Sorry, Short Fans...

Won't be getting around to reviewing Apricot Jam, like I promised. Got halfway through before giving up on it and moving on to Super Sad True Love Story, by Gary Shteyngart (2010) - which I most definitely will be reviewing next.

Not sure what I was expecting when I started Apricot, but it ain't as recent as I was lead to believe (from where I decided to read it, I'm not so sure). Solzhenitsyn originally published these short stories in 1994 when he returned to Russia; this collection, then, is a recently published translation - hence the 2011 publishing date. S. died in 2008.

My most honest excuse was that I was given a glimpse into the world of Shteyngart's Absurdistan (which I'll hopefully be reviewing at a later date) before embarking on Apricot Jam, and I was driven out of my skull with boredom. Some of them have interesting premises that ultimately go nowhere, but the influx of names and ranks - never explained - just boggled my mind.

If you like reading about the failure of the Soviet state, or have heard of The Gulag Archipelago, definitely check it out. As for me, I took a year-long course on Soviet history, so this isn't really anything new - well, in fact, most of the references I remembered from my University days are what sparked some lights in me, but...

...on to Shteyngart!

The Assassin's Song: A Novel, by M. G. Vassanji (2007)

I picked up The Assassin's Song while waiting on other holds; a trip to the library, a walk through the small fiction section, and a cover that isn't unbearably terrible resulted in my next subject of review. Vassanji has won the Scotiabank Giller Prize, one of Canada's most prestigious fiction awards, twice, so I figured it'd be at least better than Cross Currents. This novel was, apparently, shortlisted for the aforementioned prize.


The Facts
Length: 314 pages.
Publisher: Doubleday Canada.
This is Vassanji's sixth novel.

Quick Summary
This novel is told from the first-person perspective of Indian-born Karsan Dargawalla, heir to the Shine of the Wanderer, which his father reigns over. Karsan forsakes his eternal and holy duty by escaping to America, and later Canada, but the death of his father forces him to return in middle-age to reconsider his path. Most of the novel is told through flashbacks and moves between three narratives: the surreal, medieval India of Nur Fazal, the Wanderer; the childhood of Karsan, beginning in the 60's; and present-day (2002) Karsan, returning home.

The Good
Reading legitimately good writing after Cross Currents was a sigh of relief, especially because I had never heard of Vassanji before (supposedly, one of Canada's current top writers) and this was a blind pick off the shelf. The story starts of slowly, without any real primary conflict or action. Antagonism is found, hesitantly, in the presence of a police officer, investigating the whereabouts of Karsan's brother, but even Karsan's relationship with the officer isn't directly oppositional. As Karsan delves deeper into his own reflections, the story picks up; I found myself reading in larger increments as I continued throughout the novel (this might be less pleasant than it sounds: in the later half of the novel, Karsan has integrated himself almost completely into North American societal norms, whereas the first half is very much traditional religious India).

The Average
I'm hesitant to call anything about this book ugly, but maybe "average" better describes it. After I gave a friend a synopsis of the plot, she described it as a "story that's been told before." And she's right: the prodigal son returns to his pastoral home and serves as a symbol of a new and better future. And the worst part is that's about it. There's no real conflict or passion; the "hesitant antagonist" switches between the police officer looking for the brother, and the brother himself (resentful of, it seems, everything). Karsan and his brother do not reconcile. Karsan's own thoughts on the Shrine are unclear, even at the end of the novel. Karsan has moved from one romance to nothing, and there's hope for another, but that plays at the edges as well. The story feels unfinished.

There is a secondary plot. It revolves around the "secret" of Nur Fazal's identity. But it's swept almost completely under the rug for most of the novel, and only pokes its head during the final pages. Compared to the life story Karsan's just told, the revelation seems unfounded, unimportant, and annoyingly out of place. I'm still unsure what Vassanji was trying to do with it, and if can be any way related back to the main storyline. Is his brother the Spiritual Avatar of Nur Fazal? Or is Karsan? Why did you title your book The Assassin's Song, Vassanji? Why are the final pages (perhaps the most important) dedicated to this subject?

The Ugly
Subtitle.


The Good
Aged Karsan makes a great "Man Who Has Lost Everything." That's becoming an archetype, isn't it?

Final Thoughts
If Indian history for the past 40 or so years is an interest to you, then this book deserves at least a look, especially regarding Muslim-Hindu violence. Vassanji has a calming, traditional writing style, but perhaps that drives his plot into the realm of forgetfulness.

