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Book Report
Apr. 27th, 2014 02:15 pmThe latest in a series of reports on books that I've read or listened to.
In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner – Somehow the author managed to write a novel about the Cambodian genocide of the 1970’s and make it readable and lyrical – and no less heartbreaking than one would expect. The book is a novelization of the experiences that the author herself survived. She was only five years old when the Khmer Rouge came to power and began to carry out their policies of forced labor, starvation, and torture – leadng to the killing of approximately one-third of the entire population. Part of me did not want to read this novel. But all I can do is agree with the numerous reviewers as to the novel’s haunting beauty and power. I cried many times during this book. Grade: A
In My Skin by Brittney Griner - I'd heard about Griner on NPR and decided to read her memoir. I never follow basketball so I hadn't known of her before the NPR piece, but Griner is a big deal in the world of basketball (the No 1 pick in the 2013 WNBA Draft, if that means anything to you), she's 6'8" and she's an out, black, butch lesbian. I enjoyed hearing her story. Nothing earth-shattering, though it was sad to read of her trials with her homophobic dad and homophobic school. Grade: B-
A Round-Heeled Woman by Jane Juska – The premise of this true story sounded great to me. The author places a personal ad saying that she’s going to turn 67 soon and wants to have “lots of sex with a man I like”. I think that had she stuck to describing the responses to the ad and her interactions with the men who responded, this could have been an interesting and fun book. But Juska decided, somewhere along the way, to turn it into a memoir and that really caused the book to suffer because her life story just didn’t hold my interest. In fact, full disclosure: I did not read the entire book. I ended up getting bored and skimming probably the last fourth of it. But I am adamant that I suffered through enough of it to include it here! Maybe a better editor could have helped her. Grade: D
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling – I listened to this on audio. It was basically “just” musings from a smart and witty writer. I laughed out loud a few times so I think Kaling accomplished what she set out to do. Grade: B
Stranger Here: How Weight-Loss Surgery Transformed My Body and Messed with My Head by Jen Larsen – The title tells you the main thrust of this memoir. You know what I think the best aspect of this book was? Set aside the weight loss surgery, and this memoir is just a realistic look at an actual human being in all of her flawed realness. She has a relationship with her boyfriend that is somewhere between mediocre and terrible. She smokes and drinks too much, is stuck at work, and she overeats – and believes that weight loss surgery might cure all of her problems. Whatever I might think about her decisions, I thoroughly enjoyed Larsen baring her soul and letting us into her mind and her world despite their flaws. And I was never remotely bored. Sidenote – No judgment towards anyone but I am still somewhat horrified by weight loss surgery. It seems so barbaric and drastic and dangerous. I’m surprised there aren’t even more casualties from it. I guess, like breast implants (which I recently heard referred to, on the radio in LA, as "breast augs"), it's just an example of how insane our culture is regarding looks) . Grade: B
Books I Started Reading But Didn’t Finish:
A terrible piece of historical fiction trash, which I could tell from the get-go would be garbage but that intrigued me for the first 100 pages or so. Then, when I was no longer quite as intrigued, I guiltily held on for 100 more pages until I lost interest. And since it was trash even by my standards, there was no sense in reading the final 150 pages.
In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner – Somehow the author managed to write a novel about the Cambodian genocide of the 1970’s and make it readable and lyrical – and no less heartbreaking than one would expect. The book is a novelization of the experiences that the author herself survived. She was only five years old when the Khmer Rouge came to power and began to carry out their policies of forced labor, starvation, and torture – leadng to the killing of approximately one-third of the entire population. Part of me did not want to read this novel. But all I can do is agree with the numerous reviewers as to the novel’s haunting beauty and power. I cried many times during this book. Grade: A
In My Skin by Brittney Griner - I'd heard about Griner on NPR and decided to read her memoir. I never follow basketball so I hadn't known of her before the NPR piece, but Griner is a big deal in the world of basketball (the No 1 pick in the 2013 WNBA Draft, if that means anything to you), she's 6'8" and she's an out, black, butch lesbian. I enjoyed hearing her story. Nothing earth-shattering, though it was sad to read of her trials with her homophobic dad and homophobic school. Grade: B-
A Round-Heeled Woman by Jane Juska – The premise of this true story sounded great to me. The author places a personal ad saying that she’s going to turn 67 soon and wants to have “lots of sex with a man I like”. I think that had she stuck to describing the responses to the ad and her interactions with the men who responded, this could have been an interesting and fun book. But Juska decided, somewhere along the way, to turn it into a memoir and that really caused the book to suffer because her life story just didn’t hold my interest. In fact, full disclosure: I did not read the entire book. I ended up getting bored and skimming probably the last fourth of it. But I am adamant that I suffered through enough of it to include it here! Maybe a better editor could have helped her. Grade: D
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling – I listened to this on audio. It was basically “just” musings from a smart and witty writer. I laughed out loud a few times so I think Kaling accomplished what she set out to do. Grade: B
Stranger Here: How Weight-Loss Surgery Transformed My Body and Messed with My Head by Jen Larsen – The title tells you the main thrust of this memoir. You know what I think the best aspect of this book was? Set aside the weight loss surgery, and this memoir is just a realistic look at an actual human being in all of her flawed realness. She has a relationship with her boyfriend that is somewhere between mediocre and terrible. She smokes and drinks too much, is stuck at work, and she overeats – and believes that weight loss surgery might cure all of her problems. Whatever I might think about her decisions, I thoroughly enjoyed Larsen baring her soul and letting us into her mind and her world despite their flaws. And I was never remotely bored. Sidenote – No judgment towards anyone but I am still somewhat horrified by weight loss surgery. It seems so barbaric and drastic and dangerous. I’m surprised there aren’t even more casualties from it. I guess, like breast implants (which I recently heard referred to, on the radio in LA, as "breast augs"), it's just an example of how insane our culture is regarding looks) . Grade: B
Books I Started Reading But Didn’t Finish:
A terrible piece of historical fiction trash, which I could tell from the get-go would be garbage but that intrigued me for the first 100 pages or so. Then, when I was no longer quite as intrigued, I guiltily held on for 100 more pages until I lost interest. And since it was trash even by my standards, there was no sense in reading the final 150 pages.
