LitPicks - July '08

A Lighter Touch | Wonderfully Written | Great Works       




Blink
Malcolm Gladwell, 2005
265 pp.

By Molly Lundquist
We're smarter than we know, according to this engaging book. In his second non-fiction book, Gladwell (The Tipping Point) writes about the part of our brains that lets us know things without knowing how we know.

It turns out our intuitive hunches—or rapid cognition—can be more dependable than the high-powered reasoning part of our brains. Gladwell offers some fascinating examples—from discerning a museum fake or the health of a marriage to winning elaborate Pentagon war games.  

This is an interesting read, packed with thought-provoking information and anecdotes. At times it seems contradictory and as if Gladwell is using a bit of filler to push the covers farther apart. But that's okay because it's fun-going and, for book clubs, offers opportunities for good discussion . . . especially the section on diagnosing relatioships. I enjoyed Blink (as in knowledge you intuit . . . in the blink of an eye) quite a bit.

See our Readers' Guide for Blink.

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The Lovely Bones
Alice Sebold, 2003

By Molly Lundquist
I've owned this book since it came out in 2003—but am only now getting around to it.

The reason (I suspect for others, too) is that the subject was just too gruesome: the murder of a 14-year-old girl. Also, in 2003 my daughter was the same age as the murdered Suzie. Just couldn't get past the opening lines.

But finally I did. If you're like me, just take a deep breath and plow through the opening chapter—you'll find you can't put the book down.

At its most basic level, The Lovely Bones is about how family and friends cope with every parent's worst nightmare. For the next 8 1/2 years, Suzie looks down from heaven as her father and police attempt to find her murderer. As our narrator, Suzie is omniscient, with the ability to see into the hearts and minds of all, tracing their descent into grief and back out again.

On another level, the story is a retelling of the Persephone / Demeter myth. For those unfamiliar: Hades, god of the underground, reaches up out of the earth to snatch and rape young Persephone. Her mother Demeter, goddess of agriculture, wanders the earth in sorrow, searching for her daughter.

As Demeter grieves, all plant life on earth withers and dies, until Zeus steps in to bargain a deal whereby Hades agrees to release Persephone for 6 months every year. Her return to earth and to her mother heralds regrowth: thus the eternal cycle of spring and winter. The myth provides the novel's framework, and the motifs of the seasons, corn fields, flowers, gardens, growing, sink holes . . . permeate The Lovely Bones. It's exquisitely done.

Sebold's concerns have to do with acceptance, loving and letting go, and with the permeable barrier between the spiritual and physical worlds. There is much in this book that will make for wonderful discussions.

Be sure to check out our Reading Guide for The Lovely Bones.

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The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck, 1939

By Molly Lundquist
It's hard to imagine that a book set during the dust-bowl and great-depression, about a migrant farm family beset with poverty and tragedy (grim subjects at best) would have much appeal. But The Grapes of Wrath is one of America's most beloved works—and a perennial book club favorite.

It's simply a beautiful book. Not only are characters richly drawn, but the narrative concerns—the power of community to affect change, the consequences of greed and self-interest, and the sacredness of everyday life and everyday people—seem particularly apt for today. But then those issues are apt for any era, which is why the book has achieved its iconic status.

As the 9-member Joad family makes its way from Oklahoma to California in search of work, they find that meanness begets meanness and kindness, kindness, a sort of pay-it-forward. As in all stories about journeys, characters change—some grow and mature, others weaken, unable to keep pace with the demands placed on them. In Grapes, Tom and Ma Joad become the work's heroes and moral centers. But we find that what is moral is not always what is lawful . . . and vice versa.

One of Steinbeck's most lyrical interludes is in chapter three—a turtle crossing a road. The episode is a wonderful image—a metaphor for the slow, plodding trek across country by the Joad family and thousands of others in search of sustenance. The chapter also reminds us of Steinbeck's power as a writer. This is a book to love and treasure—a must read.

Don't forget to download LitLovers' The Grapes of Wrath Reading Guide.

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