sea, Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons liberate slave cities, and she delays crossing to Westeros in her quest to regain the crown snatched from her family. Meanwhile, in the north at the Wall, things are getting really creepy. Winter is coming and with it the re-animated dead and the mysterious Others.

These books are written much in the style of soap operas, with switches from one character to the next to portray actions going on at the same time in numerous plot lines. This book adds one of the plot standards of my pet soap opera, Days of Our Lives. People once thought dead prove to be alive and people actually dead are brought back to life. That seems to me to be a bit contrived and almost silly.

This is the longest of the series so far, at 1128 pages, but to me it was the most enjoyable. The chapters are from the viewpoints of only ten characters and I found it easy to remember what was going on and where as the story hopped around from person to person and location to location.

With the fourth book, A Feast of Crows and the fifth book, A Dance with Dragons, Martin's created world begins to get out of hand, with too many characters and too many plots and subplots. The two books cover the same time frame with different characters in each, but the result was too long for one volume, so it was split into these two. Even so, the story has become confusing. A Feast of Crows follows twelve central characters, which might be manageable, but it also follows numerous minor characters, who all tend to blur in the mind with one another.

These are the primary plot points of book four: Stannis Baratheon, the dead king's brother, is in the north to aid in the fight against the Wildings beyond the Wall. Jon Snow, Eddard Stark's bastard son, has been named Commander of the Night Watch, who guard at the Wall. Tommen, the 8-year-old brother of Joffrey, sits on the throne of Westeros, with his mother Cersei as Regent. Religious extremism has arisen on several fronts. The teenager Sansa Stark (daughter to the beheaded Eddard Stark) is in hiding, protected by a sly schemer with plots of his own. Those are just the high points. Much more is going on here.

Book five, A Dance with Dragons, follows 18 characters, with additional subplots. It is just too much. Jon Snow (Eddard Stark's bastard son) is in trouble at the Wall. Bran Stark (Eddard Stark's son) is searching for the "Three-Eyed Crow" who will enable him to fly. Tyrion Lannister (uncle to Tommen Baratheon, now king of Westeros) is on the run after escaping from the dungeon where he had awaited beheading, intending to aid Daenerys Targaryen in regaining the crown. Alya Stark (daughter of Eddard Stark) has become an assassin, and she is still not even a teenager. Queen Regent Cersei is imprisoned and humiliated by the very religious group she tried to manipulate. Daenerys Targaryen is having troubles with the slave cities she liberated and with her dragons, which have become wild and unmanageable. And that's not all that is going on here, by a long shot.

George R.R. Martin has said that he intends to include seven books in this series. I think he is about on overload right now with five, but still I want to know who will succeed in gaining the crown, or if the coming Winter and the Others will make it all in vain, because everyone will be frozen or turned into the walking dead.

Martin has been acclaimed the "American Tolkien" by some, and that couldn't be more wrong. Tolkien produced fantasy Literature, with a capital "L". Martin produces fantasy pulp, albeit pulp of a superior sort. While Tolkien's universe engaged in a stark contrast between good and evil, in Martin's world few characters could be classified as "good" and the most blameless seem to die sooner rather than later. Some of the most interesting characters are guilty of crimes. However, much like a soap opera, Martin's story can become addictive, even as its shortcomings are recognized. So far, I have binge-watched four seasons of the television production, and I believe the televised version to be much superior to the written version. What makes for level B literature can be turned into level A visual entertainment under the right direction with enough money behind it.

SONG OF SOLOMON by TONI MORRISON (1977)

A few authors have become the gold standards for their genres of writing. High fantasy novels are advertised as "in the tradition of Tolkien." Books featuring magical realism are compared to those of Garcia Marquez. Authors of Southern Gothic novels aspire to be compared to Faulkner. Toni Morrison has joined that select group of touchstone writers. Her particular style of writing about the African American experience, including as she does elements that can either be considered as literally supernatural or as symbolic, has profoundly influenced subsequent writers. Two recent bestselling novels come to mind -- The Underground Railroad and Sing, Unburied, Sing.

The plot of Song of Solomon follows Macon (Milkman) Dead from birth through his young adulthood, growing up in Michigan. As he matures he feels himself increasingly alienated, emotionally separated from his family and the females he uses to satisfy his lust. He even betrays his eccentric aunt, who has made him feel more at home than anyone else, when he steals what he supposes to be a bag of gold from her. Still in search of the fabled gold, he follows his aunt's tracks back to the South, where the Dead family originated. As he uncovers the past and the secrets of his forebears, he achieves a measure of self realization and an understanding of his place in the world.

