"NW," by Zadie Smith

Zadie Smith’s “White Teeth” bowled me over. What a window into the multicultural lives of so many in London! What rich, detailed writing! When her second novel, “The Autograph Man,” came out, I had a hard time with it. It seemed dry and – OK, dull. I didn’t get very far into it before abandoning it. But her third novel, “On Beauty,” was riveting. And I savored and learned from her thoughtful essay collection, “Changing My Mind.” Her latest novel, which has just appeared to huge fanfare, is “NW” (Penguin, 2012). (The title refers to a less prosperous section of London.) I heard that the novel was somewhat experimental in form, which discouraged me a bit; I tend to prefer my fiction the old-fashioned way (with exceptions for such transcendent authors as Virginia Woolf). I wavered: should I read it or not? But I did, and I am very glad I did. First, it isn’t actually so very experimental. One character’s – Natalie’s – section is written in 185 mini-chapters, most less than a page long, some only a sentence long. But this is easy to navigate and flows well. Second, “NW” is in some senses an old-fashioned British novel, full of plot and, especially, well-developed characters. It deals with social issues, which I do like, as long as a novel is not too didactic; this one is not. The novel tells the stories of four young people from the “NW” part of London, and their quite different fates. It also tells of the psychological cost of moving among worlds. Natalie in particular, the one who travels farthest from her roots career-wise and money-wise, yet chooses to stay fairly close to those roots geographically, is torn among her various identities until she doesn’t know who she really is. Her situation, and to a lesser degree her friend Leah’s, show both the good and the difficult aspects of moving in and out of different socioeconomic and racial settings. Others of their friends and neighbors pay even steeper prices as they become adults. Smith has said in an interview that from now on, despite having written about the U.S. in “On Beauty,” she will focus her writing on London, the place she knows best. Comparisons have been made to Joyce’s portrayal of Dublin; these are heady comparisons, but I can understand them, as the sense of place in “NW” is so intense, so knowing, so detailed. Reading “NW” makes me curious and eager, already, to know what Smith will write about next, and to read that next novel, whenever we are fortunate enough to have it.

"Tiny Beautiful Things," by Cheryl Strayed

"Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar" (Vintage, 2012), by Cheryl Strayed, might as well be titled "Tiny Jagged Pieces of Heartbreak." Strayed wrote the "Dear Sugar" advice column for the online literature-oriented community, The Rumpus, and this book is a collection of some of the questions and answers published there. There is nothing mundane or light about these questions; they are of the heavy-duty, worst-that-life-can-bring-you type. Sad and abusive childhoods and relationships, horrific losses, and terrible dilemmas are common themes. Strayed, also the author of the wrenching but ultimately inspiring bestselling memoir "Wild" (about which I posted here on 8/4/12), writes the most amazing answers to these questions. She is full of empathy, shares her own experiences generously, and gets to the hard truths of the matter. She always find some hope, some possible way out, but it is honest and hard-won hope, not easy comfort. The online and then the book format allow for long questions and answers, so each of Strayed's answers is a mini-essay, rather than the short, clipped answers provided in most advice columns. Readers will leave the book with great admiration for the way Strayed always -- although not indulging in Pollyannaism -- finds common humanity in every situation. This book is sad and hard to read, yet compelling and life-affirming as well.

The Fun Side of Feminism

Who says feminists don’t have a sense of humor? Gender studies graduate student Danielle Henderson, appreciative of but overwhelmed by the density of much of the feminist theory she was studying, took a break and went to the movies, and then started posting photos of Ryan Gosling on a blog, just for the fun and distraction of it. Soon she started melding her notes on feminist theory with those photos, and suddenly her original five or so blog readers turned into thousands. So she published a small (clearly stated on the cover as “unauthorized”) tongue-in-cheek book, “Feminist Ryan Gosling: Feminist Theory as Imagined from Your Favorite Sensitive Movie Dude” (Running Press, 2012). She admits that “There’s no way to tell if Ryan Gosling is actually a feminist….He hasn’t actually said anything in this book. But he is charming, talented, and intelligent; he has said some things in the media that can be construed as feminist. He loves his mom and takes ballet….It’s not too far-fetched, right?” The book has a different color photo of Gosling on each page, in each of which he has a different expression, tending toward the intense and/or sensitive. Each photo is accompanied by a short ostensible quotation, always beginning with “Hey girl.” The author likes the juxtaposition of the “Hey girl” meme with feminist-related text, calling it hilarious. “I’m not making fun of feminism; I’m having fun with feminism,” she says. Although the premise for the book is flimsy and whimsical, it is best to go with the flow, leaf through the pages, enjoy them, laugh, and maybe at the same time absorb or be reminded of some important feminist points as well. Following are a few quotations to get you started (unfortunately I can’t reproduce the photos of Gosling to accompany the quotes!). “Hey girl. All I want for my birthday is a subscription to Ms. Magazine.” “Hey girl. Is there a merit badge for transcending normative cultural beliefs about femininity?” “Hey girl. I believe Foucault’s theory of marriage is a governmentally developed tool that interferes with the appropriation of land rights and normalizes heterosexuality, but I still want to spend the rest of my life with you.” “Hey girl. Betty Friedan called it ‘the problem with no name,’ but I call it the patriarchy.” “Hey girl. We’d be more successful in reclaiming public space for women if we were willing to address the patriarchal fixtures that made it unsafe in the first place.” “Hey girl. Just listening to you talk about Patricia Hill Collins’ matrix of domination as an ideological tool that reveals the hegemonic social structure makes me thank my lucky stars for you.” Some of the quotations contain literary allusions: “Hey girl. You built a room of your own and a room in my heart.” Other quotes are as much popular culture as feminist theory. For example: “Hey girl. Being a guest on The Rachel Maddow Show might be a pipe dream, but it’s my happy place.” OK, so maybe this is dorky feminist humor, but I got a kick out of it.

