Breathing Lessonshas been on my tbr list for ages not only because it won the Pulitzer Prize, but also because I’m an Anne Tyler fan. While I enjoyed it, I’m always of the mindset that a prize-winning book should be in the 4 1/2 to 5 star range for me, and this one was slightly under that with a 4 star rating. An interesting note is that The Accidental Tourist and Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant were both finalists for the Pulitzer Prize as well.
The story takes place in a single day and doesn’t have much of a plot, but the characters are so believable that that didn’t really bother me. Maggie and Ira Moran seemed like a very real couple to me. The novel centers on their marriage but also branches out into Maggie’s relationship with her friend Serena and the couple’s relationships with their children and grandchild. In the novel Maggie is portrayed as a flighty woman who just wants everyone to get along and quite frequently tries to encourage reconciliation between injured parties. Ira is somewhat aloof but has a habit of whistling tunes that betray his inner mindset. He can be blunt at times and doesn’t appreciate Maggie’s well-intentioned meddling. However, in the end we are left wondering which of the two has really done the most damage by his or her actions.
I could identify with Maggie’s wish to be more involved in her children’s and granchild’s lives. I also identified with some of Ira’s issues and their issues as a married couple. I think almost everyone would know a couple like Maggie and Ira Moran. Perhaps that is what Tyler does so well, though. She brings those ‘typical’ characters to life in a way that makes us wish we could continue the relationship with them even after the story is finished.
I own all of Anne Tyler’s novels published after Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, although this is only my third book read. The other two were The Amateur Marriage and Saint Maybe, which I also enjoyed.
Nothing here was part of her. It was false, empty…
Longlisted for The Man Booker Prize (though it did not make the shortlist), Colm Toibin’s book is about young Eislis Lacey’s journey from Ireland to Brooklyn and from girlhood to womanhood.
I did enjoy reading about Eislis’s immigrant experience and her struggles in her new surroundings, but the story was a bit slow moving. I normally don’t mind that at all in books, but the novel was perhaps a bit too muted. In some ways I do expect that that could have been Toibin’s intent, however, and perhaps was an indication of Eislis’s character.
I heartily sympathized for Eislis at the end, but I also felt that she made the right decision. If you’ve read the book as well, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
2009, 262 pp.
[Disclaimer: This book was obtained using my public library.]
I felt that Father’s altogether human blindness could not be held against him. The dangerous ramifications that existed for his wife and children when he undertook to extricate himself from his embarrassing and humiliating situation in Nashville he could not have been expected to foresee.
A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor won the Pulitzer Prize in 1987.
I’m not sure how I feel about this book. On the one hand it has a real ‘sense of place’ for the South; on the other hand, it can leave you wondering what all the fuss is about. Set in Tennessee, it is basically a story about how a domineering father and a move from Nashville to Memphis affected a family.
But again, I ask — why all the fuss? Why would a move leave everyone in the family so altered? What if they had moved to California instead of another southern city in the same state? What if they had had to move every year as some families do? What if they had had to endure much more painful occurrences such as divorce, death, sickness, or violence? So what if the father thwarted some of their plans? Move away. Act like a grown up and make your own decisions instead of acting like a child for the rest of your life.
Or perhaps that was Peter Taylor’s point. After living in the South for over 15 years, I’ve seen some maneuvering behind the pleasantries, some manipulation behind the politeness. No one saying what they really mean or feel. The exaggeration of small problems into a lifelong battle. Not being able to get away from family, on both the parents’ and the adult children’s side. This novel has all of the above. In that sense and in the descriptions of both cities, I do feel the book conveys a strong sense of the South, but some readers may be bored by the relatively small problems faced by the family in this book. In addition, there were quite a few instances in the story where Taylor seems to repeat himself and I found myself asking, ‘Didn’t he just say that?’ Very strange.
Recommended for those interested in Southern literature or Pulitzer winners.
X-Kai- Vol. 2 by Asami Tohjoh is only the second manga I’ve read. The first was X-Kai- Vol. 1 last year, which I primarily read because it was an ‘X’ title, and because I wanted to expand my horizons by reading manga. I liked the first volume quite a bit better. This second volume does finish up Kaito’s story which is nice, but it also has some darker themes going on as well.
Kaito is an assassin who works in a flower shop by day and also takes care of a boy named Renge. He doesn’t like his occupation but does it to help pay for his brother’s hospital care. His brother is a severe burn victim. There are four ’secrets’ in this volume, and the book includes both Renge and Kaito’s brother in the story. As I said, interesting to read — but dark.
I do confess that the only reason I read this was because it was an ‘X’ title that I needed for the A-Z Challenge. It was also my first manga, AND since it was originally in Japanese, I also counted it for the Japanese Literature Challenge. Reading a manga is interesting because you read the book from back to front and right to left. It wasn’t really that difficult to do, and I enjoyed reading this book just for the experience.
This book features Kaito, a skilled assassin who trained at a very young age. His day job is at a flower shop, and a mysterious woman comes there to give him his assignments. He then uses lilies as a guise to kill his victims. Kaito does have a heart, though, and even takes in a homeless boy. He also cares for his brother who is in a coma.
There are three mini-stories in this book, and some of the drawings are fairly graphic in nature so I would recommend this for adults only. Kaito is drawn in such a way that at first I didn’t know if he was male or female. However, he uses that as a disguise sometimes to lure his victims.
I would read the second volume, if only to fill the need for another ‘X’ title. Mangas are a new and very different genre for me. If you like manga and know of a series I might like, please let me know.
2006 for the English translation, 200 pp.
Rating: 3.5/5
There is a lot going on in Craig Thompson’s autobiographical graphic novel Blankets. With a deeply personal touch, Thompson draws and writes about his childhood and teenage years and their hardships, joys, and discoveries. Writing about his brother, family, church camps, and first love, Thompson lays it all bare. He truly had some difficult things to deal with in his childhood that no child should have to face, and we see him struggle with his faith and family relationships as a result.
While I admire the book’s artwork, story, and the author himself, it is difficult for me to write this review as I disagree with (but am mostly sad about) the book’s conclusion. As I was reading the book, I was hoping for it to end a certain way when in fact it went the 180 degree opposite direction. Of course, this is the author’s life so he has every right to write about and illustrate how he really feels, but… I was still very sad at the end. There’s no denying he has a gift for writing and illustration, though, and I would definitely pick up another one of Thompson’s graphic novels in the future.
The picture below is one of the illustrations dealing with the first night that he and his brother finally get their own rooms. After waiting so long for them after sharing a room for many years, it’s not hard to imagine what happens that first night. I’ll save that for you to read on your own, though! (This book has mature themes and I wouldn’t recommend it for those under 16 or 17.)
"But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!" (1 Kings 8:27, ESV)
Nothing here was part of her. It was false, empty…
X-Kai- Vol. 2
I do confess that the only reason I read this was because it was an ‘X’ title that I needed for the 
There is a lot going on in Craig Thompson’s autobiographical graphic novel Blankets. With a deeply personal touch, Thompson draws and writes about his childhood and teenage years and their hardships, joys, and discoveries. Writing about his brother, family, church camps, and first love, Thompson lays it all bare. He truly had some difficult things to deal with in his childhood that no child should have to face, and we see him struggle with his faith and family relationships as a result.
