Recession Poetry

Recently I added All is Vanity by Christina Schwarz to my TBR list.  In 2003, when it first came out, I read A is V, and recognized some characters.  I passed the book on to friends saying, "I actually know someone like this.  Someone who can't pay her credit card bills but refinances her house to add a pool.  Someone whose brand new house might actually go into foreclosure.  Can you believe it?"  In 2011 we can believe it, and I wanted to read A is V  again to see if it still struck me as powerful and accusatory after "The Great Recession".

It turns out that before I got a chance to look back to A is V, I found a new book by Jess Walter that shows the financial collapse of the irresponsible spender (read:  Everyman) post-recession.  At least I hope we are post-recession.  In Walter's book, The Financial Lives of the Poets, the main character, Matt, is a journalist who decides to quit his job about a day before the recession hits, in order to write financial news in the form of poetry.  To compliment his bad timing, Matt's wife, Lisa, goes on an Ebay spending spree, buying up "collectibles" which she is sure to resell at a profit.  A series of horrible but surprisingly understandable decisions follow, showing the reader a fictional version of the financial collapse of the neighbor next door.

Financial Lives is a great book.  In fact, because I just don't want to have to decide if Financial Lives  is better than say Carter Beats the Devil, I've decided to change my page at the top of your screen from "10 Favorites" to just "Favorites" so that I can include more really good books there.  Walter found a perfect and believable voice for Matt, and even makes the concept of financial poetry seem credible.

Next Up:  McSweeney's, Issue 36 by Dave Eggers.  The box arrived in the mail about a week ago, and I can't wait to read the instructions!  You'll understand more soon.

Still Listening to:  What is the What by Dave Eggers.  Talk about a great voice for a character.  Both the voice as written by Eggers and as read by Dion Graham are amazing.  I was a little intimidated at the idea of listening to a book that takes up 17 discs, but I'm not in any rush to finish.

The Light at the End of the Dock

In the wake of 9/11, I clearly remember an interview on the news with a man, who was declaring that for the first time in his life, he didn't feel like an African American, but instead he felt like an American.  As a fellow American, I could relate to that, and felt a similar sense of unity.  In Netherland by Joseph O'Neill, the events of 9/11 seem to have the opposite effect on Hans, a Dutch man, and Rachel, his British wife.  Soon after the attack, Rachel feels the need to leave New York for her home, London, leaving Hans to fend for himself.  Hans reconnects with his home by becoming involved with a group of cricket players from all around the world, who find themselves in New York. 

Much of Netherland is centered around this group of cricket players, and in particular, a referee named Chuck who takes Hans under his wing.  This is a group with which Hans, an analyst for a major bank, would not normally associate.  However, it is to these people that Hans turns, somewhat blindly, when his life is at its lowest point. 

There's an obvious Gatsby reference toward the end, which sets Hans up as the Tom Carraway character to Chuck's Gatsby.  Cricket in America plays the role of Daisy.

When this book came out in 2008, everyone was reading it.  I tried to be contrarian and ignore it,  but when I heard that then Presidential candidate, Barak Obama, was reading it between campaign stops, I knew I would have to read it.  I would have read it sooner if I had known that O'Neill had written part of it at Yaddo. 

Next up:  The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walters

Still Listening to:  What is the What by Dave Eggers

The Monotonous Wife

Well, I've given up on The Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick.  I was listening to it in my car, and it sounded like I was listening to someone reading me their grocery list.  I listened to 3 discs, and made myself begin the 4th, until I just couldn't take it anymore.

It occurred to me that it may be the voice of the reader that was bothering me, so I tried looking in the book at passages that were irritating in the car.  Reading the book did not improve my opinion.  I looked back at the beginning of Part Two, where I ejected the disc, and found that from pages 118 through 121, there were 65 sentences, 50 of which started with the word "she".  That had to be deliberate, because an editor would never have let that get through accidentally, but what did it accomplish?

When I told her I wasn't liking Reliable, my friend, Kim, who had read the book, filled me in on a juicy twist that hadn't happened yet.  But, when I thought about it, that twist made the story of how the husband and wife met impossible, or at least incredibly unlikely.  My decision to move on was confirmed.

Next up on CD:  What is the What by Dave Eggers.  I have started this, and like it better than Reliable already.

Still reading:  Netherland by Joseph O'Neill