Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins

2013 Reread #8

I think I will always love this book. Where else can you find so many intriguing elements mixed into one story that will pretty much always feel relevant? This book focuses on art, religion, history, the power of love, the power of enlightenment and self-awareness, and the ability of inanimate objects to grow consciousness and locomote across the country and across the world. Beyond all the strange characters and philosophizing typical of any Robbins book the heart of this story is what I've always connected with - live in the moment if you can and don't let the past dictate who you are nor the future influence who you will be. Just be you, right now. 

It takes a very long time to get to this epiphany and on the journey a lot goes on for our main characters  Ellen Cherry Charles and her husband, Boomer Petway. They encounter a wide range of strange characters who are all obsessed in one way or another with the same thing, the Middle East. Some characters believe the world is nearing its end and the third temple should be rebuilt at any cost, some just feel a change on the wind and want to be in Israel, and others want to set an example of how an Arab and Jew can actually get along in the hopes it will lessen the conflicts going on in that part of the world. The funny thing is though, Ellen Cherry and Boomer don't know anything about the Middle East. They come into the story totally ignorant and yet ride this wave because of random associations. And, it's really the two of them that essentially figure everything out Boomer finds the unity between Arabs and Jews through art and Ellen Cherry comes to understand the conflict through the enlightenment brought on by a very salacious dance of the seven veils.

My favorite element of this story is the inanimate objects - a spoon, a dirty sock, a can of beans, a conch shell, and a painted stick journey from the mid-west to New York City then over to Israel. Conch Shell and Painted Stick are artifacts from before the first temple in Israel who have somehow managed to survive. Robbins uses them to fill in the gaps in history since, of course, Can o' Beans is so interested in learning how the Middle Eastern conflict really got started. These characters move without a real concept of time or sense of urgency, but with a level of determination that goes beyond anything a human could muster. Eventually, Conch Shell floats across the ocean from New York to Israel with Can o' Beans riding on her. The patience and determination to accomplish that is just mind-blowing. I love the idea that the pull toward Israel is so strong, even inanimate objects feel it and gravitate toward it. It's a feeling I myself experienced when I was there visiting. There's just something about that part of the world - you feel the origins of life, of your story in the air. After visiting the country I had this residual compulsion for a few months to return and find a way to live there. Being in Israel gave me this sense of calm that I haven't had anywhere else in the world, which is a little odd when you think about it since that part of the world is anything but calm.

Using the Middle East and the long history of conflict there as the backdrop for this story was really a stroke of genius. The conflict has been going on for so long, it's not going to stop any time soon, so this book will always have a relevant element to it. The idea of peace as well is never going out of style, and a tandem theme to any conflict as long-going as this one. It's a way to talk about grudges and peace and learning to let go in a context that everyone can relate to. If you're not directly involved in the conflict or haven't been learning about it your whole life because you're either Arab or Jewish, you've watched the news, you've seen the craziness that goes on over there, you understand. 

This is just a long, strange, trip of a book and an amazing read that I still, after letting it sit on my shelf for over a decade, would recommend to anyone looking for something a little off the beaten path of today's popular fiction.

Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis

2013 Reread #7

There are so many reasons why I had to make this book a reread for the year and they all have to do with the tone of the story. This book is funny. Not in-your-face funny or sarcastic, but subtly and intelligently. I love the humor Lewis uses to delve into the life of every-man, George Babbitt.

George is a conformist. He believes what the "good" men of the community believe. He belongs to all the right clubs, holds the right kind of dinner parties, has the correct hobbies, and well, essentially doesn't think for himself at all. His place in society is what's important so he owns the right things and behaves the right way to stay included. Yet, he's constantly contradicting himself between what he thinks and how he acts. It's almost like he's blind to how unoriginal he really is. So, we send a lot of time with George in the early part of the book, watching him do what he should to build his popularity within the outstanding sect of society. It doesn't mean he's a good person, he has just sided with the "right." It's comical how completely Babbitt can rationalize his choices and his behavior to keep him both "right" and good. For example, this book takes place during Prohibition, but it's okay for Babbitt to drink since that law should really only be in place for the poor who can't control themselves, or it's okay to make shady real estate sales because he's being supported by officials in local government who would never to do anything that was truly illegal. Scenarios like that pop up frequently at first.

