Review- "When My Brother Was an Aztec"

     Natalie Diaz is a living poet that is relatively new to the literary scene, having published her first collection, When My Brother Was an Aztec, with Grand Canyon Press in 2012. This collection draws on her experiences as a Native American woman raised on a reservation, as well as the plight of her people as its own individual entity. It is this complicated struggle between memoir and meditation that can be seen throughout the novel, working together to establish a work that is both aesthetically enthralling and emotionally challenging.

     The work opens with the title piece, When My Brother Was an Aztec. This is an abstract piece that is challenging to grasp without the context that is delivered to the reader later in the work. However, it does provide a background that is marred in both love and destruction. It depicts this brother as an Aztec similar to that of cultural legend, ritually sacrificing his somewhat willing family with all-encompassing, destructive behavior:

         "My brother shattered and quartered them before his basement festivals-
               waved their shaking hearts in his fists,
   
     while flea-ridden dogs ran up and down the steps, licking their asses,
          turning tricks. Neighbors were amazed my parents' hearts kept
               growing back- It said a lot about my parents, or parents' hearts."

     This opening piece functions as both introduction and conclusion, begging to be revisited at the conclusion of the collection.

     After the introduction, the work is divided into three parts. Each section is complicated and incredibly diverse. The first paints an upbringing that is both individual and collective, delivering anecdotes of life on a reservation, through either the lens of the self; like the gut wrenching pieces Why I Hate Raisins and Hand-Me-Down Halloween, or through anecdotal portrayals of others as in Reservation Mary. These pieces provide powerful hits of realism, but they are merely stones resting in a massive web of contemplation and realization that is the first section. These include the entirely abstract; as in a reflection of what it means to be a Native American woman in society in The Last Mojave Indian Barbie, as well as think-piece contemplations about topics like the origins of oppression and religion, as seen in If Eve Side-Stealer & Mary Busted-Chest Ruled the World, and one of my personal favorites; Prayers or Oubliettes. 

     The second section harks back to the opening piece, revolving around a brother's destructive addition to meth. Addiction is represented poetically, and addressed literally, and leaves the reader with pangs of the heart that only time can heal. It is here that the figurative language comes to life, a life that manages to find beauty in tragedy. Take for example this selection, from the stark and devastating piece How to Go to Dinner with a Brother on Drugs:

"He spent his nights in your bathroom
with a turquoise BernzOmatic handheld propane torch,
a Merlin mixing magic, then shape-shifting into lions,
and tigers, and bears, Oh fuck, pacing your balcony
like Borges's blue tiger, fighting the cavalry in the moon,
conquering night with his blue flame, and plotting to steal
your truck keys, hidden under your pillow.
Finally, you found the nerve to ask him to leave,
so he took his propane torch and left you
with his meth pipe ringing in the dryer."

     The parallel between the destruction of addiction and the destruction of Native American disenfranchisement slowly becomes evident, amplified by the memory of the opening piece of the collection.

     The third section is full of sharp contrast and tension, an exercise of Diaz's ability to hold two powerful concepts within one stroke of a pen. There is the sensual elation and dulling pain of a life of love and desire, a completion of the continued exposition of nostalgia and tragedy, and an occasional escalation of the political ebbs and flows of the work. Diaz ventures to ponder on political commentary such as terrorism in the piece Orange Alert. This section is a fitting ending to such a complicated work.

     When My Brother Was an Aztec is a work that finds strength in its duality. Natalie Diaz delivers cutting social and political commentary while painting an individual and collective life that is shaded with a symbolic, rustic haze that refuses to leave the mind of the reader. A haze that contains both pride and pain, beauty and tragedy without apologizing. She twists through poetic form and unfettered freedom, produces metaphors both mind-boggling and stoically simple, and imposes a profound impact on the consumer without necessarily giving a shit about an audience, adamantly remaining authentic with every mark. It is a valuable piece for anyone interested in literature.

                                   

New Inquiry

http://thenewinquiry.com/

I am a complete novice to the literary blog community, but after scouring the web for something interesting to share with you all, The New Inquiry is definitely the most eclectic site that I happened to come upon. Just a quick browse through some of the titles shows the visitor that this website does not wish to leave any stone unturned, and I'm fairly confident that there will be some article or story that interests you. But then again, it is pretty bizarre.

