FREEDOM: Jonathan Franzen

"It's all circle around the same problem of personal liberties, Walter said. People came to this country either for money or freedom. If you don't have money, you cling to your freedoms all the more angrily. Even if smoking kills you, even if you can't afford to feed your kids, even if you kids are getting shot down my maniacs with assault rifles. You may be poor, but the one thing nobody can take away from you is the freedom to fuck up your life whatever way you want to. That's what Bill Clinton figured out---that we can win elections by running against personal liberties. Especially not against guns, actually."(Freedom, 361)

This quotation sums us much of book but it's much more than this clearly. It's mostly about the gradual fall of Walter and Patty Berglund's marriage, a result of her infidelity with his best friend, Richard Katz, a old roommate from college, though the infidelity occurs much later in their married life. We see two Minneapolis college grads, so called victims of terrible upbringings, eventually fall for each other, though they are in many way opposites, Patty an basketball playing jock, and Walter a nerdy idealist, with visions of saving the world. Watching this happy young couple eventually have children and destroy their happiness together along with their children's is the crux of the book. Patty, after an initial few years of child rearing, never seems happy as she ignores her daughter Jessica(like her mother ignored her) and smothers her son Joey with her love, driving him to live next store with their red neck neighbors and fall in love with their daughter, Connie, at the time, a 14 year old innocent, though they begin sleeping together at this age. Interestingly, despite their problems, their endless love(especially on Connie's part, survives and even grows. Walter gets mixed up in plans to create a bird sanctuary in the middle of West Virginia, for a nutty millionaire from Texas. He basically throws the locals off their land, with promises of jobs and new homes, as the coal companies buy the land, strip its hightops, with promises of then redoing it as a sanctuary for birds. Needless to say, Patty seems unhappier with her life as Walter progresses, ends up sleeping briefly with Richard Katz, now a famous rock star. In her depression, her doctor asks her to write a journal of what led to her unhappiness. Unfortunately, she gives it to Richard to read, but he lives it on Walter's desk. When he finds out his wife's real feelings about Richard, he throws her out of the house, freeing him to love a young Indian admirer named Lalitha, an idealist like Walter, who admires his attempts to say the world from over population and develop a sustainable economy, with out destroying the land. Needless to say, Franzen brings in most of the liberal ideology, both his reasonableness and craziness, though at the bottom is a desire to do good for mankind. We get deeply into Walter and Patty's families, their parents and siblings(all screwed up, mostly a result of their sense of entitlement), though Walter and Patty seem to be the only ones who work. We also see into their childrens' lives, how their parents have effected them, like Walter and Patty's parents ruined them. It reminds me of the great Philip Larkin poem:

This Be The Verse
They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another's throats.
Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself.

Walter seems the most pathetic at times, with his love for Patty but also the most sympathetic, with Patty next,someone who grows enormously as the book progresses, someone we like by the end, as she reunites with her family, letting the past slide, living with the moment. Walter, too, grows, into a somewhat misanthropic idealist, though in the end, even he seems to forgive and change for the best. Ultimately, it has a feel good end, though the trip to this 'feel good' end is anything but happy. A great book, as you are engrossed in the lives of some very unhappy people, not the kind you meet very often fortunately, but their lives are anything but dull.