Woven into this coming-of-age story are magical elements, such as a woman who has no naval and a man who can fly. Also prominent are the various reactions to being black in a white America.

I am certain that this novel speaks more directly to black Americans who would have a better knowledge of the situations and attitudes. To this white American reader, it provides a better understanding of black culture. And it is a darn good book besides. It received the National Book Critics Circle Award and Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003.

SHORT REVIEWS OF 4 PULITZER PRIZE WINNERS

More short review of books I read this summer while deprived of television and the internet.




THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO by JUNOT DIAZ (2007) Second reading
A seriously overweight man of Dominican heritage, who is obsessed with fantasy and science fiction, continuously looks for love. This novel does not end happily-ever-after, but the plot is so intriguing and the language -- a mixture of Spanish and American slang -- so unique that I could overlook my emotional need for happy endings. This won the National Book Critics Circle Award, as well as the Pulitzer. Recommended.


THE MAMBO KINGS PLAY SONGS OF LOVE by OSCAR HIJUELOS (1989) Third reading
The life stories of a family of Cuban-heritage musicians who once gained a measure of fame when they appeared on the I Love Lucy television show with Desi Arnez. That doesn't sound very interesting, but it is, especially as enlivened by a large dose of sex. Recommended.


BELOVED by TONI MORRISON (1987) Third reading
An African-American woman who escaped from slavery to the North later kills her own daughter rather than see her returned to their former master. Later, she and her other children are "haunted" by the ghost of the dead child. Whether one believes the ghost to be literal or a psychological result of trauma matters little, because the impact of the novel is overwhelming, no matter the interpretation. This has rightfully come to be considered a classic. Morrison won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993 for her body of work.


MIDDLESEX by JEFFREY EUGENIDES (2002) Second reading
The character at the center of the plot has a mutated gene which results in his/her being intersex, having characteristics of both male and female. Raised as a girl, he nevertheless feels male. A large portion of the book concerns the grandparents and parents of the character, and, for me, this diffuses the focus of the novel. Much is also included about the difficulties of immigrants (these are Greek) and the turmoil in Detroit during the 1960s. I feel that the novel takes too much of a scatter shot at too many issues to be as effective as it could have been if it had stuck to gender identification issues.

THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN by JOHN FOWLES (1969)

Third reading


I remember being very impressed with this novel when I first read it, and also when I read it a second time. Somehow, however, I seem to have lost my taste for postmodern literature. I now find that it seems pretentious and annoys me in its self-conscious cleverness.

The French Lieutenant's Woman starts out appearing to follow the conventions of a Victorian novel of the realist school, written much in the style of Thomas Hardy. A wealthy English man who is in line for a title is engaged to a very young and beautiful (but shallow) girl, even more wealthy than he, though from the merchant class. As the two are out walking, they observe a striking woman staring out to sea. The girl tells her fiance' that it is a French Lieutenant's Woman (a polite word for whore) who is hoping in vain for the return of her absent lover. Despite himself, the man becomes fascinated with the woman's tragic demeanor, and manages to "accidentally" come into contact with her in out-of-the-way places.

Clearly, complications are looming, but then Fowles intrudes himself, speaking as the author, letting readers know that this is a made-up story written in the 1960s. Any drama from the love triangle plot is then sucked away, at least for me. I am pulled away from the characters and can no longer live inside their story. The final insult to my enjoyment comes when Fowles provides three endings: one where the man marries the young girl anyway, despite his desire for the woman; one where he breaks his engagement and runs away with the woman; and one where he ends up without either, continuing as a bachelor.

The plot of this reminds me very much of The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, with the three central characters also having many similarities and the time frame being approximately the same, although in different countries. But whereas The Age of Innocence is one of my favorite books, because of its poignancy and conflict between love and duty, this novel, because of its metafiction gimmicks, almost seems pointless.

I don't know whether to recommend this book or not. I liked it when I was much younger. Now not so much.

HOTEL DU LAC by ANITA BROOKNER (1984)

This low-key novel won England's Booker Prize, which is somewhat surprising to me. While it is stylish, pleasantly written, and entertaining to read, it lacks any outstanding aspects or lasting relevance. It reads almost as "chick-lit," suitable for reading during summer vacation at the beach.