Brendan Duffy's House of Echoes

House of Echoes, by Brendan Duffy, is a four-hundred page suspense and thriller fiction piece that was released for purchase in April this year.

When two spinster sisters die and their larger-than-life house is up for sale in Swannhaven, New York – a small town upstate – the Tierney family jumps on the purchase in hopes they can change their lives for the better: mother Caroline previously worked for a bank which went under, son Charlie was being bullied at his school in Manhattan and father Ben has written two novels but has yet to find any sort of inspiration for the third. Each member of the family is hoping for fresh start, but some of the locals make it difficult on them to make friends.

The novel begins by building the story around the Tierney family, explaining all the various reasons of why they made the move in the first place and discussing why they purchased the 65-bedroom home. Ben hopes that allowing Caroline to spend her days repairing the old home and turning it into a sort of Inn to bring more life back into the small town, she can eventually become happy again as she suffers a sort of depression from the bank failure. There is also a hope that Charlie will make new friends at school.

However, the friends that Charlie makes are perhaps not what his parents had intended. The young boy enjoys wandering through the woods – his enthusiasm springing from a book character he adores – to find a clearing in the woods where a lake sits. Charlie sits on a moss-covered stump and waits until he feels as though he is being watched; he has high hopes that one day he will finally meet the owner of the pair of eyes that is watching always. However, readers wonder if it is more of a ‘what’ that owns the eyes rather than a ‘who’ as the family’s beagle Hudson has a tendency to bark and growl at something lurking in the forest.

This novel is slow paced and detail packed, which is perhaps the best way to tell stories that are sure to give readers a sense of the heebie jeebies. With letters from one sister to another that are several decades old that offer words of warning about what is hiding in the forest and small sections of the story itself where readers are indirectly warned about the evils of the woods, there is no doubt that readers will be putting this novel down once they pick it up.

A copy of Brendan Duffy's House of Echoes is simply a click away. Also available through Audible.

Story Grid Math

We talked in class about a short story that is working as a short story or might be the beginning or first chapter of a novel. The discussion that turned toward the number of pages reminded me of Shawn Coyne's blog, "The Story Grid," specifically this one about "The Math."

Here's a relevant quote to our novel talk:

"The Beginning is about one quarter of the Story. 

The Middle is about one half of the Story. 

The End is the last quarter of the Story."

Followed by some number suggestions:

"...writing a 100,000-word novel, we’ll have about 50 scene/chapters in our novel ..."

"Two thousand word scene/chapters is potato chip length."

"12/25/13"

I'll break it down to this as a fair estimate:

• 12 chapters of 2000 words form the beginning
• 25 chapters of 2000 words for the middle
• 13 chapters of 2000 words give you the ending 

Now, if it were only so damn easy! Happy writing!

Review of Jonathan Safran Foer's "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"

Hello, all! If you haven't heard of this book before, it was turned into a movie a few years back. I have yet to see the movie, but always kept it in the back of my mind because I liked the name. This summer, I got onto Amazon to watch the movie and saw that it was based off a book. Being who I am, I couldn't watch the movie without reading the book first! And I'm glad that I did.

Published in 2005, this 326 page story revolves around a young boy named Oskar Schnell who's father died in 9/11. It is told in the perspective of Oskar, his grandmother, and his grandmother's husband who left before Oskar's father was born. As the book progresses, we learn more and more about his grandmother and grandfather, and also about how Oskar is handling his fathers death.

The main action of the book focuses on Oskar searching for the lock of an old key he found in his father's closet goes to. He meets a lot of interesting people with different stories to tell. Flipping through the book and hearing that many characters would be introduced, I thought there would be a chapter or so dedicated to each person and their story. I was wrong, but it works for the plot. It revolves around Oskar, not the other people.

The writing style of the book itself takes a bit of getting used to. Oskar's chapters are told in the way a child would explain things. Keeping on one track of a thought, and the next sentence is something unrelated. While the narration is just for Oskar specifically, his grandmother and grandfather contribute through letters. The text reflects their individual writing styles. In one chapter, the grandfather recounts the bombings in Germany and very seldom uses periods, instead using commas. This choice by Foer had the effect that the grandfather had to keep going. Only pausing, never stopping.