THE BRIDGE: Second Half

I have just finished this fascinating biography and once again, I must stress what a unique, improbable, almost impossible journey its been for Barack Obama. No one would have believed it was possible five years ago, no one would have predicted it, so that one must ultimately say that the Gods smiled on Obama, which is true of any major event of this proportion. Had he been born any other time, ran any other time, this would not have happened. But a combination of various circumstances, from the disgust with Bush, to the rise of Obama with his emphasis on change, his non threatening blackness, so different from other black leaders, all add up to success. If, for instance, Rev. Wright had been a story a few weeks, even months earlier, he would not have won the primary over Hilary, perhaps not even been a viable candidate if it had been very early. One of the regrets of the Clinton campaign is that they did not dig deep enough in to Rev. Wright; had they, they would have used it to disparage Obama, perhaps turning white America away from him to her. That being said, Barack emerges as a tremendously talented politician, able to run the tight rope wire between being black as well as white, gaining the confidence and respect of both groups, by modulating his positions, always being careful to include whites when talking about taking care of the poor. The more vocal Blacks disliked him for being so moderate; they wanted him to come out for reparations, for black victimhood, yet if he had done so, he would have alienated the whites. So, there was black disappointment, but mostly among the more active Blacks, not the more common black, who looked at Obama with hope and gratitude, for what he stood for, what he meant to the long line of black leaders who paved the way for something like his election. The book goes fairly quickly through the primaries and the election itself, ending at the inauguration, where Barack most make his first important decision, whether to fear a bombing at the inauguration. It tested his mettle, and he decided to go ahead, that it was what a leader most do. Overall, I have great respect for him, but it's clear that getting elected and governing as President are two very different things. Dealing with Republicans is different from Harvard Law,with other conservatives. If he is to be criticized for anything, it might be his belief he could work with the Republicans, that he could convinced them, like he did the Harvard Review, to compromise. As a result, he ends up not getting what he wanted, what he might have been able to get had if taken advantage of the majority in both Houses. Here going with your best instincts may have been a mistake. Still, there's much to admire, much history to come, and my guess is he will be one of the great Presidents, if he gets a second term, which at this point, is questionable.

The Bridge: The Life of Barack Obama D. Remnick

This book so far(I am half way through)is an interesting, detailed, and fairly objective look at a fascinating individual, Barack Obama. It gives the reader a clear picture of how truly amazing his rise to the Presidency has been. It's so improbable that one would not believe it unless it happened, which it did. It begins with a portrait of Hawaii, where Barack was born, to a Kenyan father and an 18 year old mother, a freshmen at UH, who had recently moved to Hawaii with her parents. His parents soon divorce, as the father leaves the family after less than a year, not to return for 10 years. His mother soon marries a Muslim from Indonesia, also a student at UH. They move to Indonesia, where his mother immerses herself in a foreign culture, the beginning of her passion for 'learning about and understanding the 'other.' Barack ends up at both a Muslim school, where he is identified as a Muslim, because that's what his step father was, and he also goes to a catholic school. He fits in fairly well, though he never learns the language. He does develop a sense for another culture, an appreciation for its diversity, and it is built upon when he returns to Hawaii, to attend Punahou and live with his grandparents for the next six years, till he graduates and goes to Occidental. Much is made of the fact that he does not have the typical black experience, one of having been brought up in a ghetto, with the encumbrances that brings, a sense of victimization, of anger toward the white community, of 'us versus them'. Because he goes to Punahou, and his mother is white, he seems to glide through school, well liked and liking most everyone, though as he gets into the upper school, he begins to identify with Blacks, though the school has few black students. He does well enough in his studies, plays basketball, his passion for much of his life, and has three or four good friends, mostly Asian, and only one good black friend, who tries to school him in blackness. In his book, he looks back at this period as somewhat uncomfortable for him, though most people who knew or taught him never sensed this. It's the beginning of his keeping his feelings and emotions to himself, rarely letting others see his true self. He goes to Occidental, a preppie at first, but begins to fit in with the black students, develop a sense of his identity as a black man, and gravitate towards some of the political rallies at the time, mainly the boycotting of South Africa. He makes little impact on the campus, but it's a formative two years, as he leaves much more serious about life, his studies, and his future. He heads to Columbia, holes up in a small apartment, and spends most of his next two years, living like an ascetic (defintely a part of his personality), studying, and getting serious about his life. He continues to refine his sense of self, identify with the Black community, and his roots in Kenya as well as Kansas and Hawaii.

