Dandelion Wine

Ray Bradbury is best known for writing Fahrenheit 451 and other science-fiction novels. It should come as no surprise then that I was completely caught off guard by this simple, beautiful, heartfelt novel about a young boy’s experiences over the course of a single summer. I enjoyed reading this book immensely. Sometimes novels just tell you a story, and sometimes novels invite you into a world where even the most mundane and ordinary things become special. Dandelion Wine is one such book. Although the book doesn’t relate any events that are particularly amazing, the language used to describe the events makes everything seem magical and rare. A trolley ride or a summer afternoon in the woods becomes transmuted before the reader’s eyes into a fleeting moment of pure beauty caught on the page, preserving the very essence of what it is to be a child, and what it is to be alive. This novel reads more like a series of loosely connected short stories than one strongly cohesive narrative, but every story paints a vivid scene as if the words on the page were brushstrokes on canvas.  Much like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, this book reveals the beauty and wonder to be found in life, pure and simple. If you want a book that enchants you with the beauty of its imagery, the profundity of it’s ideas, and the simple clarity and joy with which the narrative unfolds, you would be well served by picking up Dandelion Wine.

Score: 10/10

Read this book: If you love beautiful language and stunningly vivid imagery, if you want to see the world with the wonder of childhood, or if you want to be reminded what a gift it is to be alive.

Don’t read this book: If you rely on a strong central plotline to maintain interest in a book. Although every story presented is delightful, they can sometimes seem of little relevance to the rest of the book. They do relate, but often only loosely.

My Antonia

My Antonia, by Willa Cather, tells the life story of a Bohemian girl named Antonia as told through the eyes of her closest friend Jim Burden. It’s a lovely novel, and worth reading for the strength of the language alone. However, I found the plot itself to lack the level of engagement that makes for a really compelling story. Cather’s descriptions of life on the plains of Nebraska are evocative, and convey the power, beauty, and nobility of the humble life of America’s plainsmen. Once you get past the beauty of the language, however, the story is very simple. I’m sure a good professor could open my eyes to the wonder of this book, and all the deeper meanings the lie within, but just reading it on my own I didn’t get a whole lot out of it besides an appreciation for the simple beauty of everyday life.

Score: 7/10

Read this book: If you like beautiful images of rural life conveyed through eloquent and poetic language.

Don’t read this book: If you prefer a story driven by plot rather than character.

The Catcher in the Rye

I am forced to admit that I think this is a very good book. However, I do not think it is a very enjoyable book. Anyone who has studied literature realizes that, although the two categories often cross over, they certainly don’t have to. The main character of Catcher is a dissolute teenage boy named Holden Caulfield. The novel begins with Holden getting kicked out of his third boarding school in a row because he refused to apply himself in the least degree, and he spends the rest of the novel wandering around New York looking for things to do and people to talk to. It’s rather boring, but also terribly sad. Although many of Holden’s encounters seem unrelated and pointless, they ultimately weave together to present a picture of a young man who is terrified of his future, desperately wants someone who will listen to him, and finds himself without a soul to rely on. The title of the book comes from a poem Holden hears: “If a body catch a body coming through the rye.” When asked what Holden would like to be, he responds that he would like to stand at a cliff at the edge of a rye field and catch children at play if they got too close to the edge. I personally feel that Holden is terrified that he is heading towards a cliff, yet there is nobody in the rye to catch him. The book does not offer easy answers or resolutions to these problems. Holden is part of a larger group of America’s youth who grew despondent in the wake of WWII, and who saw little point to their lives. Many argue that Holden is not a likeable character, and they’re right. There’s this idea going round that main characters in novels should represent the sort of person that we want to be, but Holden represents that sort of person that we secretly already know we are. When I’m honest with myself, I see far more of Holden Caulfield in me than I see of Harry Potter. It’s a revelation that is at once sad and liberating, for it makes me a part of a larger human experience of shared anxiety and doubt. All in all I think this book is worth reading if you want to feel all those human things, and are willing to accept an ending which, like endings in life, can’t be described as satisfying or happy. Catcher is one of the most famous novels of the 20^th century, and I believe it deserves to be so for the way it captures so many tragic elements shared by so many in this big thing we call humanity.

Rating: 7/10

Read this book if: You are willing to read deeply, look for metaphor and symbolism, and connect with the sorrow, anxiety, and fear that exist under the surface of every human life.

Don’t read this book if: You are bothered by pervasive mild profanity (Holden is constantly swearing, but they’re pretty soft curse words); or you like books with engaging plots, likeable characters, or happy endings (you won’t find those here).

The Disreputable History of Frankie-Landau Banks

 I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It’s light, fun, and the main character is delightful. I found some of it a bit hard to believe, but I don’t think realism is the main point of the book. It was full of teenage hijinks and shenanigans, and was surprisingly clean in a genre that is increasingly graphic and gritty. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this book to any reader at any age level if they are looking for a book that is fun, and that also has some interesting points about the nature of society. I particularly like the comparison of society to the Panopticon, a prison that allowed the inmates to be seen without seeing their observers. Society is similar, and therefore people keep in line whether or not they’re being watched. I like the idea of questioning the Panopticon, pushing back against it, and challenging those systems that are governed by sets of rules so old that nobody remembers why the rules came about in the first place. It’s a good book, I liked it, but it’s not something earth shattering or life altering.

Score: 8/10 

Read this book if: You want an entertaining and light read, or you want a story of a young woman finding the courage to question existing social conventions through subterfuge, pranks, and hilarity. 

Don’t read this book if: You have no tolerance for predictable writing or somewhat shallow plot lines and character development. The book is fun, but it certainly lacks the depth of more mature works. Also if you are unwilling to suspend your disbelief regarding certain plot elements. Some of the novel makes one a bit incredulous.