Trust, Hernan Diaz

 

Trust by Hernan Diaz

Started: 10/5/2023
Completed: 10/8/2023
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: The Pulitzer Prize

Words for which I sought help:

sauternes -- a French sweet wine from Sauternes in the Graves section of Bordeaux.

Review:

What an amazing book.  A story within a story within a story within a story.  Yep, that many layers.  And each story teller has an interesting and distinctive way of telling their own story.  I cannot imagine what it took to put this story together but I was riveted.  Simply awesome.

The War of the Poor, Éric Vuillard

 

The War of the Poor by Éric Vuillard

Started: 8/21/2022

Completed: 8/25/2022

Recommendation: Not recommended

Recommended By: Not sure...I thought that this book was mentioned by Thomas Picketty, but maybe it was the Man Booker prize listing

Review:

This is an eloquent and smoothly generated tale of a series of efforts over hundreds of years for the poor to overcome the rich.  Hint:  It still has not worked.  Vuillard is eloquent, but the story is sad and the links between tales thin.  I really did not enjoy it and will soon forget these men and what they tried (valiantly) and failed to do.

Such a Fun Age, Kiley Reid

 

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Started: 8/11/2022
Completed: 8/14/2022
Recommendation: Not recommended
Recommended By: New York Time Best Seller

Review:

I had trouble relating to the characters in this book.  The vague loss of direction, sort of finding one's self, is not something I really understand and it is not explained in this book.  It is expected, however, that one understands these characters as they search for themselves without really looking.  Maybe the story is that the characters were just shallow.  Anyway, I did not enjoy this book.

Normal People, Sally Rooney

Normal People by Sally Rooney showed up on so many top 10 lists for 2019, I added it to mine.  A television series is due based on the book in 2020.

Started: 1/24/2020
Completed: 1/27/2020
Recommendation: Not Recommended
Recommended By:  A top 10 list

Review:

This book has its moments and I did get something from it.  I enjoyed the occasional insight, such as, "...the same imagination needed to be a reader is needed to understand normal people and to relate to them..."  On the whole, however, I left the book uncomfortable.  There is a strong theme of a submissive woman who seems to seek abuse.  It is a sad and disturbing character trait to me.  Everyone gets to have their own sexual thing, but abuse seems just wrong to me.

In many ways I like the female protagonist and found things about her to which I could relate.  At the same time, the vast insecurity of the male protagonist was something I immediately saw in myself, but the cycles of mild abuse between him and the female protagonist made me uncomfortable.  While the book does find a way for a female submissive and a male non-dominant to find a way to make things work, it just left me uncomfortable.  It is not my cup of tea and it was so disconcerting that I can not recommend this book.