Book Reviews for my dear Anna.

(these are just my book reviews - nothing to do with sailing... sorry!)

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Junot Diaz.

This was a recommendation by my dear Anna and I was unsure at first. Why would I want to read about the sad life of a nerdy Dominican kid? I had enough of my own teenage angst, thank you. But once I picked it up I couldn’t put it down. The story itself is tragic, but somehow the author portrays it as beautiful. That poor Oscar’s life was somehow kismet and he made the best of it. The way the author did this was to tie it into history. History is the one thing we can all depend on. As much as we may try and change things, we are meant to repeat our mistakes and our successes. Sure they may seem a little different, but they are all the same on the basic level. As it was for Oscar’s story – it was kismet – it was fated. Oscar’s story paralleled the rest of his family’s stories, which if you asked me really made the story. We not only get Oscar’s story, but his sister’s, his madre’s, his surrogate grandmother, and his real grandparents. All of whom were persecuted in their own ways and attempted to save their families and their happiness. On top of telling a tragic story in a hopeful light and tying Oscar’s story into his whole family’s history, the author also gives us an in depth account of Dominican culture, history, and maltreatment. With incredibly long footnotes, the author leaves no Dominican stone unturned. The final point of what I loved about this story is who the author actually is. From the beginning you have no idea, you just think he is writing a story, but by the end he reveals the truth - who he is and how he is also interconnected. Each character has such strong presence – “Whiteman, kiss my Hurricane ass.” The author himself is also very opinionated and honest and it comes across in his writing.

“Without even realizing it he’d fallen into one of those Let’s-Be-Friends Vortexes, the bane of nerdboys everywhere. These relationships were love’s version of a stay in the stocks, in you go, plenty of misery guaranteed and what you got out of it besides bitterness and heartbreak nobody knows.”

The final point I have to make is the interspersed tidbits of pure nerdyness. Oh yes, there is plenty of talk of Star Wars, LOTR, Dune, and many other more obscure Sci-fi books and movies. The book is definitely a “close encounter of the Caribbean kind.” Overall, buy it – read it – love it – pass it on.

Better than Sex. Hunter S. Thompson.

Oh my dear Hunter. I have to be biased, obviously, the very first page of the book contains one simple phrase “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” For those of you who know me well, that is what my tattoo says, so clearly I love the guy. His gonzo drug addled stream of conscience writing is purely my style. It leads to true revelations about oneself, others, and in Hunter’s case politics. It leaves no room for anything except for Hunter’s exact feelings at that exact time. It is very subjective, yes, and journalists are supposed to be objective, but Hunter’s subjectiveness is riddled with true and honest assessments of the political situation of 1992. The only problem I have with the book is how much of it to believe? It seems that some points are just pure paranoia on the author’s part. Sure he owns up to it but it tends to bother his credibility. My favorite part by far is the bar fight he gets into with James Carville in a hotel bar in Little Rock Arkansas. Visualizing this scene makes my giggle every time. One of my favorite part of reading books is picking out my favorite quotes:

• “We must all hang together, or surely we will all hang separately.” – Ben Franklin (this might possibly be my next tattoo)
• “Of course it’s not, but let’s make the bastard deny it” – LBJ (this comes from a little story that Hunter tells of how LBJ beat his competitor a rich pig farmer, this is probably the most entertaining historical anecdote – I am not going to retell it here because it is just too good, I’d prefer you Google it)
• “Elections are about fucking your enemies. Winning is about fucking your friends.” – James Carville (oh how I love that dangerous Ragin’ Cajun)

Overall, if you are Hunter fan you will love it. If you are a politics fan you will love it. Otherwise, you will probably hate it – unless, of course, you like sheer and utter unparalleled genius.