Getting Better... And Longer (The Cage Keeper and Other Stories)

A few years ago, I read and enjoyed Andre Dubus III's House of Sand and Fog. The novel has a wonderful "when worlds collide" scenario and really explores the issues of human psyche, cultural difference and personal desperation. I even liked the underrated film adaptation of what I consider a superb book.

I recently picked up a copy of Dubus's The Cage Keeper and Other Stories which was written in 1986 (some 13 years earlier than HOSAF). The book contains seven short stories and, because I am a lover of shorts (Roald Dahl's particularly), I thought this book would be perfect, especially for the commute because I could theoretically finish one story on the way to work and one on the way home.

The title story "The Cage Keeper" gets the book off to a good start. It describes a day in the life of Alan Norton, a 20-something employee at a halfway house for paroled convicts, and is fast-paced and well-structured. Unfortunately, the rest of the stories in the book are hit and miss--mostly miss.

Although it is apparent that Dubus is an extremely talented writer, I was left feeling unsure about his aptitude for short stories, which I have always thought of as a special writing skill. I find it hard to excel in this genre because you need to be concise yet ample at the same time. I feel that Dubus's stories are eloquent but lack in structure and action. Like HOSAF, the vignettes are good at exploring the human condition, but they miss out on what I find to be the true essence of short stories: the story.

Dubus is an outstanding novel writer so I will definitely read his other book Bluesman. I am glad he found his niche within this genre after a slight deviation. Dubus's work is getting better... and longer.

Making History Entertaining... But Not As Entertaining As It Could Be (Making History)

I love Stephen Fry. His "quintessential English" persona always confirms for me what I enjoy about living in the UK. His talents (acting, writing, presenting) are endless and his intelligence is astounding.

But enough from the Stephen Fry fan club...

Making History is his third novel. Written in 1997, it won the Sideways Award for Alternate History and received critical acclaim. After reading and enjoying his autobiography Moab Is My Washpot, I decided I needed to discover Fry's fictional writing abilities.

The novel is written in the first person of Michael "Pup" Young. He is a young history student at Cambridge on the verge of finishing his doctoral thesis on the early life of Adolf Hitler. Michael's life is that of fairly normal academic (he lives with his girlfriend Jane, wakes up with hangovers after college parties, etc.) until he meets Professor Leo Zuckerman who takes an interest in his thesis and takes Michael, quite literally, to another world.

This is an extremely enigmatic, fast-paced piece work of science fiction. Yet it contains so much information, theory and detail that there is barely time to take in what is happening and truly enjoy the story. It is almost as if you can see Fry's genius thought process on the pages--he's come up with this brilliant central idea and now he needs to get it down onto paper as fast as he can.

I was quite taken by this book and its characters and themes, but I don't think Fry did his ideas and pace justice. It was so action-packed and wonderfully dynamic that, dare I say it, I think it would've been better suited to television or film. In fact, some parts of the novel are written in script format and this does genuinely help the action move along and flow more readily.

But I suppose it is quite obvious Fry can write for television and film (Fry and Laurie, Bright Young Things) so I guess he deserves praise for writing in the purer form. Still, I would be genuinely pleased to see this story in the form of a mini-series or similar on our television screens.

We Need to Talk About Gimmicks (We Need to Talk About Kevin)

I recently read Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin, which has been a bestseller in the US and won the Orange Prize for Fiction 2005 in the UK.

The novel is written from the point of view of Eva Khatchadourian in a series of letters to her estranged husband. The focal point of these letters is their teenage son Kevin who committed a school shooting.

This is the type of book that critics and the media love because they can label it as a novel " for our times" and praise it for "tackling a tough issue." Because the present media likes nothing better than keeping its viewers/readers/listeners in a constant state of fear, they can review a book like this in their publications, link it into their features about school shootings, discuss its themes and merits on their radio stations and therefore keep the cycle of scaremongering alive.

I did not dislike this book. I think Shriver an exceptional creator of characters--every single one was detailed and superbly realistic. But characters alone cannot support a story and, although We Need to Talk About Kevin asked a lot of interesting questions about nature vs. nurture and the creation of a killer, I did not think it was enough.

I also thought the letter-writing format was a weak gimmick. Without spoiling the plot, this particular style emphasises a twist in the story, but I am certain Shriver could have come up with a different, stronger way of manipulating that element.

I am afraid book awards are becoming a bit like the Oscars. You can usually guarantee a win for a "holocaust" or "minority overcoming society" movie. In the same way, novels are being awarded for tackling terrorism, school shootings, drugs, and any other issues that "define our era."

Is Jodi Picoult a Keeper? (My Sister's Keeper)

I noticed recently on my daily commute what seemed like every woman under the age of 35 reading a novel by Jodi Picoult. There seemed to be an endless range of these books, each cover sporting a different photo of a different child or teenager looking either frightened or in distress. Was I missing something?

I kind of wanted to be part of this young, hot literary club so I picked up a used copy of My Sister's Keeper. The premise of the book seemed curious enough: 13-year old Anna is filing a lawsuit against her parents for medical emancipation. She was conceived (and genetically designed) for the sole purpose to donate stem cells to her older sister, Kate, who is dying of luekaemia. But when Anna's commitment to Kate extends far beyond cells from her umbilical cord, she decides to take action.

My Sister's Keeper is definitely an airport book-- the type of novel you can read whilst still listening for your boarding announcement--which is why I suppose it's so popular with the commuting crowd.

Picoult does a good job of introducing cryptic details and sub-plots to keep the reader gripped, yet I find her writing formulaic and clichéd. She tries too hard to end every chapter (sometimes every paragraph) on a thoughtful, philosophical point and it gets to be a bit much.

But what can I say? My fellow commuters love Picoult and, with nine books currently on release, she shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, I may even see if I can find another used copy of one of her books for my next long train/plane journey...

...Or maybe not.