In fact, the heroine is a writer of popular romance novels, who has made a misstep at romance herself, calling off her wedding to a very nice (and dull) man at the last minute. It seems she cannot escape thoughts of her secret love affair with a married man. Advised by her friends to take some time away, she flees to a quiet hotel in Switzerland, where she encounters a small group of fellow exiles, all slightly eccentric.

Brookner has fun with her characters, so the books turns into something of a comedy, although a sad one. All are casualties of love, in one way or another. The heroine even receives a second marriage proposal, from a man who is anything but dull.

To Brookner's credit, what starts out following the conventions of a romance novel does provide some surprises, but in the end it just seems like chick-lit for moderate feminists.

THE GOLDFINCH by DONNA TARTT (2013)

Second reading
First read in December of 2013


Even though I read this just a few years ago, I decided to read it again since I just re-read Donna Tartt's other two novels. Here is the review I wrote in 2013.




Tuesday, December 31, 2013
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Nothing is more satisfying to a reader than a big, thick book with a suspenseful plot and a multitude of interesting characters, all of whom come alive on the page. It's an added plus when the dialogue is natural and sounds distinctive for each character, and when the setting is so clearly described that a reader can visualize and feel the surroundings. Dickens could come up with such novels, and so, it turns out, can Donna Tartt.

The story begins in Amsterdam, with 27-year-old Theo Decker, terrified and ill, hiding out in a hotel room after an unnamed violent event. Through his narration, we are taken back to the thirteen-year-old Theo, who survives the terrorist bombing of an art museum which takes the life of his mother. Clearly suffering from survivor's guilt and PTSD, young Theo is taken in by the wealthy family of a friend, his alcoholic father having recently departed for parts unknown. We follow Theo from his life in New York as a private school student to the desolate outskirts of Las Vegas when his father reappears. Then it's back to New York as a partner in an antique business, before Amsterdam and a reluctant involvement with the criminal underworld. Binding the plot together from start to finish is a small painting, The Goldfinch, the reason Theo and his mother visited the museum.

Tartt is particularly successful in the depictions of the many characters, through both indirect personal descriptions and accounts of their actions and an abundance of distinctive dialogue. The alcohol and gambling addicted father, the antique restorer Hobie who becomes a father figure, the amoral Russian boy Boris who befriends Theo in Las Vegas--all seem so real I can see and hear them in my mind.

I have never been to New York. I have never been to Las Vegas. I have never been to Amsterdam. But I feel that I know them, through Donna Tartt, just as I know Victorian England, through Charles Dickens.

This seems like an old-fashioned novel in many respects, in that it tells an extended story in detail. That seems to be rather out of fashion these days. But it is a modern novel in other respects, in that it addresses both current and universal human predicaments. The realistic ending is not "happily ever after," but then whose life ever is?

Onward through the fog.

Highly recommended.

LONESOME DOVE by LARRY McMURTRY (1985)

Second reading


Almost all Americans of a certain age are familiar with the plot of Lonesome Dove, if not from the book then from the the award-winning and extremely popular television series from the '80s. It has everything a Western should have -- former Texas Rangers, a whore with a heart, a cattle drive, cowboys, Indians, outlaws, hangings, stampeding cattle, battles with the elements, a sheriff chasing a killer, and so forth. It differs from the plots of traditional Westerns only in that it doesn't always deliver the expected. It also contains remarkable dialogue and a depth of characterization not usually found in the genre.

For those few not familiar with the story, it recounts the events of a cattle drive from South Texas to Montana, led by two aging Texas Rangers. It takes McMurtry more than 150 pages to introduce the major characters and actually get them started on the drive, and I found myself getting weary and bored. But once the author gets the story (and the herd) rolling, it moves at breakneck pace, with one cliff-hanging incident after another. McMurtry is quite a yarn spinner, so the rest of the 800+ page book held my attention to the end and didn't seem long at all.

I have never seen the television adaptation of Lonesome Dove, but surely McMurtry must have anticipated that his novel would someday be the basis of a screen treatment, because it seems to me to employ a very cinematic approach to novel writing. I believe one could write the screenplay using the author's dialogue exactly as written in the book. I intend to search for the video of the production to find out if that is so.

I would not classify this as Literary Fiction (high-brow, meaningful, etc.), but it is very good at what it does, which is tell a mesmerizing story. It is somewhat surprising to me that it won the Pulitzer Prize, but I recommend it as an example of how to take stock story elements and make them interesting again just through the vividness of the telling.