Arbitrary Score: 2.8 out of 5.

Next book: Apricot Jam, and Other Stories, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (2011)

Cross Currents: A Novel, by John Shors (2011)

I think I found this the same place I found Lawrenson's novel The Lantern: within Vancouver Public Library's (VPL) "New Fiction" lists, the likes of which I scour when I run out of novels to read. God, don't I learn?


The Facts
Length: 317 pages.
Publisher: New American Library.
This is Shors's fifth novel.

Quick Summary
Rotational third-person point-of-view on the various inhabitants of Ko Phi Phi Island. American Patch is on the run from the law and hides out at a resort of Lek and Sarai, trading room and board for badly needed skilled labour. However, Patch's brother Ryan (and Ryan's girlfriend Brooke) travel to the island in order to persuade Patch to turn himself into the authorities. In the midst of the 2006 Boxing Day Tsunami, however, the characters reveal their true selves (barf). The story is told in chapters, which describe each individual day leading up to the Tsunami.

The Bad
Ugh. Ugh ugh ugh. This book is - extremely juvenile in its character development and plot. Somewhere in the middle of the novel I wagered on who would eventually perish in the Tsunami; I ended up being 100% right. I was never sure what the hell Conservative Ryan was doing with Liberal Brooke in the first place, and obviously Brooke would fall in love with equally Liberal Patch (Patch and Brooke never disagree on anything; their soulmate compatibility is disgusting). One character goes on and on about how things will be, hypothetically, when she eventually dies; I think you can properly guess what happens to her.

The writing is almost amateurish. "Watching her grin, Ryan thought about the differences between them. Their histories were as varied as water and sand. And yet, they were also connected."

Gross.

The Good?
Ok, ok, ok. So I was able to finish it, which must mean something, right? Two things I want to point out that I at least found decent about the entire novel (thanks for the subtitle, by the way): the recent reality of the tsunami, and Ryan's relationship with Dao. Like I said with The Lantern, it was refreshing to read about something real and present which I had witnessed during my lifetime. I wish Shors had somehow described it in greater detail. Perhaps wisely, the descriptions of the imminent chaos and destruction are given to the reader in a chaotic fashion; I had no idea what the hell was going on when the tsunami hit the characters. Does Ryan swim from one side of the island to the other? Where does all the blackness come from? Where does he tear his leg? I wasn't sure if it was superb writing or if Shors just throwing everything at us at once, or maybe a little bit of both.

(Spoilers in the proceeding section)

Ryan's relationship with Dao also peaked my interest. The implications of Ryan's last wishes regarding Dao felt like they needed to be explored one more step: I wanted to see the look on Dao's face when Patch told her of Ryan's fate, and what that means, monetarily, for her future. Unfortunately, however, Shors ends the novel prematurely, focusing entirely on Patch's resolution to change his ways and his own nascent romance with Brooke. We never get to see Dao's reaction to Ryan's death, nor her reaction to his gift for her education (such a large financial gift would've seemed inappropriate to me, considering Dao and Ryan had known each other for little under a week). It's disappointing because it would've been new, unlike the old rehashed crap most of this novel turned out to be.

The Ugly
I'm going to keep saying it until this practice stops. The subtitle. What the hell is up with publishers enforcing this redundancy?


The Bad
Previously, I mentioned my interest in the tsunami. I also mentioned how I at least got through this novel. The truth is, folks, that most of the reason I kept reading was because I wanted most of these characters to be wiped off the face of the planet, so I wouldn't have to keep reading the same old "We're poor!" dialogue from Lek and Sarai or "We're meant for each other!" dialogue from Patch and Brooke. And the 2006 Tsunami was a tragic natural disaster with heartbreaking consequences. Which makes me feel wretched for wishing it would've happened sooner in the novel's timeline.

Final Thoughts
Don't read it. Chick lit which is so chick lit it's almost making fun of itself. No character ever changes their philosophy, so it feels like they are simply driving into a great brick wall of terrible, repetitive dialogue. I'm frankly surprised this is Shors' fourth novel, but I mean, hey. At least his heart is in the right place, right?

Arbitrary Score: 0.5 out of 5.

Next book: The Assassin's Song: A Novel*, by M. G. Vassanji (2007)

*Really!?