Unlikable Characters

Roxane Gay, my most recent writer crush, has a very thought-provoking article in Buzzfeed about unlikable characters, specifically unlikable women characters. That link is here, but this is the most awesome defense of characters we love to hate by Claire Messud, from the Gay essay:

In a Publisher’s Weekly interview with Claire Messud about her recent novel The Woman Upstairs, which features a rather “unlikable” protagonist named Nora who is bitter, bereft, and downright angry about what her life has become, the interviewer said, “I wouldn't want to be friends with Nora, would you? Her outlook is almost unbearably grim.” And there we have it. A reader was here to make friends with the characters in a book and she didn't like what she found.

Messud, for her part, had a sharp response for her interviewer. “For heaven's sake, what kind of question is that? Would you want to be friends with Humbert Humbert? Would you want to be friends with Mickey Sabbath? Saleem Sinai? Hamlet? Krapp? Oedipus? Oscar Wao? Antigone? Raskolnikov? Any of the characters in The Corrections? Any of the characters in Infinite Jest? Any of the characters in anything Pynchon has ever written? Or Martin Amis? Or Orhan Pamuk? Or Alice Munro, for that matter? If you're reading to find friends, you're in deep trouble. We read to find life, in all its possibilities. The relevant question isn't ‘Is this a potential friend for me?’ but ‘Is this character alive?’”

Wow! Just wow! Isn't that the truth? What would Charlotte's Web be without Templeton? Boring, that's what! 

I often say that I have to love the characters to love a book. Like Messud's hapless interviewer, it's often because I want them to be good people. On my first reading of Emma, for example, I was horrified. Reading about Jane Austen's privileged young woman meddling in her neighbors' lives was terribly uncomfortable for me. I was embarrassed for her. As I have grown as a reader though, I have to come to realize that having to love a book's character/s is not so much about goodness, as it is about recognizing these people, and more importantly, recognizing myself in them. 

My favorite books have characters that I believe in, that I can trust to behave authentically, whether or not I want to share a pie with them. Furthermore, my favorite characters have something to show me about myself. Sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes it's really unpleasant, but in the end I am always glad I made their acquaintance.

Set in College

I recently read Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, which is a charming novel about finding and standing up for oneself. I loved it, and if you haven't discovered Ms. Rowell yet, get to it! Great characters, witty dialog and lots of jokes, and real dilemmas getting in the way of love.

So anyway, Fangirl... somewhere on the web (because I tend to obsess and stalk favorite authors and books) another reader noticed that it's one of the few novels set in college. Which is weird when you think of it -- such a period of personal change seems like it would be cluttered up with books.

I haven't done any kind of systematic search yet (like a subject heading search on "college--fiction" in a library catalog because that would just be too easy), but here are the titles I could remember reading and enjoying:

Tam Lin, by Pamela Dean, is a classic in the genre of fairy-tale retellings. Set in the '70s in a small mid-western liberal arts college, Janet explores love and friendship as she comes to understand what's really going on in the legendary drama department.

The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach, was published just a couple years ago. Henry Skrimshander is the unlikely hero -- lower class, with no college aspirations, Henry just wants to play baseball. When a player from a small college sees him in action and recruits him to join their team, his unrealistic hopes begin to seem entirely possible. This is a beautifully written story about ordinary people facing their demons and staying upright.

Everything You Want, by Barbara Shoup, is a charming YA novel about a young woman who is miserable in college -- her old friends have cut her off and she's seemingly unable to make new ones -- when her parents win the lottery. What if everything you want can't be bought?

And of course, Fangirl, in which a college freshman, more comfortable writing and interacting in the fandom of a Harry Potter-type world than our own, learns to write and live her own story.

What can you come up with? What college stories have resonated for you?

Mmmmm... cookbooks

I just read a post from my current favorite web site, The Toast, with reviews of cookbooks. Yes, please! I love cookbooks! Like comic books (the old kind, not graphic novels) you can pick them up, read a page or two and put them down -- that's a great feature.

So anyway, this post got me to thinking about my go-to cookbooks. Joy of Cooking, for sure; Marion Cunningham's The Breakfast Book; Feeding the Whole Family, by Cynthia Lair -- all great for everyday cooking and even for special occasions. Great Food without Fuss is a terrific compilation of recipes from cooks and chefs, but sometimes I want something even more special...