Not Quite Sure What This Novel is Really About...

Is it a family story? A glimpse into Washington history? A suspense story? A love story? A portrait of a community that is just a little too involved in each other’s business? A psychological portrait? “You Are the Love of My Life” (W. W. Norton, 2012), a novel by Susan Richards Shreve, is a “good read,” but a little confused and a little contrived. Lucy, the main character, someone with several secrets in her life (about what happened to her father, and about her own children’s father), moves from New York back to her childhood city, Washington, DC. Others in the close-knit neighborhood have their own secrets. Gradually Lucy and her children become more enmeshed in the neighborhood; towards the end of the novel, the secrets gradually come out. I won’t say more, so as not to give any surprises away.

Finally, the Details of Rushdie's Life in Hiding

I can’t imagine what it must have been like for Salman Rushdie to have to hide, in fear of his life, with limited contact with his family, friends, and literary connections, for the many years he was under Khomeini’s fatwa condemning him to death for what was perceived, in his book “The Satanic Verses,” as blasphemy against Islam and its prophet. Now we have a fascinating, gripping and detailed glimpse into Rushdie’s experiences in his current New Yorker (9/17/12) essay titled “The Disappeared.” We read with mounting dread and sympathy of how Rushdie’s life was turned upside down in 1989; he was in hiding (protected by the British government and police) for over nine years, and continued to receive threats even after that. Rushdie’s book, “Joseph Anton,” describing this whole experience, will be out later this month. I have followed this story from the beginning, was fortunate enough to hear Rushdie speak in the San Francisco City Arts and Lectures series a few years ago, and look forward to reading the new book.

"Matrimony," by Joshua Henkin

The title "Matrimony" reminds me of 19th century novels, which in my view is a very good thing; I treasure novels that look deeply into the lives of a small group of people, exploring their relationships, their values, and the events that change them (or don't). This novel (Vintage, 2007) is by Joshua Henkin, author of the more recent novel that I posted (very positively) about on 8/19/12: "The World Without You." It was because I liked that novel so much that I went back and found "Matrimony." The two novels share -- unsurprisingly -- a certain tone and sensibility that I find attractive: thoughtful, modest, probing, understated. "Matrimony"'s subject matter reminds me of that of Eugenides' "The Marriage Plot," but the styles of the two novels are very different. There is something brasher about "The Marriage Plot" that -- although I generally enjoyed the novel -- was a little off-putting to me. (See my post about it on 11/26/11.) I also like the main characters in "Matrimony" better than those in "The Marriage Plot." The four main characters met in college, and the novel follows them for some years after. Julian and Mia fall in love and marry, but suffer some upheavals in their relationship. They also have an ambivalent relationship with their friend Carter. Most of the novel takes place in various college towns. I like the everydayness of the lives described. Big things happen, yes, but somehow the small events of daily life are as interesting as the big ones. Although the novel is of medium length, and covers about 20 years, there is a somewhat leisurely, unrushed quality to the telling of the story, another quality I value.

Sloppy Proofreading

The novel I am reading now contains many errors. In the first few pages, the name of the neighborhood that the main character moves into is spelled two different ways, alternating between the two. The name of another important character is also spelled two different ways. There are other annoying errors, such as an extra space between the last word of a sentence and the period. I know that publishers have had to cut costs, and that there is much less hands-on editing going on than in the past. And I know that at the proofreading level, no matter how carefully a book is proofread, errors can creep in. But there shouldn't be as many errors as there are in this book already, when I am only a quarter of the way into the book. The publisher is a longtime, well-known and respected one (W. W. Norton), so this is no fly-by-night outfit. I have to say, these frequent errors bother me. The more errors I see, the more they bother me, to the extent of interfering with my enjoyment of the novel. Am I being too picky?