Train Dreams by Denis Johnson

The journey
 

Part of the America 1850 reading journey
 

How it got on the shelf

This book was brought to my attention by a friend (and blog follower) who had seen it described by David Nicholls as his best read of 2012 and thought it might just fit into the reading journey. Looking on Amazon the reviews were mixed – ranging from “the epic American novel in miniature” to “the most un-eventful and boring book ever read”. At only116 pages and (at the time) £1.39 for a Kindle download it was worth a punt to form my own opinion.

The Review

The novel covers the life and times of Robert Grainier from the late nineteenth to the mid twentieth centuries in the North Western USA working on the construction of the railroads, in the timber mills and as a haulier.

Told in the third person, in a style and language befitting its period (think Garrison Keillor doing Lake Wobegon Days) the narrative is simple but evocative. The hardships of the frontier life are laid out to see as Grainier subsists between the twin soundtracks of the passing locomotives and the howling of the wolves.

The book has a chronology that hops about from pivotal incident to pivotal incident, which I found unhelpful but manageable. The incidents themselves are affecting and string together to present a picture of a man moulded by his environment and its sometimes tragic forces.

Overall a short read that holds the attention and gives an insight into life in a particular place during a formative period.

So for me not the great American novel (I would go for Tom Wolfe or John Irving for that), nor the most boring book ever (my short list, exclusively nautical, is: “20,000 Leagues under the Sea”; “The Riddle of the Sands”; and heresy of heresies “Moby Dick”).

Every Last One by Anna Quindlen

Read as part Q of the “Along the Library Shelf” reading journey

Chosen because

A good cover blurb; recent (2011) publication; a female author (who are a bit under-represented to date); and I was 5 pages in just standing at the book shelf (usually a good sign).

The Review

Mary Beth Latham is living the comfortable suburban American dream with husband Glen, daughter Ruby and twin boys Alex and Max. She’s worked hard at it, at the centre of the household, bringing the family ship safely to the point where she can see the kids getting ready (extending the metaphor) to man the lifeboats and move on.

It’s not been plain sailing (metaphor still going strong) - they’ve had their share of problems – but Mary Beth worked them out and will do the same now Max has troubles at school, Alex seems to disown his twin and Ruby’s love life is unravelling.

Daily life, what it is like to be a mum in such a family, is faultlessly described; and through Mary Beth we get to know the family and friends to the point that we feel part of the circle ourselves. However there is a sense of growing unease or foreboding, and there is a secret in the past.

That something is coming to hit the Lathams is clear (the cover blurb says as much) but what it will be keeps us guessing. When it hits the impact is none the less for its long awaited inevitability. Knowing the family intimately by then the emotional effect is strong and the aftermath unexpectedly moving.

Quindlen’s style is intelligent and articulate. Mary Beth relates the story in the first person and present tense, so we are actually living her life in real time. This gives an intensity that carries the reader easily through the 300 pages, despite long periods where very little seems to happen.

Read another?

Probably not – at the back of this volume are trails for another five books which all seem to involve a woman hit by a crisis of some sort. I think one of these is enough to satisfy my inner woman for a while.

Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand

Read as part of the sport reading journey

The subtitle – The True Story of Three Men and a Racehorse - sums it up really. The horse was Seabiscuit and the three men, Charles Howard, Tom Smith and Red Pollard, were the owner, trainer and jockey respectively. From 1936 to 1940 these disparate (in some cases desperate) characters came together to create one of the great stories in sport; but one I was only dimly aware of as the title of the 2003 film.

The book plots each of the team’s back stories, of which only owner Howard’s can be considered successful, having got rich through getting in early on the automobile boom. Trainer Smith was already 56, a loner, and after a lifetime working and living with horses (for the cavalry, a cattle ranch, and a rodeo/circus) had finally washed up at a one-horse racing stable with only his reputation as a bit of a horse-whisperer.

Jockey Pollard although only in his mid-twenties had been racing horses, without any conspicuous success, for 12 years and had the battered body to prove it. Seabiscuit himself had some pedigree, descending from the renowned Man O’ War through his sire Hard Tack; but his gait was suspect, his appearance unconvincing and his temperament notoriously difficult.

From these unlikely components emerged a horseracing sensation that captured the imagination of pre-war United States. The sport’s popularity was enormous attracting both the masses (huge attendances are reported) and celebrities (Bing Crosby was an owner).

Hillenbrand, through the lives of the men, covers well the big pictures of the industry history (fluctuating with the legality of betting) and the stunningly hard life of the jockeys. But it is with the cut and thrust of the individual races that the writing excels.

As no great lover of racing, or horses in general, it opened my eyes to the expertise and patience of the trainer and the skill and courage of the jockey. By the end of the book I had some appreciation of how strong the bond between horse and horseman can be.

The story would be hard to swallow as fiction; as fact it is an extraordinary tale, well told, of never say die and overcoming the odds.

Moth Smoke – Mohsin Hamid

This was the debut novel from the author of “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”.

Set in modern day Lahore the book opens with Darashikoh Shezad despairing in his prison cell. It soon regresses to the start of his steep decline from prosperous young banker to this sticky end. His narrative is punctuated by contributions – testimonies – from other characters: his partner in crime Murad Badshah; his old friend Aurangzeb; and Aurangzeb’s attractive wife Mumtaz.

Like the moths drawn to his candle flames, Darashikoh circles disaster and makes one unwise choice after another. He is not stupid and knows the potential consequences (ending up as moth smoke), but each incremental step is taken as it offers a slim chance of escape from facing up to his worsening predicament.

The Lahore setting is atmospheric and convincing, against a backdrop of international tension over Pakistan’s first nuclear bomb tests. The internal polarisation of society in to haves and have-nots (of air conditioning) is palpable as Dara moves between the jet set and the shady underclass.

Although increasingly difficult to sympathise with Dara, his story remains compelling throughout, helped by some key late reveals and a couple of twists in the tail.

I am not sure the somewhat strange prologue and placing the reader in the position of the trial judge works particularly well, but neither do they detract from what is a really good read.