"I remember losing my balance, I remember a single thought in my head: Keep thinking. As long as I am thinking, I am alive, but at some point I stopped thinking, the next thing I remember is feeling terribly cold, I realized I was lying on the ground, the pain was complete, it let me know I hadn't died..."

This book has the most unique writing style I've seen in a while. It's told in three different voices of fully developed characters, intertwined together. At first they don't connect at all, and I could have sworn it was random letters from the people Oskar was meeting. But a quarter of the way and the pieces begin to come together. It's an easy book to read, even though it switches between three voices, and quick, too. I'd recommend it to those that enjoy creative non-fiction, plausible fiction, and love a book that makes you say "No, way, what?! Hold up, did that just happen? What is even happening here?"

Omnivoracious

Hey guys, hope you had a great weekend!

I found this link to an amazon-based blog about books. This looks pretty cool because it's got a variety of genres available with the must-reads up front to catch the eye. It's got links to other top book lists, other authors, and quotes for the day! Check it out, I hope you enjoy:

http://www.omnivoracious.com/

Garrett

Links for Blogs

Hey guys!

I hope I am doing this right, I am not the best when it comes to the computer...

So here are a few links to some blogs that I really enjoy. While these and most blogs are works of creative nonfiction, I think they are a really great way to get your writing out there. These blogs have a pretty big fan-base.

Hyperbole and a Half

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/

This blog is pretty popular. She also has a book by the same name. It is absolutely hilarious but also really relatable and unique. I recommend checking out these stories of hers (just go to the Blog Archive on the side): The Party (Sept 2010), This is Why I’ll never be an adult (June 2010), The Year Kenny Loggins Ruined Christmas (Dec 2010), Adventures in Depression (Oct 2011), and Depression Part Two (May 2013).

A new blog I have been checking out is The Bloggess.

http://thebloggess.com/

She has a really good book called Let’s Pretend This Never Happened

If you are interested in reading more from a smart, funny lady who has Depression, check out Funnel Cakes Not Included

http://funnelcakesnotincluded.com/

I read some of her stuff this summer and I think she is speaking about something in a very honest way that most people avoid talking about

I would love to hear of more blogs to check out!! I am new to the blog world but am enjoying it!

Review of Lev Grossman's "The Magicians"

I started reading this book, The Magicians by Lev Grossman-- a new-to-me author-- upon a suggestion by a good friend from high school with whom I share a lot of common (nerdy) interests. I'm always a bit skeptical when I start a new book with a new author and this was no exception. I work in a library and I had seen this book going in and out somewhat infrequently, so I had some reservations about it. Once I started it, however, I realized that it was truly an incredible find.

The story revolves around Quentin, an awkward college student who's in love with his best friend's girl. A man Quentin is supposed to meet with to discuss further education is found dead by Quentin and his friend, James. Shortly after, Quentin heads home and becomes lost, finding himself in a quasi-Hogwarts style boarding school of magic that exists in up-state New York.

The book is very fast-paced and easy to read. The characters are captivating and well-developed. There are many allusions to other similar magical-based texts and it's refreshing to see a bit of fourth wall tampering. The creation of new and unique worlds is fun because it's always a challenge to learn a new lexicon for a novel's universe and imagine it for the first time.

This novel is well written and has a mesmerizing effect for the reader. I found myself taking a break from it because I had gotten so emotionally involved in the characters in the novel and when a certain character did something that I didn't think they'd be capable of, I became very upset with that character and had to put the book down for a week in order to deal with that emotional upheaval.

If you enjoy fantasy, magic, coming-of-age drama, and mystery, this novel is a must-read. It is continued by two other books, The Magician's Land and The Magician's King. Be sure to visit your local library and check it out!

Detailing Karl Ove

I’ve pushed bodies covered with blankets along corridors, down designated elevators, and into the bowels of more than one hospital’s morgue, but I have never discussed the experience with anyone, in fact, I left the memories fermenting in a forgotten corner of my psyche until I started reading My Struggle, Book 1, by Karl Ove Knausgaard.

"... there are few things that arouse in us greater distaste than to see a human being caught up in it, at least if we are to judge by the efforts we make to keep corpses out of sight. In larger hospitals they are not only hidden away in discrete, inaccessible rooms, even the pathways there are concealed, with their own elevators and basement corridors, and should you stumble upon one of them, the dead bodies being wheeled by are always covered." 

