The Book of Happenstance by Ingrid Winterbach

Translated by Dirk and Ingrid Winterbach from the Afrikaans



The Book of Happenstance begins with loss, as a linguistic specialist’s home is robbed and defaced, with her precious sea shell collection stolen. While it may appear a minor crime, the shells and the concept of personal loss becomes an underlying theme that weaves the story along and helps address the issues of science, language, and relationships. Going beyond a crime novel, there are elements of social commentary in it that examine the causes and effects of cultural changes.

Helena is a linguist assigned to help put together an Afrikaans dictionary before the language is completely lost. She and her boss painstakingly collect the words, the root meanings and usages, and document the often fascinating intersections of meaning that appear in disparate words. Despite her efforts, the Museum of Natural History where she is working is at the same time removing the Afrikaans books from their collection, only keeping the most popular titles on hand. The battle appears to be a losing one, as trying to preserve the language is costly and time-consuming. Yet the language is much like the shells: evidence of previous and historic life.

After the police appear uninterested in the loss of her shells, she tries to investigate the crime herself, while at the same time fending off the bizarre and rambling phone calls that she begins receiving from an old acquaintance that she can’t quite place, yet who seems to know her every move. The caller brings up old memories, and her life is thrown off balance by the sense of exposure she’s experienced. First her home has been violated, now her memories too are revealed and speculated upon. Helena is forced to examine what the sea shells meant to her, and why their loss is so devastating.

The novel is complex, and I really enjoyed what it had to say about language and the need to curate the past in order to understand it. I took a linguistics class last spring and was fascinated by how each ‘dead’ language still revealed something unique about its speakers. Similarities between completely different languages, and the ways that regional expressions expand or disappear make linguistics a fascinating study, and the examples of Afrikaans shown extensively in this text attest to that.

Yet Helena is, in many ways, an unlikable character. She has an edge that makes her less than sympathetic at times. For example, she schemes to seduce her married boss for no reason other than that she finds it amusing. Gossiping about her coworkers, again for amusement, makes her easy to dislike. As she analyzes her past, it’s clear she’s left a path of destruction that has many victims beyond her own wounds. Yet her behavior is easier to grasp as she continues reflecting on her childhood and the losses she experienced early.

The numerous coworkers at the Museum appeared to me as flat characters, serving only as blank outlines for Helena’s character to react to, instead of being fully developed on their own. This meant that in some scenes, the dialogue between them felt artificial and almost like a caricature of a typical office setting. I glazed over a few times as Helena questions one of her coworkers about the origin of life, which he rattles on about endlessly without much enthusiasm. His own boredom translated into extensive sections that weren’t that compelling and slowed down the narrative to a standstill.

Aside from that, there were some plot threads that seemed to end erratically, making me wonder why they were there in the first place. Some of these had foreshadowing that tricked me into expecting something else, yet instead of becoming a twist they just disappeared. 

Special thanks to Chad Post of Open Letter for the Advance Review Copy.

This title was released June 14, 2011.



The Broken Blue Line by Connie Dial

It's going to be difficult to avoid sounding over-enthusiastic for this novel.  Because seriously, it's very good.  I haven't read this tight of a police procedural in awhile...years actually.  Several factors make it stand out-hopefully I can articulate these enough to explain why this is a great book.  So what's it about? A group of experienced detectives work with the Internal Affairs department to stop a crime spree organized by several lower-ranking officers. These have created a gang that stockpiles weapons and stolen goods and seems unhesitant to use violence against innocent civilians. Los Angeles is a complicated setting for such an investigation, as the freeway traffic and distance between key

locations serves to protect the gang and allow them an easy way to disappear into the city.

The Broken Blue Line has a complex plot with plenty of twists, yet the characters are built well enough to make it interesting.  Many novels, especially a crime novel, sacrifice plot for character buildup or vice versa.  This had an interesting balance of 'regular' policemen solving a crime: no hot shot renegade appears to solve the multi-faceted drama, but rather ordinary and somewhat average guys work together.  Of course, there's the usual friction between top level brass and the detectives in the street, but the author doesn't let that sidetrack the plot.  Best of all, even towards the end, when I usually can guess what will happen, I was totally surprised.  This is because the author, Connie Dial, doesn't go overboard in foreshadowing events, so the tension is propelled forward in a concise, riveting pace that doesn't give anything away.

Another factor is that while the story takes place in Los Angeles, there is no celebrity angle, nor reference to the cliche LA stories that appear in movies or books (no Russian mafia, no Japanese Yakuza, or Chinese triad).  The story is far more realistic and believable, most likely because the author is a former LAPD commanding officer with 27 years on the job.  The level of detail and protocol is precise, and I appreciated more about the details of the officers level of dedication.

I think I especially liked it because, unlike many female authors who write crime, she doesn't make the story all about one fashionably dressed female character who butts heads with her ignorant male coworkers.  In fact, for the most part, the main characters are all male.  Three women, significant to the plot appear, but none are typical.  The Patricia Cornwell books annoyed me, years ago, because it was always her main female character in conflict with her male colleagues in every single book.  The Sue Grafton novels feature some interesting plots, but the wise-guy female character seems to depend more on wit and cutesy tricks than actual detective work.  Then there are the ones who depend on layering their narrative with name-brands and emotional baggage that they feel are essential to make a believable female character.  Lastly, there are some who are incredibly vulgar and/or gory, creating a book more known for being explicit than for a great plot.  This story takes the male/female conflict out of the picture and makes it a complete non-issue.