After graduating, he takes a brief job working in an office in New York, but decides to get involved with the underclass and try to effect change from the grassroots. He ends up in Chicago, working in the poor neighborhoods, organizing and educating people about their rights and needs. It's an almost impossible job, one that burns out many individuals, but its a tribute to Barack and his care that he sticks at it for two years. It's the beginning of his political education, as he gets to know, for the first time, the 'underlcass', understand their problems, and empathize with their plight. and he makes his first of many connections with the Chicago political world, a must if you want to get ahead in politics. He impresses all with whom he works, but all also realize that this will not be his life's work, that he will be moving on. He does...matriculating to Harvard Law where he becomes the second black editor ever for the Law Review. He's respected by all his classmates, even the conservatives, and because he gets along with them, as well as his white classmates, and does not hang out only with his black classmates, he gets elected. Also all who knew him then talk about his ability to listen to all sides, to make people feel as though they are really being listened to. He impresses on only his classmates but his teachers, all who seem to know him; his peers even suggest that the faculty seemed to treat him differently, as if he were almost on their level because of his calm, rational, easy way of dealing with the issues. He leaves Harvard, turns down many offers to clerk for important judges, and ends up at a law firm in Chicago, one which takes on cases involving the rights of the poor, and also ends up teaching at the University of Chicago. He enjoys both of these, and is given wide rein, as he also is writing his first book during this time. He seems to get a great deal of lattitude denied others, as if everyone seems to think he is worth allowing to go his own way. During this time, he makes friends with most of the power brokers in Chicago politics, especially a result of Valerie Jerrett, who seems to be the grand dame of Chicago politics, moving easily between the white liberal elites on the North Shore, and the black community. During this time Obama marries, joins the Reverend Wrights church, and seems to settle down and become fairly middle class. Things change when he decides to run for State Senator, a powerless and futile position, in Chicago politics. He wins but only after an ugly court case, where he proves his predecessor has doctored some of her voters on a petition to run for office. It's pretty clear that if he had lost this suit, she would have beaten him. This is his first dip into politics and though he is resented at first by his fellow black democrats because of his elite credentials, his lack of perceived blackness, and his ability to gain support from the power elite, he ignores them, makes connections with white liberals and conservatives, as well as black politicians, and works tirelessly, as always for his cause.

THE ONE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY: Richard Morais

Morais, the foreign correspondent for Forbes over the past twenty years, combines his insights as an ex-patriot with his love of food, telling the story of Hassan Haji, an Indian Muslim, brought up in Mumbai. We get a taste of Mumbai in the early 70's, as his parents open a restaurant in the poorer part of town, where Hassan first develops his interest in food. Unfortunately, as times change, as the property becomes more valuable, the Haji's are victims of an Hindu pogrom, and Hassan watches his mother burn to death in her automobile. As a result, Papa moves the family first to London, then to a small town in the French mountains, where most of the story takes place. London is brief, though the family seems to have quite a bit of money, the result of selling the property in Mumbai to developers, a typical rags to rich story. Their departure from London, where Hassan learns about life, is abrupt, when the family learns that he has been sleeping with his cousin. She is sent back to Mumbai,recriminations ensue, and Papa decides to take them elsewhere, ending up in France. He buys a crumbling villa, across the street from a two star, prim, old school French hotel/restaurant called Le Saule Pleureur, run by the tyrannical, old school Madame Mallory. The conflict arises when the Haji's open Maison Mumbai across the street, a Bollywood type of restaurant, complete with Indian disco. As the two vie for the foodies, M. Mallory ends up rushing into the kitchen of Maison Mumbai, recognizes that Hassan 'has it,' the gift for cooking, and in anger, but accidently, knocks over a pot that burns Hassan, sending him to the hospital. This is the epiphany in her life, as she begins to realize her lack of humanity, tries to repair her relations with the Haji's and Hassan. Gradually, she recognizes Hassan's greatest, begs Papa, to let Hassan come and work for her, which he eventually does, learning all the techniques necessary to be a great chef. He eventually leaves her restaurant, moves to Paris, where because of her covert connections, he ends working for a great chef. He eventually opens his own restaurant, again with the help of M. Mallory, eventually receiving a three star as the book ends, a triumph in a sense, though filled with conflict, tragedy, racism, but also ultimately humanity and love. Not a page turner, but worth reading, especially if you enjoy food and being put in another culture for a few hundred pages.

