CHEMISTRY by Weike Wang

3 Stars

Life choices. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

1. How academia screwed you over.
Well, you want to relive your postgraduate years? Or even better, the wasted years before you said, "Screw it!" and bailed. Revel in the masochistic torture.

2. How your family baggage drags you down.
The good, the bad, and the ugly. Family, there's nothing like it.

A year into our dating, Eric says he wants to understand me and not just from a distance or through what he calls my ten-inch thick bulletproof glass.
Behind this glass, he says, he found more glass.

3. How as a female there is a constant battle between self and couplehood, a sacrifice of self.
The choices of a relationship or no relationship. That moment when you realize that you're both not on the same track anymore and veering further off course from each other. Love and caring has nothing to do with the impending failure--you're drifting.

All three together? The triumvirate of relationship silver bullets. You're going down.

I don't know if this is interesting to others or not. Anyone who's been through the grad student process is going to feel empathy, the science focus is how it's framed, but the underlying strains aren't different. You know, the circle jerk of academia.

I guess the unique viewpoint is more the Chinese American lens. The stereotypes and the cultural differences, especially the familial obligations and deference of self for the whole, which is in many ways antithetical to the American ideal that is sold as the gold standard.

Then, there's the issue of being female and trying to determine yourself as a separate entity from your significant other. The struggle to be a Person and not just part of a couple. I like the discussion about it between two friends; their different lives and choices.

Please just stop and let me catch up. How do you expect me to marry you if you never let me catch up? 

This isn't a happy story. Then again, a lot of life isn't. Definitely worth reading if ANY of the three points above interest you.

Parting thought:

The optimist sees the glass half full. The pessimist sees the glass half empty. The chemist sees the glass completely full, half in a liquid state, half in a gaseous state, both of which are probably poisonous. 

DEXTER IN THE DARK by Jeff Lindsay

3 Stars

I really should have liked this more.

I stood up. It was all too much. I could not even meet my own expectations, and to be asked to deal with all theirs was too suffocating. 

Dexter's growth during this book is good, a solid advancement of his character rather than just rinse and repeat that afflicts so many series. The majority of it is driven by external forces, Dexter's interaction with other characters, but in this episode the Dark Passenger takes center stage.

I closed my eyes and listened to the novel emotions gurgling through me. Feeling--what authentic human fun. Next, I could join a bowling league.

Dexter's relationship with Rita is advancing rapidly and her children, Astor and Cody are looking forward to their new father.

And even worse, I could tell that somehow it had become my problem; the children expected me to bail them out, and Rita was clearly prepared to lock and load and open fire on me. 

The thing that did not work for me was the heavy-handed omniscient viewpoint. I found it too fantastical and a clumsy attempt at explaining the Dark Passenger and the story would have been fine without it. It was dissatisfying.

Words to live by:

"No, it's not fair," I said. "Nothing in life is fair. Fair is a dirty word and I'll thank you not to use that language around me."

DEAR IJEAWELE, OR A FEMINIST MANIFESTO IN FIFTEEN SUGGESTIONS by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

3.5 Stars

People will selectively use "tradition" to justify anything.

Simply put and well-stated. The epistolary format of feminist tenets worked beautifully, especially for those still trying to grasp the essentialism of it. It's really not hard, most of it is humanism that emphasizes not privileging gender.

Your feminist premise should be: I matter. I matter equally.

WITHOUT qualifiers.

The second tool is a question: Can I reverse X and get the same results?

Or as the adage goes, sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. The concept of gender equality is not hard; the execution is the work. And this letter written to the friend and mother of a newborn daughter and that journey that awaits are guideposts.

Personally, there are two that I think are the most difficult to overcome, today. The first is "likability" and frankly, in a social media world, I'm wondering if we're all going backwards. Civility and likability are not the same thing.

Teach her that she is not merely an object to be liked or disliked, she is also a subject who can like or dislike.

The second hurdle entail sexuality and how society frames it different for men and women.

The shame we attach to female sexuality is about control.

We all make mistakes, do things that are less admirable. The key is make amends as necessary and try again. This is it. Life is not a dress rehearsal.

Final thoughts:

Not all women are feminists and not all men are misogynists.

AND...

Saintliness is not a prerequisite for dignity.

EXIT WEST by Mohsin Hamid

3.5 Stars

Mutability and evanescence.

[F]or when we migrate, we murder from our lives those we leave behind.

I thought that it would be a hardcore focus on emigration, and it did revolve around it, but it wasn't the primary objective. The relationship of Saeed and Nadia, their deconstructing world, transverse, and reconstruction and how all these movements affect them and the way they interact is paramount. And I was a little surprised, probably because I didn't read any reviews prior to diving in.

The discussions invoked here are good. The questions and thoughts fomented are interesting without being a sledgehammer to the head. I'm not sure how much I liked this, but I did. I ended up thinking about what does one hold on to, and what does one let go?

Blah...

When you have good books and don't want to read any of them.

LOST BOY by Christina Henry

3.5 Stars

"Peter's idea of fun was considerably more savage than his."

This was a quick read. The first portion of the story reminded me a great deal of LORD OF THE FLIES, albeit more gory and less allegory. The innocence of PETER PAN is twisted into something very dark, here. I don't want to ruin the fun of it, so I'm not going to expand further on the storyline other than to say it does an very interesting job exploring some previously untold backstory.

"They weren't forever young, unless dying when you were young kept you that way for always."