For the past year I've been drooling over the stories, pictures, and the dishes I've made from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table. Her roast chicken Roast Chicken for Les Paresseux* has become my company standard.  Here's its essence: butter or oil a Dutch oven**; put a sturdy piece of bread in the bottom of the pan; stuff some herbs and garlic, maybe a lemon wedge in the chicken's cavity; and put it in a 450 oven. Pour yourself some wine and put your feet up for 90 minutes. Okay, if you really want to impress people you can throw some olive oil-glistened veggies in about half way through. After 90 minutes the skin will be all crispy and roasted, the meat will be tender and flavorful. Once you lift it out of the Dutch oven and put it on your cutting board or serving platter, you can snack on the gloriously dripping-saturated piece of bread while you are in the kitchen putting together the meal's last details. "Oh no, honey. Thanks, I've got it all covered."***

Sure, Greenspan's recipe has more specific directions, ingredients and amounts, but one of the things I love about her cookbook is that her recipes really are more guidelines than formulas. I love that! That's how I cook! I also love the stories in Around My French Table. Her anecdotes about living, shopping and cooking in France are transporting.

The school year has started; I can't go to Paris this week, but I can be there with Dorie, hearing about how two trips to the cheese shop made her "Janine's American customer" and how her husband achieved celebrity-status on a flight when he opened his black truffle sandwich en route. Gather your most essential French treats, settle in with Dorie Greenspan, and have a great trip!


*Lazy People's Roast Chicken -- sounds tres better in French, no?
**This is one brilliant step that makes this perfect for us lazy cooks -- those high sides? No more splatters all over the inside of your oven!!!
***You really don't want to share this.

The Start of a New School Year

Wednesday was the first day of school here at The Bush School, and once again we took part in what is my favorite school ritual, convocation. The whole community -- students, faculty, staff, board trustees, parents and special friends -- gathers in the inner courtyard to welcome new families and mark the start of another year. It's so invigorating to see all the excited new faces, friends we haven't seen for months, and of course our new pupils, young and old, looking anxious and hopeful all at once.

School is such a big part of kids' lives and obviously it features in many, many stories. Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dead Poets Society, School of Rock, Matilda -- there are scores of movies and shows set in schools. I read a few delightful novels in the past few months with school tie-ins too.

Secrets of Truth and Beauty, by Megan Frazier, was one. It's a great story about an overweight girl coming to terms with her parents' limitations and her own beauty and strength. At 7, Dara is crowned Little Miss Maine; at 9 she discovers that she has a sister her parents have never mentioned; at 17, a misunderstood school project leads her to leave home and connect with her sister. She finds a well of anger she didn't know she had until now, as well as people able to see and appreciate the real Dara. This is appropriate for roughly 8th grade and up.

Other young adult titles with school settings that I've loved recently are Eleanor and Park, by Rainbow Rowell (whose Fangirl is due out next week and is set in another kind of school -- college); Cameron and the Girls, by Edward Averett; and Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver. E&P and Cameron are both about outsiders, while Before I Fall puts you right in the middle of a mean-girl, popular clique. All three books are also about finding one's way through some hard reality.

For younger readers, Almost Home, Caddy's World and Operation Yes are three school stories that caught my attention in the past few months. 

In Joan Bauer's Almost Home, Sugar Mae Cole will need all of the life lessons she's learned, from her mom Reba, from her grandfather, and from her sixth grade English teacher, to sort out her situation after she and her mom lose their home to foreclosure and end up with Sugar in foster care and Reba in a psychiatric hospital. With the help of the most adorable (and frightened) dog ever and some other caring adults, she does.

Caddy's World, by Hilary McKay, is a prequel to Saffy's Angel, and we meet the Casson family when Caddy is 12 and just learning that change (something she has had entirely too much of, thank you very much) can be good and that loving your friends and family requires courage. Luckily Caddy is bravest of the brave.

Set in an aging school near a military base, Sara Lewis Holmes's Operation Yes is populated by a group of folks not often in kids' fiction. Bo's dad is an Air Force colonel, his cousin's mom is in the Reserve and stationed in Iraq. The dangers these families face is clear but only occasionally front and center. 6th grade, new teacher -- Bo hopes he can stay out of trouble and at first it looks like he will. Miss Loupe teaches them improv theater techniques along with the curriculum and Bo is her most enthusiastic student. That is until his cousin comes to stay and then he finds out is dad is likely to be transferred again. What's the use in trying, if he has to leave anyway?

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right? As long as we are all back at school, pick up a school story just for fun.

The value of ambiguity

Twenty years ago, Lois Lowry wrote a little dystopian fable called The Giver. It's a pretty disturbing book about a people who decide to rid their world of all the things that cause problems -- envy, sadness, worry, hurt. In their zeal, even things like color, harsh weather, and love are erased. Once each citizen reaches puberty, he or she takes a pill every morning for the rest of their lives that stops them from the emotional changes of puberty. Such is Lowry's skill that she doesn't have to explain the mechanics for the reader to accept the reality.

Most people in this world are quite content; it's all designed that way. But there is one person -- most of them don't even know about this -- who holds all the memories of how their world used to be. What snow feels like, and the smell of your newborn's head. . . and pain, suffering, despair. Being reminded of these memories helps the world's leaders make good decisions.