It's a fast-paced read, with a satisfying conclusion.  There were a few elements that distracted me: one minor and probably petty observation was that most of the characters have names of six letters and are very bland sort of names.  I kept getting Connor and Cullen mixed up, and other similarities in the names of characters was a minor annoyance.  At one point, there seemed to be a minor plot discrepancy that stopped me in my tracks going, huh?  Lastly, the lead detective, Mike Turner, while wise on the job is especially knuckleheaded in his relationship with his ex-girlfriend who plays mind games endlessly.  But in all, I enjoyed the little bit of escape it provided, and not having to dive into a bunch of gore was refreshing.  It'd be a great movie!

Special thanks to the Permanent Press for the Advance Review Bound Galley.

The Homecoming Party by Carmine Abate

Translated from the Italian by Antony Shuggar

Caution: Do not read while hungry. Heavy emphasis on Italian food delicacies will leave you a bit weak.

The Homecoming Party tells the story of a father and son, and their close relationship despite geographic distance. It tells of the childhood of Marco, a boy who grows up mostly in the care of his mother and grandmother because lack of work required his father to travel to France. This leaves him as the man of the house essentially, although his older half-sister and baby sister ignore him. His father’s infrequent visits are the focus of his life; he spends most of his year awaiting them. His days are filled with school, exploring the rural region with his dog, and playing soccer with his friends.

While they live in Italy, they are ethnically an Albanian village that still speaks the Arbereshe language. It’s from this home region that his father must journey to France, accepting horrifying work conditions just to be able to send money home. He remains faithful to his family, and the distance tears at him. It’s in his absence that his oldest daughter starts to behave strangely, and begins distancing herself from the family.

The story begins with the father returning to the yearly Christmas bonfire in the small village. He’s happy to be home, and generous with food and gifts for the villagers. However, as father and son sit to observe the flames, they discuss the peculiar events of his sister, and flashbacks occur that explain the closer connection between father and son.

This fairly simple story packs an unexpected punch. First, it reminds you of similar people who have to travel to distant lands for work and basic sustenance, and the danger it puts the family in. It also reminds you that danger can be present anywhere, and not just found on a distant shore. Lastly, the power of language, even the difference between a dialect and a language, is revealed in some of the complexities that occur: a battle between the old world and modernization leaves little place for variance.

The plot is strong, as it backtracks through events, and the alternating voices reveal more than just what the child or the father may have understood on their own. A few times, however, I had to back up a several pages to figure out who was speaking, and also get back on track with the timeline of events.  Since the father and son are the focus, very little was drawn out about the women in the family and what influenced them: I wish that had been expanded on a bit more as I think it would have helped explain some of the issues. The descriptions of the scenery, and the simple details of family life and delicious food create a lovely backdrop for the moral issues in play.

Special thanks to Europa Editions for the Review Copy.

Saturday videos

For cat lovers, this made me, my boys, AND the baby laugh:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1qHVVbYG8Y

From Aquila Polonica http://www.polandww2.com/ (no laughs here):

Siege:  Arriving in Warsaw a week after the Nazi German invasion of Poland, American photojournalist Julien Bryan was the only neutral reporter who remained in the city. He survived two weeks of devastating bombardment—risking his life over and over again to record this unprecedented new form of warfare: Blitzkrieg, Adolf Hitler's "Lightning War"—and the agony and bravery of Warsaw’s civilians under the merciless German attack.  This was amazing but incredibly sad too...knowing these scenes were real.  It's not long but the DVD has extra features... Special thanks to Debra Gendel of Aquila Polonica for the DVD and the stack of books (upcoming reviews!)...

Currently on Netflix:

180 South (documentary that combines surfing, mountain climbing, Chile, sailing, and gorgeous photography in one fascinating story):
Inspired by pioneering outdoorsman Yvon Chouinard's freewheeling 1968 van trip to Patagonia, South America, a band of bliss-seeking surfer-mountaineers sets out -- in 2007, by boat -- to remake the journey in this adventure documentary. Jeff Johnson and his buddies hug the coast, stopping at the Galapagos Islands and Easter Island before arriving in Patagonia -- a region that's still breathtaking but is now besieged by environmental threats.

Objectified:
Described on Netflix as:
Discover how manufactured objects that surround us such as cars, phones and chairs influence our daily lives with this revealing documentary, which features top industrial designers discussing their creative processes and professional objectives. Director Gary Hustwit (Helvetica) explores not only how objects get made, but also why they make us feel the way they do and how they can make our world better.  Translation:  really cool documentary on design in everyday life.

Finally, a really neat poem from Zephyr Press:

DOOR LANGUAGES

Zafer Şenocak
From the German by Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright
from Door Languages I

Doors don't say much to those who disclose nothing
once the inhabitants of a city that no longer exists
introduced a door language

Closed
Open
Left ajar

With or without latch
Locked
Pick-locked
in different colors
each door had its own meaning
that was long ago


today it doesn't rest so much on the door
but on the keys
on the one whose hand holds the keys
at the moment of arrival

who can find the patience to learn a new door language
there are more languages than people
the keys are in the pocket
the code in the mind


if necessary the door is kicked open