THE GOOD SON: Michael Gruber

A somewhat implausible thriller, though it has its moments of interest, especially when dissecting the relationship between the West and the Islamic world. The book centers on a kidnapping taking place in Pakistan by Taliban style terrorists. A group of peaceniks, hoping to bridge the gap between terrorism and the West, ignorantly travels to the outskirts of Karachi, get kidnapped, and then are ransomed for their one billionaire hostage, a clone for Bill Gates I suppose. Ironically, one of the women kidnapped is Sonia, a former circus child/performer, who, in order to get out of her closeted life, jumps at the chance to marry Farid, a wealthy Pakistania, here in America to study. She returns with him to his family in Pakistan, to their dismay, has a child Theo, who she promptly leaves, to follow a holy man in to Northern Asia. The marriage dissolves, though she returns for a time, to see her son/step family, and continue ties with Theo’s best friend, the family’s caretaker’s son.
We leave the kidnapping to follow her son Theo, who we find was a child/mujadeen, fighting the Russians, before his mother, realizing who he is, has the US govt kidnap him and return him to America. He becomes Americanized, goes to college, eventually enlists in the army, and becomes part of an elite Special Forces group. When he finds out about his mother’s kidnapping, he creates a faux crisis on the internet, with help of his cousins, alerting the CIA to the possible bomb making capabilities of the group who kidnaps his mother, hoping the US will intervene.

This ruse works, though a CIA expert, Cynthia Lam, a voice recognition expert, realizes it’s a hoax, tries to convince her superiors of its inauthenticity. Theo’s cousins realize this, disrupt her bank account, email, and deposit a large amount of money in her account , making it look as if she is working for terrorists. The CIA arrest her, interrogate her, until they realize it’s a mistake, but too late. Theo ends up heading a group who rescue his mother, but he finds that the terrorist leader is none other than his best friend, a mole for the CIA in Pakistan. No one is what they seem, clearly, and his mother has been a covert operative for many years. Theo finds this unsettling to the say the least, is retired from the Special Forces for his charade, returns to Pakistan to work for his rich relatives as security, and it ends with him meeting up with Cynthia Lam, and we are led to believe they will end up together and in love.
Much of the interest of the novel rests in the kidnappers, their torturing of Sonia, who ability to connect with her kidnappers, by being able to interpret their dreams, a some what bizarre and hard to believe quality. It is an effective vehicle to humanize the terrorists, to offer insight into their lives, to their needs and desires, their motivation. She eventually saves all but two of the kidnapped Westerners, and orchestrates the decision of who is sacrificed to the demands. She seems to be in control but is also tortured and almost dies as a result.

The book makes you wonder why we (the US and West) have ever gotten involved in this part of the world, as we end up creating only havoc, hatred, death for many of the inhabitants of these parts of the world, witness Vietnam, Iraq, and now Afghanistan. It also makes clear that though part of the motivation may be noble, there are always the other sides, those who use this war to make money, to gain power, to manipulate the lives of the ‘other.’, who do most of the suffering. Gruber understands this about as well as any writer, and uses his characters to voice these opinions, especially Sonia as she spars with her kidnappers over theory and philosophy, part of the reason Grub er has her kidnapped and become their dream’s interpreter. It’s not a great book but it did keep my interest till the end.

