"French Lessons," by Ellen Sussman

The blurbs on the back cover of Ellen Sussman’s “French Lessons” (Ballantine, 2011) lead the reader to believe the novel will be a frothy, fun, sexy romp through Paris. And there is definitely that element. The main characters also, though, bring much sadness and loss to the events of one day in Paris, and the main theme of the novel seems to be a kind of renewal and redemption experienced by the characters, each in her or his own way. There are six main characters: three French tutors and three clients of those tutors. Each pair of characters – a tutor and a tutee – has a chapter; the story is framed by introductory and concluding chapters about the three tutors, who meet at the end of every day and have their own complicated relationships. The idea of teaching a language through strolling through a city, speaking in the target language, and flirting madly, is intriguing if unorthodox. And the conversations and the Paris experiences are certainly enjoyable to read about. The story reminds me of the (excellent) movie, “Before Sunset,” (a sequel to “Before Sunrise”) in which Ethan Hawke and Julia Delpy play a couple walking through Paris in nonstop conversation. I have to say that some of the characters can be a bit annoying in their self-preoccupation, but perhaps they are just fallible human beings trying to get through the days and figure out what they want in life. In any case, this novel is great fun to read, evokes the beauty and romance of Paris that we all love to read about, and is well written.

Gender Stereotyping?

Re-reading my 8/6/11 review of Adam Ross’ “Ladies and Gentlemen,” I see that I used terms such as tough, violent, vigorous, strong, sure, both about the characters and about the author’s writing. I note that these are words traditionally used more often about males and male writing than about females and female writing. I like to think that these words just happened to be appropriate for this particular writer’s stories, and not that I automatically viewed the stories differently because the author is male. And it is true that most of the narrators and main characters in Ross’ stories are male. But they are (mostly) not macho-style stereotypically male, in the way that Hemingway’s characters and writing are, for one of many possible examples. What I am trying to figure out, and get at here, is which comes first, the maleness or the perception of maleness? Do I use words like those listed above because the stories elicit them, or do I go into the stories expecting to find these kinds of stereotypically male characters and characteristics and writing styles? If this book were exactly the same but had been written by a woman, would I perceive it and write about it the same way? But I don't use these kinds of words about all books by male writers. What makes the difference? Of course these are questions that have been asked and explored by many; I don’t claim they are original. But my choice of words when writing about this book for some reason brought these questions to the fore for me. I don’t know the answers to the questions, but it is good for all of us to be aware of possible automatic, unconscious biases that lead us to frame literary work in a certain way.

"If You Knew Then What I Know Now," by Ryan Van Meter

Ryan Van Meter’s “If You Knew Then What I Know Now” (Sarabande, 2011) is a set of connected autobiographical essays, focusing on the author’s gay identity and the long process of coming out to himself and then to others. The essays are honest, moving, and sometimes quite funny. Van Meter, who teaches at the same university I do (University of San Francisco), is an engaging writer. His stories of his childhood are all about his own innocence and his many years of denial about his sexuality, despite being teased and called “faggot” by classmates and others. What helped him get through that difficult period, it seems, was his loving parents. Although they didn’t quite know how to respond to their “different” son, they were unwavering in their love and support, and he dedicates this book to them. I heard Van Meter read from this book at a recent author event on campus, and he has a candid, humorous demeanor. It seems that writing about himself, his relationships, and his life has been therapeutic for him as well as informative, touching, consciousness-raising, and even entertaining for his readers and listeners.

Oops….I Forgot the Spoiler Alert!

The other day I made the kind of mistake no reader likes others to make: I gave away the ending of a novel to someone still reading it. I can’t believe I did that! I was talking with my daughter, M, about Jane Austen’s novel “Emma,” which she has been reading on her commute to work. (And I won’t make the same mistake again here, so if you, dear reader, haven’t read “Emma” and think you might read it someday, please stop reading this post now.) This is how it happened: Our discussion of “Emma” reminded me to tell M about my 7/31/11 post on how the author of the book “Agewise” theorized that Austen’s character Emma’s father had early dementia. I went on to say, as I did in the post, that Emma accepted her responsibility to take care of her father, despite knowing that it would probably keep her from marrying; I obliviously continued, saying that only because Knightley was willing to move into Emma’s house with her and her father was it possible for Emma to marry. Just as I made that last point, my daughter looked at me exasperatedly and pointed out that she had not finished the novel yet, and I had just given away the ending! I felt terrible, and apologized profusely. She was mildly annoyed with me, but took it well; she said she could see the ending coming, but wryly remarked that she would have preferred to discover it on her own. I think I am so immersed in the world of the Austen novels that I forget -- even though I knew it perfectly well in this case, and we had JUST been talking about it! -- that not everyone already knows the plots of the six novels backwards and forwards. I am thankful that my daughter wasn’t too upset, and I will try not to ever do that again! (Note that my book reviews, like all book reviews, describe a few plot points, but do not give away endings.)