There was a particularly interesting twist to this story. Stop now if you haven't read it. This post will still be here tomorrow or next week. The book is really short and found in nearly any bookstore. It won the Newbery Award for exceptional writing for children, ensuring that it will stay in print and be given (or assigned) to 9 year olds in perpetuity. It won't take long for you to read it.

Okay, I am now assuming you have read the book. What do you think happened at the end? Did Jonas make it out with the baby to another community; i.e. did they survive? Or was his fevered dream of hands reaching out to him, taking the baby, helping him up, simply that -- a fevered dream before death?

Since writing The Giver, Lowry has written many other terrific books, including three others about communities that share its landscape: Gathering Blue, Messenger, and most recently Son. They are also brilliant commentaries on societies and how/why they work or don't. But here's what I don't like about them. They answer The Giver's last, potent question for the reader. Lowry's a terrific writer. This series is . . . I'll say it again . . . brilliant. But

(I'll bet you could hear that coming.)

But, The Giver was perfect. It was a great novel with either ending, which had more to do with what the reader brought to the book than with the author, which is something that all too often gets lost when we think about reading. Good books provide one side of a conversation, a thousand conversations, a million conversations, each one between the author and each reader. I'm not sorry I read Gathering Blue, Messenger or Son, but I am sorry that reading them shut down my conversation with The Giver.

I am very pleased

Did you know that Ian Fleming of James Bond fame wrote a children's book? He did! In 1964 for his son, Caspar. In 1968, it was adapted (with a screenplay by Roald Dahl) into a musical starring Dick Van Dyke.

Ian Fleming's book had an inventor and his family, a car with a mind of its own, bad guys (of course) and a recipe for fabulous fudge. Our family read it aloud on a car trip to southern California and loved every minute! I'm not a huge fan of the movie, but Dick Van Dyke is always funny and the car is amazing so there's much to enjoy. Both are worth seeking out . . . especially in light of what comes next in the story.

In 2011, you may have heard a giant squeal of excitement as news broke that the Ian Fleming family had commissioned Frank Cottrell Boyce to write three sequels to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!

Be still my heart! Cottrell Boyce, who wrote Millions and Framed, charming books which have also been made into very good movies, was asked to take Chitty into the 21st century! What's not to love?

Well, it's probably been 25 years since I read Fleming's novel, but today when I picked up Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again, the first of the sequels, I was transported. It's true that instead of the Potts family, we have the Tootings -- calm, resourceful mom, cheerful dad, wannabe nihilist 15-year-old, practical younger brother, and Little Harry, a very observant toddler -- and these are people I could recognize as worthy of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Here's the 15-year-old: "'I don't want to go anywhere. I want to stay in my room now that I've finally got it the way I like it.' Lucy had got rid of all the ornaments and dancing certificates from her room, painted the walls and her bookcase black. Dyed her duvet. And her pillowslip."

It's the "and her pillowslip" that assured me Cottrell Boyce got the tone just right -- dry humor, great characters and crazy adventures all bring Chitty back to life, with a perfect cliff hanger of an ending. Any of the titles I've mentioned here are appropriate (and will be enjoyed by) kids from 7 on up. The books would be appealing family read-alouds, aimed as they are at boys and girls of all ages. Oh, and did I mention it's illustrated? I just love it when publishers illustrate children's books!

Chiaroscuro in Tween Fiction, or 12-Year-Old Girls with Moxie

I'm not quite sure how I ended up reading two books nearly simultaneously about families threatened with homelessness, but there it is. I do usually have two books going at a time, one downstairs and one upstairs, and usually they are different enough that I can keep them straight. This pairing was a bit too close for comfort to start, but they differentiated themselves soon enough.

Yesterday I finished My Life in Pink & Green, by Lisa Greenwald. It sounds sweet, doesn't it? And it is. It's a good book for intermediate grades, with strong messages about empowerment. Lucy, a seventh grader, wants to save the family business, but has a hard time persuading the adults in her life that she can actually do anything.

Today I finished Almost Home, by Joan Bauer. This one is also pretty sweet, which is perfect given that the main character is named Sugar and there's an adorable puppy on the cover. Bauer usually writes about girls who've got a lot on their plates and this book is no exception -- deadbeat dad, mom in denial, and a home in foreclosure. Bauer's characters have other strong adults around them, though, and that's what helps them through the tough times. While Almost Home is also appropriate for intermediate grades, the stakes are higher. Sugar and her mom lose their home and wind up in a shelter.

Spoiler alert, both books end well. My Life in Pink & Green is Greenwald's first book and it shows. She's got talent and will learn to trust herself and her reader, but Bauer knows that you've got to have some bitter with the sweet. Either book would be a good choice for your 9-12 year-old reader.