More like a series of tangentially related magazine articles than an actual book, Lorr’s efforts at investigative reporting are compelling but disorganized. There’s not much momentum to the narrative as he attacks a seemingly unrelated angle in each successive chapter. It’s almost like the topic was too sprawling for him, and he didn’t quite decide on a point where to enter the conversation. The attempts at understanding the psychology of the grocery shopper are illuminating and probably wisely kept short as here Lorr turns to his own psychology as evidence. In the end, I’m just not sure what he wanted to prove with this. That we don’t know where our fish is from or who has caught it? That various certifications can be easily bought? That Trader Joe’s success, especially early on, was based on a new model? Too many ideas here – not enough focus.
Crime and Punishment (Dostoevsky)
As with Wuthering Heights, I read this because a student wants to do some indpendent work on it, and I want to be in a position to support him. Unlike my recent experience with Wuthering Heights, this was the first time I’d read it and, I have to say, I’m really not sure what the big deal is. Certainly, there are some profound moments and engaging sections. Certainly, there is much to discuss. But there’s really not that much of a story here and what does exist is disjointed and, at times, convenient. I’m glad I read it – both for the sake of reading it and so I can help my student – but I certainly have no great desire to read it again or to recommend it to others.
Wuthering Heights (Bronte)
A student is doing some independent work on the novel, so I decided to re-visit it for the first time since high school so I could be ready to help her. And, oh my, did I remember it wrong. Or at least differently. I remember admiring Heathcliff. What was I thinking?
I enjoyed the book very much. I was grateful for the family trees that my Penguin edition included. I wish they’d used footnotes to translate what Joseph was saying. I found the story absorbing and, because it’s been a little bit since I was in high school, I appreciated the surprise twists. I only realized how absorbed I was when I turned the page and found that the rest of the pages contained reference material. The story was over!
Studs Lonigan (Farrell)
I am a sucker for a story set in Chicago, and I’d always been curious about this one. It hits an era that I rarely encounter (WW1 – Depression) in fiction, so that made me interested as well.
It’s an honest look at a young man coming of age who makes a few poor but not unreasonable decisions, but is so trapped by time, place, circumstance and gender, that you can feel he is doomed from the very beginning.
The language of the era, as well as the racist and anti-Semetic sentiments, sometimes makes it difficult to get lost in the book. You are constantly reminded that you are reading a book from a different time, probably one that would not be published today.
I was most fascinated by how well Farrell captured Studs’ daydreams of glory, of being the hero of every situation he’s in, and how that notion of heroism faded over time. In this way, he truly conveys what it is to be a boy trying to become a man.
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