May Booklist

Since I've noticed that no one reads my blog, I'm just going to keep a list of the books that I am reading here. I may include some commentary or I may not.

May 2005

Delillo, Don - Underworld (1998)

I really enjoyed this one a lot. Delillo writes beautifully, though his plots are typically less than compelling. This novel is massive - over 800 pages - and there really isn't a cohesive plot. The novel is obsessed with waste, nostalgia, and the nuclear age; elements of some or all of these are evident in all sections, and that is really all that ties most of the novel together. I would suggest this novel for anyone with an interest in good writing and also has a lot of time to kill.

Norris, Frank - McTeague (1899)

One of the tenets of the American Naturalist literary movement was that the story of "the common man" was worthy of being written about. Another is that there are forces outside of our control that guide our actions (or completely dominate our actions). One other thing that I've noticed about the works in this movement is that they are either badly written or written in a style that suggests badly written-ness - though by and large, the stories are readable and enjoyable. McTeague is about a common man and his life and there are external forces that lead the action. It is also badly written; turgid and decidedly non-enjoyable. The primary way that this is different than most of the other works in the movement is that Norris doesn't like his main character at all. In Sister Carrie or Maggie or An American Tragedy the characters all engage in "immoral" activities, but they are not reviled. McTeague is described as "stupid" on almost every page of the novel. Naturalism is usually socio-political, showing us that these people have problems that they cannot deal with, that life is unfair and that we all have hard decisions to make and that we will often make the wrong choice. McTeague doesn't seem to have a political agenda, which I suppose could be a point in its favor - though the anti-Semitism consumes that point I believe. But its talking down to the main character seems nearly unforgivable. Also, the word "vociferated" should not be used quite so often - certainly not every single time one specific character speaks.