REBEL LAND: Christopher De Bellaigue

This a book I read with varying degrees of interest; when he was in the first personal, talking about his personal experiences with the various ethnic groups, it was interesting. When he would go off and start cataloging the history of one massacre or uprising after another, it was repetitious and not as interesting. He is an amazing individual, for his patience and perseverance in spending three years on and off in a small village called Varto, in Eastern Turkey. Before becoming interested in what happened to the Armenians and other ethic groups in the early part of the twentieth century, he lived in Istanbul, enjoying it fruits, refining his Turkish, becoming a Turkophile so to speak. The book is about how he goes beneath this superficial, even sybaritic view of Turkey, to discover the truth about its early history, its treatment of various minorities in the East, first the Armenians, then the Alevis (an offshoot of Shia, but more tolerant, human,less severe, and the Kurds. The fact that he speaks fluent Turkish allows him into the homes and offices of various people in Varto, but for the most part, he discovers they are suspicious, of his intentions, and ultimately, when they do speak, there memory is clouded by myth, forgetfulness, lies or fabrications, and fear of the past, what unearthing will bring. He finds very little of the Armenian culture left, as churches and buildings and homes have been destroyed, built over, and used as building materials for new homes. Because there has been such unrest and violence and fear, few of the three groups have gotten a long, and with the exception of the Armenians destructions in 1915 or genocide, there seems to be constant war between the Kurds, the Alevis, and the Turkish govt and its troops. The Kurds seem to be the most violent, the hardest to rule, as they continually harass the armies, for a good half of century, and to a greater or lesser degree, rebel and then coexist. None of these groups comes off very well, though the Armenians are no longer present, except in the relatives, who live in the US and Europe. De Bellaigue seems to avoid the word genocide, though he knows there has been much violence and death, whether using Turkish stats or Armenians. He is equally suspicious of both, though he seems to make most fun of the Turkish stats, their official refusal to own up to large killings. He does, however, make it clear that things were in flux at this period; that the Armenians slaughtered many Turks as well, and at times, their armies controlled large parts of Turkey before the rise of Ataturk and the establishment of Turkey. He puts the blame on all sides, really, though the Turks seem to be the most harsh, perhaps as they fought to establish a country, feared the rise of Armenia and Kurds. There govts have been intolerant of any ethnic minorities over the past 50 years, emphasizing the idea of Turkishness, refusing to admit the idea of Kurdishness or Alevis, though in fact they existed. The book ends with things better in the present then ever before, especially for the Kurds and Alevis, though the Armenians and the idea of Christianity still seems forbidden for the most part, though I read in today's newspaper that a Christian service was held for the first time today in a monastery outside of Trabazon, with over a 1000 attendees, to celebrate the birth of the virgin Mary. The Turks gave special dispensation, this once, for this to happen. The fact that it had to be 'oked' by the Turks suggests the lack of tolerance overall in this country for other religions, The book is worth reading for most Turkophiles, though I would assume someone ignorant of most of Turkish history would find it a bore. Very few people stood out in the book, though it was filled with names that are perhaps dear to the Kurds or Alevis, mostly because they were renowned for their fighting abilities.

MISCONCEPTION: Ryan Boudinot

The title pretty well describes this book, a retrospective of the teenage years of one Cedar Rivres, his falling in love with the curious Kat, there meeting twenty years later, in an upstate New York hotel, because Kat has written a story/memoir of those couple of years and wants Cedar to sign off on it. Cedar first attracts Kat's attention when, during biology class, he brings in his own sperm for viewing under the microscope. This begins their relationship, fast and hard and sexual, until they find out that Kat is pregnant. This begins the conflict, between the two, the misconception, as Cedar things the step father to be did it, and Kat's decision to end their relationship. During all of this, Cedar's parents divorce, we learn the story of Kat's mother's life, her marriage, to Kat's father, Jerry, a septic tank cleaner, and the relative security and boredom of George, her husband to be. As we move towards this marriage, between George, who Cedar thinks impregnated Kat, and Kat's mother, the righteous,dangerous misconception grows, as Cedar tells Kat's father Jerry, who arrives at the wedding reception and shoots both George and himself. The novel ends with the two forty year olds saying goodby, without hooking up, not sure of what happened twenty years ago, but perhaps much wiser now that they have thought back over the events that led to these two terrible deaths, the end of their relationship, the wrong that we often do to those we love for reasons with ultimately cannot fathom until it's too late. An interesting book, easy enough to read, as I wanted to come back to it, and it has some of the agonies of youth, emotional, physcial, and sexual. It certainly makes us aware of the truth of unintended consequences, a result of jealousy, unrequited love, and poor judgment.