I enjoyed this, but it is not sophisticated; it's an engaging retelling, a twist of the kaleidoscope. I don't think I'll ever reread it, but it was a fun ride. If you like what WICKED did for THE WIZARD OF OZ than you'll like this.

SACRE BLEU: A COMEDY D'ART by Christopher Moore

4 Stars

"Why are you lying on the floor?"
"Solidarity. And we ran out of cognac. This is my preferred out of cognac posture."

Ooh la la! Yes, this is absolutely an art history wankfest. Some of it, actually a good deal of it is startlingly true and there are some liberties taken for the story's sake, but I have to say that all the little toss away lines, the references for Michelangelo, cave paintings in France to Artemisia Gentileschi evidence a great deal of thought and research. The elements work well with the storyline.

"No, a fucking cat. It's a theme, Lucien. The name of the place is Le Chat Noire."
"Yes, but when you did the poster for the Moulin Rouge you didn't do a clown fucking a windmill."
"Sadly, no, they rejected my first drawings. And I'm good friends with one of the clowns there, Cha-U-Kao. She would have modeled for me. She's both a clown and a lesbian. At the same time! Art weeps for the missed opportunity."
"You could still paint her," said Lucien.
"No. She hates cats. But what magnificent symbolism that would be. I tell you, Lucien, these symbolists, Redon and Gaugin, they're on to something."

To successfully mock something requires a familiarity of the material beyond recitation. It necessitates being able to take knowledge and twist it. Moore does a fantastic job creating an engaging mystery set in Post Impressionist Paris. Impressionism and Post Impressionism are not my favorites, so I was surprised that I enjoyed this vision as much as I did. Honestly, I've never had a fond feeling for Toulouse-Lautrec, but this really does a bang up job of presenting an alternate view of him.

"I have done some experiments with absinthe, and I can attest that it has dangerous hallucinogenic powers, in particular the ability to make homely women appear attractive."
"Well, it's eighty percent alcohol and the wormwood in it is poisonous. I suspect what you are seeing are glimpses of your own death."
"Yes, but with exquisite bosoms. How do you explain those?"

The mystery of Bleu, the Sacre Bleu... I'm not going to spoil it. It's good. Definitely entertaining and one can expect that requisite Moore vulgarity, lighthearted attitude towards violence, and wit.

"Forgive me, I didn't realize you were both deaf and a buffoon. I am, as I was ten seconds ago the Count Henri-Marie-Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa, and I am looking for Carmen Gaudin." Henri was finding the detective work did not agree with his constitution as it involved talking to people who were odd or stupid, without the benefit of the calming effect of alcohol.

OR...

Lucien looked to each of them then grimaced. "Good God, Henri, is that smell coming from you?"
"I was going to come right over as soon as I heard you were awake, but the girls insisted on giving me a bath first. I sat vigil for you for a week, my friend."
"One sits vigil over the dying, not ten blocks away, on a pile of whores, out of his mind on opium and absinthe." 

If you're offended by any of the quotes then Moore is really not an author I'd recommend, but for others, this is just the tip of the iceberg. I found the syphilis jokes entertaining, too. Seriously, it's pretty interesting how many of the artists died of syphilis and Toulouse-Lautrec, for all his infamous brothel living, was not one of them!

Words to live by:

"That's a horrible plan."
"Yes, but I have chosen to ignore that."

CAIN by José Saramago

3 Stars

"Blessed are those who choose sedition because theirs is the kingdom of Earth."

CAIN is to the Old Testament as DECAMERON is to 14th century (Catholic) Church.

One could argue, quite easily that it is blasphemous. Cain is the protagonist in this time traveling jaunt through the highlights of 'What was God thinking?' in the Old Testament.

This is small taste as Cain witnesses a discussion between Abraham and Isaac:

"Father, I don't understand this religion, But you have to, my son you have no choice, and now I must make a request, a humble request, What is it, Let us forget what happened here, Well, I am not sure I can, father, I can still see myself bound, lying on top of the pyre, and your arm raised, the blade of the knife glinting, That wasn't me, I would never do such a thing in my right mind, Do you mean that the lord makes people mad, asked isaac, Yes, he often does, almost always, replied abraham, Even if that were true, you were still the one with the knife in your hand, [...]

I transcribed this exactly as presented in my ebook copy, including lack of full stops which is a little tricky with the dialogue shifts since the only clue is first letter capitalization. The lack of proper name capitalization was less disconcerting. That said, the formatting made this more difficult. I don't know if the print version has a different layout so it resemble verse instead of prose, but as this is, my eyes had a hard time tracking and skipped lines which necessitated rereading. It was least favorite part of the book.

This book is basically a humorous version of the thoughts that go through my mind when faced with the Bible.

"The road to self-deception is narrow to begin with, but there is always someone to broaden it out, for as the proverb says, self-deception is like eating or scratching, it's all a matter of beginning."

And for any persons feeling the need to tell me I'm going to hell, don't bother.

I feel like I've made progress. Usually when I take these quizzes, I end up in level 7 with the warmongers and suicidals drowning in a river of boiling blood.

Buzzfeed Quiz:  Which Circle of Hell are You Going to?

Favorite quote: 

According to the ancients, the devil's wiles would never prevail over the will of god, but I'm not sure now that things are that simple, it seems likely that satan is just another instrument of lord, the one who does the dirty work to which god prefers not to put his name.