Karl Ove Knausgaard, My Struggle, Book 1 

The narrator, loosely based on the real Karl Ove Knausgaard, discusses the western cultural proclivity to hide death and other struggles. He draws upon profound moments of memory and immerses the reader into the microcosm of smells, sights, tastes, and emotional punches in order to tell his story. As he learns about himself so does the reader.

Days before starting the book, I had sat at the bedside of dying family member. A few pages into this book its intimacy with the concealment of death spooked me. However, a few months later, I began again, drawn by it's intimacy of death and life.

The writing is closely observed, the reader is pulled into the moment with the force of an irresistible tractor beam from the first recalled memory at age eight through adolescence to the challenges of adulthood. I kept turning the pages, in part because of the details that are so vivid, so right there in the moment, so tangible and fresh that they took me into my own recollections and reveries. The reader, too, sees a face in the sea and must tell someone even if it is the prickly dad hacking away in the garden. Book 1 explores the struggles of adolescence and mourning, but it is also a book for those who long to know the shadows that lurk within and who trust that the darkness must be integrated into the light. It is a book for those drawn to authenticity and that can glean truths from another’s struggles and willingness to commit them to the page.

"'Are you still there, boy?' 

I nodded. 

'Get yourself inside.' 

I started to walk. 

'And Karl Ove, remember, ' he said. 

I paused, turned my head, puzzled. 

'No running this time.' 

I stared at him. How could he know I had run?"

Karl Ove Knausgaard, My Struggle, Book 1  

He connects his memories of his youth and thus stirs the reader to also remember what has been forgotten.

"The remarkable thing was not that the face should be visible here, nor that I had once seen a face in the sea in the mid-1970s, the remarkable thing was that I had forgotten it and now remembered." 

Karl Ove Knausgaard, My Struggle, Book 1  

Over and over the book brought me into familiar territory with my own youth- struggles with parents, negotiating with peers, negotiating life and desire, and even with music of the time.  He also ranges across ideas in art, writing, and self in ways that struck me as fresh or truthful to both him and thus me, the reader.

"Writing is drawing the essence of what we know out of the shadows. That is what writing is about. Not what happens there, not what actions are played out there, but the there itself. There, that is writing's location and aim. But how to get there?" 

Karl Ove Knausgaard, My Struggle, Book 1 

 

“Contemporary art, in other words, the art which in principle ought to be of relevance to me, did not consider the feelings a work of art generated as valuable. Feelings were of inferior value, or perhaps even an undesirable by-product, a kind of waste product, or at best, malleable material, open to manipulation.” 

Karl Ove Knausgaard, My Struggle, Book 1 

"The situation we have arrived at now whereby the props of art no longer have any significance, all the emphasis is placed on what the art expresses, in other words, not what it is but what it thinks, what ideas it carries, such that the last remnants of objectivity, the final remnants of something outside the human world have been abandoned. Art has come to be an unmade bed, a couple of photocopiers in a room, a motorbike in an attic. And art has come to be a spectator of itself, they way it reacts, what newspapers write about it; the artist is a performer."  

Karl Ove Knausgaard, My Struggle, Book 1 

The book, the first in a series of six, is not for the faint of heart, but it is hard to put down despite it containing over four hundred pages. I finished it over Labor Day weekend with my feet planted at the edge of Lake Michigan. Until I can afford missing a few days of sleep, I’ll hold off buying the next book, assuming I can also resist the siren’s call for me to plunge in yet again.

My Struggle, Book 1, by Karl Ove Knausgaard was published in 2009 in Norwegian and translated into English in 2012 by Dan Bartlett by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. It can be purchased at The Little Professor Bookstore in Athens, Ohio, at other independent bookstores, or on the usual internet sites.

Detailing Karl Ove Review

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmwiWQwe73pgJlv7M3MX2Nw

We have been talking about the online presence of literary critics so I decided to take this a step further.  This link takes you to a YouTuber who has become a member of the new community of BookTubers.  BookTube is a YouTube community making itself known by posting videos of book reviews.  I visited a few users' pages, but Jean Bookishthoughts is my favorite by far.

Take a look, and if you want to see some other BookTubers, visit the link below!

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1388731-favorite-booktubers