DR. HAGGARD'S DISEASE

by Patrick McGrath



"For you, passion is a disease. It causes suffering, comes to a crisis, and dies." Fanny Vaughan in Dr. Haggard's Disease (p. 33)

"The setting is a cliffside manor on the English coast in the early years of the Second World War. The narrator is Dr. Edward Haggard, a mysteriously wounded figure racked by morphine addiction and tormented by the memories of his intense affair with Fanny, the wife of his former chief pathologist. Fanny is dead, but when her son, a young fighter pilot, appears in Dr. Haggard's life, the aging doctor finds out how an old passion can turn into a strange -- and dangerous -- obsession." (From the back cover of the Vintage Contemporaries edition.)

A perfect book for a crisp fall evening, a fireplace, and a reader looking for an eerie tale with which to pass the time. Dr. Haggard's Disease moves slowly but deliberately, both literally and figuratively. It's not a book to be rushed though. It's not heavy on plot, but the character of Dr. Haggard is unsettling and foreboding enough to pull the reader through to the end. The story is never frightening or shocking, but it continually keeps uneasy balance on the line of disturbing. Dr. Haggard has not yet lost his mind, but it could happen at any moment.

I love dark, creepy books and while Dr. Haggard's Disease is not as dark and creepy as I had hoped, it has left me more than curious about Patrick McGrath's other books. His writing has a delicately alarming quality that never crosses into the fanciful or melodramatic. I think that style is very difficult to maintain throughout an entire novel, much less an entire body of work. I will be returning to his books to find out if McGrath can do it, or even tries.

THE HEART OF THE MATTER

by Graham Greene



"Scobie is a highly principled police officer in a war-torn West African state. When he is passed over for a promotion he is forced to borrow money to send his despairing wife away on holiday. In her absence he falls hopelessly in love with Helen, a young widow, and his life is transformed by the experience. With a duty to repay his debts, and an inability to distinguish between love, pity and responsibility, to others and to God, Scobie moves inexorably to his final damnation." (from the CD container)

As I was listening to this book, I had the oddest sensation of tranquilly watching a semi-turbulent stream flow by. I don't know if it was the reader, the writing or a combination of both, but there was a dream-like aspect of watching poor Major Henry Scobie desperately wrestling with his conscience.

The Heart of the Matter is a beautiful, sad book. Not in a heart-wrenching way, but you find yourself feeling sorry for the well-meaning Scobie whose only real desire is to live a quiet life. And now you've fallen into the trap, because one of the themes in the novel is how pity for others, as opposed to compassion, is a destructive form of pride. It gives one pause to consider the true, underlying motivations and possible outcomes of actions we think are benevolent.

I was also drawn into Scobie's problems with religion. He claims to not believe, but then intellectually torments himself over things such as consequences for going to mass and communion with his wife while claiming to not believe in them and the Catholic views on adultery, divorce and suicide.

This is only my second Graham Greene novel, but it has fueled my desire to read many, if not all, of his others. He has a mesmerizing way with words, making simple statements that mask the deep complexity of characters and scenes. I'm going to enjoy working my way through his bibliography.

THE ANNOTATED UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

by Harriet Beecher Stowe, edited with an introduction and notes by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Hollis Robbins



Uncle Tom's Cabin recounts the fates of a group of Kentucky slaves chosen to be sold to settle their owner's debts.

I had never read Uncle Tom's Cabin before, so my first experience was with this annotated edition. I loved the story, and while I started out loving the annotations also, I became less enamored with them as the book went on. Most of them were interesting, but quite a few were not usefully insightful. I already mentioned in a previous post about the annotations that were simply a note that the person writing the annotations found certain parts of the book boring. "My eyes glazed over" was noted a couple of times. Not to be disrespectful, but so what? One of the sections to which this was referring I actually found to be a fascinating exploration into the heart of Augustine St. Clare, the man who bought Uncle Tom from the slave trader. I wasn't bored at all, and I resented just a little bit the feeling of being "wrong" because I didn't agree with the scholar but I got over it. :-)

The other annotations I would disagree with were ones that pointed out the more awkward scene shifts employed by the author. Granted, they were rarely seamless, but that didn't bother me. After recently reading Richard Wright's Native Son, which provided virtually no tension-relief whatsoever, it was nice in Uncle Tom's Cabin to have those moments of informality after many emotionally-charged passages, to have a chance to exhale and absorb what I just read. If it wasn't written that way on purpose, I hope I someday can write half that effectively by accident!

Those couple of grumblings aside, I enjoyed the annotation experience and will definitely read that way again in the future. The extra factual information added dimension to the story I would have missed otherwise. However, I believe a reader would enjoy the book just as much without it. Whichever way you would choose to read Uncle Tom's Cabin, I don't think you can go wrong making time for this brave and beautiful classic.