So, poor George simply looks like another lemming until one day the switch flips and he suddenly things for himself. Of course this then leads to liberal ideals, having an affair, drinking too much, and hanging out with the "wrong" crowd. He loses his friends and begins to get bullied to come back over to the proper side. All for having an opinion and daring to live outside the straight and narrow of the elitist. Babbitt's new-found independence doesn't actually cause any major uproar in real terms. He still works and keeps his family roughly together even while cheating on his wife, but the fact that his choices become his own totally ostracizes him from all the daily activities he's used to doing. The whole concept of, "if you're not with us, you're against us," is a huge theme in this book. All it takes is one slip from where the ruling societal group thinks you belong and that's it.

Babbitt eventually gets his mid-life crisis out of his system and goes back to his old ways which he now fully believes in because he has chosen the lifestyle this time around rather than just gone with the flow. It doesn't change the fact that he ends the book where he began, unable to think for himself, giving in to the bullies.

The observations throughout this story are what appeal to the essayist I am at heart. There's so much to think about. Is Lewis saying conservatism is right because it's safe and is what everyone else (who has the power) agrees with? Is he saying that original thought, acting outside the lines of propriety as set by these big bullies will get you nowhere fast? We hardly ever get a liberal perspective in the story. Most of those characters drink and smoke too much, gossip too heavily, and party all the time while all the business owners and success stories in the community are conservatives. It's so tough to tell because of the element of humor. Babbitt is a funny guy regardless of which side he's on. Most of the characters have funny-sounding names so it's hard to take either side very seriously. The way everyone acts is just a little on the silly side as well. It's almost as if Lewis is poking fun at society as a whole, showing off how both sides are a little ridiculous, that extreme thought is a little silly no matter what direction it's heading. This vagueness of message in the commentary is another very appealing aspect of this book for me. I feel like it's a serious testament to society wrapped in a light blanket of ridiculous.

I'm glad I reread this book and that it had the same effect on me this time around as it initially did. I love books that feel timeless even though they cover a very specific time period. And while the outrage of seeing a woman's shoulders in the story really doesn't play today, the idea of extreme thought getting you into trouble does as does the idea of free-thought. This book doesn't feel like classic literature so even if you shy away from the old stuff, this one shouldn't be crossed off your list just yet.

Possession by A.S. Byatt

You can definitely tell this book was written by an academic. The level of extreme detail is fitting of an author determined to prove her argument (even though she's not really arguing anything here.) Her thoroughness also gives her away. The whole story is fully explained, no unanswered questions are left for the reader to interpret.

Possession is both a mystery and a love story. It's about taboo relationships reaching higher levels of intensity than traditional ones. There are two main sets of lovers: Randolph Henry Ash and Christabel LaMotte, two poets from the 19th century and Roland and Maud, two modern academics studying the two poets respectively. When Roland comes across some unsent letters linking Ash to LaMotte he seeks out Maud to uncover the history of the poets' connection. The connection is so important because it could possibly change all existing interpretation of not only the poets' lives but their poetry as well. Roland and Maud begin their search pretty casually, but the subject matter is so significant to the scholars it would affect that other academics begin sniffing along the trail. The mystery here is at the center of the world for these characters even though, comparatively, it's not big mystery. Each character involved in the quest for answers brings an additional nugget of information into the story that helps solve things in the end.

The story is primarily told with a modern-day, third person narrator shedding light on the characters and the story. The characters themselves are all lost in such a way that allows this type of narrator to really shed light on every one's inner thoughts and feelings. It adds depth to the story. In addition to the present in the story, letters, poems, journal entries, and flashbacks are all used to reveal bit and pieces of the plot. Even with all these genres, the story never feels jumpy. I will admit that some parts were harder to get through than others because of the style (I wasn't a huge fan of the poetry,) but I finished the book satisfied with the story itself and how it unfolded.

It's hard to say whether or not I'd recommend this book. It's really for a very specific audience if you ask me, the kind of person who still loves classical literature and the suspense of the taboo from the 19th century. It's definitely not a summer, beach read.

Books Everyone Should Read