"The Spoken Word: British Writers"

I saw an magazine ad for a CD set that included Virginia Woolf's voice, and was surprised and excited that her voice had been preserved....I had to have it! So I ordered the British Library's 3-CD set, "The Spoken Word: British Writers" (2008) containing excerpts from speeches and interviews from BBC radio shows. The earliest of these date back to the mid-1930s. The 30 authors on the CDs include (in chronological order of their birth dates, as they are arranged on the CDs) Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling, Somerset Maugham, E.M. Forster, P.G. Wodehouse, Virginia Woolf, J.R.R. Tolkien, Aldous Huxley, Noel Coward, Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, Nancy Mitford, William Golding, Anthony Burgess, Muriel Spark, Doris Lessing, and Harold Pinter. As I knew I would be, I was thrilled to hear Virginia Woolf speaking. I also thoroughly enjoyed hearing many of the other writers. They speak about their writing, their lives, their reputations, and more. One of the most inspiring was, to my surprise, Rudyard Kipling, who spoke eloquently about how "the word" is the one way that human experience is carried from one generation to another. Also inspiring was E.M. Forster, who gave a timeless message: laissez faire is a bad concept for the economy and a good concept for "morality" (meaning, for example, that it prevents censorship and laws restricting individual freedom). I highly recommend this fascinating and literarily significant CD set. It is available from the British Library Online at http://shop.bl.uk/.

"Ladies and Gentlemen: Stories," by Adam Ross

The short story reading continues....I just finished a new collection of stories, each of which burst out and grabbed my attention. The book is "Ladies and Gentlemen: Stories" (Knopf, 2011), by Adam Ross. The stories are gripping and immediate. Most of the narrators are male; reading the stories, I alternated between feeling I was able to get inside the characters' minds, and then suddenly feeling I didn't know them at all. The latter feeling is partly due to the surprise endings of some of the stories. The writing is vigorous and at the same time intimate, with even the tough male characters showing their vulnerabilities. My favorite story was one of the longest, "Middleman." The narrator and main character is a 13-year-old, Jacob, who lives in New York City and tells of his relationships with his two best friends, the sister of one of the friends, and his own father. Although it is not foregrounded, the relationship with his father is particularly touching. Jacob also explores what it means to be Jewish; although his family is non-observant, he is drawn to learn more about the Jewish part of his identity, especially when he sees how others position him as Jewish, and his father tries to give him information and help him understand. Jacob is also learning about girls through his infatuation with his friend Kyle's older sister, Elsa, who alternately ignores him and uses him for his ability to introduce him to the world of modeling for commercials. Some of the other stories, with adult characters, are more fraught in different ways, focusing on male longing, awkward relationships among men, the nature of marriage, connections and misunderstandings across social class divides, what we don't know about our relatives and friends, violence, betrayal, and more. Interestingly, the author gives the last word, in the last story, "Ladies and Gentlemen," to a female character. Sara is a busy journalist, wife, and mother in her late thirties who is trying to decide whether to drop everything, at least for a brief time, to have an affair with a man she almost had an affair with in college. A part of her feels this is her last chance, in a life that has grown too predictable, to make up for the missed opportunity 20 years earlier, and to do something daring and intense, something just for herself. On her way to meet her prospective lover, she has a conversation with another man on the plane that makes her hesitate. This story is a fascinating meditation on marriage, connections, choices, missed opportunities, and commitment. Ross is a writer who has complete control of his material; his writing is strong and sure. Finishing the collection, I feel I have just visited a very different and yet strangely familiar world.

Guest Post: Podcasts of Short Stories

In response to my noting with a bit of surprise how many short story collections were included on my list (8/1/11) of "Highly Recommended" recent books, my friend Sonja e-mailed me as follows (I post her e-mail here with her permission):

"Stephanie, thanks for your interesting reviews and blog. I do prefer novels to short stories, which is strange because I have written short stories (unpublished) myself and enjoy the form as a writer. I just wanted to say however that I have gotten a new appreciation for reading short stories through the New Yorker's podcasts of stories read by various writers. I have discovered some writers I want to read through listening to these fabulous stories (some of the writers are on your list). You can get the podcasts for free from itunes. I found the listening and the discussion afterwards to be excellent experiences."

(This is Stephanie writing again): You can also get the podcasts directly from The New Yorker, and either listen to them online or download them; either way they are free. Each month a contributor chooses a story from the New Yorker archives and reads it. For example, to tie these podcasts in with this blog's two recent posts on John Cheever: you can listen to one of my favorite contemporary writers, Anne Enright, reading Cheever's "The Swimmer." The Guardian UK has a similar collection of podcasts of short stories. The two web addresses are below. These are wonderful resources, and it is a pleasure to hear the stories read aloud. Thanks, Sonja, for drawing our attention to this great way of experiencing terrific fiction!)

http://www.newyorker.com/online/podcasts/fiction

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/series/short-stories-podcast