Oh, you noticed that I didn’t have any recommendations for April? It’s true. There was nothing: not a book, not a movie, nothing that caught my fancy.
This past month was an interesting one in that I read mostly nonfiction: a couple memoirs, some articles. At least two memoirs have gotten a fair amount of press–one, quite a bit–but I just can’t make myself recommend either. They fall under the category of what I call “poor me” narratives: stories where you want to reach through the page and smack the author a good one for being SUCH a clueless idiot. What’s more annoying is when there are glimmers of good writing and a decent-enough story that you keep HOPING the author gets it together. Alas, didn’t happen.
READS
Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier(Sarah Crichton Books; 2007). I admit to a soft spot for this book; the author went to my undergraduate alma mater. This is not a perfect book, and it suffers from a somewhat disjointed middle section as well as less than satisfactory close. Having said that . . . this is a pretty gritty, fairly remarkable story that details the making of a boy soldier in Sierra Leone. Given how traumatic this all must have been, that Beah could write about it so well is an achievement. For me, the most interesting chapters were not those which focused on his indoctrination into violence and the means through which this was achieved (most of which revolved around feeding meth and “brown-brown,” a mix of cocaine and gunpowder, to these kids to keep them in line) but what happened during his rehabilitation. Beah himself has said that coming back to civilization was more difficult than becoming a boy soldier, and I believe him. One thing the shrink in me knows: a depressed adolescent boy is frequently an angry, violent one. That comes through here, loud and clear. Needless to say, this is a hopeful narrative; the author made it to the U.S., graduated from college and wrote this book after all.
Bissinger, H. G. “After Friday Night Lights,” Byliner.com and Friday Night Lights; A Town, a Team, and a Dream (DeCapo Press; 1990). The 45-page article is touted as a sequel to Bissinger’s book, which is a spellbinding chronicle detailing the lives of several players on the 1988 Permian Panthers. Odessa, TX, is the epitome of a high school football town; everyone supports the team, and the town measures itself (and its self worth) against its team. I don’t think this will be giving anything away to suggest that what the book is ultimately about is hubris, both the kids’ and, more importantly, the town’s. While all these boys go on with their lives after a fashion, this one year–and the almost criminal overvaluation of these kids’ abilities on the field–leave them ill-prepared for real life. At the same time, you realize that, for most of these boys, everything after this one year is an anticlimax.
The article isn’t really a sequel but a fairly brief look at the ongoing and very complex relationship the author’s had with one player, Boobie Miles. A rising star, Miles was injured in a meaningless scrimmage and not only knocked out of the season but really never recovered his equilibrium. The article follows Miles through some very dark times and, I think, reveals more than a little ambivalence on the part of the author. He’s made his fortune on this story; it’s spawned a movie (very good, if not entirely accurate) and a television series (that I’ve not seen but have heard great things about). Miles’s life has been a train wreck and while there’s an inkling of hope at the end, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Whether Miles will ever really get his life together is an open question.
Sanford, John; Stolen Prey (Putnam, 2012). Lucas Davenport returns for his 22nd outing in Sandford’s mostly excellent crime-thriller series. This time, Davenport’s investigation starts off after the brutal murder of an entire family in a small Minnesota town and quickly escalates to a story involving Mexican assassins, drug cartels, and a lot of missing money. I’ve said before that I think Sandford’s done better by Davenport; the last REALLY great PREY book (for me) was BROKEN PREY, and I think he often sacrifices character development for a perceived need to indulge in a kind of Patterson-esque patter and pacing. That’s a shame because when Sandford’s firing on all thrusters, he really delivers a thumpingly good story. As the series goes, this one is not bad at all, and I certainly ripped right through it. OTOH, I was a little amazed that Davenport missed an obvious suspect for a REALLY long time. REALLY long. Nevertheless, I enjoyed myself and am not sorry in the slightest to have snapped this up in hardcover.
LISTENS
Tried several. Punted after the first third or so. Just . . . meh.
LOOKS
Awake (NBC; 2012) I am forever fated to fall in love with shows that are ultimately cancelled. In fact, I’d say that if you’re in a show and you want to last? Don’t let me anywhere near the remote.
This is one of those shows. The premise is both straightforward and brilliant. LA Detective Michael Britten (superbly played by Jason Isaacs) and his family (wife and son) are involved in a car accident, the circumstances of which Britten can’t really recall. What happens after the accident depends on your point of view–or, in Britten’s case, just where and when he wakes up. This is a man living two realities: in one, his wife is still alive; in the other, only his son survived. Britten goes back and forth between both realities; clues to crimes in one reality influence cases he’s working on in the other; and he really can’t tell if he is awake or not. The show cues the viewer with color: warm reds for his wife, cool blues for his son. Oh, and he’s got a shrink in each reality, too; each tries to convince him that his (or hers) is the only “real” world. I think one of my favorite lines in the opening credits is when one shrink says, “I can assure you, Detective, that this is real.” To which Britten replies, “The other shrink said the same thing.”
In a way, I can see why this show didn’t make it; it’s quite demanding, and you really have to pay attention. It’s not as complicated as playing MYST, but if you are into head games and like thinking about things like the texture of reality (I mean, honestly, how DO you know that you’re awake?), then you’re in for a treat. Full episodes are still available on the series website and I’m sure you can find this on HULU.
And it’s criminal: they nominate Isaacs for an Emmy and cancel his series. I just don’t get it.
