Man. This summer has been CRAZY. Last summer we felt like we spent all of our time doing household projects and gardening, and we also had a one year old who hated being in the car, so basically we spent the whole three months in our city. We left it like twice. In response, I resolved to make this the summer of FUN and EXCITEMENT and holy crap are we exhausted. It's feast or famine around here.
In addition to going fun places and seeing lots and lots of friends and all of the usual summer staples like swimming, sprinklers, beaches, barbecues and bike riding (basically what we do every weekend), I have also made this the summer of preserving food. Why? Because I don't have enough to do, obviously.
It started innocently enough with free sour cherries from our neighbor's tree (see my last post). I made some jelly from them and now I am obsessed. I have made three different kinds of dill pickles since then, a peach butter, and I have canned tomatoes. I have more tomato projects lined up for this weekend, and I think I'm going to try to can a peach chutney. Don't even get me started on my plans for the pears which will be ripe in a few weeks.
I love to cook and do homemakey stuff, so in some ways this is just a natural extension of that. However, I definitely see a little bit of anxiety twisted up in this project too. Things are unstable at both my job and my husband's job, the politics in our city and state are extremely tense right now, and it kind of seems a little bit like the we are headed toward a worse recession/depression. I am usually a positive, cheerful, look on the bright side type of person, but even I have to admit that things are a little shaky. Clearly the zombie apocalypse is right around the corner. How will I protect my family? Pickles. And jam. Any bottled water stored in the basement? Nope. I never said this was practical. But for some reason it does make me feel a little bit better.
You know what does NOT make me feel better? Having read the following three books. I recommend all of them, but maybe not all at once. It's better to space your depressing reading out and intersperse it with something light, or funny, or maybe even happy. I don't know how I happened to read all three in a row, but it could have something to do with my mood this month...
Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart
I'm sure you've all read a review of this already, so I'm not going to recap it. I resisted reading it because it seemed kind of flashy and gimmicky. And it is, but also wonderful, and sad and sweet and scary. It's just too believable. I absolutely can see technology going to where it goes in this novel, and not that far off in the future. The romance was also believable and most believable of all was the political landscape. I don't want to live in that world. But it's a fascinating and thought provoking book (and a page turner), so ignore this weird and too personal mini review and check it out.
Deus Ex Machina by Andrew Foster Altschul
Hmmm...I'm not sure if I really recommend this one. It was an interesting (if creepy) read, but ultimately left me unhappy. It's about a reality television show, much like Survivor, told from the point of view of the producer. It's been a successful run for the show, but now the format has been much copied and is getting a little stale. The producer is facing pressure from everyone in his life to up the ante. Exactly how he would do that is never really spelled out, especially considering what happens on the show is already very Hunger Games-esque.
So the point of the novel is pretty much contemptuous condemnation of reality tv and voyeurism and becoming a celebrity for no good reason. It's a very dark and sad view of humanity, and more than a little elitist, in my opinion. No one, not the producer, his staff, the contestants, or the audience is spared the scorn of the author. It's hard to read a book without anyone to root for or connect with, you know?
I think that's the main difference between why I didn't really like this book and why I loved Shteyngart's book. They both deal with this dystopian new world and have a pessimistic view of what humans have done and will probably do, but Shteyngart doesn't believe that all is lost.
The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris
Tim and Jane are a long married, wealthy couple with a teenage daughter. Tim is a successful attorney and Jane a real estate agent. Tim however, has a strange problem. Twice in their married life he has had bouts of an "illness" which manifests itself in Tim's compulsion to walk. He walks and walks until he falls into an exhausted sleep, and manages to contact Jane so she can bring him home. He literally cannot stop walking when he starts, and he seems to have very little control over where he goes. These episodes both lasted months, and during the time he was "sick" the whole family is turned upside down trying to care for him and find him, and they worry about him constantly.
The book starts with the return of the illness and with a feeling of dread which never lets up, despite some genuinely funny and happy scenes. At first I was mostly invested in the mystery; what is going on with Tim (it isn't spelled out for quite a while), what is going to happen, what kind of book is this going to be, etc. But then I got quite involved in the characters. This book is a vivid portrayal of a loving marriage, tested to the ultimate degree because of one partner's illness. Tim is adamant that the illness is physical and not mental--his body has betrayed him and his mind can no longer control his physical self. The reader is not so sure.
The writing is lovely; spare and powerful. Tim leaves the family and walks across America during his third bout of the illness, and it is here that the story turns from a mystery into something almost biblical. Tim is living completely on the fringes of society (by his choice), and struggling minute by minute with a heartbreaking split of mind vs body. He believes in God, he doesn't believe in God. He wants his mind to win, he wants his body to win. He tries to surrender in every way, but never fully can. Throughout it all, over years and years, Tim and Jane (and their daughter) continue to make contact and never stop loving each other.
This was a powerful and deeply moving book. Ok, I am kind of an easy crier, so keep that in mind, but I SOBBED through the last few chapters. I could hardly breathe because I was crying so hard. It was such an amazing portrayal of how something like mental illness, or drug abuse, or alcoholism can destroy a life and a family. Really beautiful, but really, really sad.
So there you have it. Having a great summer? Read some of these books to bring you down! Don't say I didn't warn you.