NATIVE SON

by Richard Wright



In 1930's Chicago, a troubled young black man accidentally commits murder and his life spirals out of control.

At the risk of sounding melodramatic, "chilling" and "haunting" are the first words that come to mind when I think back on listening to Native Son. The writing is harsh and staccato, capturing the intensity and impulsiveness of Bigger Thomas. He is not a character that will elicit much sympathy for himself, but his tragic story exposes a sharp knife poised at the soft underbelly of our society. Who provided the weapon and who is holding it?

While Bigger's guilt is unquestionable, the world of oppression and humiliation that produced him and others like him is also suspect. Even members of his own race and class cannot agree if he is wholly responsible for his actions. An argument between two black men overheard while Bigger is on the run illustrates this. One, believing murder is murder and needs to be punished, would turn Bigger in to the police if he saw him. The other would not, for it is essentially only a luck of the draw whether or not anyone living in their circumstances would have done the same as Bigger. The victim had it coming.

At Bigger's sentencing, the impassioned plea of his lawyer to spare Bigger's life exposes the hypocrisy of the charitable acts of some people, which readers will sorrowfully recognize still exist in current business and politics. The victim's father donates millions to help poor black people in the city, but he allows his real estate company to continue to charge black renters more money than white renters and to rent them only shabbily-kept apartments in neighborhoods designated as "black". Despite the shortage of available apartments, however bedraggled, he will not rent to them in "white" neighborhoods, stating he believes that black people are much happier living together in their own place.

I can't say I completely disagreed with the individual fate of Bigger Thomas, but the questions raised in the pages of this book will reverberate for a long time to come.



More thoughts on Native Son:

The Millions

THE HISTORIAN

by Elizabeth Kostova



It's easy to see why there are so many good reviews for The Historian. It's also easy to see why other readers may not have liked it so much. It's not a quick read. It's very, very detailed and moves somewhat slowly, so if I had been reading this rather than listening, I may have been more impatient with it. For me, it successfully had the same feel to it as Stoker's Dracula, but I admit it has been many years since I read that. Someone who read them closer in time may disagree.

What I loved about the book was that the majority of the tale is told in the form of letters. For some reason, that technique makes what could be a bit dull much more exciting for me to read. I've seen complaints that the letters are amazingly elaborate for missives that were supposed to have been dashed off in a hurry. I cannot disagree with that as an observation, but I had no problem overlooking it. The style captured exactly what I would have wanted in a book of this kind.

I have no life lessons to pass on from my reading of this debut novel except maybe if you suddenly find a mysterious book in your possession which is empty except for an eerie woodcut of a dragon, stock up on silver bullets, crucifixes and garlic. :-)

DAWN

by Elie Wiesel



From the back cover of Dawn:

Elisha, a young Jewish Holocaust survivor now living as a terrorist in British-controlled Palestine, awaits dawn, when he has been ordered to kill a captive English officer. Caught between the manifold horrors of the past and the troubling dilemmas of the present, Elisha wrestles with guilt, ghosts, and ultimately God as he awaits the appointed hour for his act of assassination.

If you've read Wiesel's Night, you know exactly how I feel right now and how hard it is to express what I'm thinking. While Dawn is not at all a happy book, it is not one of those books that left me depressed. It left me deeply introspective. Given the same history, can I honestly say that my moral integrity would not have led me to the same acts as Elisha? I would like to be able to confidently say yes. I'd like to, but there is a thin black thread of uncertainty that bothers me. And therein lies the power of these eighty-one pages.

Though this very short novel is about a Holocaust survivor, it is particularly relevant in the time of our current conflicts in the Middle East. The emotions portrayed in Dawn are no doubt transpiring in the hearts of too many. In response to my own thin black thread, I will let the author's own words speak for themselves: "[H]atred is never an answer, and . . . death nullifies all answers. There is nothing sacred, nothing uplifting, in hatred or in death."

2009 What's In A Name Challenge

I'm in. I missed out on this one last year, so this year I'll give it a whirl. The categories are listed below. If I have ideas for what I might read, I've listed those, too. Finished books have links to the review.


Completed: 6/6 as of October 12, 2009
**FINISHED**

1. A book with a "profession" in its title

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

2. A book with a "time of day" in its title.

Dawn by Elie Wiesel

3. A book with a "relative" in its title.

Native Son by Richard Wright

4. A book with a "body part" in its title.

The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene

5. A book with a "building" in its title.

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

6. A book with a "medical condition" in its title.

Dr. Haggard's Disease by Patrick McGrath


Want to play along? Click here.

Happy Reading, Everyone!