Book Review | Book Chatter

The Raising
By Laura Kasischke
(Harper Perennial, Paperback, 9780062004789, March 2011, 496pp.)

The Short of It:

I found myself eagerly picking it up although I felt absolutely no affection for any of the characters.

The Rest of It:

I can’t say too much about the plot or I’ll give something away but this was an odd, little book. It was odd in the way it made me feel. The Raising is about the death of a sorority girl and how she continues to live on in the hearts of those who knew her. Except there are details of her death that are beginning to come out and all is not what it’s cracked up to be.

Essentially, the story is simple but it’s about so much more than what you see on the surface. It’s about obsession and the power of memory. How much are we willing to admit when perfection is at stake? It’s also very much a book about death and dying, but not in the traditional sense. The sense of mourning you feel while reading this novel is not what a grieving parent would feel. It’s different. Part of that is due to the story itself, but some of it has to do with the tone of the novel. If I had to describe it artfully I’d say that it was like a B&W snapshot with torn edges. Stark. Blemished.

I think if I were to focus on plot alone, I’d be rolling my eyes. It was a bit “out there” in places and not terribly realistic in others but I tend to focus on characters and although these characters would never be my friends, I found them wildly amusing. No, I can’t say that I ever felt sorry for any of them or that I could even relate to their particular circumstance, but I could easily relate to the sorority life that Kasischke created. This coming from a “sister” who was blackballed from hers. Seriously, Kasischke nailed that aspect of it.

I also liked the fact that these characters were not who they appeared to be. The human condition is often not what we expect it to be once you carve away gender, race and class. I was often frustrated with these characters but fascinated with them, too. I think this is why the story worked for me. I’ve been reading some other reviews and many have not liked the book. I suspect that those folks had issues with the plot. I can certainly see where they are coming from, but because I enjoy reading about characters who are less than desirable I was willing to let go of reality for a short while.

If any of you’ve read Kasischke’s In a Perfect World, and recall it taking quite awhile to get a feel for the main characters, you will experience the same thing here. The character development is not handled as delicately as In a Perfect World, but The Raising is its grittier sister. The stories were completely different in each but there are some similarities as far as the writing goes.

Overall, I actually liked this one a lot more than I thought I would.

If you’d like a chance to win a copy, check out the details below.

Source: Review and giveaway copy provided by the publisher.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

This giveaway is for one copy of The Raising and is open to the US and Canada. A winner will be chosen randomly by me. The book will come directly from me. Only one entry per person. Giveaway closes on April 29, 2011 (pacific). I will contact the winner for his/her mailing address.

To enter the giveaway, please click here. (This giveaway is now closed!)

The Swan Thieves
By Elizabeth Kostova
Ready By: Treat Williams, Anne Heche, Erin Cottrell, Sarah Zimmerman and John Lee
(Hachette Audio, Compact Disc, 9781600247453, January 2010)

The Short of It:

I adored the references to art and the mystery behind the main character, but the story was too long and drawn out for my taste.

The Rest of It:

Robert Oliver, a well-known artist, attacks a painting in the National Gallery of Art and is institutionalized due to his unstable behavior. Dr. Marlow is called in to treat him and as luck would have it, he is an artist himself so he understands Oliver in a way that no one else does. As Marlow investigates Oliver’s past, he talks to Oliver’s ex-wife Kate, and his ex-lover Mary in an attempt to piece together a life that has become a big mystery for all involved. In addition to Oliver’s story in the present day, the author also takes us back to the late 1800’s to explore the artists of that time and the painter that Oliver is obsessed with.

There are lots of wonderful visuals in this novel. As an audio book, I lost myself in the descriptions of the paintings numerous times. Listening to it was very calming and the characters were interesting and complex but it’s one of those novels where nothing really happens. There is very little action…very little movement if you get my drift and this made the story drag. Drag, I say! Plus, the reading itself was not that great. Much of it seemed trite and I can’t figure out if that is due to the readers (there are several) or the dialogue or a combination of both.

As an audio book with 17 CDs, I was willing to put up with the lack of action but as a book, I think I would have gotten frustrated with it. At about disc 14, I was thinking that I might skip a few tracks just to get back to the meat of it, but I continued on thinking I’d miss something critical. In hindsight, I don’t think I would have missed much.

I don’t want you to think that I didn’t enjoy this one, because I did but I don’t think this author is for me. I had a hard time with The Historian and could not finish it (too wordy). Had this one not been on audio it probably would have been a DNF (do not finish) for me because it was also very wordy and dense. If it had been a bit shorter, and the dialogue a bit more realistic, I think I could have loved this one because it contains all of the elements that I love…madness, art, conflicted characters, etc.

For those who choose their audio books based on the reader, you should note that this one is read by many readers (Anne Heche and Treat Williams) to name a few, but the reading was sort of flat and blah.

P.S. I listened to this one with the kids in the car and a couple of tracks were not appropriate for their little ears so if you are taking a road trip with the kiddies, you might want to listen to something else.

Source: Won in a giveaway.